Official High Elf Discussion Megathread

[Wired-Lain]

you pretty much take away

People keep using those words, I'm not sure they know what they mean. Nothing is being taken. Things are being added. I didn't pick blood elves decades ago because they were some lofty unique toy. Likewise I won't be abandoning my blood elves if void/high elves looked identical. If your only appreciation for your character is "nobody else has this hairstyle!" then you're probably very, very shallow.

And the point is, they already are indistinguishable. A high elf wearing a hat = a blood elf. So I say again, should they have transmog restrictions? If seeing the purple hair is absolutely critical to the function of the game? The difference is so minute at this point that holding off on something as basic as hair only serves to frustrate people that play them, it doesn't benefit anyone.

Blood Elves still have;
A city
A racial mount
Heritage armor
Light and Fel eyes
Paladins and Demon Hunters
Fitting voice lines
More customization than void elves could ever hope to even if they gained some belf hairstyles/colors. (Go ahead, count them)
Racials that dont break the illusion whenever they punch a dude
As well as all the main character story focus

Blood Elves are not in any way under threat.

The point of contention has come down to the most pedantic point because those who were against Alliance getting High Elves have already lost the most major battle: Alliance gaining access to skin and eye colors of High Elves.

Now the remnants of that anti-movement just come in here to basically 'go down fighting' when the 'war' has already been called off and an agreement was negotiated. Kinda like the last person to know the party is over

Dare I say at this point its, splitting hairs?

[FlubberPuddy]

Dare I say at this point its, splitting hairs?

LOL, spot on!

But yeah, the nice thing is that one can safely ignore those who are splitting hairs (lol) because that's what Blizzard did when they decided to give High Elf customization to both Blood Elves and Void Elves.

So since Blizzard ignored those that kept going 'no no no no no absolutely no way can Alliance get High Elf aesthetic as that's property of Horde only!' then even more so now that gives players who want more High Elf customization authority to ignore such comments as well!

It's really great!

[Beloren]

If Mag'har orcs and regular orcs were to share hairstyles, they'd still be distinguishable by their skin colors. If gnomes and mechagnomes were to share hairstyles they'd still be distinguishable due to mechagnomes being part mechanical. Your logic is flawed with void elves/blood elves. If you give void elves the blood elf hairstyles/colors then you pretty much take away the only significant distinguishing feature between the two. Yes void elves could still choose to be voidy, but they'd have the option to also pretty much be a carbon copy of blood elf. So your analogy for mag'har/orc and gnome/mechagnome isn't really comparable. Furthermore, giving void elves access to blood elf hair styles and colors would mean void elves would have the option to look like a void elf or blood/high elf, whereas a blood elf would only have the option to look like a blood/high elf. That'd be downright unfair if the AR had access to pretty much all of the core races aesthetics PLUS have access to their own unique aesthetics.

Blue eyes was once the point of contention for the HE community. I'd be careful with what arguments you try to use.

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I'd expect the underwear update to come through before the xpac releases, along with fixes to the faces that are bugged currently.

I would have thought ear options would have been made available to void elves too before the xpac. I mean, no guarantee they'll get the ear options that blood elves have but I'd wager that they likely will at some point,

Hopefully blood/void elves also get eyebrow options and tattoo options (runic/farstrider for blood elves, void-esque for void elves)

As someone posted here a while back:

To quote:

The distinction would have been blue eyes, but then they gave blood elves that too, I am fine with void elves having hair and skin colours from blood elves, but I agree with you something should be different, and that should be hairstyles.

I would also limit the skin colours and hair colours they both share, I would give void elves 1 blond and 1 red ish based hair, that's it, and possible 3 skin colours, one pale white, 1 with a slight tan, and one brown.. that's it.

The hues should be different too.. like void elves get a pitch black black hair and silver white hair colour, which is different from the blood elves' black and white, but also their blond hue should be different.

This is EXACTLY how they did the eyes, they gave the blood elves 3 versions of blue, but the void elves have like 5 versions because blue eyes are native to them.

The natural skin colours on void elves should not be the same as on blood elves, but maybe that's all to do with the racism thing going on atm, so if we exampt skin colour, then hair colour is the one i think the sharing should be limited and roughly the same as the eyes.

