Official High Elf Discussion Megathread

[Aldo Hawk]

The real question I want to know is what will he do with his free time when they are added?

Cat videos, the answer is always cat videos.

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I got to know, what is the big appeal to the elves specifically from warcraft 2 since its been stated multiple times that's it's not about the model (which I believe is completely BS) and has caused the rejection of velves, belves, neutral elves, and every other idea that doesn't involve an AR for "pure alliance" high elves.

I mean you could argue the whole wooland theme is easily achieved with nelves.

What is it so special about them that you guys want nothing else.

If at this point you didn't already got it is entirely only your problem.

Crystal clear: Alliance High elves, those that were there since the start.

Seriously... Bollocks...

[Obelisk Kai]

Yes, Chris say "blood elves are our high elves", and then proceeds to say how blood elves evolved from high elves.
"Blood elves serve as our example of what happens to a group of people when they just won't stop playing with it [magic] or abusing its power."
"Illidan taught the blood elves - the now named blood elves - how to syphon demonic energies, how to syphon ambient arcane energies from air, and in doing so he damned the last vestiges of the high elven race to retain their magic addiction but feed it with really unwholesome energies."

There you have it, the moment the blood elves and high elves turned into two different things. He does not goes into it, but we know there's still high elves that didn't take that path, didn't rename themselves and remained in the Alliance, and thus are not covered in that speech. It's amazing that you refuse to see the obvious. High elves and blood elves are not the same thing.

High elves and blood elves are not the same thing. They share an origin, but their paths diverged ten years (in-lore time) ago.


What more need be said. Chris Metzen said 'Blood Elves are our High Elves'. Talk about ultimate word of God. And it completely proves you wrong that Blood Elves are not High Elves, as you stated earlier, when the author of the franchise's lore can contradict you.

The problem here is that you see Blood Elves and Alliance High Elves as equivalent groups. They are not. Blood Elves are not only High Elves, they are the true definition of what a High Elf is within the Warcraft universe. They have the Sunwell, the lands of Quel'thalas, the city of Silvermoon, the Magisters, the Farstriders as well as the vast majority of the population. And they conform to what the genre trope of a High Elf is expected to be.
Alliance High Elves on the other hand are a tiny population living in exile in Dalaran, whose numbers are no longer sufficient as of Legion to maintain their own district anymore. They are traitors to their people but they are not a separate race from their people, nor do they have the right to define themselves as the true heirs of the legacy of their people.

Where your quoting of Chris Metzen falls apart is where you cite the circumstances at the beginning of TBC to demonstrate how different they are. This is an example of being highly selective with your sources, because as we all know the circumstances described by Chris changed at the end of the burning crusade with the restoration of the Sunwell. The Blood Elves no longer syphon demon magics, or syphon ambient arcane energies (something reflected in game with the removal of the mana tap racial in the Wrath of the Lich King). So if that was the moment the Blood Elves and the High Elves turned into two different things, a debatable proposition in itself as the High Elves of the Alliance were as equally crippled by the addiction, then the restoration of the status quo ante erased the point of difference.

In fact, as the Shadow of the Sun proved, Blood Elves and Alliance High Elves feed on the same sunwell again. And as the Quel'Serrar questline proved, even the few remaining Alliance High Elves hold the Sunwell in reverence and still sought pilgrimage to it. Blood Elves and Alliance High Elves walk different paths politically. But that political difference is nowhere near enough to accord Alliance High Elves a superior claim to the legacy of Quel'thalas.

"Basicly, blood elves kind of are high elves. [they have] different eye color, different backstory, [in terms of] you know, their different relationship to magic, but that's it"
There you have it, Ion saying high elves have a different culture. Ion's entire comparison between blood elves and high elves is about appearance. "If you want to be fair skinned, tall, majestice elf". If that's the problem, transform them, damn it! But retain what makes them different, which is the backstory that he himself acknowledges.

Instead, Blizzard transformed blood elves into void elves. But we didn't ask for blood elves, we asked for high elves. And void elves fundamentaly contradict that very same "different backstory" and "relationship to magic" that makes high elves unique.

