Official High Elf Discussion Megathread

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

Alleria Windrunner is a High elf, not a Blood elf.
Lore:
https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Void_elf
https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Alleria_Windrunner

Their origins lie with a group of blood elves led by Magister Umbric who were exiled from Silvermoon City

Please stop turning "Void Elves" into High Elves, they are not.

Alleria is literally a High Elf that became a Void Elf -she is, again, literally, called a Void Elf in literature and in game- As if both Blood Elves and High Elves can become Void Elves because they have basically the same biology.

It's Outstanding how you keep being "but the lore" and have absolutely no grasp of... common sense or critical thinking, because your argument is so dense you are basically saying Void Elves will die out the moment that original group is gone? Because for some reason, there can't be another way of making Void Elves.

Despite Alleria literally becoming a Void Elf in a completely different manner.

Babe... BABE.

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

And because Alleria is now a Void elf, that makes the Blood elves that turned into Void elves now High elves?....I dont get it. Your logic seems weird....

Babe it's not hard to understand:

-Both High Elves and Blood Elves can become Void Elves.
-You don't have to turn blue to become a Void Elf

I don't remember the Mag'har orcs having the same hair color as the Orgrimmar orcs, or the other way around....

You say that like it is a positive; despite Shadowmoon orcs being presented often with purple hair, when Maghar became playable they don't have the option.

Why is this "But because Alleria is a High elf....now all the rest of the Void elves are now High elves..." crap sounds so wrong?. Simple, because the "Void elves" we use used to be Blood elves, now turned into "Void elves".

So nop, those are not High elves. The High Elves are those who are stranded in Outland, Hinterlands, Loch modan, etc...Those few. Those ARE High elves

Why are you giving Void elves, High elf features, if they are not even High elves?. They used to be Blood elves, but not anymore. They turned forever into purple elves.

It sounds so wrong because YOU KEEP MISSING THE POINT. JFC, Even if Alleria *looks* like a High Elf, she is a Void Elf. How do you not get that?

"Why are you giving Void elves, High elf features, if they are not even High elves?" Is the zenith of how obtuse your opinion is, because, again:

Alleria is literally a Void Elf that looks like a High Elf.

Please, PLEASE, tell me you have the capacity to understand the point even if you disagree with the aesthetic choice that Void Elves should be able to look like Alleria.

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

- Both an Orgrimmar Orc and a Mag'har orc cant become one another. And so your elves are no longer the same.
- Shadowmoon orcs are not on the list of "rescued orcs" from Draenor past.

https://www.wowhead.com/npc=144320/maghar-darkcaster

Sure Jan, the Maghar Darkcasters are TOTALLY NOT SHADOWMOON ORCS, despite Maghar being a coalition of ALL the maghar left after the War.

- Alleria is not a Blood elf. She was a High elf. Your playable Void elf used to be a Blood elf.
- Alleria used to be a High elf living in space, and turned into a Void Elf by absorbing a Dark Naru.
- Your playable "Void Elf" is a Blood elf turned into a Void elf by a ritual. He/She is no longer a Blood elf. Now is something new....

And yet both the playable character and Alleria are both now Void Elves, as if the manner of conversion is not what makes you a Void Elf on the first place.

The whole point is we are talking about how Void Elves could/should recruit more members to not die out, thus, we are talking about other ways of becoming a Void Elf.

It's like you keep forgetting WHY we are talking about this on the first place FFS.

You are literally like that Patrick Star meme.

[Le Conceptuel]

- Not a single feature from the Shadowmoon clan there.

- They cant recruit new members because they cant recreate the ritual that turned them into Void Elves.

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Like you making Blonde Void elves...so weird dude. Play Blood elves and be done with it.



If Blizzard dropped this bomb on you and you didnt like it, its up to you. I like them purple, its original. Blonde...? I would play a Blood elf instead.

Firstly, lolwut? For one, they have both the skin color -and- armor, and for two, the only association they have with the Void is through the Shadowmoon!

Secondly, there is no evidence they couldn’t recreate the process. It’s just 1. Turn them into creatures of the Void, and 2. Cancel the process halfway through.

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

- Not a single feature from the Shadowmoon clan there.

*sigh*

- They cant recruit new members because they cant recreate the ritual that turned them into Void Elves.

I guess they'll die out then.

Like you making Blonde Void elves...so weird dude. Play Blood elves and be done with it.

