Official High Elf Discussion Megathread

[FlubberPuddy]

I say this mostly as a jest to aggravate and troll....but, How funny would it be if High Elves were a cash shop Allied Race? No prerequisites, just buy, do the unlock scenario on your main, log off and realize you’re a shit imitation of a Blood Elf for 50 bucks.

Actually from what I've seen, many on official forums said they'd purchase high Elves as a "human skin" from the cash shop if they basically kept all racials the same as humans on Alliance. So all you do is pay for the skin. There was a thread about it.

[protip]

It's not hard at all, not sure why a lot of people find it hard to believe that he wouldn't want to talk about High Elves during the reveal of Void Elves. "Don't want races that aren't unique or cool in their own way" that's pretty subjective since a fair many people find LF Draenei and HM Tauren to be not much unique and cool in their own way. Also Mag'har are literally skin options for Orcs (Since they have the exact culture corrupted Orcs do) yet they're becoming AR as well.

The Nightborne are basically the Night Elf highborne theme blown up. They even take from Blood Elves "Fancy life elves" theme too. And Void Elves themselves are void-corrupted Blood Elves.

Again that's some subjective points you're making. So I can subjectively say as well that the reason they didn't make Void Elves from High Elves is because they're saving them for another moment.



Of course, you see with Dark Irons getting Shaman class it means Horde needs another Paladin as they have kept the Paladin:Shaman count equal throughout the entirety of WoW (not counting Pandaren). Alliance has 5 Paladin Options and 3 Shaman Options (this includes all ARs we know except KT Humans And Orcs). Horde will have 5 Shaman Options and so a 3rd Paladin option is going to come. AkA Zandalari Paladins. I'll say why him bringing it up means a yes, because what he says is essentially that quest where they lost the light loa isn't the END but the first part of a 3 zone story. Now let me ask you this, would he give people continued hope if the answer was really going to be "haHAA they still can't be Paladins, gottem!" ? You can mull on that one

And he has only been dismissive about High Elves once, and that was in the context of Void Elf reveal. And has yet to reinforce his stance on it, except he's continually reinforced his stance on other things, Pathfinder for instance. Yet he hasn't reinforced his position on High Elves despite the numerous topics about them. And continually avoids the High Elf questions in QAs when they've been popping up so often that others have noticed and even made threads about "Wow so many asking about High Elves why dont they ask more important stuff??"

So what I'm saying is, if surely he has time to comment on the Zandalari Pally situation which is more minor in comparison (A whole Allied Race vs A class option for an Allied Race), then he would also reinforce his statement on High Elves. But they're not, they're letting the community continue asking.

Taliesin and Evitel even described it as the great "High Elf Debate" and are going to make a video on it. Unless EU celebrates April Fools??

Besides, recently, Ion's been saying things that turn out to not be true moments later lol, Zanda Druid forms?? Extra customization for existing races?? Yet people would like to believe his Blizzcon High Elf quote is done and done, sounds more like wishful thinking from High Elf opposition side. Ion has objectively been more wrong than he has been right when concerning future features.

It's very clear to me that Zandalari paladins are coming, and I was in the "Oh no we're never getting troll paladins" thread saying so from the start of alpha. With high elves though, they weren't brought up at all in the Q&A, whereas for Zandalari paladins it was the first actual question. Anyone who tuned in on time would've seen it. He was asked about high elves during an interview without warning, and he just shrugged it off by saying (indirectly, I will grant you) that there wasn't really anything unique about them to pursue. That seems to me like a pretty straightforward way to let people down easy.

With something as simple as changing the visuals for Zandalari druids, I think it's pretty normal that an artist would have some cool ideas and be encouraged to follow that inspiration. The consequences of that are pretty minor, and it only serves to make the different kinds of druids in the game more different. Again, high elves don't follow their design patterns that way. If you really believe that he's just trying to save this for a big reveal, you have to rationalize why he would try to avoid them, and worse, when asked point blank, even go out of his way to make them sound less interesting rather than simply leaving the door open. His typical answer for confirmed upcoming content is "Yeah that's a cool idea we could probably do that someday," as shown by Mag'har orcs and Zandalari paladins. His response to high elves was very negative by comparison; it's pretty rare that Blizzard reps say outright "we don't think that's a good idea because ----," when asked about ideas for future content. Sure, they have done it before and changed their philosophy later, but that's not how they hide big reveals.

