Official High Elf Discussion Megathread

[Pheraz]

Why can't we get both? More void elves and more nightborne customisations? I can't see how void fits to paladins but after holy cows and trolls wielding the light everything is possible

[Yarathir]

Ahh, I don't go into threads like that.
I think all this stuff goes both ways.

Velf fans don't want Nightborne to be updated and vise-versa. I've seen some helf fans calling it a "waste of resources" to update nightborne.

I think we're going through a very "Anti-Horde" on the internet. It needs to stop.

I've.. never seen Helf/Velf fans talk about Nightborne. But if so, that's dumb too.

I do know there has been a huge slapfight between Void and Blood Elf players for a long, long time. It's silly.

[Tanaria]

I've.. never seen Helf/Velf fans talk about Nightborne. But if so, that's dumb too.

I do know there has been a huge slapfight between Void and Blood Elf players for a long, long time. It's silly.

As a Blood Elf fan, I just don't want my race to be forgotten and want them to get their equal time with a Quel'Thalas update and a rebuilt Silvermoon.

The idea, that has been dear to many Blood Elf fans, for such a long time - to have this be seen as "controversial" and "not caring about the Alliance Elves" is just absurd.
I mean, the ideas that Lordaeron, Quel'Thalas, Suramar and Highmountain should all go to the Alliance, plus the Alliance keep the Night Elf and Draenei controlled lands, is staggering and ridiculous.

And people talk on other medias, such as social media and other forums and some people do believe that Nightborne updates are a waste and that it's the Legion Alliance Allied races that should be focused on now, with Highmountain and Nightborne coming later (with some even saying that they should be reserved for the next expansion.) I take issue with this nonsensical, "Anti Horde" rhetoric.

[Kyriani]

Why can't we get both? More void elves and more nightborne customisations? I can't see how void fits to paladins but after holy cows and trolls wielding the light everything is possible

More options for everyone!

[ravenmoon]

I believe that Tanaria tells the truth. you always said that the alliance should conquer suramar and silvermoon, that the few blood elves and nightborne that remained in the horde should not have any development in lore and no city. that all development and all the lore of the elves should only be given to the alliance and that the development of the horde should only be for orcs or tauren.
But tell us how is your vision of what would happen to the blood elves and the nightborne once they lose their homes? What development would they have? Whenever you talked about this, the only thing you said was "give the zulaman horde a change or create a new maghar capital somewhere" but you never said anything about the blood elves and the nightborne because the horde according to you should have the playable model but nothing more than that.
So please tell us what would be the future of the blood elves and the nightborne? I suppose that it would no longer be just that the horde has the model then what will happen to them and their story?

I've said many things, some of them are the exact opposite of each other.

Context my dear, such recollections are only relevant in the context they are made.

I still s and by 100% what I said, just don't you go mis-understanding.. in your hurt over my suggestions, you simply failed to look beyond losing silvermoon to see what else could benefit you in the long run. . While closing the elf chapter on the horde would work very well, it could still be open if it came in line with the rest of the faction - on the basis ofc that returning to distinct faction themes was the directon. However my preferred suggestion never involved removal, even in the occassions it was listed as an option, which it is.

It all depends on what blizz want to do, , I'm sorry you can't look beyond.. "oh no, blood elves can't lose Silvermoon, = the end of the world"

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

High elf / blonde void elf hype is good and I am all on the hype train. And I love seeing all those high elves running around in stormwind.

And yes it was dump to give blood elves to the horde.

Yet IT HAPPENED. And it was actually really long time ago. The game already has enough retcons and inconsistencies. So Silvermoon should always be the blood elf capital in my opinion. Some things need to be accepted as a fact even if the history was weird.

I am repeating myself but I think high elves as outcasts are very cool and fit very good into the alliance cities. Maybe we could get some siege outposts around silvermoon to annoy the blood elves with high elf guerillia stuff. Yes I know alleria doesn't want this, but it would be cool for the gameplay.

I just love the idea of High Elves constantly shaking their fists on the direction of Quel'thalas and saying "Someday!!!"

But yeah, High Elves have been on a state of stasis for over a decade and I would just really like to see them move on, and now with the arrival of the Void Elves and the remaining Windrunners coming together, I think it's time for the thalassian exiles as a whole to start building a new future.

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With regards to Elven stories going forwards, I think Silvermoon is unified and solid as the Blood Elven capitol and the Horde's last major stronghold on the Eastern Kingdoms. For Void Elves, their reunification with High Elven wayfarers in Telogrus Rift and connection to Stormwind could explain the new appearances (outside of Silver Covenant/Outland High Elves).

