Official High Elf Discussion Megathread

[FlubberPuddy]

Another cool thing if they added a tentacle toggle is that it could add tentacles to the styles that don't for those who really want to lean into the void themes.

Oh yup you're right! The reverse works just as well!

[Vaedan]

I'm horde and like horde, and still feel blood elves don't quite fit there either. THe way I worked it out was a race that had a hardcore wing that sends them in to help the new allies. it fit better in theTFT/TBC theme, but less so now. I also understand why it became this way, and it seemed a clever touch at first, but it lost the horde something it didn't replace.

Which is why I advocate for them taking the elves in a different direction. If we're honest, the night elves don't fit the alliance either, the arcane side of them is the one that comes the closest but it isn't utilised correctly as a branch of the kaldorei heavily involved with the humans and dalaran but from a pre-sundering kaldorei perspective, not a high elf one. The reason the high elves fit the alliance is they are written/created native for it. Until TBC they weren't a full race, but essentially part of the alliance kit that had elements that were breaking off in different directions (like the blood elves and the undead ones), they are built into human development, magical development in the main alliance very strongly. Whereas night elves are more alien, more separate because of their pre-sundering story and night theme, haivng no human involvement in their magical development and expertise. Human and high elf history are also geographically intertwined too. Orcs were invaders to Eastern Kingdoms, not natives, so even now despite the history, they still feel a world a part, Kalimdor feels more fitting to the orcs than EK, even though they are newer to it than the EK.

Well, if you look into thalassian history, elves often seek out for help to a faction they find primitive - back in times of troll wars, humans were pretty primitive in eyes of elves, yet they still managed to get over their pride in times of need, but they never really stayed loyal to that faction. They put their own interests to forefront and once they felt their debt is paid, they left the faction.

Now, something similar happened with the Horde. The issue I had with elves joining the Horde was that:

1) Orcs and ogres broke through elven defenses during Second War and burned the forest, killing many elves (civilians included). That's the reason why Alleria went to her quest for vengeance and why she hates the Horde. I find it quite unlikely for a prideful people to seek help from a faction that raided them just few years ago.

2) Trolls are important part of the Horde. Don't forget that Darkspears were not the only tribe to be official part of the Horde, forest trolls of Hinterlands were also allied with the Horde, and there is nothing elves hate more than trolls.

3) With their genocide by the Scourge still fresh, I find it highly unlikely for elves to ally with undead, of any kind. While they could accept their help in their hour of need, I still think majority of people would find hard to stomach becoming friends with monsters that crushed their kingdom.

If we look at the TBC story:

- Blood elves seeked help to reach Outland. They were unable to do so alone, since Scourge was pressing hard on their doorstep. Horde helped, so blood elves joined. They just wanted to reach Outland, rejoin with Kael and possibly leave the Horde then.
- Once they reach Outland, they find out that Kael is up to no good and is in league with Legion. Sin'dorei decided to aid the Horde in their campaign in Outland.
- After his defeat in Tempest Keep, Kael storm Silvermoon and heads to Quel'danas. It is clear that his intention to reignite Sunwell is not really to sate his people's addiction, but to summon Kil'Jaeden to this world.
- With combined effort of the Horde, Alliance and Sha'tar, Kil'Jaeden is defeated and with help of Velen, Sunwell reignited as font of both holy and arcane energies.

Now, this is the point where sin'dorei should say goodbye to the Horde, if they would follow their history. They got a help they needed. Sunwell was restored and their nation began to heal. From that point forward, blood elves contributed to many efforts of the Horde, getting pretty little in return.

- They were blackmailed by Sylvanas to support Northrend campaign, resulting in cosiderable losses for sin'dorei
- They contributed to Alliance-Horde war in Garrosh's Horde, which almost resulted in them leaving the Horde
- Iron Horde and Legion threats were serious enough, so I guess sin'dorei would answer these threats even if they were independent of any greater faction
- Fourth War was completely meaningless for thalassians. Not only that it make them complicit on the genocide (which they endured only few years ago), it also resulted in destruction of Undercity, making Silvermoon the last Horde bastion on the continent, thus drawing huge Bull's Eye on the kingdom.

