Be happy that you can play a Night Elf Shendr’alar, but respect the story and the focus of the Night Elf lore. Blizzard did players like you already a huge favor by allowing people to play nightelf mages. If you want the story focus to also change, you should just play an elf, that follows the exact story you actually say you want, and complain about their customization/looks instead. Because as I see it, that seems to be 100% the problem. There is no way that you like one small detail about their story, when for example Nightborne are all about the Arcane side of Zin’azshari, and the Blood Elves are literally directly these elves you’re talking about in a mutated form. (mutated by arcane for 1000s of years, and apparently “ruined” according to some people for 10 years of fel corruption, which is already cleansed/gone anyway)
But we are focusing on the Night Elf lore. I don’t support giving Night Elf Mages lore, if it infringes on well established lore for Blood Elves and Nightborne; however their are clear signs that the Shen’dralar can have their own unique Mage-based story which feels different from that of the Blood Elves and Nightborne.
The whole story in Feralas is specific for both Druids and Shen’dralar Mages. Yes, we do have story about Night Elf Magi in Azsuna and Suramar; however they aren’t Alliance-aligned and they are unimportant to the story, overall.
Shen’dralar are part of the Alliance Night Elves and if Blizzard wanted to ignore them, they wouldn’t have given their leader a whole new outfit nor would they even have a place in one of the new buildings around Bel’ameth, let alone have two (arguably 3, if you count the new harbour where we see a few of the Magi around.)
I remember this being quite the outrage when it happened. My arcane mage caused quite the irritation whenever I joined a group.
I don’t see why it’s an outrage to some players. I think the lore about the Shen’dralar is interesting. And for the ones who don’t like it, well, at least, there is a reason why you can play a nightelf mage.
Speaking to their familiarity with fel because of the brief allegiance with Illidan. You see a good portion joined Illidan for a little while, and while most Illidari are night elves, they were always a small select intense group. The blood elves had larger involvement as a % of their society, that exposure should allow them to be able to have a strong fel component racially - no it doesn’t compare to the Illidari group, but it could be strong in the nation.
It’s like the Highborne group in the night elves, overall, most races are more arcane using than the night elves, but no group except the Nightborne can match the Highborne faction for use and expertise in the arcane. But overall, currently the night elves society wise aren’t big arcane or fel users either, but their specialist groups are the best in the world at those things, and historically they take the cake.
The lore is what it is. humans are devolved Vrykul, doesn’t make them less special than they are.
High elves are devolved night elves - they diminished upon their exile, losing the innate enhancements of the well of eternity inherent in the night elves this meant losing the purple hued skin, losing increased stature, intelligence, longevity and strength - they didn’t lose much, but they lost a little, this was a combination of the druids and Cenarius cutting them off from Nordrassil and the process of the exile. When they created the sunwell, it was enable to enhance them a little bit more, but the Sunwell isn’t as potent an elixir as the Well of Eternity.
The Nightborne did not devolve, they mutated, the Nightwell was poisoning that warped them… they are no more arcane powerful than any night elven Highborne, but they are oversaturated and out of balance, this puts them at a deficit, they don’t function optimally as night elves, and they endure this curious effect of withering when they are without the Nightwell’s energy. This is a mutation… the Arcan’dor fruit is supposed to solve the imbalance too, so in time the nightborne would likely look and resemble night elves fully once more, as the effects of the Nightwell are removed.
No, this doesn’t mean they lose their arcane tattoos, or arcane knoweldge, that is all their own, and comes from techniques in thepower they know.
Biologically, the night elf is the optimal elf and most balanced of the lost, in my estimation it woudl have a hgiher natural capacity for the arcane than the devolved high elf, and their healthier constituion should alllow htem for more pitmal fine utning natuurally. No destablisation (nightborne) or handicap (high elf).
however biological advantage really counts for little, the ones who win the day are the tenacious, the driven, and those determined to survive or thrive. The mindset determines the future of the races, you don’t have to be optimal to be more powerful or have more knowledge or more skill or have achieved more. you achieve more if you do more, no matter how enhanced the other guy is.
The Man’ari are empowered Draenei - but also corrupted it’s just the lore, this has advantages and disadvantages,… more powerful yes, better? No.
Some mutations and deviations allow certain benefits, others do nothing, they are just differences that are more conducive for story and others that aren’t.
