It doesn't really make sense for a leaderless, disorganized group of elves to suddenly group up and get void corrupted though. Having the split be due to their interest in the void makes for a more natural division. I think the story could've been told (much) better, but I don't think it's completely awful as a concept.
The problems with Void Elves are that they stem from the idea that High Elf fans could be compromised with and the short introduction. Some damage was done to the distinctiveness of the factions, but far less than adding high elves to the Alliance would. The fact that Blizzard recognizes that is the important part.
Naive would be to think that they could realistically balance the game in such a way that the factions could be balanced with access to different classes. They can't even balance the game with different racials to a point where everyone is satisfied.
Last edited by protip; 2018-05-08 at 09:25 PM.
I'm going to be frank.
I think you've adopted this approach, that the Void Elves breach the faction wall, to spin a defeat for the pro High Elf position into a defeat for everyone.
I've said in the past I don't like the Void Elves being able to use the thalassian model, but they do. However I am content that they are not High Elves anymore, which they are not. They were, but are no longer. Physical changes have taken place...and given the voices likely psychological ones, which have rendered them different.
There is a different theme, one that places them as far from Blood/High Elves as it is possible to be. Same deal with Nightborne, they share a model with Night Elves but that's about it.
And it is these race-theme combinations, not one individually, that buttress the faction wall. Hence the druidic and nature loving Tauren do not conflict with the druidic and nature loving Night Elves. Nor do the cursed Worgen conflict with the cursed Undead. It is when race and theme are identical that the faction wall gives way, as it would be with playable High Elves.
Void Elves, which share the race but not the theme, do not breach the faction wall as you imply.
For now anyway. It's obvious that in an expansion where they're trying to play up, visually, the faction differences, that they would also play up the race differences too. Hence DI instead of WH Dwarves, KT Humans getting a huge makeover, and Void Elves instead of High Elves. For Horde side is why Mag'har got bunch of Orc Clans in one, and Zandalari chosen over Forest trolls (which are just greener and meaner hunched trolls), and how Nightborne are like Blood Elves culturally but purple/dark.
To me, I just see High Elves as a possibility later, once they get more story development and once there can be more subtlety visually. Just like we're probably not going to see a neutral faction in an expansion where the theme is "pick a side" but could be a possibility for down the line in future ones. I would actually be very surprised if Pandaren stay as the only neutral race.
For instance as was spoken about, if Dragon races ever became a thing they'd most likely make em neutral. (Would be more elves though since most dragons take the form of Elves).
I think the trap here is trying to say they're balancing stuff to satisfy everyone. That's utterly impossible. They probably just work with the goal of "how can this be appealing to most" or maybe for certain races it comes to "how cater this to that audience".
AKA people who are elf fans have 4 to choose from right now, while others just have 2 mainly (going to be 4 humans eventually). So it kinda gives them a guiding line. That and of course the feedback that players give helps them too.
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Ah yes just like tmog wouldn't have been popular
Or Pet Battles
Or Cross-realm zones
Or -insert any other changes people said "shouldn't happen"/"will never happen"- but did etc
I think that's generally a reasonable point of view, although I imagine we disagree on just how much the theme of BfA has influenced those values. Still though, High Elves are the only example that you mention that crosses faction lines, and there isn't a good precedent to predict how Blizzard will act on the issue. What we have for now are their words on High Elves, and their words on the criteria that they use for allied races. Perhaps once we reach a certain threshold the standards for racial uniqueness will fall, but whether or not the same will happen to the faction wall is a separate question.
I missed this earlier, so I'm responding late:
I'm honestly not sure what you're trying to say here. Kul'tiran NPCs use thin, standard, and large human models. As far as we know, the playable models are only the large ones. That's fine because Alliance players can choose what ever human model they like, and the backstory is interchangeable. If those two models were split between the two factions, explaining why would be much more difficult, because you have to also explain why players don't have access to the other faction's model even though they're playing the same race. If that doesn't answer your point here, maybe you can explain more clearly.
You may not have a problem with them. That's fine, you're welcome to your opinion, but Blizzard clearly feels that there are problems with neutral races or they wouldn't have mentioned their concern for keeping things distinct. As the authority on the topic has a different view from yours, the burden of proof is on you. If you want to change Blizzard's policy on the topic, you have to demonstrate that their conclusion is wrong. All you've done here is say "but I don't see a problem." Clearly they do, so any worthwhile argument will have to show Blizzard that it's worth the sacrifice.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.
