The most subsurface understanding of Blood Elves links them to the fel.
Their own designs and architecture are meant to give that association.
Blizzard does this all the time.
They’ve also not undone ‘seventeen years’ of consistency on this.
They have only ever touched upon this in TBC, Warcraft Encyclopedia, and Chronicles.
Beyond that and maybe a couple other sources, Blizzard hasn’t touched upon the Blood Elves’ connection with fel since TBC.
You mean like just deciding that the blood elves were eating fel despite statements to the contrary, and lists of stuff done for the same purpose and fel never being mentioned?
Ok, I’m not sure it changes the meaning of things there at all.?
Blizzard recycling animations, that would NEVER happen.
Something something Falsted.
you misspelled superficial.
Alright man, come on.
So, Blizzard just happened to reuse the life steal animation for both Mu’ru getting the energy sucked out of them and the Magisters “doing maintenance(?)”.
All of this happening within the same city.
It’s not like these are all isolated from each other, they’re all right next to one another in the same city, during the same expansion.
The term is still appropriate, as it means to go slightly beneath the very surface level.
A very surface level understanding of Belves would be seeing them as no different than typical Tolkien elves.
You misspelled Falstad. 
It’s enough. Recent tradition will always replace the old where they contradict each other.
Yeah, that is true.
Until blizzard finally starts to settle on a consistent lore, it is just a waste of time… also a waste of time to follow, but then one would miss the time they finally settle on something consistent.
A headache.
One would hope things got better under Metzen, but he was a part of the problem that startet this entire idea of ‘rule of cool’ and that it should take precedence over consistent lore… not their officially stated stance, but we see how things are going.
It hurts my warcraft-loving heart, one day I’ll be able to let go of this franchise… one day.
As others have pointed out, I doubt it was just one reason. The story I’d always heard was that the devs wanted their girlfriends to play with them on horde but none of them wanted to play the vanilla races so they added elves, lol.
Honestly, I kind of don’t take these stories seriously one way or another because at the end of the day, Blood Elves were one of the most prominent races from Warcraft 3. Probably THE most prominent that wasn’t included in vanilla. And alliance already had an elven race. It just kind of makes logical sense that the biggest remaining race would get added in the first expansion and that it would go to the faction that didn’t have an elf race already. Sylvanas already being a horde leader and serving as a liason for them to join just lined it up even more.
That’s like saying the Zandalari should’ve gone to the Alliance because the Alliance didn’t have a troll race. Would be silly and feel very out of place.
Unless say there was a group of trolls that had been recently mistreated by the horde and had a historic falling out with the Darkspear.
Between Blood Elves and Draenei. I think it made the most sense for Draenei to be Alliance and Blood Elves be Horde.
The biggest issue is that the Blood Elves have reverted to the High Elves and have had extremely unreliable allies that they have stuck with despite everything. The void elves are more like the Sindorei than the actual Sindorei.
1 - Lost access to the well
2 - Are addicted/afflicted with dangerous magic to compensate
3 - Their numbers are incredibly few, but they persevere.
And with all the new customizations, they are indistinguishable with the regular high elves. It’s having the best of both worlds, really.
The Nightborn joining the Horde was a really bad move by Blizzard though thats for sure. The reasoning were some of the most lazy and contrived reasons I have seen but when Blizzard gave the Horde elves to Alliance they had to give the Horde the Alliance elves for the sake of parity.
So I get the game design but narratively its pretty bad.
Like the Amani? And the other troll tribes that get their teeth kicked in by both the horde and alliance on the daily?
No, because at the end of the day, Zandalari and Darkspear are closely related both appearance wise and culturally. There’s a sharp difference between Night Elves and Blood Elves. Also, lets be honest here, Trolls don’t have the same fantasy stock that elves do in popular imagination.
Of course, I acknowledge you’re a helf fan so my trying to explain Belves on the horde making more sense is futile, but still, TRY to absorb what I’m saying.
Yes, because the Zandalari practiced cannibalism and absolutely LOVE the Loa of Death, and didn’t find him repulsive/horrifying and didn’t almost throw a civil war over the knowledge that said Loa was their new Queen’s patron.
Saying the Zandalari are like the Darkspear is a massive disservice to both tribes.
LMAO. Darkspear do not practice cannibalism. And Zandalari accepted the Loa of Death just fine by the end of the novel. Now compare those small non-differences to the differences between Blood Elves and High Elves.
I think that was a good summation of this thread.
People act like the Blizzard worker who said this was Metzen himself, or someone who actually had a say in things. Probably was a fly on the wall, and gets to act like he was in the know.
The part about people wanting their girlfriends on the Horde is funny. I remember hearing that long ago. Just brings to mind all the different rumors and meaningless “big talk” that some no name Dev would spout to feel important and get quoted.
Indeed. Perhaps if Blizzard junked the idea of Draenei and made them Playable Manari rebels from the start - even then, they would get push back from people who think Orcs would not tolerate it.
Eredar offshoots would belong in the Alliance, and the Blood Elves would belong in the Horde, if those are the options.
That is just Alliance bias. Of course they get the best of everything. The Horde can’t have even just one nice thing (Blood Elves), without the Alliance fan base stamping their feet and hollering for it, as well.
I think you might’ve confused me for someone else? You and I were discussing Blood Elves and Night Elves, not Blood Elves and High Elves. Also, the conversation wasn’t about differences, but similarities?
You are entitled to your beliefs.
I mean, we all saw it happen.
Sure it did bob. Sure it did.
you are seriously going to pretend there wasn’t a massive hissy fit over the Blood Elves being horde that is frankly still going on even after the alliance got their version?
You would have to prove every single point Curse made.
The existence of “Alliance Bias”, That they get the best of everything, And that “Blood Elves” are the ONE nice thing that Horde ever got, inferred by the word “even” that it was taken away from them.
Yeah. Good luck with that.