So - what’s the point of giving night elves anything, then? They aren’t real and neither is the Alliance.
That’s not what I’m saying, and you know it.
The concept of a city in a tree, with a full forest is incredible. Add a great temple and you have the 3 aspects of the night elves all in one.
You never needed to have rural tree homes, Darnassus setting is what you want but greatly upgraded.
Ideally you want Zin’Azshari but on top of tree like Shaladrassil with a lake in the middle like a new well and a forest behind the city and at the root of the tree. like you have in Val’sharah.
This would be a beautiful city with incredible marble and glass architecture like the night elves do best within a backdrop of nature. As described in the earlier posts, It would still have gardens and groves/parks too, with beautiful flowers and creatures coming in and leaving. Full of arcane wonders from the Highborne, beautiful buildings, jewelled in the highborne section, but full of moonstones and star sparks and walls with constellation runes, that flash silver sometimes and can glow with power o do things.
It would have a great temple too at the heart of the city in addition to embassies, academies, ORder quarters, I would have one tree home in it for the druid head quarters, on an isleand with a grove, but the tallest tree in the centre hollowed out for druidss to adminsiter their business.
Think about this
https://imgix.kotaku.com.au/content/uploads/sites/3/2016/09/01/gjdhkhin9lx5uqvkbtbq.jpg?auto=format&fit=fill&q=65&w=660
with this city in it at the top surrounding that huge lake
and this temple
And this is how the Highborne section looks at night:
Also can you imagine building a city in a location like this:
i was thinking more like Avatar home with the tree of souls and sprawling treetop city
with animals living there too
i cant post picture here on the forums yet, but if you google " tree of souls Avatar" you will see what i mean
Aww, night elves aren’t a primitive people by their lore. During the long vigil, two groups lived in advanced cities, and the largest group with Malfurion, Tyrande and Darth’remar, mages and priests mostly, chose to prevent the practice of arcane magic in hopes to make it impossible for the legion to return.
So they lived in a post apocalyptic world, 1-generation (not descendants who fade and forget) focusing mainly on their task, rather than improving or restoring their lives or building their families. They guarded, watched and hunted for demons and any use of magic detectable enough tot draw the legion.
These are are high society people who have had to live without their civilization, they haven’t devolved or “not advanced enough” or forgotten their how either to. They chose not to for their task. Although druids tend to love living simply in nature because of their calling.
As such, once the long vigil ended, and isolation finished too at the end of WC3, the opening act of the night elves to us, they opened up, and started living again.
This meant building a city, starting family life, trade, and living for more than “preventing the legion from returning”. In time they met up with the night elf group from one of the two cities, formed an alliance too, lifted their ban o magic. They won’t be building a tree city… that’s not the race MO.
the druidic presentation of the night elves has often given people that impression of them. Druids would not build cities and I would imagine are loathe to convert trees to homes, but would for families containing people who don’t necessarily follow their calling. As seen in their zones, these race few and far between, as they love nature as on touched by civilization and mortals, like it is in the Emerald Dream they love so much. This is why they sleep in barrow dens beneath the earth themselves… only the few that have families would have tree homes.
It is also why druids would highly approve that most night elves live in cities and big population centres, greatly reducing the disruption of nature, and would approve of marble and stone rather than disrupting trees to provide homes or wood.
Sp, with Ancients and mages back, the same combination that built their great cities, and wielding once more the magics they used to do so, you can expect them all to be glad to make a city and continue their lives in a broader society than the one that was ended by the legion, not to mention their experts in each of their fields are 10,000 years more wiser and knowledgeable in all their fields.
It would be exciting to see the improvements the Shen’dralar have made from the things they learned since the sundering - I expect it to be better than the old cities, and off course the Ancient trees remember everything, and the night elf druids have grown immensely since.
Darnassus is an early version of done by priests and ancients, now with the mages and arcane back, the 3 in combination …well what wonders.
