Official High Elf Discussion Megathread

[Sorrior]

I just woke up and I’m already loving the smell of high elf tears in the morning.



Nope. let’s be completely honest here. No matter what Ion said, you would still be here continuing to demand, because like spoiled children you can't take NO for an answer.

Not really no.

The guy gave bs reasons that conflict with both lore AND. what we see in game that is an issue

[Deleted]

Yeah his whole 'Faction Identity' thing was a bit...wait..what? Kind of deal.

The Horde have Nightborne..."You want to play Night Elves on Horde, well you can't but the Alliance is waiting there for you..." except you can...the whole Faction Identity thing is completely undone just by the Nightborne alone, you slap a Nightborne in full plate armour with an enclosed helm and with certain skin tones you literally could not tell the difference between them and Night Elves.

I honestly don't care about him saying No High Elves, as I've said, I'm a Sethrak Support myself (Allied or Horde, don't care, just give me an actually cool Allied race god damn it) but I am willing to call out bullshit excuses when I see them.

Along with him forgetting the example of the Silver Covenant and one of the remaining Windrunner sisters is still a pure High Elf. His excuses came across as just so poorly put forward that he has made the situation fucking WORSE by what he said. If he had just said, "There are no plans to make High Elves playable," and left it at that, fine. He just had to throw in the petty "The Horde is waiting for you," line after it though.

[Sorrior]

I understand that that's upsetting to you, and I have no doubt that Blizzard would be interested in that feedback. Saying that running into High Elves who support the Alliance in the game is frustrating because it makes you feel like you should be able to play them is much more likely to be actionable feedback, because it gives them a choice in how they respond. They apparently have reasons for not making High Elves playable for the Alliance, and that kind of feedback gives them an opportunity to consider other solutions.



He explained why they're not a good option from a development perspective. Since he was explaining a game design decision, there's really no better basis for the explanation.

It still doesn't make sense.

They have lore..

They can easily put an elf skin on a basic human skeleton and add even skight differences done.

It really does feel like he gives half assed and biased reasons. Nit saying he is but how it cknes across

[LowestFormOfWit]

The range of anger, denial, hatred, ignorance, and pure delusion here simply delight me to no end.

While those of us not drinking the High Elf punch sat on the sidelines and tried to reason with you all on why it wasn't going to happen, you all clawed and scraped and yelled and nitpicked every little glimmer, over analyzed every word or action to warp it into a narrative that was never there.

Void Elf was your Thalassian. It will continue to be. Usually the Q&A is full of stupid questions or ones that have already been answered, but I am so glad this came up today so Ion could completely and utterly put this to rest.

To all of you who follow the "I don't like the answer I got so I'll double down on my stupid until I'm right!" line of thought, know that a developer will seldom say "We will never do _____." , because it writes them into a corner, but it should be now known that High Elves are not and will not be on the developmental table anytime in the near future (i.e. this entire expansion at the very least), and this High Elf balloon that's stayed afloat on the hot fumes of mania can deflate and sink to the backburner where it always belonged.

MMO-C can now go back to shitposting about Vulpera, Sethrak, or whatever other races keep entering the revolving door, to be cut into Horde and Allaince slices of the BfA pie.

[Magnagarde]

MMO-C can now go back to shitposting about Vulpera, Sethrak, or whatever other races keep entering the revolving door, to be cut into Horde and Allaince slices of the BfA pie.

Lord save us from the upcoming storm. The only thing worse than more elf races are pet-based races.

