Official High Elf Discussion Megathread

[KyrtF]

Hopefully Blizzard is planning on killing the Silver Covenent off in the prepatch. Then give Bloodelves blue and gold eye options with more tattoo options. Add a new neutral village of high elves outside silvermoon. Done.

Should have been done in Crusade but if you ever wanted proof Blizzard do things just to spite the Alliance, this would be it.

It isn't going to happen and since Blizzard are shopping the model out anyway, there is no reason not to give the Alliance the High Elves they have asked for literally since before Vanilla.

It would at least stop all the threads asking for them and if I can't jave model exclusivity, I'll take what I can get

[The BrewCity Monk]

Since allied races are basically subraces, there's no reason we couldn't have multiples of each type of race, such as adding Wildhammer Dwarves. I'd love to see more than one allied/sub race for every race in the game.

Will I don't. That's stupid and lazy. If the alliance whiners really want more of the same crap, then go head. As long as they don't do this with the Horde, I'm fine with that.

Give the Alliance more elves and dwarfs. The Horde will be fine with Vulperas and Vrykuls.

[Friendlyimmolation]

Why are a lot of Horde players so hateful.

might be something to do with dealing with people who demand to have your most popular Horde race again and again.

[The BrewCity Monk]

Why are a lot of Horde players so hateful.

Because we not dumb enough to ask for more of the same race. We're not making countless threads on "Fel Orcs for Horde, even though we have Green and Draenor Orcs". Void elves have much more to bring then High Elves. So stop it with the High elves crying already!

[Andromedes]

might be something to do with dealing with people who demand to have your most popular Horde race again and again.

you dont understand, we are asking for subrace of void elves - the alliance race

[Friendlyimmolation]

you dont understand, we are asking for subrace of void elves - the alliance race

Which isn't going to happen, your clever statement aside.

[Hoehenflug]

Eyyyyyy just wanna to drop by to tell the OP that your ideas and illustrations are brilliant; and definetely the direction Blizz should have gone! If I may add, maybe give Void Elves to both factions after a Quest Chain so everyone is happy ( and spread the eyesore aka the remnants of the Void Elf asspull.)

[Traycor]

Some supporters invoke the whole Legolas concept, but one of the things I actually most appreciate about Quel'dorei is that they're not Tolkien elves. Sure, they have values, they've their own system of honor. But this also fuels vengeance, zealotry, extremism. This is the point of view that led Alleria to spend two years hunting down the orcs fleeing for mountains and caves, and systematically exterminating them after the 2nd War. This is the extremism that drove the Silver Covenant to attack unarmed civilians in the Purge of Dalaran. They are dogmatic, they never forget a grudge, and this does not make them good guys.

We can't play a race like this in WoW, despite how heavily the Quel'dorei have featured across multiple expansions. I'd like to be able to play as one of these elves, someone who identifies with Quel'dorei culture, who can rally behind the High Elf leaders already in game, who can represent that fierce, dogmatic heart of the Alliance, who is invested in the High Elf storyline. This doesn't necessarily mean they have to look like blue-eyed Belves (honestly, if they'd made Void Elves out of Sons of Lothar High Elves, transmogrified against their will, I wouldn't be making this post). But they NEED to be Quel'dorei.

Agree with your whole post. Excellent points all around!

[Jastall]

Everything great, except High elven Jack Sparrow.



No, it would be copy of an Alliance race - Void elves.

All the more reason not to have them. A copy of a copy is pure degeneracy.

Ya'll can have your fifth elf race when I get my fifth orc race, my fifth troll race and my fifth dwarf race. Enough with the elventide.

[Traycor]

Another thread? Why another thread? There is already a thread about this!

I swear this topic needs moderation.

The point of this thread is specifically to discuss design options for High Elves in the Alliance that will work to contrast them from Blood Elves. And it has some mockups to illustrate the ideas. If you have some good ideas, please feel free to contribute.

- - - Updated - - -

If Blizzard added literal high elves, the faction balance would suffer worse than ever before.

