Official High Elf Discussion Megathread

[Aucald]

shouldn't this thread close for redundancy?

No, it is neither redundant nor does it appear the conversation is at an end.

[DeicideUH]

Agreed. The only thing I'm leery of is the "later date" part. Historically, that later date never comes. Blizzard fully intends to add more customization later in the xpac, I'm sure, but this kind of thing is usually abandoned unless there is an outcry about broken promises.

I think this will come just after the normal races. Blizzard only didn't assume it because they don't want people to think they are a 9.0 thing.

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

For me I am disappointed because it completely defeats the purpoe of having void elves to begin with. They might as well have done high elves rather than this weird loop de loop

I won't deny is not convoluted, but again, I do see the value in "condensing" some racial offshoots to the same "gameplay" race. Cause otherwise we have 6 playable elf races? Honestly I would do away with most AR this way tbh, we don't need that kind of bloat from a design perspective.

And if it defeats the purpose of VE's, kinda shows how misguided that purpose was from the beginning, at least to many people in the community and themselves as we can see.

[Traycor]

I don't see the necessity and it may not be possible with the way the game is coded.

On the coding side, you never know, because sometimes coding is just dump. However, it can't be that hard to change the text in a field.

As for necessity, Blizzard is making some fundamental shifts about what "race" means in the game. At the very least, this should be reflected by updated race descriptions on the character select screen.

[DeicideUH]

For me I am disappointed because it completely defeats the purpoe of having void elves to begin with. They might as well have done high elves rather than this weird loop de loop

And what was the "purpose" of the void elves?
Blizzard never bothered to give them actual lore that would allow their own identity to stand on its own two feet. They were blue-skinned blood elves using the void, with a normal-looking high elf leader and normal-looking blood and high elf apprentices.
Void elves were just a flawed compromise that ended rejected by the comunity, sparking two years of protests and endless discussion in message boards.

Normal skins should have been in since day one. Many of us weren't even wanting all sorts of blood elf skins, just some "almost normal" options and more lore to better establish them. The skins are finally in, now I'm waiting on the lore.

Meh, I do hope this change won't preclude Void Elves from getting more voidy customization options too.

Problem is: their lack of identity hinders that. Are they eager into corruption, or do they seek the safe route? The way they were portrayed, it feels like corruption goes against their ethos, unless there were more sides or hidden secrets behind it, but none were established in their two years of existence.

[melzas]

This didn't make me that happy to be honest, and I wanted High Elves since classic.

Still no access to paladin class. Still voidy shitty hairstyles. No blonde hair. Edgy voice over. And the worst offender - a racial that occasionally turns you into a purple blob.

If it makes most helfers happy then great, but this isn't what I personally wanted and my high elf needs weren't quenched. Honestly if I want to play the real high elf, base blood elf is still a better option for me.

[Traycor]

I won't deny is not convoluted, but again, I do see the value in "condensing" some racial offshoots to the same "gameplay" race. Cause otherwise we have 6 playable elf races? Honestly I would do away with most AR this way tbh, we don't need that kind of bloat from a design perspective.

And if it defeats the purpose of VE's, kinda shows how misguided that purpose was from the beginning, at least to many people in the community and themselves as we can see.

This sparked an interesting thought. What if they grouped races together, allowing you to pick what set of racials your character has and automatically selecting the matching race name.

For example, a dranei could pick the regular or light forged racials, (which also changes the race name). A Void Elf could pick to have their void form (with the void elf name) or change it to an arcane form (automatically selecting the high elf race name). Same for Tauren, etc...

[Yarathir]

Problem is: their lack of identity hinders that. Are they eager into corruption, or do they seek the safe route? The way they were portrayed, it feels like corruption goes against their ethos, unless there were more sides or hidden secrets behind it, but none were established in their two years of existence.

Seems like a made up limitation tbh. Especially now that there is a spectrum.

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This didn't make me that happy to be honest, and I wanted High Elves since classic.

Still no access to paladin class. Still voidy shitty hairstyles. No blonde hair. Edgy voice over. And the worst offender - a racial that occasionally turns you into a purple blob.

If it makes most helfers happy then great, but this isn't what I personally wanted and my high elf needs weren't quenched. Honestly if I want to play the real high elf, base blood elf is still a better option for me.

Then do that. High Elves as their own thing ain't happening.

[FossilFree]

This didn't make me that happy to be honest, and I wanted High Elves since classic.

Still no access to paladin class. Still voidy shitty hairstyles. No blonde hair. Edgy voice over. And the worst offender - a racial that occasionally turns you into a purple blob.

If it makes most helfers happy then great, but this isn't what I personally wanted and my high elf needs weren't quenched. Honestly if I want to play the real high elf, base blood elf is still a better option for me.

