Official High Elf Discussion Megathread

[Varodoc]

So basically you admit there are different kinds of void elves. So being a void elf isn't based on physical appearance only.
It's a whole process which goes beyond that.



This is out of subject because of course it's written these void elves endured an expected transformation given they're the ones we're playing.
Just like when you create a human char, they're defined as Stormwind citizens only.
But humanity isn't tied to Stormwind only. Kul'Tirans are human beings too, despite not sharing the same physical appearance with their Stormwind cousins.



Claiming the "blatantly obvious" is still an opinion, and not an objective fact. But keep on trying the way you do since years.

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Excepted Void elf isn't a race. That's like saying High elf are a different race than blood elves. Nonsense.

And last time I checked, Sylvanas despite using death forces is still a forsaken.

A forsaken ranger and a human forsaken are part of the same race despite looking totally different. This is absolutely the same deal for the void elves. The void elves built a new order, not a new race.

Proof that it's nonsense? As was already proved by Obelisk Kai, void elves are biologically infused with the Void, as it is within them, unlike any other race.

Following your logic, Sylvanas is not a forsaken, she is just a high elf using deaht magic.

The void elves built a new order and they themselves are a new race. Saying that void elves are still blood elves is like saying that the San'layn, Wretched, or Felblood are also still blood elves, which is obviously false.

[Obelisk Kai]

So basically you admit there are different kinds of void elves. So being a void elf isn't based on physical appearance only.
It's a whole process which goes beyond that.

No, I said there are two methods of making a Void Elf, eating the heart of a dark naaru or being blasted by void energy. The critical similarity is the infusion of an elf with void energy that creates a connection to the void alongside void powers and the price of a connection to the whispers of the void. Void powers include void froms (Alleria's void elf form, Void Elf entropic embrace) and the ability to open short range void portals which all Void Elves have.

This is out of subject because of course it's written these void elves endured an expected transformation given they're the ones we're playing.
Just like when you create a human char, they're defined as Stormwind citizens only.
But humanity isn't tied to Stormwind only. Kul'Tirans are human beings too, despite not sharing the same physical appearance with their Stormwind cousins.

All humans you choose when picking the human core race are citizens of Stormwind, however they may have begun elsewhere and thus the lore accommodates that.
Kul'Tiran Humans are limited by their origins however. You cannot play a Kul'Tiran human as someone who lived in Stormwind all his life, as it is made quite clear you are from Kul'Tiras.

Claiming the "blatantly obvious" is still an opinion, and not an objective fact. But keep on trying the way you do since years.

It is an objective fact. Your theory is incorrect and somewhat nonsensical to boot. The entire point of Void Elves is that they transformed by the void.

As Alleria says in the Void Elf intro 'The Void has shaped us... changed us.'

Why don't you try arguing that you can play a Lightforged Draenei that hasn't been lightforged? There are ordinary Draenei hanging around on the vindicaar clearly awaiting their turn to become Lightforged, maybe we can let them know that just showing an interest and being in the proximity of actual Lightforged Draenei is all that matters?

[Manariel]

The difference cannot be genetic given they are the same race. Although it is heavily implied that they are having mostly Half Elf kids.

And they are not clinging to their identity. They are losing their identity. As the devs said, there isn't a real sense of what a High Elf is anymore and all anyone can think of on this forum is their alignment to the Alliance. Instead, they are assimilating into Human culture (and proactively doing so given the Half Elf results). True High Elven culture is Blood Elven culture, the culture of the city of Silvermoon and the Kingdom of Quel'thalas.

Stating there is a greater difference between the High Elf exiles and Blood/Void Elves than between the Void Elves and everyone else is just wrong. Blood Elves ARE High Elves, so while Void Elves ARE a void corrupted version of the Blood Elf, they are also a void corrupted version of the High Elf.

And yes, the Alliance getting Void Elves was magnanimous. You now have your very own High Elf variant to play with. I suspect it was either going to be that or no thalassian elf at all.

