Official High Elf Discussion Megathread

[Byleth]

It isn't. You said add them of gives a firm no will end it. The second one doesn't end the problem because it fails on the storytelling point, which is part of the reason there is a game. A firm no requires not a reason, but a conclusion to the story that makes the no make sense, because without said conclusion, everyone knows that a hard no will do nothing to stop threads like this from being made....honestly, everyone knows that, right?

As long as the High Elves are in the game and in the Alliance, people will ask to play them, regardless of a firm NO from BLizzard or not. Because its a tease, and it has always been a tease. Its only worse than ogres and forest trolls because their is a playable version of them (two now) that don't fulfill the need the players have because their are still High Elves in the Alliance that do stuff in various story arcs, rather than just a small group of mobs that might give you quests in a leveling zone, and maybe have a mob or two standing around in some random city. Instead we have High Elves in various expansions End Game content, were they will be seen, a lot, by Alliance players doing said End Game content. Thus frustration sets in even if the players are given a Hard No....because it becomes a tease. A blatant tease.

Yeah ok, that's much clearer. I agree, this shit needs some resolution.

Personally, I totally accept the too few High Elves explanation, and that's enough for me. But I do acknowledge that those "too few" high elves sure do get around.

Oh! Maybe they could fix this by literally naming every High Elf NPC in game! Maybe if we saw that it was just the same 5-10 peeps at the front line of everything it'd help?

[Tyze]

People caring more about High Elfs than the gcd and shitty class design is worrying

[FlubberPuddy]

There are no reason why Blizzard shouldn't add them in the game, seriously.

Probably why Blizzard didn't make Void Elves the major remaining force of High Elves and instead used Blood Elves.

There's gotta be some reason that they used Blood Elves instead of High Elves if they really wanted to end the whole "High Elf debate" and set in stone that "if you want fair skin elves go play Horde"

Unfortunately for an expansion called the faction expansion I don't think they're going to do any addition of neutral races or something very similar to the other faction like High Elves would be in their current incarnation.

So for now the HE fans will have to wait till after BFA to see what's going to happen.

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People caring more about High Elfs than the gcd and shitty class design is worrying

They're already reverting some GCD changes through the feedback players are giving, and "shitty class design" has been something various players have complained about in almost every expansion going forward since Wrath.

If you're still here despite those things then it's safe to assume the rest of the players will be too.

[Rozz]

Tangent aside, the entire point of wanting High Elves was to be what Alliance players saw when the game started....which was elves in the Alliance that weren't Night Elves. And that was well before the current Blood Elf model was made. They want to continue with their story. And no, Blood Elves of the Horde do not fulfill that story, and never have.

I don't know what you mean by story, bc if anything the HEs left the story arc the BEs finished. The divergent point was after the LK attacked and most HEs continued the story as BEs through BC, while much fewer decided to exist stage as HEs only.

If you didn't mean that, I don't know what a HE story could even be. I don't want them to be a race based on revenge and contempt for the Horde or Silvermoon, bc that could easily lead to their extinction. Plus we already have Genn fulfilling that quota against Sylv and the Forsaken. Could they retake Silvermoon? But what for? Most HEs don't consider it their home anymore. I just don't see what they could bring to the table as a people that the Alliance doesn't already benefit from somewhere else.
Magic? Dalaran--mostly lead by humans.
Technology? Gnomes and Draenei
Aesthetic? If Blizz adds a pale option for VE, that'd invalidate the need for HEs.

I'm not arguing with you, I just want to know what you meant, bc atm I can't think of a way they could add more than aesthetic. They have a story, but one centered around Vareesa and Alleria, not the HEs themselves. It's a faceless race that acts as the meat shields for Windrunners, which sucks, but that's where they are atm :/

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Probably why Blizzard didn't make Void Elves the major remaining force of High Elves and instead used Blood Elves.