Different eye colour is obvious, most Alliance High Elves have blue eyes and most Blood Elves have green eyes. Golden eyes prove eye colour is mutable though, which is why some of us hope to see a blue eyed option available on Blood Elves, which Ion may have hinted at with his 'contact lenses' promise.

Their different relationship to magic? Hard to know what that means, both groups are addicted to magic and both sate it via the Sunwell and both still exalt the Sunwell given the pilgrimages. It is the fundamental, and I would say defining, characteristic of the entire high elf race. Given we cannot ask him to clarify it, we can only extrapolate based on our knowledge. Frankly, the majority of the Alliance High Elves are likely former Farstriders. Either part of the small group that defied Anasterian to follow Alleria through the Dark Portal (who likely returned to Azeroth once the Outland campaign is done), or those in the wildnerness who refused Illidan's teachings and founded the lodges, and who then later congregated in Dalaran under Veressa. An addiction to magic does not immediately equate to a magic user after all, so I would put forward the theory that what Ion meant was that the Alliance High Elves, as primarily Hunters, don't venerate magic as much and may regard the addiction as a burden. The Silver Covenant after all joined the Hunter class hall in Legion. Blood Elven society on the other hand, and likely the entire Kingdom prior to the fall, venerates and exalts magic. They glory in it, they have always gloried in it and they will continue to glory in it.

Perhaps it is not the Blood Elves' culture who has changed? Maybe it is the Alliance High Elves who are rejecting the magic that has always formed the core of their people's society even as they are assimilated into human society. Which of course, emphasises yet again how the Blood Elves are the true High Elves of the Warcraft universe.

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There's no shortage of ways. My favorite is to continue the Isle of Thunder story, with the Storm-stave of Antonidas being used to transform them into "storm elves". But you could even go into a simpler story by having them find a way to sever their connection with the Sunwell, which causes some physical backlash, and they cover themselves in runes to feed their addiction: runic elves.

Then they wouldn't be High Elves. As long as there is a physical change to accompany this, it would not infringe on the thematic or aesthetic integrity of the Horde or the Blood Elves. This is actually a good idea with one drawback.

This is exactly what they did with Void Elves. Find an external energy source, apply it to a group of elves to provoke a physical and thematic differentiation from the Blood Elves, and add it to the Alliance.

In other words, what you are suggesting is exactly what they have already done and for a small, vocal group of players it wasn't enough. Why would this suggestion work?
More to the point, whilst Blizzard's writing isn't exactly stellar, I think even they would baulk at the idea of another random group of Elves encountering yet another magical artifact and undergoing yet another unique transformation.

[Varx]

Cat videos, the answer is always cat videos.

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If at this point you didn't already got it is entirely only your problem.

Crystal clear: Alliance High elves, those that were there since the start.

Seriously... Bollocks...

I know the elves you're talking about i get it. I just want to understand wtf is the big deal about playing an elf who lore wise has been alliance since warcraft 2.

The passion behind that want has not really been explained in this thread I don't think.

Like i said how absurd would it be if a group began demanding normal gilneans or normal kul tirans when they could simply play a sw human.

[Aldo Hawk]

you mean try to accept the bullshit you talk? no talk

No, u. x1.000.000

i mean you already refuse to acknowledge basic biology things and be educated when you are wrong about then, yes its rly not worth discussing with you.

You clearly don't understand -basic- biology if you call another group of people with different skin color a literal different species. You don't even take -basic- biology seriousness when trying to justify fantasy races without basic biology things as empirical evidence of the living being you are referring to, such as biologic samples, anatomical structure, cycle of life, habitat, etc...

You are behaving as someone who in Spain is called a 'cuñado'. Someone who just talks and talks as if he knew about everything but cannot go deeper into that because his vision is short as his desire to be truly wise.

you are just the one using fallacies like false equivalence pal

Demonstrate it, if you are so certain just demonstrate it. Link the definition of the false equivalence fallacy by yourself if you got the guts and also the parts (within the context, you like to cut context out of things) where you think i'm plainly faulting to logic.