Well I'd take no thalassian elves in the Alliance over Void Elves - and I like them. They are lore-breaking, inferior version of the High Elves. Who have a distinct culture now : they reject the over-use of magic, without falling into the druidic trap of the Kaldorei, with a clear leader, structure and strength to bring to the Alliance. There is also zero indication than more than two High Elves (Alleria and Vereesa) have taken to marry with humans. Arathor is still the only ingame Half-Elf while there is dozens of named High Elves in the Alliance.

Void Elves (and Mechagnomes) are just another proof of Blizzard lazyness and inability (or unwillingness) to craft interesting and well-integrated new races for the Alliance, a fact which stretches back to TBC. Even Lightforged, to whom joining the Alliance makes perfect sense, since the Horde slaughtered their kindred and they aren't exactly the forgiving type, don't hold a candle compared to the Highmountains in term of information regarding their lives, organization and traditions. They are just Draeneï who worship the Light harder. And Void Elves are just TBC Blood Elves who fuck up harder with dangerous energies.

And genetic difference may and will arise between separate populations over time, by the simple virtue of them not marrying within the same pool of individuals. It'll just be longer for them, since they live longer lives.

Basically, my point is that Void Elves are just Blood Elves reject which are inferior in every way to High Elves. In appearance, in lore and in character.

[Frenchvince]

Option 2 is almost certainly not happening. Saying it's possible is like saying they could convert the entire game into a first person shooter. In other words, it's possible in the sense that hypothetically it could happen. But they have ruled it out publicly twice, they created a variant in it's place and they keep doubling down on the importance of the faction system as a pillar of the game. There would have to be a 180 degree sea change in thinking for them to do it.

As for Option 1, are Wildhammer Dwarves identical to an existing Horde race? No? Then they aren't an appropriate point of comparison. Void Elves were differentiated from Blood Elves for a reason and SHOULD they get more normal skin tones, that is still not a high elf. That is a pink Void Elf.

No one at Blizzard has clearly said that the high elves playable in the alliance will not be.
I think if one day an official message makes this announcement, it will definitively end the request.

The void elves are a variant of the Thalassian elf, it is logical that they receive the option of the High Elf because they are also ... in the alliance.

[Kithelle]

snip

Horde race among the Alliance...so that is what you think? LOL

Besides...already happened...Alliance has Void Elves...a Horde race among the Alliance...and Nightborne...Alliance race among the Horde. So anything is really possible I guess...until the day the devs either say yes or no for sure. (Blame Ion...he said it was possible, just not in BFA)

The quote in your sig is cute, shows how out of touch he is since Belves don't even get blue eyes

[Obelisk Kai]

Well I'd take no thalassian elves in the Alliance over Void Elves - and I like them. They are lore-breaking, inferior version of the High Elves.

They aren't lore-breaking as the Ethereals were transformed in the same way they were and the Ethereals were established back in the Burning Crusade, the difference being the Ethereal transformation was completed and the Void Elf transformation was interrupted. Them being inferior is your opinion, but your opinion is clearly cankered by them not being the high elven exiles you were hoping for.

Who have a distinct culture now : they reject the over-use of magic, without falling into the druidic trap of the Kaldorei, with a clear leader, structure and strength to bring to the Alliance. There is also zero indication than more than two High Elves (Alleria and Vereesa) have taken to marry with humans. Arathor is still the only ingame Half-Elf while there is dozens of named High Elves in the Alliance.

High Elven exile numbers are confirmed to be incredibly low. High Elven exiles are diffuse and spread out, some live in the neutral city of Dalaran and are led by Veressa. Some live in Quel'danil (although not very many) and some survived in Outland alongside the Alliance expedition. They can bring no strength to the Alliance given they bring no armies, no territory (quel'danil is on wildhammer land. Dalaran is neutral, Allerian outpost is mostly Human and is Alliance anyway) and no resources. The structure you refer to is the Silver Covenant who are not an army, but Dalaran based militia that could not participate in the recent war. The clear leader, Veressa Windrunner, was moments away from switching to the side of the Horde when it suited her purposes to do so and has proven increasingly irrelevant to the plot since Alleria returned. Alleria Windrunner is the Void Elf racial leader and is a Void Elf, not a High Elf. She has defined herself as a Void Elf and I believe that that is pretty much a bullet proof confirmation that she is a Void Elf.