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In summary:

From blood elves:
3 new void elf skin tones: normal pale, rose pale, and brown
3 new void elf hair colours: blonde hue, the ginger hue, brown

1. New void elf skin tones and effects: Void elf hues >> than the imported ones from blood elves
2. New void elf hair colours and effects: e.g. pure silver white, midnight pitch black, more purple and blue variations
3. New void elf hairstyles - none of these from blood elves.

[Varodoc]

It really says a lot about blood elves if their fanboys are scared at the mere notion of void elves getting fair-skin tones and blonde hair. Are blood elves that trash of a race that they cant find other ways to remain popular?

[Phaelia]

It really says a lot about blood elves if their fanboys are scared at the mere notion of void elves getting fair-skin tones and blonde hair. Are blood elves that trash of a race that they cant find other ways to remain popular?

No, dude, it’s because Blood Elves aren’t getting anything comparable in return. All this talk of all these new customization options and the only thing BE’s are exclusively getting are jewelry, the rights to their original hair styles/colors, and ear modifications. That isn’t NEARLY enough. We don’t even get an exclusive skin color.

[Beloren]

No, dude, it’s because Blood Elves aren’t getting anything comparable in return. All this talk of all these new customization options and the only thing BE’s are exclusively getting are jewelry, the rights to their original hair styles/colors, and ear modifications. That isn’t NEARLY enough. We don’t even get an exclusive skin color.

It's spilt milk now, the reason void leves look so close to blood elvs is because alliance fans want high elves really.

Void elves imo is a more interesting spin if you ask me, seeing you can already play "high" elves as blood elves right?

Except the players don't often see it that way, because they have to pick a faction and grow loyalities to it, while high elves are techincially availalbe, because they're not on the alliance it' s a significant shift for them.

I've seen this amongst the alliancece fans, but really it's the wow fanbase as a whole because of the faction system. The same is repeated with Highborne and nightborne, Nightborne are essentially the highborne night elves, but they went horde, while some of the allinace night elves are highborne, you have a bunch of them that want to play and look like proper highborne, which means more nightborne esque appearnaces, highborne pre-sundering kaldorei cities like Suramar etc.

While this option is already there via the Nightborne on the horde, and is literally your kaldorei highborne but with a slightly different name and literally 1 body slider tab down, it's not enough for them. They won't accept Nightborne as the horde and would keep desiring highborne on the alliance night elves in a more visible way.

Blizzard has now realised what the alliance fans really want isthe high elf and night elf kingdoms and their distinguished background, void elves looking identical to blood elves so they can play as high elves is actually quite popular amongst the alliance fanbase, even the void elf lovers are fine about it.

One would imagine if highborne got more advnaced treatement like nightborne the same would happen.


I think the community at heart perceives elven races as alliance. And whle we have a core horde elf strong group, we will always lose, becaue the majority of the fans on both the alliance and the horde perceive elves as an alliance thing. We get enough non-elf horde race fans complaining about elves ruining the horde, and alliance fans always unsatisfied that blizzard basically ripped their elves from them, and dressed them up better for the horde (blood elveS) or because they were dressed very well, were given to the horde (nightborne).


I made a long solution post somewhere else, that blizzard should actually make the elven races neutral in the lore (not a 3rd playable faction) and players who pick any of the 4 elf races can play in whichever faction they choose like Pandaren.

The other alternative is to allow near blood elven like void elves or rather high elves on the void elf race and do the same for the Highborne on the nigh elves, so the alliance who really wants the full elven access (i.e. high elves and highborne), get them, while the horde continues with blood elves and nigthborne as is.


I think they are better served taking the horde/alliance focus out of the elves, and while elves as players must fight in one of the factions, the races actually are primarily focused on non-faction things - the problem with that is blizzard doesn't do enough racial storylines anymore, the main quest lines is always faction based where all the races pool together, so you never really see what they'd be mainly focused on.

Which is why rather than have it always 2 faction based, it should be horde, alliance and the elves - i don't think we would have this problem if you could roll a blood elf and actually not care about horde matters even though your race was allied there, but it was a rather fringe thing, they would have void this.