There's gotta be some reason that they used Blood Elves instead of High Elves

I think it may be bc, HEs at their core were a people who don't feel ends justify the means. They turned their noses up at the Fel using BEs, so them suddenly doing the same but for the Void wouldn't only be just horribly ironic, but hypocritical if they still judged the BEs for using Fel--that they no longer use and did so for survival--for Void...which is just as corrupting if not worse.
BEs, a sect of elves who often push the limits and are very ambitious and arrogant, fit the bill better for being crazy enough to mess with the Void. It's also why imo, Alleria is more of a BE (in terms of pushing the envelope and dabbling in darker arts for the sake of her family and home) than a HE. A HE would never dare touch the void, bc staying 'pure' is their main source of identity and pride. Which as the story progresses, gets worse since BEs are not confined to green eyes anymore.

[Zorish]

Here's a crazy thought, what if they retconned the Silver Covenant to actually be members of the Blue Dragonflight that prefer to take High Elven forms? It's what Malygos did:


This way, they can have Kalecgos as their leader, they'd have a cool twist so they're not just a reskin, and maybe they can even assume a drakonid form in combat like the Worgen. This just seems to check off so many boxes for what people want without conceding the point that "high elves are blood elves".

the moment when blizzard add one dragon race to only one faction would be shitstorm bigger than you see now. Dragons are iconic for almost every fantasy, and adding them you shift (if it ever existed) Horde favouritism to Aliance. Plus Kalecgos neutral too. The ones who are "aspects" probably will stay neutral forever. Younger ones (if dragons still can produce eggs) maybe can have a chance because of "child tember"

[matrix123mko]

Here's a crazy thought, what if they retconned the Silver Covenant to actually be members of the Blue Dragonflight that prefer to take High Elven forms? It's what Malygos did:



This way, they can have Kalecgos as their leader, they'd have a cool twist so they're not just a reskin, and maybe they can even assume a drakonid form in combat like the Worgen. This just seems to check off so many boxes for what people want without conceding the point that "high elves are blood elves".

We should get all dragonflights and for both factions. I prefer them to make "Dragonsworn" hero class with special customization like horns for most of races.

[Paraka]

This is Blizzard's version of "Letting them down easy" way of friendzoning. The desperate and infatuated still see it as"a chance."

She doesn't love you, bros.

[matrix123mko]

This is Blizzard's version of "Letting them down easy" way of friendzoning. The desperate and infatuated still see it as"a chance."

She doesn't love you, bros.

Why shouldn't we use love potion then?

[Deleted]

We should get all dragonflights and for both factions. I prefer them to make "Dragonsworn" hero class with special customization like horns for most of races.

Wrathion is full Alliance now right? I could see something with him happening.

[Zorish]

Wrathion is full Alliance now right? I could see something with him happening.

wrathion nowhere to be found now. They removed him from SW embassy long time ago. And we have Ebonhorn on Horde side.

[Friendlyimmolation]

Wrathion is full Alliance now right? I could see something with him happening.

Wrathion is for whichever faction he thinks is stronger.

[Deleted]

wrathion nowhere to be found now. They removed him from SW embassy long time ago. And we have Ebonhorn on Horde side.

Thats true, even though Ebonhorn can't leave Highmountain I guess he could send some in his place. Though maybe too much Highmountain flavor? Wrathion appearing at the Embassy is interesting though, even though it was only briefly and potentially placeholder material.

Isn't there an island expedition involving the black dragons too?

[Maljinwo]

Thats true, even though Ebonhorn can't leave Highmountain I guess he could send some in his place. Though maybe too much Highmountain flavor? Wrathion appearing at the Embassy is interesting though, even though it was only briefly and potentially placeholder material.

Isn't there an island expedition involving the black dragons too?

I wonder if Ebonhorn can leave Highmountain now that the Old god thing was defeated

And yes, that island expedition exists. But didn't Wrathion say:

Did you hear what happened to the rest of the Black Dragonflight?
I had them killed. All of them...
...And THEY were family.