They should get Void Knights: paladins that follow the order of shadow. Give them "green fire" style animation changes, with renamed spells and new icons.

[FlubberPuddy]

And the few people who actually dig the void thematic will be playing them as they started out. Noice.

Yessss, this is so huge I think some sour sports are still too focused on pedantic details.

This will actually open up a lot of options for players and sets a good precedent going into the future.

[melzas]

Then do that. High Elves as their own thing ain't happening.

I know, this is exactly what I'm planning to do - stick to my belf and turn his eyes blue. Which is a shame, but the best I'll be getting anyway.

[FlubberPuddy]

But...they aren't high elves... they are void elves.

I thought helfers were all about lore?

You make your own lore for your character, just as Danuser explained. Thalassian Bob gave some examples of say Allerian Stronghold elves going back to Silvermoon.

Is that actually happening? Not from a game perspective, but from their own character's perspective? Yes.

[Yarathir]

I know, this is exactly what I'm planning to do - stick to my belf and turn his eyes blue. Which is a shame, but the best I'll be getting anyway.

Good luck with that. In my eyes, this was the best that was going to happen ever since Void Elves were added.

[Broflake]

Warlocks.
/10char

Warlocks dont eat enough fel remember? To go felblood they were sucking it in like I suck in brownies

[FlubberPuddy]

The amount of seething from posters in here that have apparently spent too much of their time in this thread arguing against playable High Elves and have gotten too entrenched in their naysaying to the point that the stability of their ego is tied to being right, no matter how much they have to engage in mental pretzel gymnastics, is hilarious.

Fully agree, and I do find it amusing as well.

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Ion Hazzaritkiss is a bit of a sociopathic type, dontcha think?

I think like most in his position, he just has to come up with whatever bullshit at the time he has to lmao.

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But is the outrage enough to fuel this thread the rest of the way to 1000 pages?

Very likely Also glad to see your thoughts on the matter and that it is at least a positive for you as well, despite also wanting stand-alone High Elves. Feels good

[Broflake]

You make your own lore for your character, just as Danuser explained. Thalassian Bob gave some examples of say Allerian Stronghold elves going back to Silvermoon.

Is that actually happening? Not from a game perspective, but from their own character's perspective? Yes.

Let's not take things out of context. Danuser explained that customization options could be used for such groups.
Void elves are not in the same vein because they are a singular group.
Let's not use his statements to begin headcanon, it spits on the lore that many claim to enjoy.

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Seems like a made up limitation tbh. Especially now that there is a spectrum.

It was a thing people made up and just ran with in a silly fashion.
Of course, it is clear many things were made up purely for aesthetics.
Ultimately, none of this matters. It is pixels on a screen.

[melzas]

Good luck with that. In my eyes, this was the best that was going to happen ever since Void Elves were added.

Well, pretending that I'm something is not good enough for me, but the reactions seem to be mostly positive so I guess most people are happy with this "compromise".

[FlubberPuddy]

Agreed. The only thing I'm leery of is the "later date" part. Historically, that later date never comes. Blizzard fully intends to add more customization later in the xpac, I'm sure, but this kind of thing is usually abandoned unless there is an outcry about broken promises.

I was never expecting anything about High Elves to come until 10.0.

It's clear they have greatly overhauled their character customization system, in a way that I think they'll be able to deliver new options at a much faster rate than before. Allied Races were the beginning of that, what is it 10 races in one expac when before it was 2?

Increased customizations are a further iteration of the system, and as we have seen with the news today. Opens up and allows them to add additional clans/tribes/subgroups of particular races into the mix without having to 'take up more slots'.

We may be in an era where character customization improvements come much quicker, especially since it was very 2006-2007 esque level of character customization for well over a decade.

[Daevelian]

Well, that was unexpected. I'm happy for the Helf fans, really am.

Probably gonna stick to my Belf paladin though, those blue eyes + new hairstyle with the tiara and bun is MMMMMMMM.

[Maxilian]

Yeah, I still want high elves. The character randomly covering with void energy will be annoying. However, in the mean time I can at least customize a void elf to look closer to what I want and try to pretend/ignore the rest. This is certainly an improvement, and I'm happy for these changes. We can call this a win.

It's very interesting that only a very short time ago we were told no blue eyes for blood elves. Just a few weeks later, we're being shown new texture maps. lol

Well maybe the other best thing that we could ask for (excluding some extra options, like tattoos, beards, etc...) is for something to hide or change the look of the void form ability (or at least make it less... intrusive...)

Though i would lie if i don't say that i do like that they keep something that shows them as Void elves and not just the political difference with the BE.