Official High Elf Discussion Megathread

[Varx]

Jesus all that's left of this horse is a scattered skeleton and you guys are still beating it? Fuck me...

Ok, might as well contribute.

There is no lore reason as to High Elves looking physically different from Belves (minus eye color and if Blizz wanted they could totally justify Belves receiving blue eyes as additional customization options) so if the Alliance did get them then what would the Horde get that's just as lazy as a belf copy paste. Cuz there would be no chance in hell for the Alliance to get a copy paste while the horde gets a new race or brand new skin of an existing race.

Yeah, we get it the alliance has High elves in their ranks. However, just because something exists in the lore doesn't mean it needs to be accessible to players. In that case you might as well give the Alliance playable SI:7 goblins as well since they do exist in their ranks.

Fuck it might as well make EVERY SINGLE FUCKING humanoid race playable then right. We wouldn't wanna make every special snowflake feel left out cuz they can't play forest trolls or Gnolls.

[FlubberPuddy]

There is no lore reason as to High Elves looking physically different from Belves (minus eye color and if Blizz wanted they could totally justify Belves receiving blue eyes as additional customization options) so if the Alliance did get them then what would the Horde get that's just as lazy as a belf copy paste. Cuz there would be no chance in hell for the Alliance to get a copy paste while the horde gets a new race or brand new skin of an existing race.

There wasn't a lore reason for Kul'Tirans to look different either until Blizzard decided to make it so. The customization options discussed here are meant to showcase the possibility and themes that High Elves can work with.

Who knows, Blizzard could even do something completely else than what's listed here (inb4 Void Elves: know your lore that they're all Blood Elves so far) and make lore to support it. We've seen them not adverse to doing that with many other races already (Lightforged weren't a thing until Legion Argus patch, Kul'Tirans etc).

What's funny is these themes discussed here are themes that will never be presented for Blood Elves and in Obelisk's own words: It would be selfish to keep those themes unrepresented just because some smol group of BE players think Farstriders are still a major theme representation for Blood Elves.

Yeah, we get it the alliance has High elves in their ranks. However, just because something exists in the lore doesn't mean it needs to be accessible to players. In that case you might as well give the Alliance playable SI:7 goblins as well since they do exist in their ranks.

You're equating 1 SI:7 Goblin to multiple numbers of High Elf NPCs strewn around everywhere as Alliance citizens and military personnel. That's all that needs to be said for this argument.

Fuck it might as well make EVERY SINGLE FUCKING humanoid race playable then right. We wouldn't wanna make every special snowflake feel left out cuz they can't play forest trolls or Gnolls.

There's obviously popular races and unpopular races. Just because there's an enormous list of humanoid races players want playable (I guarantee you someone out there in the millions of players that WoW has, every humanoid race has been requested or hoped to be playable). You seem to equate wanting a race to wanting to feel like a special snowflake when it's actually those that are trying to restrict races because they don't want to STOP feeling like special snowflakes.

There's obviously arguments around to not adding High Elves but these ones you've posted are pretty poor ones.

[Powerogue]

It makes this entire thing all the more ridiculous considering blood elves have been implemented largely because Asian fans needed pretty elves to feel good while playing Horde. This is how they ruined the Horde for so many others who don't play for the pretty Asian character models, but now have to put up with elves added because these elves were added out of wrong reasons in the first place.

You lot are basically arguing about something that Asian aesthetic appetites decided on, not the lore, not the reasoning behind cultural differences, not the plausibility through population number or anything else.

Them redeeming themselves after at one point being dependent on fel magic made them shoe-ins for the horde and you know it. And that's not a WoW invention like uncorrupted draenei, that's from WCIII.

Vashj: There are other fonts of magic in this world, Prince Kael. Demons, for instance...

[Magnagarde]

Them redeeming themselves after at one point being dependent on fel magic made them shoe-ins for the horde and you know it. And that's not a WoW invention like uncorrupted draenei, that's from WCIII.

Speaking of Warcraft 3, there was nothing for them to redeem themselves from, unlike the orcs which had a lot to own up to. Blood elves were forced into a plot of redemption because association with the Horde meant Blizzard had to disassociate playable blood elves from Kael'thas, which in turn meant they had to turn him into a villain first (Kael'thas' death was no less wasteful than Illidan's).