I think we could see the Void/High Elves travel north back up to Lordaeron and have a foothold up there. If they every did update Silvermoon and bring it into the Eastern Kingdoms it would be restored with the Void/High Elves being the aggressors taking over the role from Prospector Anvilward and the Night Elves in the Ghostlands. This would be from a Blood Elven POV so showing the Void Elves dangers with their void magics and go over the Dar'Khan Drathir story with the Void Elves in Ghostlands as well as the every present Trolls threat. I still think the Undead should be there, in the Dead Scar, but the Ghostlands should be partially recovered and Silvermoon restored.

You could cover the fall of Silvermoon, the rise of the Blood Elves including Kael'thas, the split with the Void/High Elves and the current stability Lor'themar brings. I think the ultimate ending to the storyline has to the Void Elves pushed to the edges of the Ghostlands to solidify the Horde in Eastern Kingdoms.

In terms of future expansions I expect Light to be a prominent theme (potential Lightbound on Azeroth, Alliance fracturing with Turalyon at the head or a Shadowlands-esque theme of Light world). Of the Horde races I would expect Blood Elves, Undead and Mag'har to be most strongly used whilst for the Alliance it would likely be Humans, Draenei and Void Elves.

The Dark Rangers that did not join Sylvanas at the end of BFA exist and have Blood Elf models, similar to Warlocks they could be on the edges of Blood Elven society. They could easily add a skin and red eyes for those wanting to look that way and even a few options to appease San'layn requests. In a similar way if they introduced the Night Elven Dark Rangers to the Alliance they would be Night Elf customization.

I kinda like the idea of VE/HE retaking either the Lighthouse, or Quel'lithien. If an outright Battle of Quel'thalas is not ever gonna happen, it would just be a neat way to show the looming hostility by having a settlement of the exiles so close to the BE territories, but not impeding on them. The tension alone would be delicious.

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Honestly, the hype for the patch is dying for me. When it's all said and done, Void Elves didnt get anything "new", they got copy-pasted options and a lazy tentacle toggle switch that leaves giant gaps in many hairstyles. As if the males need even more male pattern baldness. The rest of the patch is almost all QOL changes, and catch up mechanics for alts. Shadowlands still lacks content, and the Alliance is still empty.

Basically, since SL gave us no new classes, races, or class/race combos, this is the perfect time to hotfix in Void Elf paladins. Really live up to the "Alliance High Elves!" hype they want. The Alliance is missing one class/race combo anyway. The Void Elves were already a lazy addition with 5 minutes of lore to their name, slapping together last minute "Void Knights" wouldnt hurt anything. Its not like there's other class/race combos that make no sense or have no lore ever stopped them.

IMO, there isn't a case why High Elves *HAVE* to be Paladins. Sure would be neat, but of all the things that define HE fantasy, Paladins just aren't one of them. Some people are never going to be happy until they get Alliance High Elven Paladins and that's a valid desire as any, but they were never a given, so holding out for them might be waiting for Godot.

And this is not really a disimilar desire to simply wanting HE's. Sure they are neat, but they didn't *HAVE* to be playable. But the case for them was better, the argument stronger, and overall just has more people supporting it. And at the end of the day, people that need HE paladins are a fraction of the fraction. Even I, that would love a HE paladin, I'm okay if they never happen because I don't feel it breaks any lore.

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I want nightborne updates I play more than just void elves.

Some people would rather believe that if we support sharing customization options is because we are just greedy VE players that want more stuff while preventing others from getting it.

Instead of, you know, overall being okay with customization sharing where it makes sense in the lore -and even that is very subjective-

But I guess it's funnier to say "VElf fans don't want NB to be updated and vice versa"

[FossilFree]

They need to do one more warfront: Quel'thalas.

It could be Void Elves vs Blood Elves. Blood Elves would end up keeping it, but it would allow new stories, new lore, and an updated zone (think of how much better new Arathi is). Also, imagine the gear sets! 3 tiers for each armor type and weapons for both Void Elves and Blood Elves. You can't tell me that wouldn't bring players back to the game. Personally, I loved warfronts, and I never understood all the hate for them. They just needed to be a bit harder, with a chance of failure, and have a pvp version. They should have been iterated on, not thrown in the trash.

[Tanaria]

I've said many things, some of them are the exact opposite of each other.

Context my dear, such recollections are only relevant in the context they are made.

I still s and by 100% what I said, just don't you go mis-understanding.. in your hurt over my suggestions, you simply failed to look beyond losing silvermoon to see what else could benefit you in the long run. . While closing the elf chapter on the horde would work very well, it could still be open if it came in line with the rest of the faction - on the basis ofc that returning to distinct faction themes was the directon. However my preferred suggestion never involved removal, even in the occassions it was listed as an option, which it is.

It all depends on what blizz want to do, , I'm sorry you can't look beyond.. "oh no, blood elves can't lose Silvermoon, = the end of the world"

And alliance/High Elves not having Silvermoon, Suramar, Lordaeron and Highmountain, isn't the end of the world, either.