Now, there are more things to mention. With the rise of Amani, Halduron had to reach out to Vereesa and her high elves for aid with the defense of Ghostlands from the troll menace. It was not the Horde which helped them defend their lands. In the comic Three Sisters, we've seen that Ghostlands are still undead infested even today, which means that Horde did not really contributed to sin'dorei efforts of reclaiming their homeland and possibly by demanding troops from sin'dorei to take part in the Horde affairs, blood elves are not really able to retake their lands on their own. That really put blood elves into not benefitial position within the Horde. Right now, there is a chance for improvement with Lor'themar being one of the member of Horde Council, so he can possible improve Silvermoon's standing within the Horde.

To sum up, blood elves contributed quite a lot to the Horde, while they get quite little in return. It would make sense for them to leave the Horde already, but I guess it can never happen due to gameplay mechanics.

I also thought about blood elves joining Alliance back in TBC, which would be way more natural for them, since as you said yourself, thalassians were developed to be part of the Alliance from the beginning, which is recognized by large part of community even 15 years after they were introduced to the Horde and with void elves on the Alliance, it is very much recognized by the Blizzard as well.
Blood elves on the Alliance could actually function as Alliance's version of Forsaken - a race which do shady things and most of them keep in secret from the rest of their allies, while the rest of the faction takes care of them and try to set them on the right path. They would fit in the Alliance very easily - I guess if blood elves were Alliance race in TBC, we would have close to zero threads about playable elves on the Horde today. The thing is - with TBC, Blizzard wanted to add two new races connected to Outland and get each faction a class which was previously locked to them. Blood elves are connected to Outland, fits into the Alliance, but can't provide them with shaman class. Using blood elves as a means to get paladins into the Horde seemed more possible, so I guess that's one of the reasons why Blizzard went this route.

Why would it ? They'd just do exactly the same thing they did for DK and DH, you exclude those options from popping up when you click on the paladin class icon. It's that simple

When you click on a the DH, you have all the DH extra options unlocked. This is why they can extend DH options to be available for BElf warlocks too, if they're being creative, I know some have suggested this is how you get Night elf warlocks.

Simply allow the San'layn customisations to be avialable for every blood elf class but the Paladin. Really is simple.

Likewsie I don't see anything stopping void elf paladins - which can have two approaches, light based in which case the high elf options are the only ones available. or they write how void elves employ the void as void warriors. Maybe the night warrior ritual becomes the key for the void elves unlocking this and they combine it with the night elf paladins and you have some sort of arcane/void priest warrior for void elves and night elves as paladins. Kill two birds with one stone.

Well, DKs and DHs are hero classes, so they are meant to be special in some way, thus having special customization for them, not available for any other class. That builds on their uniqueness.

What you propose is the opposite approach. You would lock a customizations available to all other classes to paladins only, limiting their choices compared to other classes blood elves have. While it is easy, it can leave negative feelings in players. Giving more options or highlighting special features of a class is always more rewarding then limiting a class to others.

As for void elf paladins... I don't think they are necessary. I would like them only as void knights if class skins ever happens.

[Thalassian Bob]

Man with all these changes I'm thinking of going full genderbend on my Mage and choosing Night Fae for a full on winter queen look. What do you guys think?

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/QsTchzY.png[/IG]

Looks like a blue dragon!

[Beloren]

Well, if you look into thalassian history, elves often seek out for help to a faction they find primitive - back in times of troll wars, humans were pretty primitive in eyes of elves, yet they still managed to get over their pride in times of need, but they never really stayed loyal to that faction. They put their own interests to forefront and once they felt their debt is paid, they left the faction.

Now, something similar happened with the Horde. The issue I had with elves joining the Horde was that:

1) Orcs and ogres broke through elven defenses during Second War and burned the forest, killing many elves (civilians included). That's the reason why Alleria went to her quest for vengeance and why she hates the Horde. I find it quite unlikely for a prideful people to seek help from a faction that raided them just few years ago.

2) Trolls are important part of the Horde. Don't forget that Darkspears were not the only tribe to be official part of the Horde, forest trolls of Hinterlands were also allied with the Horde, and there is nothing elves hate more than trolls.

3) With their genocide by the Scourge still fresh, I find it highly unlikely for elves to ally with undead, of any kind. While they could accept their help in their hour of need, I still think majority of people would find hard to stomach becoming friends with monsters that crushed their kingdom.