[Obelisk Kai]

It's not just uniqueness in lore, but also uniqueness in aesthetic. That's why Void Elves look the way they do. Why is this a problem?

The numerous threads following the announcement of Void Elves asking for 'normal' skin tones is the answer.

[Deleted]

I haven't kept up with this thread as well as I could have, but I will say I'm personally a big fan of the aesthetic OP is suggesting. Unpopular opinion(?) but couple this with a new animation set (maybe human? with unique, more 'elegant' attack animations?), and it would make for a fairly distinct Allied Race.

[Obelisk Kai]

Of course, you see with Dark Irons getting Shaman class it means Horde needs another Paladin as they have kept the Paladin:Shaman count equal throughout the entirety of WoW (not counting Pandaren). Alliance has 5 Paladin Options and 3 Shaman Options (this includes all ARs we know except KT Humans And Orcs). Horde will have 5 Shaman Options and so a 3rd Paladin option is going to come. AkA Zandalari Paladins. I'll say why him bringing it up means a yes, because what he says is essentially that quest where they lost the light loa isn't the END but the first part of a 3 zone story. Now let me ask you this, would he give people continued hope if the answer was really going to be "haHAA they still can't be Paladins, gottem!" ? You can mull on that one

And he has only been dismissive about High Elves once, and that was in the context of Void Elf reveal. And has yet to reinforce his stance on it, except he's continually reinforced his stance on other things, Pathfinder for instance. Yet he hasn't reinforced his position on High Elves despite the numerous topics about them. And continually avoids the High Elf questions in QAs when they've been popping up so often that others have noticed and even made threads about "Wow so many asking about High Elves why dont they ask more important stuff??"

So what I'm saying is, if surely he has time to comment on the Zandalari Pally situation which is more minor in comparison (A whole Allied Race vs A class option for an Allied Race), then he would also reinforce his statement on High Elves. But they're not, they're letting the community continue asking.

Taliesin and Evitel even described it as the great "High Elf Debate" and are going to make a video on it. Unless EU celebrates April Fools??

Besides, recently, Ion's been saying things that turn out to not be true moments later lol, Zanda Druid forms?? Extra customization for existing races?? Yet people would like to believe his Blizzcon High Elf quote is done and done, sounds more like wishful thinking from High Elf opposition side. Ion has objectively been more wrong than he has been right when concerning future features.

You do realise you've expended a great deal of effort here when all you had to type was 'I don't believe Ion said what he clearly said'.

I guess I understand the motive, if Ion is taken at face value on what he said, then playable High Elves for the Alliance aren't happening. So to keep this debate going, a way must be found to rationalise away what Ion said.

Your approach is the common one, the 'he didn't mean it approach' or the 'he will change his mind' approach.

You have given scant evidence that that will happen. The other things you mention such as the Zandalari Druid forms, those are things very unlike playable high elves. They aren't allied races, they aren't already in the game and they don't impact on the faction divide. Zandalari Troll Druid forms have happened because they were a cool idea that was uncontroversial.

Whether you like it or not, playable High Elves are extremely controversial. It's no surprise Ion hasn't commented on it since, the pro High Elfers are like a massive hornet's nest and prodding them in any way would probably unleash a lot more vitriol on the forums. Commentating on Zandalari Paladisn is dealing with a softball subject. But he doesn't need to reinforce his statement on High Elves. What possible motive would he have for doing that? As I stated, it would just ignite more forum flame wars and he has nothing more to add to the subject.

Do you really think he needs to restate every six months playable High Elves aren't happening? Silence is not the same as confirmation, not even close, and to presume such is a massive overreach. Until such time as Ion's statement is explicitly undone by future word of god then Blizzard's official word on playable high elves is that they are already playable as Blood Elves on the Horde and that Void Elves are another flavour of High Elf available to the Alliance.

