I would like to see the story of what the Alliance High Elves have been doing for the past few decades since the split, how theyâve adapted to human society, what measures theyâve taken to preserve their heritage, and what of that heritage has been lost, or intentionally given up, due to time apart and integration/interbreeding with humans.
I personally feel thereâs a very interesting story to tell there and that story alone can justify any cosmetic differences between potential playable Alliance High Elf models and Blood Elf models. Different hairstyles, haircolors, idle pose, and even having them have non-glowing eyes (like some high elf npcâs sport) could all be explained by adaptation to human society and/or their diluted bloodlines that weâre oft reminded of.
This is fair, and a bit of what I think Iâd like to see as well, I tend to like story POVs and the High Elves on Alliance is a POV I just find interesting, and deserving to be told with lore reasoning to back them up in favor of being playable to experience the POV.
My issue I have is occasionally Iâve noticed an anti BE mindset; whether itâs just flat out resentment still that they went Horde~Which by the way I agree with, I think they are a Horde race they fit in, their personality would be stifled on Alliance, but the people that often use these arguments I notice go a bit further and seem to want to reverse the Blood Elf narrative into the High Elf narrative making the Blood Elf story moot tbh, the reason I find it troubling is because by doing so what they are essentially arguing for is Quelâthalas on Alliance, why Iâve been thinking about it is because each time Iâve experienced speaking with people like this in various places on the internet where the Pro HE discussion is held, not many pro HE supporters ever shut them down. Itâs a bit daunting to have to hear how they donât understand why BEâs went Horde, âhow they have nothing in common with the Forsakenâ. And then share their rather radical ideas which to be honest are a often also a slap in the face to Blood Elf players so I can sort of understand why Blood Elf players can be turned off by the request to see their kin playable.
Part of my problem with an anti HE argument is that the Blood Elf narrative shouldnât be the detriment to stopping Blizzard from including High Elves. But on the flip side a part of my problem with some supporting High Elves is they seem to want to not argue for High Elves but to copy paste the personality and everything they see from High Elves onto Blood Elves and find a way to try to argue for that, whether is some grande âBlood Elves will come to their senses and re join Allianceâ argument or what have you. And what I support is Alliance High Elves becoming playable, but a way to finesse the Blood Elves off of Horde and onto Alliance is not something I am fond of, and you start to notice that sentiment from different people in different scenarios but essentially itâs all one sentiment.
So Iâm glad to see responses confirming that what I already thought, was that these ideas are a bit more of a minority, and how I see High Elves as an Alliance branch of Thalassian story being both an appeal to the traditional fantasy and its own thing now in its own right, is the more default opinion from people. But then why do so many pro High Elf supporters sort of stay quiet when people come out of left field with rather radical anti Blood Elf ideas on how to get High Elves? One could surmise that if one is quiet now one would be inclined to be quiet later assumably once we receive High Elves on Alliance, and I would suspect that these same sentiments shared by people Iâve seen would then move on to advocating for things that belong to Blood Elves. So itâs great that most people agree thatâs not what they want, but then again why do most people advocating for high elves also not shut down these arguments, I can see from a BE player standpoint why it would be easier to try to shut the request down now, and not have to deal with the rather radical ideas on how to take things from the Blood Elves~ that is not to say you or I or the majority want that but some people do and those are the people that made me start thinkingâŚ
Is it enough for High Elves to be rivals with their kin. Or are supporters of the High Elf Alliance story going to start advocating for them to receive things they feel are owed to them, that currently belong to the Blood Elves in story? Because on paper I think itâs without question, some people prefer the Alliance High Elf story and I think deserve to enjoy it every bit as I enjoy the Blood Elf story, but then people start to reveal a bit of their anti Blood Elf opinions and itâs a bit of a detractor for the High Elf request in my opinion.
Iâm a bit late in response, and a tad too tired to quoteblock out Lannâs post, but in regards to where High Elves would be goingâŚ
Iâm no expert - my void elves are very much so former blood elves (one literally is an old belf alt), and I donât write any high elf characters, but coming from the âother sideâ, I want them to continue to have a huge rivlarly.
High Elves are a niche surviving sector of a race that experienced genocide, and then fractured further. They are 1% of their race, and that needs to play into things heavily. The preservation of their classical culture and aesthetics, clinging to dying traditions as their kin move on.