I hope they build a spectacular city in a tree again, but at least this time ward it or make it an arcane and nature fused tree. I expect buildings as beautiful as Suramar and Zin’Azsahri, but with arcane wonders, and temples as well as groves and parks and lots of gardens. - reflecting the whole night elf population.
Ofc their zones will stll have forests where you can have your forest homes, and others like Azsuna and Desolace or Darkshore where you have more open country instead of forest for more marble towns instead of lodges and villages, but that would come.
As for a tree top home, that would probably be more suited to a race like the Sylvar, or perhaps if we get night elf worgen who’ve been in the dream so long they’re a bit more on the feral side or possibly an super intelligent emerging furbolg race, or possibly a dryad/keeper Cenarian race home…but then, they, like druids have the forest as home and won’t build cities.
yeah i would love a big new Hub
the tree of souls from avatar would reflect the dead night elfs though, as if we could commune with their Wisps
i could picture a big tree with 1000s of wisps flowing around it like a big graveyard for those that were killed in the fire
From the lore, I view night elves as a post apocalyptic group that has had to live in the sticks because of what happened with the Legion for a very long time.
But have neither forgotten their former lives or how well they did things. Have had complications because of the legion that prevented them from rebuilding their lives.
the whole separation of Darth’remar’s group was because Darth’remar felt it was time the elves rebuilt and started developing again, off course, magic was necessary for that. If the only reason for not using it was preventing the Legion detecting Azeroth and thus discovering it still had the Well of power (which is what they had thought the Legion was after), then ways could be devised to use magic without detection. And as the foremost expert on the portalling field above all those who survived gathered at Hyjal, he was the most qualified to make that assessment.
ofc, Malfurion did not agree, and other druids - all former magi themselves and Moonguard were not all in agreement hence Darth’remar insisting hew as the most qualified amongst them - and he was.
Malfurion felt it was madness, the risk too great and it must be addiction addling their minds to make such a suggestion… but how could he not. Hew as a druid, the totality of nature was more than enough for him.
Other night elves no doubt felt differently, this is clear, however you can understand, despite wanting more than just forests - the risk was too great in the eyes of many. In the end, only the Sunstrider clan dis-agreed and they attempted to prove it, but the storm they conjured wen out of control due to lack of practice, killing some and ofc breaking the edict, this is what resulted in the exile.
Still the rest of the kaldorei amongst that group certainly remember their advanced lives, and during the vigil that would go on for an additional 7,000 years after Darth’remar’s group’s exile, they would continue in that life , making do without the arcane and without rebuilding or civilization in order to fulfil their vigil as best they knew how.
All this changes in WC£ when the Legion return, and with it, this group exits isolation and their long hunting and guarding vigil also ends. For the first time they have to live again for other reasons, Fandral tries to lead them to restore their position and guide the nations. Tyrande is no civil leader, she is a priestess and huntress, leading a church and hunters in a time of war, not leading a civilization - she has no expertise… this was his point of view, and he was right.
Much has changed too after WC3, including the emergence of advanced night elven groups like the Shen’dralar and the Nightborne who you have to remember, lived in advanced cities continuing that lifestyle of comfort and convenience, but sadly also the decadence and addiction that marred the end of their golden age.
You can’t view either of these as primitive either and they help remind you that the night elven people aren’t just forest elves… but their context is sadly not clearly seen as much of this side of the night elves isn’t visible in the game, at least not unless you read and think carefully on the quests, and what Dire Maul actually indicates and says, and what you are seeing in Suramar is Night elven, despite the different appearance of the Nightborne.
Yet it’s all there, it’s just not as obvious to a lot of people I have found out.
But anyway, 14 years of night elves in just ruins and forests gets boring when they can also have the likes of Suramar and Zin’Azshari. So one hopes they would at least get an incredible city that displays their arcane mastery , nature love, and reverence for Elune… the best of the architectural style of the night elves, and one that emphatically shows they really are incredibly advanced, and yet their society leans and respects the humble druids who live away from such grandeur, humbly in caves - that seem so primitive, yet are actually the most sage and trustworthy, often knowledgeable of the lot.