If we look at the TBC story:

- Blood elves seeked help to reach Outland. They were unable to do so alone, since Scourge was pressing hard on their doorstep. Horde helped, so blood elves joined. They just wanted to reach Outland, rejoin with Kael and possibly leave the Horde then.
- Once they reach Outland, they find out that Kael is up to no good and is in league with Legion. Sin'dorei decided to aid the Horde in their campaign in Outland.
- After his defeat in Tempest Keep, Kael storm Silvermoon and heads to Quel'danas. It is clear that his intention to reignite Sunwell is not really to sate his people's addiction, but to summon Kil'Jaeden to this world.
- With combined effort of the Horde, Alliance and Sha'tar, Kil'Jaeden is defeated and with help of Velen, Sunwell reignited as font of both holy and arcane energies.

Now, this is the point where sin'dorei should say goodbye to the Horde, if they would follow their history. They got a help they needed. Sunwell was restored and their nation began to heal. From that point forward, blood elves contributed to many efforts of the Horde, getting pretty little in return.

- They were blackmailed by Sylvanas to support Northrend campaign, resulting in cosiderable losses for sin'dorei
- They contributed to Alliance-Horde war in Garrosh's Horde, which almost resulted in them leaving the Horde
- Iron Horde and Legion threats were serious enough, so I guess sin'dorei would answer these threats even if they were independent of any greater faction
- Fourth War was completely meaningless for thalassians. Not only that it make them complicit on the genocide (which they endured only few years ago), it also resulted in destruction of Undercity, making Silvermoon the last Horde bastion on the continent, thus drawing huge Bull's Eye on the kingdom.

Now, there are more things to mention. With the rise of Amani, Halduron had to reach out to Vereesa and her high elves for aid with the defense of Ghostlands from the troll menace. It was not the Horde which helped them defend their lands. In the comic Three Sisters, we've seen that Ghostlands are still undead infested even today, which means that Horde did not really contributed to sin'dorei efforts of reclaiming their homeland and possibly by demanding troops from sin'dorei to take part in the Horde affairs, blood elves are not really able to retake their lands on their own. That really put blood elves into not benefitial position within the Horde. Right now, there is a chance for improvement with Lor'themar being one of the member of Horde Council, so he can possible improve Silvermoon's standing within the Horde.

To sum up, blood elves contributed quite a lot to the Horde, while they get quite little in return. It would make sense for them to leave the Horde already, but I guess it can never happen due to gameplay mechanics.

I also thought about blood elves joining Alliance back in TBC, which would be way more natural for them, since as you said yourself, thalassians were developed to be part of the Alliance from the beginning, which is recognized by large part of community even 15 years after they were introduced to the Horde and with void elves on the Alliance, it is very much recognized by the Blizzard as well.
Blood elves on the Alliance could actually function as Alliance's version of Forsaken - a race which do shady things and most of them keep in secret from the rest of their allies, while the rest of the faction takes care of them and try to set them on the right path. They would fit in the Alliance very easily - I guess if blood elves were Alliance race in TBC, we would have close to zero threads about playable elves on the Horde today. The thing is - with TBC, Blizzard wanted to add two new races connected to Outland and get each faction a class which was previously locked to them. Blood elves are connected to Outland, fits into the Alliance, but can't provide them with shaman class. Using blood elves as a means to get paladins into the Horde seemed more possible, so I guess that's one of the reasons why Blizzard went this route.

I think perspective shifted in blizzard concerning the blood elves, they started iewing them as basically the horde humans, the part of the alliance the horde needed to make it popular. But useful because thy weren't actually human so the human v orc staple could continue and instead the horde humans would be the Thalassians.

I think this is also what they continued to essentially think of them as. I think a lot of things changed to fit the blood elves in, they changed a lot of things about the lore, and filled in backstories to support the move over.

The logic is okay, imo, they did enough, I view the blood elves as high elves who are working on the horde, and just like a nation of humans might choose under strong circumstances to instead ally with the horde. In many respects the Thalassians going horde was a bigger challenge than humans because they were perceived to be even more core to the alliance theme, than the humans, afterall the better values of humanity are present in them, which pre Wc3 makes them feel the least likely candidate for the horde.

But warcraft is characerised by humans vs orcs, so elves are expendable to switching sides. Humans were not expendable either as wC2 showed, it's only in wow they become expendable because of faction unique silhouette rules and identity.

This is how night elves and blood elves have different models when they shared the same models up to WoW classic, it is also why it is the blood elves that made the leap over and not Alterac humans or another human nation.