And yes, Taliesin and Evitel plan to do a video on on this topic. I wonder if they know what they are letting themselves in for. I hope it's fair and objective...and that as a result they conclude High Elves on the Alliance is a duplication of a core Horde race and an attempt by Alliance players to play the most popular Horde race without having to go Horde and that it is a reasonable expectation that if you want to play a certain race in game you have to play the faction they are on. But we will have to see.

- - - Updated - - -

It's very clear to me that Zandalari paladins are coming, and I was in the "Oh no we're never getting troll paladins" thread saying so from the start of alpha. With high elves though, they weren't brought up at all in the Q&A, whereas for Zandalari paladins it was the first actual question. Anyone who tuned in on time would've seen it. He was asked about high elves during an interview without warning, and he just shrugged it off by saying (indirectly, I will grant you) that there wasn't really anything unique about them to pursue. That seems to me like a pretty straightforward way to let people down easy.

With something as simple as changing the visuals for Zandalari druids, I think it's pretty normal that an artist would have some cool ideas and be encouraged to follow that inspiration. The consequences of that are pretty minor, and it only serves to make the different kinds of druids in the game more different. Again, high elves don't follow their design patterns that way. If you really believe that he's just trying to save this for a big reveal, you have to rationalize why he would try to avoid them, and worse, when asked point blank, even go out of his way to make them sound less interesting rather than simply leaving the door open. His typical answer for confirmed upcoming content is "Yeah that's a cool idea we could probably do that someday," as shown by Mag'har orcs and Zandalari paladins. His response to high elves was very negative by comparison; it's pretty rare that Blizzard reps say outright "we don't think that's a good idea because ----," when asked about ideas for future content. Sure, they have done it before and changed their philosophy later, but that's not how they hide big reveals.

I knew this would happen as soon as he made the statement. They will try and rationalise it away. And eventually, as with Caydiem's 2005 post (which Ion essentially restated in the video) they will say 'Ion said that ages ago so it doesn't count anymore'.

So we have a developer saying point blank when asked that it wasn't going to happen and his words weren't accepted at face value. Instead, a small industry has sprung up trying to deconstruct them, to make it seem he said something he didn't.

They are fixated on the fact he didn't say the word 'No'. It left just enough wriggle room for them.

In other words...

[protip]

You do realise you've expended a great deal of effort here when all you had to type was 'I don't believe Ion said what he clearly said'.

Yeah, pretty much. I find the discussion of whether or not they should be added to be kind of interesting, there's at least room for interpretation. There's room for a discussion about values. On the other hand, thinking that they're just holding out and telling you no all for the sake of keeping it a surprise is just denial.

[Obelisk Kai]

Yeah, pretty much. I find the discussion of whether or not they should be added to be kind of interesting, there's at least room for interpretation. There's room for a discussion about values. On the other hand, thinking that they're just holding out and telling you no all for the sake of keeping it a surprise is just denial.

I do think they have a plan for High Elves, just not the one they want.

Elisande said they said are losing themselves among lesser races.

Ion said they are being assimilated.

I think the High Elves are being kept around so they can create a Half Elf Allied race at some point. That's just a personal theory...BUT I have an in game quote and an out of game quote that can be used to support it which is more than anyone looking for playable High Elves has.

[protip]

I do think they have a plan for High Elves, just not the one they want.

Elisande said they said are losing themselves among lesser races.

Ion said they are being assimilated.

I think the High Elves are being kept around so they can create a Half Elf Allied race at some point. That's just a personal theory...BUT I have an in game quote and an out of game quote that can be used to support it which is more than anyone looking for playable High Elves has.

I wouldn't be surprised or bothered by that. At this point, the story definitely flows in that direction. It would need some development in terms of flavor, but I don't think that would be very difficult.

I don't think most high elf fans will ever get what they want because many of those fans already have an idea of what a high elf is. I don't think it would be possible for Blizzard to come up with a high elf concept that would suit all of those fan ideas, maintain the integrity of existing lore, and also be something new and different.

[Ithekro]

Some of the High Elf fans would be fine with Half Elves as a compromise. They could at least RP with that.

