It depends on how you mean.
There are always going to be different aesthetics that people just don’t like – for instance, I just can’t stomach playing a Pandaren. I never once looked at a Pandaren, however, and thought to myself, “that is legitimately just sub-standard graphical quality”.
Allied Races changed this.
there is no backstory. all that history is shared with void elves. isnt it interesting how no one ever goes in depth on alliance high elves besides ‘they were always a part of the alliance and a core part of their identity to this day.’ yet the only lore that exists about alliance high elves is only a few individuals remained after anasterian withdrew from the alliance
lets be real, raising children in dalaran and traveling south of quel’thalas to live in a hut is not lore rich or even interesting
i dont mind a few individuals actually exist and are flavor NPCs on an airship. or that the SC exists to counter the sunreavers and show the divide of the high people, and are used as story tools to further more important characters stories. i dont think they should be killed off for that but to put more into that like they are some kind of integral presence in the alliance story is complete fanfictions
I just don’t want to hear the argument “Why do they have different physiques but not us?” or “So they get more body options for humans and elves but we only get one option for our elves?” excuse that gets thrown around so often.
Remnant Highborne would have evolved differently so there’s no room for someone to use any of those excuses or arguments, and they could still look enough like Thalassian elves to give that “feel” without transgressing into their visual themes.
We have to remember the blood elven model is pretty old, so consider the amount of work they could put into an all new model with all the new assets and materials at their disposal.
I’d want it to be a new “race” not an allied race, something they could dedicate a lot of work into with new animations, and brand new rig. Heck maybe during the Dragon isles the Highborne who reside with the Night elves bring them back into the fold.
Yeah you didn’t get that at all.
Guess not. 
Haha. Someone mentioned the idle stance change as being something that makes them a different race.
It’s all about that posture!
I stopped slouching so apparently I underwent a mutagenic event in my life.
And I cut my hair and started accessorizing differently. Same thing apparently.
Oh no! I hit the gym! I’m a monster!
Lol well you would think they have a short leg or some serious arthritis in the neck and hip when they swing theirs back and forth and shift their weight from one leg to the next.
I mean the Nightborne didn’t have a story when they were introduced either, back in WC Maeiv comes across Suramar but it’s only a pile of ruins that were raised up from the water. And honestly, the nightborne story is probably one of my favorite stories in all of World of Warcraft; never have I been so instantly hooked into a story like I was when I picked up that first quest with Thalryssa.
So while I do agree, they wouldn’t have a story pre-introduction but if they played it like the Nightborne and gave them a full, and rich storyline I’m sure everyone would adore it. The problem with void elves is they sort of got shafted in the story department compared to Nightborne, almost like they were an after-thought thrown in.
It’d be contrived as all hell, but if Blizzard could find a reasonable way of combining the Highborne and the High Elves into a singular grouping – that’d be amazing, because there are characters from both that’ve captured the imagination of the Alliance playerbase for more than a decade.
Mordernt Evershade and Vereesa Windrunner, specifically, are fan-favorites for the Alliance.
Same. This is where my hatred of Allied Races being cheap, unpolished re-skins stems from.
winces
I mean… lets not talk about it… but…
WoW doesn’t have evolution like that.
Anyways.
People want the High Elf model… and a lot of it has to do with the fact that they’re attached to Warcraft. I love Warcraft and want to play a High Elf.
So adding something else wouldn’t work.
Especially not with people asking since 2005.
It’s just all about ethos. The race they add, if they add a race, for High Elves has to be similar to what people have observed, but it also needs to come from that same story place.
I’m of the opinion a rejiggered Night Elf model would work myself.
It’s kind of frustrating that the Heroes of the Storm people knows this. Haha.
They’ve presumably made a lot of money off of palette swapping Tyrande, etc.
Though I’d personally prefer something inbetween the height of a Blood Elf and a Night elf.
I don’t know what you’re even trying to say here.
but if they could just make Nightborne out of thin air and give them a different magic source to explain their different physique and relationship with magic, they could certainly do it would the Highborne. Especially if they were exposed to some other form of magic during their time on the island.
I mean you got the high elf model, but you didn’t get the theme, and I just don’t see Blizzard or Ion ever cracking on giving up both at the same time unless the factions break down and then faction identity becomes moot and everything is fair game.
And please no Night elf model for high elves. IF High elves ever get added they should be smaller and slender like the current high elves.
Lol but that thicker thigh model that the dragons use when assume humanoid form is on fire!
Was hoping that model was going to be transferred from Ysera to the NEs in some way when we had the update.
Have you seen what Alexstraza looks like in heroes of the storm?
THICC
I’m going to think about a couple ways this could work for a while, while I fix my in-game UI. It’s intriguing, but it will definitely need to include the existing High Elves somehow – otherwise it will just flop with a huge swath of the intended audience.
Eh. Despite the overabundance of Blood Elves in the Horde, the Blood Elves still don’t really have much to do with the Horde. But at least Lor’themar’s getting a little time now in BFA.
Blood Elves really aren’t Horde faction identity. They never have been. If they were we wouldn’t have been living in mud huts when they made Warlords of Draenor garrisons.
There were massive complaints when they were adding Blood Elves to the Horde back in BC… and now it still feels like the Horde and Blood Elves.
Not to mention that High Elves have been part of the Alliance since Vanilla. Despite Ion’s statement, Blood Elves have just never been a big part of the Horde. Maybe now that NIghtborne are in it’ll change things.
Can’t say that any of my Blood Elves look like they’re at home in Orgrimmar or Zuldazar.