Official High Elf Discussion Megathread

[Varx]

The bare minimum effort to fix Void Elves and get me to shut up would be:

- Give them the hairstyles and colours from Blood Elves, or at lest the colours along with some unique new hair styles that look more normal.

What would make me really excited to play them:

- Short ears carried over from Blood Elves.
- War paints or tattoos.

God tier changes:

- Tweak their racials so they're less caster-focused.
- Make them more "Cyberpunk" with shaved sides and stuff.

The only new options for velves should be more voidy options to emphasize that they're VOID elves and I guess Alleria like Tattoos. Stop asking for belf options, belves are belves velves are velves, stop bluring the lines more, they're not Pandarens.



For example...

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

I get it your stance. I'm just saying it's unrealistic in practice. If it wasn't we'd have many more playable options as players and void elves never would have existed. Clearly blizzard agrees.

Unrealistic? Hardly when we are like a hair color away from a suitable playable High Elf fantasy. The limits of the game are always evolving, I would not really call the possibility of a more comprehensive HE fantasy through VE "unrealistic."

High Elves as their own Allied Race, Silvermoon returning to the Alliance, Void Elf Paladins; those feel more unrealistic than more natural colors on VEs.

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Just because this thread exists I think Blizzard should go out of their way not to make any more changes to the Void Elves or Blood Elves. It sets a horrible precedent that whinging for years on a fan forum can somehow influence game decision outcomes. If we empower players in this way then its GG no RE, they will not be able to repack the pandoras box of shit they will have unleashed.

It's stunning how you can both be so dismissive of player feedback at the same time you do some pearl chuckling.

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That's subjective... and rather insulting considering the breadth of skin tones made available, and the fact that those asking for alliance high eves were asking for a large range of skin tones, including darker ones, not just "white".

My own Warlock took advantage of that and she looks absolutely stunning IMO.



But basically you've just said "Blizzard should never make changes based on customer feedback if I don't like those changes". You may not think that's what you said, but it is.

The whole logical loop these people good into "customer feedback is actually bad and should not be heard" is actually hilarious.

Also the "wah, you just want High Elves to be white" is just so inaccurate -funny mayhaps if it wasn't rooted in racism- when many of us that have been vocal about HE's have also been vocal about dark skinned elves since waaaay before they were a customization option.

But that would go against the narrative that High Elf Fans are just racist whiners that want blonde elves

[Varx]

Unrealistic? Hardly when we are like a hair color away from a suitable playable High Elf fantasy. The limits of the game are always evolving, I would not really call the possibility of a more comprehensive HE fantasy through VE "unrealistic."

I'm not just talking about belf options for velves. I'm talking about what you essentially said that if it exists in a substantial manner in the lore then it should be made available to players. You even agreed that if KT pirates got a bigger role then they should be made available to horde players.

Using that logic, there are MANY things in the lore that would suddenly be made possible to players. Alliance goblins, alliance tauren, Horde KT, actual silver covenant elves, big buff trolls, skinny kt humans, normal kt humans, normal gilneans, etc, etc. Which again is unrealistic, and dilutes faction identity for players, crossing races not over the top customization options.

As for velves, they don't need more belf options, they got enough with skin tones. What they need is more voidy options like what I just posted a few posts back, not be turned into the elf version of pandarens.

The fact that velves even exist to begin with instead of a silver covenant AR, when it was nice and ready and established, only proves my point.

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

I'm not just talking about belf options for velves. I'm talking about what you essentially said that if it exists in a substantial manner in the lore then it should be made available to players. You even agreed that if KT pirates got a bigger role then they should be made available to horde players.

Something that needs to be cleared out first; none of these things "should" be. The point is that I believe it would be better, but are not essential; the game is not "literally unplayable", it just would be better. Better in terms of reflecting the richness of the world, better in terms of giving players more choice.

Using that logic, there are MANY things in the lore that would suddenly be made possible to players. Alliance goblins, alliance tauren, Horde KT, actual silver covenant elves, big buff trolls, skinny kt humans, normal kt humans, normal gilneans, etc, etc. Which again is unrealistic, and dilutes faction identity for players, crossing races not over the top customization options.

See? You immediately take things to the extreme, the "sky it's falling attitude" as if everything is just a slippery slope that leads to the worst case scenario- "Oh we can't have these few things that make sense because then we should do EVERYTHING" like, stop. That's not how any of this works.