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I know the elves you're talking about i get it. I just want to understand wtf is the big deal about playing an elf who lore wise has been alliance since warcraft 2.

The passion behind that want has not really been explained in this thread I don't think.

Like i said how absurd would it be if a group began demanding normal gilneans or normal kul tirans when they could simply play a sw human.

@Syegfryed The bolded part is an example of false equivalence, just so you know.

We can play a Mag'har orc, who by gameplay is stated to be from Draenor, but you can easily roleplay it as a Mag'har from Outland.

The big difference is that you -cannot- do that with High elves. You have Horde Blood elves and Alliance Void elves, both of which do not fulfill the fantasy of playing as one of those Thalassians that stood with the Alliance all along.

Your personal liking on the matter cannot be taken as a factual point of legitimacy. At the end, it is only your personal view on the matter, nothing else.

[Varx]

No, u. x1.000.000

You clearly don't understand -basic- biology if you call another group of people with different skin color a literal different species. You don't even take -basic- biology seriousness when trying to justify fantasy races without basic biology things as empirical evidence of the living being you are referring to, such as biologic samples, anatomical structure, cycle of life, habitat, etc...

You are behaving as someone who in Spain is called a 'cuñado'. Someone who just talks and talks as if he knew about everything but cannot go deeper into that because his vision is short as his desire to be truly wise.

Demonstrate it, if you are so certain just demonstrate it. Link the definition of the false equivalence fallacy by yourself if you got the guts and also the parts (within the context, you like to cut context out of things) where you think i'm plainly faulting to logic.

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@Syegfryed The bolded part is an example of false equivalence, just so you know.

We can play a Mag'har orc, who by gameplay is stated to be from Draenor, but you can easily roleplay it as a Mag'har from Outland.

The big difference is that you -cannot- do that with High elves. You have Horde Blood elves and Alliance Void elves, both of which do not fulfill the fantasy of playing as one of those Thalassians that stood with the Alliance all along.

Your personal liking on the matter cannot be taken as a factual point of legitimacy. At the end, it is only your personal view on the matter, nothing else.

Ok so you could roleplay that a mag'har is from the MU time line but you cant role play that a void elf is a silver covenant helf that decided to embrace the void like alleria?

And it is not a false equivalence. They all would share the same model but are from a different faction and culture which is exactly the same as what you guys are asking.

[Ielenia]

Then what are we arguing over on this particular back and forth? Could it happen? Yes, but we have no evidence it ever has.

You already answered your own question: it could happen. The fact it hasn't, yet, is irrelevant. The point is that it could.

Well, yes, THEY CAN. I said 'WE CANNOT', which is what you originally stated.

Objectively false:

So we can with high elves. Blizzard could "handwave" another group into existence, or "handwave" their numbers. It wouldn't be their first time either. "Handwave". It's basically the more polite version of "asspull".

No, they cannot. They reason they can handwave Void Elves is that all you need to make a Void Elf is a willing Blood Elf or Alliance High Elf and dose of magical energy. This has been confirmed by the polygon interview and the ordinary thalassian elves within telogrus, so we know this happens.

You said "they cannot".

Yes, it is irrelevant. As a Blood Elf IS a High Elf and confirmed by multiple sources to be so then what the High Elf community is asking for is a duplicate of an existing Horde race. The option to play a High Elf is therefore available for anyone who wishes to play one and the choice not to play a Blood Elf is also a choice not to play a High Elf.

It is irrelevant. And the 'blood elf' experience is not the high elf experience, only the closest you can get with what you have access to, in-game. But those experiences are not one and the same. There are political and cultural differences between the two, as well as physical differences.

Yes and the fact you cannot play a Dragonmaw Orc doesn't mean you cannot be an Orc. That is why this is irrelevant.

You just explained why it's irrelevant. Those who want to be a Dragonmaw orc don't want to be 'any' orc. There are reasons for that. It's not hard to surmise what said reasons may be.