The Asian aesthetic brigade is behind the blood elves being forced away from Kael'thas and into the Horde, not fel addiction. The developer interview simply sheds further light into what pretty much everyone, who can keep an objective mindset in regards to either side of this discussion, knew for a long time and that is that the Horde was considered "ugly" and Blizzard wanted to even the "my pretty character" balance. You can also quite easily tell that everything about it was pure fan service because high elves were exclusively tagged as Alliance during classic WoW, but were not made playable.

Blood elves should've been a standalone faction, perhaps one of unison with the naga and other highborne-related races. Another thing that could've worked is a faction comprised of blood elves, undead elves and undead humans, as they share a common line of being imperilled by the Scourge.

[Obelisk Kai]

They're certainly more unique, biologically, than people often give them credit for.

It's fairly common to see things like, "Void Elves are just Blood Elves who bit off more Void than they could chew, and it corrupted their bodies". It isn't a strictly inaccurate generalized statement, but I fail to understand the purpose (in the context of someone using it to justify playable High Elves) -- especially if the intent it to suggest that taking [Race #1], and subjecting some of them to some magical calamity in order to provide the narrative foundation for [Race #2], is somehow a terrible design philosophy.

If it's "terrible narrative" when Blood Elves get dipped in Void, why isn't it "terrible narrative" for Dark Iron Dwarves, or Worgen, or Lightforged Draenei, or Nightborne, or even Mag'har Orcs (who would be a reversal of a calamitous event, in this case)?

Personally, I can't find a single issue with Void Elves as a standalone group. That isn't really what the question in these last few hundred pages has been about, though, is it? Instead, the question being asked is generally, "are Void Elves close enough to High Elves that they will be widely considered to be an acceptable stand-in for the latter?"

I suspect the answer, for the time being, is "no".

Void Elves, unlike other Allied races, carry the stain of a terrible sin. That sin is that they are not the High Elves. Anyone not invested in the pro High Elf side of the debate can see Void Elves for what they were intended to be. A variant of a long requested thalassian elf available to the Alliance, but with it's own thematic spin so as not to step on the toes of the Horde Blood Elves.

Anyone invested in the pro High Elf side of the debate does not, as you say, regard Void Elves as an acceptable stand in for High Elves. I would say there is a measure of entitlement here, in that they are the ones who generated the demand for Alliance thalassian elves and argued for years (and years) to get it to happen. I can even agree that to a point that entitlement is understandable, as they are the ones who argued for it.

Getting Void Elves at the end might be considered akin to the classic players finding out they are really getting a 4.3 version of the game, i.e. Catalcysm in the patch LFR launched. A complete disappointment.

On the other hand, whilst their disappointment is understandable, the reasons that Void Elves were provided and not Alliance High Elves are also understandable. Firstly, while the pro High Elf community argued for this, they are not the entire Alliance nor the entire warcraft community. Blizzard has a responsibility to the entire community (and this includes Blood Elf players) and a responsibility to the integrity of their game.

The entire Warcraft community was not seeking a duplicate of an existing race be added, sacrificing a precious allied race slot that would have been spent on something fresh and innovative. Like them or loath them (and I am not keen I admit), there is no other race with the theme of the Void Elves in the game.

Blood Elf players would have to contend with a copy of the race they were invested in being made available to the Alliance, a group who would inevitably seek to define themselves against the Blood Elves they were physically identical to by insisting they were the true High Elves.

And Blizzard would have compromised the integrity of the game's faction system by taking a race explicitly introduced as Horde unique a decade ago and making them de facto neutral.

Anyone not invested in the pro High Elf side, who sits down and analysed the situation rationally, can see why their addition as a playable race was just not going to happen.

Void Elves allowed Blizzard to try and meet the demand in the context of the new Allied race system, where each Allied race is a variant on an existing race, the variance being something distinctive and noticeable.

The Lightforged Draenei are the white Draenei with the cool beards or weird horns.
The Nightborne are the Arcane Elves with the unusual wardrobe, jet blue skin and pure white hair.
The Highmountain Tauren are Tauren with Moose Horns.
And the Void Elves are the blue blood Elves with tentacles.

