Official High Elf Discussion Megathread

[Obelisk Kai]

Okay so I just realized that these are all High Elves present during the Argent Tournament on the High Elven pavillion. So I think the two most likely possibilities are:

-A flashback during the time of the Argent Tournament.

-They are still on Icecrown and will show for a reason during the introductory quests.

I think the later is the more likely, so they will either aid the players during our initial assault to the Shadowlands, or they will be a casualty.

EDIT: A cursory look also reveals the Sunreaver counterparts to have been added as well, so maybe the Argent Tournament former grounds will be relevant at some point?

EDIT ": It seems all the Argent Tournament NPC's were added, so I think it mostly means we will pass through there or the grounds will be relevant for a reason.

Weird to think they are still all there.

Isn't the simplest solution the likeliest one, that they've duplicated the entire zone for the phased version (due to the zone wide skybox) and are going to focus on the area around Icecrown Citadel for where the action is?

Who knows? Perhaps as the update of the zone progresses they may remove the Tournament to reflect the passage of time but it's probably a mite more convenient just to leave it and it's associated NPCs in place so people can access the vendors without having to go backwards and forwards through Zidormi.

[protip]

It's hardly surprising that the expansion intro would involve the Argent Tournament since it's based in Icecrown. The only two major factions there are the Ebon Blade and the Argent Tournament, of which the Sunreavers and the Silver Covenant are a part.

[Beloren]

Again, we have no idea what this means if anything.

However, let us surmise.

Would living Silver Covenant NPCs be in the Shadowlands? No. Dead ones, yes, but living ones? No.

Would living Silver Covenant NPCs be present in the pre-patch event that sees us enter the Shadowlands? Possibly.

Does the Shadowlands pre-patch event see us imprisoned in the Maw for a period before we escape? Absolutely.

If we are stuck in the Maw for a period, does that imply that what happens in the pre-patch is a defeat for us? Yes.

Are these NPCs of sufficient emotional weight that their imprisonment in the Maw will provide a sufficient emotional hook for us to spend our days working towards freeing them when compared to a character such as, say, Malfurion? Going to say no.

Could they be cannon fodder in the initial loss? People we see die early on only to see their souls marched into purgatory minutes later?Absolutely.

So again, we know nothing and you can read into this anything you want. Hold your horses in other words.

If you're in the SHadowlands as dead, you are in one of the Covenants, you are no longer High elf or Night lef etc, you're Kyrian, Ardenweald, Venthyr etc


So the High elves there cannot be dead, they would be people like Tyrande who have come to the Shadowlands along with us.

[Obelisk Kai]

It's hardly surprising that the expansion intro would involve the Argent Tournament since it's based in Icecrown. The only two major factions there are the Ebon Blade and the Argent Tournament, of which the Sunreavers and the Silver Covenant are a part.

I don't think they are even involved. They created a new phase of Icecrown and have just copied the existing zone assets into it. Maybe it will be fully updated as time goes by to reflect the passage of years, or maybe Blizzard doesn't care about the outlying areas of the zone outside the Citadel and is just leaving them untouched, but this is almost certainly the definition of a non-story for this topic.

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If you're in the SHadowlands as dead, you are in one of the Covenants, you are no longer High elf or Night lef etc, you're Kyrian, Ardenweald, Venthyr etc


So the High elves there cannot be dead, they would be people like Tyrande who have come to the Shadowlands along with us.

Firstly, not entirely true. Those souls who go into the Maw seem able to maintain their identity, because what is the point of suffering for your sins if you can't recall them. And all souls are now going into the Maw.

Secondly, that was just a tweak of the guy's nose. The High Elves he found are just duplicates of the Argent Tournament NPCs copied into the new Icecrown phase and almost certainly meaningless.

[Strippling]

And why were the Alliance doing that? We never got any lore behind it, they're just randomly there screwing with the Blood elves.
It was just a forced thing to push the Blood elves into the Horde, and we've never heard of this spying effort since.

The lore behind it is the relationship between the high elves and the alliance was always fickle. It's on record that their relationship with the alliance was one of convenience. Additionally, many of the alliance races (such as night elves) did not view high elves fondly, and their influence resulted the spying/attempted sabotage of the blood elves.

The lore behind it is there, you're just either overlooking it or choosing not to accept it.

[Beloren]

Firstly, not entirely true. Those souls who go into the Maw seem able to maintain their identity, because what is the point of suffering for your sins if you can't recall them. And all souls are now going into the Maw.

Secondly, that was just a tweak of the guy's nose. The High Elves he found are just duplicates of the Argent Tournament NPCs copied into the new Icecrown phase and almost certainly meaningless.