Why is their membership of the Alliance such an intrinsic part of the fantasy? I take severe issue with that assertion. They left the Alliance.

Not all of them did. A decent chunk did not. It's those loyal high elves people are asking for.

There is entire third of the Frozen Throne campaign dedicated to how the Alliance betrayed them and they left as a result.

You're lumping the entire Alliance to the actions of one acting commander that had no communication whatsoever with the rest of the human alliance at the time, meaning he did his own bidding without the approval from the rest of the Alliance? Ok. Shows your honesty. (or lack thereof)

We do not know that due to the existence of Alleria. Alleria is a Void Elf who came by her powers a completely different way that involved eating a fallen Naaru.

You say we don't... then you explain how we do. Fascinating. Also, Alleria did not defeat and consume a 'fallen Naaru', but a Void Revenant. Other than that, it's not that to hypothesize that killing (or using) other void creatures (likely less powerful but still strong) could be used to "create" new void elves.

It is irrelevant because the only points of differentiation I see cited are a.) their eye colour, which could be a Blood Elf option once eye colour customization is extended and is an incredibly small detail to be fixated on

Brown skin color could've easily been added to the orcs. Moose antlers could've easily been added to the tauren. Golden 'tats' could've easily been added to the draenei, etc, etc. And again, if the high elves were to get the 'Allied Race' treatment, they'd get other things to differentiate themselves from their blood elf kin.

c.) Their political allegiance to the Alliance, which is irrelevant given that the vast majority of the race they are a part of is loyal to the Horde.

It's not irrelevant. Because the high elves are not loyal to the Horde. They're loyal to the Alliance. The fact the majority of their kin is allied to the opposite faction is meaningless. Because they are not.

[Aldo Hawk]

Ok so you could roleplay that a mag'har is from the MU time line but you cant role play that a void elf is a silver covenant helf that decided to embrace the void like alleria?

And it is not a false equivalence. They all would share the same model but are from a different faction and culture which is exactly the same as what you guys are asking.

Void elves are presented as former Blood elves that got exiled from Silvermoon, got changed by a nether prince void trap and rescued just in time by Alleria Windrunner. The only thing that could make a Void elf a former High elf is if the Moorgard interview ends up materializing into actual Void elf development.

While we could end up with Void elves that are former High elves from the Alliance, there is still the part where they still aren't the High elves of the Alliance that would still exist within it, while also lacking their own Hub, voicelines, mount, heritage armor, classes that Void elves can and cannot be, racials, and character customization.

The only way for Void elves to be not just an actual compromise but the true Alliance High elf option would be for the HE to turn into Void elves as a whole. If that happens that would be fine by my standards, but until then let's still advocate for the initial desire.

Also, it -is- a false equivalence. Adding Void elves in the response modifies the initial meaning of what you clearly tried to imply, it's disrespectful to dismiss an answer changing the meaning of what has been said to fit with the response you got. Remember: 'Would be absurd to demand normal Kul'tirans or normal Gilneans, just play a plain Stormwindian'.

[Varx]

Void elves are presented as former Blood elves that got exiled from Silvermoon, got changed by a nether prince void trap and rescued just in time by Alleria Windrunner. The only thing that could make a Void elf a former High elf is if the Moorgard interview ends up materializing into actual Void elf development.

While we could end up with Void elves that are former High elves from the Alliance, there is still the part where they still aren't the High elves of the Alliance that would still exist within it, while also lacking their own Hub, voicelines, mount, heritage armor, classes that Void elves can and cannot be, racials, and character customization.

The only way for Void elves to be not just an actual compromise but the true Alliance High elf option would be for the HE to turn into Void elves as a whole. If that happens that would be fine by my standards, but until then let's still advocate for the initial desire.

Also, it -is- a false equivalence. Adding Void elves in the response modifies the initial meaning of what you clearly tried to imply, it's disrespectful to dismiss an answer changing the meaning of what has been said to fit with the response you got. Remember: 'Would be absurd to demand normal Kul'tirans or normal Gilneans, just play a plain Stormwindian'.