As for the emphasis on Void Elves being Blood Elves, i think that's a false narrative. It is an attempt to paint Void Elves as being barely different from Blood Elves, despite confirmation that Blood Elves ARE High Elves. If Void Elves are Blood Elves, then they are High Elves and so there shouldn't be any complaints.

The prosaic truth is that Void Elves used to be Blood Elves, but are now biologically different, to a similar degree other Allied races are different from their parents.. Blood Elves however ARE High Elves.

This only really applies to the physical appearance angle of the discussion. If you focus very specifically on the culture/mannerisms of the groups in question, it's almost eerie how much the Void Elves resemble the Burning Crusade-era Blood Elves.

Which I acknowledge and which should be welcomed. The Blood Elf storyline in TBC was interesting, but it also drew to an end with the restoration of the Sunwell. The Void Elves pick up a narrative thread which was abandoned and which offers a rich seem of potential.

It is curious you specify the 'burning crusade-era' Blood Elves as the point of comparison, and not Blood Elves generally, and I thank you for that precision. The TBC Blood Elves were their civilization at it's lowest ebb. The Sunwell gone, they were torturing a Naaru out of genuine and desperate necessity (but this was a moral outrage as they would acknowledge later), most of their people were dead and their leadership was consorting with the Legion. Yet now that is in the past.
So what are the Blood Elves now, if the TBC era is behind them? They are what they were before the dark times they ever faced. Culturally, thematically and appearance wise, they are the High Elves again, or at least what the High Elves would have been had they been faced with a similar trauma yet kept the name.

As you have said, different bells and whistles to distract the eye, but that's about all these is to differentiate them behaviorally. The two groups have obviously come to different political conclusions, and have a different level of comfort with risk/reward scenarios, but ultimately they are behaviorally identical. I would even go so far as to say that Void Elves are "more Blood Elf than Blood Elves", in the sense that their current mindset mirrors that of the pre-SWP Blood Elves. They're hot-headed, reckless, unscrupulous, in some cases aggressive, and with a tilt towards being unhinged (Island Expedition Lady, looking at you).

I would argue that the Blood Elves have reverted to being themselves now the addiction has been sated and they've rebuilt somewhat. The thing is, the Elves were always haughty, self-centered and arrogant. Just as they are today. The only thing I reckon that has changed between the pre-scourge Elves and the post-scourge Elves is that the xenophobia which characterized most of the race has literally been beaten out of them. They know isolationism for the lie it is now.

But the Void Elves are following the path of the TBC era Blood Elves now. In fact, that's their storyline now, as unlike the Blood Elves who had a narrative off ramp from that plotline through the restoration of the Sunwell, the Void Elves are defined by their shadow powers and theme.

[Andromedes]

The entire Warcraft community was not seeking a duplicate of an existing race be added, sacrificing a precious allied race slot that would have been spent on something fresh and innovative. Like them or loath them (and I am not keen I admit), there is no other race with the theme of the Void Elves in the game.

The Lightforged Draenei are the white Draenei with the cool beards or weird horns.
The Nightborne are the Arcane Elves with the unusual wardrobe, jet blue skin and pure white hair.
The Highmountain Tauren are Tauren with Moose Horns.
And the Void Elves are the blue blood Elves with tentacles.

Every time subraces were mentioned, High elves were one of top requested races.. Really you people first say high elves would cause massive faction imbalance, and then you say, that the whole community would rather have more unique races.. Which is funny, because LF draenei arent unique and people asked just for different horns for their regular draenei, since they saw Yrel in WoD.. And the life goes on, people are ''meh'' and dont make riots, because they didnt get unique race.

[derpkitteh]

Every time subraces were mentioned, High elves were one of top requested races.. Really you people first say high elves would cause massive faction imbalance, and then you say, that the whole community would rather have more unique races.. Which is funny, because LF draenei arent unique and people asked just for different horns for their regular draenei, since they saw Yrel in WoD.. And the life goes on, people are ''meh'' and dont make riots, because they didnt get unique race.

out of them all, literally only zandalari and nightborne are really unique.

there's nothing unique about void elves. they're corrupted by void, so what? normal belf was corrupted by fel, both use dark magics to get shit done.

