Official High Elf Discussion Megathread

[Zorish]

But high elves weren't good. They hid behind their gates when orcs came and they hid again when the undead appeared. They never gave a shit about their allies, only once something bad happened to them they knew where to go.

do you think that's really what people care? half of the ideas in this thread were "asspull" for the sake of them being added. People just want be "good elves" on "good guys" side. IN GENERAL fantasy. They will just say "i opposed my king (prince) because it was right! i made RIGHT decision! i am good!"

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You already have that anyway, with or without the playable high elves. The humans from Stromgarde, the Wildhammer dwarves and the high elves in the Stromgarde warfront already get that Tolkien vibe flowing.

yes i know. So i don't want this being pushed on the rails further. i even look in amusement on people who say "Sylvanas" are garrosh 2.0, without whole lore. I love when devs going from the "white-black" to gray. Because it's more interesting! you will never know what happen next, instead knowing that "this guy will die, this will be hero, this one will be left in shades"
if ALiance want to be this "good guys"... well - good for them and manabomb in the rear.

[Deleted]

do you think that's really what people care? half of the ideas in this thread were "asspull" for the sake of them being added. People just want be "good elves" on "good guys" side. IN GENERAL fantasy. They will just say "i opposed my king (prince) because it was right! i made RIGHT decision! i am good!"

You know what, I think you are right. It's kinda similar to those edgy blood elf paladins stinking up the Horde, who always scream at orc/tauren players that they don't get what Horde is about.

[Teri]

I love when devs going from the "white-black" to gray. Because it's more interesting! you will never know what happen next, instead knowing that "this guy will die, this will be hero, this one will be left in shades"

I agree, now that the main story is pretty much tied up, there's still some open ends even in Legion, story isn't on autopilot mode yet which is good.

We know almost nothing of N'zoth or the Void either.

But hopefully they adress Odyn & Ebonhorn instead of pulling another "Neptulon" retcon.

[Sorrior]

It's pretty clear he didn't end it though, based on most of the reactions. You still have the same people posting the same arguments that his response didn't address. You aren't going to convince everyone, there will clearly be people who will never accept an answer if it's not the one they want, but you can address people's concerns with it and turn them down in a way that will get the huge amount of whining to stop. Like I said before though, it's a perfect answer for gloating and trolling.

As a HE supporter agreed

If he gave a GOOD reason or even went "Ok f it spoilers..he die or are trabsformed into void elves via a void bomb or old gods"

Basically saying they ARE gone(and make all current ones void bar old expansions) many coukd accept it instead he gave us a bs reason with bs logic

[Magnagarde]

yes i know. So i don't want this being pushed on the rails further. i even look in amusement on people who say "Sylvanas" are garrosh 2.0, without whole lore. I love when devs going from the "white-black" to gray. Because it's more interesting! you will never know what happen next, instead knowing that "this guy will die, this will be hero, this one will be left in shades"
if ALiance want to be this "good guys"... well - good for them and manabomb in the rear.

You're happy that they're not pushing it any further... but they're actually pushing it further because this Tolkien alliance of humans, dwarves and high elves will be a heavy theme in the Stromgarde warfront. You're happy about the thing that makes you unhappy then? Why are they even using high elves anymore is the bigger question.

In regards to the "grey area" thing you like and how it makes things "unpredictable"; it really doesn't make things unpredictable. It actually makes things a lot easier to predict. Nobody knew Garrosh will be taken down untill they started with the Sha and Heart of Y'shaarj story to justify his takedown. This was preceded with him destroying a major Alliance settlement. See the analogy?

Sylvanas can't be Garrosh 2.0 because Sylvanas' writing is consistent; she's been borderline villanous since her inception in the WoW universe. Garrosh on the other hand wasn't and was a scapegoat for their plot; an expendable orc character they added out of convenience back in Outland's Nagrand that they then used for three expansions worth of plots that were paradoxical in terms of his characterization.

[corebit]

I just woke up and I’m already loving the smell of high elf tears in the morning.