If High Elves were such a slam dunk, why wait? Who cares how visually distinct they are if they're really such a great idea. In any case, the most important part here is the theme. They may be the same race, but they have a very different feel, and significantly different visuals. Blood Elves and High Elves are far more similar than Blood Elves and Void Elves both in terms of aesthetics and theme.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.
its over...it has been since TBC. We had hope. But Aldo is right. If you see that they even use time travel for the horde. Its silly.
And 13 years.....
Suramar city cut scene pretty much confirms that high elves where separated of blood elves and still around. Ion is lead game developer. He does not develop or make all the decisicions by himself. And they have cut things, or giving things before. So nothing is set in stone. But i pretty much think if Ion had his way all high elves will be wiped out by the end of BFA. Just a other victim of the Horde. And a good motivation for the alliance to kick gar...sillyvanas ass.
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Same could be said a year or so ago about straight backed orcs and brow orcs and zandalari trolls.
But i do think they will not happen. Sadly.
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Funny thing...
Some people say there is not enough people that want this...yeah that is why this thread is only 272 pages long :S:S
And also...what a bunch of douche bags. Yes some pro HE are a bit over the top. But most of them here come with facts. But just reading some of the response all i see for the most part on the Anti side is a bunch of douche bags that say the following: cry baby's, not going to happen just because ( even if facts are thrown in their faces). And they can not even look at why people are mad. And why they want it.
Says enough about what kind of person you are does it not :P
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Yes they have said that.
statistics :https://www.statista.com/statistics/...cters-by-race/
about 2,7% per faction ( funny enough) is panda. Goblin and dwarf are pretty close to them also. But they do not have to look the same. Different eye color. And if you look ingame ( suramar city ingame cinematic) clearly shows a physical difference between high and blood elves.
If you look closely blood elves have more brown and golden hair ( and a bit darker skin!??! maybe that is just the gear and hair).
While high elves look more pale and almost have white/silver hair.
In your logic half the allied races should note exist. And you are false on the void elves being more different. They are closer to blood elves as high elves in lore.
You, as a player, have some problem with Pandaren? don't hide behind that ghostcrawler post, and even less don't try to make as i just said that i didn't see a problem, i explained it but i just did kind of a TL;DR in what you quoted, but right, if you want my argument on that look my latest posts.
And what i wanted to say about kul'tiran is that they are in the same faction as stormwind humans, so is not something you can relate to HE, who are a split faction who are no longer with the BE and were in the alliance from a long time ago, so despite they looking similar to BE (i just assume that added races get aesthetic changes), they fulfill different approachings in their factions.
Please do not come with the whole: 'If they don't got added yet they aren't going to be added ever', if they created and picked up Void Elves is because they fit better the current storyline with Alleria, and Blizzard thought that it was a good idea to give a thalassian model to the alliance, but they are not closed into the idea of HE, they would have said that already instead of simply saying us that they have no plans and things might change in the future, they are even aware of HE being a popular request.
And Void Elves looks distinct, yes, but they are still thalassian elves from every perspective you look at them, what differentiates them from BE is the void infused theme and being in the alliance, they are doing the same things as before just without being capable of enter in contact with holy magic or being in Silvermoon, they are still magi and rangers, they just changed what being in the alliance and infused with void doesn't allow to maintain.
No, Void Elves are more different now that Blood Elves have basically regressed back into standard High Elves, except on the Horde. Void Elves are, quite ironically, more like Blood Elves were than the Blood Elves are.
And I'll explain his logic. Blizzard is doing a very odd and particular thing with Allied races. They don't want to share racial identities between factions, but they're willing to duplicate them within the faction. Lightforged are just Draenei+. A complete waste of a racial slot that could have been implemented through new face and hair options. However, they aren't giving Lightforged to the Horde, so there's no crossfaction identity duplication.
Same goes for the Highmountain. They're Tauren with antlers, with less distinct identity than other Tauren variants like Taunka or Yaungol would have. But they were never going to give the Highmountain to the Alliance, so there's no issue.
Nightborne have a variant of the Night Elf model, but they have a completely separate theme. Therefore, there's no real issue. It suits Blizzard's purposes of keeping factions from bleeding into one another.
In this pattern, Void Elves are essentially evolving in the opposite direction to the Blood Elves. Of course, you're right to claim they were a terrible fucking idea. The race you should have gotten were the Broken. You even had Void-touched Broken on Argus. It's what made sense, it's what they actually set up on Argus. It's the fucking rep faction that's on Argus, that Void Elves are using for some nonsensical reason. Blizzard apparently thought that future developments would make them distinct from what Blood Elves are now.