Void Elves (and Mechagnomes) are just another proof of Blizzard lazyness and inability (or unwillingness) to craft interesting and well-integrated new races for the Alliance, a fact which stretches back to TBC. Even Lightforged, to whom joining the Alliance makes perfect sense, since the Horde slaughtered their kindred and they aren't exactly the forgiving type, don't hold a candle compared to the Highmountains in term of information regarding their lives, organization and traditions. They are just Draeneï who worship the Light harder. And Void Elves are just TBC Blood Elves who fuck up harder with dangerous energies.

There is little to read into this other than you are bitter towards Blizzard for their decisions regarding the Alliance. While I can sympathize with Alliance players who are unhappy at how their faction has developed over the years, the remedy should be in making the Alliance and it's membership more interesting rather than attempting to duplicate the part of the Horde you like the most. That won't fix things and it hurts the Horde. And yes, the high elf culture, theme and aesthetic are a part of the Horde.

And genetic difference may and will arise between separate populations over time, by the simple virtue of them not marrying within the same pool of individuals. It'll just be longer for them, since they live longer lives.

They live for thousands of years and reproduce slowly. Genetic differences arise in subsequent generations, not in members of the current generation, that isn't how evolution works. And it takes many generations for these differences to become apparent. This also assumes the High Elven exiles are breeding with each other and not, as Elisande and Ion implied, breeding with Humans. It won't make sense in World of Warcraft, it would be a hypothetical WoW 2 and one that would have to be set tens of thousands of years after the current game. This is why Void Elves happened. When you need to change something quickly in a fantasy setting, you add magic.

Basically, my point is that Void Elves are just Blood Elves reject which are inferior in every way to High Elves. In appearance, in lore and in character.

That's not a factual point though, that your opinion because the Alliance didn't get High Elves. You've been told why the Alliance didn't get High Elves, they are essentially identical to an already playable race on the Horde. The harsh truth is if that you wish to play a traditional elf, the Horde is waiting for you. If you cannot stomach the Horde, you can play a Void Elf variant on the Alliance. Your situation is not unique, plenty of people have to play on one faction while the race they like the most is on the other. They mange. So will you.

[Ielenia]

Why don't you just accept the f***ing canon that Blood Elves are High Elves with a different name, that dissident representation is done by NPCs and be done with it?

If this is what you take from this whole thread, then you haven't really been reading both sides of the discussion, here.

[Obelisk Kai]

No one at Blizzard has clearly said that the high elves playable in the alliance will not be.
I think if one day an official message makes this announcement, it will definitively end the request.

The void elves are a variant of the Thalassian elf, it is logical that they receive the option of the High Elf because they are also ... in the alliance.

Ion Hazzikostas said they weren't happening on two occasions and give a detailed explanation as to why. If you wish to ignore that and engage in the pretense that they weren't ruled out, then I can do no more. You will wait in vain for something that will never come.

And it is not logical at all for Void Elves to receive pink skin tones, as the change in skin tones is part and parcel of creating a different aesthetic for Void Elves in the first place. A void elf with those skin tones will still be a Void Elf.

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Horde race among the Alliance...so that is what you think? LOL

Besides...already happened...Alliance has Void Elves...a Horde race among the Alliance...and Nightborne...Alliance race among the Horde.

As I have stated to others, if you believe Void Elves and Nightborne are one hundred percent the same as Blood Elves and Night Elves then congratulations, you've won, now enjoy your Void Elf who is one hundred percent identical to a Blood Elf, which is a High Elf.

If you are upset that Void Elves aren't the High Elves you wanted, then you cannot argue that the faction divide has already been undermined. Pick one approach, rather than flitting between the two positions depending upon which point you wish to make.