As a HE supporter agreed

If he gave a GOOD reason or even went "Ok f it spoilers..he die or are trabsformed into void elves via a void bomb or old gods"

Basically saying they ARE gone(and make all current ones void bar old expansions) many coukd accept it instead he gave us a bs reason with bs logic

Nope. let’s be completely honest here. No matter what Ion said, you would still be here continuing to demand, because like spoiled children you can't take NO for an answer.

[protip]

With the amount of representation the High Elves have in game, they are getting to the levels of "this should be playable because we are spending an awful amount of screen time looking at a non-playable race representing our faction across multiple expansions". And that is entirely Blizzard's fault for putting them in that position. They have made this mess and they keep it there for all to see, and than give a "oh given the Alliance that model would total ruin the faction wall" answer. And that is baseline bullshit right there. Especially if they keep using the High Elves to represent the Alliance in game. It makes the argument of a faction reasoning hold less water than a strainer.

I understand that that's upsetting to you, and I have no doubt that Blizzard would be interested in that feedback. Saying that running into High Elves who support the Alliance in the game is frustrating because it makes you feel like you should be able to play them is much more likely to be actionable feedback, because it gives them a choice in how they respond. They apparently have reasons for not making High Elves playable for the Alliance, and that kind of feedback gives them an opportunity to consider other solutions.

As a HE supporter agreed

If he gave a GOOD reason or even went "Ok f it spoilers..he die or are trabsformed into void elves via a void bomb or old gods"

Basically saying they ARE gone(and make all current ones void bar old expansions) many coukd accept it instead he gave us a bs reason with bs logic

He explained why they're not a good option from a development perspective. Since he was explaining a game design decision, there's really no better basis for the explanation.

[Zorish]

You're happy that they're not pushing it any further... but they're actually pushing it further because this Tolkien alliance of humans, dwarves and high elves will be a heavy theme in the Stromgarde warfront. You're happy about the thing that makes you unhappy then? Why are they even using high elves anymore is the bigger question.

theme? maybe - heavy? not even. What we see Horde vs Aliance battle. no Dark citadel there, no rings. Just representatives of one faction fighting to controll zone vs representatives of other faction. Yeah maybe they must changed "HE" mages to Void elf or maybe normal draenei. Sadly most "powerfull" spellcasters for the Aliance are remnants of "High elf". And while gameplaywise we see many on them - lorewise they are few. Sorry for aliance to have only normal races so blizz can't pick clear theme for any class in troops for Warfronts. but well - the price being normal is price being normal.

i am paying my price for playing "ugly" race by Aliance standarts. I enjoy it. I love horde history, even current one with Sylvanas as Warchief (only conserned about her raising undead, but will wait to whole picture, cause if there is something like "some of the horde solders agreed to being raised as undead (maybe mindless skeleton, not ghoul), or allowed to use their bodies for the sake of the horde if they die" (on some thread in this forum guy metion something like that, so i'll just wait for confirmation or denial on this topic, to make my opinion)

[FlubberPuddy]

Hey guys, Ion's comments on HE did feel pretty insulting, but I always felt they weren't going to come soon. He ends saying "Anything is possible in the future, but no plans 'near term' to add High Elves as an Allied Race". To me it just goes back to them not coming out so soon after Void Elves. I think High Elves will be something that would get added on much much much much later. Probably when the game isn't so concerned about "big differences" with regards to Races. Maybe even if they implement an actual "Sub Race" system. Regardless, pretty let down by the answer, focused too much on looks and reduced the factional divide and lore in an expansion focused on Faction v Faction warfare. I'll just continue to hope for High Elves on Alliance one day. Not really excited much about the AR system anymore though. Not sure there's ever been a race as hotly requested as High Elves and don't think there ever will be (unless it's Dragons or something extremely epic like Titans etc). Anyways it was a good run for this jaunt. Thankful for this community regardless of not getting High Elves this time 'round. Love to you HE supporters

[Sorrior]

I just woke up and I’m already loving the smell of high elf tears in the morning.



