I do agree Druids will probably be the last added to everyone.
Would go a lot faster though if Blizzard actually put a team specifically to work on it. Which they should be able to do. Along with so many other things they should have teams working on constantly.
The Farstrider Rangers do use some druidic magic. But these are hunters and rogues. Do druids fit in there? Not sure tbf.
Blood elves may join the Cenarion Circle because they wish to heal the Ghostlands. That would give us painted night elves again. Botanists, who manipulate nature through the arcane, are undoubtedly more interesting. After all, eversong woods is in eternal spring due to magic.
High elves only ever being arcane IS the retcon. Their history and predating WoW says otherwise.
“The story behind the runestone at Caer Darrow originally mentioned being placed there by "Elven Druids”, implying that they were high elves. The high elves themselves were originally depicted as much closer to nature, with their reason for joining the Alliance of Lordaeron being partly because the Old Horde intended to defile the very lands of Lordaeron”
There are many ways that they could approach this such as adding high elves as an allied race and letting them have Druidic magic. They could then teach it to blood elves to help heal the dead scar. After all Midnight is supposed to be about the scattered elven tribes coming together.
All those years ago they chose exile over giving up arcane magic. They could have stayed if that’s the path they wanted to pursue.
To me that would be like velf that left Silvermoon to practice the void then they said after they were already soaked in void “nm I wan to study the Light.”
But it’s whatevs. Like I originally said, I don’t care anymore at this point.
Another option is to maybe give them Druid but limit which specs they can use. Give them resto and balance maybe but leave out shapeshifting bear/cat as necessary.
There were Belf Herbalists and Botanists (who btw had a habit of experimenting and infusing plant life with things like pure arcane magic and fel energy) . Not the same thing as druids.
Okay, so if we’re going to go back to BC, let’s try and remember how Blood Elf paladins were created back then: they had a captured Naaru in their basement that they were stealing their power from. The same goes for the Botanists in Botanica: they were attempting to bend nature to their will. This was a time in Blood Elf history where they were absolutely in fight/flight mode as a culture and just trying to survive, often at any cost.
That being said? I don’t hate the idea of Blood Elf Druids, but I also don’t see the need for them as they don’t really fit in lore-wise quite yet. It almost would have made more sense when they were keeping a Naaru in the basement, as they would be more likely to try and attain whatever power they could to fix their home (again, at any cost). They are much more stable now and have alliances with Druids of other races who could help them rebuild their home and purge the stain of the scourge invasion from their environment. There is no urgent need currently for them to seek out that power (which is honestly alien to them as they are more about the arcane/magic and bending their environment to suit their preferences than living in harmony with it).
Much like Gnome druids (which, come ON the forms would be adorable), it could be cool but I just don’t see it fitting in lore-wise.
Void elves were introduced several years before they became relevant and now look at them.
What little blood elf lore we do get via heritage quests has been setting up Quel’Thalas for a revival. Part of that is remembering the shared memory of Arthas’ march on the city which left the Dead Scar.
This isn’t just about what happened in the past but what can be done NOW? What better way to heal the dead scar than to have your own Druids come in and begin healing it. It is a chance to give blood elves their own strengthened identity and enrich the game. I will facepalm so hard if they just get a bunch of taurens or cenarion circle to do it for them.
that is… mechanically stupid, and not at all in line with how the game is designed. That would be like saying only Kul Tirans and Taurens can be protection warriors.
Of course I suggested the idea knowing that it would be new ground. That is the point. And it would give some sense of race/class specialization instead of leading to homogeneity (Tauren paladins)