So anything is really possible I guess...until the day the devs either say yes or no for sure. (Blame Ion...he said it was possible, just not in BFA)

Ion says 'anything is possible' regularly when telling someone something they have no intention of changing.

It's what he told Preach when Preach asked about the return of master looting. Is Preach going around saying 'he said anything is possible so maybe they'll bring master looting back?'. No, Preach and everyone there knew what he meant was that we've not changed our minds, we aren't going to change our minds, and the only way this is happening is at some unimaginable point in the future under circumstances I can't even conceive of right now.

Same with his line in that high elf video. It's a verbal tic, it's something he throws in and likely related to his training as a lawyer.

It's devoid of any real meaning because anything IS possible in future and if it changes, they'll let us know. But for now they've told us their position.

The quote in your sig is cute, shows how out of touch he is since Belves don't even get blue eyes

It's almost as if he was hinting at something he couldn't fully reveal right there and then.

Let's see if you find it cute a year from now.

[Maxilian]

High elves will never be a thing for the Horde and that's a good thing imo.

We can all agree on that, but that does not limit the possibility of BE with Blue eyes (Though i can easily see it not being added to evade conflicts)

And after WoW, blood elves will likely left the Horde and rejoin the Alliance since they're only fighting for the Horde for gameplay reasons.

After all that have happened in WoW, i think that's quite unlikely, even more with the Nightborne in there, if the BE end up leaving the Horde after Wow, it won't be to join the Alliance.

[Obelisk Kai]

We can all agree on that, but that does not limit the possibility of BE with Blue eyes (Though i can easily see it not being added to evade conflicts).

We don't all agree on that at all given the heart of the dispute is the refusal of the pro High Elf community to refuse to accept Blood Elves are High Elves and High Elves are playable. Meaning High Elves are already in the Horde.

As for blue eyes not being added to evade conflict, forgive me if I don't think Blizzard is going to let something like a forum meltdown by the pro High Elf community act as a veto on what they do. A forum meltdown happens every week after all. I figure they will prioritize those who have actual, playable Blood Elf characters over the feelings of those who wish to preserve an eye colour option for a group that will almost certainly never be added as a distinct option.

[Maxilian]

We don't all agree on that at all given the heart of the dispute is the refusal of the pro High Elf community to refuse to accept Blood Elves are High Elves and High Elves are playable. Meaning High Elves are already in the Horde.

Well.... yeah, no, maybe?

I mean... you're right, in some way, the HEs are in the Horde, but if we look at them as just a political group, then no, they are not in the Horde, as they renamed themselves as BE, but, in the end, semantics

As for blue eyes not being added to evade conflict, forgive me if I don't think Blizzard is going to let something like a forum meltdown by the pro High Elf community act as a veto on what they do. A forum meltdown happens every week after all. I figure they will prioritize those who have actual, playable Blood Elf characters over the feelings of those who wish to preserve an eye colour option for a group that will almost certainly never be added as a distinct option.

Not saying that they are going to do it or stop doing it because of what the forums say, but in the end, the HEs are one of the most asked races in the game, so it can be seen why they may decide to just not touch this.

Thoguh, again, i do think the BE will end up getting their blue eyes

[FlubberPuddy]

As such I have noted among some pro High Elfers a slight change in tone on this point. You are doing it here. Fyresing did it in an earlier post. Others on the official forums are doing it too, albeit subtly. It is the pre-emptive abandonment of blue eyes as a differentiating factor. No longer is it being held up as often as it once was, instead what is being focused on now is what you are focusing on here.

Alliance players asking for a group of elves on the Alliance

Without any physical feature to latch onto, no matter how small, the final redoubt is one of the differing ideologies. The political bent.

I have lost count of all the times I have insisted the sole meaningful difference between Blood Elves and the High Elven exiles are their politics, and that includes blue eyes which are just an eye colour at the end of the day. That this is the final argument possible is what I have said the real issue has always been, the faction the elves are on, is mildly gratifying as it confirms everything I have argued.