The problem with High Elves is clearly illustrated with what you just said about how different they look for being paler and having lighter hair. That's just because they only have blue-eyed versions of the paler Blood Elf skins. The difference is less a difference, and more lesser variety. Blood Elves have rangers too. The same rangers who knew one another a decade or so ago. A focus on rangers would just be "Blood Elves, but with less variety". Blood Elves still have all the same toys they had back when they were High Elves. High Elves just don't have anything new yet.
And yes, I know Void Elves were a terrible compromise you were never going to accept. They were clearly a mistake. I wanted Broken Draenei, but I guess we're stuck with Draenei+ and Blood Elf Classic. Hell, the fact that the Void inherently bestows hunger and instability on people, that's what you got. The Horde has the High Elves, and the Alliance has the Blood Elves.
What a fucking world. I wish we still had Blood Elves.
It's funny that you point out a fallacy on others while you are making a strawman here, do you have any proof of people saying: 'If it could happen therefore it will happen'????????
If not, just get lost.
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Void Elves aren't by near something like 'how BE were before', VE are indeed a completely new storyline, they didn't did that for survival, just for research of new powers and they got infused by accident.
But Void Elves are still BE and HE by extent, they are still magi and rangers and all that stuff that makes a thalassian a thalassian, it is just molded into the void theme and alliance faction so no silvermoon and no light.
Are they fucking cringy and most of the horde and part of the alliance just want to bash their skulls violently? yes, but they aren't that far away from the BE theme, they are the same, but different, just like how HE would be but without the cringey factor.
And just forgot everything about how do you saw at HE in the game, we didn't even got the current allied races just how we saw them in game, and in the past we didn't even got goblins and worgen from what we saw in game, playable characters always get extra touch when implemented, what we see in game is a bare representation to make them appear on screen, is not the first time we saw things that were done with much less effort than other things and when they get more relevancy gets updated, just look how we have new undeads thanks to DK using them, or updated creatures when they get relevancy in new content so they just look better, don't you think that if HE gets added they would be tweaked?.
You do realize, throwing around words like strawman and "get lost" do not strengthen a lost argument right?
How about checking the post right above mine? Or does that inconvenience you and do you need to "Get lost?"
You're trying to suggest a change that makes no sense, high elves and blood elves are the same, no amount of trapezing around a forest and painting your face (Which is apparently high elf canon culture to some people) changes that.
Void Elves do indeed have a new story, but it's a story that brings them closer to how Blood Elves used to be. But as for Allied races getting new shit when they're added? Since when? Dark Irons and Mag'har aren't getting an overhauled look or theme, so much as they're getting one designed for player customization.
Sure, I could imagine a dozen ways to revamp High Elves on my own, no problem whatsoever. Of course, there may be issues if it hasn't been properly seeded into the lore, but I think certain things could be stretched. Or could have been stretched.
On that note, what exactly are you looking for from High Elves? What are the things they absolutely have to have by your standards?
They need to be morally upstanding like in BC. The High elves who were arrogant dicks are the ones who became Blood elves.
The ones who remained High elves are people who refused to do whaqt they considered wrong, such as murdering magical creatures to drain their mana, or using Fel.
They also need to be humbled. In spite of the name, High elves are the ones who got humbled the most, so they would be the least arrogant and most friendly elf race. And finally...They need to be distinct from Blood elves, whether by having unique customization or by receiving something Blood elves doesn't have (Like getting the Shaman class).
I love High elves because they were inspiring. They refused to take the easy way to solve their problems, were cast out, yet remained strong and were loyal to the Alliance.
Last edited by Gurluas; 2018-05-09 at 12:12 AM.
I really hope that every high elf who finds draining magical energy from living creatures repugnant is a vegan. Otherwise, having a problem with getting sustenance from the death of another (non-sentient) creature seems like a really silly reason to cut all ties with your homeland and people.
Somehow though, I imagine that high elf player characters would be chowing down on meaty raid buff feasts with the rest of us.
Also, you try getting over a crippling addiction you didn't know you had whilst trying to come to terms with the fact that 90% of everyone you know and love is dead and your homeland is nearly overrun with walking corpses who threaten to snuff out the few who remain.
Last edited by Thalassian Bob; 2018-05-09 at 12:20 AM.