[Obelisk Kai]

out of them all, literally only zandalari and nightborne are really unique.

there's nothing unique about void elves. they're corrupted by void, so what? normal belf was corrupted by fel, both use dark magics to get shit done.

Normal Blood Elves were not 'corrupted'. Using hyperbole to draw a false equivalence undermines your argument. Instead, as has been said time after time, Blood Elf eyes changed colour due to the presence of fel crystals in Quel'thalas. It is a quirk of thalassian elves that their eye colour reflects the magical ambience of their location. Prior to that, their eyes were blue due to the presence of the purely Arcane Sunwell. The restored Arcane-Light Sunwell is turning some Elves' eyes yellow for the same reasons.

Void Elves on the other hand were the subject of an interrupted transformative process that caused a radical shift in their biology, from a change in skin tone to sprouting tentacles in some cases. This process was triggered by a bombardment of void energy on a level many magnitudes greater than the equivalent exposure to fel magic.

You are essentially comparing someone with a light suntan to someone who got a heavy dose of radiation poisoning and saying they are equivalent.

[matrix123mko]

As for the emphasis on Void Elves being Blood Elves, i think that's a false narrative. It is an attempt to paint Void Elves as being barely different from Blood Elves, despite confirmation that Blood Elves ARE High Elves. If Void Elves are Blood Elves, then they are High Elves and so there shouldn't be any complaints.

High elves are blood elves who love to serve humans. Void elves are void high elves, because they are corrupted blood elves who love to serve humans. Obviously I prefer void elves to high elves, but I think there should be orange option for human slave elves.

- - - Updated - - -

Normal Blood Elves were not 'corrupted'. Using hyperbole to draw a false equivalence undermines your argument. Instead, as has been said time after time, Blood Elf eyes changed colour due to the presence of fel crystals in Quel'thalas. It is a quirk of thalassian elves that their eye colour reflects the magical ambience of their location. Prior to that, their eyes were blue due to the presence of the purely Arcane Sunwell. The restored Arcane-Light Sunwell is turning some Elves' eyes yellow for the same reasons.

Void Elves on the other hand were the subject of an interrupted transformative process that caused a radical shift in their biology, from a change in skin tone to sprouting tentacles in some cases. This process was triggered by a bombardment of void energy on a level many magnitudes greater than the equivalent exposure to fel magic.

You are essentially comparing someone with a light suntan to someone who got a heavy dose of radiation poisoning and saying they are equivalent.

I agree with you. You are right, but I'd like additional options for human slave elves.

[derpkitteh]

Normal Blood Elves were not 'corrupted'. Using hyperbole to draw a false equivalence undermines your argument. Instead, as has been said time after time, Blood Elf eyes changed colour due to the presence of fel crystals in Quel'thalas. It is a quirk of thalassian elves that their eye colour reflects the magical ambience of their location. Prior to that, their eyes were blue due to the presence of the purely Arcane Sunwell. The restored Arcane-Light Sunwell is turning some Elves' eyes yellow for the same reasons.

Void Elves on the other hand were the subject of an interrupted transformative process that caused a radical shift in their biology, from a change in skin tone to sprouting tentacles in some cases. This process was triggered by a bombardment of void energy on a level many magnitudes greater than the equivalent exposure to fel magic.

You are essentially comparing someone with a light suntan to someone who got a heavy dose of radiation poisoning and saying they are equivalent.

their eyes turned green, that's corruption. blizzard has specifically called it "light corruption".

the only difference is that velves are purple. culture's the same, architecture is no different than the differences between belf and helf's, magical ideology's the same...

they're literally the same race with just a power up. neither lightforged, velf, or highmountain even really warrant being a new "race".

[Obelisk Kai]

their eyes turned green, that's corruption. blizzard has specifically called it "light corruption".

the only difference is that velves are purple. culture's the same, architecture is no different than the differences between belf and helf's, magical ideology's the same...

they're literally the same race with just a power up. neither lightforged, velf, or highmountain even really warrant being a new "race".

Which agrees with my point. A suntan versus a bad case of radiation poisoning. That is by definition a false equivalence, equating two similar states whose intensity varies by whole orders of magnitude. However, we have proof that the 'suntan' of the fel energy is reversible with the golden eyes, the Sunwell is like a racial colonic for the Blood/High Elves, filling them with holy and arcane energy.