Nope. let’s be completely honest here. No matter what Ion said, you would still be here continuing to demand, because like spoiled children you can't take NO for an answer.

Not really no.

The guy gave bs reasons that conflict with both lore AND. what we see in game that is an issue

[Deleted]

Yeah his whole 'Faction Identity' thing was a bit...wait..what? Kind of deal.

The Horde have Nightborne..."You want to play Night Elves on Horde, well you can't but the Alliance is waiting there for you..." except you can...the whole Faction Identity thing is completely undone just by the Nightborne alone, you slap a Nightborne in full plate armour with an enclosed helm and with certain skin tones you literally could not tell the difference between them and Night Elves.

I honestly don't care about him saying No High Elves, as I've said, I'm a Sethrak Support myself (Allied or Horde, don't care, just give me an actually cool Allied race god damn it) but I am willing to call out bullshit excuses when I see them.

Along with him forgetting the example of the Silver Covenant and one of the remaining Windrunner sisters is still a pure High Elf. His excuses came across as just so poorly put forward that he has made the situation fucking WORSE by what he said. If he had just said, "There are no plans to make High Elves playable," and left it at that, fine. He just had to throw in the petty "The Horde is waiting for you," line after it though.

[Sorrior]

I understand that that's upsetting to you, and I have no doubt that Blizzard would be interested in that feedback. Saying that running into High Elves who support the Alliance in the game is frustrating because it makes you feel like you should be able to play them is much more likely to be actionable feedback, because it gives them a choice in how they respond. They apparently have reasons for not making High Elves playable for the Alliance, and that kind of feedback gives them an opportunity to consider other solutions.



He explained why they're not a good option from a development perspective. Since he was explaining a game design decision, there's really no better basis for the explanation.

It still doesn't make sense.

They have lore..

They can easily put an elf skin on a basic human skeleton and add even skight differences done.

It really does feel like he gives half assed and biased reasons. Nit saying he is but how it cknes across

[LowestFormOfWit]

The range of anger, denial, hatred, ignorance, and pure delusion here simply delight me to no end.

While those of us not drinking the High Elf punch sat on the sidelines and tried to reason with you all on why it wasn't going to happen, you all clawed and scraped and yelled and nitpicked every little glimmer, over analyzed every word or action to warp it into a narrative that was never there.

Void Elf was your Thalassian. It will continue to be. Usually the Q&A is full of stupid questions or ones that have already been answered, but I am so glad this came up today so Ion could completely and utterly put this to rest.

To all of you who follow the "I don't like the answer I got so I'll double down on my stupid until I'm right!" line of thought, know that a developer will seldom say "We will never do _____." , because it writes them into a corner, but it should be now known that High Elves are not and will not be on the developmental table anytime in the near future (i.e. this entire expansion at the very least), and this High Elf balloon that's stayed afloat on the hot fumes of mania can deflate and sink to the backburner where it always belonged.

MMO-C can now go back to shitposting about Vulpera, Sethrak, or whatever other races keep entering the revolving door, to be cut into Horde and Allaince slices of the BfA pie.

[Magnagarde]

MMO-C can now go back to shitposting about Vulpera, Sethrak, or whatever other races keep entering the revolving door, to be cut into Horde and Allaince slices of the BfA pie.

Lord save us from the upcoming storm. The only thing worse than more elf races are pet-based races.

[Doffen]

Hey guys, Ion's comments on HE did feel pretty insulting, but I always felt they weren't going to come soon. He ends saying "Anything is possible in the future, but no plans 'near term' to add High Elves as an Allied Race". To me it just goes back to them not coming out so soon after Void Elves. I think High Elves will be something that would get added on much much much much later. Probably when the game isn't so concerned about "big differences" with regards to Races. Maybe even if they implement an actual "Sub Race" system. Regardless, pretty let down by the answer, focused too much on looks and reduced the factional divide and lore in an expansion focused on Faction v Faction warfare. I'll just continue to hope for High Elves on Alliance one day. Not really excited much about the AR system anymore though. Not sure there's ever been a race as hotly requested as High Elves and don't think there ever will be (unless it's Dragons or something extremely epic like Titans etc). Anyways it was a good run for this jaunt. Thankful for this community regardless of not getting High Elves this time 'round. Love to you HE supporters

Yeah, I feel sorry for you dude, maybe later on^^

I don't like the gloating from some of the anti-Helfers(nor would I like it if it was the other way, laughing at others "misfortune" isn't a cool thing) but there wasn't anything that indicated that they would make High Elf playable in BfA anyway, but you seem to have the kind of attitude towards it that I admire at least.