[Doffen]

Hey guys, Ion's comments on HE did feel pretty insulting, but I always felt they weren't going to come soon. He ends saying "Anything is possible in the future, but no plans 'near term' to add High Elves as an Allied Race". To me it just goes back to them not coming out so soon after Void Elves. I think High Elves will be something that would get added on much much much much later. Probably when the game isn't so concerned about "big differences" with regards to Races. Maybe even if they implement an actual "Sub Race" system. Regardless, pretty let down by the answer, focused too much on looks and reduced the factional divide and lore in an expansion focused on Faction v Faction warfare. I'll just continue to hope for High Elves on Alliance one day. Not really excited much about the AR system anymore though. Not sure there's ever been a race as hotly requested as High Elves and don't think there ever will be (unless it's Dragons or something extremely epic like Titans etc). Anyways it was a good run for this jaunt. Thankful for this community regardless of not getting High Elves this time 'round. Love to you HE supporters

Yeah, I feel sorry for you dude, maybe later on^^

I don't like the gloating from some of the anti-Helfers(nor would I like it if it was the other way, laughing at others "misfortune" isn't a cool thing) but there wasn't anything that indicated that they would make High Elf playable in BfA anyway, but you seem to have the kind of attitude towards it that I admire at least.

As Aragorn so proudly said it: There is always hope

Your forum-title suits you ^^

[protip]

It still doesn't make sense.

They have lore..

They can easily put an elf skin on a basic human skeleton and add even skight differences done.

It really does feel like he gives half assed and biased reasons. Nit saying he is but how it cknes across

One problem with that is that the fantasy of the Blood Elf model is a High Elf with green eyes. If you change the reference, the Blood Elf model is no longer what it was intended to be.

Regardless of that, Ion said, "a fair-skinned, blonde-haired, tall, majestic elf - that is a Blood Elf," which can only mean they intend to keep that fantasy exclusive to the Horde for the foreseeable future. You can draw comparisons to Night Elves/Nightborne and say it doesn't make sense, but that's subjective. I personally find them pretty easy to tell apart in game, and I definitely think that they have a different feel. I know some people don't agree with that, but the clearest reason Ion gave for not giving High Elves to the Alliance was to keep the factions different, so they must feel that the choices they've made with allied races maintain that standard.

[LowestFormOfWit]

Yeah his whole 'Faction Identity' thing was a bit...wait..what? Kind of deal.

The Horde have Nightborne..."You want to play Night Elves on Horde, well you can't but the Alliance is waiting there for you..." except you can...the whole Faction Identity thing is completely undone just by the Nightborne alone, you slap a Nightborne in full plate armour with an enclosed helm and with certain skin tones you literally could not tell the difference between them and Night elves.

The Alliance have Void Elves..."You want to play Blood Elves on Alliance, well you can't but the Horde is waiting there for you..." except you can...the whole Faction Identity thing is completely undone just by the Void Elves alone, you slap a Void Elf in full plate armour with an enclosed helm and with certain skin tones you literally could not tell the difference between them and Void elves.

Funny how that works both ways.....it's almost like they intentionalltly made Void Elves and Nightborne to give the other faction a skeleton they didn't have before.

Thanks for letting us know that if you cover up a playermodel in full armor and a closed helm, they'll look just like the main race they borrow animations from. Good tip for all the people who want a High Elf. Just cover up everything on a Void Elf and voila!

Why wasn't this suggested sooner?

[In Ogres We Trust]

It's almost like something happened in WCIII... hmm...

Which has nothing to do with them joining the Horde. The whole plot was nonsensical BS to balance out the factions/realms for a silly, two-faction game (when it should have been three to four).

P.S. The game would be in a better state if they expanded upon the neutral races.

[Deleted]

Lord save us from the upcoming storm. The only thing worse than more elf races are pet-based races.

So what races DO you want then?

Seriously, name me the option for an Alliance Allied race.

Wildhammer? Nope...just got Dark Iron and they ain't doing another Dwarf Allied race this expac, you fucking know it.

Broken? Actually would have been cooler than including the frankly phoned in Lightforged (Jesus them and the High Mountain were such lazy additions worthy of being customisation options and not an entire separate race) but because of the bloody Lightforged they suffer the same problems as the Wildhammer.

High Elves? Hell no, they ain't happening and it is a good thing too. Blizzard fucked up by not turning all High Elves into Void Elves...boom, problem solved, no longer gets bought up. They didn't though, they fucked it up...congrats Blizzard, you played yourself...