And as stated so often, alignment isn't enough. Retreating to this argument confirms no argument is left.

Well here's the thing. It's currently a differentiating factor.

But we also all saw what they did with Wildhammer Dwarves, just threw them into the bog standard mountain dwarves the Bronzebeards. Despite other people like me and others pointing out how Wildhammer are specifically dwarves that stay above ground, have created a culture above ground/the skies and their racials won't be making sense because of that.

Again, it's clear Blizzard doesn't care about that minutiae, hence why they're also making Desert Trolls, Blood Trolls, and Dark Trolls all rolled into one.

There's already threads out there complaining about those inconsistencies.

But if that's how Blizzard wants to handle it then that's how they want to handle it, like I've always said -> their game and they can do what they want with no rhyme or reason to it.

In the case here, this "pre-emptiveness" you're seeing has always been there. If one day for instance Blizzard created a story or just flat out said that High Elves are making up with Blood Elves and this is why they have their customization, or if Blizzard just says High Elf customization comes to Blood Elves cuz that's how they see it - then there's no reason at all at that point to fight that.

It is their game, they do want they want to do. Nobody can go against that, doesn't matter how logical/illogical or fair/unfair etc anything is.

So with that obviousness out there, and with the showing of Wildhammer Dwarves, it's not surprising at all to see a shift. You navigate it with the way Blizzard does things, this is why the people who want Pathfinder removed and flying immediately at expansion release will never get what they want because Blizzard absolutely does not want that, and that crowd will not budge from that point.

Before the increased customizations were previewed this past Blizzcon, people had requests for Wildhammer Dwarves, High Elves, Forest Trolls, San'layn/Undead Blood Elves as their own Allied Race. Please go to those specific threads and see how many mention it now being potentially added to existing race customization.

This is why the whole "Afrasiabi said Void Elves can get High Elf skins potentially" gets brought up. The increased customization reveal now adds more strength to those words, it makes more sense why Afrasiabi said such a statement. Because this is how they're handling some racial customization options going forward as we've seen.

And idk about you, but my preference is always to get as much of the thing I feasibly and realistically can based on what the developers do/say.

Therefore if the possibility of no stand-alone High Elf race exists, yet the possibility of High Elf skins on Void Elves does exist. Then I sure will navigate myself towards getting the option that is possible based on the context of where the developers are going.

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The above should honestly be very obvious. And none of it is about "there is no argument left" because at the very end of the day, wanting a playable race option just because you want it is all that needs to be there.

Mechagnomes a prime example of this. So many people hate it, so many didn't want it. That didn't stop Blizzard from already deciding they would add this race in (decision was obviously made before even their reveal during last last Blizzcon).

They've shown they're very inconsistent with what races they decide to implement and how they implement them, which means whether one has an argument for a race isn't the be-all-end-all factor for it.

Besides, they already know High Elves for Alliance are a popular option said so to you by Jeremy Feasel himself, among the other times like Lore saying the Void Elf instead of High Elf question was a popular one, and the most telling thing is probably the reason that they keep showing High Elves among the Alliance throughout expansions. There'd be no reason to do so other than to keep carrying the popularity of that race through the Alliance.

So bottom line: Navigate with the choices that the developers are making if you have a request, because just budging to one thing won't do you or anyone any favors.

That you Obelisk seem apparently surprised/astonished that people like me and others are having "slight change in tone" just means you're not reading the room that is developer features they've just previewed at this Blizzcon.

One last time: The increased customizations throws out what is defined as a separate race and what isn't, therefore people have their modify their requests. You can see this throughout existing threads commenting on these kinds of topics and you can see it in the megathreads of certain Allied Races like Gilbins/San'layn/Forest Trolls, etc.

[Obelisk Kai]

Well.... yeah, no, maybe?

I mean... you're right, in some way, the HEs are in the Horde, but if we look at them as just a political group, then no, they are not in the Horde, as they renamed themselves as BE, but, in the end, semantics

The problem is that if we extend this kind of logic out, what is to stop some people claiming Tauren aren't playable because you aren't a Grimtotem Tauren? Some might argue they are the more authentic Tauren given their Tauren-first ideology after all.