Stories and NPC dialogue about their struggles to survive, and their potential loneliness. Families were torn apart by the split; Iâve been writing one, and frankly, seeing more of that in game would be nice. Itâs a huge consequence of these sorts of wars and infighting.
Are they trying to rebuild from the 1% with their original ways in a new place quietly? Building a new home for themselves? Or are they just going to intermingle with the rest of the Alliance races? Would that potential new home be shared with the Renâdorei, or will they continue to live on their space rock separately?
Also:
I can actually see them holding out for Kaelâthas to be reintroduced for them to play any sort of card in their favor. Kaelâ wanted away from the Alliance desperately after how Garithos treated their people; he had every right to want to pull away. But the Alliance now? Entirely different set of people in regards to the other races for the most part. Stormwind humans are not Lordaeron humans.
I want to see the potential squabbling between Alleria, Vereesa, Kael, and Lorâthemar. Another huge fight, potentially. (Or, perhaps some sort of reconciliation and understanding. Who knows howâd that go. Iâm leaning towards a train wreck.)
yes. I know how you feel. I wish you didnât lose everything from your old account when you merge it with a new one.
I managed to recover the 2 accounts I had before this one I created when returning in mid legion. I saved some of my characters (including this one) however I lost some mounts that are no longer obtainable such as the pandaren phoenix
I think this makes an interesting story too, will be Blizzard touching up on integrating playable Alliance High Elves, with the Void Elves, I expect a nice friendship to be seen in story, maybe to comedic relief sometimes in questing!
Personally I think the rivalry / schism of the Alliance High Elves, and Blood Elves would be VERY interesting to see. My one thing is will it create people wanting to win things from Blood Elves, ie: Quelâthalas warfront like scenarios where they think the Alliance can win, or even just something Iâve seen a few times people think Quelâdanas would be claimed for the High Elves and so close to the Blood Elf seat of power I disagree, especially since isnât the Sunwell technically on that island.
So I want a rivalry, but part of it would be a recognition that the rivalry is entirely around the schism as it pertains to their different cultures and personalities now. Not a rivalry in the sense of âyes now we have Alliance High Elves, lets petition Blizzard to give us Quelâthalas tooâ.
As far as Kael goes I think he would be ruling the Venthyr if he comes back, but I would find it funny if he came back and disagreed with the government in Silvermoon and somehow united the High Elves to band before the modern Alliance cause. I would be fine with that simply because heâs not missed by me as a Blood Elf player, Lorâthemarâs decisions and choices and how heâs lead Quelâthalas, I am not exactly wishing to see Kael back, in any capacity.
Its all good part of my perspective and support of Alliance High Elves comes from my own passionate love of Blood Elves, and after seeing from several sources and different places the same sort of anti BE sentiment in some arguments I thought it would be a good moment to objectively look at our own side, both on a personal level I was inquiring but I thought it would be a nice moment for pro HE posters to say âwe 100% will not be asking for Blood Elf story in the future (ie: Quelâthalas or some fancy way of turning the BEâs neutral because I have noticed sometimes people even past wanting Alliance HEâs also want that)â A lot of times when I see these arguments, they go unchallenged, or the next comment is âAnd I just canât wait for Alliance HEâsâ so itâs like wait did we just ignore this inherently anti Blood Elf comment/idea thrown out there, is this where people stand?
Please no! That wannabe edgy, hipster story is part of what makes me not like VE from a story perspective so I would hope they wouldnât try to recycle even more of it for HEs for the Alliance. I wanna see them break away from the Sunwell and find something new that doesnât turn them into emo elves.
And I know you like VEs and BEs and I respect that, for the record. I just have my own tastes and opinions.
I want the High Elves who remain with the Alliance and the SC to forge a new path. Maybe have some interaction between them, but nothing to destroy what makes a primary group within the Horde somehow less or neutral.
Yeah I do and I expect everyone does, its a big part of why I support Alliance High Elves, because it both in my opinion adds to BE story and faction rivalry, while also delivering the other more traditional fantasy Elf to people who both have valid lore reasons for wanting them and just prefer that narrative!
