Official High Elf Discussion Megathread

[Obelisk Kai]

And opinion about magic discipline.

High Elves believe that Fel, Death and Void are evil.

Blood Elves accept any magic, unless it hurts the Sunwell.

The Blood Elves reject void as well. And every society tolerates fel to varying degrees, even the Alliance tolerates fel. Summoner Nolric proves that toleration for the fel extends to what is left of the Alliance High Elves. That he is alone as a High Elf Warlock is unremarkable, given High Elf population numbers, there being only one Warlock is not a surprise.

Besides, questions about magic discipline again segue into the faction divide, in that the Horde is more tolerant of it's members experiments with magic than the Alliance is, something which clearly suits the Blood Elves.

[Evilfish]

... THAT is what you decided to focus on? A figure of speech? Are you that desperate to find things to argue against?

If I were to start picking every word you say that is ether exaggerated, untrue or simply dumb, I'd be at it for a long time.

But I'm gonna give you a chance to rectify your statement. Try to make an exception and this time put some thought behind your posts and come up with a proper value that correctly represents the void elf compromise (and yes, it was and still is a compromise). Of course if you'd rather not have a realistic discussion with the minimum amount of courteous honesty, you can always back out.

[Gaexion Ramza Beoulve]

What a fascinating subrace of Elf.

We shall call them

Trai'dorei.

[elbleuet]

I know there's alot of negativity as well but at the end of the day it's mostly positive, high elves are alliance, and will always be alliance
Also the the major key part is that: they're cosmetic, if you don't like high elves, no one will force you to play them :P

Exactly.

https://wow.gamepedia.com/Canticle_of_Sacrifice

The song commemorating the death of Varian Wrynn is in Thalassian. A beautiful thalassian song played in Stormwind.
High elves are a core Alliance race, and will stay so.

[Darththeo]

https://ibb.co/6tHJFZT

Now, unless you really want to argue that I fabricated the entire post, there is your evidence.

I get an error message. The site doesn't come up.

You have not provided a cogent rationale as to why his comment here is invalid.

When he made the comment, he was no longer employed by Blizzard meaning HIS opinion is just that, HIS opinion and I don't see any reason to value HIS opinion anymore than YOUR opinion or MY opinion on the issue. I don't care if he agrees with you, it's meaningless. Just because you don't accept this rationale doesn't make it not cogent.

Blood Elves and Void Elves have substantial differences. Void Elf skin tones have shifted to a range outside what is normal for thalassians. Void Elves can also manifest tentacles. Void Elves have a set of unique void powers, such as the ability to manifest a 'void form' in combat or teleport short distances. Blood/High Elves can do none of these things. Culture wise, the Void Elves have been cut off from what is the core of thalassian culture, the Sunwell. Philosophically, they are forced to embark on a brand new exploration over who and what they are.

You are attempting to argue how Void Elves differences aren't really substantial. This is a case of missing the point. Ultimately it does not matter how profound or substantial the differences are. What matters is that the differences exist. There are no differences between Blood Elves and Alliance High Elves. Making Alliance High Elves an allied race therefore undermines faction diversity in a way Void Elves do not.

Key word: substantial. That is an opinion level ... the differences to the devs and you it is substantial, but to void elves themselves are not substantial. The view is base purely on opinion on what they feel is different enough ... for example, I don't see a hugely significant difference in the culture of High Mountain Tauren vs Regular Tauren and their main difference is basically horns. The rest of the customization there is no logic reason Tauren couldn't have as well. So the level of "substantial" for the devs seems to have a various levels depending on the race in question. What is substantial for one race, but be not for another.

If they are aesthetically and thematically identical then they are a shared race as the Pandaren are and it matters not if they live in different zones. If they are differed aesthetically and thematically then they are no longer a shared race and no longer neutral. As to my 'limited' view of what a neutral race is, we have precisely one neutral race to base our observations on. Anything beyond that one neutral race isn't fact, it is you embarking on a flight of fancy.

Thanks for proving that point for me. You can't make wide judgments based on a single data point. You are acting like that is the only way you can make a neutral race.

You have no real answer to support your assertion neutral races are still a viable choice despite the commentary of the development team, and their actions, that indicates neutral races are very unlikely to be repeated?

Because there is zero evidence of them being not viable. No one on the dev team has ruled them out. Their history supports that they value story over a lot of other things. If a story they wish to tell involves a neutral race, we'll get one. The devs have zero reason to pretend it is still a possibility if they have no plans to potentially do it ... they could come out and state "Neutral Races don't work" or something to that level. They have no problem borderline putting down someone's opinion, so I see no reason to state it is impossible or nearly so.