I think this is the REAL reason why we don't have High Elves yet. All the other population and lore explanations were created because of this one thing. However, I don't think that's an issue anymore. There are millions of loyal Horde members. They aren't going to leave their faction in droves when they can play a Blood Elf already. AND as an allied race, new players couldn't play a High Elf either, so they would still pick horde if that's what they want.

No faction population issues to be seen. That's why I think the Silver Covenant High Elves need a valid design that let's them be implemented in game.

[Obelisk Kai]

The point of this thread is specifically to discuss design options for High Elves in the Alliance that will work to contrast them from Blood Elves. And it has some mockups to illustrate the ideas. If you have some good ideas, please feel free to contribute.

Why bother? What you are doing, devising ways to make a group of High Elves distinct from the Blood Elves, is exactly what Blizzard did to create the Void Elves.

If Void Elves are too different, nothing except a clone will satisfy.

Also your creations look like rejects from an 80's glam rock band. I know that sounds harsh, but that is literally what they look like.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=je...2fIhtmE2-F4hM:

[Traycor]

Why bother? What you are doing, devising ways to make a group of High Elves distinct from the Blood Elves, is exactly what Blizzard did to create the Void Elves.

Actually, Void Elves are former Blood Elves. The Silver Covenant High Elves were never Blood Elves and have very different lore. We're here to discuss new visuals for the Silver Covenant that fits established lore so they aren't a clone. If you don't like the hair, that's fine. It IS radically different, which was the point. There are many other hair styles that could create distinction. Do you have any good suggestions for hair styles?

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

They're keeping high elves for a rainy day when quarterly reports will need a financial injection.

That's one good possibility, yeah.

[Traycor]

This is pretty cool.

After the Pandaren, and after the introduction of the Allied Race system especially, I've never needed high elves to really be different than blood elves. Certainly, different options would be on the table (less reddish hair colors, maybe a different idle stance, etc.), but races have been proven that they don't need to be distinct, and with the difference between high and blood elves being cultural/political, I'd prefer them being hard to distinguish than completely reinventing them and defeating the purpose of adding them.

That said, I think this is a brilliant solution. I've thought about the slightly different portrayal of the elves in Warcraft II before, but was afraid to commit to anything atypical in selling playable high elves. I still feel like the magic is important to the high elves (we first met the Silver Covenant in Dalaran after all), and I don't want to make the high elves better wild elves than the night elves. Seeing these Warcraft II concepts visualized in World of Warcraft suddenly makes me feel dumb for having those fears. They look great, and I feel like they suddenly have their own niche without betraying or reinventing their history.

This also works with the way I've interpreted the high elves being when compared to the blood elves. Despite initially being a desperate race that had turned to dark powers, the blood elves ended up turning out to be pretty nice after confronting their past. Meanwhile, with the Purge of Dalaran actually being headed up by Vereesa and carried out by the rest of the Silver Covenant, the high elves have been painted as more aggressive in comparison. It's an interesting mirror from the typical portrayals of the factions they're on that I think could be a really interesting dynamic.

Finally, saying that the blood elves were the pampered nobles compared to the high elves would actually line up pretty well with the lore without any retcons, and push the racial distinction in the lore as well as visually. In Warcraft III, the Alliance had a couple of high elf units. The description for those units mentioned that while Quel'thalas officially left the Alliance after the Second War, many of them remained loyal to the Alliance. Some of these high elves were among those who traveled with Jaina to Kalimdor, and I'm willing to bet that many of these are the ones who are in the Silver Covenant and remain with the Alliance to this day. It would make a lot of sense that, after the Second War, the pampered nobles were the ones to just go back to their homes and stay safely behind their borders, while the more common or military elves valued their time with the Alliance more and were the ones to stay with them, and are the ones who could be playable now.

Everything here, +1. I especially love, "the Silver Covenant, the high elves have been painted as more aggressive in comparison." By definition, the Silver Covenant are fanatics. They break with their entire race because of ideology, and they mean to carry out their goals no matter what. It really does make for an interesting and dynamic race to play.