[Zorish]

They do exist in lore, they are in the Alliance. You may not like it but that's the fact. The lore that they have might make you hate them and what they stand for ("betraying" their homeland and all that's stuff) and that's perfectly fine, that means you are emotionally invested in one of the Horde vs Alliance conflicts. Now wouldn't it be great for you, as a Horde player, to have a conflict you care about be expanded and elevated to "playable vs playable" level instead of "playable vs NPC"?

my inverstment there only because i don't want my faction being f**king robbed and i don't want another elven race in this game. Enough of world of elfcraft already.

I would be fine if High Elves were like this thread suggests and would be fine if they weren't, just as long as they are consistent with the themes that High Elves had had throughout Warcraft history.

hi there mr thief. So you ignoring the fact that this "high elves" theme had throughout Warcraft history ARE ACTUALLY SILVERMOON. Silvermoon still not changed! All themes of so "high elves" belong to Blood elves. They only renamed themself and picked phoenix as symbol. So you actually want copy+paste race without actuall lore confirmation why this High elves even exist. Like really - NOW they have no reason to fight with silvermoon. NO! ACTUALL! REASON! cause LTT and halduron not againts them at all! Only grudge after so many years passed could be from Alleria because she wasn't there.
Like i see reason why VE allied them with alliance. because they were exiled and need help and leader. it's okay. But actuall "High elves"? no reason! no reason at all. Trolls? amani - not part of the horde. Undead? - rulled by dead elf. Orcs? they not even done much damage to their kingdom.

Ehh, what?

you don't get it? it's reference to this thread where someone want "High elves" suddenly be nature based. And i am "seriously" telling them how they can get this "nature based elves". and similarities to VE - because they will be same "a**pull" as void elves.

I would guess because of some people starting to write "but High Elves are in the Horde, there are no High Elves in the Alliance!!11". This title at least makes this argument disappear and saves time from explaining about Silver Covenant.

and ion stated that Blood elves are pretty much "High elves".

[FlubberPuddy]

It's very clear to me that Zandalari paladins are coming, and I was in the "Oh no we're never getting troll paladins" thread saying so from the start of alpha. With high elves though, they weren't brought up at all in the Q&A, whereas for Zandalari paladins it was the first actual question. Anyone who tuned in on time would've seen it. He was asked about high elves during an interview without warning, and he just shrugged it off by saying (indirectly, I will grant you) that there wasn't really anything unique about them to pursue. That seems to me like a pretty straightforward way to let people down easy.

With something as simple as changing the visuals for Zandalari druids, I think it's pretty normal that an artist would have some cool ideas and be encouraged to follow that inspiration. The consequences of that are pretty minor, and it only serves to make the different kinds of druids in the game more different. Again, high elves don't follow their design patterns that way. If you really believe that he's just trying to save this for a big reveal, you have to rationalize why he would try to avoid them, and worse, when asked point blank, even go out of his way to make them sound less interesting rather than simply leaving the door open. His typical answer for confirmed upcoming content is "Yeah that's a cool idea we could probably do that someday," as shown by Mag'har orcs and Zandalari paladins. His response to high elves was very negative by comparison; it's pretty rare that Blizzard reps say outright "we don't think that's a good idea because ----," when asked about ideas for future content. Sure, they have done it before and changed their philosophy later, but that's not how they hide big reveals.

Your entire premise though is still ignoring that it was brought up during Void Elves just being revealed. I'm not sure why people keep ignoring that context as it's huge. Blizzard also thought that their Garrison idea was awesome when it was being unveiled, as well as the way you acquire Legendaries during it's reveal.

Again I'll re-state, they aren't going to say anything that shits on or even steps on the toes of anything they reveal during that time. High Elves step on the toe of Void Elves and the reception to Void Elves has pretty much been, "Why didn't Blizzard go with High Elves?" a reception which wasn't felt till the aftermath of Blizzcon being over, and thus why I say he hasn't reinforced it. Since it's still a hot button topic.

[Obelisk Kai]

Your entire premise though is still ignoring that it was brought up during Void Elves just being revealed. I'm not sure why people keep ignoring that context as it's huge. Blizzard also thought that their Garrison idea was awesome when it was being unveiled, as well as the way you acquire Legendaries during it's reveal.