If Blizzard dropped this bomb on you and you didnt like it, its up to you. I like them purple, its original. Blonde...? I would play a Blood elf instead.

It's like you are asking us to be as limited as you. Because you can't see beyond what VE's are right now, no one should. And that is just... sad.

Also I do play a Blood Elf as well? How is that a gotcha? Some of us play more than one character, Steve.

Now, this an entire new race, called "High Elves", that are not available, because i bet Blizzard doesnt know how to make them. This was the original post after all.

But what you guys want is: "Lets turn the Void elves into High elves, because fuck it!, i want it!". And i don't think that is how Blizzard plays with it.

Wow I can't BELIEVE in here we talk about High Elves and also about Void Elves, and anything in between.

Do you GET the conversation, tho? Like, be honest. A lot of the arguments I make are about how we could fold in some HE aesthetics into VE's -like Alleria does- as a way to move VE's forward by allowing them to recruit HE's to replenish their numbers, thus also maintaining some of the HE themes alive.

All you bring to the conversation is "AKSHUALLY VOID ELVES ARE ONLY THE ONES MADE BY THAT RITUAL" And it's like, such a basic grasp of what we are even talking as a whole.

Like yes, you can totally want VE's aesthetic to remain as is, that's perfectly valid; but instead of saying that, you keep making the dumbest arguments, to the point you seem to want the Void Elves to die out.

[FlubberPuddy]

Exactly; if anything, Night Elves options prove how much variety a toggle option can add for hairstyles, I'd really like to see more of it across the board, and tentacles is a natural choice for the VE model.

Not only because it gives us more tentacle-less options, but because we could ALSO have tentacles on the hairstyles that don't have them!

Night Elves options also show they didn't stick to one aesthetic (purple elf with purple/blue/green hair). You can make pretty pale/tan NEs along with some almost charcoalish ones too. Broadening their aesthetics has done nothing but good for allowing players to express themselves how they see fit!

[FossilFree]

Night Elves options also show they didn't stick to one aesthetic (purple elf with purple/blue/green hair). You can make pretty pale/tan NEs along with some almost charcoalish ones too. Broadening their aesthetics has done nothing but good for allowing players to express themselves how they see fit!

Honestly, if Night Elves can have a shade of blonde hair, then any arguments against Void Elves having it go right out the window.

[Leinadh]

*A lot of the arguments I make are about how we could fold in some HE aesthetics into VE's -like Alleria does- as a way to move VE's forward by allowing them to recruit HE's to replenish their numbers.

Exactly this here. We’ve been discussing in our Void Elf Discord (https://discord.gg/8m9wDrqk) and we all pretty much agree that natural customization options such as regular hair colors and hairstyles are a given for Void Elves. In essencse, they’re not a different race from Blood/High Elves, they haven’t changed their culture whatsoever.

We could argue that the first generation of Void Elves, those who accidentally turned blue, are biologically different or not, but here’s the thing - they’re still the same Blood/High Elves they were before the accident.

If they find the way of dying their hair, quite a few will do it. We have to remember we’re talking about a narcissistic race in general terms who believe in the importance of keeping up appearances.

Anyway, we’ve proposed several stuff for Void Elves, both regular and voidy customizations, on the EU forums, in case anyone’s interested and/or wants to help us with our cause:

BODY:

Void tattoos
Wider range of Voidy skin tones, including a mix of regular and Void-infused skin tones, as in the following image: https://i.imgur.com/3zuCYG1.jpg
FACE:

Void scars
Black eyes
Variety of Voidy make-up (for males as well, this is 2021, Blizz!)
Variety of Voidy jewelry (ditto)
Range of ear lengths
Third eye on the forehead (although cool, I doubt this is even possible)
Small tentacles for beards and moustaches
HAIR:

Wider range of Voidy hair colors, including black and white
Voidy hair highlights
Void braids, this could be like combining normal hair with a tentacle
The option to toggle on/off tentacles on any hairstyle, and diversity as well in terms of size and color
A full-tentacled hairstyle, like Medusa in Greek mythology, but tentacles instead of snakes.
OTHER CUSTOMIZATIONS:

More variety of Entropic Embrace skin tones, giving us the ability to choose one whenever it procs.
Let us customize our Spatial Rift racial - I personally would prefer to open a Void portal (like Alleria does) to teleport instead of that almost indiscernable floating Shadow ball. We could also simply disappear and appear using a special Voidy ‘teleportation’ effect.
This won’t probably happen, but it would be nice if we could change the color of our class spells to dark purple, so as to show we’re using our class powers infused by the Void. Hunters should have the option to transmog their bows in a way that arrows look dark and gloomy when shooting at a foe.
Not really a customization, but please develop some more lore for Void Elves? Show how they are training new recruits, explain how’s the new Void infusion process, make Umbric show up more frequently, not just Alleria, convert a few more High Elves, especially from the Silver Covenant, show a possible conflict of interest between Alleria and her sister Vereesa in this sense, etc.
Popular demand asks for more regular hair colors, such as brown, black, grey, white or blond, as well as normal-looking hairstyles. They could always include some sort of Void highlight if Blizzard considers they should look different from Blood Elf hair options.
Quite a few players have been asking for drastic Void customizations, such as a K’thir face option or tentacles sprouting out of the stomach. I personally don’t think it makes sense, as Void Elves are supposed to master the Void precisely to avoid further undesirable or odd consequences. But that’s just me.
FURTHER IDEAS AND VISUAL EXAMPLES:

https://i.imgur.com/D0BJ2st.jpg
https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comment..._option_ideas/
https://twitter.com/Wowhead/status/1...589440/photo/1
https://i.imgur.com/T2wuYNh.jpg

EU thread: https://eu.forums.blizzard.com/en/wo...athread/290261
Void Elf Discord: https://discord.gg/8m9wDrqk

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

Night Elves options also show they didn't stick to one aesthetic (purple elf with purple/blue/green hair). You can make pretty pale/tan NEs along with some almost charcoalish ones too. Broadening their aesthetics has done nothing but good for allowing players to express themselves how they see fit!

That's one thing that's a huge limitation of how AR's are envisioned, they really have very limited aesthetics across the board. With some of them it isn't as big of an issue because their core race exists in the same faction so at least there's more illusion of variety, yet still races like LFD are notoriously limited to a palette that just feels uncreative, despite the rest of the draenei options being available on the alliance.

Then we have the case of NB and VE, where the limitations are jarring because their CR are on a different faction, so the illusion of choice is not there. So they feel aesthetically limited in a way that just runs against variety and choice, and instead of an additional flavor, they feel like an incomplete experience standing on their own. Because as races, within the setting, their limited variance just makes them feel artificial, not as members of a world that evolves and changes. They don't feel like "races" but as an offshoot of a real race, unable to exist on their own.

Which it is the place VE are within their lore. So I really hope they are able to recruit more members, and thus, add more diversification to their members, as elves from different backgrouns are able to join. Both an in universe and player agency/choice movement.

[BaumanKing]

Say what you will about HElves haters, but damn they're are persistent. They've lost BElves models and skin tones, but are still fighting for hair color, even though compared to the loss of BElves models, it's not that big of a deal tbh.

[FlubberPuddy]

Honestly, if Night Elves can have a shade of blonde hair, then any arguments against Void Elves having it go right out the window.

When the race customizations came in Shadowlands, Blizzard's MO became "we want to increase the diversity of options so players can look like the fantasies they wish to play in game." Something like that anyway, it's honestly tiring to always go look up the exact wording of when/where it was said.

So honestly the requests people make for their favorite races are all valid, especially the ones that make sense from a lore pov imo.

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That's one thing that's a huge limitation of how AR's are envisioned, they really have very limited aesthetics across the board. With some of them it isn't as big of an issue because their core race exists in the same faction so at least there's more illusion of variety, yet still races like LFD are notoriously limited to a palette that just feels uncreative, despite the rest of the draenei options being available on the alliance.

Then we have the case of NB and VE, where the limitations are jarring because their CR are on a different faction, so the illusion of choice is not there. So they feel aesthetically limited in a way that just runs against variety and choice, and instead of an additional flavor, they feel like an incomplete experience standing on their own. Because as races, within the setting, their limited variance just makes them feel artificial, not as members of a world that evolves and changes. They don't feel like "races" but as an offshoot of a real race, unable to exist on their own.

Which it is the place VE are within their lore. So I really hope they are able to recruit more members, and thus, add more diversification to their members, as elves from different backgrouns are able to join. Both an in universe and player agency/choice movement.

Yeah, very true, it's another case of Blizzard iterating upon a feature they pushed live when they didn't fully think it out. I think there's some people (not you) that also need to remember the only reason VEs got the customization they did is because their model/rigging is literally the same as their core race. It's why LF Draenei also got tail customization, mechagnomes got decoupled ears/jaws options, and mag'har got straight posture (you could even consider green orcs getting posture because they did posture for mag'har first).

