Dont take this the wrong way… But major citys are dead… If they bring the new expansion and didnt have a hub, then major citys would be alive again… Cata, Wod, Legion etc even tho some had them, people favourd major citys… So making it “Glamous” rather than using the same resources in making the expansion a hit, would be silly… When was the last time Daranassus was used?? Classic?? New NE players??..
I had my hearthstone in Darnassus quite a bit… with Garrison hearthstone during WoD, there wasn’t much need to force your stone to a certain capital, which I liked while playing the content. Legion brought the Dalaran hearthstone, plus the Emerald Dreamway “portal room” for druids, so I in fact had the freedom to set my stone wherever I wanted to. I wish they had made the decision to set portals in all cities, so players could’ve chosen their actual home instead of being forced to the faction capital. Neither Stormwind nor Orgrimmar would be my first choice when it comes to residence.
Except…it kind of does, because we have no true alternatives.
“Revered” is used frequently throughout the Empire, such as Vashj’ir was the “Revered” city of the Empire.
I do believe that being “revered” meant you had the Queen’s favour in a particular job she assigned to you. Vashj’ir birthed the revered handmaidens, as an example.
This isn’t documented in the lore. Carrying out the top projects would have been given to those within Zin-Azshari, such as when Azshara ordered Varo’then and Illidan to retrieve the Dragon Soul.
Between the fine lines of the lore, I have no doubt that communication happened between Eldre’Thalas and Zin-Azshari; however the big jobs, the best jobs and the most important jobs would have been given to the Queen’s immediate Highborne.
She didn’t call on them to open the portal to the Twisting Nether for the WoTA. Again, the big jobs were for those in Zin-Azshari. This is where my love for the Sin’dorei comes in, because it’s only the Sunstrider Elite Circle Highborne who avoided corruption and we see that down to their descendants and those who took up the Sin’dorei name. Those in Silvermoon used very complex arcane mastery skills, like their ancestors and they avoided corruption, whereas those who left, like the Sunfury and High Elves of the Plaguelands, became corrupted.
The issue here is language. I love the Shen’dralar for the way I interpret them, being secret and hidden. I don’t think they were involved in doing what you say because then they wouldn’t be “those that remain hidden.” How could they be building an Empire and still keep Eldre’Thalas and themselves, a secret? It’s not possible.
We truly have to look at their name and know why she called them “Shen’dralar.” She wanted them hidden. Out of the way and that’s not a bad thing.
But your now doing exactly what you moan at others for doing.
So people shouldn’t just look at Night Elves and think “Druids”, but we should really only look at Blood Elves and think “Hunters.”
Sin’dorei Farstriders, Magisters and Blood Knights are the core compentents of Sin’dorei society and they are the backbone to Sin’dorei legacy. The Magisters are the only ones in the world who hold a mastery over Phoenix Magic, Fire Magic, Frost Magic and Arcane Summoning Magic. It’s documented in the lore that when the Kirin Tor aren’t sure what to do, they turn to Quel’Thalas.
The recent Mage Armour from the Trading Post states the High Elven mastery and legacy of the Arcane.
Nightborne are unrivalled, as per their description, in arcane magic. So, that does put them above night elves and blood elves, in terms of arcane prowess and mastery. You can’t be “unrivalled” and be less than something. Your either unrivalled or your not.
What the Shen’dralar specifically excel in, by lore standards, seems to be Summoning Magic and being an Arcane Mage, but also jealously holding the tomes, created by Queen Azshara, however this would only be knowledge that she wanted them to have. Again, I refer back - Azshara was wise beyond her years and she wanted to be Queen of everything. She would risk no rivals to challenge her throne. Those in Zin-Azshari would be under her sway through her powerful charming magic; however she knew that those out of Zin-Azshari could rebel, as Farondis and Elisande later did willingly. Tortheldrin rebelled because he wasn’t informed of what was happening or what was going on in Zin-Azshari.
But she did trust Xavius. He was her direct appointed Councillor.
Again - I think your trying to have Azshara, of the Empire, have the meta knowledge that we have now.
Easily exploited, so I hope not.
Going down the route of Arcane Golems for the Shen’dralar is a bad route. Sin’dorei already do that sort of thing and excel with it, with Arcane and Blood Golems. So, Sin’dorei > Shen’dralar in this field.
This is why we need to stop looking at what other Elf races do and try and twist the lore to make it seem as though they original elves of those fields (Blood Elves with Arcane and Blood Golems) aren’t as a good as the Shen’dralar, when we have seen the opposite is true and Blizzard made sure that was true.
The Shen’dralar need their own thing and I think we do have it. Holding some of the ancient knowledge of Queen Azshara.
You could easily have Eldre’Thalas Vaults as a dungeon, where you see echoes of Tortheldrin and Azshara, containing powerful magics within the inner city and this is what can make the Shen’dralar unique.