THe horde number deficit would have been solved even better with humans on the horde, but then forsaken were exactly that, except their models are altered to not look human, but zombie monster.

At least that's my imo. So you get blood elves who don't feel traditional horde, to me anyway, but are proud strong members of the horde, that feel more like the Draenei feel to the alliance, i.e. aiens very foreign to the rest of the group, but none-the-less working with them.

Well, DKs and DHs are hero classes, so they are meant to be special in some way, thus having special customization for them, not available for any other class. That builds on their uniqueness.

What you propose is the opposite approach. You would lock a customizations available to all other classes to paladins only, limiting their choices compared to other classes blood elves have. While it is easy, it can leave negative feelings in players. Giving more options or highlighting special features of a class is always more rewarding then limiting a class to others.

As for void elf paladins... I don't think they are necessary. I would like them only as void knights if class skins ever happens.

This is exactly what having DK and DH customisations unique only to them does. those customisations could be opened and those clases still be hero classes and unique classes, they don't need their customisations to be totally unique too to feel special, that's just an added bonus.

If they were to restrict an appearance to the paladin class only, it would be nothing but the same as what they've done for DK/DHs and so would be the opposite, ie. exclude an appearance option from the paladin class - like the San'layn red eyes and any undead skin options that were opened up.

Frankly I think the Illidari DH customisations should extend to warlocks at the very least, as an Illidari should be ble to be one. And if we are having San'layn customisations, then the DK skins have to open up to every classs that the San'layn can be which should be all but Paladin.

While people may like to have a red eye paladin, if the red eyes are indications of San'layn or undead, then paladin can't be an option. Lightforged undead can be paladins, but then their eyes aren't red because of the light power that fuels them, so you may get the pale almost transluscent skin, but not the eyes.

Lore at least informs some options.

[Kyriani]

While people may like to have a red eye paladin, if the red eyes are indications of San'layn or undead, then paladin can't be an option. Lightforged undead can be paladins, but then their eyes aren't red because of the light power that fuels them, so you may get the pale almost transluscent skin, but not the eyes.

Lore at least informs some options.

Sir Zeliek is an undead Paladin and not lightforged to my knowledge so undead paladins are not without precedent:

Sir Zeliek was one of the Four Horsemen of Naxxramas. He was a paladin in life, so strong in his faith, that even in undeath the power of the Light still heeded his call, smiting his foes in battle.

But with the introduction of Calia as a light-risen undead, it does feel like a more organic route to add the paladin class to the forsaken (with some new customization options) or a possible new undead allied race (the rumored "Redeeemed").

In Icecrown Citadel, there are what seem to be undead "corrupted paladins" (Darkfallen Blood Knights). These mobs use corrupted versions of what appear to be Retribution paladin style abilities. If Blizzard ever allows "alternative versions" of the paladin class to be open to races not normally able to access it (say void-themed for void elves, moon-themed for night elves, etc), then I could see the floodgates being open for any race to have some sort of paladin. That would require some serious lore gymnastics to make work though.

[Vaedan]

Sir Zeliek is an undead Paladin and not lightforged to my knowledge so undead paladins are not without precedent:


But with the introduction of Calia as a light-risen undead, it does feel like a more organic route to add the paladin class to the forsaken (with some new customization options) or a possible new undead allied race (the rumored "Redeeemed").

Another instance of "lightforged undead" we've encountered in game is Highlord's Steed (paladin class mount in Legion), which used to be baron's Rivendare's charger. During a questline, you make blessed horse harness and later use it to cleanse the horse. It seems Blizzard is toying more and more with undead beings connected to the Light.

In Icecrown Citadel, there are what seem to be undead "corrupted paladins" (Darkfallen Blood Knights). These mobs use corrupted versions of what appear to be Retribution paladin style abilities. If Blizzard ever allows "alternative versions" of the paladin class to be open to races not normally able to access it (say void-themed for void elves, moon-themed for night elves, etc), then I could see the floodgates being open for any race to have some sort of paladin. That would require some serious lore gymnastics to make work though.

If we ever get class skins (which I really hope we will), blood elf paladins could get option of Blood Knight, having blood magic animations instead of light magic. During TBC, blood elf paladins had their blood oriented spell (Seal of Blood) and it would fit san'layn theme extremely well.

Also, give us Kul Tiran paladins already.