Then you circle back again with the "faction identity is gonna be dilluted", and yet again I contest the idea that faction identity should be idealized and defined by aesthetics instead of something actually deeper. Like ideology.

As for velves, they don't need more belf options, they got enough with skin tones. What they need is more voidy options like what I just posted a few posts back, not be turned into the elf version of pandarens.

The fact that velves even exist to begin with instead of a silver covenant AR, when it was nice and ready and established, only proves my point.

I think "supports my argument" is what you mean. You can't prove an opinion on aesthetic choice, even one that's ostensibly the same than the developers hold for now. The whole *point* of the issue is that most Pro HE people disagree with the notion that there should be an strict faction aesthetic dichotomy, that decision like crating the VE's as a blatant form of enforced differentiation ended up damaging the lore, in an attempt to maintain that strict aesthetic segregation.

I contest the whole idea that aesthetic dichotomy is desired or needed, and that is my opinion, because it's literally just an arbitrary choice either way. Aesthetic segregation is easier, I think everyone gets that; my issue will always be that its reductive nature disallows a more complex understanding of what faction identity could be. It's simplistic, and I really think the game has evolved beyond the need -and it's actually hindered- buy such constraints.

I disagree aesthetic dichotomy is good for the game, that doesn't mean I think the game doesn't work if it keeps doing it. But I do think it's an hollistic hindrance to the setting as a whole.

[FlubberPuddy]

I'm not just talking about belf options for velves. I'm talking about what you essentially said that if it exists in a substantial manner in the lore then it should be made available to players. You even agreed that if KT pirates got a bigger role then they should be made available to horde players.

Using that logic, there are MANY things in the lore that would suddenly be made possible to players. Alliance goblins, alliance tauren, Horde KT, actual silver covenant elves, big buff trolls, skinny kt humans, normal kt humans, normal gilneans, etc, etc. Which again is unrealistic, and dilutes faction identity for players, crossing races not over the top customization options.

You're using old logic now (it's old because High Elf aesthetic is now playable on Alliance per the Blizzard post, and in-game customizations available now), but let's entertain it still for a moment.

Your 'logic' isn't actually logical because no NPC group like Alliance High Elves have had the same level of involvement in the greater factions' (Alliance/Horde) stories like AHE did. It wasn't simply one-off localized quests, or a rare one off NPC of opposite faction race (your SI goblin example you keep using which is terrible).

No NPC group on Horde are the equivalent of what Alliance had with their High Elves. Full stop.

And to end this point, it's moot now anyway due to the customizations in-game now.

As for velves, they don't need more belf options, they got enough with skin tones. What they need is more voidy options like what I just posted a few posts back, not be turned into the elf version of pandarens.

They will more than likely get more of both, seeing as player customizations are always going to be a thing and clearly as we've been seeing they consider it worthy enough to be expansion level additions. So, give enough expansions and Void Elves will 99% get more Void and High Elven aesthetics.

You make it sound like the next round of customization is the last one, which it won't be at all. I also haven't been seeing you say Blood Elves don't need anymore customization options considering they continue to have the most customization options up there with Humans.[/QUOTE]

The fact that velves even exist to begin with instead of a silver covenant AR, when it was nice and ready and established, only proves my point.

And as I said in my earlier point, the fact that Alliance did get High Elf aesthetics makes this a moot point.

Your 'arguments' are strange because it comes off as you not realizing that Alliance has High Elven aesthetics now and therefore it's valid to ask for more of them.

Just like any other fan player of any of their favorite races whether it be Horde or Alliance side asking for more customizations for their particular favorite race.

The blog post Blizzard put out a couple years ago now show they'd rather share customizations than keep them exclusive if there are players on both faction sides asking for it.

Hell, I haven't even been playing the game lately or keeping up that much with news and even I hear Blizzard is more open today about potential cross-faction gameplay happening in the future. Another thing that certain posters were so adamant would 'not even be considered'.

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I've never seen any pro HE people asking for "whiter elves." I have seen a lot of anti HE people begging for blue eyes (which they got) and complaining about BE getting dark skin tones though. While this very thread was the one asking for dark skin High Elves so they could RP the water tribe from Avatar.

Seems like a whole lot of projecting going on tbh.

Definitely a whole lot of projecting from choom. It's amazing how offended someone can be over others simply asking for things in a video game.

And yeah the people who got upset BE got dark skin tones was because it destroyed their argument of 'they're the fair skin elf race that's why Alliance got purple ones'.