Again I'll re-state, they aren't going to say anything that shits on or even steps on the toes of anything they reveal during that time. High Elves step on the toe of Void Elves and the reception to Void Elves has pretty much been, "Why didn't Blizzard go with High Elves?" a reception which wasn't felt till the aftermath of Blizzcon being over, and thus why I say he hasn't reinforced it. Since it's still a hot button topic.

We don't ignore the context at all. Void Elves are clearly Blizzard's answer to the desire for a thalassian model on the Alliance side. They weren't underplaying High Elves in case they overshadowed Void Elves. Void Elves are the replacement for High Elves within the narrative and overshadow High Elves all by themselves.

The weak narrative being pushed by some, that the 'conflict' between Blood Elves and High Elves is so visceral and keenly felt by the playerbase that making High Elves playable by the Alliance would be a good move in the game's story, is laughable after Void Elves and golden eyes.

The 'conflict' between the High Elves in the Alliance and the Blood Elves is an uninteresting and vapid relic that has no relevance to the future. The future of the thalassians is the story of the struggle between the light, as personified by the Blood Elves of the Horde, and the Void as personified by the Void Elves of the Alliance.

You place far too much emphasis on your esoteric interpretation of what Ion said, that his words don't matter as much because of where he said them.

That is plain denial.

Here's a simpler explanation. Void Elves were intended as a replacement for High Elves for Alliance players, they tie into future story content and draw a far better contrast with Blood Elves. High Elves are superfluous to the story for the most part now and are pretty much identical to Blood Elves.

Ion meaning what he said is a much better explanation than 'he's secretly planning them down the line, his 'no' is just to distract us'

[FlubberPuddy]

You do realise you've expended a great deal of effort here when all you had to type was 'I don't believe Ion said what he clearly said'.

"Great deal of effort" lol didn't take much effort to type that at all.

Whether you like it or not, playable High Elves are extremely controversial. It's no surprise Ion hasn't commented on it since, the pro High Elfers are like a massive hornet's nest and prodding them in any way would probably unleash a lot more vitriol on the forums. Commentating on Zandalari Paladisn is dealing with a softball subject. But he doesn't need to reinforce his statement on High Elves. What possible motive would he have for doing that? As I stated, it would just ignite more forum flame wars and he has nothing more to add to the subject.

I don't believe they're extremely controversial at all, what I do think is they're so popular that it brings out more than the typical amount of haters. When asked in the Story Forums for a more neutral audience about "IF HEs were playable" how would peeps feel, many were 1) uncaring 2) alliance getting something that makes sense 3) positive. Story Forums doesn't have as many troll-y peeps as GD and MMO-C is hardcore "everything should be unique!" (even though the polls here still have HEs winning)

And his "motive" would be to kill the debate, right? Since apparently the "first time he said no which should end debates" didn't work.

And yes, Taliesin and Evitel plan to do a video on on this topic. I wonder if they know what they are letting themselves in for. I hope it's fair and objective...and that as a result they conclude High Elves on the Alliance is a duplication of a core Horde race and an attempt by Alliance players to play the most popular Horde race without having to go Horde and that it is a reasonable expectation that if you want to play a certain race in game you have to play the faction they are on. But we will have to see.

This sounds really funny, "I hope they know what they're getting into by letting you know how exactly they should do the video." It will be interesting to see their thoughts on it, for instance it was nice seeing Bellular's thoughts on it during WoD where he felt they don't bring much uniqueness but he's again the "everything in the game should be unique!" which the Allied Races system flys in the face of.

I knew this would happen as soon as he made the statement. They will try and rationalise it away. And eventually, as with Caydiem's 2005 post (which Ion essentially restated in the video) they will say 'Ion said that ages ago so it doesn't count anymore'.

So we have a developer saying point blank when asked that it wasn't going to happen and his words weren't accepted at face value. Instead, a small industry has sprung up trying to deconstruct them, to make it seem he said something he didn't.

They are fixated on the fact he didn't say the word 'No'. It left just enough wriggle room for them.

In other words...

