Official High Elf Discussion Megathread

[Jokubas]

High elves or a unique and cool race?

I choose races based on two general criteria:
1) The Lore
2) Personal Preference

It's kinda hard to describe, because some of it's obvious (like that I have my own personal preference), but not all of it (like why I prefer certain things). For instance, there are races I would play instantly in another game, that I'd never ask to be in World of Warcraft. Warcraft has its own look and feel and appeal, and I don't want those wires crossed. It's kinda like how I like both Star Trek and Star Wars, but there are aspects in one I'd never want in the other.

Going back to the question, it depends. It seems that as the older World of Warcraft gets, cool and unique often seems to be "completely made up on the spot," and that's something that frankly offsets any cool or unique aspect to them for me. One of the reasons I'm not fond of void elves is simply that they came out of nowhere. There are certainly cool and unique aspects to the void elves, but it just doesn't feel right to me when they haven't been established (especially when there were similar established choices that could have been chosen, and I don't just mean high elves, an undead elf Allied Race would have looked similar and had history).

On the other hand, I've wanted high elves since the beginning, even after blood elves were added, and I would have been perfectly fine with them being identical to blood elves outside of their eye color (although until the Allied Race system, I accepted that it was a lot to ask). I'm excited by the prospect of playing a high elf because of the lore and history that has been there since Warcraft II. It's part of the reason I want ogres, as well. They're a lot more unique than high elves, but many would say they're too big and stupid to be cool. I can't even necessarily disagree with that, but it's irrelevant to why I want to play them.

[Deleted]

This would've been so much better than random Void Elves.

It could even have made me play Alliance for a change.

Such a lost opportunity. I really don't understand how Void Elves were chosen over this. Surely Blizzard must have thought about giving Alliance High Elves... but they thought Void Elves were the better option?? HOW? WHY?

[Jokubas]

Those look really good, great work! One thing to keep in mind is that body textures are mirrored, so it would be impossible to implement asymmetrical tattoos (e.g on one arm only) unless they were "floating" planes like LF Draenei's forehead rune, in this case wrapped as closely as possible to the mesh underneath. Might clip into it during animations, though.

You're right, I wasn't thinking about that. Oh well, I don't think it would matter too much. The two that aren't already symmetrical on the body could easily be made so, and if it became a problem with the face, I'm sure some other solution could be found. I originally thought about making face options separate and even have a whole set of scars and war paint colors as well, but I tried to keep things simpler and more in line with existing races. A solution could probably be done fairly easily with actual textures.

Those are some amazing concepts I love the hairstyles and tattoo options they really caught my eye as I was looking through, Brilliant work Jokubas I am well impressed, I wasn't going to comment due to all the hate on here but I have to say WOW what can I say Great Work ^.^

Thanks! I can't take credit for all of it, three of the war paint designs are based off of Alleria designs and the other is based on the elven archer, and I borrowed other ideas from elsewhere, like some hairs from Traycor's brainstorming (who also got me the base body), but I still took a lot of time. So much of it feels rushed in hindsight to me though, and I forgot some other things I was going to do (like the bluish hair some NPCs have), but maybe that's a good thing. This illustrates the point without being so awesome that any real implementation would be a disappointment. ;P

My favorite part was actually doing the underwear. The void elves just tinted the underwear, but I thought I could do a little bit more to make it distinct, and it's a fairly minor texture change (although I designed a loincloth like the demon hunters). I tried to take the same filigree but go with the ranger theme.

[Sumskittles]

Those look really good, great work! One thing to keep in mind is that body textures are mirrored, so it would be impossible to implement asymmetrical tattoos (e.g on one arm only) unless they were "floating" planes like LF Draenei's forehead rune, in this case wrapped as closely as possible to the mesh underneath. Might clip into it during animations, though.

That's not exactly entirely true on the asymmetrical thing. Back when they put pandas in they actually pointed out showing off with 2-3 panda skins that they can do asymmetrical skins now. There's one with spots on one side of the face and not the other and one where the eye fur is fade and cut off and not on the other. So it is certainly possible.

[Deleted]

That's not exactly entirely true on the asymmetrical thing. Back when they put pandas in they actually pointed out showing off with 2-3 panda skins that they can do asymmetrical skins now. There's one with spots on one side of the face and not the other and one where the eye fur is fade and cut off and not on the other. So it is certainly possible.

The body textures are mirrored, the face is not, at least, not entirely. So asymmetrical face tattoos would be doable (and much more noticeable, too)

[Deleted]

High elves or a unique and cool race?

High Elves lol but I understand the question just fine.