Change “Devolve” to evolve, because otherwise you just show how non-sense your ideas are. You can either stick to your headcannon with this weird superiority-complex and purity obsession of a fantasy race, and complain here in forums about headcannon not matching cannon, or you can just accept what Blizzard writes as their lore.
Blood Elves had larger involvement with the Illidari, because not all Illidari Blood Elves were Demon Hunters.
The Illidari Council and their immediate defenders consisted of Blood Elf Priests, Mages, Paladins and Rogues.
Well actually, it is because the Sunwell and the second Well of Eternity atop Hyjal are essentially the same thing.
Both were created from vials of the original well. Now, the Sunwell has been infused with both Holy and Arcane Magic, so the argument for the Sunwell having more powers than the second Well of Eternity is extremely valid.
Night elf mages should get lore, they have a lot of lore in the night elves, but most of this is outside the game involves mainly, and its peaks highly of them. they don’t need to infringe on anything of the blood elves, but it depends on what you mean by infringe.
As for the nightborne - they are literally the same thing, outside extra chronomagic mastery the nightborne gained due to the Eye of Aman’thul, their arcana is entirely night elven based - so there will be heavy overlap [very much like blood elves and void elves when it comes to the arcane, their biggest difference being the light/void instead] -they have the same star/moon focus, the astromancers, star mancers, all of that is kaldorei based, we don’t say - oh no we can’t have that in the night elves because the nightborne have this, when the nightborne have htis because they are night elven,.
what you coudl prevent is the Highborne being anywhere as prolific as the Nightborne in time magic. But time magic is a core part of the arcane, we don’t say the Dragons can’t have it because the nightborne can’t. and the Highborne will have it, and might be able to do some incredible things with it, but they will not be able to do quite the number of things the nightborne can. for example we won’t have Highborne warpcasters, but we will have Highborne starmancers.
And there will be overlap with blood elves, because the arcane is a field, a field that the Highborne have a much broader and great knowledge in overall, than any other group, however the blood elves would have gained new speciality knowledge , like the blood golems from thundering isles, adept in certain manipulations of blood and fire magic - so while we will have powerful fire wielding Highborne, like Farondis, and even able to do things blood elves cannot do, because of the sheer volume of knowledge, what the blood elves have will remain unique to them, and potent too cos they have gained new knowledge… furthermore when we emphasise blood elf magi - we’d focus on fire and blood magic, Nightborne magi will be focusing on time magic, Night elf magi would be focusing on star/moon magic, High elf magi on frost magic, void elf magi on frost/void combo of magic.
yet all would have many share d common base knowledge… it’s liek the druids, do we see the night elven druids having specialities that tauren don’t have and vice versa? Currently not, becuase the night elves are so big in this department, but it should be, the drust should have things the night elves don’t, despite the latter’s far grater knowledge, same with the Zandalari.
Shift to priests, it’s also a similar thing. But as you can tell, in some classes we can have great variations an d in other classes, hardly any.
We’ve seen in-game that we don’t need overlap. Whilst the Sin’dorei are essentially the masters when it comes to Arcane Constructs, the Shen’dralar have their own powerful arcane counterpart in the Ancients of Arcane.
We don’t need an overlap, where essentially - the Sin’dorei would just be better because it’s what Blizzard have told us, 3 times over. Retelling that story and overlapping it is just beating a dead horse. We don’t need Shen’dralar Arcane Constructs because they are irrelevant when it comes to Quel’Thalas lore and the Sin’dorei who just make better ones.
it’s beeen satated many times that it isn’t. 1 vial vs 3 vials, the first formed immediately after the implosion so would have recpatured much of the energies spewed out, the other done 3,000 years later long after things settled down.
Rommath even points this out, and one of the main reasons the high elves sneer at the night elves is because of how much power they have and refuse to use, out of superstitions fear (the high elves call it) - off course this is the contention that separated the two groups during the long vigil period - the rest of the night elves feared it was way too soon and far too dangerous to risk it, out of fear of the legion, , Darth’remar felt that the risk was avoidable, and the elves could pull it off easily. Malfurion called this hubris and blamed it on addiction, although there was no way they could be addicted after 3,000 years cold turkey.
But then, they were living right in front of the well of eternity, so maybe that was constantly tempting and tantalising them, and this is what Malfurion was referring to /shrug.
the bottom line, is the high elves did a lot more with a less, than all the night elven groups did - whether with the Well of Eternity, night well or all that lost ancient knowledge, they either hid in cities indulging themselves, living in fear of the outside, or stuck to the forests making themselves guardians to the Well of Eternity and watchers for the legion - something no one asked them to do. [even though we can fully understand and respect them for putting their lives on hold to do stop the legion invasion they caused in the first place.