THe elves were mde too u nique to be part of the factions, the night elves were meant to be a full faction race of htier own according tot he interview, and the high elves were part of the alliance units - even in WC3 as blood elvs, having their own campagin, it was all the high elf assets, it's part of the allaince. Blood elves beame a huge race inTBC of it's own, and when they did that, they didn't change their identity enough to make them feel more horde and less elf, so they still felt alliancey to many of the players

[Kyriani]

No, dude, it’s because Blood Elves aren’t getting anything comparable in return. All this talk of all these new customization options and the only thing BE’s are exclusively getting are jewelry, the rights to their original hair styles/colors, and ear modifications. That isn’t NEARLY enough. We don’t even get an exclusive skin color.

I do feel that Blood Elves should get the San'layn/Dark Ranger skin and eye options. Not because they shared their skin tones with Void Elves, but simply because they are cool and often asked for. The jewelry is also kind of downer since much if it won't be seen with most armor and only females get to use it. The Blood Elf options essentially boil down to 3 new hairstyles for male and female, 3 new hair colors, 2 new ear sizes, 3 new beards for males and too much jewelry that only females get to use. Scars, tattoos, eyebrow sizes, etc are all absent and that's disappointing

I wouldn't mind seeing Blood Elves get ports of the Void Elf hairstyles though (minus tentacles of course). This hairstyle in particular would look wonderful on Blood Elf females:

[Varodoc]

No, dude, it’s because Blood Elves aren’t getting anything comparable in return. All this talk of all these new customization options and the only thing BE’s are exclusively getting are jewelry, the rights to their original hair styles/colors, and ear modifications. That isn’t NEARLY enough. We don’t even get an exclusive skin color.

New jewels? Point me to the arm jewels or crowns that void elves have.

It's spilt milk now, the reason void leves look so close to blood elvs is because alliance fans want high elves really.

Speak for yourself maybe? I don't give a flying fuck about high elves, I wanted fair skin tones because Alleria is a void elf who retains her high elf form, I've been explaining that for 3 years.

[Vaedan]

As someone posted here a while back:

To quote:

The distinction would have been blue eyes, but then they gave blood elves that too, I am fine with void elves having hair and skin colours from blood elves, but I agree with you something should be different, and that should be hairstyles.

I would also limit the skin colours and hair colours they both share, I would give void elves 1 blond and 1 red ish based hair, that's it, and possible 3 skin colours, one pale white, 1 with a slight tan, and one brown.. that's it.

The hues should be different too.. like void elves get a pitch black black hair and silver white hair colour, which is different from the blood elves' black and white, but also their blond hue should be different.

This is EXACTLY how they did the eyes, they gave the blood elves 3 versions of blue, but the void elves have like 5 versions because blue eyes are native to them.

The natural skin colours on void elves should not be the same as on blood elves, but maybe that's all to do with the racism thing going on atm, so if we exampt skin colour, then hair colour is the one i think the sharing should be limited and roughly the same as the eyes.

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In summary:

From blood elves:
3 new void elf skin tones: normal pale, rose pale, and brown
3 new void elf hair colours: blonde hue, the ginger hue, brown

1. New void elf skin tones and effects: Void elf hues >> than the imported ones from blood elves
2. New void elf hair colours and effects: e.g. pure silver white, midnight pitch black, more purple and blue variations
3. New void elf hairstyles - none of these from blood elves.

This is actually reasonable. While I'm glad void elves are getting natural skin tones, I don't think giving them all of blood elf tones is necessery. I would avoid those black and tanned skin tones, leaving void elves with their own pale void skin tones, natural skin tones and dark void blue/purple tones.

Pitch black and white/silver hair colors are a must. Every single race have white hair option, safe for void elves. Those two colors definitely matches dark void aestetics and should be included to the race from the very beginning.

[Beloren]

This is actually reasonable. While I'm glad void elves are getting natural skin tones, I don't think giving them all of blood elf tones is necessery. I would avoid those black and tanned skin tones, leaving void elves with their own pale void skin tones, natural skin tones and dark void blue/purple tones.

Pitch black and white/silver hair colors are a must. Every single race have white hair option, safe for void elves. Those two colors definitely matches dark void aestetics and should be included to the race from the very beginning.