It would not have made sense for Blizzard to hold those back when they can slip those changes into related races at the same time. But people are acting like 'VE got their AR customization already!'. No they actually did not, they just got options because of the work already being done on BEs, there's a nuanced difference there.

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Say what you will about HElves haters, but damn they're are persistent. They've lost BElves models and skin tones, but are still fighting for hair color, even though compared to the loss of BElves models, it's not that big of a deal tbh.

They're actually not. There's only Necro here who is 'new blood'. The rest of the 'OG Helves haters' have pretty much left this thread alone now, Syegfred, Obelisk Kai, CombatButler, etc etc. But admittedly that's because those guys used to argue against VEs receiving blue eyes and human skin tones.

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

Yeah, very true, it's another case of Blizzard iterating upon a feature they pushed live when they didn't fully think it out. I think there's some people (not you) that also need to remember the only reason VEs got the customization they did is because their model/rigging is literally the same as their core race. It's why LF Draenei also got tail customization, mechagnomes got decoupled ears/jaws options, and mag'har got straight posture (you could even consider green orcs getting posture because they did posture for mag'har first).

It would not have made sense for Blizzard to hold those back when they can slip those changes into related races at the same time. But people are acting like 'VE got their AR customization already!'. No they actually did not, they just got options because of the work already being done on BEs, there's a nuanced difference there

It IS really funny when people say "VE's already got their customization" when EVERYTHING but 2 eye colors based on their VE eyes it's a Blood Elf reused textured. Like those people really think it would be totes uncontroversial if all AR BUT Void Elves get new stuff?

I think that the new skin tones on VE's did come off as a bit of a surprise, but I think that was a decision made after -or as they said, alongside- giving BE blue eyes. Because otherwise, oh boy would have there been a lil bit of a shitstorm.

I do hope, or believe, that VE's will get more natural hair colors, but different -and perhaps new- than the BE options, so those will be part of whenever AR's get updated. That they gave VE's natural skin tones does tell us they wanted to move away from that very limited aesthetic they first conjured for them, but its implementation does make me believe it was speeded up in order to lessen the backlash of blue eyed BE's, rather than just the desire to expand VE's.

But yeah, in short, it does make me believe as a decision, it was a first step into expanding VE's aesthetics thinking of the future of the race as more than what they were first conceived as.

[Kyriani]

I don't think comments like "x will never happen" tend to age well. The universe can be a spiteful bitch when we try to paint things in absolutes. At least that's been my experience.

I mean, who saw the skin proliferation happening? I know I certainly didn't. If that can happen... well then I think anything can happen. Doesn't mean void elves will actually get natural hair colors, but I'd say there's a pretty decent chance of it happening. And even if it doesn't happen in 10.0, we can just keep asking.

[THEORACLE64]

I don't think comments like "x will never happen" tend to age well. The universe can be a spiteful bitch when we try to paint things in absolutes. At least that's been my experience.

I mean, who saw the skin proliferation happening? I know I certainly didn't. If that can happen... well then I think anything can happen. Doesn't mean void elves will actually get natural hair colors, but I'd say there's a pretty decent chance of it happening. And even if it doesn't happen in 10.0, we can just keep asking.

They've aged well so far. Void Elves are obviously the closest we've got/will get for a long while.

Maybe they'll give the same options to night elves one day, who knows. I wouldn't bet on it.

[Kyriani]

They've aged well so far. Void Elves are obviously the closest we've got/will get for a long while.

Maybe they'll give the same options to night elves one day, who knows. I wouldn't bet on it.

Have they though? I mean, if you say something will "never" happen, and it happens, even if it's been a long time, doesn't that mean the statement didn't age well?

The fact that void elves began using an unmodified blood elf model, then shadowlands proliferated blood elf skin tones to them, and also the fact that the devs themselves have billed these options as "high elf customization" all paint a different picture to my eyes. If the devs have already been willing to give void elves "high elf customization," then what makes you doubt that hair isn't the next thing to happen?

Sure, there's no guarantees of anything, but it seems strange to think blizzard wouldn't continue the trend, unless you have some insights the rest of us do not.

[THEORACLE64]

Have they though? I mean, if you say something will "never" happen, and it happens, even if it's been a long time, doesn't that mean the statement didn't age well?