The whole “Golems” thing is already done to death with Sin’dorei and Shal’dorei and it seems to be a “Horde thing” now. So, let’s find something different for the Shen’dralar.
Capitalize on them holding ancient knowledge of Queen Azshara. Have a Shen’dralar vs Naga in the Vaults. See Estulan challenge Azshara to the tomes of ancient knowledge. See the Shen’dralar talk of their kin, the Sin’dorei in Quel’Thalas and how much danger their in. You could easily put the Shen’dralar in a lead position here since the Ren’dorei pose a threat to the Sunwell, whereas the Shen’dralar do not.
If this doesn’t happen. Midnight should not involve the Shen’dralar.
It’s confirmed
Saw on other post, aritcle from iciy Veins says this:
The new Night Elf home Bel’Ameth added in Patch 10.2.5 is a neutral city. However, Horde players who enter the city will see a debuff informing them that they are being watched.
The debuff’s name is Eyes of the Sentinels and the tooltip reads: Seen and unseen eyes alike are watching your every move.
How? I made that statement based on your doubt that Tothelrdrinn would be trusted with the very important projects the lore tells us he was.
WotA suggests Xavius a bit of a schemer and power hungry to, he was second to Azshara. you are unsure whether Azshara would trust the Shen’dralar and Totheldrinn because of power concerns, I think that’s over reaching, she did - we are told what they do - and we have some understanding of the respect and adoration they all had for her - I feel we don’t really have just cause to feel Totheldrinn won’t be trusted or doubt the credibility of the task the lore gives to them - at least not until we are told outright
I am curious as to why you would think this. I’m basing htis
When it was introduced, Eldre’thalas is the last remaining bastion of the living Highborne - or rather of those who still live and regard themselves as Highborne - it’s an epic night elf city, and If eel the developers are conveying to us the strength and power of a group to have been the only ones to survive. It is here they also craft the lore that lets us know the city has only been fallen into ruin for about 1,000 years too.
The sense of the place and the group isn’t small, it is epic, it is remarkable. And this is pretty much the case for the night elves in the north, the Sunstriders that become the high elves, the Farondis we meet in Azsuna, the Nightborne in Suramar, and the Moonguard in Suramar. These are all extraordinary groups of elves that have an extra ordinary story to have lasted this long and survived till this day.
The Darnassians - the triumphant epic survivors who defeated the Legion - the extraordinary Order of Elune, moonguard, Druid Malfurion, h Highborne and other castes who all teamed up.
The Sunstriders - the only survivors from the Palace Highborne court, a very prestigious and close in line to the throne group , trusted with making the portals in. It is high standing to be part of the palace group
The Shen’dralar - the realm’s most revered arcanists - they both kept kept the knowledge of the empire and were the ones who made Azshara’s most important projects happen - this would be wonders as well as dark projects - Top secret that fits the sort of skill that would lable you as most revered amongst the arcanists.
The Farondis - these are the magical theorist specialists - they lead the world’s foremost acadmey in magical study - the equivalent of the best univeristy at theoretical magic. The shend’rlaar might make hte wonders, but the the majority of advancmenets on the understnading and concepts of magic for most of hte kaldorei’s esteemed magical.
Exploitable from the perspective of the returned Darnassian Highborne - the ones teaching students in Azshara were not Shen’dralar, they were Darnassian Highborne who had been Highborne before the sundering up to the victory and had stopped using the arcane being the ones to recommend the ban , lived this way for 10,000 years
They are the ones out of practice, their previous experience allows them to be put into the front line and also assist the Shen’dralar in training the many new recruits who never had any arcane training - presumably born after the sundering amongst the Darnassians where the cast was disbanded (and later outlawed amongst their society).
these are the ones that use exploitable golems and portals -we all know that golems are perfectly fine as a portals, with the updated security protocols, these guys didn’t know that yet.
It is important for players to realise these aren’t Shen’dralar, who would be aware of the exploits. Arcane golems have had certain security updates… the current world is well behind the Highborne in terms of arcane knowledge and advancement, but not in every area.
Compared to rusty 10k years out of practice returned tot he arcane Daranssians, there would be certain combat protocols and exploits the quest shows us that advancements have been made.
Personally I think that quest sequence was terrible, like all the quests in Azshara, Ashenvale , Stonetaolon, Desolace, they all make the horde look so strong and the night elves look weak. It wasn’t just the humiliated new night elf mages, the entire race looked terrible, where they should have looked strong.
instead of showcasing the power gained in the returned Highborne, the expertise in of the sentinels, and involving the druids even - they didn’t.
because in cataclysm, the horde ruled, blizzard clearly was favouring the horde for the story, and had been since TBC - so I would conclude the capability of the Shen’dralar or the new Darnassian Highborne isn’t showcased in the manner the lore presents, you can only infer that they are good, because with only a week or two of training they are already competent to be put in the battlefield and are being delegated to teach students.