They are introducing new races every other patch it seems now. If you insist it is possible for an Allied race to be introduced as neutral, then every patch that doesn't happen is another missed opportunity for them to prove the viability of shared races.

Except all those races were planned prior to BfA even launching that we have now. They didn't "decide" on a race during BfA ... it is likely they have the allied races for BfA laid out early. There could be changes, but there is no evidence besides switching Mag'har for Zandalari. These races currently were pre-planned from the start ... one opportunity, not more.

Previous to BFA new races were added as an expansion feature. Not adding a new race in WOD was a design choice, and one of the opportunities missed. Not adding a new race at the start of Legion was a design choice, and another of the opportunities missed. It doesn't matter that we don't know if they considered a new race or not. What matters ultimately is that they didn't add new neutral races, and that when they did begin adding races again it was back to the racial pairs formula.

Which they have stated Allied races will be paired, but that doesn't mean non-neutral allied races are impossible either (it could be one faction recruits the race earlier than the other). They also stated they won't come out at the same time always (which so far they have).

You still haven't addressed the core flaw in this argument. If the faction wall is such a barrier to adding shared races, why was the only neutral race in WoW's history added in during a full scale faction war? The faction war is no barrier to neutral races as Pandaren proved, their own philosophical differences saw some attracted to the Alliance and others to the Horde. And it's not as if the opportunity hasn't arisen since.
Both Alliance and Horde adventured with the Nightborne and helped them out, providing an unassailable lore rationale for that particular race to be added as neutral. Blizzard went out of their way to lock the Nightborne to the Horde, I am sure you recall the forums posts complaining about it from a year and a half ago.
And in the next patch we will be both be adventuring with Mecha Gnomes, yet everyone agrees that if they are an Allied race they will be joining the Alliance. How is that even when it can make sense for an Allied race to be neutral they still end up faction locked?

As to the faction war...that isn't the core of my argument at all. The faction war is simply a manifestation of the much deeper factor, the faction divide. The faction divide persists through war and peace, representing the fact that the Alliance and Horde cannot stand each other. The factions are not based on ideology, but on race. The thematic tapestry of each faction is therefore sustained by how these individual races are woven together. And the factions are kept strong by keeping them different, rather than collapsing them into a bland indistinct mishmashes. A state of war or a state of peace is irrelevant, what is crucial is the state of division between them.

Again, it is story driven. You seem to ignore that it is the story they want to tell. As for the Mecha Gnomes, I tend to avoid spoilers that come out ... but is that Dungeon/questline even on the PTR yet?

I have to keep repeating myself. The pro High Elf community has form in declaring anything not repeated within a day of it being said as 'old' and 'not relevant'.
Actions, together with words demonstrate intent. They have had several opportunities for adding neutral races, they have not only not taken them but gone out of their way not to do them when an addition would actually have made sense as neutral.
They have stated High Elves were not added because they harmed faction diversity. While High Elves are the most extreme plausible example, taking a twelve year Horde race and making it de facto shared, any other shared race would also damage faction diversity as this is what Ghostcrawler stated in 2011.

The only thing I can rationalise you are arguing for is the purity of the point, that they could add them if they wished. Fine, on that count, you are right, they COULD.
What I am demonstrating however is the preponderance of evidence, both through what they have said and what they have done (and not done) to show they have little interest in doing so.

I am starting to believe you like using big words to make it sound like you have more than a point than you do. And btw, the preponderance of the evidence of neutral races is inconclusive ... there isn't really enough to go off of one way or the other. You haven't demonstrated anything other than you have convinced yourself you are correct.

[Ielenia]

If you can bother to actually explain to me why they aren't a compromise instead of trying to insult me into submission, perhaps then I'll discuss this further with you.

Those who want high elves are not interested in the model. So much so that a number in the community offered ways to make them different. I, myself, offered a way to make them different.

They want the high elves not because of the model, but because of their lore. Having void elves be blood elves lends heavy credence to the idea that either Blizzard does not care what that part of the community wants, or severely misunderstands their requests. Void elves could easily have been high elves if it was high elf magisters from Dalaran doing the research into the void, instead of blood elves. Little of their current lore would change, if at all.

And before someone say "high elves do not deal with dangerous magic", there are high elves in Telogrus Rift, studying the void.

As for those who want just the model? Yes, they exist, but I reckon they're in a small minority in the community, since I never see them around.