The fact that void elves began using an unmodified blood elf model, then shadowlands proliferated blood elf skin tones to them, and also the fact that the devs themselves have billed these options as "high elf customization" all paint a different picture to my eyes. If the devs have already been willing to give void elves "high elf customization," then what makes you doubt that hair isn't the next thing to happen?

Sure, there's no guarantees of anything, but it seems strange to think blizzard wouldn't continue the trend, unless you have some insights the rest of us do not.

They have, because we still don't have High Elves/NE HE customization.

[Vaedan]

I still have the images of when you removed the tentacles!





I really like the look of some of them with no tentacles or braids at all. Obviously nothing at all in place of the tentacles would work better with some styles than others. But imagine if we could just pick between tentacles, braids, or nothing there!

Female hairstyles look really good without any option indeed. I'm not really fond of the male ponytail without tentacle (it feels somewhat incomplete for me), but that's just my personal taste. Also, being able to customize color of tentacles would be nice too.

Ah I remember when I removed all the tentacles from the VE hairstyles but don't remember where that image is now XD! regardless, I did believe all of then looked alright so a toggle would work well enough. Now, the option to toggle that for braids? now that would be just awesome!





Bringing this back too because it would really be a cool way of adding variety and choice.

Now this is awesome!

I can also imagine adding some night elf/human hairstyles options.

[Kyriani]

They have, because we still don't have High Elves/NE HE customization.

Um, that's certainly a strange way to look at it...

I don't expect to see a high elf race ever happen now that void elves have high elf customization, but the fact is, void elves do now have, according to the devs own words, high elf customization.

They got the model...
They got the skin colors...
Third time's the charm?

If hair colors are all that's left to finish the high elf customization for void elves, then why wouldn't blizzard do it? Especially when it would finish answering an age old request by alliance players, and it would be relatively quick and easy to do.

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Female hairstyles look really good without any option indeed. I'm not really fond of the male ponytail without tentacle (it feels somewhat incomplete for me), but that's just my personal taste. Also, being able to customize color of tentacles would be nice too.

Not every hairstyle works well with "nothing" there but some do. I prefer to err on the side of letting the player decide what looks good to them. That's why I like the idea of more options than just tentacles on/off. Give me tentacles on/off/hair/braids! And I agree it would be cool if we could color the tentacle glow, especially if it had the same color options as the eyes!

[DiligentImpact]

- Not a single feature from the Shadowmoon clan there.

• They are wearing the Shadowmoon Clan armor set from Warlords
• They are shadow/void spellcasters, which was the main thing the AU Shadowmoon clan were known for
• If the Shadowmoon weren't represented here, it would make them the only major AU mag'har clan not represented among the generic Mag'har orcs found in Orgrimmar because we have the Burning Blade (Blademasters), Shattered Hand (Rippers), Warsong (Outriders), Blackrock (Warders), Bleeding Hollow (Impaler), Laughing Skull (Limbflayer), Thunderlord (Giantslayer) and Frostwolf (Warrior) all represented. Why would the Shadowmoon Clan be left out especially when their outfit and name are pretty obviously telling us they are from the Shadowmoon Clan

They have, because we still don't have High Elves/NE HE customization.

Night Elf Highborne are represented by them having the Mage class, the Highborne were just a caste of the ancient Night Elf society, they weren't different in appearance from the rest of the Night Elves, they didn't start diverging in appearance/physiology until after they were exiled from Kalimdor.

[Vaedan]

[LIST][*]They are wearing the Shadowmoon Clan armor set from Warlords[*]They are shadow/void spellcasters, which was the main thing the AU Shadowmoon clan were known for[*]If the Shadowmoon weren't represented here, it would make them the only major AU mag'har clan not represented among the generic Mag'har orcs found in Orgrimmar because we have the Burning Blade (Blademasters), Shattered Hand (Rippers), Warsong (Outriders), Blackrock (Warders), Bleeding Hollow (Impaler), Laughing Skull (Limbflayer), Thunderlord (Giantslayer) and Frostwolf (Warrior) all represented. Why would the Shadowmoon Clan be left out especially when their outfit and name are pretty obviously telling us they are from the Shadowmoon Clan

Not to mention that Mag'har Orc allied race have Priest class option unlocked for them, which defecto confirms Shadowmoon clan being part of the group.

Also, these orcs are part of Horde assault on Stormsong Valley:

https://www.wowhead.com/npc=148663/darkcaster-mystic

Definitely Shadowmoons.