As Aragorn so proudly said it: There is always hope

Your forum-title suits you ^^

[protip]

It still doesn't make sense.

They have lore..

They can easily put an elf skin on a basic human skeleton and add even skight differences done.

It really does feel like he gives half assed and biased reasons. Nit saying he is but how it cknes across

One problem with that is that the fantasy of the Blood Elf model is a High Elf with green eyes. If you change the reference, the Blood Elf model is no longer what it was intended to be.

Regardless of that, Ion said, "a fair-skinned, blonde-haired, tall, majestic elf - that is a Blood Elf," which can only mean they intend to keep that fantasy exclusive to the Horde for the foreseeable future. You can draw comparisons to Night Elves/Nightborne and say it doesn't make sense, but that's subjective. I personally find them pretty easy to tell apart in game, and I definitely think that they have a different feel. I know some people don't agree with that, but the clearest reason Ion gave for not giving High Elves to the Alliance was to keep the factions different, so they must feel that the choices they've made with allied races maintain that standard.

[LowestFormOfWit]

Yeah his whole 'Faction Identity' thing was a bit...wait..what? Kind of deal.

The Horde have Nightborne..."You want to play Night Elves on Horde, well you can't but the Alliance is waiting there for you..." except you can...the whole Faction Identity thing is completely undone just by the Nightborne alone, you slap a Nightborne in full plate armour with an enclosed helm and with certain skin tones you literally could not tell the difference between them and Night elves.

The Alliance have Void Elves..."You want to play Blood Elves on Alliance, well you can't but the Horde is waiting there for you..." except you can...the whole Faction Identity thing is completely undone just by the Void Elves alone, you slap a Void Elf in full plate armour with an enclosed helm and with certain skin tones you literally could not tell the difference between them and Void elves.

Funny how that works both ways.....it's almost like they intentionalltly made Void Elves and Nightborne to give the other faction a skeleton they didn't have before.

Thanks for letting us know that if you cover up a playermodel in full armor and a closed helm, they'll look just like the main race they borrow animations from. Good tip for all the people who want a High Elf. Just cover up everything on a Void Elf and voila!

Why wasn't this suggested sooner?

[In Ogres We Trust]

It's almost like something happened in WCIII... hmm...

Which has nothing to do with them joining the Horde. The whole plot was nonsensical BS to balance out the factions/realms for a silly, two-faction game (when it should have been three to four).

P.S. The game would be in a better state if they expanded upon the neutral races.

[Deleted]

Lord save us from the upcoming storm. The only thing worse than more elf races are pet-based races.

So what races DO you want then?

Seriously, name me the option for an Alliance Allied race.

Wildhammer? Nope...just got Dark Iron and they ain't doing another Dwarf Allied race this expac, you fucking know it.

Broken? Actually would have been cooler than including the frankly phoned in Lightforged (Jesus them and the High Mountain were such lazy additions worthy of being customisation options and not an entire separate race) but because of the bloody Lightforged they suffer the same problems as the Wildhammer.

High Elves? Hell no, they ain't happening and it is a good thing too. Blizzard fucked up by not turning all High Elves into Void Elves...boom, problem solved, no longer gets bought up. They didn't though, they fucked it up...congrats Blizzard, you played yourself...

Night Elf Worgen? Oh just fuck off already, they're pretty much in the same vein as Lightforged at this point...sure different lore implications but they're a bland ass option and another bloody boring reskin. Oh wait...we can't include them anyway because they're a pet-based race. Well thank fuck for that.