But High elves wouldn't be in the maw. Honourable race etc right? Only the recent dead from Sylvanas' war are good souls dumped in the Maw that shouldn't be there. As far as I know, none of those were high elves, they are mostly Night elves in the vast majority, as they were the ones slaughtered and a few horde races killed by their pathetic resistance.

[Maxilian]

But High elves wouldn't be in the maw. Honourable race etc right? Only the recent dead from Sylvanas' war are good souls dumped in the Maw that shouldn't be there. As far as I know, none of those were high elves, they are mostly Night elves in the vast majority, as they were the ones slaughtered and a few horde races killed by their pathetic resistance.

That depends a lot when this HE died, also Blizzard have pointed out that the Maw problem have been for a while, so many souls have ended up there, but we still don't know when it all started.

Note: The vast majority is indeed NE, but those are not the only ones, all those who died in the 4th war would end up there, so there should be a lot of people there

[Frenchvince]

I made a point on the NPCs of the Silver Covenant and the Sunreaver which are listed in the original Icecrown, well they are not all in the alpha files.

I checked the box of those present in the files, the sellers linked to the Trial of the Crusader raid are among the absent, I think it's normal if the area is redone we won't need them.

[Traycor]

It'd be nice if those datamined Silver Covenant NPCs, after staring death in face, feel like they need to reach out to Umbric and Alleria and take the void plunge to better protect themselves from such otherworldly powers. Then we'd have explicitly high elven originating Ren'dorei and we could put this whole thing to bed.

Ugh, it would be awful if the "solution" to playable High Elves was to get rid of them all by turning them into void elves.

[Maxilian]

It'd be nice if those datamined Silver Covenant NPCs, after staring death in face, feel like they need to reach out to Umbric and Alleria and take the void plunge to better protect themselves from such otherworldly powers. Then we'd have explicitly high elven originating Ren'dorei and we could put this whole thing to bed.

Don't we have HE learning the ways of the VEs already in the VE starting zone? so we already have Ren'dorei originated from HEs

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

Consider the possibility that if a new AR was being released, you would need to create a hub for them.

...Sure.

I mean I want High Elves, but come on. This is Blizzard we are talking about, this could be like 10 other far more likely things than AR High Elves.

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Isn't the simplest solution the likeliest one, that they've duplicated the entire zone for the phased version (due to the zone wide skybox) and are going to focus on the area around Icecrown Citadel for where the action is?

Who knows? Perhaps as the update of the zone progresses they may remove the Tournament to reflect the passage of time but it's probably a mite more convenient just to leave it and it's associated NPCs in place so people can access the vendors without having to go backwards and forwards through Zidormi.

Honestly I would just like to see modern day Icecrown even if its as a cameo, like when we say the Blasted Lands on the WoD pre-patch event.

IMO I agree it's most likely due to some broad duplication of certain areas, but if they actually indeed intend to say that the Argent Tournament is still there, it would be kinda interesting.

[Traycor]

Breaking news !!!

There are several High Elf NPCs from the Silver Covenant that have been found in alpha files like these:

https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/npc=...-taelis#outfit
https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/npc=...out-shalyndria
https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/npc=...vinia-loresong
https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/npc=...arasi-snowdawn
https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/npc=...hiren-loresong
https://shadowlands.wowhead.com/npc=...th-swiftstrike


Thank you Blizzard finally the story continues!

I assume the zone is being redone, so the NPCs there are getting a refresh. Makes sense.

That being said, I've wondered since back before Shadowlands was announced if Blizzard had some intention behind what Sylvannas was doing regarding the high elves that died during Arthas' invasion. This idea was then furthered when Blizz added the blood elf heritage armor storyline that showed the deaths of the high elves and how it traumatized Sylvannas. Lady Liandrin even calls it, "The last act of the high elves."

There's always the possibility that part of Sylvannas' master plan is to find a way to bring back the high elves she failed to save in the Third War. Just a wild theory I've been kicking around for a year or two.

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

Ugh, it would be awful if the "solution" to playable High Elves was to get rid of them all by turning them into void elves.

Still better than what we have now tbh. I'd rather HE's being absorbed into the VE's than them remaining unplayable forever. of course I would prefer playable HE's, but this is the "I'd rather" scenario. Any scenario that addresses them is better than them remaining in the sidelines IMO.

[Traycor]

Still better than what we have now tbh. I'd rather HE's being absorbed into the VE's than them remaining unplayable forever. of course I would prefer playable HE's, but this is the "I'd rather" scenario. Any scenario that addresses them is better than them remaining in the sidelines IMO.

To me that would be the opposite of what we're asking for. That would be erasing the high elves from Warcraft.