[Varx]

Look guys, we can go back and forth till the end of time cuz obviously no amount of logic and reasoning can trump the ego and pride of a hard core helfer.

However, there is one glaring bump in the road that they refuse to acknowledge due to this being a high elf thread, or at least that's what been said to me.

If high elves were a thing then wtf would the horde counterpart be? Green eyed night elves? Undead night elves? The latter cant even happen since all undead nelves are dark rangers so that leaves us with jack shit.

As if adding helves as an AR isn't redudant from a playable race perspective, there isnt a single decent option for the Horde. But hey, the delusional dream continues untill the last expansion.

[Ielenia]

But I'm gonna give you a chance to rectify your statement.

I don't need to rectify anything because the intent and meaning of my statement is clear to everyone. You simply decided to nitpick on the figure of speech.

[Garfurion]

The Alliance High Elves believe the best interests of their people and the Kingdom of Quel'thalas are served through the Alliance. They likely believe their people are scapegoating the Alliance and are holding them unfairly responsible for what happened during the Scourge Invasion.

Interesting, that is pretty much what Lyria Skystrider and Priest Ennas , two Blood Elves living in Silvermoon say before they are mind-controlled:

"My brothers and sisters. Listen to me. We must speak of the survival of our people. We have narrowly survived one calamnity, but I fear the next shall destroy us.

Can you not see what is happening? Open your eyes. It is laid bare for all to see. What is this new alliance? Why have we betrayed our allies of old, only to take up with the enemies of all that live?" -- Lyria Skystrider

"You fool! The prince's minions were the very Forsaken we have now allied ourselves with, and now he has betrayed us." -- Priest Ennas

The scene makes it clear that there are/were Blood Elves who were opposed to Quel'Thalas joining the Horde instead of the Alliance.

The Blood Elves believe that the Alliance, which they never truly believed in given they were the last to join and the first to leave, betrayed them, first during the Scourge invasion, then when Garithos sentenced their Prince to death and finally through their lack of understanding towards the methods they had adopted to sustain themselves without the Sunwell. As a result, they have rejected the Alliance and out of necessity, believe the Horde to be a stronger vehicle for their people's future.

If this is all true then why would Lor'Themar have ever entered into negotiations with Varian Wrynn about rejoining the Alliance back in MoP.

It also doesn't explain why Ranger Lord Hawkspear and High Priestess Skycaller from Quel'Lithien lodge were/are High Elves when they were effectively Blood Elves when Kael'thas renamed his people and before the Blood Elves even joined the Horde.

So the political division is precisely that. The faction divide itself. Alliance, or Horde.

Valeera Sanguinar , a Blood Elf, seems to disagree with that notion:

"I am neither Horde nor Alliance. What has either faction ever done for me?"

and she even works for the High King(s) of the Alliance:

"My loyalties are personal-- To King Varian and to his son".

There are also plenty of other examples of "neutral" Blood Elves such as those who are members of the Kirin Tor, such as Aethas Sunreaver (after rejoining) or the Scryers who still answer to the Naaru first and formost.

Clearly the faction divide can therefore not be the defining difference between Blood Elves and High Elves since there are too many examples opposing it.

As stated in the still canon Warcraft Encyclopedia the "crucial" difference between High and Blood Elves is how they decided to deal with their addiction after the destruction of the Sunwell:

"Blood elves no longer truly consider themselves high elves, and they tend to have different priorities and behaviors than their high elf kindred. Unlike high elves, blood elves have decided that in the absence of the Sunwell, they will feed their hunger for arcane magic by draining that magic from alternative sources."

"A crucial difference between high elves and blood elves is that no high elves have decided to feed their hunger for arcane magic by draining that magic from alternative sources (now that the Sunwell is useless). Even today, though, a high elf might still succumb to that addiction and become one of the blood elves."


Note that the Sunwell was restored only a few years ago in Azerothian time so almost all High and Blood Elves alive today, except the very young, made this fundamental moral/lifestyle choice.

The High Elves of Quel'Lithien lodge like Renthar Darkspear for instance had been Farstriders and thus Blood Elves after Kael'thas renamed his people but were exiled for refusing to drain living beings out of principle, not because of a political affiliation with the Alliance.

"Five years we rot here, thrown out of our homes at your behest because we refuse to suck
magic from living things like vampires." -- Renthar Darkspear, In to the Shadow of the Sun

Unlike the faction divide the "crucial difference" described in the Warcraft Encyclopedia does seem to apply to all High and Blood Elves currently in the game.