As un-necessary as the length of their sacrifice was, we can all agree that they paid the price for their hubris given the
I’ll be sure to regale the citizens of this quint little town how i helped burn their last one 
so there i was on the shores of darkshore after helping the horde slaughter our way through ashenvale and sylvanas gave the order to burn it after that weakling sadfang failed to kill the most overrated druid in all of wow it was a great bonefire …alas the horde had not packed any marshmellows
Oh… we don’t’ need overlap in the sense of telling the same story again, no we don’t, we don’t need to see Highborne life again really, because we’ve sent in a the Nightborne already, so you don’t need to do a Highborne focused story in a night elven city in the same, way, however you can do something different, like we not seen the original night elven civilization in a city without hubris, one where there is a priesthood in lock step and the people also have a nature reverence in character - nature reverence doesn’t mean rural building in a city… (this is not for you, but for those that keep thinking this is what it means - nature reverence and love of nature manifest themselves in cities through lots of garden spaces, parks, and groves, not in rural buildings, , a great city that is also friendly to tree people, dryads, critters and the like, amidst their shining palaces - but nature reverence shows itself in respect for nature and balance - in behaviour… it doesn’t mean a mage can also wield druidic magic or all mages are interested in the arcane effects on leaves and animals, no it means, they will never get imbalanced like happened before.
Nature themed works for the Shen’dralar because they always appeared as more “nature” based Highborne, considering Eldre’Thalas was a hidden city in a dense woodland.
Ancients of the Arcane are the Shen’dralar’s answer to the Sin’dorei Arcane Constructs.
Both Arcane based, but relevant to the two groups, perfectly and both powerful in their own ways.
We’ve got things here which is enough to tell the playerbase that Shen’dralar and Sin’dorei are, as Metzen already said years ago, equal in terms of power, knowledge and arcane mastery.
I didnt realize it was their village i thought it was some dead area that you would quest at somepoint in one of the amirdrassil quest lines.
Amirdrassil looks way more impressive.
It’s the sentiment I had, with such an impressive tree, I wanted an impressive city to go with it.
As it stands, I think the city should be up on the platforms of Amirdrassil - similar to the ones we fight Tindrall on, or in the stars above… think of the Ardenweald trees, that have the star constellation on top, to have a city in the centre of those - woudl be awesome… although my dream apparel woudl be in the day time it looks like Amirdrassil in the dream with the city bits on the platform, and at night time, it’s connection to Ardenweald sort of morphs it s appearance into one of the constellation trees, with the city atop… dunno.
Just something really impressive.
And the forum defence force of WoW will tell you that this is your wishful thinking and yours alone when it was really the DREAM’S HOPE of so many of NE players. They will tell you that your ideas are irrelevant since we’re not the devs or lorewirters when we literally are the ingame face of Kaldorei. We should just be content with whatever nonsense gets dished out to us for the money we pay, the time we invest and the passion we contributed in order to see our interests represented, I guess.
Exactly… you know who are the people that are quite happy for the only the forest side and ruins for the night elves?
those who aren’t really into them. Sure some might play them -usually cos they find them the only agreeable druid model, most are usually horde Belf fans who feel that elven civilziation should be exclusive to blood elves - and like night elves to be feral and savage, with no magic - they talk the game, but have no interest in them.
Give them a totally feral night elf, savage to the extreme, they won’t touch it anymore.
They are also the same people that say cities and things like that are the nightborne and blood elves’ thing - so somehow the nightborne existing now precludes the night elves from over half their lore and the greatest part of their history - and somehow their cities a belong only with the nightborne - who apparently are not night elven at all, and have nothing to do with the night elves.
off course if the nightborne were swapped tot he alliance, they’d be saying a totally different thing.
Blizzard doesn’t seem to realise the fans have wanted to establish the night elven civilization and culture on the night elf faction in game - - it’s not enough to have it in the books only, and it’s annoying to see the only night elves able to have a proper presentation of arcane magic and of night elven civilization to be on the horde.
Hey. … villages and ruins are all night elves can manage, and living in barrow dens like they are all druids - never mind Priests, or mages [Moonguard/Highborne] or Demon Hunters - 3 other classes that make up a substantial portion of night elven lore.