[Obelisk Kai]

Actually, Void Elves are former Blood Elves. The Silver Covenant High Elves were never Blood Elves and have very different lore. We're here to discuss new visuals for the Silver Covenant that fits established lore so they aren't a clone. If you don't like the hair, that's fine. It IS radically different, which was the point. There are many other hair styles that could create distinction. Do you have any good suggestions for hair styles?

Oh for the love of...look, High Elves ARE Blood Elves. So the Void Elves also used to be High Elves.

And no, the Silver Covenant do NOT have a unique lore. Until about twelve years ago in game, all these groups were the same group. In a population whose members tend to live centuries or millenia. Twelve years is probably like last month to these people. THEY ARE NOT DIFFERENT RACES. Well the Void Elves are now but that's because they got blasted by massive amounts of void energy, so there is a justification.

High Elves in the Alliance have a political disagreement with the Blood Elves, nothing more, nothing less. If that is your justification for a new race, perhaps you can tell us about the completely unique looking Defias Brotherhood Humans and their special unique lore? Maybe they can be the next Alliance Allied race instead?

By your own standards, Defias Brotherhood Humans are a realistic choice.

The only good suggestions I have for an Allied race derived from High Elves and Blood Elves are slightly emo, colours ranging from black to dark grey, with the occasional tentacle.

As in Void Elves.

Which the Alliance already got.

Which put an end to the hopes for an Alliance High Elf race once and for all, because if they were ever going to give you High Elves they would never have invented Void Elves.

[Traycor]

The Alliance Quarter in Dalaran could be their home base and starting point with Vereesa giving a short introduction before they go through the portal to Stormwind.

That could work, but it plays up the magical side, which creates less distinction between High Elves and Blood Elves. I think it would be great to find out that the Silver Covenant has been working behind the scenes to expand Quel'Danil lodge into a base of operations. The whole Hinterlands zone has been kind of a throwaway zone since the beginning that's inconvenient to quest in because of location.

If it was updated to give cool new things to do, especially with driving out the trolls or some other new threat, that would be great. Maybe they could save Aerie Peak from invasion or something, cementing their close relations of the Wildhammer Dwarfs.

[Aeula]

Because having more elven races to horde and alliance gets nothing is good faction identity balance right?

The Thalassian elf model and theme is a HORDE model and theme. It's already bad enough you got Void Elves but there's no way in hell Blizzard will let you have more Thalassian races than the Horde.

So yes, it's good for faction identity and balance.

[RangerDaz]

So here is my opinion about this issue...

I was actually surprised I liked the ranger body paint on the elves. However I'm not sure I would prefer High Elves to other different races. After all we already have playable blood elves, void elves, night elves and nightborne. Should we get other elven races, when we can have other different racial flavors?

The only way i could see this coming, would be to bring High Elf "rangers" to the Alliance, and Dark Rangers or San'layn as the new allied undead race for the horde. After all, Sylvanas needs more of her own kin, because the other undead do not look like her at all (she is a dead elf brought to undeath, her people are dead humans brought to undeath). This could also help increase the conflict between the windrunner sisters: Alleria calls the high elf (rangers) or silver covenant, Sylvanas calls the dark rangers or the San'layn. It could be the war for Quel'thalas (or for the sunwell...)

PS: But no eighties rockstar hairstyle for High Elves, because they really look like s....

[Skyduke]

The Alliance WILL eventually get high elves.

When the subscription numbers alarm Blizzard, they will introduce high elves. You can all come back to this post in 2-3 years and then PM me that I was right.

[lightofdawn]

another big roadblock is the fact that there are less than a thousand left on azeroth.

High elves will not (SHOULD NOT) happen. Not because i hate elves, but because it would ruin the alliance race representation...

Void elves were a bit of a stretch but at least they make sense with the story intro they made for them. Having 30% of the alliance playerbase swap to high elves would just be stupid and nonsensical