[Mungho]

They will more than likely get more of both, seeing as player customizations are always going to be a thing and clearly as we've been seeing they consider it worthy enough to be expansion level additions. So, give enough expansions and Void Elves will 99% get more Void and High Elven aesthetics.

You make it sound like the next round of customization is the last one, which it won't be at all. I also haven't been seeing you say Blood Elves don't need anymore customization options considering they continue to have the most customization options up there with Humans.

Sadly, it seems this will be the last of more customizations, what with that Blizzard rep saying it was done for Shadowlands. When races like the Nightborne have barely any skins or hair compared to other races.

[Kyriani]

Sadly, it seems this will be the last of more customizations, what with that Blizzard rep saying it was done for Shadowlands. When races like the Nightborne have barely any skins or hair compared to other races.

That announcement really was a travesty. The Nightborne in particular are in such a terrible state and Shadowlands customization was the prime opportunity to fix their issues. The Lightforged and Highmountain could also use considerably more options.

It's a terrible pill to swallow that we'll have to wait till next expansion, at the earliest, to see more customization for any race.

[FlubberPuddy]

Sadly, it seems this will be the last of more customizations, what with that Blizzard rep saying it was done for Shadowlands. When races like the Nightborne have barely any skins or hair compared to other races.

It’s done for Shadowlands expansion, not the entire game’s life. They learned that race customizations are as highly valued as a new class/race (potentially more so) and thus are relegating them to expansion drops.

That’s why I said give it enough expansions and not patches.

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That announcement really was a travesty. The Nightborne in particular are in such a terrible state and Shadowlands customization was the prime opportunity to fix their issues. The Lightforged and Highmountain could also use considerably more options.

It's a terrible pill to swallow that we'll have to wait till next expansion, at the earliest, to see more customization for any race.

Yeah definitely, that was a letdown when I learned of it. I don’t believe customization updates should be expansion level features.

If anything, like with Heritage armor, it felt great looking forward to the next patches to see which races would get their armor. The same could’ve been done for race customization a la “it’s the Nightborne customization patch” alongside the usual dungeons/raids etc.

But I think I also read somewhere that half the playerbase unsubbed after the first shadowlands quarter. So blizzard probably prioritizes the content in patches for those playing them (playing the raids/dungeons) and the more wide-reaching content like character customization gets put in with expansions so it reaches the audience that plays for one quarter then drops the game till the next expansion.

Sad for us, but a business savvy move on Blizzard’s end.

[Eleann]

You saying you don't mind purple only velves if they were helves to begin with and not exiled belves?

It makes perfect sense that we want natural hair colors on Void elves. I am personally not a High elfer, but I simply find blue and purple way too limited and niche to serve the varied taste of human beings. We humans like variety. Allied Races have an equal and possibly even greater right than Core Races to equally varied and pretty customization and colors, due to the amount of work people put into unlocking them. Ofc that does not necessarily translate to looking exactly like Blood elves. Like others have suggested, hairstyles and colors from other races can be used.

I understand the argument that white is white and blonde is blonde and that they should not copy Blood elves, but please understand that this has already been implemented into the game by Blizzard via the models and the skins, and all we want is some light hair colors for the sole reason of variety and aesthetics. To keep things a little bit different between the two races and more unique I have suggested colors like a Void Blonde (dark blue voidy highlights across blonde hair) and an Astral white (purple and blue stars on white hair).

https://imgur.com/a/4BdHdHW This is the Voidy Blonde that Ramavatarama made for me which looks dreamy and still maintains a touch of voidy corruption to it which is exactly what a Void elf's about.

https://www.mobafire.com/images/cham...lux-cosmic.jpg And this is Astral Lux from League of Legends. A hair color like the one she has would also be equally dreamy and gives this otherwordly, voidy feel to it, giving Void elves their own unique reasons to be appealing.

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

I think my biggest want for VE is white hair -also black, but that feels actually likely- so I decided to play a bit and add the same correction layer to all the VE hair colors, and the results are very interesting. Makes me wish VE's were for a more pastel or even neon vibe. They are about endless possibility, it really just makes me think of all the potential they have.

[FlubberPuddy]

I think my biggest want for VE is white hair -also black, but that feels actually likely- so I decided to play a bit and add the same correction layer to all the VE hair colors, and the results are very interesting. Makes me wish VE's were for a more pastel or even neon vibe. They are about endless possibility, it really just makes me think of all the potential they have.

