Official High Elf Discussion Megathread

[Obelisk Kai]

I forgot to reply to this, but here is what Ion Hazzikostas and Alex Afrasiabi said during a Forbes interview:

Newman: If I’m a druid, which doesn’t often get new races, is there going to be a playable allied race for me to choose on both factions?

Alex Afrasiabi: Yeah. We’ve seen Highmountain Tauren of course.

Hazzikostas: Not currently on the Alliance, no. Because for Void Elves, Lightforged Draenei, and Dark Iron Dwarves, none of those, again—asking the question, does it make sense for any of them? Are they in touch with those primal forces and restoration and shapeshifting? The answer’s no.

Newman: Shadow bear!

Afrasiabi: Void bear?

Hazzikostas: Not quite buying it. I don’t think they’d be too welcome in the Moonglade.

Newman: Are there other examples like that, where there are classes that just don’t make any sense at all with the selections available at launch?

Afrasiabi: Paladin for Void Elves, because that’s weird.

Hazzikostas: Exactly. But on the Alliance side, Dark Iron Dwarves can be paladins when those come around. We’re not approaching it from a perspective of, every box needs to be ticked and we’ll shoehorn something in if it doesn’t feel like a natural fit.

Hmm, I'd forgotten about that interview. Do you happen to have the link?

[elbleuet]

The thing is... Blue-eyed thalassian elves are an Alliance feature and so are the war paints.

Just look at Lor'Themar despite being a ranger, he's spending most of his time confortably in Silvermoon, doing nothing.
He's absolutely not depicted as the original farstrider the way Alleria is.
Nowadays, blood elves tend to feel more comfortable in their luxurious palace than in hunting the wilds.

and btw :

The farstriders are our "high-elf farstriders", they're the very elven rangers we played in the RTS series. Any alliance aligned high elf ranger is fashioned after the blood elf farstriders. .

I'm sorry, but the blood elves were fashioned after the High elves, not after. High elves being the original, uncorrupted thalassian elves.

[Obelisk Kai]

For me, the dark rangers were shown as the elite farstrider of the horde during BFA, with real missions made for them.

Not everything is subjective. The Farstriders exist in Silvermoon. They have their own hall. Halduron Brightwing is the Ranger-General of the Farstriders of Silvermoon. They form one part of the political tripod that underpins Blood Elven society alongside the Magisters and the Blood Knights. The Farstriders even joined the Unseen Path in Legion.

The Dark Rangers were clearly Sylvanas' attempt to create a unit of undead archers that approximated the Farstriders, but they are not Farstriders.

[Strippling]

Hmm, I'd forgotten about that interview. Do you happen to have the link?

Of course, here it is.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/hnewman.../#767e47536cdc

[Frenchvince]

Not saying you can't do what you like. But that applies to everyone. Particularly as you are using it to argue a contest point. Pointing out that the image is a composite, rather than a reflection of what is truly in the works, is therefore a fair comment.

I am sure that Stiven wants to be the first to dataminate high-elf eyes, that's why it's interesting to follow him.
Even if he does small experiments, it is always interesting to see.

[Strippling]

For me, the dark rangers were shown as the elite farstrider of the horde during BFA, with real missions made for them.

Each to their own I suppose.

[Obelisk Kai]

Of course, here it is.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/hnewman.../#767e47536cdc

Thank you. It's an importance reference to the idea of Void Elf Paladins. Even if Void Elves get normal skin tones, which I am sure you agree in this post 'blood elves have moved past blue eyes' era is almost certainly not going to happen, that the Paladin class will remain beyond that race for reasons of lore is important to the point that a void elf with normal tones is still a void elf, not a traditional high elf.

[Restors]

Now that Blood Elves gets blue eyes, is this thread over? Or will it just continue on why Horde gets it and not Alliance?

[Strippling]

The thing is... Blue-eyed thalassian elves are an Alliance feature and so are the war paints.

Just look at Lor'Themar despite being a ranger, he's spending most of his time confortably in Silvermoon, doing nothing.
He's absolutely not depicted as the original farstrider the way Alleria is.
Nowadays, blood elves tend to feel more comfortable in their luxurious palace than in hunting the wilds.

and btw :



I'm sorry, but the blood elves were fashioned after the High elves, not after. High elves being the original, uncorrupted thalassian elves.

Wrong. Blood elves are our high elves. The farstriders were an organization created before they were called blood elves, and after they changed their name to blood elves the farstriders remained with them. They did not leave the blood elves and join them at a later stage. The alliance aligned high elves however abandoned their kin and subsequently abandoned any groups associated with their kin such as the farstriders. They then fashioned themselves after the manner of the fastriders, by giving themselves the same ranks that exist in the blood elven farstrider organization. The blood elves never left their high elven society, because blood elves never stopped being high elves.. they simply renamed themselves in honor of their fallen kin.

[Obelisk Kai]

Now that Blood Elves gets blue eyes, is this thread over? Or will it just continue on why Horde gets it and not Alliance?

Blood Elves did not get blue eyes. It was judged they have moved beyond that due to the holy influence of the sunwell turning all non void elf eyes golden over the coming years. Blue eyes will be a Void Elf thing going forwards.

Those blue eyes are specifically for NPCs.

[Frenchvince]

Not everything is subjective. The Farstriders exist in Silvermoon. They have their own hall. Halduron Brightwing is the Ranger-General of the Farstriders of Silvermoon. They form one part of the political tripod that underpins Blood Elven society alongside the Magisters and the Blood Knights. The Farstriders even joined the Unseen Path in Legion.

