If they are unwilling to pick one or the other they are the ones unwilling to compromise.
Void elves are not a compromise for us. Telling us they are the compromise would be like slapping elf ears on an orc and giving them to the alliance and saying “here are your high elves”
Void elves do not have the appearance we ask for nor the story we ask for. We have shown we are willing to compromise on the appearance. The story has to stay or otherwise they lose what makes them what they are.
The difference is that Night elves have myriads of different skin colors, and visual themes to choose from that allow them to remain visually unique, while the Nightborne only have one, and it isn’t even identical to the Night elves. Like the Nightborn the Blood elves also only have one skin color and share this with High elves, leaving Blood elves with no unique visual identity at all. The alliance got the Blood elf model with void elves, and it’s animations, and now the last visual themes should be given to the alliance with all new updated model too? You have to see the problem blood elf players, and the devs see with this.
But it’s not, they can still remain distinct, and unique from Nightborne, in addition to having a completely different model. It’s not like we got the Night elf model in one race, and then all their color schemes in another, which is what you’re suggesting with high elves.
It’s not about what identifies the race the most overall, but which themes identify the race the most in each category. There is lore fantasy, and there is visual fantasy, each one is important for each race, and each one should have something unique that can only be found with that race, the moment you start picking those themes away and giving them away to other similar races is the point where what originally made that race unique, and evocative to play is muddled down and cheapened.
Blood elves are the only raced faced with this dilemma, of having every visual them torn away from them until there is nothing unique about them, and everything you would have wanted to pick the blood elves for can be found somewhere else. It’s important to players, and the devs that these “identities” remain intact for these races, so that every race feels unique, and fills its own visual fatnasy within the game.
The problem isn’t how different they look, it’s that certain themes be addressed individually, the ones the players and devs feel most crucially define the blood elf visual fantasy. This we’ve been over many times, and Ion even went over in the Q&A when asked why Void elves over high elves, albeit a little insensitively.
Ion, and the players are typically of sound mind that “Blonde haired” and “fair-skinned” elf themes are the most defining visual themes of Blood elves, which is why void elves were specifically changed in those ways. They didn’t change the model, or the animations, they didn’t give them tattoos, they changed their skin and hair to avoid infringing on key themes.
No one is saying you can’t have High elves, but you can’t have the key themes believed to be crucial themes to blood elves. If you changed those, players on both sides would likely be more receptive to your ideas.
The problem lies with the fact that you’re trying to make high elves different from blood elves by dipping into their history, and culture as elves. When you go into Quel’thalas you’re experiencing High elven culture in its designs, in their clothes, in the weapons they wield and the language they speak, while also arguing that modern high elves are different than blood elves as they remained with the alliance, and assimilated into the alliance culture and largely shed their thalassian traditions. Why would they suddenly become tribal, and begin practicing a culture they were said to have abandoned so long ago?
This lore argument aside, the problem lies with that you’re asking for themes that dip further into what Blood elves were designed to fulfill, which was the traditional “high elf” fantasy, which isn’t a satisfying disparity and ignoring the issue with playable high elves almost in its entirety.
Unfortunately its because you don’t understand the nature of the problem, which is that players don’t want another race that digs into their race’s history, and themes. That High elves, if playable should remain distinct in the sense that their themes are thematic to the culture they’ve adopted in recent history, and if your aim is to appease the players and find a compromise, constantly dipping into that race’s themes is bound to upset players and muddle the race’s identity.
This is true.
Their story really hasn’t made any leaps and bounds since Wrath. They have been present in other conflicts but so were Gnolls, Furbolgs, Gilbin etc etc. Nothing of the High Elves has really made a difference. Like for instance, you couldn’t replace Lorthemar in any of the cinematics because doing that would alter the story. You take out a few High Elves and replace them with gnomes and nothing really changes.
You can repeat it all you want, but half elves are half elves. They are half human. They can’t be compared to high elves because, and that’s another factor, there’s also a chance they don’t have a connection to the Sunwell.
Lets be honest. Devs saw them as a compromise which honestly makes it that more difficult to get what you actually want.
Please tell me exactly what all will happen to the anti side when high elves are added.
Don’t give me ifs or “it will never happen”. Tell me straight up what you will do when they are added.
In the past 2 years I have frequently asked this question and no anti has ever answered it.
So what happened to your side when the High Elves were given to the Horde back in BC?
Then once again you’re purposely ignoring things that have been answered.
I personally would quit. LF forsaken, Calia becoming a leader of anything and High elves would all be deal breakers for me.
Not a good thing to say. You will get answered with the complete and utter destruction of Alliance High End stuff due to arcane torrent.
Probably because it’s kind of a disingenuous question. What will you do when the game is shut down and they are never added? What will you do when they’re not added next patch? Does that line of questions matter?
The same thing that will happen if High elves are never added.
Maintain the status quo, or player dissatisfaction will rise, and elements that once made the game enjoyable would feel cheapened to the playerbase. You can only keep asking this questioin so many times before players become dissatisified enough to quit playing altogether, and find other games that maintain mechanical integrates they value in the type of game they’re playing.
did they though? Last time I checked no dev has ever stated void elves were a compromise. At most they stated they added them because they thought they were a cool idea. They were never stated to be added because of high elves. As far as can be inferred from what has been said void elves might as well be an entirely different thing. It is best to not even think of them as an elf on this matter.
well horde got blood elves and it is quite clear what we have been doing. We have continued the request for high elves on the alliance.
The equivalent wouldn’t exactly work for antis though. Sure they can try to request the removal of a playable race but that will never happen.
I’m using deduction to make that guess. Be honest with yourself. Were you embolden or disheartened when Void Elves came out? did you feel like it was a wasted AR slot or that it was the right move when there was a perfectly better elf to use? ANswering those questions should lead you to the same exact concludions i did.
I get your meaning, but they do seem to think that they are in a similar grouping.
Void Elves were the thing I never knew I wanted. 10/10
well the former would likely happen after I am dead so it is irrelevant to me and the latter my answer is I will continue playing as I always have.
If the answer is the same that you will continue playing after they are added then as far as blizzard needs to be concerned they lose nothing by adding them.
I admit i did think it was cool when they initially came out. I remember thinking how dark they were, so serious. I love the void stuff. Shadow priest would have been my Legion main if i didn’t have to successfully choreograph a dance group and an orchestra to play it at the highest levels. I also remember thinking that they kinda tore the identity away from Spriests.
I see void elves as a separate entity unrelated to high elves. Personally I do not oppose the addition of any allied race barring those that would require retcons of existing lore.
Void elves didn’t retcon lore so they are whatever. In short I am indifferent.
Except time, energy, resources, an allied race slot, faction identity.
… and I’d be pretty disgruntled. With other confounding factors, maybe I’d stop?
can you honestly say they would stand to lose more money than they stand to gain from adding them?
Also there is no limited amount of allied race “slots”. Blizzard has not stated as such and we know they will continue to be made after BFA ends.