Night Elf Worgen? Oh just fuck off already, they're pretty much in the same vein as Lightforged at this point...sure different lore implications but they're a bland ass option and another bloody boring reskin. Oh wait...we can't include them anyway because they're a pet-based race. Well thank fuck for that.

So...where does that leave us...oh look..the animalistic races are literally some of the ONLY options left that are even remotely good. Or do you want AU Draenor Draenei to be added that just add a new set of horns and some shite racials?

Jesus christ...I mean sure if you can bring up a race that ISN'T a bland ass, boring, steaming pile that could get me excited to actually play them (because so far ALL of the Allied races have been massive misses with me, yes, even the announced ones for after launch have not raised so much as a 'meh' from me) then go ahead because I know full well Naga ain't an option...

So...what we got left? 'Pet-based races' rules out things like the Jinyu (they're based on Fish), the Saberon, the Sethrak, the

- - - Updated - - -

The Alliance have Void Elves..."You want to play Blood Elves on Alliance, well you can't but the Horde is waiting there for you..." except you can...the whole Faction Identity thing is completely undone just by the Void Elves alone, you slap a Void Elf in full plate armour with an enclosed helm and with certain skin tones you literally could not tell the difference between them and Void elves.

Funny how that works both ways.....it's almost like they intentionalltly made Void Elves and Nightborne to give the other faction a skeleton they didn't have before.

Thanks for letting us know that if you cover up a playermodel in full armor and a closed helm, they'll look just like the main race they borrow animations from. Good tip for all the people who want a High Elf. Just cover up everything on a Void Elf and voila!

Why wasn't this suggested sooner?

Except you CAN tell the difference between Void Elf in plate armour and Blood Elf in plate armour (remember, Elf ears stick THROUGH plate helms)...the two do not share skin tones...unlike the Nightborne where they DO share a skintone...

[Magnagarde]

So what races DO you want then?

Seriously, name me the option for an Alliance Allied race.

Wildhammer? Nope...just got Dark Iron and they ain't doing another Dwarf Allied race this expac, you fucking know it.

Broken? Actually would have been cooler than including the frankly phoned in Lightforged (Jesus them and the High Mountain were such lazy additions worthy of being customisation options and not an entire separate race) but because of the bloody Lightforged they suffer the same problems as the Wildhammer.

High Elves? Hell no, they ain't happening and it is a good thing too. Blizzard fucked up by not turning all High Elves into Void Elves...boom, problem solved, no longer gets bought up. They didn't though, they fucked it up...congrats Blizzard, you played yourself...

Night Elf Worgen? Oh just fuck off already, they're pretty much in the same vein as Lightforged at this point...sure different lore implications but they're a bland ass option and another bloody boring reskin. Oh wait...we can't include them anyway because they're a pet-based race. Well thank fuck for that.

So...where does that leave us...oh look..the animalistic races are literally some of the ONLY options left that are even remotely good. Or do you want AU Draenor Draenei to be added that just add a new set of horns and some shite racials?

Jesus christ...I mean sure if you can bring up a race that ISN'T a bland ass, boring, steaming pile that could get me excited to actually play them (because so far ALL of the Allied races have been massive misses with me, yes, even the announced ones for after launch have not raised so much as a 'meh' from me) then go ahead because I know full well Naga ain't an option...

So...what we got left? 'Pet-based races' rules out things like the Jinyu (they're based on Fish), the Saberon, the Sethrak, the

- - - Updated - - -



Except you CAN tell the difference between Void Elf in plate armour and Blood Elf in plate armour...the two do not share skin tones...unlike the Nightborne where they DO share a skintone...

I'd rather have none than some forced pet-based race that is made only because there's many people that fall for animals.