Or it doesn't count because it's a pissed/silly quote?

[Arrashi]

There are no reason why Blizzard shouldn't add them in the game, seriously.

Alliance having more races using hordes original model than horde is a reason good enough.

And suffering of helf fans is priceless.

[Obelisk Kai]

All this talk over blurring faction lines, I hate to tell you guys but its alrdy been done here's a lil piccy below for you:

Then you've found your own solution to the High Elf issue. Congratulations.

[Traveler Voltin]

All this talk over blurring faction lines, I hate to tell you guys but its alrdy been done here's a lil piccy below for you:

left is blood elf and right if void elf

[Traycor]

Vegan Elf ftw. All their racial abilities should be related to the Cooking skill. For instance, the ability to substitute red meat items in recipes.

[Aldo Hawk]

So... because the game is still running there are no problems with Pandaren? That's ridiculous, and it's your only evidence. Since the introduction of Pandaren, we have seen 8 allied races set to be added to the game, of which none are neutral. Furthermore, they have explained that they want to keep things distinct. Whatever the evidence may have been, they have come to a conclusion. If you believe that conclusion is based on no evidence, then you can be sure they'll come around and give you your high elves as soon as they are ready. All you have to do is ignore all of the times where they told you that's not what is happening.



If Blood Elves weren't significantly affected by the fel (and we know this to be the case), then there is no reason for High Elves and Blood Elves to be visually different. Beyond that, there is a reason for them to look the same: they are the same. An arbitrary difference like that would make the game visually inconsistent, and undermine the identity of the race.

As you well know, groups like the Kul'tirans are different from the proposed High Elf/Blood Elf model changes, because they encompass both types of models in the story. They only need the larger models to be playable, because Alliance players already have access to the standard model through Stormwind humans. Making an exclusive visual split like that based on political opinions would be very awkward.



"...there is a desire to keep things distinct, especially between the factions." Whatever you may believe about this, they have explained that they are significantly less interested in pursuing visually similar allied races, in particular across factions. If you want to believe that they're just holding out on you, I'll send you a tinfoil hat myself.

Just saying to me that they made Kul'tirans distinct for not having two same models just for political differences is not honest, they are in the same faction so you aren't covering the matter there.

The only thing with pandaren is that we don't have an actual problem with them, and they are even more the same than HE and BE, stop twisting that.

Just don't try to make as VE are that distinct from BE, they have different color and some modified and new hairstyles, but they are BE in model and in lore, you can even confuse one with a BE if you don't pay attention.

And is totally normal that devs want to release the more visually distinct races with AR being one of the main additions of B4A, Highmountain Tauren, Lightforged Draenei and VE doesn't look THAT distinct but you can tell more faster than for example a HE from a BE or a Bronzebeard dwarf from a Wildhammer one.

[FlubberPuddy]

Then you've found your own solution to the High Elf issue. Congratulations.

Just like those Orc players that want to play Mag'har! Yeah they can just pretend and cover u- oh no wait they don't have to since Horde doesn't have any compromises when it comes to their Allied Races.

[Aldo Hawk]

Can the High Elf advocates please stop with the terrible analogies. They flat out told you they don't want High Elves being a playable race because they're too similar to Blood Elves. Yet somehow you've convinced yourselves that they didn't really mean that.

You guys wonder why others laughed when Ion said it wasn't happening. It's because you guys are so obnoxious about it. You demand High Elves and pretend that everything that was said wasn't really meant and that you guys are using "logic" while the rest of us are just bullies that don't want you to have something. Everything just gets twisted until it fits your narrative.

High Elves look way too similar to Blood Elves. Blizzard doesn't want to give the Alliance an iconic Horde race. That's the real reason why it isn't happening. They could easily retcon the population issue if they wanted to, but they clearly don't want to. I agree with them that iconic races should not have duplicates given to the other faction. I don't want dwarves for the Horde or trolls for the Alliance.

And can you please kindly point out why is it wrong? thanks.