Isn't the simplest solution the likeliest one, that they've duplicated the entire zone for the phased version (due to the zone wide skybox) and are going to focus on the area around Icecrown Citadel for where the action is?
Who knows? Perhaps as the update of the zone progresses they may remove the Tournament to reflect the passage of time but it's probably a mite more convenient just to leave it and it's associated NPCs in place so people can access the vendors without having to go backwards and forwards through Zidormi.
It's hardly surprising that the expansion intro would involve the Argent Tournament since it's based in Icecrown. The only two major factions there are the Ebon Blade and the Argent Tournament, of which the Sunreavers and the Silver Covenant are a part.
If you're in the SHadowlands as dead, you are in one of the Covenants, you are no longer High elf or Night lef etc, you're Kyrian, Ardenweald, Venthyr etc
So the High elves there cannot be dead, they would be people like Tyrande who have come to the Shadowlands along with us.
I don't think they are even involved. They created a new phase of Icecrown and have just copied the existing zone assets into it. Maybe it will be fully updated as time goes by to reflect the passage of years, or maybe Blizzard doesn't care about the outlying areas of the zone outside the Citadel and is just leaving them untouched, but this is almost certainly the definition of a non-story for this topic.
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Firstly, not entirely true. Those souls who go into the Maw seem able to maintain their identity, because what is the point of suffering for your sins if you can't recall them. And all souls are now going into the Maw.
Secondly, that was just a tweak of the guy's nose. The High Elves he found are just duplicates of the Argent Tournament NPCs copied into the new Icecrown phase and almost certainly meaningless.
The lore behind it is the relationship between the high elves and the alliance was always fickle. It's on record that their relationship with the alliance was one of convenience. Additionally, many of the alliance races (such as night elves) did not view high elves fondly, and their influence resulted the spying/attempted sabotage of the blood elves.
The lore behind it is there, you're just either overlooking it or choosing not to accept it.
Blood elves are our high elves - Chris Metzen
But High elves wouldn't be in the maw. Honourable race etc right? Only the recent dead from Sylvanas' war are good souls dumped in the Maw that shouldn't be there. As far as I know, none of those were high elves, they are mostly Night elves in the vast majority, as they were the ones slaughtered and a few horde races killed by their pathetic resistance.
That depends a lot when this HE died, also Blizzard have pointed out that the Maw problem have been for a while, so many souls have ended up there, but we still don't know when it all started.
Note: The vast majority is indeed NE, but those are not the only ones, all those who died in the 4th war would end up there, so there should be a lot of people there
I made a point on the NPCs of the Silver Covenant and the Sunreaver which are listed in the original Icecrown, well they are not all in the alpha files.
I checked the box of those present in the files, the sellers linked to the Trial of the Crusader raid are among the absent, I think it's normal if the area is redone we won't need them.
...Sure.
I mean I want High Elves, but come on. This is Blizzard we are talking about, this could be like 10 other far more likely things than AR High Elves.
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Honestly I would just like to see modern day Icecrown even if its as a cameo, like when we say the Blasted Lands on the WoD pre-patch event.
IMO I agree it's most likely due to some broad duplication of certain areas, but if they actually indeed intend to say that the Argent Tournament is still there, it would be kinda interesting.
I assume the zone is being redone, so the NPCs there are getting a refresh. Makes sense.
That being said, I've wondered since back before Shadowlands was announced if Blizzard had some intention behind what Sylvannas was doing regarding the high elves that died during Arthas' invasion. This idea was then furthered when Blizz added the blood elf heritage armor storyline that showed the deaths of the high elves and how it traumatized Sylvannas. Lady Liandrin even calls it, "The last act of the high elves."
There's always the possibility that part of Sylvannas' master plan is to find a way to bring back the high elves she failed to save in the Third War. Just a wild theory I've been kicking around for a year or two.
Still better than what we have now tbh. I'd rather HE's being absorbed into the VE's than them remaining unplayable forever. of course I would prefer playable HE's, but this is the "I'd rather" scenario. Any scenario that addresses them is better than them remaining in the sidelines IMO.
I disagree; again, I'd rather see a continuation some continuation of the story of the High Elves -like say, the Silver Covenant joins the Void Elves- rather than High Elves as a whole remaining for ever on the sidelines.
Like of course this could never account for all the remaining High Elves -such as the neutral Kirin Tor ones or the Highvale- but what I am saying is that to have some continuation of the HE story through the VE's is better than nothing.
Making the SC into void elves wouldn't erase the High Elves as a whole just as giving blue eyes to BE's doesn't do it either.
maybe I can finally see my waifu Paletress
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I don't recall seeing Vereesa tracking down Sylvanas on that pre-release novel, just Alleria and Turalyon.
If you're talking about the pre-Orgrimmar event, they're scouting for weaknesses in Orgrimmar
The Alliance gets the Horde's most popular race. The Horde should get the Alliance's most popular race in return. Alteraci Humans for the Horde!
I make Warcraft 3 Reforged HD custom models and I'm also an HD model reviewer.
Considering I don't want a void corrupted elf that isn't exactly acceptable to me. I'd prefer if High elves perhaps went full Arcane or mixed Arcane with Nature or something, while Blood elves went full Light and you had Void vs Light that way.
Felt weird that both the Void-touched and Light-touched races are in the same faction.
It would be really weird to have the BE go full light though (they are like the Mages of the world, and one of the most proficient Fel users)
Also i like the idea of the VE and HE working together more closely, not advocating for the idea of the VE to completely absorb the HE though.
And yes, i agree is weird to have the Void-touched and Light-touched in the same faction, but as long as Blizzard work it out (like making an actual conflict between this 2 groups in the Alliance) its ok.