Before allied races I would've said no to High Elves, simply because I didn't think the rest of the Alliance should be punished and receive a copy of an existing Horde race as a given expansion's new playble race, simply because some people wanted a copy of an existing Horde race.

Just because we want a bland copy pasted race that'll probably never happen doesn't mean the rest of the Alliance should be subject to our obsession.

But now with the introduction of allied races and there now being multiple new races in one expansion, I feel like there's an opportunity to satisfy many different niches and requests from many different kinds of players.

And that's exactly what Blizzard has done, attempt to satisfy the High Elf crowd's wishes of getting High Elves.

Just not quite the way they wanted it, hence this thread

[Deleted]

This would've been so much better than random Void Elves.

It could even have made me play Alliance for a change.

Such a lost opportunity. I really don't understand how Void Elves were chosen over this. Surely Blizzard must have thought about giving Alliance High Elves... but they thought Void Elves were the better option?? HOW? WHY?

Like I have posted earlier, I am totally sure Blizz wanted to introduce high elves but thought well we might give them super high elves instead.
It wasn't meant as a troll or to deny players high elves, i am sure Blizz had the best intentions, they just missed WHY people wanted high elves in the first place.

Blizz just didn't know when they planned it that this reaction will occour. And now they are probably thinking of ways to correct that.
Personally I think the acceptence for Void Elves will rise when High Elvs are playable, so people who really like one can play them.

Void Elves are just so despised because people are disapointed that they didn't get high elves.

- - - Updated - - -

High elves or a unique and cool race?

High elves.

Why? Because these "unique cool races" are not what people want. Void elves proved that.
Only a very, very small amount of players want these exotic races like murlocks, ogres or nagas. Look ant Pandarens, they are th eleast played race.

Sure there will be people who want to play a murlock, but not many.
However there will be thousands of people who want to play a high elf.

Just because YOU yourself would rather have something different, it doesn't mean it is the popular demand.
In fact if you want something else insetad, go and campaign for that. If there are more players like you who want that exact race you might get a movement that is as big as this one.

Or you won't in that case it is proven your Idea might not be that popular at all and thus not a better option than high elves.

[Traycor]

I thought it would be fun to take some of the ideas going around and try to mix them all together in what it might look like if high elves were playable and these were their options. Some things I copied more directly than others, and I know I could have gone further in some areas, but this ended up taking longer than I thought.

Faces


I decided to not only play around with some scarred options, but I put one in there with shorter ears. In the classic Warcraft II artwork of a high elf fighting a troll, the ears were much shorter. I used that as inspiration along with the dialogue from Elisande about high elves mingling with lesser races. I also made an aged option, since that's something missing on current elves that could help reinforce these as much more world-weary.

Hairstyles


For the men, I tried to take inspiration from different cultures than the blood elves, though I don't think it turned out too well. I thought a little 80s stuff would make them feel more wild, and tried to put some more curly stuff in there. For the women, I tried to do some shorter and more combat-ready hairstyles, as well as some messier ones and braided ones.

Hair Colors


For the hair colors, I tried to go with earthier tones, as well as some very light and silvery ones. I tried to avoid red outside of a dark auburn to create distinction from blood elves.

Beards/Accessories


I went a bit crazy with the beards. The idea was to again take Elisande's dialogue about the high elves being peasants who mingle with other races, and decided that could mean they have much larger and more wild beards (whether that be because human blood allowed them to grow larger beards, or that larger beards are simply not in style with the higher class blood elves). I'm not really happy with the accessories I made for the female elves. I tried to take various ideas like more subtle jewelry and feathers, but most of them sort of disappear into the hair unfortunately.

Skin Colors


I tried to create some strong extremes here. The idea was to have some tanned options from living in the wild more, as well as some extremely pale options to create some strong contrast. Perhaps some of these options are also a result of human blood somewhere in their heritage.

War Paints


As much as the war paint is central to what I like about the high elf pitches in this thread, I didn't feel up to the challenge for very many options. Each one is based on an existing design, whether that be Warcraft II or one of Alleria's several variants. I also added in symbols from the elven runestones in a couple of places, but ran out of ideas after that.

You went to TOWN! This is great stuff.
I'm going to resize some of this for formatting in the OP. The face variety is outstanding. Hair styles for male and female is a win!

[Theodarzna]

I thought it would be fun to take some of the ideas going around and try to mix them all together in what it might look like if high elves were playable and these were their options. Some things I copied more directly than others, and I know I could have gone further in some areas, but this ended up taking longer than I thought.