So...where does that leave us...oh look..the animalistic races are literally some of the ONLY options left that are even remotely good. Or do you want AU Draenor Draenei to be added that just add a new set of horns and some shite racials?

Jesus christ...I mean sure if you can bring up a race that ISN'T a bland ass, boring, steaming pile that could get me excited to actually play them (because so far ALL of the Allied races have been massive misses with me, yes, even the announced ones for after launch have not raised so much as a 'meh' from me) then go ahead because I know full well Naga ain't an option...

So...what we got left? 'Pet-based races' rules out things like the Jinyu (they're based on Fish), the Saberon, the Sethrak, the

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The Alliance have Void Elves..."You want to play Blood Elves on Alliance, well you can't but the Horde is waiting there for you..." except you can...the whole Faction Identity thing is completely undone just by the Void Elves alone, you slap a Void Elf in full plate armour with an enclosed helm and with certain skin tones you literally could not tell the difference between them and Void elves.

Funny how that works both ways.....it's almost like they intentionalltly made Void Elves and Nightborne to give the other faction a skeleton they didn't have before.

Thanks for letting us know that if you cover up a playermodel in full armor and a closed helm, they'll look just like the main race they borrow animations from. Good tip for all the people who want a High Elf. Just cover up everything on a Void Elf and voila!

Why wasn't this suggested sooner?

Except you CAN tell the difference between Void Elf in plate armour and Blood Elf in plate armour (remember, Elf ears stick THROUGH plate helms)...the two do not share skin tones...unlike the Nightborne where they DO share a skintone...

[Magnagarde]

So what races DO you want then?

Seriously, name me the option for an Alliance Allied race.

Wildhammer? Nope...just got Dark Iron and they ain't doing another Dwarf Allied race this expac, you fucking know it.

Broken? Actually would have been cooler than including the frankly phoned in Lightforged (Jesus them and the High Mountain were such lazy additions worthy of being customisation options and not an entire separate race) but because of the bloody Lightforged they suffer the same problems as the Wildhammer.

High Elves? Hell no, they ain't happening and it is a good thing too. Blizzard fucked up by not turning all High Elves into Void Elves...boom, problem solved, no longer gets bought up. They didn't though, they fucked it up...congrats Blizzard, you played yourself...

Night Elf Worgen? Oh just fuck off already, they're pretty much in the same vein as Lightforged at this point...sure different lore implications but they're a bland ass option and another bloody boring reskin. Oh wait...we can't include them anyway because they're a pet-based race. Well thank fuck for that.

So...where does that leave us...oh look..the animalistic races are literally some of the ONLY options left that are even remotely good. Or do you want AU Draenor Draenei to be added that just add a new set of horns and some shite racials?

Jesus christ...I mean sure if you can bring up a race that ISN'T a bland ass, boring, steaming pile that could get me excited to actually play them (because so far ALL of the Allied races have been massive misses with me, yes, even the announced ones for after launch have not raised so much as a 'meh' from me) then go ahead because I know full well Naga ain't an option...

So...what we got left? 'Pet-based races' rules out things like the Jinyu (they're based on Fish), the Saberon, the Sethrak, the

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Except you CAN tell the difference between Void Elf in plate armour and Blood Elf in plate armour...the two do not share skin tones...unlike the Nightborne where they DO share a skintone...

I'd rather have none than some forced pet-based race that is made only because there's many people that fall for animals.

Horde turtles(TNMT if they ever visit Undercity), Alliance LEGO Ninjago snakes(Sethrak), fox iterations of gipsies and what not are more theme-shattering when it comes to "faction identity" than high elves and they have been denied tonight for that very reason(ie why would the Alliance accept a race that literally eats other humanoids; why would the Horde ever take some weak sand-crawling foxes into their ranks). Faction identity doesn't necessarily need to be shattered by one of the two major factions; it can be shattered by things that are unrelated to either and are about forced into one of the two.

The issue with allied races is that Blizzard pumped out too many over a short period of time. They'll have added more races with BfA than they've added since vanilla and that says a lot.