Ok fair enough, as long normal helves exist that wont work. Makes sense.

Still dont see how thats a false equivalence.

Blood elf = human

=

High elf = normal gilnean/kul tiran

The only difference is the faction barrier but unfortunately you can't always have your cake and eat it too.

The PLAYABLE pure model was meant to be horde. Otherwise alliance would have gotten something similar to the OP and not void elves. Anything more and then you open up the flood gates with people asking for redundant shit like regular kul tirans because "my immersion".

"Hey guyz lets pull a race out of our ass, waste resource on designing a culture and lore around them. However, lets still give them high elves too."

I don't think so.

Nothing but logic here folks. No bad intentions, disrespect, or malice. Just logic.

[Uthan]

Then they wouldn't be High Elves. As long as there is a physical change to accompany this, it would not infringe on the thematic or aesthetic integrity of the Horde or the Blood Elves. This is actually a good idea with one drawback.

This is exactly what they did with Void Elves. Find an external energy source, apply it to a group of elves to provoke a physical and thematic differentiation from the Blood Elves, and add it to the Alliance.

In other words, what you are suggesting is exactly what they have already done and for a small, vocal group of players it wasn't enough. Why would this suggestion work?
More to the point, whilst Blizzard's writing isn't exactly stellar, I think even they would baulk at the idea of another random group of Elves encountering yet another magical artifact and undergoing yet another unique transformation.

This is exactly the point many have been making for the past 500 pages. The fact blizzard used blood elves when making void elves is what makes the whole thing so frustrating. They had the perfect chance to finally give us a playable version of the group many people have wanted playable since forever, and instead opted to use the opposite group that was already playable, basically giving blood elves to the alliance with a new paint job (and in a way doing more harm to the faction divide than the always alliance aligned ones would have). Yes yes blood elves are high elves, but it's not the name that's important, it's the story behind it all, the names are simply used as a means to try and convey the backstory that's attached to it, which seemingly isn't getting across.

Sure to some it's all about the aesthetic and those people are either happy with void elves as is or would settle for some more skin options, but a lot of us mainly care about getting to play the group/faction that we've seen and played with since WC2, that has always stuck to and helped the Alliance despite the majority of its people and rulers trying to distance themself and later breaking with the Alliance completely. The group that broke ties with their own kin for what they believed were right (whether misguided or not) and have continually kept showing up throughout wow's history. That's the only race I've ever wanted and the only one I could see myself race changing my main to (which I would in a heartbeat), whereas void elf is pretty much the furthest thing from what I want, if that's the fantasy I wanted I'd just have gone horde and played a blood elf already.

Warcraft 2 was one of the first computer games I played at the age of 7, it was also as far as I can remember my first encounter with this fairly classical type of fantasy, and the elves was straight away my favorite. And they've stayed that way all the way up to current day wow. Sure, the blood elves came into existance with WC3 and are what replaced them in many ways, and yet blizzard have continually kept showing us that those original elves including Alleria that even in WC2 and WC3 were supposedly renegades putting the Alliance above the wishes of their leaders and people are still here. Yes, lorewise I'm sure some of those original WC2/WC3 elves are now blood elves, and yet blizzard keeps showing off the remaining high elves as the true legacy of that alliance (be it literally with the allerian stronghold or simply implied with most of them being rangers like the original WC2 units, etc). I don't care if they have to change their name or their appearance or whatever (just not butcher the lore they've built for them since then either), as long as it's that group of elves that's always been my favorite that I get to play.

[Aldo Hawk]

Still dont see how thats a false equivalence.

Because you can effectively roleplay as a normal sized Kul'tiran or a main universe Mah'gar that doesn't mean you can play a classic High elf just because another kind of Thalassian exist. (well tho stormwindians can't be druids, but it's one detail let's not get that picky shall we? ). Those examples only share one common point, being similar playable choices. While ignoring everything else.

The only difference is the faction barrier but unfortunately you can't always have your cake and eat it too.

Yeah, that's the thing that worries most people, but i hope we could get more open minded and accept that factions are what it's members makes of them and not the other way around.