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They need to do one more warfront: Quel'thalas.

It could be Void Elves vs Blood Elves. Blood Elves would end up keeping it, but it would allow new stories, new lore, and an updated zone (think of how much better new Arathi is). Also, imagine the gear sets! 3 tiers for each armor type and weapons for both Void Elves and Blood Elves. You can't tell me that wouldn't bring players back to the game. Personally, I loved warfronts, and I never understood all the hate for them. They just needed to be a bit harder, with a chance of failure, and have a pvp version. They should have been iterated on, not thrown in the trash.

A QT warfront was planned, but it was scrapped because the Warfront system was negatively viewed.

I think, rather than the QT Warfront, they brought in the Sin'dorei Heritage Armor.

[FossilFree]

A QT warfront was planned, but it was scrapped because the Warfront system was negatively viewed.

I think, rather than the QT Warfront, they brought in the Sin'dorei Heritage Armor.

It really makes me wonder if all the heritage armors we got were leftovers from scrapped warfronts. That might explain why some races never got theirs too.

[Rhlor]

I've said many things, some of them are the exact opposite of each other.

Context my dear, such recollections are only relevant in the context they are made.

I still s and by 100% what I said, just don't you go mis-understanding.. in your hurt over my suggestions, you simply failed to look beyond losing silvermoon to see what else could benefit you in the long run. . While closing the elf chapter on the horde would work very well, it could still be open if it came in line with the rest of the faction - on the basis ofc that returning to distinct faction themes was the directon. However my preferred suggestion never involved removal, even in the occassions it was listed as an option, which it is.

It all depends on what blizz want to do, , I'm sorry you can't look beyond.. "oh no, blood elves can't lose Silvermoon, = the end of the world"

Of course, I am not going to like the blood elves and the nightborne to lose their homes and not get anything in return. and in this post you still don't tell me what the great future would have been for the nightborne and blood elves according to your plan.

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And alliance/High Elves not having Silvermoon, Suramar, Lordaeron and Highmountain, isn't the end of the world, either.

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A QT warfront was planned, but it was scrapped because the Warfront system was negatively viewed.

I think, rather than the QT Warfront, they brought in the Sin'dorei Heritage Armor.

I think the warfronts were BFA's big disappointment. I think blizzard didn't know how to handle warfront and expeditions was too much for them. and they only decided to continue with expeditions because it was less work than warfront

[Mungho]

(btw, trolls could use beards too if we're on that topic)

I've been advocating beards for trolls for years, but couldn't really get any traction, not even on the official forums. The most recent thread has a total of four posts and has now sunk off the front page. I guess only a handle of players like me want them

[Kyriani]

Some people would rather believe that if we support sharing customization options is because we are just greedy VE players that want more stuff while preventing others from getting it.

Instead of, you know, overall being okay with customization sharing where it makes sense in the lore -and even that is very subjective-

But I guess it's funnier to say "VElf fans don't want NB to be updated and vice versa"

I just want everyone to get the options for the races they enjoy. It shouldn't be turned into a competition. I'd imagine most people play more than one race and want options for all the ones they enjoy playing.

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

I just want everyone to get the options for the races they enjoy. It shouldn't be turned into a competition. I'd imagine most people play more than one race and want options for all the ones they enjoy playing.

That's what saddens me. People should be striving to get the customization options they want, not blocking others from getting the ones they want. Some people legitimaly use the argument that exclusivity by itself is a want that has to be respected, but I can't agree with that. Would be hypocritical of me to say things should be exclusive for its own sake when I advocated for HE fantasy on VEs.

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I've been advocating beards for trolls for years, but couldn't really get any traction, not even on the official forums. The most recent thread has a total of four posts and has now sunk off the front page. I guess only a handle of players like me want them

Don't lose hope!

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And alliance/High Elves not having Silvermoon, Suramar, Lordaeron and Highmountain, isn't the end of the world, either.

There is just so many ways of saying "Silvermoon should not loose BE sovereignty over to the alliance" to someone that disagrees with it at its core.

Specially if that person at their core don't believe that Blood Elf identity is part of the Horde. You really get nothing arguing with someone who believes all eleven identity is rightfully and intrinsically alliance, and as such, cities like Suramar and Silvermoon SHOULD be alliance.

And it's like the philosophical opposite of this thread where the whole point is that elven identities exist beyond the faction divide and thus, can and DO exist in both.

[Kyriani]

That's what saddens me. People should be striving to get the customization options they want, not blocking others from getting the ones they want. Some people legitimaly use the argument that exclusivity by itself is a want that has to be respected, but I can't agree with that. Would be hypocritical of me to say things should be exclusive for its own sake when I advocated for HE fantasy on VEs.

