Official High Elf Discussion Megathread

[Enkrypt]

His answer was biased, especially because of the arguments he gave.

But it was obvious that high elves werent coming just after void elves were released. He dismissed them now, but he also stated that they could come in the future.

So there wasnt much of news besides some biased answer.
If blizzard doesnt care about high elves, well they should kill vereesa and the silver covenant. His words are inconsistent to what appears ingame.

So everything remains as usual. The only thing new is that ion confirmed high elves arent coming soon, but everyone knew this already.

The denial is real with this one.

Please, show us where he said they could come in the future? What I read was "If you want a pale-skinned elf, play Horde." to paraphrase. He didn't say they aren't coming soon, he painted the picture that High Elves are in the game already, on the Horde side.

Do you have trouble reading simple sentences, friend? I think you're seeing things that aren't there.

You're absolutely, 100% delusional if you read his statements as "They aren't coming soon."

Why am I surprised? You're the same person that said the Alliance would get Silvermoon and Horde would claim the Exodar.

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A toxic community got what it deserved. They don't even have the humility to accept it.

This, 100%. They want elves, but they can't even accept things with grace. The irony is real.

[Syegfryed]

Silver Covenant have a higher count than Void Elves by a very large margin.

and the sources are? they never put any number on then, and after the wtlk evrytime they shows up is just under the banner of something else, never as their own

As for the other two, that's not true. Nightborne are Night Elves. Void Elves are Blood Elves with a bit of purple hues.

still is different enough, when HE and BE have no differences at all

With that said, even easier: Give some personality to High Elves. Make them stand out from Blood Elves. Unique posture, unique haircuts, unique faces.

why? there is no lore for that to happens, and those changes are cosmetic, not a race thing, this will not make then different, jut elves with shenanigans

It's actually not all that hard to give them personality without being BE 2.0 or having to invest a tremendous amount of efforts.

"personality" is not a thing here

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And Void Elves are Blood Elves. So?

so? high elf fns can play all they want with then, case closed

[Ithekro]

"Blurring the lines between factions"?

Really?

That's a very dishonest bit of reasoning to something that already exists in game. Visually blur perhaps, if you are in a battleground, but who actually pays attention to the models in there? I look for red name tags and class indicators and either nuke the shit out of it, stun it so I can nuke the shit out of it, or fear it so I can set up to nuke the shit out of it. The race means nothing there, its all about the classes.

But lore-wise and faction representation wise? The Alliance has High Elves representing them heavily in at least three expansions, if not more. We are far past blurred. That line was crossed and you can't have it back. Playable is a reasonable request given that the High Elves are there and representing Alliance interests in game already. It be like if you played say Star Trek Online and had Vulcans representing you as the Federation at multiple events but were not allowed to play as Vulcans because Romulans were in the game as another faction. "It would be blurring the lines between factions". Total bullshit since Romulans and Vulcans look alike and are (basically) the same species (both came from Vulcan). Similar case can be made for High Elves and Blood Elves.

Population is not a valid argument either given the recent inclusion of Void Elves, and race/faction that quite literally was just made out of a handful of Blood Elves in story.

[Jervaise]

I will start a petition. I want Orcs in game. I don't care if Orcs are already there, I want them. Give me Orcs.

- But we already have Orcs, why don't you play them?
- No I want Orcs.

[Enkrypt]

Obelisk Kai The way Ion answered the question was very insulting and disrepctfuly to his customers who are Alliance fanbase and that want High Elves, he could of answered nicely but he did not. he was reprenting Blizzard and he insulted us. He was also very ignorant with this Answer. Don't reply to me because I don't give one single fuck about you

LOL. I'm enjoying these rivers of tears all of you are showing. If you take "Play Horde if you want a High Elf" as insulting, you really need thicker skin. How was his answer ignorant? Please, enlighten us. You reply in the same fashion as a twelve year old adolescent.

"Don't reply to me! My feelings are hurt. I want to soak myself in my own tears. I don't give a FUCK ABOUT YOU. REEEEEE."

[derpkitteh]

I got the impression that it was because void energies threaten the Sunwell, which is a light based energy source.

i mean, they could obviously keep it away from the sun well. they could study in the ruined half of the city, while the sun well is off to the north on quel'danas.

i felt like it was more that it was dar'khan's teachings that pissed rommath off. he's basically the single biggest evil in thalassian elf society.

[Andromedes]

A toxic community got what it deserved. They don't even have the humility to accept it.

Really? All i see is toxic anti-helfers, who are overjoyed from others misfortune, while they have everything they wanted in terms of allied races and customization.. They cant be more spiteful than that.

[Obelisk Kai]

Oh yeah, for sure. I wish he would have actually done that and ended it, the way I see it this won't make them stop since the answer is the same one they already rejected and it's not hard enough.

I think he did end it, and a lot of the pro High Elf community reactions show me that a lot of them agree. He can't tie the hands of a future dev team by saying never, but the reasons he listed as to why they aren't a thing aren't going to change.

The reason it's different this time is that by repeating himself, he shattered the idea that their seventh month campaign had any sort of momentum or that something was going to happen. Last night a poster in this thread claimed the presence of a community manager in the High Elf discord as the surest sign they had made progress and that it was inevitable.

But it meant nothing in the end. Muffinus was just joking. The Community Managers were managing communities. And Ion meant what he said on behalf of the dev team the first time.

[Combatbutler]

Really? All i see is toxic anti-helfers, who are overjoyed from others misfortune, while they have everything they wanted in terms of allied races and customization.. They cant be more spiteful than that.

I have yet to see the anti high elf crowd calling out for people to kill themselves.