Horde turtles(TNMT if they ever visit Undercity), Alliance LEGO Ninjago snakes(Sethrak), fox iterations of gipsies and what not are more theme-shattering when it comes to "faction identity" than high elves and they have been denied tonight for that very reason(ie why would the Alliance accept a race that literally eats other humanoids; why would the Horde ever take some weak sand-crawling foxes into their ranks). Faction identity doesn't necessarily need to be shattered by one of the two major factions; it can be shattered by things that are unrelated to either and are about forced into one of the two.

The issue with allied races is that Blizzard pumped out too many over a short period of time. They'll have added more races with BfA than they've added since vanilla and that says a lot.

[Eurhetemec]

Nope. let’s be completely honest here. No matter what Ion said, you would still be here continuing to demand, because like spoiled children you can't take NO for an answer.

Harsh, but it's true.

People can claim "Oh I would accept it if his argument were better or he had a lore reason!", but it's just a convenient lie. People who want HEs will not accept it until they're in the game. Even if there was a TREMENDOUS lore reason why there were no HEs any more, people would just come up with an elaborate obscure idea on how a handful of HEs could technically have survived, therefore HEs need to be in the game.

[Ithekro]

Well you could, but Void Elves going into Void Form and ruins the "covered up approach" entirely.

[Shinkishi]

Which has nothing to do with them joining the Horde. The whole plot was nonsensical BS to balance out the factions/realms for a silly, two-faction game (when it should have been three to four).

P.S. The game would be in a better state if they expanded upon the neutral races.

Enough of this elf stuff.

Hey ogre guy, the allied race I want is mok'nathal and clearly they can't come along with normal ogres. We need to have a big fight and turn the giant allied race storm toward that. It's time!

[Deleted]

I'd rather have none than some forced pet-based race that is made only because there's many people that fall for animals.

Well then..perhaps ye can fuck off over there then and play the races you want to play while those of us who want an actually new race that might actually be kind of fun (since we're definitely not getting Naga any time soon, which was literally the only race I wanted to actually play since WC3: Frozen Throne).

I'd rather get a metric shit-ton of races, fuck it, you know what, throw in the Gnolls, the Quillboar, fuck I'd even take Harpies (no idea how they would work), whatever just not more bland boring recolours of existing races or boring "human but bulky" race options, give me something actually different.

[Magnagarde]

Well then..perhaps ye can fuck off over there then and play the races you want to play while those of us who want an actually new race that might actually be kind of fun (since we're definitely not getting Naga any time soon, which was literally the only race I wanted to actually play since WC3: Frozen Throne).

I'd rather get a metric shit-ton of races, fuck it, you know what, throw in the Gnolls, the Quillboar, fuck I'd even take Harpies (no idea how they would work), whatever just not more bland boring recolours of existing races or boring "human but bulky" race options, give me something actually different.

Or just go buy a pet and have fun with it, instead of asking for a Tamagotchi MMO.

[Deleted]

Yeah that comeback made real sense >.> jesus christ Magna...

[Magnagarde]

Yeah that comeback made real sense >.> jesus christ Magna...

Hey, it's signature-worthy material.

[Jastall]

But they look exactly like regular humans...WITH BLUE EYES !

Do they? Arathor looks like a copypasta High Elf.

[Nuggsy]

I'm quite happy with Ion's response to the flood of annoying High Elf questions. For what feels like the umpteenth time he has stated Blizzard's views on High Elves and it's that they're already in the game without the blue eyes. You want to play a high elf that badly? The Horde is right there... have at it.

While it would have made far more sense to give the Alliance the blue-eyed elves given their history, Blizzard decided to pull Void Elves out of their ass. It's not what we wanted but it's what we got and while it sucks ass, we need to face it. Blizzard isn't giving the Alliance Blue-Eyed Blood Elves.

It was so triggering to go onto the forums intended for the QnA only to see it flooded with people whining about High Elves. There are far more important topics that needed to be discussed but again they had to tell them it wasn't going to happen. At this point people demanding High Elves are more annoying than the people demanding Vanilla. If you want to play twiggy pink elves, the Horde is right there (But with Blizzard turning the Horde into the bad guy I don't suggest it unless you can't stand the pain of not having your precious elves.)