I actually agree with you here, i don't think the void elves need the tanned/brown skin tones the blood elves got because they have their own dark versions which are a darker purple/ dark purplish brown, and that's what they should get.

I think with a limit on the skin colour and hair colour imports from blood elves on void elves, just like we got for the eyes and beards blood elves get from void elves.

As I mentioned above, top 2 or 3 skin tones and hair colours from blood elves, just like we had 2 hairstyles from blood elves make it through the rest were different. Should have far more void elf variation versions.

I like that the void elf eyes have a different range/spectrum from the blood elf.
So it should be with skin tones, hair colours, hairstyles etc, while i having just about 2-3 in common, because your void elf can be a high elf or blood elf in natural form but is mostly distinguished by the other.

[Vaedan]

I actually agree with you here, i don't think the void elves need the tanned/brown skin tones the blood elves got because they have their own dark versions which are a darker purple/ dark purplish brown, and that's what they should get.

I think with a limit on the skin colour and hair colour imports from blood elves on void elves, just like we got for the eyes and beards blood elves get from void elves.

As I mentioned above, top 2 or 3 skin tones and hair colours from blood elves, just like we had 2 hairstyles from blood elves make it through the rest were different. Should have far more void elf variation versions.

I like that the void elf eyes have a different range/spectrum from the blood elf.
So it should be with skin tones, hair colours, hairstyles etc, while i having just about 2-3 in common, because your void elf can be a high elf or blood elf in natural form but is mostly distinguished by the other.

Truth be told, blood elves are in pretty delicate spot. Addition of other elf AR drew heavily into thematics which were somewhat exclusive to them only. Before that, we had the opposition of night elves, mostly sneaky and primal elves oriented to druidism, Elune worship and deadly sentinels, and blood elves on the other hand, fullfiling fantasy of Imperial elves with strong affinity to magic, reckless use of power And strong will to survive, which lead to pragmatic decisions.

Nightborne now share the archetype of gifted elven spellcasters with Imperial past and void elves turned to be pragmatic group which does not hesitate to explore dangerous sources of power in order to protect their people. The only thing that that remain unique for blood elves is their orientation to the light and sun.

Given this, I believe dark and tanned skin tones should be blood elf exclusive. Hairstyles are not that important feature for me, since many haircuts are shared between races anyway, same goes to hair colors. There are much more features blood elves could get, like arcane/runic tattoos.

[Kyriani]

Given this, I believe dark and tanned skin tones should be blood elf exclusive. Hairstyles are not that important feature for me, since many haircuts are shared between races anyway, same goes to hair colors. There are much more features blood elves could get, like arcane/runic tattoos.

It's far too late to change what skins Void Elves are getting at this point. I mentioned it before, but I think what Blood Elves need is a different kind of diversity. They'll have a plethora of skin tones to choose from in Shadowlands, but they are still stuck with just the sunwell/light-centric theme as their only option really. The Dark Ranger/San'layn skin and eyes open up an entirely different theme to them, and one players have been asking for for some time. Scars and tattoos are also a popular request and I do believe they should be given as well.

I don't think we should focus on what we think this or that race shouldn't get, but rather focus on what we think this or that race should get. I believe this is far more likely to see results. If we spend our time saying "no! don't give them that" instead of saying "please! give us this!" then whatever the devs do decide to give us is going to be a roll of the dice instead of targeting what we want because we wasted time giving useless feedback (asking for a race not to get something), instead of giving useful feedback (asking for a race to get something).

[Vaedan]

I don't think we should focus on what we think this or that race shouldn't get, but rather focus on what we think this or that race should get. I believe this is far more likely to see results. If we spend our time saying "no! don't give them that" instead of saying "please! give us this!" then whatever the devs do decide to give us is going to be a roll of the dice instead of targeting what we want because we wasted time giving useless feedback (asking for a race not to get something), instead of giving useful feedback (asking for a race to get something).