The PLAYABLE pure model was meant to be horde. Otherwise alliance would have gotten something similar to the OP and not void elves. Anything more and then you open up the flood gates with people asking for redundant shit like regular kul tirans because "my immersion".

"Hey guyz lets pull a race out of our ass, waste resource on designing a culture and lore around them. However, lets still give them high elves too."

I don't think so.

Nothing but logic here folks. No bad intentions, disrespect, or malice. Just logic.

Bolded: The underlined comes out as anything but what you said. Not good intentions, disrespectful, malicious. And everything but logical.

Logic, remember?

[DeicideUH]

That's not exactly true though, for Void Elves to surpass HE's you'd need enough HE's to simply convert into VE's. Whether that be from personal choice or villainous action tbd by story.

An unwilling transformation is the only way I can see it being done. High elves chose integrity over their well-being, they wouldn't suddenly choose to turn into void elves in mass without betraying the very reason they split from blood elves in the first place.

But such mass transformation hasn't happened yet, so it's still speculation.

And people need to understand that if high elves are turned into void elves, the void elves themselves will lose their identity. You will suddenly have tragic void elves seeking a cure or unwilling to use the void as the majority of the race.

[Aldo Hawk]

An unwilling transformation is the only way I could see it being done. High elves chose integrity over their well-being, they wouldn't suddenly choose to turn into void elves in mass without betraying the very reason they split from blood elves in the first place.

But such mass transformation hasn't happened yet, so it's still speculation.

And people need to understand that if high elves are suddenly turned into void elves, the void elves themselves will lose their identity. You will suddenly have tragic void elves seeking a cure or unwilling to use the void as the majority.

Let's not forget the fact High elves has enough population to have soldiers, civilians and different groups within themselves.

That's more or the same than certain playable options.

Edit: Hell, there are even Moonfaire workers and High elves with all kinds of professions out there.

[FlubberPuddy]

The PLAYABLE pure model was meant to be horde. Otherwise alliance would have gotten something similar to the OP and not void elves. Anything more and then you open up the flood gates with people asking for redundant shit like regular kul tirans because "my immersion".

"Hey guyz lets pull a race out of our ass, waste resource on designing a culture and lore around them. However, lets still give them high elves too."

I don't think so.

Nothing but logic here folks. No bad intentions, disrespect, or malice. Just logic.

People already have been asking for "redundant shit" like regular Kul'Tirans though.

https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wo...ody-type/70089

https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wo...-in-lore/85629

https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/20764166318

There's lots more threads that pop up just from googling, "kul tirans should have regular body options". Heck there's even threads about being able to play "normal gilneans".

https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/...9497691?page=1

https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/7979989393

https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/20748476563

https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/...2167753?page=1


As you can see, people have already been asking for these types of things for a long time. It's just never been as popular as requesting High Elves has been which is why there's been little support/or it's not known as much about.

I mean look at that, you didn't think people were already asking for these sorts of things and thought High Elves would be the cause of opening up that can of worms.

But clearly that's happening already, it just goes to show the popularity of the High Elf request and the amount of support it has compared to other similar requests for the other races.

There's people who strictly play Horde, strictly play Blood Elves that have supported the High Elves becoming playable. That speaks volumes from the community side of the request.

Ball is truly in Blizzard's court as I said. We just have to wait and see how they decide to go about it once the current AR in BFA finish up.

I mean I was thinking about it some, and can you honestly tell me once BFA is over, and we all Mechagnomes and whatever else is the final Alliance race coming -

What sorts of Allied Races for the future do you see Alliance getting excited about???

These asks for "Forest Trolls, Ogres, Vulpera, San'layn, Tuskarr" are either mostly Horde based races or neutral (Tuskarr).

There's not a whole lot of options that people are gathering around and supporting in big numbers for Alliance other than High Elves or Wildhammer Dwarves from what I've seen.

You could say "Jinyu/Ankoan" but that could be the last race coming in BFA. "Night Elf Worgen" I barely see much support for that, both in-game and from players.