One day, all green eyes will be gone, but that will probably be beyond the lifetime of WoW.

The Void Elves are clearly a lot more different from Blood Elves than Alliance High Elves (who are essentially identical).

Void Elves are purple. No Blood/High Elf is purple. Trying to minimise skin tone as the 'only' difference is just to ignore how profound a difference it actually is. And lest we forget all those Unofficial void elf threads after Blizzcon where many of the contributors to the High Elf movement were asking for 'normal' skin tones to Void Elves as a 'compromise'. Skin tone is a pretty big deal.

Void Elves can have tentacles. No Blood Elf or High Elf has tentacles.

Culturally, Blood Elves and High Elves are almost identical. Void Elves have a superficially similar culture, but similarity does not equal the same. They do not have the reverence for the light that the Blood Elves do. They exalt the shadow, which the High Elves and Blood Elves do not.

And you are right in the last comment. None of those groups warrants being a 'race'. That's why they are Allied races, extra customization options for existing races with new racials and unique lore. In other words, the entire point of the system. As an Allied race, Void Elves fit right in.

Alliance High Elves do not, because they are identical to a currently available race that happens to be present on the Horde.

[FlubberPuddy]

I am really enjoying how even after Blizzard created the Blood Elf heritage scenario to focus and show the event that forever changed the Blood Elf society/ideals/beliefs/culture people like Obelisk talk as if it changes nothing.

It undermines the narrative progression Blood Elves have made since TBC. To say they're back to how they were before the tragedy that befell them is to deny the fact that they're a people defined by this event. It's the sole reason Blood Elves are the Blood Elves in the first place.

That they now hold more reverence to the Light is a major contrast to their previous Arcane society. Draenei are also great magic users but to deny their Holy based society would be laughable, yet it appears to be happening a lot when it comes to the discussion on Blood Elves in relation to High Elves.

Blood Elves are still xenophobic, even if some are more grateful to be working with the Horde. If this wasn't true then it wouldn't be contrasted so heavily in-game with how it's pointed out that High Elves intermingle and how it's expressed by Umbric that the Alliance is where his people (Blood Elves) belong. Also by Vereesa in the comic about how the Blood Elves should come around to the Alliance or w/e I can't remember (at which Sylvanas jabs that they don't need saving or something like that). Elven and Human alliance is even memed about with the High Elf topic. Yet we don't see Blood Elves being memed about being in partnerships (this bit is to demonstrate how prevalent the difference is between working with other races in High Elves vs Blood Elves).

The whole "magic elf eyes change" is also defunct because if it were true then how come High Elves haven't had their eyes change to Golden as well? If supposedly tons of these elves are still making pilgrimages to the Sunwell as some antis like to say.

All in all very funny to see now that even when Blizzard showcases it in game that Blood Elves do not identify with High Elves, players are going "you still are!!!".

Also great to see the denial that all Void Elves are Blood Elves even though literally in game in BFA Umbric talks about them as such and how important it is to gain the trust of the Alliance (not regain). Alliance High Elves are the ones defined by staying loyal to the Alliance (traitors to their countrymen if you wish) so that broadcast text doesn't work if it's being applied to both High Elves AND Blood Elves. The fact it makes references to only Blood Elves reinforces this Void Elves are only Blood Elves.

Yet people like to say High Elves are turning into Void Elves too just because some NPCs are standing around in the area. Let me emulate another poster and make a stupid argument that mirrors this then too: There's Vrykul in both Zuldazar and Boralus, I guess we should start seeing Vrykul soldiers as part of the Horde and Alliance now too! They're in those areas that MUST MEAN they're being trained as troops!

[sillag]

y'all are crazy for even debating this in terms of lore because lore is not going to come anywhere near blizzard's decision to make high elves happen.

high elves are inevitable for 2 reasons

1. shitloads of race change money

2. maybe the only hope of ever rebalancing the faction populations. this isnt as important as 1 though.

like all lore in this game, the business people decide on something and the writers are told to come up with some way to make it make sense, which they achieve with varying levels of success. lore isn't a concern to blizzard because wow fans will accept literally anything they are told is lore even if it was written on the back of a napkin 30 seconds before being shoved into afrasiabi's hand behind the blizzcon stage for him to reveal.