Totally agree on this. The whole High Elf topic proves that devs are listening rather to the claims that say "give us" then to those of "don't give them". I also think it is pretty likely that blood elves will get san'layn options too, it is long standing request and many players would love to have this option, not to mention that it lines up with SL thematics pretty well. What I meant is that I could easily live without dark and tanned skin tones on void elves, but you are right that we can't stop them going live. Those tones are not vital for high elf fantasy and it also don't really contribute to the void fantasy either, on the other hand, you can see it as a way of "sun elf" aestetics, which can make blood elf fans feel unique. As for me, I can easily ignore those skin tones once they are available in the barber shop since they does not really align with my image of elves in warcraft, but I guess it's good to have these options for people who cares and likes that.

Truth is that blood elves are quite short on new customizations, compared to other races. Maybe they will not get much more at the launch, but devs clearly said they will continue to add new customizations during course of expansion, so I'm confident blood elves will get more stuff in later patches. It is also likely that when void elves get new customizations, blood elves will inherit those as well, since their models are identical and it likely take little effort to recolour new assets and transfer them to blood elf.

[Frenchvince]

It's far too late to change what skins Void Elves are getting at this point. I mentioned it before, but I think what Blood Elves need is a different kind of diversity. They'll have a plethora of skin tones to choose from in Shadowlands, but they are still stuck with just the sunwell/light-centric theme as their only option really. The Dark Ranger/San'layn skin and eyes open up an entirely different theme to them, and one players have been asking for for some time. Scars and tattoos are also a popular request and I do believe they should be given as well.

I don't think we should focus on what we think this or that race shouldn't get, but rather focus on what we think this or that race should get. I believe this is far more likely to see results. If we spend our time saying "no! don't give them that" instead of saying "please! give us this!" then whatever the devs do decide to give us is going to be a roll of the dice instead of targeting what we want because we wasted time giving useless feedback (asking for a race not to get something), instead of giving useful feedback (asking for a race to get something).

Frankly if Blizzard gives blood elves the dark ranger / san'layn option, that will mean they can make an undead elf paladin.
As you so aptly put it, the blood elves have the sunwell / light centric theme, it's quite the opposite of what an undead elves is.
I am not for and I am not against but if Blizzard does it, the door will be wide open for all requests of any kind, I give you an example, "void elf paladin",
so that's fine with me !

[Varodoc]

Blood elves don't need anything and are not entitled to anything. Void elves were entitled to fair-skin tones, since their leader had fair skin tone. That doesn't mean blood elves deserve anything in return. Void elves didn't steal anything, they simply received what they always deserved.

[FlubberPuddy]

Truth is that blood elves are quite short on new customizations, compared to other races. Maybe they will not get much more at the launch, but devs clearly said they will continue to add new customizations during course of expansion, so I'm confident blood elves will get more stuff in later patches. It is also likely that when void elves get new customizations, blood elves will inherit those as well, since their models are identical and it likely take little effort to recolour new assets and transfer them to blood elf.

Literally was thinking the very last bit as I was reading your post and then blam you note it down as well.

[Eric Arthur Blair]

Frankly if Blizzard gives blood elves the dark ranger / san'layn option, that will mean they can make an undead elf paladin.
As you so aptly put it, the blood elves have the sunwell / light centric theme, it's quite the opposite of what an undead elves is.
I am not for and I am not against but if Blizzard does it, the door will be wide open for all requests of any kind, I give you an example, "void elf paladin",
so that's fine with me !

They could still make San'layn an AR too, since they said they weren't done with ARs and would add them when the story/context was appropriate.

[Rhlor]

No, dude, it’s because Blood Elves aren’t getting anything comparable in return. All this talk of all these new customization options and the only thing BE’s are exclusively getting are jewelry, the rights to their original hair styles/colors, and ear modifications. That isn’t NEARLY enough. We don’t even get an exclusive skin color.

jewelry that nobody asked for! what we wanted were tattoos and scars and only on women. men's customization is terrible, we have practically nothing, just 3 hairstyles and three beards! Another thing is that if all our skins are shared with the void elves at least I would like to have void elf beards in my blood elf.

I would like to have more light elements also if they are have themes related to void the blood elves have to have more themes related to light

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They could still make San'layn an AR too, since they said they weren't done with ARs and would add them when the story/context was appropriate.

or ventyr!!!