[Graden]

Worgen
Pandas
Draenei
Nightborne

Don’t really fit their factions either. Pandas and Draenei make better sense as their own factions needing to be expanded. Worgen really fit with the primitive side of the night elves and nightborne with the magical advanced side of the night elves.

Thing is we are not talking about pure Worgen here. The playable 'Worgen' are actually cursed Gilneans. A faction that is one of the original Alliance members. It will always fit the theme of the Alliance.

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

It'd be a great way to set them apart more in their own ways too. It makes little sense for them to get their 'fair skin' and no 'fair hair'.

It would be completely arbitrary to give VE's normal skin but no normal-ish hair. Like there's no consistency on that lol.

Probably won't see any of that during SL, but whenever AR get revamped it should be addressed.

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Even just a tentacle toggle would open up some longer options.

I definitely think this one is on the cards for wherever VE's get updated, since we have seen many races get beard/jewelry/other options separated, and we have the "Vine" option on Night Elves that toggles them at will. The technology and design sensibility are already there, so I think it's plausible it happens.

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Man with all these changes I'm thinking of going full genderbend on my Mage and choosing Night Fae for a full on winter queen look. What do you guys think?

The more orangey skin tones look amazing with bluish armor!

Good thing is that if you choose a gender neutral name or don't care about that, you can swap your whole character at the barbershop now.

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the Alliance neglected and failed to rehabilitate Alterac for 30 years. The fact that when Arthas and Kel'thuzad visited it, it was infested with Blackrock Orcs; I prefer if the disenfranchised humans have chosen to cast their lot with the Horde. Alteraci Humans for the Horde. (see the link in my signature)

I'm very into this one. Even the whole Calia thing could serve like a catalyst for it if we frame it as the disenfranchised Alteraci being resentful of the Alliance, and Calia's presence within the Forsaken and her new politics swaying them to ally, even if what seals the deal is their shared animosity towards the alliance.

Cause that would be the thing, Calia being "oh yes we are all coming together yaaay" but at the end it just serves to create a bigger anti-alliance coalition.

[Beloren]

Question: Now the high elf option is possible. Should the high elves be totally folded into the void elves?

Should they exist as a race or faction within the void elves

Or Should the high elves and void elves exist as two separate factions but working closely together, with the playable option accessible through the void elves?

Which would you prefer ? And why?

[Varodoc]

Fair-skin tones really wont change anything lorewise because they should have been there since the start. Which means that void elves and Silver Covenant remain separated. However, they are close allies, and obviously Vereesa has deep respect for her older sister (she was also following her orders in 8.2.5).

Any high elf who wishes to pledge themselves to the void elves is obviously free and welcome to do so, as proven by the many high elf scholars in Telogrus Rift. However, the Silver Covenant remains its own organization of high elves, if that is what you are asking.

[Beloren]

Fair-skin tones really wont change anything lorewise because they should have been there since the start. Which means that void elves and Silver Covenant remain separated. However, they are close allies, and obviously Vereesa has deep respect for her older sister (she was also following her orders in 8.2.5).

Any high elf who wishes to pledge themselves to the void elves is obviously free to do so, as proven by the many high elf scholars in Telogrus Rift. However, the Silver Covenant remains its own organization of high elves, if that is what you are asking.

No, I know the status quo, what I am asking is how would you like them to proceed now. The new options can imply several things, I listed 3 and was interested in which ones you guys wanted the most.

It’s clear the void elf light skin option is not just for Alleria type void elves, but actually makes it possible to role play as a high elf or blood elf that has defected to void enough for eye colour to change at least.

The lack of green eye options means the void elf options can either be pure highbelves , high/blood elves now training/studying as void elves or racial void elves. Without green eyes you can’t be a blood elf on the alliance even though some blood elves can have blue eyes and you can fake it that way.

You also don’t have access to golden eyes representing the blood Knight strain, and no lore exists to confirm high elf Priests and Paladins can gain golden eyes even if the Sunwell is back up. This can only mean the green and gold glows are exclusively blood elf just as the silver and purple glow are exclusively void elf

[Varodoc]

No, I know the status quo, how would you like them to proceed.

It’s clear the void elf light skin option is not just for Alleria type void elves, but actually makes it possible to role play as a high elf or blood elf that has defected to void enough for eye colour to change at least.

The lack of green eye options means the void elf options can either be pure highbelves , high/blood elves now training/studying as void elves or racial void elves. Without green eyes you can’t be a blood elf on the alliance even though some blood elves can have blue eyes and you can fake it that way.