Yet Tyrande must be queen of the tree elves, instead of A high priestess of Elune - that has until shadowlands, been largely associated with the arcane, the Well of Eternity, Night elven civilization and the leaders that govern the sentinel army - which are female warriors and female hunters.
the Highborne seem to be only capable of making portals and fighting for the alliance either as Kirin’tor or mages, but seem to be able to do nothing for their people, like restore their civilization and trying to make their race survive and thrive again - like you would expect the Highborne of old, before addiction and hubris were doing as nobility and civil leaders.
The depth and range of the lore that you is available in the novels and in-game lore books, but not visible to see on the night elf itself is shocking.
they really need a city like Suramar, portray a community of arcane wielding night elves that are able to do incredible things that match the level of power and knowledge that other lore has outstripping everyone else.
These need to be demonstrated in game.
While I think this can work well as a main focus, I think the night elves will have both. Arcane constructs have been a part of the night elves, where they were invented, I see no reason for their Highborne not to employ them.
Ancients though are currently mostly seen on the night elves, though some have been seen on the blood elves too [Eversong Woods, Botanica]. but I accept this because the night elves are the bigger and original visualisation of the elves, they would be more complete and more extensive.
I totally expect blood golems to be the standard construct now in Silvermoon post moP, while arcane constructs continue to be a thing in Suramar, and and the Darnassian Highborne.
But I like that you accept nature and arcane living side by side and complimenting each other, unlike most players, this is the original vision of the elves. advanced arcane and advanced nature, often side by side, but both existing with the night elves.
I don’t think they will have both because they don’t need both.
The Sin’dorei provide that part of the lore beautifully and far more advanced than the night elves. It’s not necessary for them to be leeching off the Sin’dorei. Arcane Constructs and Blood Golems are a staple within Sin’dorei Society and they employ both. Hell, even in Nazmir and Suramar - the Sin’dorei forces had large Arcane Construct defending their main encampments. A combination of Arcane and Blood Constructs - it’s just the Sin’dorei thing and I don’t think you should be trying to take these of the Sin’dorei Magisters because “I wants them!” I want more Shen’dralar lore, but not at the expense of what is already current and beautiful in Sin’dorei lore.
Ancients and nature stuff is more of the night elf way.
Arcane Constructs aren’t actually a big nightborne thing. They were only created by Elisande’s lot, by all accounts. I haven’t seen the Shal’dorei army use any Arcane Constructs - not since the Elisande Loyalists and they were only built in a hurry. I think you need to let go of this “Arcane Constructs for night elves” because I can guarantee you, it won’t happen. It’s far to advanced and much better with Sin’dorei Magisters and Arcanists…it’s integral not to take away the Sin’dorei Mastery and Legacy of the Arcane.
If you want the “Arcane Constructs” lore, then play the Sin’dorei. They are far more advanced at that sort of thing than the Highborne and they should be. It’s their story and it’s part of their Arcane Mastery. I will never agree to night elf fans demanding it because then you just become pitiful people.
EDIT:
I’ve just checked the Arcane Golem (as that is their main race) lore page and their is actually no information about them ever being created by the highborne. Indeed, Draenei Constructs appear at the bottom of the page, as do the Elisande Loyalist Constructs - but night elves / shen’dralar are none factors in this lore and that is for the better.
See, it’s not hard to identify everyone’s favourite faction according to their main / character they post on the forums with. (Given you’re not an idiot troll, of course) So the negative and mocking responses to NE complaints from non-NEs are proof themselves that they don’t care that much. They need to give their 2 cents on a topic they initially couldn’t care less but feel the urge to argue with people they don’t like and don’t agree with. Is all there is to it. They can’t support fellow players just for the sake of it because that would mean finding empathy for things that matter to someone else but themselves.
Just heard someone in another thread talking of Nightborne as a separate race, I mean, how off the grid can you be there? Is like saying Light Forged Draenei, High Mountain Tauren, Zandalari Trolls, Void Elves or Mag’har orcs would be a different race when they’re really just a variety of the original faction.
It should be highlighted that any counterspell that blocks arcane magic also affects druid moon spells. A lot of people tend to forget that druid magic is also in parts arcane magic. It is just a nature based variety of it.
Some of the most formidable and most characteristic architectural buildings in Night Elf culture are moon temples, so people not realising that architecure, wood and stone alike, was something Night Elves did pioneer on Azeroth is pure ignorance and denial. It’s not even worth trying to make them understand. They just out themselves as clueless about lore.