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Blood elves don't need anything and are not entitled to anything. Void elves were entitled to fair-skin tones, since their leader had fair skin tone. That doesn't mean blood elves deserve anything in return. Void elves didn't steal anything, they simply received what they always deserved.

what? Are you saying that void elves deserve blood elves skins but blood elves shouldn't have void elves things like hairstyles or beards? I think it is fair that elements of both races are shared and not only share things to one race and the other has nothing

[Grythletubs]

Been trying the PTR and stuff.

Just wanted to mention that I find it odd that void elves don't have a black hair option...like what.

[Beloren]

Truth be told, blood elves are in pretty delicate spot. Addition of other elf AR drew heavily into thematics which were somewhat exclusive to them only. Before that, we had the opposition of night elves, mostly sneaky and primal elves oriented to druidism, Elune worship and deadly sentinels, and blood elves on the other hand, fullfiling fantasy of Imperial elves with strong affinity to magic, reckless use of power And strong will to survive, which lead to pragmatic decisions.

Nightborne now share the archetype of gifted elven spellcasters with Imperial past and void elves turned to be pragmatic group which does not hesitate to explore dangerous sources of power in order to protect their people. The only thing that that remain unique for blood elves is their orientation to the light and sun.

I don't think this is really true, becuase it operates on the basis and assumption that the blood elven themes were meant to be exclusive to blood elves alone, and they never were.

When the night elves were desigend they had all the themes in the high elves plus more, because they were the original elfgroup, from which all elves in cluding blood elves come from, so every aspect would be there.

While they gave the Darnassian that emphasised forest elf vibe, they never eliminated the nightborne vibe either, so it's not like it was meant to be unique.

In fact the blood elves as high elves are not unique as blood elves in anything, thier magic philsophy is notuniqiue, and is quite similarto the humans, in fact the two a part of the smae gclass of magic, as the high elves were part of the alliance units anyway, and the story goes that the humans get their magic form them. the high elves get their magic from the night elves , and this is painted in a more unique light.

However the magic casting cadre was never a uniuq e feature of the blood elf, neither was the archer /ranger forested elf a unique feature of the night elf - I've come to agree that the way blizard doest hese things is different from other games/fantasies.

You have to follow thier own pattern to make sense. In thieir world, the night elf is origin elf and all other current lf groups emphasise a portion of that original, including the Darnassians who are a faction of the night elves (not the whole of them -) something certain night elf fans I shall not name don't seem to realise when they try to turn the Darnassians into the full night elf palette - I'll just say that in wow, blizzard intended the Darnassian to be only a part of the original night elf, the highborne/Nightborne (same class) and the Illidari are other parts, while the Thalassians, naga, Satyr and worgen are just variations of those aspects present as their own races to allow them to do other things.

Originally the Thalassian was a part of the human alliance group just like the troll was part of the horde, and didn't exist independent of it - unlike the night elf and the undead who were designed from scratch to be their own faction and full races. But in wow, both Thalassian elf and troll become full races independent of the horde even though they effectively join them.

They however spawn variations that become playable, - those variations don't eat into the unique identity of the blood elves because they already have their own foundation. The void elf is the Thalassian elf that has extended his race's original nature into the void - it's not eating into the bloood elves as it is a side trajectory of the high/blood elf entirely based on them. The Nightborne has already long since been defined by the original kaldorei civilization anyway, this was there in the night elf story from the start, and is just visualised in the Nightborne, it was there before the blood elf story was hooked to its night elf parent. In other words, they planned it out that way.

So the way the elven races are distinguished is not necessarily purely based on function (or types of magic) it's more a combination of things, like history, political alignements, ideology, current affairs, magic and they all have a visual theme and variation to help that distinction, but they do share a strong core when they're of the same race. It's exactly the same with all the dwarf sub-races, or Tauren ones or orc ones. I'm seeing that t's just how blizzard do their races.

THe elves are highlighted because they're so popular and have a lot more attention, as a consequence players tend to want them all to be a little bit more unique, but realistically there is a limit you can stretch that before becoming a different race, and face it, if their variations aren't unique enough for you, you need to find another race - blizzard has loadsa other races that are unique enough for elves.


It's like those who want savage elves - I mean there is only so far a night elf can be savage before it loses the meaning or classification of elf, yet their are savage races enough - there's worgen, there's troll, there's orc.

