Well, that’s an interesting comment - because both of them were introduced with pretty dramatic differences between the “parent” and “child” races. Nightborne and Void elves are distinctly different from their parent races…and have backstory explaining that they are not - and why they are not - the same race.
I think the debate boils down to:
Should genetically identical groups of the same race be able to exist as playable on both factions? Pandas were designed from the start to be neutral, so while they do set a precedent it’s arguably different than this situation.
Maybe the answer from Blizzard some day is going to be “Yes, we’re creating Alliance High Elves as a playable race.” but I don’t think there will ever be an official published statement saying “No, High Elves will never be a playable race” for two reasons:
The first is that leaving some hope increases the chances that people who desperately want them won’t drop their subs as long as hope remains. The second is that an immediate response from those same people could well be to essentially ignore it, saying “New management could always change that decision!” (which they certainly could).
yeah everybody knows that. what people who argue the blood elf title angle are saying is that blood elves no longer acknowledge the title high elf. whereas the high elves of the alliance and the neutral high elves, retain that as their title.
like if you were to research the race of an npc and they were a blood elf, it’d say blood elf not high elf. whereas other high elf npcs who arent blood elves, are called high elves.
This is the most contrived statement… leading me to believe you guys feel like you have complete and total ownership of a group that doesn’t identify with the horde.
It’s an allied race not a a core race. Perfect description of an allied race.
The merits of saying all high elves belong solely to the horde is destroyed by Blizzard themselves adding High elves as alliance Npcs. This is irrefutable.
Let me ask again… are you going to dispute this when they add undead nightelves to horde or LF forsaken to the alliance?
those have a completely different theme and aesthetic and are variants to the parent race so no. they fit the definition of an AR perfectly
alliance high elves are biologically identical to blood elves, and this includes the addiction to magic. alliance high elves ALSO sate this addiction by drawing magic from the sunwell
they are thematically and aesthetically the same. giving this race to the alliance would violate the faction integrity of the horde and the uniqueness of blood elves. this was the gameplay reason for denying them an AR spot. lore reason is there are only a few individual alliance high elves. so few its probably why they werent used as the origin for void elves
the issue is, even when presented with the idea of models that look different, the argument just shifts to, how did they get that different in only 30 years.
then when a rationale for the difference is offered, such as the diluting of the dalaran high elves blood lines, the argument shifts to… well how many are there, 5?
and when it can be proven there are more than 5, the argument shifts to, that was in an xpac 4 years ago or 10 years ago, etc.
and when it can be proven there are still quite a few in bfa (otherwise how is a significant number of them in the 7th legion), it shifts to they are neutral so not silver covenant, and therefore strictly not allies.
and when it can be proved sc are allies, it shifts to why then do they help me on quests.
and then it goes to various other places such as
we dont need more elves
you just want ww2 criminals on the alliance
all you care about is pretty (i’m just about the only one here who is interested in how they look. everybody else wants sc lore first and foremost)
you’re ignoring the real problems of the game for some vacuous barbie doll
Bored and tired argument. If they were exactly the same then there wouldn’t be any political divide. (And no high elves they would all be classified as blood elves)
It makes for a more immersive game when we get to use all of our races. That creates more faction identity to many of us alliance players
4 is only 1 less than you say is in the whole game. what about the ones outside suramar? or are they all dead? and you’ve never addressed the fact, void elves were a crack squad and now have no pool of belves to recruit from. how we gonna make more? you can see the devs werent really interested in making the lore believable, they were just solving a problem and the lore was irrelevant. its relevant here, not relevant there, rinse wash repeat.
void elf numbers are growing. if it was just a crack squad still they wouldnt be leading assaults on zuldazar by themselves in the open. they are also shown here to be converting the wildlife. high/blood elves are present in the rift as well showing an interest in the powers of the void. it is implied they can convert other thalassian elves. its just unconfirmed at this point
void elves also dont infringe of high/blood elf themes and aesthetics which is the main reason of denying alliance high elves. its not just their low population numbers
They are the same race as Blood Elves, just like Nightborne and Night Elves. There is no way to switch species/race in an individual. They are born as what they are and they will die that way, no matter what magic flavor they absorb.
New individuals born after the fact may be a subspecies/race maybe, but theres no lore that shows how many generations there are. Since Nightborne characters know other characters today from way back when, I doubt there are any new ones in circulation yet.
lore. dear. lore. explain with lore. how we gonna get more void elves? see, that’s about as loopy as the idea that high elves living for more than one generation in dalaran, did not reproduce
just because there isnt a sign out front that says ‘recruiting’ doesnt mean they dont accept those who come willingly. thats the whole point of blood/high elf NPCs there showing interest
so if it can be implied, why’s it only work in your favor, exclusively? i’m gonna imply dalaran is brimming with elves, both high and half. whatcha gonna do about that?