Alignment or politics is not enough and never has been enough to differentiate a race, and right now that is all the High Elven exiles genuinely have going for them. Blood Elves are High Elves in every single way except an adjective. High Elves are thus playable.

Ask yourself this. Had Blood Elves been given to the Alliance in the burning crusade, do you think the pro High Elf community would be arguing here nearly thirteen years later that they still don't have true High Elves?

Not saying that they are going to do it or stop doing it because of what the forums say, but in the end, the HEs are one of the most asked races in the game, so it can be seen why they may decide to just not touch this.

Thoguh, again, i do think the BE will end up getting their blue eyes

Blood Elves don't have blue eyes now, and they still ruled out playable Alliance High Elves. They took the backlash for that ruling out and some may argue they are still taking it. All granting blue eyes to Blood Elves would lead is another flare up for a few days, and them not giving blue eyes to Blood Elves (perhaps to maintain some distance with the blue eyed Void Elves) will just be the maintaining of a status quo...a status quo where High Elves for the Alliance has been ruled out.

[Kithelle]

snip

We'll see...I doubt he would have said that High Elves are possible, just not for BFA if they weren't at least considering it. If all they are planning to do is give Blood Elves blue eyes they could have done that long ago and be done with the whole thing "shrugs"

Probably been well over a year since he said that...definitely before his "High Elves are possible, just not in BFA" quote.

[Dark Succ]

I imagine the vrykul is one such example. At I couldn't see any differences, physiologically speaking, between the vrykul on Northrend, and the vrykul on the Broken Isles. Not even culturally-speaking.

Most of Northrend Vrykul has abandoned the Titans in favor of different gods.

Stormheim Vrykul still venerate Titans.

Tideskorn decided to back Legion.

Drust are legit different though in regards to culture.

[Frenchvince]

Ion Hazzikostas said they weren't happening on two occasions and give a detailed explanation as to why. If you wish to ignore that and engage in the pretense that they weren't ruled out, then I can do no more. You will wait in vain for something that will never come.

And it is not logical at all for Void Elves to receive pink skin tones, as the change in skin tones is part and parcel of creating a different aesthetic for Void Elves in the first place. A void elf with those skin tones will still be a Void Elf.

Since several blizzons, we know that they prefer to answer "something else", nothing really clear in the end, concerning the questions on the high elves. I think you and Blizzard have understood very well that the demand only concerns the elves who have been part of the alliances since forever, the uncorrupted high elves.

darkspear trolls or bronzebeard dwarves are also concerned by your remarks even if their racial are less visible than those of void elves.

[Doffen]

I think this thread gets complex the more i talk about it. So ye totally would prefer just mixing high elves and blood elves again on Silvermoon. And the Silver Covenant ones, could just stay where they are. They have too much going on there, to just join Horde again and Silvermoon as their city, they don't belong there anymore.

'but it won't happen because of gameplay restriction', kind of, if there was a way to make them blood elves, and joining a opposite faction, then there's a way for them to come back to it, or even mixing on the opposite faction.

All old races deserve new customizations. The game is here for so long, i think it's about time. Blood elves is what i have the most. I always even think "why do i keep making blood elves?", well i'm a woman. Basically i only enjoy male chars of all races but i feel weird playing them, and only females i can enjoy atm is nightborne and blood elf as female.

And my god, how i'm so sick of seeing all my chars with same hairs. lol

I play the Blood Elf female because they have the best animation really. They look nice sure, but the casting animation is just so much better than all the rest imo. Leveling another DH now, Belf now of course since I got a Nelf(which was a Belf :P) Also female. Though a male DH doesn't look that bad.

I am man, and I would like to play more male characters, but they just looks so bad compared to the females. Some races, like Tauren and worgen I prefer male to play. Got 2 males at 120 now, Worgen Druid and 120 Gnome Hunter. But that hunter goes vulpera next patch. Not decided male/female yet.