What could Alliance possibly get? Just continue to get a bunch of new races that no one desires? That'd be silly as fuck if compared to Horde getting long-time requests in the future.

Especially now that Blizzard has said they're now at a point where they're able to look into the feedback they've been getting "and its interesting". They're going to get shit on if Alliance continues to start getting absolutely new races out of nowhere there hasn't been any threads/feedback about.

I just cannot see a feasible way for Alliance players to get excited for incoming ARs past the Mechagnomes, and even those are pretty tepid overall - most people just accept it because they already knew they were coming at some point.

[Varx]

Because you can effectively roleplay as a normal sized Kul'tiran or a main universe Mah'gar that doesn't mean you can play a classic High elf just because another kind of Thalassian exist. (well tho stormwindians can't be druids, but it's one detail let's not get that picky shall we? ). Those examples only share one common point, being similar playable choices. While ignoring everything else.

Yeah, that's the thing that worries most people, but i hope we could get more open minded and accept that factions are what it's members makes of them and not the other way around.



Bolded: The underlined comes out as anything but what you said. Not good intentions, disrespectful, malicious. And everything but logical.

Logic, remember?

Just because i threw in a few swears doesn't mean im being disrepectful unless who ever reads it as skin as thick as wet toilet paper.


It is pure logic. Asking for exactly duplicate races but from a different faction is redundant model wise, and models are the meat of a playable character, not the lore or the player's nostolgia fueled immersion.

Seriously, why would blizzard waste time and money on an ass pull like velves when they could have just given alliance helves to begin with. Once again just using unbiased logic.

[FlubberPuddy]

Seriously, why would blizzard waste time and money on an ass pull like velves when they could have just given alliance helves to begin with. Once again just using unbiased logic.

They made lots of money off of Void Elves. Imagine later on they release actual High Elves, that's double dipping extra money they've just made. Whereas if they'd made High Elves first do you honestly believe more people would have

Switched from High Elf -> Void Elf

or switched from Void Elf -> High Elf

?

That'll answer the question of why they "ass pulled velves"

[DeicideUH]

On the "high elves will turn into void elves" possibility, like I said above, I can only see it happening if it's an unwilling transformation. There's no way the high elves will betray the very reason they split from blood elves. Sure, there's always the odd scholar or crazy extremist that may be willing to do so, but the entire race? Even its civilians and non-magic users?

I can see two ways of it happening, thought. And both require a story where we go back to Quel'thalas as the end of BfA, which then means you get most high elves working with the few void elves.

The first is that the Sunwell will be corrupted, and that corruption will spread like a disease. Maybe Rommath has prepared for such an event and found a way to ward most of the blood elves, but then the high elves everywhere and some blood elves are caught in the effect and transformed.

The other is that maybe Umbric is lying, his calm and rational behavior is a sham. Maybe the REAL void elves are the crazy ones in Island Expeditions or those summoning dangerous elite mobs in Faction invasions. Which only the Horde sees, BTW.

In that case, when their real face is finally shown, they’ll lay a trap for the Alliance. They’ve been serving the Void all along. Maybe they’ll join the high elf army in the Quel’thalas effort, only to reveal they still have the Cube and transform everyone into void elves. Suddenly, the void elves we knew were villains all along, and the new ones introduced, now as a proper numerous race, are cursed victims that never wanted anything to do with the Void. High elves became void elves, end of the discussion.

But, again, that means the end of the void elves as their own race. They've been overtaken by tragic elves that never wanted to dabble with the void but now must learn to control it, while seeking a way for a cure.

Would I be fine with such stories? Only if they are told very well, with the proper respect for the high elf identity. But these ideas are not very popular among high elf fans.

[FlubberPuddy]

On the "high elves will turn into void elves" possibility, like I said above, I can only see it happening if it's an unwilling transformation. There's no way the high elves will betray the very reason they split from blood elves. Sure, there's always the odd scholar or crazy extremist that may be willing to do so, but the entire race? Even its civilians and non-magic users?