What surprises me more is that it seems most folks here were taking Caydiem's 2005 post to heart when the game afterwards showcased a whole lotta High Elves in significant portions of the game. I would think that makes his post pretty moot if they can consistently field armies to help Alliance War Efforts after all these years, enough to match and even over power Blood Elves at points.

I mean Chronicles Vol 3 has allowed more room for High Elves than before and made more differences between how the High Elves and Blood Elves were affected when Blood Elves went with the siphoning, I made a whole post about it some pages back but no one's commented on any of it at all.

- - - Updated - - -

We don't ignore the context at all. Void Elves are clearly Blizzard's answer to the desire for a thalassian model on the Alliance side. They weren't underplaying High Elves in case they overshadowed Void Elves. Void Elves are the replacement for High Elves within the narrative and overshadow High Elves all by themselves.

The weak narrative being pushed by some, that the 'conflict' between Blood Elves and High Elves is so visceral and keenly felt by the playerbase that making High Elves playable by the Alliance would be a good move in the game's story, is laughable after Void Elves and golden eyes.

The 'conflict' between the High Elves in the Alliance and the Blood Elves is an uninteresting and vapid relic that has no relevance to the future. The future of the thalassians is the story of the struggle between the light, as personified by the Blood Elves of the Horde, and the Void as personified by the Void Elves of the Alliance.

You place far too much emphasis on your esoteric interpretation of what Ion said, that his words don't matter as much because of where he said them.

That is plain denial.

Not at all, the context is being ignored by most of you High Elf opposers as I've clearly brought up additional examples of where Blizzard always hyped their new releases.

To hype Void Elves he had to talk down High Elves. It's actually funny because his first statement "Blood Elves are pretty much High Elves" is trying to talk down High Elves then immediately his second statement, "Void Elves are another flavor of High Elves" is saying "here's more High Elves!"

So first talks down then tries to dress up at same time, yeah that's very dismissive.

[Traycor]

Also... Blue Dragonflight druids? What?

The whole point of the thread is to brainstorm new ideas for High Elves that give them a design direction separate from Blood Elves (without changing them so much that they aren't High Elves anymore).

An alliance with the Blue Dragonflight was just one idea that could give distinction and interesting twists. So far, nobody liked it, which is fine. That's how brainstorming works. You throw things out there, some of them zany, but they get the wheels turning and help us to think of new ideas that do work.

What is the point of calling them a "Silver Covenant" Allied Race when this is just High Elves? I mean, I'm all for High Elves on Alliance side, but this just seems disingenuous.

It helps remove confusion that we were talking about the High Elves as presented in game, aligned with the Alliance. Even though Ion said Blood Elves were pretty much High Elves already, many people then jumped on this to say Blood Elves and High Elves are the exact same thing, which isn't want he said. He said they were similar, which they are. It's funny that people think a casual statement like that overrides what you actually see in the game, and have seen in the games for 15 years, which is that every High Elf is aligned with the Alliance, and no Blood Elf is ever labeled or called a Quel'dorei. The mountain of evidence for this is overwhelming, but some people still like to confuse the issue because they don't like that High Elves are on the Alliance side.

The Silver Covenant is also a quick way to identify a faction of High Elves that could be made playable, since most people just say none are left and they have no groups, when the Silver Covenant is clearly a faction of High Elves on the Alliance side. It's a group of heroes in Warcraft that I would love to play as.

[FlubberPuddy]

It helps remove confusion that we were talking about the High Elves as presented in game, aligned with the Alliance. Even though Ion said Blood Elves were pretty much High Elves already, many people then jumped on this to say Blood Elves and High Elves are the exact same thing, which isn't want he said. He said they were similar, which they are. It's funny that people think a casual statement like that overrides what you actually see in the game, and have seen in the games for 15 years, which is that every High Elf is aligned with the Alliance, and no Blood Elf is ever labeled or called a Quel'dorei. The mountain of evidence for this is overwhelming, but some people still like to confuse the issue because they don't like that High Elves are on the Alliance side.

The Silver Covenant is also a quick way to identify a faction of High Elves that could be made playable, since most people just say none are left and they have no groups, when the Silver Covenant is clearly a faction of High Elves on the Alliance side. It's a group of heroes in Warcraft that I would love to play as.

