Well, that’s my point. Blizzard has made their intentions, and perspective on the matter crystal clear. Ion went over it in the Q&A where he was asked why Void elves over High elves. And he continuously stressed that if you wanted to fulfill that particular fantasy in World of Warcraft, you should play a blood elf.
If Blizzard suddenly decides to completely change their stance on a matter they’ve held onto staunchly for years, than things might be different, but until then.
From a design point of view, yeah.
You dont want themes being replicated. It makes player choices less meaningful.
If i give you a green murloc, and someone else a blue murloc, yeah they are both.murlocs but this color differentiation can have meaning.
Its just the way human brains work.
They said they didn’t want to do it.
thought having this whole expansion was a good idea. Shows what Ion knows.
Doesn’t matter what I want. Themes have already been replicated varying from high effort to very low effort to why did you bother? And given the state of this game, I only expect it to get worse.
Take note of where I said “if”. If meaning they could change their minds in the future and do it anyways. 
Except those times where they are replicated it is kept in the same place your original choice can be found.
Maghar are horde.
Hm tauren are hirde.
You dont lose anything by swapping skins basically.
High elves though?
Not only are they an exact xlone, they would be kn the alliance.
So be players lose out on customization options.
It is bad design to make copies.
Let alone the fact its being request for only high elvss is indicative of the aesthetic nature of the requesr.
Every race should have some visual distinctive themes for themselves, something that sets them apart so that players players have to choose to fulfill a certain fantasy. Wanting to keep race unique on it’s most fundemantal aspects is a completely reasonable principle.
I am 100% for blue eyed Blood Elves. Sweet.
It’s already been replicated cross faction. There is nothing stopping Blizz from doing it again.
There is already a sub group of cloned High Elves that work with the Alliance that go by the name High Elves. And Idk what customization options, you’re thinking you’re going to lose out on, considering we Belves are getting a bunch soon…
It’s standard practice for Blizzard you mean.
They sure do. And it’s quite easy to do. But that’s not going to suddenly stop Blizzard from copying stuff anyways, so?
Also wow um. Are we related?
The Alliance doesn’t have ownership of an eye color.
And you know they will look the same why exactly? Because as far as I know, DKs have their own specific customizations, so they might look, well, dead-er.
I do. I own the color… reno red…
soon
Similarity does not denote replication. There are key themes which have been changed for the nightborne and void elves at the fundamental level to demonstrate differences. One cannot ignore them simply because a singular aspect is shared.
And they are unplayable, just as fogsail humans are unplayable. Simply because a group is working with you does not mean it should be playable, particularly if there is a playable version already.
Now my statement was in regards to if they took high elves and placed them on the alliance as a playable race. Customization options can be locked away if it would take away what makes that race unique in some way or another.
Including differences in model as has been proposed previously.
Ehhh, not really.
You can put both races in the same armor as their base race and you could barely tell a difference. That’s how replicated they are.
Until they are.
Not in this case it wouldn’t. Since they are same race with the same culture, they would have near identical customizations. Whatever Helves get Belves should get and vice versa as long as there isn’t a solid lore reason for the particular customization. Which so far there is none.
No, it is. Allied Races being barely different replications is proof that this is standard Blizzard practices by cutting corners for low effort.
That is a dual edged argument. If you cannot tell the difference, then you do not need high elves.
Of course, such a thing is a poor argument, because you know what that individual is beneath the armor. You have an understanding of how they appear beneath it. We cannot treat people as if they are cats.
We cannot deal with what ifs. We can only deal with what is.
But that doesn’t matter to game design. Game design comes before any lore that is written out, because appealing to customers is more important than the lore hounds. The notion Blizzard will say “we could do this but our lore says no.” is a non-functional argument point.
Low effort does not mean an exact copy. Certainly I HATE, HATE, HATE, every single AR, but even the worst of them have some effort placed into their design.
So the core theme for Nightborne vs Night Elves is “I’m from the city instead of the country and like magic more”, while the core theme for Void Elves vs Blood Elves is skin colour? Seems kinda lopsided.
You’re forgetting I’m a zombie ninja. I’ve claimed the color red many many years ago.
/evil cackle.
The core theme for nightborne vs night elves is “I am from the city and beleive in the usage of Arcane, instead of being a country bumpkin that hugs trees.”.
For void elves and blood elves its
“I am willing to do what is necessary for what I believe in, unlike the blood elves who give lip service to what is good.”.
“I also have tentacles for proper goldshire fun.”
Part of the issue is the nightborne had a story to develop their theme where as void elves were lacking.
We know their theme is supposed to be antithetical to the blood elves, but it is difficulty to pin this down.
Aesthetics do certainly play a part as well.
So currently it is lopsided but void elves can be so much more.
This is Blood Elves’ theme already though.
Not after TBC remember? They gave it up.
I preferred it when Liadrin was all “WE BEND THE LIGHT AS OUR TOOL WE WILL NOT BE FOLLOWERS NO LONGER!”
BUt nooooooooooooooo
Edit: RENO YOU ARE STILL UGLY
The Blood Elves were all about doing what it takes to survive. The only reason they don’t have this anymore is because they have the Sunwell back, so they don’t need it.
The Void Elves followed this exact theme. So instead of going with the High Elves’ different theme of following principle over survival, they just reused an old Blood Elf theme that’s still an important part of Blood Elf history.