If we take the split between High and Blood Elves due to the "crucial difference" described in the Warcraft Encyclopedia as a decisive moment in time then even their offspring born after the restoration of the Sunwell can easily be classified into either of the two groups.

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Besides, questions about magic discipline again segue into the faction divide, in that the Horde is more tolerant of it's members experiments with magic than the Alliance is, something which clearly suits the Blood Elves.

I think Horde is more magic oriented with the Blood Elves and Nightborne but I think the Alliance might be the more tolerant faction when it comes to magic now that they have the Void Elves.

[Ielenia]

Thank you for explaining further.

I think there's more to it than "A) They don't care, or B) They misunderstand the request." Perhaps a little bit of both, but I definitely think there's more to the story.

While I do not think very highly of Blizzard's analytical side in recent years, I'd like to think there's pro-Alliance and pro-Horde people working within the Warcraft team. I believe you and I can agree on that. I think it's very likely at some points that they both contribute ideas to one another, especially in the realm of balancing races between the factions.

I believe they did exactly as you described. Since they clearly aren't interested in giving you the High Elves, because the majority of their race evolved into what is known as Blood Elves presently, I believe they sought to seek a compromise that used the Thalassian model, since High Elves and their lore were never up for grabs in the first place. They needed something unique, something with an obvious contrast to Blood Elves. Blizzard has, after all, said numerous times in their opinion there aren't enough High Elves left to support a playable race. That is what has been said officially, and is not my personal opinion.

Therefore I conclude, that in the interest of the clamor for High Elves, they compromised with a variant of Blood Elves to give the Alliance a semblance of a High Elf. Did they fail miserably? Absolutely. If I played Alliance I'd be upset, too.

But back to my original point, you claimed they weren't a compromise, in which I believe they were under the circumstances I outlined above.

But it's not a good compromise. At best, is one done in very bad faith. Because, like I pointed out, they could have easily have replaced the blood elf researchers with high elves, and it would still be as you said: "an unique, obvious contrast to the blood elves", since high elves already already an obvious contrast to blood elves, but not aesthetically unique, as-is. The 'void elf' treatment would fix that, and make them the perfect "unique, obvious contrast.

Nothing would change about the current relationship to other races. Magister Umbric could still dream of uniting the Thalassian elves under the Alliance's banner, Lor'themar Theron could still despise them as 'traitors', etc.

There was absolutely no reason, whatsoever, to not make the void elves be high elves, instead of blood elves. And there are many reasons to make them high elves.

[Strippling]

It's similar to those who ask for Ogres or Alterac Humans for Horde, except there's been more instances in WoW of High Elf NPCs aiding the Alliance than Ogre or Alterac Human NPCs aiding the Horde.

The high elfs have almost always aided the alliance on behalf of the Kirin Tor throughout WoW. They have rarely aided the Alliance on their own accord. This faction war is a perfect example of that... where are the high elfs? Practically non-existent this expansion... cause why? The leader of the Kirin Tor wants no part in this war, and subsequently the high elfs who are associated with the Kirin Tor are not taking part in it either. Ogres on the other hand have aided the Horde on their own accord...so funnily enough they're actually more associated with the Horde than high elfs are with the Alliance. On top of that, the void elfs are aiding the Alliance more than the high elfs... so stop acting like the high elfs are such a core group to the alliance... they really are not. Their allegiance broke during WCIII and any alliance between the Stormwind alliance and the high elfs comes second to their allegiance to the kirin tor.

It's dishonest to pretend it is a compromise.

It's not pretending. Allied race system was the perfect opportunity to introduce playable high elfs. High elfs were not given and instead void elfs were... please explain to me why void elfs were given in place of high elfs?? I'd really like to hear your explanation that void elfs weren't an effort at a compromise.

Alliance players asking for high elves never said "we want the blood elf model on Alliance" they always asked for the High Elves shown around the Alliance.

They always asked for "high elfs on the Alliance" but funnily enough are now saying "but we'll settle for light skinned options for void elfs" (which is the blood elf model).

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Exactly.

https://wow.gamepedia.com/Canticle_of_Sacrifice

The song commemorating the death of Varian Wrynn is in Thalassian. A beautiful thalassian song played in Stormwind.
High elves are a core Alliance race, and will stay so.

Where are they in this faction war? You'd think any group "core" to the Alliance would be actively participating in this war?

Alas, the high elfs are virtually non-existent during this war...why? Cause their allegiance is first and foremost to the Kirin Tor... who want no part in this war.