Options. That's what interesting in a game like WoW. I am glad I don't feel I have to be that race or that race for any reason. Luckily Blood Elves have been good when it comes to gameplay, maybe I am blessed. Like 19.5%% of the whole WoW-population which are Blood Elves at 120

[Ielenia]

Most of Northrend Vrykul has abandoned the Titans in favor of different gods.

Stormheim Vrykul still venerate Titans.

Tideskorn decided to back Legion.

Drust are legit different though in regards to culture.

Yes, but they're basically still physiologically the same, aren't they?

[Shakana]

I play the Blood Elf female because they have the best animation really. They look nice sure, but the casting animation is just so much better than all the rest imo. Leveling another DH now, Belf now of course since I got a Nelf(which was a Belf :P) Also female. Though a male DH doesn't look that bad.

I am man, and I would like to play more male characters, but they just looks so bad compared to the females. Some races, like Tauren and worgen I prefer male to play. Got 2 males at 120 now, Worgen Druid and 120 Gnome Hunter. But that hunter goes vulpera next patch. Not decided male/female yet.

Options. That's what interesting in a game like WoW. I am glad I don't feel I have to be that race or that race for any reason. Luckily Blood Elves have been good when it comes to gameplay, maybe I am blessed. Like 19.5%% of the whole WoW-population which are Blood Elves at 120

I love male belves, just the posture and faces as a demon hunter ain't that good, but i like some faces, one of them even has a scar and you can be shirtless with tattoos like illidan, which on female you can't, it just look instead like a slut mog then

I like male troll, male undead, male tauren, male mag'har.

If we talk about orcs, i prefer mag'har way more, skin color, their tattos too. They look more brute and natural. I like them. Even tho i like mok'nathal more :P

[Obelisk Kai]

We'll see...I doubt he would have said that High Elves are possible, just not for BFA if they weren't at least considering it. If all they are planning to do is give Blood Elves blue eyes they could have done that long ago and be done with the whole thing "shrugs"

Probably been well over a year since he said that...definitely before his "High Elves are possible, just not in BFA" quote.

He didn't say High Elves are possible. He said anything is possible in future, and he said 'we have no plans for that in BFA' to that person from the High Elf discord whose day he was trying not to ruin.

'No plans for it in BFA' does not mean it becomes possible once BFA is done, in the same way a politician who says no tax rises in this term means there will be tax rises in the term after. It means no plans for it in BFA. And it looks like no plans for it in Shadowlands either.

'Anything is possible' is a verbal tic he throws in after he has ruled out something out to cover himself. That is it. It's lawyer talk. He said it to pro High Elfers on High Elves, he said it to Preach on Master loot, and Preach isn't going around saying 'master looting is coming back eventually, Ion said is anything is possible.' And it is not his fault that you read way too much into what he said when his meaning was blatantly clear. No plans now, no plans in future and if it ever happens it will be due to a set of circumstances he couldn't foresee.

After all, the rationale he gave for rejecting Alliance High Elves is evergreen. It doesn't have a time limit. Faction identity and faction diversity didn't suddenly start mattering less because BFA ended. Those are eternal concepts in wow. They spent the last Blizzcon repeatedly rubbishing suggestions that the factions were going away or being weakened. As long as factions matter, playable high elves for the alliance wont happen.

- - - Updated - - -

snip.

The problem with your response, with it's litany of references to all these other races is that somehow you keep missing the fundamental point. Are wildhammer Dwarves playable as a Horde race? Are Desert Trolls playable as an Alliance race? Are they even available at all?


No, no and no.

High Elves are not an unavailable option. As Blood Elves, they are currently playable as a core race of the Horde. And you are arguing that that core Horde race should be duplicated to the Alliance somehow. If not by a dedicated alliance race slot, then through pretending with a Void Elf.

None of the other examples you bring up matter because none of the other examples have the unique issues the Alliance High Elf request has, and your refusal to engage with this renders your retorts pretty hollow.