[FlubberPuddy]

y'all are crazy for even debating this in terms of lore because lore is not going to come anywhere near blizzard's decision to make high elves happen.

high elves are inevitable for 2 reasons

1. shitloads of race change money

2. maybe the only hope of ever rebalancing the faction populations. this isnt as important as 1 though.

like all lore in this game, the business people decide on something and the writers are told to come up with some way to make it make sense, which they achieve with varying levels of success. lore isn't a concern to blizzard because wow fans will accept literally anything they are told is lore even if it was written on the back of a napkin 30 seconds before being shoved into afrasiabi's hand behind the blizzcon stage for him to reveal.

I'd say it's more a case of if the people making the game says the sky is green and make the sky green, then the sky is green. Fussing over "the sky is actually blue" doesn't matter , it's what added into the game that makes the final cut. Even developers say things that later turn out to not be true based on game additions (No unique Zandalari Druid forms for 1).

This is why I agree arguing lore makes no difference and what's displayed in game is what everyone should be going by. Also I agree with your assessment that money drives decisions like this one.

The fact that Void Elves are already more populous is more than half the Alliance main races shows they're sitting on a gold mine with that Thalassian elf model.

The fact that there are still threads upon threads about High Elves being created (by not even the original High Elf thread creators) to express discontent over Void Elf addition also shows that there is great potential for High Elves to bring in more money than even Void Elves have brought in. Financially speaking.

[Obelisk Kai]

y'all are crazy for even debating this in terms of lore because lore is not going to come anywhere near blizzard's decision to make high elves happen.

high elves are inevitable for 2 reasons

1. shitloads of race change money

2. maybe the only hope of ever rebalancing the faction populations. this isnt as important as 1 though.

like all lore in this game, the business people decide on something and the writers are told to come up with some way to make it make sense, which they achieve with varying levels of success. lore isn't a concern to blizzard because wow fans will accept literally anything they are told is lore even if it was written on the back of a napkin 30 seconds before being shoved into afrasiabi's hand behind the blizzcon stage for him to reveal.

The 'Oh High Elves are inevitable because Blizzard will make so money' line is an expression of blind faith. A belief without any supporting evidence and one I have heard for years.

Here's the thing.

If High Elves were so inevitable, if they were going to make Blizzard so much money, why did Blizzard create Void Elves instead of putting in High Elves?

[sillag]

The 'Oh High Elves are inevitable because Blizzard will make so money' line is an expression of blind faith. A belief without any supporting evidence and one I have heard for years.

Here's the thing.

If High Elves were so inevitable, if they were going to make Blizzard so much money, why did Blizzard create Void Elves instead of putting in High Elves?

i mean is this supposed to be some amazing gotcha or something? first this is a loaded question, because there is no reason for any of us to imagine void elves were added "instead of" high elves. as for why they added void elves first, they may have thought void elves would make them more money. however by now it should be pretty obvious to them the path to cash is still high elves.

like there's no way around this. high elves are inevitable as more races are added to the game. trust me in another 10 years you will not believe the bullshit allied races they will have come up with in search of race change money.

[Obelisk Kai]

i mean is this supposed to be some amazing gotcha or something? first this is a loaded question, because there is no reason for any of us to imagine void elves were added "instead of" high elves, as for why they added void elves first, they may have thought void elves would make them more money. however by now it should be pretty obvious to them the path to cash is still high elves.

like there's no way around this. high elves are inevitable as more races are added to the game. trust me in another 10 years you will not believe the bullshit allied races they will have come up with in search of race change money.

No reason? Ahem.

"And so we're looking to -when we add allied races, there's a desire to have things be a bit more distinct, especially between the two factions with the faction conflict being so prominent and so the Void Elf angle as tied into the story of Argus and the power of Alleria awakened and was able to train others to harness...was able to give something that felt a bit like a Blood Elf but had a unique flavour of it's own to the Alliance"

-Game Director Ion Hazzikostas

First off, yes, it is an amazing gotcha because it is a statement of common sense. Why create Void Elves, whom nobody had ever heard of before, instead of adding High Elves, except that they were intended to be that 'instead of'. As for there being no reason, well Ion was quite clear that the intent behind Void Elves was to give the Alliance a Blood Elf variant that wasn't a duplicate. Straight from the mouth of the man who led the group that created them. They also consider Blood Elves to be High Elves, so it is also a High Elf variant.