You also don’t have access to golden eyes representing the blood Knight strain, and no lore exists to confirm high elf Priests and Paladins can gain golden eyes even if the Sunwell is back up. This can only mean the green and gold glows are exclusively blood elf just as the silver and purple glow are exclusively void elf

Which is why I have suggested several times that void elves should also get green eye color, since there are many blood elf scholars in Telogrus Rift. But since Blizzard is taking God only knows how long to update allied races, we will have to wait.

[Beloren]

Which is why I have suggested several times that void elves should also get green eye color, since there are many blood elf scholars in Telogrus Rift. But since Blizzard is taking God only knows how long to update allied races, we will have to wait.

Yeh. I don’t think they should get green eyes. Let’s just believe all the blood elves that came over turned into racial void elves and the only normal Thalassians are the high elves that came after.

Presumably no more blood elves have come after the opening events. The ones you see in the Telogrus rift are the last of the blood elves that switched sides hence why you can’t play them.

I don’t mind the sound of that. Racial void elves are former blood elves and the rest are high elves.

Alliance are either void elves or high elves. Horde are either blood elves or high elves. High elves is common to both, but void is exclusive to alliance and blood to horde.

[Ardenaso]

an illidari warlock is noty our demon loving kind of warlock, but your demon abusing kind. At least that's how I view it. I don't view an Illidari night elf like I do a normal Darnassian, nor do I view a Highborne or Moonguard like I do a normal Darnassian, same with the DK, they're just part of a different culture/group whether Illidari, Ebon Blade, Highborne, Moon Guard - it's just a different faction of night elves.

Which is essentially what this is for every race right?

fair enough, I suppose

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You are confusing the character customization and customization only available for certain classes like DK / DH.
If I think like you, dark ranger should be a class with its unique customization, available to blood elves and / or night elves ?
It will be difficult to make a class "for the second time" only available for NE / BE.

dios mio not another Elf exclusive class

[Kyriani]

Question: Now the high elf option is possible. Should the high elves be totally folded into the void elves?

Should they exist as a race or faction within the void elves

Or Should the high elves and void elves exist as two separate factions but working closely together, with the playable option accessible through the void elves?

Which would you prefer ? And why?

It depends on what you mean by "totally folded into the void elves". If you mean "all alliance high elves now study the void and have void powers" then no I would not advocate for that. If you mean "they don't all study the void but since they have rallied under Alleria's banner they consider themselves members of the Ren'dorei now" then I'm not sure. Without some sort of catalyst to bring them all together, I'm not sure that all or even most Alliance Allied High Elves would forsake the name Quel'dorei.

As much as I wanted a playable Alliance High Elf with no strings attached, it seems Blizzard has pushed focus away from Allied Races and more towards racial customization and already intends for us to make our Alliance High Elves through Void Elves. In this case I think the best case scenario is that the lore begins to reflect a close association betwixt The Ren'dorei and the Silver Covenant (the only real Quel'dorei military faction that I'm aware of). This would help flesh out Void Elf lore further and lend support to the idea that some High Elves now study the void under Alleria (in additional to the High Elf Wayfarer and Silvermoon Scholar npc's we see in Telogrus).

The really important thing to me is that we see some lore elements in game that actually point this out. I'd like to see those High Elf wayfarers having dialogue that says why they are joining the Void Elves. I'd also like to see a more in depth explanation as to how they are acquiring their powers, even if its just a short blurb that says Alleria and Locus Walker are holding Void 101 classes Tuesdays and Fridays from 3pm-5pm :P

[Ardenaso]

it just serves to create a bigger anti-alliance coalition.

well yes, the Alteraci I want is a rogue human kingdom that hates the Alliance so much, probably higher degree to the Blood Elves whose pleas for help against the Scourge was ignored by the Alliance for 5 years and only received that (asspull) Night Elf sabotage

and yeah, now that the Alliance got their fantasy elves - I really feel that I also deserve to have the rugged bandit kingdom in the Horde; after all bandit models in Reforged scream Horde as well

[FlubberPuddy]

even if its just a short blurb that says Alleria and Locus Walker are holding Void 101 classes Tuesdays and Fridays from 3pm-5pm :P

With a quiz every Tuesday!

