I really welcome the new SL changes and it does make me happy as someone who’ll be rolling a “High Elf” alt when the customization options get implemented.
Unfortunately, it just feels like Blizz should have adopted this stance on High Elves 3 years ago before the introduction of Void Elves. I still have to roll one of Umbric’s research assistants instead of the 10% of living Thalassians that have always been in the Alliance.
And sure, if I choose the uncorrupted skin tones (and hopefully hair options) that’ll make me a “High Elf…” but still show a voidy loading screen, I’ll still turn voidy during combat, I’ll still have that “first was high, then was blood, and now void” /silly.
Sadly I don’t think fair-skinned Void Elves can coexist with the High Elves as Allied Races. I’d love it if you selected a “High Elf” option that removed the voidy combat ability and gave a new background and voice acting, but that’s really just a pipe dream in the world where Blizz is essentially hotfixing their decision to give us “almost but not really” High Elves.
Agree with adding a paladin option though. We have Lightforged Draenei Death Knights now, we can afford a few more race/class combos in SL now. Toss in Night Elf Paladins, Worgen and Goblin Monks (the only reason they can’t be monks is because they’re Cata races), Zandalari locks, Blood Elf Druids, etc.
Let’t be honest that’s not a void elf anymore.
Blizzard simply did not intend to implement BE’s as AR for alliance, because as their racials are now they’d be identical, same with physical appearance and HE’s got no narrative except opposing BE’s whenever possible.
VE’s were a supoptimal compromise at the start, but I think the new customization options are very solid (especially if they add some more “natural” hair colors) and they got their on specific racials and narrative with the void-theme.
They’d explode but whatever.
Death isn’t opposing light, it’s opposing nature, while light is opposing darkness (shadow magic). LFD shouldn’t have shadow priest lorewise, which was ignored because 2/3 specs wouldn’t make sense, same with VE priest purely shadows.
Currently we got one NE Paladin so it’s very rare and would make more sense in the next expansion (timeskip => NE Paladins more common).
Worgen and Goblin should be able to become monks, nonsense about missing self-control is just wrong and an excuse for missing animations.
Zandalari WL’s are possible I guess, but I’d also accept if they don’t add them because the zandalari society ostracizes them.
Blood elf druids are also kinda meh, but I think you could argue with existing botanist, maybe also next expansion after the timeskip.
A very good chunk of people, RPers or not, are essentially going to play them as High Elves anyway, so why not fully give more options to people to reflect that?
It seems to me that it was always about Ion’s mistaken “blood elves are high elves,” statement, that he’s said he’s reconsidered. High elves could’ve received new racials anyway; just make some excuse about the arcane stuff not being so strong as the TBC-era Blood Elves or what have you.
I’d say that I can see the potential for more High Elf stories after the cosmic war stuff is over, but I’m not sure if that’ll be so true for Void Elves. High Elves, unlike Void Elves, weren’t literally just made up to be a half-hearted attempt at giving players a long-desired race. Plus when it comes to unique narrative: will the Mag’har orcs have one beyond opposing AU Draenei? Or the vulpera, beyond hating NPC Sethrak?
Since we can acknowledge that mechanics are there for mechanics reasons, the suggestion of a paladin for the race is just to represent the many players who’ll be playing as a High Elf (like how people will be playing as a Sandfury-skinned Troll but will start with a high rep with the Darkspear Tribe).
If we can play as the fraction of Lightforged Draenei that got raised as death knights, then we should be able to play as members of races who’ve been starting to learn the ways of other races in the melting pot that Stormwind and Orgrimmar have been for the past few expansions.
Level 1 characters are just that: initiates, so it doesn’t seem unthematic to play, say, a Pandaren who is a novice in learning the ways of the druids, or an orc priest learning shadowmagic from the new AU Shadowmoon clan orcs.
At this point it’s better to ask what race/class combos shouldn’t be added at all (Draenei locks, for example) rather than those that we could have added, which is a lot.