Now you can cling to false hope, as you do here, by constructing a weak narrative that leads inexorably to playable Alliance High Elves. But had they been as inevitable as you are claiming, they'd have just given you Alliance High Elves and never bothered about Void Elves.

[melzas]

The 'Oh High Elves are inevitable because Blizzard will make so money' line is an expression of blind faith. A belief without any supporting evidence and one I have heard for years.

Here's the thing.

If High Elves were so inevitable, if they were going to make Blizzard so much money, why did Blizzard create Void Elves instead of putting in High Elves?

Easy - because people would race change to Void Elves and then race change again for much more demanded High Elves. Wouldn't work the other way around.

[Fyersing]

As for the emphasis on Void Elves being Blood Elves, i think that's a false narrative. It is an attempt to paint Void Elves as being barely different from Blood Elves, despite confirmation that Blood Elves ARE High Elves. If Void Elves are Blood Elves, then they are High Elves and so there shouldn't be any complaints.

This is how I've always interpreted the political fracturing of Quel'thalas:

No'dorei ("True Elves" or "The Elves")

This is a completely made-up term, which I'm using here only to distinguish between "pre-WCIII High Elves" and "post-WCIII High Elves". An apt description of this group might be, "the quintessential High Elves of antiquity". The interesting thing about this group that often gets gleaned over is that we basically don't see any evidence, in any of the relevant literature, to suggest their was a whole lot of similarities between them and any of the modern groupings.

There are some mannerisms which seem to be timeless, of course, such as being generally arrogant as a group. The interesting thing is that it actually seems like Quel'thalas, from the time of it's inception (under Dath'remar Sunstrider) until it's decimation by the Scourge (until then, under Anasterian Sunstrider), was actually a nation which was culturally prone to "polite society", in the sense that it was courtesy to not smother your inferiors with reasons why you're superior to them. As I view it, it is this aspect of civility that has been downplayed in every other group (but which has made a return for the Blood Elves).

Sin'dorei ("Blood Elves")

This group initially elected, probably as a necessity, to drop all of their societal decorum and focus on practicality as a bottom line. This clearly allowed for the negatives of such practicality to be exemplified by people like Kael'thas Sunstrider and as the narrative of TBC reached it's culmination, with the Sunwell being revitalized, the Blood Elves realized that being so hyper-focused on pragmatism ultimately wasn't allowing for them to be true to themselves -- and so they slowly re-adopted the culture and customs of a polite society. They elected as a nation to walk back the cultural adaptations they'd allowed for in the midst of fighting for their survival, curtailing things like cultural approval for vengeance by any means or using friends/allies as springboards to further your own agenda.

The implementing of an option for Light-infused eyes for Blood Elves is a fairly good indication that they've come a long way from where they were following WCIII. In my personal opinion, between this group and all those listed below, it is Blood Elves who today most accurately reflect the "No'dorei" civilization mentioned above. They didn't resemble it at all, in their early days, but they surely do now.

Quel'dorei ("High Elves)

This is a cluster of independent groups, unlike all of the other categories, almost all of which have different reasons for not aligning themselves with the Blood Elves. There are some who were banished from their homeland because of a political struggle (High Elves of Quel'lithien, now mostly deceased), some who seem to have been relatively self-sufficient throughout everything and maintained a good relationship with the Wildhammer Dwarves and local human towns/villages (High Elves of Quel'danil), some who have hundreds/thousands of of years of history living in an Alliance-affiliated city and who have no interest or need to align with the Horde (High Elves of Dalaran), some who weren't even present for any of this to matter and the last thing they remember was being officially aligned with the Alliance (High Elves of Allerian Stronghold).

NOTE: The following three paragraphs are speculative, and headcanon-y. You've been warned.

I tend to agree with you, that simply being unaligned with the Blood Elves isn't compelling enough a reason to justify being implemented as a playable race. In this section, I'd like to posit a way to slowly manipulate the narrative to actually justify a series of visual adjustments (i.e. unique texture, at the very least) as well as to prevent High Elves from stepping on any toes going forward.