[Garfurion]

There was absolutely no reason, whatsoever, to not make the void elves be high elves, instead of blood elves. And there are many reasons to make them high elves.

I think the reason to make them former Blood Elves (a Horde race) is because according to Blizzard Nightborne are similar to Night Elves (an Alliance race).

"And the other cool thing is the Nightborne allow the Horde to play something that is similar to the Night Elf, and the Void Elves allow the Alliance to play something that's similar to a Blood Elf. So, that's kind of a, swapping of the factions where you get to experience the other factions." -- Shani Edwards

Blizzard probably wanted to be as balanced about this as possible but ended up annoying both Horde players (who "lost" NPCs) and Alliance players (who didn't get transformed/evolved High Elves ). Blizzard being lazy enough not to give Void Elves their own mesh unlike Nightborne probably doesn't help either.

[Ielenia]

I think the reason to make them former Blood Elves (a Horde race) is because according to Blizzard Nightborne are similar to Night Elves (an Alliance race).

"And the other cool thing is the Nightborne allow the Horde to play something that is similar to the Night Elf, and the Void Elves allow the Alliance to play something that's similar to a Blood Elf. So, that's kind of a, swapping of the factions where you get to experience the other factions." -- Shani Edwards

Blizzard probably wanted to be as balanced about this as possible but ended up annoying both Horde players (who "lost" NPCs) and Alliance players (who didn't get transformed/evolved High Elves ). Blizzard being lazy enough not to give Void Elves their own mesh unlike Nightborne probably doesn't help either.

That still is not a good reason, exactly because we have high elves that are "similar to a blood elf".

[elbleuet]

Where are they in this faction war? You'd think any group "core" to the Alliance would be actively participating in this war?

Alas, the high elfs are virtually non-existent during this war...why? Cause their allegiance is first and foremost to the Kirin Tor... who want no part in this war.

They're actually involved in Stromgarde. And Alleria, who's basically a high elf mastering the void is found helping the Alliance in both Lordaeron and Kul'Tiras.

And tell me why is a thalassian song played in Stormwind. Is there a human song played in Orgrimmar or Silvermoon ? I don't think so.

[DeicideUH]

It's not pretending. Allied race system was the perfect opportunity to introduce playable high elfs. High elfs were not given and instead void elfs were... please explain to me why void elfs were given in place of high elfs?? I'd really like to hear your explanation that void elfs weren't an effort at a compromise.

It may have been an effort at a compromise, but in no way it ended up a fair compromise.

It goes way beyond looking blue. Void elves literally came devoid of lore. There was no effort at all of seeding the race of making it appealing to high elves in any way, shape or form. There's no way one can deny void elves weren't shoddly and hastly done near the end of Legion, lacking any of the care that nightborne or highmountain tauren got. They ended up even more devoid of lore than lightforged draenei, which is also a horribly implemented race. If one wants a compromise, then it should at least have put true effort and passion into it. Blizzard instead painted some blood elves blue, added stupid tentacle hair, brought up a tiny group of them out of nowhere and made the most thinly veiled excuse of a storyline to back it up, on par with some of the worst non-porn fanfic that there can be. Then left them as it is, for over a year, without bothering to flesh them out further.

That's not a fair compromise at all.

[Darththeo]

Look guys, we can go back and forth till the end of time cuz obviously no amount of logic and reasoning can trump the ego and pride of a hard core helfer.

And the anti-helfers are being no more logical.

However, there is one glaring bump in the road that they refuse to acknowledge due to this being a high elf thread, or at least that's what been said to me.

So you need the reply directed to you ... noted.

If high elves were a thing then wtf would the horde counterpart be? Green eyed night elves? Undead night elves? The latter cant even happen since all undead nelves are dark rangers so that leaves us with jack shit.

All KNOWN raised Night Elves are Dark Rangers ... but that wouldn't prevent them from adding them.
Some people have suggested Alterac Valley Humans (Main Played Race for Main Played Race).
Prior to BfA, there were people suggesting Dark Iron for High Elves ... obviously that can't happen.
"Redeemed" Man'ari Ereder ... the red fel skin Draenei.
Feral Worgen (No Human Form) however it is highly unlikely.

The Undead Night Elves and Man'ari Eredar are my personal favors.

As if adding helves as an AR isn't redudant from a playable race perspective, there isnt a single decent option for the Horde. But hey, the delusional dream continues untill the last expansion.

Technically all allied races are "redundant" ... so just pointing anything dealing with Allied Races being redundant is beyond pointless.

