[Customization - Race] High Elf Race, Customization & In-Game Architecture

Community WoW Community Council
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With the amount of new customizations being rolled out, I hope that the Quel’dorei (& their architecture) also have their moment to shine. Many of these integrations are also for Sin’dorei and Ren’dorei as well per the original post so it is a win across many characters.

All of these customizations are being celebrated across multiple communities and social media. It is a reminder that character customization is a net positive to the entire community - not just a specific play style.

Lighthearted post as the post itself continues to gain traction.

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Glory to the Quel’dorei!

A really interesting thread regarding potential angles that could be taken through Vereesa, who acts as our classic high elves representative, with a Windrunner reunion.

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Happy Caturday, fellow elves!

Both Horde & Alliance Quel’dorei should have full access to each other’s hairstyles.

We are at the point of desperation that we use the Atomic Recalibrator to get hairstyles.

Any steps to bridge the gap between the two Thalassian elves on Alliance and Horde, respectively, would be a great step forward.

Edit: Thank you everyone for your support with regards to this post in general.

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More and more void elves continue to utilize the Atomic Recalibrator to have blood elf hairstyles to better represent high elves. Not to mention have a sun glow to their eyes to represent the rare pilgrimage the Quel’dorei are allowed to take to the Sunwell per lore.

As one poster put it: “I wish we could use blood elf hair options on void elves. And vice versa. Same with nelf and nightborne.”

This wish is shared across multiple communities and would be a benefit for all to share such hairstyles.

It only takes a moment to make a Sin’dorei hairstyle in Blender work for a Ren’dorei and vice-versa. And it is not that trivial to adjust hairstyles in Blender to match other races in general. This seems like a low-hanging fruit that anyone using Blender could knock out and make the community very pleased with options.

Furthermore: https://www.wowhead.com/news/forsaken-guard-armor-update-on-patch-10-2-ptr-cape-polearm-and-pauldron-335256?webhook

I hope that the Alliance Quel’dorei and other races can get updated tabards. Thinking of the one high elf/Quel’dorei Alliance tabard for now: The Silver Covenant. The new versus old tabards are night and day, and they clash immensely in their low resolution compared to the gorgeous tabards Dragonflight has brought us.

Personal Thought: I feel both blood elves and void elves have ownership over Quel’dorei and a way to integrate them with shared customization would be to treat them like the Pandaren: Alliance High Elves & Horde High Elves. Glyph the name ‘blood elf’ and ‘void elf’ for customization or make it a check box in the character creator. Kael’thas Sunstrider dubbed the name ‘blood elves’ many suns ago in lore and betrayed his people, it would not be a stretch for them to utilize this name as well. Or leave it alone - just a suggestion to make everyone happy since technically ‘all’ are Quel’dorei/high elves and feel proud ownership over this.

Glory to the Alliance Quel’dorei! Our dream of becoming a recognized reality lives on. And shorel’aran. Thank you for reading. :pray:

Update: I was pinged on another post and this suggestion also plays into the glyphs too. There is so much an inscriptionist can do to add more flavor to the game via implementation.

To have the void elf racials that turn you a blue-purple into a more thematic high elf look, or to remove the racials that change your appearance altogether, would be amazing.

This has always been super non-immersive within the RP community when fighting mobs in the wild during a campaign as an Alliance high elf… Then you suddenly turn into a blueberry capable of competing with Wonka’s Violet Beauregard in a Chocolate Factory as a passable blueberry pie.

I believe if shadow priests can pretty much remove their ‘shadow’, this is not such a big ask and would be a popular glyph based off how many void elf players simply choose a high elven appearance.

Thank you again!

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Personally for the second part, I would love a light blue or white/golden highlight. That grape purple doesn’t do anything for me. I wish we had better more appropriate hairstyles naturally. And titles. I also feel it’s somewhat immersion ruining when my voidelf/high elf turns grape in the middle of a dungeon. Even a lavender sheen would be an improvement off the grape paint feel, does feel a lot like shadow priest. The Silver Covenant tabard should absolutely get an update, it feels one of the most thematically high elf tabards out there. An inscription glyph would be an excellent option imho or a barber shop form perhaps.

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At this point you have to wonder why Blizzard doesn’t jump to the oppertunity of this easy W.

We have a faction of High Elves in game, ready to join the Alliance.

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We do! With high elven resources in the texture files. It would be lovely to put a cap on a race that individuals have been asking for since the beginning.

Thematically, Ren’dorei have not given us a racial armor or other assets we can use. We are also turned into voidy blueberries that cannot be glyphed out of.

Having these quality-of-life updates with a glyph identifying us as ‘high elf’ would be a major win, if not another allied race altogether. I am less concerned about execution, and more interested in finally having our Alliance high elves playable who have been in the game since the very beginning, friendly to Alliance.