These varied groups all seem to romanticize the era of the No'dorei, often times openly musing about what life will be like when they restore their people back to this conceptualized greatness. The interesting thing is, virtually all of the ideological and cultural notions about being "true" High Elves are coming predominantly from three groups who have all been largely disconnected from Quel'thalas (and especially Silvermoon) for as little as centuries and as long as millennia -- constantly adapting to their immediate circumstances (which seldom include anything to do with Quel'thalas, No'dorei, or Sin'dorei).

If we assumed that at some point in the future, all of these disparate groups would organize themselves under a single banner, it really wouldn't be that hard to believe that a few fanatical leaders could corrupt their romanticized vision of the No'dorei even further than it already is -- placing emphasis on things that were seldom emphasized in antiquity, and visa versa.

A decent example might be a conception of "total conflict" or "total war", whereby an extreme emphasis is placed on either enemies or friends -- which is something we've already seen in the Silver Covenant, and which stands out as starkly different from how Blood Elves, and more importantly No'dorei, would behave. As well, perhaps some of the "no magic" sentiment bleeds in from the High Elves of Quel'Danil, which allows for more rampant militarism -- while also providing a bit of internal tension, both within their own ranks and within the Alliance generally, because at least 1/3rd of the faction would have spent hundreds/thousands of years in Dalaran using magic without a second thought.

Ren'dorei ("Void Elves")

There isn't a lot to say. They were a group of Blood Elves who were exiled early into the reign of Lor'themar Theron, who had continued to entertain a culture of practicality above all else until very recently (the fiasco that turned them into blueberries); still, they maintain an enormous preference for a pragmatic approach to issues, and even if they are to follow in the footsteps of the Blood Elves and become more and more focused on a broader view of things, it would take years and years for their temperments to be discernibly different. It has taken the Blood Elves the better part of a decade (in-universe) to conclude that their pragmatism-as-law approach wasn't right for them, all while being nudged along by an paralyzingly tranquil new font of power (Sunwell, the Light).

NOTE: The following paragraph is speculative, and headcanon-y. You've been warned.

If the High Elves were basically radicalized and militarized, attaching them together with the Void Elves would be a surefire way to illustrate that Blood Elves are the rightful heirs to the legacy of the No'dorei, with the others having departed from that legacy in very radical ways (even though, High Elves would still be laying claim to that legacy... we would know it isn't true, based upon visuals alone).

It is curious you specify the 'burning crusade-era' Blood Elves as the point of comparison, and not Blood Elves generally, and I thank you for that precision. The TBC Blood Elves were their civilization at it's lowest ebb. The Sunwell gone, they were torturing a Naaru out of genuine and desperate necessity (but this was a moral outrage as they would acknowledge later), most of their people were dead and their leadership was consorting with the Legion. Yet now that is in the past.
So what are the Blood Elves now, if the TBC era is behind them? They are what they were before the dark times they ever faced. Culturally, thematically and appearance wise, they are the High Elves again, or at least what the High Elves would have been had they been faced with a similar trauma yet kept the name.

You said here, briefly, what took me many more paragraphs to achieve. I agree, though, and as someone who actually wants playable High Elves... I would prefer it if they "borrowed" as little as possible from Blood Elves.

But the Void Elves are following the path of the TBC era Blood Elves now. In fact, that's their storyline now, as unlike the Blood Elves who had a narrative off ramp from that plotline through the restoration of the Sunwell, the Void Elves are defined by their shadow powers and theme.

Right, so we don't really have to worry about Blood Elves and Void Elves overlapping. They're pretty divergent, even without considering the Light versus Void angle. We'll have to wait and see how Blizzard chooses to proceed with High Elves, from a narrative perspective, going forward. There are many ways to handle it that don't involve just pissing everyone off with clones.

[ausoin]

Simply add a ability where a void elf when out of combat can transform back to a regular elf just like Alleria and the worgen, have a small quest chain about a group of High elves from the Silver covenant wanting to join or dont bother even doing that if Blizz is feeling lazy, just add a new ability and bam. They will be diffrient enough then just blood elves with blue eyes and it would finally mark the end of annoying fans demands every single expansion and every time a new elf sub race has been introduced.

This will satisfy everybody involved.