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

To me that would be the opposite of what we're asking for. That would be erasing the high elves from Warcraft.

I disagree; again, I'd rather see a continuation some continuation of the story of the High Elves -like say, the Silver Covenant joins the Void Elves- rather than High Elves as a whole remaining for ever on the sidelines.

Like of course this could never account for all the remaining High Elves -such as the neutral Kirin Tor ones or the Highvale- but what I am saying is that to have some continuation of the HE story through the VE's is better than nothing.

Making the SC into void elves wouldn't erase the High Elves as a whole just as giving blue eyes to BE's doesn't do it either.

[Ardenaso]

Ohhhh, even the Quartermaster? Now that's interesting! I'm just happy to see the Silver Covenant still around, hope they do something interesting yay!

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Okay so I just realized that these are all High Elves present during the Argent Tournament on the High Elven pavillion. So I think the two most likely possibilities are:

-A flashback during the time of the Argent Tournament.

-They are still on Icecrown and will show for a reason during the introductory quests.

I think the later is the more likely, so they will either aid the players during our initial assault to the Shadowlands, or they will be a casualty.

EDIT: A cursory look also reveals the Sunreaver counterparts to have been added as well, so maybe the Argent Tournament former grounds will be relevant at some point?

EDIT ": It seems all the Argent Tournament NPC's were added, so I think it mostly means we will pass through there or the grounds will be relevant for a reason.

Weird to think they are still all there.

maybe I can finally see my waifu Paletress

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If you remember Alleria and Vereesa were on a mission to track down Sylvannas during the 4th war.

I don't recall seeing Vereesa tracking down Sylvanas on that pre-release novel, just Alleria and Turalyon.

If you're talking about the pre-Orgrimmar event, they're scouting for weaknesses in Orgrimmar

[Gurluas]

I disagree; again, I'd rather see a continuation some continuation of the story of the High Elves -like say, the Silver Covenant joins the Void Elves- rather than High Elves as a whole remaining for ever on the sidelines.

Like of course this could never account for all the remaining High Elves -such as the neutral Kirin Tor ones or the Highvale- but what I am saying is that to have some continuation of the HE story through the VE's is better than nothing.

Making the SC into void elves wouldn't erase the High Elves as a whole just as giving blue eyes to BE's doesn't do it either.

Considering I don't want a void corrupted elf that isn't exactly acceptable to me. I'd prefer if High elves perhaps went full Arcane or mixed Arcane with Nature or something, while Blood elves went full Light and you had Void vs Light that way.
Felt weird that both the Void-touched and Light-touched races are in the same faction.

[Maxilian]

Considering I don't want a void corrupted elf that isn't exactly acceptable to me. I'd prefer if High elves perhaps went full Arcane or mixed Arcane with Nature or something, while Blood elves went full Light and you had Void vs Light that way.
Felt weird that both the Void-touched and Light-touched races are in the same faction.

It would be really weird to have the BE go full light though (they are like the Mages of the world, and one of the most proficient Fel users)

Also i like the idea of the VE and HE working together more closely, not advocating for the idea of the VE to completely absorb the HE though.

And yes, i agree is weird to have the Void-touched and Light-touched in the same faction, but as long as Blizzard work it out (like making an actual conflict between this 2 groups in the Alliance) its ok.

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

Considering I don't want a void corrupted elf that isn't exactly acceptable to me. I'd prefer if High elves perhaps went full Arcane or mixed Arcane with Nature or something, while Blood elves went full Light and you had Void vs Light that way.
Felt weird that both the Void-touched and Light-touched races are in the same faction.

And I'd prefer just to have High Elves, but that's not the point. If the two scenarios are we either get High Elves thrown into the Void Elves, or we don't ever get playable High Elves of any kind, I will simply prefer the former. Simply as that.

[Obelisk Kai]

And I'd prefer just to have High Elves, but that's not the point. If the two scenarios are we either get High Elves thrown into the Void Elves, or we don't ever get playable High Elves of any kind, I will simply prefer the former. Simply as that.

But that won't work. It's not like playing a wildhammer dwarf on an existing dwarf because a wildhammer is still biologically identical to the existing dwarf and nothing on the existing dwarf contradicts it being a wildhammer.
A Void Elf that looks like a high elf is still a Void Elf. The moment you began combat and entropic embrace procced you wouldn't be able to suspend your suspension of disbelief. So it won't be a high elf on a Void Elf. It would be a Void Elf that looks like a high elf.

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To me that would be the opposite of what we're asking for. That would be erasing the high elves from Warcraft.

Which is proof that this idea of high elf like skins on void elves, which is really the last plausible option remaining, wouldn't even work for everyone.