It’s beautiful enigma that characterises the race. Most who come to the night elves new amazing city, and the legends of the magicians with so much advanced magical knowledge having returned to their people, would think it was the Highborne that controlled and led the night elves, because of their majestic appearance, unreadable faces, and magical knowledge and wonders they could perform, yet none of them would command respect as the simple clad druid, looking at odds amongst the marbled palaces and temples to Elune, that the people respect second only to Elune herself.
think of them as jedi - just because Jedi dress in humble simple robes, take no attachments and have no interest in material things, so seem simple, yet are the wisest and most knowledgeable of the Republic, and their simple life and love of simplicity belies their power and capability, and for all the expertise of the scientists and weapons developers that drive the advanced civilization, it is the jedi that command the most respect and are often the most powerful individuals.
This is how it is with night elves.
looks prety great
Yeh, that’s the hope to be honest. Blizzard has some great stuff they’ve done for night elves, now if only they’d just prepare a great zone that has all of it in pristine condition for the playable night elves to have as a capital zone… then it won’t be so bad when you come across soo many ruins and many forests with a lot of devastation.
Still in addition it would be nice to occasionally have some of those ruins restored in a revamp patch. Not all, but at least a few more, so it shows the race has been making progress.
I would backdate a lot of the progress to happening before the legion invaded, and the ones on the broken isle to have happened after the Legion’s defeat.
The thing about the druid clas is that it’s been the vehcile to show most of the night elf culture and race, which sometimes untruthfully weights the race towards druidism than it actually is.
Without a way to show the star and moon culture in the priest class as that is based on priests of the light instead of Elune priests, much of it has been shown in the druid class.
Mages are human /high elf based so night elven influence once more in the arcane is shown in the druid class in game where it is much broader in the lore.
You guys have a home at mount hyjal already.
A reply the World of Warcraft account made a while back when a fan asked about the destruction of Teldrassil.
I imagine the Night elves and the Forsaken will both recieve new rebuilt capitals before long as soon as the lore and the game allows for that to happend.
Is anyone a little bit disappointed if it 's exactly the same? I mean it could be beautiful and much better looking than previously, … i mean the Teldrassil model could actually be a tree model this time rather than the stomp it has ben for most of wow
Darnassus could be totally rebuilt into something even more beautiful than Zin’Azshari and Suramar combined, complete with a temple as gorgeous as the Catehdral of Eternal night
With Tledrassil forest even better than before, new towns along the tree, in that eeqxquisite elven architecture… having rural tree homes in villages like dolanar, but also some marble towns, like Meredil, Ambervale and Tel’anor also
but itw ould be a bit disappointing … unless ofc, The reveamp wass far more extensive.
We got a rebuilt Mathystra, Ordil Aran, Sargeron and Eldre’thalas, - Forest song a Draenei town.
WE got Ashevnale lush and forested agian, Hyjal damage of the FIre lands repaired, but a small town built by the night elves there protecting the Tree and the well… with druids for the tree, kaldorei mages for the well and shaman from cataclysm there. - perhaps faction concerns amke having horde druids and shaman there problematic, so only alliance ones are allowd.
Who knows.
Depends on how much the revamp does.
but if they repair many of the shattered night elven lands, or at least enough of them
I think it was foolish to expect Blizzard to expand on the Broken Isle zones. 8.1 gave the direction that they wanted to take and Madeline Roux basically had it confirmed that their heavily “druidic” lands, would be their home.
This was the outcry from night elf fans, so I wasn’t expecting anything to happen to Val’sharah (that Brigante hoped for) or Azsuna / Suramar, that you hoped for. It was always going to be Hyjal, Ashenvale and the rumors surrounding a new tree for them to live on.