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I gasped at the Expansion Two announcement. On behalf of the large Quel’dorei community: We look forward to more clarity in the QnA. After so many forum posts and years, our dream may be as bright and clearly realized as Belore herself. :woman_elf: :sunny:

This has been the highlight of BlizzCon thus far. The amount of cheering in the Warcraft room when Chris made this announcement was unreal. It felt like the community was truly united in this excitement with the hint of uniting the elves at Quel’thalas.

Us high elven players cannot wait to finally be identified as what we play, and canonically united. The sudden electric energy in the room upon this announcement earlier today is indicative of the excitement not just for my community, but overall. :zap:

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YES!!! I nerd screamed when the announcement came about the Nerubians, and then nerd screamed even louder when I heard about the return to Quel’thalas :sob: :sob: :sob: :sob: :sob: :blue_heart: :blue_heart: :blue_heart: :blue_heart: :blue_heart: :blue_heart:

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I got nothing but love for you OP. More flavor is always wanted and you put a lot of time and love into your post, I hope they read it for sure.

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Zeropulse - Thank you so much. Glory to the Quel’dorei of the Alliance! I cannot wait for Midnight and pray that the Alliance Quel’dorei dream becomes reality.

To the developers and art/designers who met with me at Blizzcon - Thank you for your time in reading this post from my phone. This is a consistent ask and is based on a love for the traditional high elf versus the direction the blood elves have gone in.

We yearn to play the steadfast souls who inhabit the Hinterlands in Quel’Danil next to their Aerie allies, stood with Jaina Proudmoore’s company at Theramore and beyond. I hope this post can be indicative of the love we harbor for the concept.

Both Alliance & Horde high elves are wonderful, but the Alliance would like its traditional high elves to be recognized as a playable race. Canonically, the current Alliance ‘high elves’ (void elves) are Horde outcasts who studied the void with Umbric and represent an even smaller minority than standard Alliance high elves.

Shorel’aran and may Belore shine upon the Blues to deliver us updated architecture indicative of high elves, updated Silver Covenant tabards and a way to delineate high elves with some thematic threads and hairstyles!

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Did they say anything? Gave a certain look? We need details hello!? :stuck_out_tongue:

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I definitely got a few winks and deferring to Midnight. :wink:

:pray: :woman_elf: :man_elf: :elf:

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Void elves continue to utilize the Atomic Recalibrator toy to have hairstyles that lack the receded hairline, and better represent proper Alliance high elves that are not from Umbric’s sparse void group.

We are at the mercy of the Recalibrator working to properly configure our Alliance high elves to look passable. With the latest addition of hair colors to blood elves, we can no longer get certain hair colors OR eye colors anymore with that hair color combination. (Want X hair? Too bad, you get fel green eyes!)

On behalf of the Alliance Quel’dorei, please allow us to identify properly with hairstyles that are equivalent to the Horde Quel’dorei, and vice versa.

(Note the Atomic Recalibrator on our Ranger-Captain in the front row, our left.)

This is such an easy win and would not take any time given both share the same models. Allow all hairstyles to be shared as a precursor to the unification potential in Midnight.

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With Pandaren, Dracthyr and the Stone Dwarves in the next expansion, their whole arguments for not having highelves in the Alliance is totally mute.

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Additional thoughts per the thread:

https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/should-high-elves-be-playable/1743177/252

Heritage Quest
There ought to be a heritage quest so that we can see the world through the lens of an Alliance, non-voidy Quel’dorei. The argument that there are ‘not enough’ Alliance high elves is no longer applicable. The void elves are elves that followed Professor Umbric to the Alliance, and can also be cleansed of void. Not to mention the Silver Covenant, Quel’Danil Lodge, the elves outside of Theramore in Swamp of Sorrows, so on and so forth.

What should happen within the quest?

  • Additional lore, but of course!
  • New tabards: our Silver Covenant tabard is severely dated (512px texture), among another tabard that unites all high elves of the Alliance.
  • New hairstyles
  • New beards
  • Tattoos/Face & Body Paint - The much-awaited badass markings of Farstriders and more come to life!
  • Jewelry - Cool jewelry like the Sin’dorei have! Alliance high elves have heirlooms and family jewels too!

Sharing Hairstyles & Facial Hair: It would also be a major win for Alliance void elves, Alliance high elves AND Horde high/blood elves to share ALL hairstyles and facial hair. We are all of the same ancestry ultimately and all would be capable (and competent) when it comes to self-care and ancestral hairstyles.

Thank you again. This thread continues to expand with the community’s input and I am grateful for it. :woman_elf: :pray: Shoot me a ping should you have any feedback to add here.

Shorel’aran, friends!

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Happy 2024, everyone!

Customization via iris eye color was emphasized again most recently in the following thread and warrants a post: Can we give Void Elves the Green Eyes?

For Alliance and Horde high elves, and void elves:
@ Character Customization/Barber Shop

  • Iris Color - Select from basic iris colors; see Sylvanas’ cinematic from Shadowlands where she has her blue-gray eye color from the Tides of Darkness book - The book mentions Alleria as having green irises, Vereesa as having blue irises, and Lor’themar as having brown irises.
  • Eye Glow - Yes/No
  • If Yes - Glow Color - Yellow/Green/Purple/White/Blue shades as it is now; nothing changes here and the eye glow is active by default to pay respect to this being how the high elves were first introduced into the game. Players can change it at the barber shop if this is implemented.
  • If No - No Glow, Iris Only - Iris color appears and there is no glow overlay.