Faces


I decided to not only play around with some scarred options, but I put one in there with shorter ears. In the classic Warcraft II artwork of a high elf fighting a troll, the ears were much shorter. I used that as inspiration along with the dialogue from Elisande about high elves mingling with lesser races. I also made an aged option, since that's something missing on current elves that could help reinforce these as much more world-weary.

Hairstyles


For the men, I tried to take inspiration from different cultures than the blood elves, though I don't think it turned out too well. I thought a little 80s stuff would make them feel more wild, and tried to put some more curly stuff in there. For the women, I tried to do some shorter and more combat-ready hairstyles, as well as some messier ones and braided ones.

Hair Colors


For the hair colors, I tried to go with earthier tones, as well as some very light and silvery ones. I tried to avoid red outside of a dark auburn to create distinction from blood elves.

Beards/Accessories


I went a bit crazy with the beards. The idea was to again take Elisande's dialogue about the high elves being peasants who mingle with other races, and decided that could mean they have much larger and more wild beards (whether that be because human blood allowed them to grow larger beards, or that larger beards are simply not in style with the higher class blood elves). I'm not really happy with the accessories I made for the female elves. I tried to take various ideas like more subtle jewelry and feathers, but most of them sort of disappear into the hair unfortunately.

Skin Colors


I tried to create some strong extremes here. The idea was to have some tanned options from living in the wild more, as well as some extremely pale options to create some strong contrast. Perhaps some of these options are also a result of human blood somewhere in their heritage.

War Paints


As much as the war paint is central to what I like about the high elf pitches in this thread, I didn't feel up to the challenge for very many options. Each one is based on an existing design, whether that be Warcraft II or one of Alleria's several variants. I also added in symbols from the elven runestones in a couple of places, but ran out of ideas after that.

Want this so badly. <3

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Then you dont know blizzard at all

Perhaps. I do think if they are too antagonistic it runs certain risks. Plus Blizzard is trying to strengthen their subscriber count, I am unsure they want to risk it.

[Traycor]

I thought it would be fun to take some of the ideas going around and try to mix them all together in what it might look like if high elves were playable and these were their options. Some things I copied more directly than others, and I know I could have gone further in some areas, but this ended up taking longer than I thought.

Pasted your entire post into my second post on the first page. The elements are being slowly worked into the OP. It's a major rework, which is exciting!

Beards/Accessories


I went a bit crazy with the beards. The idea was to again take Elisande's dialogue about the high elves being peasants who mingle with other races, and decided that could mean they have much larger and more wild beards (whether that be because human blood allowed them to grow larger beards, or that larger beards are simply not in style with the higher class blood elves). I'm not really happy with the accessories I made for the female elves. I tried to take various ideas like more subtle jewelry and feathers, but most of them sort of disappear into the hair unfortunately.

Love the 4th beard option with the chops! Beard 1 trips me out, but they did have beards like that in the manga. It might feel a bit too 'Night Elf' to have a full long beard like that. The last two female accessories are my favorite, probably because they stand out the most.

[Niroshi]

I really need those tattoos and hobo beards in my life.

[Friendlyimmolation]

Perhaps. I do think if they are too antagonistic it runs certain risks. Plus Blizzard is trying to strengthen their subscriber count, I am unsure they want to risk it.

Now you're severly over estimating the strength high elf fans have.

[Traycor]

Hairstyles


For the men, I tried to take inspiration from different cultures than the blood elves, though I don't think it turned out too well. I thought a little 80s stuff would make them feel more wild, and tried to put some more curly stuff in there. For the women, I tried to do some shorter and more combat-ready hairstyles, as well as some messier ones and braided ones.

One of the biggest challenges with making High Elves and Blood Elves into separate things is the silhouette. These hairstyles do a great job of changing the silhouette to something new and different from Blood Elves.

[Combatbutler]

One of the biggest challenges with making High Elves and Blood Elves into separate things is the silhouette. These hairstyles do a great job of changing the silhouette to something new and different from Blood Elves.

Yeah lets reflect this canon material of high elf lore that people conveniently tend to forget all the time

This is not to say, however, that withdrawal from magic would leave the high elves unharmed. On the contrary, permanent mental or physical damage is possible.

[Theodarzna]

Now you're severely overestimating the strength high elf fans have.

Not really. In the WoW forum itself its enough capped threads and one with a radically extended cap and Blue posts, as well as a very well made argument in favour by a fairly popular and prominent youtuber about WoW. I don't think any other fan requested race has such an enduring fanbase. Plus it would come off as an insult directed at Alliance players broadly speaking, after all, it already seems like the development team is catering and coddling the Horde side by giving them pretty much every long time fan request.