Now, do I think Blizzard have Darnassus in mind? Yes, I absolutely do. Do I think we will see more of a combination of the Elune stuff, along with the Druidic stuff? I would like to think so. Do I foresee more of a “Mage” presence within the alliance night elves? Honestly, no. We will have a few NPC’s, such as the “Darnassus Mage”, but for every 1 of them, it will equal 20 Sentinel NPCs, 8 Priest NPCs and 8 Druid NPCs.
I don’t mind this, because it gives Blizzard a key focus to develop. Rather than develop more, for a less interesting story, they could easily develop the Priest / Druid / Sentinels within the Night Elves to be fully engaging. Much like the Blood Elves with their Mages / Hunters / Paladins.
It’s clear Blizzard can’t do “big”, but they do small and fewer, very well. What they need is for racial focus to be the drive for the next expansion, but get their writing teams split up and have people who love the elves, write the elves (all of them, but ensure blood elf and void elf are represented because night elf fans who try and write blood elves just embarrass the race and it’s fanbase.)
Says who? It could go any way . nothing to say,(except your prejudice), that it shouldbe 1 mage to 8 druids and priests, tha’ts even unrealistic by current evvents and night elf lore.
By race design intention, the night elves are as much dark elf as forest elf, it’s a good half of their intended identity, and this is why they have 2 major eras of arcane and nature, and are always framed in the light of both.
The development goal for the night elves was to be the best of both the dark elf and forest elf type sets in regular fantasy. As this is actually quite good and unique, i really don’t think they should be abandoning this because you feel they should overwhelmingly be forest elves majority despite them clearly not being so.
There are entire communities of arcane wielding night elves, don’t forget, don’t take the lack of in-game development to assume they don’t exist or shouldn’t.
And after the war of thorns, there are very likely as much mages if not more than there are priests and druids. or sentinel… the night elves are poised to finally tep fully into their design objective.
Doing fantastic arcane wonder city,but full of nature and an incredible temple is the perfect poise. I do not experct to see 8 druids to 1 mage in a night elf city anyway.
Druids won’t be flocking to the halls and towers of a city, they’d be in the forests that do need a lot of healing after all the recent wars and invasions, and only a handful would be required to tend the city groves, parks and gardens, or sit in the seat of governance from there, likely in the biggest grove or park in the city, with only a handful.
Darnassus had very few Druids in it
Cities are for civilians, traders, craftsmen, trainers, HQs for organisations that span a nation, for Highborne types too and mages as they do most of their work there too, also for priests who minister to the people, the Temple sort. Embassies and centres for foreigners who visit your lands so you can keep a watch on them and prevent them meddling or disturbing without supervision, population centres that are often necessary for growth, education and certain orders like the mage order, development, trade and craft too.
It is not the sort of place for Demon hunters or druids to settle based on what their calling is. Botanists and plant lovers are not going to be their much either, but there is more than enough room and space and need for them based on the identity of the kaldorei as a multi-faceted people that contain the full breadth of what it means to be an elf. and that means both arcane and nature, as well as Elune, in both the highest form of civilization and the depth of the wildest forest.
It’s fine to be a night elf fan and like just the forest nature bit, it is also fine to be a night elf ifne and just like the dark elf arcane bit, but what I do notice is a very vindictive delight in non-night elf fans, especially blood elf horde fans, who I believe, out of rivalry really want night elves to only be a savage primitive forest lot without magic - I find this disingenuous ofc. These people have little to no desire of the race, and certainly have no genuine interest in what they propose. In short, they just want what they think is terrible for their rivals. They’d praise blizzard introducing more of that stuff to night elves, with fake plaudits and never have any incentive to pick up the race at all.
But hit the night elves with more for their pre-sundering splendour and magic, civilization and grandeur, and then they’d be seriously tempted to try the night elves - who’s lore clearly states their civilization and arcane mastery being unparalleled. Which is part of the positive things about the night elves. As the dark skinned elves, they actually need to be competitively attractive enough, or no one is going to desire them over high/blood elf types. This is why dark elf types are usually more powerful in most fantasies and often more advanced too -it’s their edge. In wow , they made them even better… and trust, me it’s going to take that for players to pick them over blood elves.