The Dark Rangers were clearly Sylvanas' attempt to create a unit of undead archers that approximated the Farstriders, but they are not Farstriders.

the quest to get the blood elf racial armor, does it mean anything to you?
There were visions of high-elven farstriders who have now become dark rangers like Velonara.
So dark rangers are farstriders.

[elbleuet]

Wrong. Blood elves are our high elves. The farstriders were an organization created before they were called blood elves, and after they changed their name to blood elves the farstriders remained with them. They did not leave the blood elves and join them at a later stage. The alliance aligned high elves however abandoned their kin and subsequently abandoned any groups associated with their kin such as the farstriders. They then fashioned themselves after the manner of the fastriders, by giving themselves the same ranks that exist in the blood elven farstrider organization. The blood elves never left their high elven society, because blood elves never stopped being high elves.. they simply renamed themselves in honor of their fallen kin.

The blood elves are your High elves, but they're not High elves. Blue-eyed elves and war paints are not coming for you, because blood elves aren't high elves. Otherwise, you would have got blue and purple eyes option.

[Strippling]

Thank you. It's an importance reference to the idea of Void Elf Paladins. Even if Void Elves get normal skin tones, which I am sure you agree in this post 'blood elves have moved past blue eyes' era is almost certainly not going to happen, that the Paladin class will remain beyond that race for reasons of lore is important to the point that a void elf with normal tones is still a void elf, not a traditional high elf.

All good. And I agree with you on that. Though I find it extremely unlikely that void elves will get "high-elf customizations" in the first place, as it doesn't make sense for them since they've evolved from that. Anything is possible I suppose, but I think there's slim to no chance of that happening. More than likely they'll get a few more skin tone options of various shades of blue (maybe some lighter blue skin tones), new hair styles, likely different shades of blue eyes, more jewelry options and maybe void tattoos.

Edit: Somebody recently uploaded a pic of a void elf in the alpha, which showed their void proc now turning them an even deeper tone of dark blue (similar to Alleria's void form). I think aiming void elf color palletes toward that direction would be awesome as aesthetically it's freaking awesome and thematically it screams void.. which is what they're all about. It would make no sense to dilute the void theme of void elves by making them look like blood elves (ie normal skin and hair tones)

- - - Updated - - -

The blood elves are your High elves, but they're not High elves. Blue-eyed elves and war paints are not coming for you, because blood elves aren't high elves. Otherwise, you would have got blue and purple eyes option.

War paints have not been ruled out. They may or may not happen but at this stage there has been no confirmation.

What has been confirmed though by both lead developers of WoW is that blood elves are our high elves. I'll take their word over yours.

[Obelisk Kai]

All good. And I agree with you on that. Though I find it extremely unlikely that void elves will get "high-elf customizations" in the first place, as it doesn't make sense for them since they've evolved from that. Anything is possible I suppose, but I think there's slim to no chance of that happening. More than likely they'll get a few more skin tone options of various shades of blue (maybe some lighter blue skin tones), new hair styles, likely different shades of blue eyes, more jewelry options and maybe void tattoos.

Void Elves are the only race in game covering the Void Elf niche, it would be a waste to water that down to better approximate the Blood Elf ideal. There already is a race in the game that fully approximates the Blood Elf ideal, and that is a Blood Elf.

There are so many ways Void Elves can be customised without being turned into ersatz Blood Elves, ways that chime with what they have become rather than what they were.

[Unholyground]

Play horde, this clearly is not going to happen anywhere else but on the horde if it does and I am sure there will be QQ from all. I play both factions now as I don't care about faction anymore like a normal person.

[matrix123mko]

The argument remains the same, the identity of the factions.
Alleria has an appearance that represents the high-elf farstrider, so it's going to be difficult now to allow the horde players to have the same thing.
I don't think Blizzard agrees that the horde will end up with full of Alleria's clones.

Except Alleria is literally an an ex-farstrider. Horde has farstriders too and they should have an option to look the same.

[elbleuet]

War paints have not been ruled out. They may or may not happen but at this stage there has been no confirmation.

What has been confirmed though by both lead developers of WoW is that blood elves are our high elves.

Yeah. I did not deny it. For 2-3 people on MMO-CHAMPION, that's the truth indeed. But in Warcraft, they remain what they are : blood elves or Sin'dorei, not Quel'dorei.

And pink hairs for blood elves have not been ruled out either. That doesn't mean it's coming.

You're not getting what an Alliance thalassian elf is wearing. Pretty logical if you ask me.

[Obelisk Kai]

the quest to get the blood elf racial armor, does it mean anything to you?
There were visions of high-elven farstriders who have now become dark rangers like Velonara.
So dark rangers are farstriders.

And the Undead used to be Humans. That's the thing about undeath, it's a new kind of life and a new beginning. Yes, the Dark Rangers USED to be Farstriders. But now they are Dark Rangers.

However, actual living Farstriders serve the Horde regardless.

[Frenchvince]

And the Undead used to be Humans. That's the thing about undeath, it's a new kind of life and a new beginning. Yes, the Dark Rangers USED to be Farstriders. But now they are Dark Rangers.

However, actual living Farstriders serve the Horde regardless.

And the undead fartriders too.

[Obelisk Kai]

And the undead fartriders too.

Which isn't the point. Saying the Dark Rangers are the Farstriders of the Horde is an attempt to minimise the fact that the real actual farstriders are a part of the Horde too. Why bother bringing up the Undead when the real deal is already present?