[FlubberPuddy]

Not really. In the WoW forum itself its enough capped threads and one with a radically extended cap and Blue posts, as well as a very well made argument in favour by a fairly popular and prominent youtuber about WoW. I don't think any other fan requested race has such an enduring fanbase. Plus it would come off as an insult directed at Alliance players broadly speaking, after all, it already seems like the development team is catering and coddling the Horde side by giving them pretty much every long time fan request.

Yup, as I stated in the other thread, I can't see this recognition of the High Elves for Alliance request leading to nothing at all now. They've finally openly acknowledged the recent incredible demand (I say this because point me to another race that garners this much fervor, both for and against ) and are even encouraging discussion on the matter.

They're also moderating posts that go back and forth and talk about going against the proponents of the High Elf thread by requesting Blue Eye Blood Elves. They want the thread to stay on the topic of whether you are for or against High Elves on Alliance and from my peeks into it, there are many more fresh-faces in support than the fresh-faces against. Exciting times!

[Theodarzna]

Yup, as I stated in the other thread, I can't see this recognition of the High Elves for Alliance request leading to nothing at all now. They've finally openly acknowledged the recent incredible demand (I say this because point me to another race that garners this much fervor, both for and against ) and are even encouraging discussion on the matter.

They're also moderating posts that go back and forth and talk about going against the proponents of the High Elf thread by requesting Blue Eye Blood Elves. They want the thread to stay on the topic of whether you are for or against High Elves on Alliance and from my peeks into it, there are many more fresh-faces in support than the fresh-faces against. Exciting times!

The faces against seem to be entirely griefing by people treating the whole idea like its some competition and if Alliance gets something they've often asked for the Horde loses or something. It is not a Zero-Sum game guys.

[Traycor]

Yup, as I stated in the other thread, I can't see this recognition of the High Elves for Alliance request leading to nothing at all now. They've finally openly acknowledged the recent incredible demand (I say this because point me to another race that garners this much fervor, both for and against ) and are even encouraging discussion on the matter.

Back when Neverwinter Nights from Bioware came out, Aribeth was a controversial character. She got debated back and forth. Bioware was asked during a Q&A their opinion on making controversial characters and their answer was very interesting.

Aarin Gend was the spymaster in the game and a major character. But no one talked about him, no one debated him, and no one cared. He was just forgotten among the noise. Bioware said that a character that generated lots of buzz, debate, or emotion like Aribeth was a good character to use, because people cared, whether for or against. But a character like Aarin, that no one cared about, was a dud. Obviously, they don't want characters that are mostly reviled, but a controversial character with a strong following for and against, those are seen as a win for the IP as a whole.

Horde hate High Elves (a big plus for PvP) and High Elves have a strong, enduring following. Plus Blizz has shown a continued willingness to include High Elves in their narratives. The heavy investment on all sides makes for a perfect Allied Race to add to the game.

[The Stormbringer]

Sorry Jokubas, some of those hairstyles are just... way off for me. The bald elf is particularly hilarious, as are the old man beards.

The warpaint and green undies look fantastic, though.

[FlubberPuddy]

The faces against seem to be entirely griefing by people treating the whole idea like its some competition and if Alliance gets something they've often asked for the Horde loses or something. It is not a Zero-Sum game guys.

I believe that many of them understand how popular High Elves are over Blood Elves and don't want to see that become a reality. Nothing is lost by additions. Especially not a deeply entrenched Alliance race like High Elves.

Back when Neverwinter Nights from Bioware came out, Aribeth was a controversial character. She got debated back and forth. Bioware was asked during a Q&A their opinion on making controversial characters and their answer was very interesting.

Aarin Gend was the spymaster in the game and a major character. But no one talked about him, no one debated him, and no one cared. He was just forgotten among the noise. Bioware said that a character that generated lots of buzz, debate, or emotion like Aribeth was a good character to use, because people cared, whether for or against. But a character like Aarin, that no one cared about, was a dud. Obviously, they don't want characters that are mostly reviled, but a controversial character with a strong following for and against, those are seen as a win for the IP as a whole.

Horde hate High Elves (a big plus for PvP) and High Elves have a strong, enduring following. Plus Blizz has shown a continued willingness to include High Elves in their narratives. The heavy investment on all sides makes for a perfect Allied Race to add to the game.

This is actually really great contribution! You should share your ideas with the High Elf thread Traycor Shows that no matter which side of High Elves people land on, one thing is true: High Elves have the highest engagement over all other Allied Races.