What is sad, is that night elves do have all of this as part of their race make up, but show so little of it in game for players to see. Maybe if they had placed them in the horde, we’d have seen it a lot sooner.
Here is hoping the horde bias is ended and the alliance races now get invested upon seeing how unimpressed most people are by them and how desperate the faction is for players.
You need to look at the story that Blizzard has created for the alliance night elves.
The whole of 8.1 was “What happens when you enter night elf forests.” That was their own words. They don’t even include Evenshade as part of the night elf leadership. That is what Blizzard approved. The Night Elf spirits from teldrassil tell us that they are happy to be in a forest again. Civilians and Sentinel Spirits alike.
Night Elves don’t belong to night elf fans. They belong to Blizzard and if a new tree is where night elves are going to live, then a new tree it will be.
They had a whole area in the North of Darnassus, dedicated to Druids and Sentinels.
Darnassus was dedicated to the 3 core areas of the Alliance Night Elves. Priests, Druids and Sentinels. When the Mages arrived, they were shoved round the back of the Temple.
Again, night elves aren’t special and they don’t deserve a city with every single one of their classes to have representation, when other races don’t even have that. When other races get every aspect shown, that’s when night elves can have everything shown for them. Until then, they aren’t special and they don’t deserve it.
So just because they did that, you are to ignore everything that came before? By that logic all that light focus on blood elves means that blood elves are now light magic elves.
Pfft, it’s okay for developers to show various aspects of the night elves, LEgion showed a lot of the arcane side of the night elves, were we to assume that was the direction. How about WC3? When it was the Sentinels and Priestesses of Elune that were what were chiefly shown.
Or shall we instead focus on what is said in the books which covers a hell of a lot more than the game does?
Which is it?
How about concluding it is everything that they have shown and written and rather than the latest thing being the only thing, the latest thing is just part of a bigger whole.
There were only a handful of druids and one building… that’s it. There were lots of sentinels, they were the military presence… what city doesn’t have it’s melee unit guards… Or did you fail to notice the Silvermoon melee guards too? Not sure why you threw in sentinels there though, no one was disputing there presence or numbers.
The point being made was about druids not being much in cities. I mean this is what is clearly shown in Darnassus and the lore on druids tells you why this is the case. There is nothing to argue here.
Again, Minaria/Leíá, no one is saying night elves don’t love nature and forests, don’t try to make it sound like that. Again pointing out to you that night elves have a bigger portion and identity that’s not just nature love.
Loving nature and forests doesn’t mean they don’t like magic nor does it mean they aren’t talented. You can love nature and forest and love a city too or temples. You should know this by now.
I love cities, but also love to get out of them back into the country and the forests Every time I make a trip out, i am pleased to be back in nature. Similarly, after a while I want more, I want activity, productivity and the bustle - though I am excited to return to the city and continue my work, my love for nature doesn’t disappear either.
I am not a druid only fixated on nature, neither are all the night elves. Some are priests, some mages, some traders, some craftsmen, some demon hunters, some warriors, some wardens, some sentinels - I mean you get the picture - this is a multi faceted multi-nationed race - they are not all just some bunch of druids.
I think you get confused because they showed a lot of druids, especially to a blood elf player, you only meet friendly night elves as druids outside their starting zones because they weren’t developed much and they were there for druid class quests - does that mean night elves werne’t warriors or priests or hunters or mages? This was mostly the case until Cata. Afterwards you actually interact with others. This may give you a false impression, but blizzard does show other night elves
Teldrassil was a huge tree, and had forests in it, wisps are meant to be in forests not cities, so ofc they would be happy, and what is their context? Creating and growing more trees which is their magical field as wisps - stop trying to twist the lore to present a false truth about night elves. Each aspect means something, wisps and druids are forest lovers, they are not going to prefer cities - but if cities have parks and groves, some won’t mind that.