I largely agree, I think
This summed it up nicely too, in being Alliance and staying from their homeland they have forged a new course as much as they like to think of themselves being more traditional as opposed to Blood Elf way of life.
Theres two arguments not from any one place or person sometimes take on different forms of being described but inherently their two common sentiments I started to see from some people. One being a desire to drive the Blood Elves out of Quelâthalas; which sympathizing with someone against the inclusion of High Elves I can see fringe arguments like this really being a detriment to asking for Alliance High Elves. And two a second one Iâve seen echo from different people in different places, but a sort of âBlood Elves should never have been Hordeâ and then it delves into their ideas on how to turn Blood Elves neutral. Both of which I would be fundamentally against while also still supporting the Alliance High Elves to be playable.
I think there are ways to highlight their schism and rivalry without thinking the High Elves who have done nothing to help rebuild Quelâthalas⌠would somehow have claim and support to take it.
I tend to not get too wrapped up on peoples opinions of High Elf actions since the fall of Quelâthalas. Or if people dislike Blood Elves and think their âin the wrongâ, because both instances I think stem from peoples passion and love for their respective favored groups which is part of that adding to faction rivalry I sort of see.
I also tend to ignore for the most part arguments from people who donât understand why Blood Elves are Horde, its just bothersome that often this will be the starting point to, why they want to make BEâs neutral almost like theyâre trying to convince people that Blood Elves should leave the Horde, which is very different from supporting the Alliance aligned High Elves I think.
There again really is no one place or person arguing this, reddit comments, twitter, discord, the forums, anywhere HEâs are discussed I just started noticing a sort of fringe anti BE sentiment with peoples ideas that sort of seem like attempts of deconstructing the Blood Elf narrative that they seem to hold disdain towards, I respect everyones choice of favored Thalassian Elf, but tearing one down just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
So I thought Iâd bring my inquiry here, why do some people feel the need to do this. What from a pro HE perspective, is the opinion of these more radical ideas etc. I thought it would be a nice moment to highlight both the rivalry of the two Thalassians, while also putting to rest these more drastic anti BE sentiments and ideas.
Iâm adding this in to my comment too, I think it sums it up nicely as well!
I mean one of my oldest points has been that the divide between the two is a way to expand the BE story and actually round them out as âpart of the Hordeâ because players for the longest time mocked their inclusion in the Horde saying they didnât fit and that BE players were just Alliance players deep down. If High Elves were playable then that settles a lot of that I think once and for all and can show why they are Horde (cause letâs be honest their story seems like it was really an afterthought to give Horde a pretty race).
They can do what they failed to do with Pandaren in a sense (not the same because Pandaren werenât and arenât actually divided like HEs and BEs are), but we can have two groups with a rivalry done right.
I mean, the argument of potential lore does not outweigh the design issues at hand.
Again, the problem is that void elves exist. So any argument about making high elves look different has several issues.
It means the alliance gets a standard blood elf model (purple), and a new high elf model. Now you have two bites of what originally was playable on the Horde.
A a result of number 1, you now have NPCâs who are of the same race as blood elves with a different appearance with no reasonable explanation that can be accepted from a design view.
Void elves exist. If you want something that is a blood elf but different to be a high elf, then void elves fill in that niche.
High elves and blood elves are the same race from a design point of view. Any difference simply would not make any sense because the critical aspect of this race is they are the same people.
The hurdle which the high elf faces is that of design. This would be different IF
The blood elves werenât playable. No need to worry about about design issues cause there arenât any.
Void elves didnât exist.
Ultimately, I do believe the best future for high elve is absorption into the void elves.
part of my perspective and support of Alliance High Elves comes from my own passionate love of Blood Elves, and after seeing from several sources and different places the same sort of anti BE sentiment in some arguments I thought it would be a good moment to objectively look at our own side, both on a personal level I was inquiring but I thought it would be a nice moment for pro HE posters to say âwe 100% will not be asking for Blood Elf story in the future (ie: Quelâthalas or some fancy way of turning the BEâs neutral because I have noticed sometimes people even past wanting Alliance HEâs also want that)â A lot of times when I see these arguments, they go unchallenged, or the next comment is âAnd I just canât wait for Alliance HEâsâ so itâs like wait did we just ignore this inherently anti Blood Elf comment/idea thrown out there, is this where people stand?