Bolded for emphasis

[corebit]

An alliance with the Blue Dragonflight was just one idea that could give distinction and interesting twists. So far, nobody liked it, which is fine. That's how brainstorming works. You throw things out there, some of them zany, but they get the wheels turning and help us to think of new ideas that do work.

Brainstorming should at least have some lore basis to support those ideas, and not just pick any random creature that has the color blue and linking them to the Alliance willy nilly. Anyone can throw absurd ideas at the wall. If any proponent of those ridiculous blue dragonflight forms wants to be taken seriously, put at least some effort into linking current WoW lore that makes them possible at all.

[Traycor]

Brainstorming should at least have some lore basis to support those ideas, and not just pick any random creature that has the color blue and linking them to the Alliance willy nilly. Anyone can throw absurd ideas at the wall. If any proponent of those ridiculous blue dragonflight forms wants to be taken seriously, put at least some effort into linking current WoW lore that makes them possible at all.

Fair enough. If the ideas get too crazy, I'll try to write some a lore blurb to go with it.

[Goldielocks]

Bolded for emphasis

You're projecting that into evidence when it means absolutely nothing.

[Obelisk Kai]

"Great deal of effort" lol didn't take much effort to type that at all.

It took more effort than just typing out 'Ion is wrong'.

I don't believe they're extremely controversial at all

The fact every topic about them descends into a near flame war gives the lie to that particular statement of yours.

what I do think is they're so popular that it brings out more than the typical amount of haters.

Firstly, calling those arguing against you haters is bad manners. The number of posters who are pro High Elf and who then decide they want to disengage from communicating with those opposed to their pet project or who demand that they leave the thread entirely is significant. It tells me that the pro High Elf community does not want to face the reality presented to it in terms of common sense, in game lore and out of game word of god. The pro High Elf community to a significant degree favours a closed bubble approach, of trying to ensure any threads regarding playable High Elves are kept as pro High Elf as possible, do not engage with the real issues presented by the suggestion of playable High Elves, shouts down or ignores all opposition and offers no real answers to any of the facts put to them beyond 'if we complain long enough Blizzard will bend.'

When asked in the Story Forums for a more neutral audience about "IF HEs were playable" how would peeps feel, many were 1) uncaring 2) alliance getting something that makes sense 3) positive. Story Forums doesn't have as many troll-y peeps as GD and MMO-C is hardcore "everything should be unique!" (even though the polls here still have HEs winning)

Again, those opposed are not Trolls nor are they haters. Secondly, your statement that 'Story Forums doesn't have as many troll-y peeps as GD and MMO-C is hardcore "everything should be unique!'" is ridiculous. You can't prove it. It is simply you stating an observation of your own, meaning it is immediately biased, that dovetails with your own desires and magically produces the result you want. Here for example is why this fault.

The people who can access General Discussions on the US forums can also access the story forums. So I am sorry but your assertion there is plain bullshit and loaded with confirmation bias.

And his "motive" would be to kill the debate, right? Since apparently the "first time he said no which should end debates" didn't work.

I don't think anything would stop this group demanding playable High Elves sadly. Even their public extinction wouldn't. But what his statement does do is provide an insight into the collective minds of the Developers, who would have considered playable High Elves when building the Allied race system. That Ion was quick clear on the reason they wouldn't be playable, because they already are, shows a man on top of his game. The fact they created Void Elves as a substitute...and that they are giving the Blood/High Elves increased ties to the light, shows exactly where they are likely to take this story.

And it is a story with no room or time for playable High Elves on the Alliance.

This sounds really funny, "I hope they know what they're getting into by letting you know how exactly they should do the video." It will be interesting to see their thoughts on it, for instance it was nice seeing Bellular's thoughts on it during WoD where he felt they don't bring much uniqueness but he's again the "everything in the game should be unique!" which the Allied Races system flys in the face of.