This is the nature of a wisps.
You’re repeating what I keep telling you many times, is it finally sinking in? Can you look at what the developers have done ? The whole picture, not the select bits taken out of context.
Once again Night elves are not meant to be just or only forest elves, a copy of the fantasy trope so unoriginal and boring by itself that was never the intention, they are dark elves with a forest elf side of equal proportion. The amalgamation is meant to be unique - and you see this in both their empire/civilization and arcane mastery as well as their druidic nature mastery side.
They are meant to be a big vision of the origin elf, not some small tiny elf sect. In case you missed it above.
Some (esp a select blood elf horde fans) of you just want them to be savage animals - that is not the elf trope at all, you have worgen for that, and other races - you don’t use the elf trope for pure savage race. Night elves can have a primal savage aspect, but Elves are typified by magic, beauty and nature love - and in night elves this is where all elves get their arcane magic love, beauty and nature love. As the oldest, night elves take this the furthest.
In Warcraft lore, druids try to restore nature to it’s flawless beauty state in the Emerald dream, they don’t like distorting trees for homes - so having a city of trees is not this race’s fantasy - they would prefer night elves use marble instead of stone, and the way night elves do civilization has been shown repeatedly in game - why is this so hard to accept?
In the long vigil, without the arcane and because of the long vigil, , they weren’t staying still or building families and life, therefore they built nothing, and without using arcane magic, they restored nothing… this changes after "C3
Please understand the lore, understand the vision of the elves from the developers, they share it with us and show us.
Just Imagine the Darkshore skybox in the distance of Teldrassil. With glowing City lights and an entirely new upgraded Teldrassil.
Instead we are stuck with a Burning woodlog -.-
To me, it’s basically - “I want a night elf version of Silvermoon.” That’s the vibe, I’m getting.
Just play a Blood Elf and have “actual” Silvermoon.
Or, show the distinction between Blood Elves and Night Elves where the latter has a rebuilt and upgraded version of Darnassus. If the hints of regrowing trees is true, then hopefully the Winter Queen might be able to do something for the night elf home.
I remember the golden days of Wrath, when WoW was at it’s peak, where we had a real distinction between the two core elf groups (Night and Blood Elves.)
Ueh, that sky box would look awesome. If they ever reutrned to Teldrassil regrown
It would hvae to look – re-inforced… maybe a fusion fo of wood and marble or somethign that isn’t flamamable.
Darnassus: New Daranssus would have all the wooden stuff burned fromt he fire, and I think druids wuld prefer the mages and ancients to use marble aswell, less easily burned, and the mages, druids and priests would all cast spells to protect and ward both teh tree and the cities buildings.
I do like the idea of a Zin’Azshari or Suramar type city atop teldrassil, with an even more beautiful forest outside the new city. IT would be very disappointing if they told such a horrible story for night elves, and the new city still looked exactly teh same or worse than stuff they did 10-12,000 years ago, when their mages, druids and priests are far more advanced now than before.
This is the best image of the skybox.
Notice the city at the very edge, and the amazing forestd lands nad mountin s at the far opposite end.
This was the image from the failed movie
And this
However to be honest you want a city that looks like this by day
and like this by night
On a tree like this
but make sure there is room for a pool like this tree:
My idea of night elf is something that combines the wonder of their pre-sundering civilization in cities and the arcane with the wonder of nature learned in the long vigil.
It needs a fantastic tree with a great forest, and a magnificent beautiful city in it with all the wonder of all the best bits of both ages. Making them indeed the best of the dark elves and the best of the forest elves.
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That’s cos you’re obsessed with Blood elves and Silvermoon, Minaria, so much so you have no idea what is in the lore about the kaldorei, nor do you care.
It’s like someone asking for more rangers and Farstrider action and forest time, and me saying that the vibe I’m getting from the person is “I want a blood elf version of night elf sentinels”. - you’d be like “WTF?!” (and you’d be right)
Blood elves have their own ranger lore and Farstriders, their own forests etc, just like night elves have their own civilization and capability too.