Remember all the former Highborne that returned are immediately Highborne after the events of Wolfheart.
This is one of the reasons why blizzard owe this group a good showing, and i feel even more so after they took the Suramar night elves over to the horde, keeping them in Nightborne form.
But the advantage of this is now the Shen’dralar and the night elven highborne group they lead, have a chance to be shown quite well rather than fade into the mix of a more predominant Suramar Highborne - which would have been the case if the original plan had happened - the original plan was the Nightfallen were healed into their original night elven form and the night elves move into Suramar with it been the centre of their arcane wing.
However the worry is that we might never see such a powerful display for the current night elf Highborne, and blizzard might never portray those in Night elf form as powerfully as the lore say s they are, or worse just never see them display that high level of kaldorei wizardry and development - the positive things the Highborne have that were prevalent before hubris and addiction corrupted the Queen and the palace court and officials so badly.
That they would only ever show night elves as forest elves and simply remove the dark elf side, making the Nightborne that, when allied races are just different community of the main race - not a replacement or substitute for a chunk of the identity of the main race.
The thing is many of the older fantasy players seem to think of elves in little boxes of green elf, purple elf, gold elf - rather than see them as entire peoples with rich and complex interwoven histories with many parts.
Night elves are there own, they have the great history of arcane and nature, and their journey would lend them the most powerful mages, druids and demon hunters ever in the lore, they have incredible forest and cities to their name that are startling in contrast, to each other but compliment each other so well, this is the enigma of the night elves.
cut off and never show the civilization side or the arcane mastery you speak about in the lore, and the night elves look a lot more dull, monotonous and one sided, like they are heavily reduced.
Besides it seem the Nightborne have been taken away from their kaldorei roots and love and are now operating as purple night elf looking blood elves rather than night elves on the horde aligned to blood elves.
I would love to see Eldre’thalas completely redone, , just like we saw Suramar and Nar’thalas and Karabor and shattrath- and being incredible… ultimately I want to have the night elves have at least 1 amazing kaldorei city that fits the lore of the race or even supercedes it. I don’t think the art team are willing or up to it, but I hope I’m wrong.
If Eldre’thalas becomes a city, in midnight, that would be awesome, it could have one of it’s dungeons be the archives vault - that would be one purpose.
Another could be a new invasion of the city , raid style that we have to help save.
I think the age of faction only cities is going to be gone, likely Stormwind and Orgrimmar might remain the only ones that fit that. Suramar is already pretty much neutral , and Bel’ameth proves this, they want all to enjoy the content without removing the faction thing entirely, but this is what it is.
Which also makes me suspect they are going for elven re-unification, but not in the grand way we want.
I suspect they are melding the elves into one people where the kaldorei would be the nature elves, the nightborne the arcane elves the blood elves the light elves, and the void elves the void elves.
It’s a shame, if blizzard go this way, because it would mean they fail at presenting the races as their own individual peoples, nations.
gone would be the blood elven try speciality of arcane, light and the wood elf Farstrider identity which is a strong one and not been used well (though it is used far more with the high elves).
ofc gone would be the kaldorei arcane side, mage side and all that represents that powerful night fantasy of the dark elf, and the demon hunter night elf as well, given how powerful both have bene in the lore , there is even an erosion of the arcane centric priesthood to heavily focus on the sentinel wood elf vein, making them just forest elves - which let’s be fair, they are the wrong race to do this with, there is too much arcane in their very lore, nature and appearance - purple skin, silver/blue/golden eyes, blue, purple, pink hair.
The lore never presented the night elves as the forest elves, and the high elves as the arcane elves. The Night elves are presented originally as the original elves, and the high elves as the human elves. Though related with many things in common, they are both their own separate nations, high elf history ties into night elf history, but night elf history is part of what defines the night elves and is part of their uniqueness
including all their elements - their civilization, their forests, their love for magic, love for nature, great aptitude with the arcane, their love of Elune, their obsession with the night sky - the stars and the moon, their history with their civilization , the invasion of the legion, the sundering, the Long vigil and the Wc3 battle on Mount Hyjal. off course given the absence of void and lack of arcane visibility, it made operational sense the Nightborne would be with the Night elves and the void elves with the blood elves, but the night elves do have the Shen’dralar, Farondis and Moonguard with them to have every bit as powerful a visualisation of their civilization and arcane capability as the Nightborne - canonically it would be a even greater, given the pedigree of those groups - but will blizzard see it.
Meanwhile blood elves already have enough lore to put out a strong fel showing as opposed to a void one - an equally powerful magic type, and imo they’re just as strong in that department as the night elves although they come to the table a lot later, they are trained by the very beset at it, Lord Illidan.