[Strippling]

They're actually involved in Stromgarde. And Alleria, who's basically a high elf mastering the void is found helping the Alliance in both Lordaeron and Kul'Tiras.

Literally a tiny handful found in Stromgarde, that's it. Pretty much none to be seen in the war campaign, questing during the war, battle for lordaeron, war of thorns or battle for Dazalor (forget how to spell it). Void elfs on the other hand appear in most of the aforementioned instances.

Also, pro high elfers state that a key factor that separates high elfs from blood elfs is their avoidance of "bad magic". Alleria "went to the dark side"... what makes her a high elf anymore? Unless of course you agree that the ONLY difference between a high elf and blood elf is their political view? Otherwise, according to pro high elfer logic Alleria is no longer classified as a high elf... and more fits the bill of a void elf.

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It may have been an effort at a compromise, but in no way it ended up a fair compromise.

That's not a fair compromise at all.

Key word there is "effort". You cannot deny that void elfs were purposefully introduced as an effort to comprise. The compromise was giving the Alliance the Horde model, but making it different enough to avoid blurring faction lines and detracting from the Horde identity as much as practicable.

Whether the compromise is satisfactory to players or not, it doesn't matter. It still was, at the end of a day, a compromise that Blizz decided internally. Some players asked for high elfs, Blizz discussed it and decided faction identity was more important than the Alliance getting a nigh-extinct group (high elfs) in which the main society of this race is currently already playable on the Horde.... so they ended up with void elfs as the middle ground between both parties.

And so you know, I agree with you in that they could have done a better job of introducing void elfs (more build up and back story would have been nice).

[DeicideUH]

It still was, at the end of a day, a compromise that Blizz decided internally.

No. A compromise is:

1. an agreement or a settlement of a dispute that is reached by each side making concessions.
2. settle a dispute by mutual concession.
3. accept standards that are lower than is desirable.

Something is only a compromise if both sides accept it. Trying to compromise is not the same thing as reaching a compromise.

[FlubberPuddy]

Hm? First time I hear of such a thing. What Ion supposedly said off-the-mic?

Here you go dude, form your own conclusions.



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Should change the topic to High Elf Discussion Super Megathread now

Or is that at 500 pages?

This is probably still not the longest running thread in the forums.

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I think the reason to make them former Blood Elves (a Horde race) is because according to Blizzard Nightborne are similar to Night Elves (an Alliance race).

"And the other cool thing is the Nightborne allow the Horde to play something that is similar to the Night Elf, and the Void Elves allow the Alliance to play something that's similar to a Blood Elf. So, that's kind of a, swapping of the factions where you get to experience the other factions." -- Shani Edwards

Well, at the very least, this shows they're not adverse to having a "swapping of the factions" so to speak. Aka they don't seem against adding the other faction's races to the other, despite how some here like to profusely say they have a "faction barrier they're trying to maintain."

[Strippling]

No. A compromise is:

1. an agreement or a settlement of a dispute that is reached by each side making concessions.
2. settle a dispute by mutual concession.
3. accept standards that are lower than is desirable.

Something is only a compromise if both sides accept it. Trying to compromise is not the same thing as reaching a compromise.

1. the agreement or settlement of a dispute was reached between internal sides within Blizzard. You talk as if the pro high elf community ever had a vote in this decision. It's Blizzards game, they decide the compromises.
2. Again, likely happened within Blizzard. The pro or anti community have no say in this.
3. Well that's up to you to accept the less than desirable outcome or not.

Blizzard employees have been quoted to say that they don't always agree on certain things internally. As such, it's acceptable to assume that they likely discuss or "debate" topics such as high elfs internally. At some point a decision was made (internally) in which both the WoW developers FOR high elfs (acting and behalf of the pro community) came to a compromise with the WoW developers AGAINST high elfs (acting on behalf of the anti community), resulting in the now void elfs. The compromise was made by Blizzard, just because you don't accept the compromise doesn't mean it wasn't a compromise.

Please remember that requesting high elfs is a request that directly impedes on the Horde identity, given that the main high elven society is a CORE horde race and is already playable. So, no, you're not getting a core horde aesthetic and thematic without some changes to maintain faction identity, which is an integral part of the game.

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Well, at the very least, this shows they're not adverse to having a "swapping of the factions" so to speak. Aka they don't seem against adding the other faction's races to the other, despite how some here like to profusely say they have a "faction barrier they're trying to maintain."

Hang on hang on hang on. I've seen you dismiss Ion's comments time and time again, but then cling onto any other developer or CM comments that suit your agenda. Double standards?