FYI, I’ve always wanted to see the full version of the night elf version of elven cities, civilization after reading about them in WotA and seeing the ruins. I didn’t imagine these things up by myself, I was told them, and given evidence of them, and shown a race capable of them.
This is what you’re not getting, this comes from night elf story and merit in and of it’s self, and your refusal to even accept that night elves have their own version, and actually it was not some half baked halfarse thing, they have a full style, civilization and have carried that out to the highest levels.
You are not understanding that a fan of the race wants to see all the things that have been written about and attributed to the race and wants to experience them for the group they have come to like.
And you are seeing things almost entirely from a blood elf perspective. You see blood elf elven cities, so because you are blood elf orientated, you think night elves wanting night elf cities want what blood elves have. Not for a second even considering that they want what they want because of their race’s lore. If the good work for blood elves inspired them to see the night elf versions or want to see the night elf versions, then that’s a good ting but it is still the night elf ones they want, not the blood elf ones.
You won’t see that though, not when you’re so blood elf focused, you think everything is about them, and every thing elf fans want revolves around them.
I don’t think I would allow my desires about night elves to be dictated by you. You have little patience or care , as well as little interest in a race that means little to you.
I know it is hard for men to understand empathy, but you are an intelligent gender and can grasp things even when they don’t come naturally or easily at first.
Ever felt that how you feel towards blood elves others might feel towards other races, and love the presentation and fullness of the race they like?, Love the artwork the lore contrasts and what blizzard gives them? Try! Even if you don’t like that race or want anything good for them, at least understand.
My Feelings
I love that night elves appear primitive and backwards when you first meet them, especially if you meet the druidic lot in a forest, you think them regressive… I love that, never mind the beauty and wonder of the forest (I also love), but I love that it’s just the tip of the iceberg, it teases you, and the fact there is so much more, that this race has a level of civilization far beyond what even the highest standards of the rest of Azeroth’s natives have, and love how people would totally underestimate them and miss the mark on them.
Just like I love the idea of how their eyes would pop when they eventually see how grand their cities or city is , and look to the Highborne types and civil leadership as the highest authority of that race’s leadership and materminds and heart behind its architects, only to realise that it is the humble druid that is the most influential, the one everyone listens too, the pillar and heart of an insanely intelligent and skilled group that their initial apperance totally belied, and amongst them the lowest is the highest, and the highest is the lowest - even if said lowest think of themselves as the highest.
Night Elf Contrasts
I love that… the contrast… how you go from complete serene forest almost natural and wild, feeling untouched, like the emerald dream, it’s raw beauty and wonder, and go to teh complete contrast in it’s sparkling gleaming master work of architecture full of arcane magic, moonstones, gems, beautiful sculptured building work, star effects and the like, an advanced paradise of magic.
How you see what seem like a humble and serene people in one instance, but in battle they are the complete opposite… fierce, savage like and quite the force to reckon with. or maybe you met them as enemies first and saw how ferocious they were, you thought this was a savage crude lot, and then met them how they are normally and realised how serene, wise and intelligent, knowing, and highly sophisticated they were, in complete contrast.
I love the contrast, but I also love the opposites, love the night elf civilization and how it is described in the books and visualised in the art work in game and in cinematics, and the forest too, the super humility of the druids that belie the sophistication of the race.
And they aren’t trying to hide any of that. Tyrande doesn’t give a rats if you think of her as Queen of the wood elves, or the Queen of the Kaldorei empire, whether you think of her as an angry impatient child, or the voice and authority of the very goddess herself.
whether you think her wild and uncultured or sophisticated and queenly when you see her people’s temples and in their priestly regalia… she doesn’t
She does what needs to be done. I love the contrast.
You may love the blood elves for their arcane magic, but I love the whole of the night elves, their arcane wonder, their nature wodner, their priesthood, the demon hunters with their Illidan like drive, ferocity and arrogance - love it. Great characterisation.