Void elf paladins? Sure, no. High Elf paladins that could mechanics-wise be depicted as Void Elves, since Blizz is only now reconsidering their “Blood Elves are High Elves” stance? Why not?
I’m not personally interested in playing a Void Elf pally, but it’s no secret that a good chunk of players are just going to be playing a High Elf in their own minds, hence why the High Elf crowd is so thankful for the normal skin tone options.
If we’re not going to get a High Elf Allied Race at this point (which is unfortunate, but understandable if we get the new customization options, and adding an exact same race as Void Elves would be uncomfortable now), then the two cultures should just be combined in the Void Elf race slot, and the High Elf-appropriate class of paladins opened up to them.
With the aesthetic barrier largely dissolved they need to find other ways to differentiate the two groups and doubling down on the Light/Void dichotomy is a great way to do so.
That’s literally what I’m doing, and would still play my pally Horde-side if High Elf Paladins were possible today. I just know that other people want to play High Elf paladins Alliance-side, and let’s face it, the number of High Elf paladins might even outnumber Umbric’s void students.
I don’t believe differentiation is a necessity. In SL you won’t be able to tell a blue-eyed Blood Elf hunter and blue-eyed fair-skinned Void Elf hunter apart, why not just go the extra mile and include High Elf paladins as mechanics-wise Void Elves?
You can with your HE skins… but you’ll still be a void elf…
Well the problem is that it’s still doesn’t change the fact that they are identical regarding their race…
Pandaren don’t have different racials just because they’re H/A, so why should BE/HE, which are identical just with different political affiliations.
Both have their addiction regarding arcane energies, with rare exceptions, while the biggest part of remaining HE’s the SC used the arcane energies of dalaran and they’re still both linked to the sunwell.
Wth? You know that this “HE narrative” is simply a narrative which BE could have without any problems, right? VE’s atleast got somethin original.
Maghar aren’t opposing AU-Draenei and Vulpera don’t hate the Sethrak but whatever.
Again:
VE EXPLODE if they imbue their bodies with holy power… and some Race/Class combos simply don’t workout/ are denied lorewise.
Undead and holy don’t oppose each other, as was proven in classic already (Sir Zeliek) and is even more evident with Calia an undead created by the light…
Again you’re playing a VE not an HE, you’ll still have VE racials and you’ll still become void-empowered, even if you have fair skin it doesn’t automatically mean you’re not an VE. Best example is Alleria who’s unable to touch Turalyon without feeling pain because they opposing energies Light vs. Shadow.
Still RP and totally fine, but it wont change the race.
A conflicting racial narrative has been there since TBC in form of the High Elf vs. Blood Elf conflict, long before Void Elves were essentially made up for the sake of giving players “almost High Elves,” and then were given the options to be cosmetic High Elves anyway.
And the Void/Light story is more interesting to me than a bunch of militant vegan NPC’s that are culturally indistinguishable from their human masters and exist only to antagonize their Horde kin.
At least with the Void Elves you have the potential for a story that is detached from Silvermoon and the greater Blood Elf population.
So trolls can have Sandfury skins, but are still 100% Darkspear Trolls at the end of the day, then? Or Dwarves can have Wildhammer options, but are essentially Bronzebeard dwarves LARPing as Wildhammers with those tattoos and feathers?
If there’s no issue for Pandaren having the same racials, then there should be no issue about High Elves and Blood Elves having the same racials. If it’s really a balance issue, then they could just make up that the arcane usage is different enough (since Belf racials are 100% to do with the arcane) that it can be different. I really doubt that the racial issue was enough for Blizz to deny the race; it was just because they believed “High Elves = Blood Elves” at the time and have since changed their tune.
So what’s their “unique narrative” that every race supposedly has to have?
So Dwarves are all Bronzebeard dwarves even if they make themselves look Wildhammer as they can.
To you. Clearly there are a lot of people that are very happy that these options are coming to the game.
I’m not proposing that Void Elf options be taken away from the game, simply that additional options be added for those who wish to play as High Elves via the Void Elf racial slot.