The Zin-Azshari Highborne were directly under Azshara’s spell. She could outmatch any of them and she knew it. The doubts are those outside of the city. They did rebel with relative ease; it was only the ancestors of the Blood Elves who were at a greater risk.
Tortheldrin, Elisande, Farondis, Aszune - they were all given enough power to rule their own cities; but never more where they posed a risk to her and she would ensure that. Powerful, absolutely - but never at the level of Azshara and Azshara herself, would make sure of that.
But it’s already a story that’s well done and well told with the Blood Elves and the Nightborne getting a slice as well. I mean, Blizzard told a far more in depth story about the Sunreaver Magi using the Isle of Thunder tools to create a brand new generation of Arcane and Blood Golems. Trying to re-tell something, that already existed with the Blood Elves is just shoddy writing because we know Blizzard have already told us that story through the Sin’dorei and the Sunreavers.
Blood and Arcane Golem story has become an integral thing for Sin’dorei. I don’t think other races should be treading on that story. Nightborne already have a small slice of it; but not big enough where it’s a big thing for Suramar.
Exactly. This is why Nightborne going Horde was the best option. Night Elf players don’t think so now; but as a Shen’dralar fan - it was the absolute right call to distance the two.
Shen’dralar need their own thing. Not leeching off Suramar or the Nightborne.
The quest indicates that the Golems were outlawed in Quel’Thalas a long time ago.
I’m glad that they went down this route because otherwise Shen’dralar would just be purple Blood Elves.
I repeat, Shen’dralar need their own thing. Not things that Blood Elves have, because otherwise, you get the actual Sin’dorei and the purple, poor man’s Sin’dorei.
Shen’dralar need individuality and I think, the core is to tackle their name; “those that remain hidden.” What is actually hidden in the Eldre’Thalas Vaults? Did the Shen’dralar spend most of their time in those Vaults, ensuring the tomes were locked away?
And of course, have Azshara attack Eldre’Thalas and then move onto Quel’Thalas. That way, you can finally link Shen’dralar and Sin’dorei.
Shen’dralar could be the ones to teleport to Quel’Thalas, as Alliance where Estulan, Mordent or Vestia act as neutral Ambassadors for Lor’themar’s council.
Uuuh. How “endangering”. Guess that’s it for me then. Not going to watch Horde players mocking Night Elf lore with their presence. Tyrande would never allow it. They’ve taken it one step too far at this point. I’m not in for that sort of story telling. Shall the naive and ignorant have their game in the end.
Yup. 2 more days for me left
Two months for me. Not sure if I’ll play them through. My enthusiasm is shrinking with every minute.
I didn’t log in in last two days. So I guess I am done. 
20 years just went puff
I probably had like two months pause overall since summer already. And I can’t say I regretted it. Emerald Dream was interesting for two weeks. Now it’s just boring daily routine really. And that was my fear. They’ve exploited yet another great piece of lore to lure people in but it turned out to be underhwelming after the initial experience. Raid is great but quests are uninspired for the most part, zone is yet again tiny like zereth mortis compared to similar content like Argus. I can’t bring myself to do this anymore if the “reward” is such disappointing story writing for end content.
I didn’t even play Zereth in SL 
Skipped just like you, whole summer. As I said: I found sitting in my garden with a book on my lap watching my zuchnnies grow way more interesting then WoW
Remember. Dan Simons: Hyperion Cantos
Meanwhile I found creating a website that is half database for green topics and half fantasy based description for the archives magical setup more interesting. 
Honestly, this whole farce is even more disappointing if you’re a writer yourself. I wouldn’t get paid by any customer of I came up with such a lack of coherence and logic in my texts. Which makes me pretty angry.
How did it go?
I made up a WoW story once for my nice when she was 6. A bed story about WoW. I must say it as way better then what we have now, but she said it is low quality hahaha. Even then. Imagine what would she say now if I let her come to wokecraft which I don’t
Site traffic of 500k in 2023. 
So grateful for my readers really. Which are mostly eco gardeners and herb witches of course.
Even started playing around with AI a bit and converted the written descriptions for the fantasy narrative into pictures with Leonardo AI. Turned out absolutely marvellous.
That’s cool 
I am too lazy to even think about this
Congrats
Ty! Might be a wise decision to focus more on the things that show positive results and don’t make you feel like being lead. Became like a toxic relationship with WoW at this point and I don’t like that feeling.
Yeah, me neither.
And yes. I am done. I will continue to follow this until 10.2.5 release. if it goes this way, and I think it will, I am done forever.
Too bad I wont see what Metzen will cook up.
Watching Elme’s topic, the horde and some “alliance” is slaughtering her. Going to help a little. Then off to bed
Yeah, just seen it. The vultures of malicious intent are never far in this forum. Will come to aid, too!
very good