Elves are defined by magic, beauty, high skill and intelligence - it's a common theme along with their lithe bodies and longer ears, beautified architecture which would have variations - but also similairities - Kaldorei/Shal'dorei, Thalassian (Quel/Sin/Ren), Naga, Satyr - they all have a similar type feel to them, despite their different colour and material themes - because they're all elven. They pull at different aspects of the elven realm, but to the very extreme ends they will fall in the elven bracket and not spill over to troll or human or other races. Within themselves they will intersect, but elf won't intersect with human although it's sphere is quite close to it, nor would it intersect with troll or worgen though it is close to them, however night elf, high elf, naga and satyr would all intersect within the the elf bracket though each would have their own corner none of the others share, even within same groups (same group is like the Thalassian - i.e. blood elf, void elf, high elf, san'layn, fel elf or Night group which would include priestess, druid, highborne, nightborne, illidari etc.

Nightborne now share the archetype of gifted elven spellcasters with Imperial past and void elves turned to be pragmatic group which does not hesitate to explore dangerous sources of power in order to protect their people. The only thing that that remain unique for blood elves is their orientation to the light and sun.

Given this, I believe dark and tanned skin tones should be blood elf exclusive. Hairstyles are not that important feature for me, since many haircuts are shared between races anyway, same goes to hair colors. There are much more features blood elves could get, like arcane/runic tattoos.

I agree with the conlcusion drawn based on the point you make here - i.e. to give blood elves a focused on direction feature they could double down on.

Now while arcane mastery isn't unique for Thalassians, never has been, how it is presented could be unique - for example the gold colour themes, the fire magic theme etc, but magic isn't the only variation (void/blood share the void/light frost/fire theme, while night elf/night borne share the nature/element star/moon magic spectrum theme).. there are other areas blood elves can double down on for unique feature that speak to their group more greatly emphasised in them than in say void elves (incl high elves). Farstrider rangers is one such area they could carve out a niche, the san'layn /dark fallen is another one that could come in the guise of an actual physical appearance shift/change - and these can be ALL blood elf - where as void elves and night elf/nightborne have other areas to them, void elves understandbly would share some things with blood elves, but would have a smaller niche scope to draw from.

What do I mean? Well void elves only draw from the void theme, the magic theme and the high elf theme of the blood elves in relation to the void, the blood elves have a magic theme, a high elf theme, but they also have more including a farstrider theme, a fel elf theme, a san'layn theme, etc etc. This makes sense because the void elf is the allied race, it's not meant to be as big, so it will have certain things of the blood elf in a unique light and double down on that but the blood elf would have more.

It's exactly the same with the Nightborne/Night elf, the Night elf would have the wider range , which is why it has highborne for example, but the Nightborne doubles down on the that Highborne aspect a lot more than the night elf, and doesn't have as wide a range as the night elf who also has the illidari , worgen/druidic elf aspects to it the Nightborne wouldn't have or would have a smaller variation of it like for example the nightborne may get druidism, but mainly balance druid caster druidism with some resto and a very weaker near non-existent feral/guardian section, because it only has part of the larger whole but a niche part. Same if the Order of Elune was the Nightborne priesthood, it would be more city centred and magic focused, emphasising the magical/arcane side of the order more visibily, while the night elf would have that + the martial sides like the sentinels and wardens, which the Nightborne wouldn't have, or would have far less prominent versions of. The Nightborne however we would see a far more detailed version of the caster side of the Order of Elune that we won't see be shown in the Night elves, even though we would know they'd be capable of it and can (like we see Tyrande) but the visualisation is more present on the Nightborne because this is what it emphasises.


In this way you have basically the groups feeling distinct, despite their great interconnectedness and similairities, you have visula definites and fantasies to feed off as core themes but having more niche ones available for those who love that side even though it's not heavily emphasised visually - this is all gameplay based to just stretch the illusion of distinctiveness so the main fantasies feel powerful even though the way they read in lore is far more realistic and blurred lines - which is absolutely how it should be. You want the game races to feel visually distinct enough to be easily identifiable, yet when you understand the lore the world in a more realistic sense, i's not as black and white at all as character creation and intro lore makes it sound/feel but far more gray.