Eye glow is as it currently is now and not every elf is attuned to magic. Quel’Danil Lodge lore explicitly states that they no longer use magic since the fall of the Sunwell (Source: Legends Volume 5: Warrior United & in-game implies this adherence to the source). Therefore, there should not be no glow for what Quel’Danil elves are ‘attuned’ to unless this lore is expanded on furthermore.

Players can also identify their elves as not being attuned to any sort of magic or affiliation too and would be able to have the same option that we see the wonderful homage to in the Shattered Legacies cinematic.

All customization is a net gain that will resonate with a group of players across all spectrums of people who play the game. This addition is seamless given the rich lore and Blizzard acknowledging such lore (iris colors behind the glow) via a cinematic, even after all these years.

Thank you for reading me out, as well as the community that has shared this sentiment across multiple posts on the forum and on other blogs linked in this post.

Should any individual have a thought to chime in with for this thread, please ping me on the forum or reach out to me in-game. I have appreciated the thoughts and contributions here immensely into a thread woven by the community over my time on Community Council.

Shorel’aran and have a fantastic weekend! :herb: :sunny: :pray: :woman_elf:

(Edited for further clarity!)

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With the amount of elven love that have been shown for The War Within, I look forward to proper half-elf humans (Stormwind & Kul Tiran models!). Customization is always a net positive. Thank you for doing this!

I also hold out for hairstyles being shared amongst all Quel’dorei models such as the Warband photo showed when I was at Blizzcon:

May Rowoar continue to give us hope in shared hairstyles, along with continued hope for all that has been posted in this thread for the traditional Alliance Quel’dorei who do not affiliate with void. :blue_heart:

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Crossposting from TWW subforum!

Great Kyon, the Lamplighter in Hallowfall, delivers justification for something that a large part of the community would like to see, as showcased by the amount of upvotes on the Community Council topic pertaining to Alliance (non-voidy) Quel’dorei. (Note: Referring to this one!)

Paladin Quel’dorei Because Great Kyon is an Arathi Quel’dorei and would not have been present during the declaration the Sin’dorei’s Horde alignment, I would assume someone like him would be accessible to the player character Alliance side.

Sun-Blessed Yellow & Gold Eyes I would like to suggest Kyon as a segue into Alliance Quel’dorei paladins, and also having access to sun-blessed eyes (gold, yellow eye tints Sin’dorei) have as he indicates you do not need the Sunwell specifically to get such a tint.

He delivers hope for this wish and is an ideal tie-in to the question of Alliance Quel’dorei customization and paladins in general. :pray: :woman_elf: This would be a great win as character customization expansion is always a net positive across all types of players.

Edit: This is in addition to Arator, son of Turalyon and Alleria, also being an Alliance paladin with sun-blessed eyes. I hope with these instances, it will demonstrate the ‘Why?’ for Alliance Quel’dorei paladins and these great eye colors.

Shorel’aran, friends, and I hope you are having a happy Sunday! :sunny:

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Bal’a dash, friends! I am most likely disappearing from here soon. I look forward to what the Class of 2024-2025 Community Council has to bring to the table.

The future looks sunny for us non-voidy Alliance high elves, if The War Within is anything to go by! I am very excited for all to come with TWW, then Midnight. The feeling is contagious, judging by the surge in activity within the community I represent and beyond. :woman_elf:

This Quel’dorei dream will never die. For me, this dream feels lifelong; my mother and I played as ‘Alliance’ high elves with the blood elf models back in TBC for our RP. :laughing: She may be almost 70 now, but her dream is my dream too and is a lot of the community’s dream. :blue_heart::pray:

All customization is a win, and while it may not sing to one person, it will to another, and while we all derive from different communities, we are all ultimately in this game together.

Parting Thoughts
Do not let the Alliance non-voidy Quel’dorei dream die, future Councilpeople! :woman_elf: My work on the Council mostly pertained to my community’s dream of this, as well as lots of character customization (tabards, helms showing hair, more ‘fun’ helms that people will actually show, spell effects, character styles) and other bits and bobs.

For those who may not be as supportive of this initiative: Any customization is a net positive as it will resonate with some part of the player base, never forget this. I appreciate your consideration.

And to Ion and many other devs I delivered this thread to in person at BlizzCon in November 2023: Bal’a dash, dear friends, and thank you so much for hearing the community out!

Thank you
:sparkling_heart::peace_symbol: It was a massive pleasure being part of the Community Council Class of 2022-2023. I leave the Council in the capable hands of '24-'25 and await reading what is posted on this forum as an outsider looking in!

Shorel’aran,
:sunflower: Noa Brightbough of Quel’Danil

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