Just out of curiosity, you a legit scientist doing research or scientist in the more abstract sense?
high elves are a separate race now confirmed
we won
I pretty much doubt Ion meant any genetical evolution whatsoever but more about a âculturalâ evolution⌠same as with regular green Orcs and brown mag´har Orcs. Same race biologically and genetically speaking; different cultural and societal evolution thanks to the impact a variable had on the population (in this case: fel and the Burning Legion).
Dark sinned humans and white skinned humans irl are STILL humans regardless of minor mutations. We all still have 46 cromosomes in total.
From a gameplay PoV, this is a good argument to show the average player that never ever researches the lore, the relevance the whole TFT and TBC arc had on the current playable Belves.
I love it, i know it´s unfortunate for some players that just wanted a better customization for their mage PCs but frankly I won´t condemn Blizz for AT LEAST respecting the whole fel episode in Belf history.
Uhhh⌠aren´t those too strictly NPCs eye color options? I mean, accroding to Ion´s words in the interview those datamined eye colors are NOT the actual customization options available for Belf PC. If anything I´m curious about the actual Belf customization options (with some luck something better than the trashy jewerly they datamined the other day, ughh)
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IMO, youâre mistaking the scientific definition of evolution for the literary use of the term. A characterâs âevolutionâ is their transformation over a character arc, which is likely what he is applying to Blood Elves as a people, seeing as how this is largely about where they have collectively gone and changed, culturally rather than biologically.
The green/gold eyes are indicative of those steps forward in their story, while the blue eyes for high elf NPCs is a visual cue to how theyâve put their proverbial flag in the sand and gone, âNo, Iâm staying here.â
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Iâm fairly certain heâs talking about from a narrative standpoint, as in the story of blood elves. Blue when they were high elves, green when they all started siphoning fel to survive post the Sunwell, now some of them are showing golden because of the Light stuff.
And my eyes, which are, like, a weird purply nothingness because Iâm not afraid of dangerous study.
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Yeah Fel corruption can go away, you are right, but guess what? The Sunwell isnt just Arcane any more. It has Holy, some would argue more holy then arcane now and the Blood Elves have âevolvedâ agaon with the golden eyes.
Im so happy that the blue eye datamine was nothing but fake and thanks Ion for confirming.
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Blood Elves are biologically High Elves, their name change and faction change did not change their genetic code of being a high elf lol. Nor did the brief exposure to fel cause any permanent mutations.
Not good. This leaves the door open for potential Blue Eyed High Elves on the Alliance. Thatâs like the worst thing that could happen for Horde and for Blood Elves in general. Thatâs the one thing that was never suppose to happen. Letâs hope itâs nothing and we donât have to worry about Blue Eyed Elves on the Alliance because that would ruin Horde Pride and Horde Fun.
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I feel like the same logic could be used to deny high elf customization for void elves though; that their current state is a narrative evolution away from that and isnât something you should be able to revert to.
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Blizzard stated itâd happen eventually, though I think the implication is that âgreen will be bred out through time.â
Which makes me mad, because green orcs are the best orcs.
Seems kinda sucky for the entire race to become the elven answer to draenei tho.
I donât know how directly it is, but Blizzard definitely put fel crystals all over Eversong and Silvermoon with people imbibing.
I agree.
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Not to mention biological evolution is not necessarily speciation, even a change to a new variant in the same species constitutes evolution at a genetic level.
Just like the narrative meaning, biological evolution doesnât take a discreet form. It can either be gradual change by mutations or changes through natural selection.
Whoâs to say magic in Warcraft canât mutate every single cell of an elf to harbor green-eye coding genes? And exposure to the Sunwell canât delete all those mutations? Magic isnât really constrained by real-world biological limits, even though the setting must adhere to atleast some scientific principles of nature. On the other hand, the eye colour shift reminds me more of chemical shifts meaning a chemical reaction to fel which eventually changed back due to lack of continued exposure.
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Or maybe, just maybe, evolution has different meanings in different contexts.
Pikachu can evolve into Raichu, abolitionism can evolve into a more general progressive movement, and Blizzard can use âevolveâ as a synonym for âdevelopâ b/c theyâre writing soft fantasy, not science or even hard scifi.
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High Elf customization should be given to Void Elves⌠We already have High Elves in multiple Alliance locations, and since Legion, we have High Elves all over Stormwind. High Elves are an Alliance race. Horde players wouldnât want Blood Elf customization options for Void Elves for the same reason Alliance players donât want High Elf customization for Blood Elves.
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The difference between High Elf customization and Blood Elf customization is purely eye color. That is literally it. Plus people who want to play a High Elf paladin would still not get what they want.
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High Elves are still an Alliance race, not a Horde one.
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Sure. My point is that BEs and HEs are almost identical in appearance. I mean the only real difference is in ideology. Its like saying you can tell who everyone votes for by their appearance. Sure sometimes it might be true but not for the majority.
I donât think there is really any demand among Horde players to RP a HE and they arenât playable for Alliance so it is rather a moot point. You would practically be customizing them as BEs with the only difference being an eye color and honestly I donât think it would fit Void Elves considering their racial and such donât fit HEs at all.
If it is any consolation I would have prefered them just to add HEs to the Alliance rather than Void Elves as HEs would have made much more sense and wouldnât have defanged the void as a threat.
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Bringing high elf customisations into the Alliance opens two possibilities
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Night elves are drowned further into oblivion and their lore completely cheapened for the sake of the new favourite elves who people choose because they are more human-like and pretty. Night elves are shoe-horned and made to fit into the new Alliance of civilised races.
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They now cannot write night elves like high elves and actually have to bring back the savage factor to differentiate the two. Night elves get their matriarchal forest and guerrilla themes and are also in conflict with the civilised races.
Iâm not sure I want to take the chances of them going for route 2 over route 1 when route 1 is the easier way to go, which Blizzard prefers.
Edit: This is based on the assumption that there are a lot of new âhigh elfâ players and Blizzard is compelled to write even more high elf lore than is already present.
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Kind of like Void Elves. They are just reskinned Blood Elves. It wouldnât be hard to skin void elves with Blood elf textures and given them blue eyes.
And in this case, lorewise, we -know- there are no Horde aligned High Elves, because the sunwell changed their eyecolorâŚ
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Alliance can have High Elves but they should be hunched over (maybe place them on the undead rig) to signify how they shamelessly bow and scrape before their human masters.
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Not sure what the âabstract senseâ is. I have a Ph. D. in chemistry from MIT. Though part of my annoyance is that none of this is anything that isnât covered in High School