Is not all, nor most.
If I were a casual player and noticed one NPC has small, pointy ears, I don’t think I’d jump to the conclusion that every other NPC in the area must also be like her. Just like I don’t conclude from the void elves walking around Stormwind that all Stormwindians are actually void elves.
Noticing just one npc with weird ears, yeah I wouldn’t jump to conclusion either, but then noticing a bunch of them have said ears(and with Blizzard literally announcing them in Blizzcon/said info propagating) I would be less inclide to assume they are just “human”.
If we’re taking casual players running around and finishing the zone without focusing on the story (the premise I was responding to), we’re probably not talking about people inspecting NPCs. The only ones who’d be noticed are in cinematics, because unless you’re zooming your camera in or happen to clip a model at the right angle, ears are barely noticed normally. I’m running around Mereldar right now, and I’m telling you, most characters’ ears aren’t even visible.
Those people are also probably not paying close attention to Blizzcon lore announcements either.
You do realize we have character portraits right? A portrait that centers itself on a character’s face and the ears are definitely noticeable on them as long as they dont have long hair/helmet. Like anyone who even briefly looks at say the dungeon guide for the priory would see all three of the bosses habe long ears.
It is a zone full of (overwhelmingly) human models with Scarlet aesthetics and very human coded architecture. The only thing that really sets them apart at a glance are the zeppelin based airships (which are also not elven inspired).
And just to be clear, I’m not knocking the Arathi. It was my favorite culture and favorite zone this expansion. They are unique in their own right, including the architecture and airships, but none of it conveys “we are strongly inspired by high elven ancestry!” And frankly, it probably shouldn’t. Long-lived races don’t tend to populate at the same rate short-lived races do, so it would make sense for the human themes to rise to the surface.
Yes. Unless you’re argument is that the average player is paying very close attention to the potrait of a quest giver npc, I fail to see the relevance.
And if that is your argument, it’s moot. Still running around Mereldar, clicking the portraits of those few npcs without hoods (why are hoods so prominent?) or long hair, and the ears there are even harder to make out.
Captain Dailcry has long hair, no visible ears.
Baron Braunpyke’s ears blend in with his armor I think, because I can barely make them out.
Prioress Murrpray is the only one you can see her ears, but the portrait is too small to tell whether or not they’re pointy.
I suppose if you think casual players go out of their way to look at the model view, you might have a point. But I don’t really expect the type of people we’re talking about (which is the majority of players) care that much about looking at dungeon boss models up close.
The average player would at least look once at their surroundings/the things they actually have to kill/interact with. This would be akin to people saying no one would notice Earthen beards. If anything people have a tendency to focus on things they don’t normally see.
Yes, that isn’t being disputed.
What is being disputed is whether or not those people would notice the very small detail of points on otherwise normal human sized ears, especially when you can go in-game and see how difficult they are to notice on most models if you’re not actively looking for them.
The average player isn’t going to be doing ear inspections on these otherwise standard-looking humans.
Exactly. Nothing about the Arathi is elf-like aside from the ears and the ears are such a tiny detail a lot of people probably didn’t even notice. Especially with all the people wearing hats or having long hair covering the tiny ears.
Blizzard made a point of telling you they were mixed racially. The put in a quest telling you that. They had the main character of the plot, Alleria, remark on how half-elven they look. Some look pretty human, but the most prominent, the one they introduced the race with, look part Elven and the Kyron looks exactly like a Blood Elf.
If one thinks Blizzard is telling you they regard them racially as another human race, I would say you are in denial.
Culturally, I think they were formed from a human culture absorbing Elves. So they may “lean” human. But Blizzard also made a point of telling use they regard themselves as separate from both humans and elves.
If one thinks Blizzard intends them to identify with humans over elves, well, I think you are going to disappointed on that also.
feels like a lot of doylist/watsonian confusion going on in here… i take all the people calling the arathi ‘mostly human’ (a sentiment with which i frankly agree) are making a judgement on their presentation, not their lore. they could very well be from outland and all have the racial composition of med’an, but that doesn’t change the fact that they look like scarlet crusaders with filed down ears.
Yes, they’ve told us something and shown us something entirely different. That is the point, I think. It isn’t some fusion between human and elven cultures where we can’t figure out where one begins and the other ends. They present basically as human with some unique exceptions that are not elven.
I don’t think the fact that they have elven ancestry is even a disagreement here.
It comes down to what Blizzard intends, what Blizzard tells and what Blizzard shows.
Blizzard can intend what they want. They have intended to make all classes and specs equally viable, and that has never been the case. They intended for their big lore books to tighten up the lore, but it’s just as loose as ever. Intent is meaningless compared to action.
Blizzard can say the Arathi are an even mix culturally between human and elf. They have also said that Sylvanas as warchief would be more morally grey compared to Garrosh, and the opposite somehow came true.
What matters is what is shown.
The Arathi certainly largely look much more human than high elf. Anyone thinking that small pointed ears changes that is actually delusional. Arathi architecture looks very well at home in Borleas, but would stand out like a sore thumb in Quel’thalas. Arathi culture, their devotion to the Light, is something we only see with draenie and humans. High elves may follow the Light, but they don’t make it a core part of their cultural identity the way humans do, specifically Scarlets and the Silver Hand.
What Blizzard intended and what they said stands in contrast to what was shown. Are the Arathi mixed race? Certainly. But does it come across that way beyond being told so?
No, not really.
This is the crux of the problem yet again.
Blizzard keeps trying to tell us how to see things instead of making things the way they want them to be seen.
Show, don’t tell.
i mean frankly i can’t take them seriously as some novel group from overseas when they could have literally been stand-ins for actual stromgarde from bfa lol
To be fair to Blizz in this case, I’m not sure “they are equally elven and human” is actually something they were trying to portray (though I could be mistaken). They belong to an empire that once counted humans and elves among their number. In particular, I think the line about being neither elven nor human, but Arathi is meant to convey that they just don’t think of themselves in that way anymore. If they resemble humans or not doesn’t really have any impact on how they view themselves.
I think the baggage in this case is more just what players and story forum goers are bringing to the table.
I’m not sure I really get what Blizzard is going for with them tbh. They can say they’re not humans or don’t identify as humans all they want, but what they’ve shown is just humans.
I don’t think the Elf vs. Human stuff is something they even care about. They just came up with an idea, an expedition of elves and humans, to justify filling out the map on the other side of the world. What naturally followed that creative process was the Arathi today, for whom “humans” is by now a long forgotten concept.
They could have filled in the other side of the map with literally anything, but chose humans. I’m not sure creative is the word I’d use for what Blizzard did.
I suspect they wanted some militant Light themes and a way to ground it in existing history to avoid one of Shadowlands’ many issues, which was detachment. Human-centrism is going to be part and parcel with this game for all time, though, so I don’t think anyone should be too surprised.