This is something I never see brought up by the anti-side. The whole reason a High Elf / Blood Elf split occurred is because Blood Elves leaned to utilizing dangerous magic and siphoning from creatures.

Why the hell would High Elves suddenly turn around and accept to utilize dangerous magic just because it's "purple" instead of "green"?

This is part of what makes a High Elf a High Elf, supported by those quotes you shared, they "upheld their ideals over their well-being".

Neither Blood Elves, nor Void Elves, offer that. It would be like telling someone they can "RP" their Nightborne on Alliance by just playing a Night Elf mage, when the entire backstory and theme of Night Elves is that they forsake using Arcane and delved into the more natural/spiritual magics.

Can someone honestly say with a straight face/no sarcasm that playing a Night Elf mage is equivalent to playing a Nightborne on Horde side?

[Aldo Hawk]

On the "high elves will turn into void elves" possibility, like I said above, I can only see it happening if it's an unwilling transformation. There's no way the high elves will betray the very reason they split from blood elves. Sure, there's always the odd scholar or crazy extremist that may be willing to do so, but the entire race? Even its civilians and non-magic users?

I can see two ways of it happening, thought. And both require a story where we go back to Quel'thalas as the end of BfA, which then means you get most high elves working with the few void elves.

The first is that the Sunwell will be corrupted, and that corruption will spread like a disease. Maybe Rommath has prepared for such an event and found a way to ward most of the blood elves, but then the high elves everywhere and some blood elves are caught in the effect and transformed.

The other is that maybe Umbric is lying, his calm and rational behavior is a sham. Maybe the REAL void elves are the crazy ones in Island Expeditions or those summoning dangerous elite mobs in Faction invasions. Which only the Horde sees, BTW.

In that case, when their real face is finally shown, they’ll lay a trap for the Alliance. They’ve been serving the Void all along. Maybe they’ll join the high elf army in the Quel’thalas effort, only to reveal they still have the Cube and transform everyone into void elves. Suddenly, the void elves we knew were villains all along, and the new ones introduced, now as a proper numerous race, are cursed victims that never wanted anything to do with the Void. High elves became void elves, end of the discussion.

But, again, that means the end of the void elves as their own race. They've been overtaken by tragic elves that never wanted to dabble with the void but now must learn to control it, while seeking a way for a cure.

Would I be fine with such stories? Only if they are told very well, with the proper respect for the high elf identity. But these ideas are not very popular among high elf fans.

There is another problem to this.

And is a storyline one.

When you create a Void elf, the initial scenario is what it is, they would have to modify it in order to fit the narrative that they are not only Blood elf infused with void by force, if not a new set of Thalassians that joined them one way or another.

I see it as very early to do so and taking it too far would make it wacky, if it does happen if would be more of a last, flavor line of writing adding a bit to them. It's a similar situation as Death Knights.

[Varx]

They made lots of money off of Void Elves. Imagine later on they release actual High Elves, that's double dipping extra money they've just made. Whereas if they'd made High Elves first do you honestly believe more people would have

Switched from High Elf -> Void Elf

or switched from Void Elf -> High Elf

?

That'll answer the question of why they "ass pulled velves"

Ok so then it'll all be a matter of if Blizzard will become harder sell outs than they already are and add high elves for the sake of generating extra stripper money for their weekends.

Nice way of introducing an uneeded playable race instead of sticking to their guns and adding more to velf/belf lore and eventually making the helves a distant memory.

If that's not the case then void elves absolutely killed any chance of playable helves when blizz decided on making them the official belf AR and not the high elves.

[Aldo Hawk]

This is something I never see brought up by the anti-side. The whole reason a High Elf / Blood Elf split occurred is because Blood Elves leaned to utilizing dangerous magic and siphoning from creatures.

Why the hell would High Elves suddenly turn around and accept to utilize dangerous magic just because it's "purple" instead of "green"?

Not only that. The very inception of Void elves took characterization from Blood elves by simply getting exiled for deeply studying void.

Blood elves were advantageous, rational and highly measured. Why this now? Ugh...