I want wow players to see what I’ve seen. A lot of it is hidden in book descriptions, and to understand what you see in game fully being kaldorei you have to know the lore properly. I want them to see that contrast and finally understand the night elves.
They have always been distinct, and always been similar too. Their story starts well before TBC, but you won’t know that because you came to the game around TBC … and thought the blood elves clearly the superior because of the presentation at the time.
You had no idea that the night elves you scorned for being primitive and offering nothing but forests and ruins, were a people that had a civilization that made the blood elves look simple, and a mastery of magic that outstripped all the sin’dorei had managed to reclaim from their kaldorei ancestry , many times over.
You didn’t know.
You assumed that blizzard were contrasting them as “civilized” elves and “primitive” elves, because older meant more ancient and more primitive. that was your pre-supposition, you failed to grasp that the night elves had always been a post-apocalyptic race in the current timeline…not the “Neanderthal” or “primitive man” version for the elves…but you assumed their forest life and the humble looking druids meant that.
You had no idea that many of those druids were actually once magicians themselves of the highest pedigree wielding magic the current civilizations of Azeroth had only dreamt of in a civilization that spanned the globe, unmatched in it’s wonder and level of progress.
You didn’t know, because you didn’t care, and hadn’t read the lore either, nor did you want to. It was blood elves that touched you, and they also have an amazing story too. But, theirs was shown in game , as opposed to most of the night elves which is in books with the game only showing ruins and forests, with one city - you interpreted to be the greatest night elves were capable of rather than, the test run flexing of rebuilding, a first attempt in 10,000 years to build something, and they managing it then without arcane magic and in record time… the scope of that achievement completely lost on you, because you don’t care.
You only see what is in front of you, and never consider someone or somethings are more than meets the eye.
Night elves are not for everyone, not everyone is curious enough or hangs around long enough to see the true scope being invested here, and probably won’t notice until it fully blossoms.
Well I’m waiting for it to fully blossom. Suramar was just a glimpse, Val’Sharah too, it looks like in game they have yet to give them the best of their race in one place… they’ve led them through a lot of hardship, loss, devastation and war - from Wc3 right up to the WoT - it’s been killing, on the brink, pushed back, losing immortality etc etc, on the back of such a distinguished past.
Now we’ve seen them really in the rut, and had examples of how great they can do cities (Suramar/Zin’Azshari), how great they can do forests (Val’sharah/Teldrassil), and how great their temples can be (Cathedral of Eternal Nigh/ Temple of the Moon)… Is ay they are glimpses, because they are incomplete, half of Suramar is destroyed, Zin’Azshari in ruins, Eldre’thalas too, half of Val’Sharah is in devastation, each of those temples are in a ruined or semi-ruined state - none of these places re truly at their full potential when done properly in the full style of the new models
This is what we wait for.
I do play a Blood Elf, and enjoy them for what they are, however just because they had the updated model, I’m not for one fooled to thinking that blood elves are more attractive than night elves - because the game has just fixed a look to both for silhouette and faction difference purposes.
Until TBC they shared the same model, , so they are meant to be as gorgeous as each other, and if you find dark skin, purple skin and silver eyes exotic and beautiful you’d prefer night elves to the blond haired , pale skinned . And if you prefer our colour skin and hair/eye tones better you’d find blood elves more attractive…
I also looked beyond what I was shown to include what I was told in books and announcements, panels etc, lore really, and combined to see what could be if night elves were fully shown , and while I loved what I was shown for Blood elves, the race that has more to show actually has piqued my interest more. I still like Thalassians though…
I do, with my blood elf toons. Which is why my night elf toons want their best version city, best version temple and forest ready for them, cos I know it’s gonna look amazing.
Now if I didn’t like Warcraft or any of this stuff, I wouldn’t care as much. it makes me excited with anticipation, though when they take too long they make us give up.
When they do give it, it makes you love it even more… so now I’m waiting for the night elf one to be fully shown.