I encourage you to scroll up and read the arguments I and many others have made as to what exactly we’re asking for and why blood elves aren’t the high elves we want.
I agree and I disagree.
I agree in that the reuse of skeletons is increasingly noticeable. I find it difficult to play races that reuse skeletons as I find it a little immersion shattering.
On the other hand, the sheer cost of creating two new models per race, one for each body type, means that any such new race would inevitably be introduced as neutral and I think the proliferation of neutral races because they are time convenient isn’t doing the game any favours.
Frankly, new races are dead boring now.
I instead would prefer effort be spent expanding customisations on existing races rather than adding yet more allied race reskins few folks will play.
I did.
There is an answer, the way you want it, but it doesn’t change the fact that they are the exact same race. With added customizations that make them look exactly like High Elves in both factions, I don’t see any real problem except what shows on the nameplate. Adding a whole new race just for the sake of a nameplate and a possible racial transmog, to me, is pointless. It would be much better if they added a great questline for Blood Elves and Void Elves to earn some unique heritage armor or transmogs inspired by the High Elves instead.
I can work with you on more customisations. Right now void elves only have 10-12 hairstyles. The ability to have a non void aesthetic is good and I applaud blizzard on that but I can go even further
There’s also people who want to play thalassian paladins on the alliance. Given the presence of a void elf paladin in the alpha it’s quite possible that void elf paladins will be added
I’ve always stated that I want an allied race, but more customisations for void elves and better class choice could work
Also, some might insist on the name plate. I can’t speak for others but I’m OK with not having one
I both agree and disagree with you on that. Customizations should definitely be on a much higher level than they are now. For example, I would merge Trolls and Zandalari Trolls into a single Troll race, with the option to choose which type you want to play. The same could apply to every race that has a kind of duplicate version. That way, space would be freed up for introducing new, more distinct races that don’t reuse the same skeletons.
But yes, I completely agree with your point. That’s exactly why I said that adding almost identical races doesn’t make much sense. Allied races have become boring, but I’d still like to see Blizzard find a way to make them exciting again.
The problem is that Blood Elf aesthetics are High Elf aesthetics. They didn’t sit down in the ruins of their civilization and decide that the most important thing to do was devise a whole new style for themselves. They just kept using what they had always used.
This is the problem the request keeps running into, Alliance High Elves cannot be differentiated from Blood Elves because they are the same people. Void Elves ironically enough DID devise a whole new aesthetic for themselves.
Besides, with Midnight we are seeing plentiful Blood and Void Elf armor and weapons all about the place in datamining.
I thought about that, and that is what they should have done to begin with, but it runs into the problem of what do about racials.
Personally I have never liked the Allied race system. New races should have been rare and on both factions and thus exciting and worth the time commitment to build them. I’d have added Kul Tirans and Vulpera in BFA, Vulpera with bespoke skeletons, and everything else would have been customisations.
As for Nightborne I’d have altered the plot so that they were customisation options for Night Elves and I’d have Undead Elf skins to Blood Elves for balance. But that is what I WOULD have done.
There we go, the solution is to add more options so that Void Elves can be made less voidy, even though that is kind of their entire thing. And why not? After all, they’re a mistake right? Should’ve been High Elves in the first place, so High Elf fans are entirely in their rights to demand Void Elves be made Not Void Elves as much as possible. Screw the folks who play Void Elves for being Void Elves. Collateral damage.
For trolls, for example, you could choose classic or Zandalari, each with its own distinctive racial traits tied to the race. I would group Kul Tirans and Worgens under humans, and all elves under a single elf category. Then, for each faction, you could pick your variant with its unique customization and racial traits. This would simplify the race UI and free up space to introduce more distinct and exciting options.
You’re right about allied races, they’ve become boring. With the Horde vs Alliance saga being watered down, I don’t think we’ll ever see that kind of excitement return. The faction limitations barely exist anymore, so the system lost much of its original impact.
I think if it weren’t for racials this idea would have merit even though I wouldn’t implement them in exactly the same fashion, but racials are an insuperable factor.
I hope Haronir are the last race we get for a long time. We need them to focus on bringing the other races up again rather than introducing more reskins.
I strongly agree with customization options. But that’s my general view also for other allied races - Kul Tirans are also lacking nice customizations.
But regarding the elves - I saw somewhere, either this megathread or previous one, some very beautiful concept art for cusomitzation for elves (including some tattoos).
It’s Haranir but doesn’t matter - I am excited for their addition, but I strongly agree with you, that in future the focus should lie on existing races, instead of presenting again new one. Especially Allied Races added in Legion and BFA are lacking way too many options. Adding “quel’dorei” look to Void Elves solved some requests from playerbase, however, there should be more options than just skin tone, eye color and removal of tendrils.