This is amazing, thank you for working on it!! This is definitely the direction they could go in towards adding more 'Void Elf' hair colors. But yes, I agree. I thought Void Elves would be more aesthetically leaning towards the 'Starcursed Voidstrider' vibe, being almost space/star elf vibes. Sadly not much movement since throwing a few tendrils and coloring em purple.

Thankful for the High Elf customizations, but just like fans of the other races are doing, I'd like to see Blizzard add more than what's currently on offer for Void Elves.

[Ardenaso]

happy 1.2k pages lol

here's a Vereesa Nobbel video

[arkanon]

happy 1.2k pages lol

here's a Vereesa Nobbel video

I would NEVER have picked this as the 1200 page thread, but there it is. Im always blown away at what topics take off, and what ones struggle.

[Ardenaso]

I would NEVER have picked this as the 1200 page thread, but there it is. Im always blown away at what topics take off, and what ones struggle.

the only arc I enjoyed was the part where we were arguing where should Dark Ranger/San'layn options go; I'm still voting for Forsaken

[Kyriani]

the only arc I enjoyed was the part where we were arguing where should Dark Ranger/San'layn options go; I'm still voting for Forsaken

I'm perfectly fine with them being added to Forsaken as long as the options get added, and the option to use the Thalassian model is a part of the package. I just don't want to see pointy ears slapped on to the Forsaken model and it being called done. They need to be able to look like the NPC's or it's all for naught (kind of like how playable Nightborne failed to live up to the hype).

[Vaedan]

It’s done for Shadowlands expansion, not the entire game’s life. They learned that race customizations are as highly valued as a new class/race (potentially more so) and thus are relegating them to expansion drops.

That’s why I said give it enough expansions and not patches.

It's most likely we won't see more character customizations in SL, but with Blizzard, everything can change. I can certainly imagine they can bring some more customization options later in the expansion if they will be in need of attracting new subs. With SL, it seems Blizz cares for feedback from the player community, and we made our stance clear on customizations. We want them and there is a lot of potential. They can easily add some customizations every patch and still have a lot of material to work with for another content. Just look on ideas and suggestions of various fans, some of them are really good and should be put in the game.

They obviously want to give us new in more patches to keep us interested in the game. Patch 9.1 is already full of big features - new raid, new zone, new mega-dungeon, honor talent revamp, flying, new covenant campaign and new covenant exclusive transmogs. I certainly can live without new customizations in 9.1, but I would welcome them in let's say 9.2. Waiting for 10.0. or prepatch is kind one of the worst options we have.

Yeah definitely, that was a letdown when I learned of it. I don’t believe customization updates should be expansion level features.

If anything, like with Heritage armor, it felt great looking forward to the next patches to see which races would get their armor. The same could’ve been done for race customization a la “it’s the Nightborne customization patch” alongside the usual dungeons/raids etc.

But I think I also read somewhere that half the playerbase unsubbed after the first shadowlands quarter. So blizzard probably prioritizes the content in patches for those playing them (playing the raids/dungeons) and the more wide-reaching content like character customization gets put in with expansions so it reaches the audience that plays for one quarter then drops the game till the next expansion.

Sad for us, but a business savvy move on Blizzard’s end.

It seems Blizz is giving us various features and observe how we like them. Just look at heritage armors, at first they were introduces for allied races only and since they become so well accepted, they got adopted for core races shortly after.

I agree they could easily dedicate each patch for a pair of A/H races to expend their customizations. With original launch, there were races who were really fortunate with their new options, but some got close to nothing.

Right now, we have few unfinished features going on. Heritages, customizations, allied races, updated racial mounts, new glyphs, class tier sets (which we are promised to see returned). There are also suggestions from the community which did not make it to the game yet, like class skins. If you think about it, Blizz have enough content for years if they distribute it cleverly... but on the other hand, players don't like to wait for long.

[Ardenaso]

check this out! https://www.hiveworkshop.com/threads...mounted.331711

[AthranThom]

Dont know if anyone else has posted this but:

[FlubberPuddy]

Dont know if anyone else has posted this but:

It's a very cool video and shows how much fan love there is for High Elves in WoW.

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

It's a very cool video and shows how much fan love there is for High Elves in WoW.

Oh wow this has evolved a lot. It has been fun seeing this project through the years, although I do wish they started using newer assets (like Legion/BfA assets)