[Beloren]

It depends on what you mean by "totally folded into the void elves". If you mean "all alliance high elves now study the void and have void powers" then no I would not advocate for that. If you mean "they don't all study the void but since they have rallied under Alleria's banner they consider themselves members of the Ren'dorei now" then I'm not sure. Without some sort of catalyst to bring them all together, I'm not sure that all or even most Alliance Allied High Elves would forsake the name Quel'dorei.

As much as I wanted a playable Alliance High Elf with no strings attached, it seems Blizzard has pushed focus away from Allied Races and more towards racial customization and already intends for us to make our Alliance High Elves through Void Elves. In this case I think the best case scenario is that the lore begins to reflect a close association betwixt The Ren'dorei and the Silver Covenant (the only real Quel'dorei military faction that I'm aware of). This would help flesh out Void Elf lore further and lend support to the idea that some High Elves now study the void under Alleria (in additional to the High Elf Wayfarer and Silvermoon Scholar npc's we see in Telogrus).

The really important thing to me is that we see some lore elements in game that actually point this out. I'd like to see those High Elf wayfarers having dialogue that says why they are joining the Void Elves. I'd also like to see a more in depth explanation as to how they are acquiring their powers, even if its just a short blurb that says Alleria and Locus Walker are holding Void 101 classes Tuesdays and Fridays from 3pm-5pm :P

Yeh, they need that.

Imo, what they need is several high elf options

1. high elves who are actually studying the void, interested, but like Alleria and all others who ewerne't involved in teh original incident with Umbric, maintain their high elven appearance

2. High elves who have rallied to Alleria's cause/banner as high elves partnering with the ren'dorei as high elves, not void elves - they don't study the void, but they work well with those who do. These ones can involve Paladins and others,

3. Lightforged high elves - also involved with Alleria, but partnering under Turalyon as lightforged high elves, basically golden eyes.

[Kyriani]

Yeh, they need that.

Imo, what they need is several high elf options

1. high elves who are actually studying the void, interested, but like Alleria and all others who ewerne't involved in teh original incident with Umbric, maintain their high elven appearance

2. High elves who have rallied to Alleria's cause/banner as high elves partnering with the ren'dorei as high elves, not void elves - they don't study the void, but they work well with those who do. These ones can involve Paladins and others,

3. Lightforged high elves - also involved with Alleria, but partnering under Turalyon as lightforged high elves, basically golden eyes.

I think the Blood Elves have laid claim to the "light" themed Thalassians, so I doubt Blizz would consider a Lightforged High Elf option for the Alliance. Not that I'd object to it mind you, I'm personally of the opinion that more options are better no matter what. But I try to be realistic as well.

At best I think we could see the Ren'dorei and Quel'dorei from the Silver Covenant working together. Even if only a single "Silver Covenant Liason" NPC is added to Telogrus to imply the connection, that would be something. Having transformed void elf npcs and non-transformed new recruit npcs having some banter discussing what happened to Umbric's group would be awesome but probably too much to hope for from Blizzard to devout to a single allied race (even if its the only allied race that desperately needs background development).

Unless Blizzard decides to go the route they went with alternate types of Druids (Zandalari Loa Druids, Kul Tiran Drust Druids), I don't think we'll see Void Elf Paladins (which is disappointing if only because I think a Paladin with all void-colored spell effects would look amazing!). I'd also expect that non-void-studying Alliance High Elves will remain the in the realm of NPC's, and I am ok with that. I'd just like some in game acknowledgement and lore to flesh out the Void Elf background and how Alliance High Elves fit into that background now.

[Beloren]

Unless Blizzard decides to go the route they went with alternate types of Druids (Zandalari Loa Druids, Kul Tiran Drust Druids), I don't think we'll see Void Elf Paladins (which is disappointing if only because I think a Paladin with all void-colored spell effects would look amazing!). I'd also expect that non-void-studying Alliance High Elves will remain the in the realm of NPC's, and I am ok with that. I'd just like some in game acknowledgement and lore to flesh out the Void Elf background and how Alliance High Elves fit into that background now.

Really, the should. Especially for paladins.

Void Paladins
Night warrior Paladins
Blood paladins

They can also do things like:
Light damage spec skin for shadow for Lightforged blood elves and Draenei
Void healing spec for void elves, forsaken and Mag'har
Star damage speck skin for shadow for Moon Priestesses - night elf and nightborne


Things like that would be great.