We shall see what their opinion is when they do the video. If they do one based on evidence, lore and word of God, they should end up more on my side. If they go with a more touchy-feely, ignore everything else approach, they'll probably end up more on your side. But spoilers, it probably doesn't matter. Whomever they favour will say 'well Taliesin and Evitel were on our side' and the others will go 'so? They are two youtubers who don't know what they are talking about and have no impact on Blizzard'.

So it'll be a fun video but it's not going to be a game changer by any means.

What surprises me more is that it seems most folks here were taking Caydiem's 2005 post to heart when the game afterwards showcased a whole lotta High Elves in significant portions of the game. I would think that makes his post pretty moot if they can consistently field armies to help Alliance War Efforts after all these years, enough to match and even over power Blood Elves at points.

Again, the Caydiem post has been backed up by the Warcraft encyclopedia, which was confirmed still canon by Loreology and we had Ion not so long again basically restating all the points Caydiem made back in the day.

For a group insistent that Blizzard can be made to change their mind, you all seem remarkably unable to accept that Blizzard has been pretty consistent about this for over a decade now.

As for a 'whole lotta High Elves'. No. I don't know how often it needs to be pointed but the Silver Covenant are a militia, not an army. They are group that has never done a single thing for themselves and has instead popped up as bit players in everyone else's story and that there aren't very many of them at all. Yes, you see them in several expansions. At different points in time. You are seeing the same hundred odd Elves at different points, not brand new Elves every time.

I mean Chronicles Vol 3 has allowed more room for High Elves than before and made more differences between how the High Elves and Blood Elves were affected when Blood Elves went with the siphoning, I made a whole post about it some pages back but no one's commented on any of it at all.

Due to the Easter weekend my copy of Chronicles 3 has not arrived yet and I am not going to read or comment on anything from Chronicles 3 posted by anyone else until I have time to read it. I have no idea what you may have edited out or thought unimportant to include. I will form my opinions on it.

Not at all, the context is being ignored by most of you High Elf opposers as I've clearly brought up additional examples of where Blizzard always hyped their new releases.

To hype Void Elves he had to talk down High Elves. It's actually funny because his first statement "Blood Elves are pretty much High Elves" is trying to talk down High Elves then immediately his second statement, "Void Elves are another flavor of High Elves" is saying "here's more High Elves!"

So first talks down then tries to dress up at same time, yeah that's very dismissive.

You are trying to argue that Ion is deliberately underselling High Elves because Void Elves were announced and he didn't want to overshadow. Your hypothesis is ridiculous for several reasons.

1.) Ion was directly asked whether Mag'har Orcs or High Elves would be a thing i.e playable. He had no problem gushing about Mag'har Orcs, which could be seen as overshadowing the Horde Allied races. And then he answered in a negative way to the question regarding High Elves.

2.) The very existence of Void Elves shows Blizzard's intent towards High Elves. Void Elves would not have been created if Blizzard had any intention of creating Alliance High Elves, as Alliance High Elves would completely undermine the point of Void Elves. If Blizzard wanted to create a Void themed race so badly, it didn't have to be an elf. It could have been a gnome, a dwarf, a Worgen or even a Draenei. But they went with thalassian elves.

Your refusal to accept that he said what he said, and this silly attempt to parse his words until he ends up saying the opposite, is understandable but it makes you appear completely self-deluded.

He was not underplaying High Elves to hype up Void Elves.

He was ruling out High Elves for the Alliance on the grounds they are playable on the Horde side.

Bolded for emphasis

Again, confirmation bias. Ion's word of god completely overrides your opinions, casual statement or no.

You can compile every scrap of evidence in your favour, combine all the polls that have been conducted, write a one hundred thousand word dissertation as to why High Elves should join the Alliance...and it all falls apart in the face of Ion's short comment that 'Blood Elves are pretty much High Elves'.

His opinion is not opinion on this matter, it is stone cold fact. You disagree with his statement of fact, but until his word of god is contradicted by explicit word of god in future, you have no case.

[Goldielocks]

The numerous threads following the announcement of Void Elves asking for 'normal' skin tones is the answer.

You know I really hate pulling the racism card, but it might make sense in this case. People want to play/RP as High Elves so badly on the Alliance and when Blizzard gives them the chance through compromise, they still need the Tolkien skin tone.