I feel the same way about exclusivity. I'm glad we got our skin and hair colors though. I'd like to see the requests for blood elf hairstyles and paladins kind of fade into background noise because it just feeds into the whole "give them an inch, they take a mile" rhetoric that keeps getting spouted.

Would I complain about void elf paladins? No. But I don't need void elves to have paladins to be happy with them. I know some people do want that though so I can't just say "don't ask for that!". Same for the hairstyles, though in all honesty, I'd be happy with more hairstyles from anywhere. I don't specifically need blood elf hairstyles.

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

I feel the same way about exclusivity. I'm glad we got our skin and hair colors though. I'd like to see the requests for blood elf hairstyles and paladins kind of fade into background noise because it just feeds into the whole "give them an inch, they take a mile" rhetoric that keeps getting spouted.

Would I complain about void elf paladins? No. But I don't need void elves to have paladins to be happy with them. I know some people do want that though so I can't just say "don't ask for that!". Same for the hairstyles, though in all honesty, I'd be happy with more hairstyles from anywhere. I don't specifically need blood elf hairstyles.

In a way the "we need to have everything BE's have" feels like the other end of the spectrum of bad takes lmao. And I think both things come from the same core, the idea races are defined by their aesthetics to the point their identity revolves about looks. High Elves kinda HAVE to look like BE's because they are pretty much the same race, but many people, myself included, would have been happy with a new model a la Nightborne.

We should all be able to ask for what we want, but at the end of the day it's about if the devs will agree. The High Elf issue was always a hot topic because it really just never made sense from a lore standpoint, and making VE's playable really just made it clear it was a design choice without a strong reasoning.

Exclusivity shouldn't be the goal by itself when it comes to customization, but also the HE fantasy simply doesn't need to be a 1:1 replica of the BE choices to finally exist.

The VE model DOES need more hairstyles, but they can be entirely new, or simply taken from any other race that is not BE. I don't see a point why not, but in the same manner I do think there's a better argument that either unique or hairstyles from another race could serve to expand on that cultural divide, and how it expresses as style.

IMO if we want to actually use aesthetics and style as a cultural signifier, it would be nice if there was a hairstyle swap, but with races of the same faction.

[Pheraz]

Okay the roleplaying on the PTR was on new heights.

SW barber shop full of high elves.

A BE rogue named "Sindorei" killing all high elves xD

Logged to my night elf warrior then he ran away

[Kyriani]

Yea, it seems all I can do now is... stay silent... when I see people asking for more stuff from blood elves. If I post, even to say I'd like something different, I'd still be giving their request more visibility by bumping their threads. I hope other people realize that as well and just step back and find the strength to not reply if its a request they don't actually support. Visibility is what got us the skin and hair colors. Each of us need to remember that visibility can also be used to make changes to the game that we don't agree with, just as it made changes that we wanted and others did not.

Not saying people shouldnt ask for what they want. Just saying, if its a change you don't want to happen, dont make the mistake the antis did and keep the topics visible through verbal sparring. Let them just die off due to inactivity.

[Rhlor]

I've been advocating beards for trolls for years, but couldn't really get any traction, not even on the official forums. The most recent thread has a total of four posts and has now sunk off the front page. I guess only a handle of players like me want them

we need forest trolls!

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

Okay the roleplaying on the PTR was on new heights.

SW barber shop full of high elves.

A BE rogue named "Sindorei" killing all high elves xD

Logged to my night elf warrior then he ran away

lmao I saw him yesterday, but we were with war mode off so we were talking to him.

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Yea, it seems all I can do now is... stay silent... when I see people asking for more stuff from blood elves. If I post, even to say I'd like something different, I'd still be giving their request more visibility by bumping their threads. I hope other people realize that as well and just step back and find the strength to not reply if its a request they don't actually support. Visibility is what got us the skin and hair colors. Each of us need to remember that visibility can also be used to make changes to the game that we don't agree with, just as it made changes that we wanted and others did not.

Not saying people shouldnt ask for what they want. Just saying, if its a change you don't want to happen, dont make the mistake the antis did and keep the topics visible through verbal sparring. Let them just die off due to inactivity.

Exactly. We can't deny that what a lot of what gave HE threads visibility was the constant arguments lol. Non-controversial requests often just get lost because no one has to keep justifying them.

[FossilFree]

The VE model DOES need more hairstyles, but they can be entirely new, or simply taken from any other race that is not BE. I don't see a point why not, but in the same manner I do think there's a better argument that either unique or hairstyles from another race could serve to expand on that cultural divide, and how it expresses as style.

IMO if we want to actually use aesthetics and style as a cultural signifier, it would be nice if there was a hairstyle swap, but with races of the same faction.

I want them to get human hairstyles, not blood elf ones. Human hairstyles + short ear options would basically complete the half-elf RP.