Guys, thank you for keeping the topic of High Elves alive. It’s great to see how many players want this ![]()
The new sets are simply amazing! ![]()
There are full ARs that would have probably been better off as a customisations and customisations for races that should have been full fledged ARs. It’s a bit inconsistent. The Exodar Draenei could have had lightforged features, and the Thunder Bluff Tauren should have had antlers and tribal face paintings.
But what’s done is done.
But regarding the elves - I saw somewhere, either this megathread or previous one, some very beautiful concept art for cusomitzation for elves (including some tattoos).
There’s a lot of material. The Alurna’s Manifest of High Elves way back in 2018 and Bálint Cservenyi’s High Elf allied race concept on X, among many other fan made material
People talk about High Elven requests being a vocal minority, but please ask yourself this:
Would anybody play those “DOPE looking races” enough to reasonably add them? We’ve seen them add in all sorts of races over the years, but nobody really plays them.
At the same time, according to Data for Azeroth about 40+% of the characters played are some variety of Elf (With Blood and Night Elves being 15% each). It’s only natural that the appeal would be greater for more Elven races to be added, since that’s exactly what people play out.
Realistically, there is no severing ones bond to the sunwell, something that aligns with the lore of it having to be ‘destroyed’ (=functionally broken its not like they reduced it to a rubble) or the corrupted magics it would lead out would’ve eventually killed everyone tied to it (regardless of high/blood elf)
The only thing you can say is maybe after it was reignited, one would have to revisit the sunwell to reattune to it, which would create the need for a pilgrimage that is allowed, except;
- nowhere is it implied that the high elves that do these pilgrimages get anything out of it other then visiting their heritage and legacy
- nowhere do we see this dire of a need to visit the sunwell outside of sightseeing
I think it being 4-5 years after the sunwells reactivation also says enough, cata lore is for all intents and purposes ancient, Cataclysms release date was closer to wc3 then it is to our modern day.
Unfortionately, there is very little conclusive information, I think it was merely a case of in cata devs/story assumed that the reignition was a belf only thing which makes little sense, or there was more to the lore that they just never decided to write down in a way thats accessible to the player (or is just well hidden somewhere)
I think the current status quo is: thalassian elves have a bond with the sunwell, end of story, however there’s just not that much to find on the effects the reignition of the sunwell had on high elves.
TL;DR
someone should inform those npc’s they are comitting bad RP
I do not have the quote on me - nor the source. But all Elves are sustained by the Sunwell regardless of where in the universe they might be so long as it’s active. I /think/ it’s the TBC Allerian Hold dialogue/questing that states it but I’m not sure. The Pilgrimages themselves serve a performative role. And it’s also to emphasize two things. That Lor’themar has granted amnesty to the High Elves (which they are yet to accept) back in Shadow of the Sun, and that the High Elves maintain some stake in the Sunwell. But as you’ve mentioned, it’s really old lore. And I hope it’s touched upon in Midnight.
It’s also something which a High/Blood Elf cannot tune themselves out of seemingly. As evidenced by the Corrupted Sunwell in the wake of the Scourging killing off the Elves with its defiled energies, and having had to be nuked.
Anyway, the point was that the Quel’lithien part was never finished, nor given any conclusion besides “Some random relic was found, and it caused all of us to die.” - because of quests and plots that never made it out of beta.
And more to the point, the Quel’lithien Wretched are not the same case as the Blood Elven Wretched in how they came to be.
Regardless of your opinion that it was unfinished, all we have is what is in game, which is canon. Anything that may have been conceived as extra to that is not in the game and so is not canon.
And what is canon is this. The Quel’lithien elves, whilst they were sustained by the sunwell, found a magical artifact and they gave into its seductive energies in a moment of blatant hypocrisy and they were destroyed by that choice. It makes them weak, but weakness is believable as a character trait.
Are you okay? Do you honestly believe giving options means you screw everyone else who plays void elf? In what world?
Sarcasm is hard to convey with text but I feel like he did a good job there.
I do feel like the velf paladin take so that you can be helf paladin is funky too, helf paladins are like delas moonfang, there is no cultural precedent for it.
The humans forced their priests into combat practice as an answer to orcish risen death knights.
The blood elves took up armor and became the Blood Knights in order to deal with the remnants of the scourge, if they had paladins, they would’ve used them in Arthas’ assault on their land, they didn’t, because they don’t have paladins.
The way hes been acting its quite difficult for me to sense sarcasm when everytime he posts its mostly denying any form of customization that reduces the purple effect from the racial. ![]()
Ofc I can be wrong but thats the feeling ive gotten from the very start.