[Zorish]

Ion - thank you. Thank you for not putting Warcraft in the stinking pile of 80% general fantasy stories where "humans, dwarfs, elves" are good guys who will always win in the end and "orcs, trolls, goblins, undead" are bad and will lose even when they outnumber enemy, outshine him with technology and etc. They will lose any way. THANK YOU BLIZZARD FOR NOT DOING THIS! Thank for world where is "black and white" forgotten. Go on.

[Andromedes]

I have yet to see the anti high elf crowd calling out for people to kill themselves.

I saw no crowd yelling that.

[Sorrior]

While I would personally LOVE to see High Elves added to the game as a playable race for the Alliance, I believe one of the core issues that the developers aren't addressing is the black-lash they would receive from people who participate in PvP activities complaining about not being able to differentiate from allies and enemies due to similarities between races.

Horde players would complain that they can't identify their Blood Elf allies from their High Elf enemies and vice-versa on the Alliance side of things. But instead the developers are trying to use the lore and mythology of the game to justify their design decisions. Lore that, mind you, they are always rewriting to justify their design choices, not vice-versa as Ion describes.

It is, sadly, more because of mechanics than it is aesthetics that Alliance can't, currently, play as High Elves.

Personally I think players should have the ability, for a game they pay monthly to play, play as their desired race/class. Part of the beauty of any roleplaying game is playing WHO and WHAT and HOW you want to play. But I also understand that it would create a lot of confusion in player-versus-player content trying to distinguish enemies and allies based on silhouette alone. Not to say that is a problem for everyone, but it could be a problem for enough people for the developers to move forward with adding High Elves a playable race. But regardless of what any developer says... I don't think the issue will every be settled until High Elves are in-fact added to the game as a playable Alliance race.

Say what you will about nails in coffins (or the more formidable coffin of nails) but stranger things have happened in and around Azeroth. But we did get flying in Dreanor after all, and that was a result of a very passionate group of players so...

Welll looks wise see the op lore friendly and different

As for pvp pandaren...and void elves in armor

Pre pandaren and ve it would be easy to use pvp buut yeah not anumore

[RangerDaz]

Daz we've debated this for years, and we had the space to debate it because Blizzard never gave an official comment on the matter.

That's gone now and hoping Ion alone is preventing playable High Elves from being a thing, so that if he leaves the possibility returns, is just false hope. The population issue was mentioned again, but he mentioned the REAL reason it hasn't happened, the reason I've said all along.

It just breaks the faction wall too much.

It's time to move on Daz.

It's time for the Alliance to let go of High Elves.

Kai, your years are 2 months for me lol

I dont think its ion alone preventing high elves to be playable. He is probably a vocal part of blizzard against as there are vocal people in blizzard in favor. The way he announced it was not the way i was expecting from a lead diretor.

Also i always said high elves would not be released in months from now. So not being launched in bfa was expected.

Allied races decisions are a team decision. That is how corporations work. I also agree with them that releasing high elves now would not make sense. I always said that in previous posts.

I also do agree with you that trying to maintain the races and factions unique from each other is important and the high elves introduction would be a challenge for that.

That being said, i think everything remains the same as it was before, only with the confirmation that high elves are not planned for BfA.

If ion means that high elves from alliance are so unimportant, that he should kill them off just like you once suggested. While they keep appearing, the door will remain opened.

[Super Kami Dende]

so? high elf fns can play all they want with then, case closed

Just like they'd be able to play High Elves all they want as well. Since it would make no difference under that context. You've yet to actually make a point why High Elves shouldn't work if Void Elves already do.

[Syegfryed]

I can write plenty but when you play a game like this and RP you build your story around the world not the world around your story.

and? a void elf player can say his elf is a silver covenant elf, a high elf, everything he want, he can do that, he have base inlore to do that. its a non-issue

Annd yeeah you go from denying legolas/lotr shit to admitying you mention it(and how are you exposing someone who genuinely dislikes lotr?)

of course i mention, cause is what people want, they want play human+dwarf+elf cliche trio

they said "i lke then for lore" when its not, its just about the loftr cliche, already saw many times, so yeah, saying legolas is exposing then (He fans who don't admit they want be legolas)

[Rhlor]

Is it only me who interpereted the "contact lenses" comment like he was saying "dude, it's only an eye color"?

I interpreted it as the possibility for blood elves to have blue eyes as they already have golden eyes

[Jervaise]

Ion - thank you. Thank you for not putting Warcraft in the stinking pile of 80% general fantasy stories where "humans, dwarfs, elves" are good guys who will always win in the end and "orcs, trolls, goblins, undead" are bad and will lose even when they outnumber enemy, outshine him with technology and etc. They will lose any way. THANK YOU BLIZZARD FOR NOT DOING THIS! Thank for world where is "black and white" forgotten. Go on.

THIS! I couldn't agree more.

You'll see that it's the same people who cry over for high elves and who keeps making new threads about "Horde is evil".

There is no black&white in any realistic struggle. Warcraft's story and lore is in its best shape ever.

[Syegfryed]

Just like they'd be able to play High Elves all they want as well. Since it would make no difference under that context. You've yet to actually make a point why High Elves shouldn't work if Void Elves already do.

they can play high elves all they want as well, the horde is there for then

[Enkrypt]

Really? All i see is toxic anti-helfers, who are overjoyed from others misfortune, while they have everything they wanted in terms of allied races and customization.. They cant be more spiteful than that.

"Misfortune"? You call that misfortune? The race you want is literally on the Horde side and you just refuse to play the faction that has it. That's called being stubborn, not misfortunate.

[Super Kami Dende]

I have yet to see the anti high elf crowd calling out for people to kill themselves.

Ahh yes, because a few idiots is what should completely disregard an entire group of people that have been asking for High Elves for 14 years.