Wait, so the devs saying basically âIf you want to play this factionâs most popular race, you need to play on that factionâ goes against the emphasis on factional differences? Howâs that work?
Focus on the optics, donât get into the âPro- vs Anti-â debate.
Telling a group of people who are fans of one group to play another group while at the same time trying to hype up the faction rivalry was a bad move. There were better things to say in that context than âThe Horde is waiting for you.â If he had stopped with âNo plans at this time,â or âWe donât think theyâre different enoughâ that wouldâve been one thing. âThe Horde is waiting for you,â line was a jab, intentional or not. Just like âDo you guys not have cell phones.â it should not have been uttered.
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See, the problem is I donât see it from your POV, you talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory by them giving them some concessions that dilute the void elf flavor. I see that maybe they can salvage this mistake and lighten the blow of how dumb it was.
To me the statement expressed comprehension of the desire, but protected the divide between factions by recognizing that this was already a playable theme that is now a big part of the Horde and it shouldnât be given away lightly. While it was disappointed to you possibly, it was a reassurance to others.
What mistake? Giving the Void Elves the same skin options as Blood Elves? I donât look at it as a mistake.
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Is this a High Elf thread like the original Elves AKA The Keebler Elves the inventors of many many many delcious cookies. Or is this about the 420 Elves ?
First, my PoV is that of a somewhat interested Third-Party. I am neither Pro- nor Anti- High Elf, as either way was of no consequence to me directly, but I support the desire for players to get to play the races/political factions they want. In fact, when the first Blue-eyed Blood Elf threads were appearing in response to the Pro-High Elf threads, I said then that I support it as long as it wasnât a âtake thatâ to the Pro- High Elf crowd.
Second, when I say âsnatch defeat from the jaws of victory,â what I am discussing is strictly what has been done up to this point. With what Blizzard has done as of right now (with the preview of the new customization), it looks like the majority of those who wanted High Elves are fairly satisfied, and if they donât throw another jab in at an interview like given in exemplar above, then they could come out of this looking pretty good.
Third, I donât believe there being a specific lore blurb mentioning that some High Elves are joining the ranks of Void Elves is diluting Void Elves, especially with there being High Elves in the Void Elf area learning already. It would just be confirming what is at least hinted at (I personally think it can be taken as enough to go by to say the new customizations represent former High Elves who have joined the ranks of the Void Elves, but apparently thereâs people on both sides who donât so letâs settle it), and making it easier to accept the Void Elf of all customization options as the future of playable Alliance High Elves. This alone could potentially move the game from âtieâ to âwinâ for Blizzard, in my opinion.
Notice that Iâm not talking here about Void Elves joining the Silver Covenant or anything like that. Void Elves are Void Elves, the Silver Covenant is the Silver Covenant. Let them remain separate, and especially donât make either subordinate to the other. I quite like them being separate organizations.
Fourth, it was not a disappointment to me, at least not in the way you suggest, because again, I have no skin in the âPro- vs Anti-â debate. If it was a disappointment at all, it was because that statement shows a lack of understanding of the desire expressed by those who did want playable Alliance High Elves, just like drawing Void Elves from Blood Elves did. Now itâs been a while since I listened to it so Iâm willing to give a small bit of room for doubt, but as I recall, it addressed absolutely nothing they brought up in their megathreads, and then proceeded to mock them with the âIf you want to play a fair-skinned Elf, the Horde is waiting for you,â as if that was the entire point for all Pro-High Elfers everywhere.
Again, looking at it from a strictly neutral objective perspective, there were better ways to say âWe currently have no plans to make the group of Alliance High Elves playableâ than by saying âYou just want a fair skin so play the Horde.â And if he had stopped short of that last sentence, it wouldâve been fine. All that last sentence serves as is a jab that, to be fair, he no doubt thought would be funny and never spark another couple of years of megathreads on the topic.
The NFL would be foolish to say the least to tell a Dallas Cowboys fan who didnât like the draft picks the Cowboys got âWell, youâre not really a Cowboys fan. The Denver Broncos are waiting for you.â
I am of the opinion that had Blizzard drawn Void Elves from Alliance-affiliated High Elves in the first place, like the High Elves that went through the Dark Portal with Alleria, then rather than the jab that Ion delivered with the complete feeling of dismissal for those who wanted Alliance-affiliated High Elves, he couldâve instead said a firm âVoid Elves are a group of High Elves who went with Alleria through the Dark Portal. We did this because we know and understand the desire for that connection that Alliance players have to their nostalgic roots. We understand that some may not like the Void aesthetic, but this is the route we have chosen for playable Alliance High Elves.â and left it there without throwing in a jab, and the whole debate wouldâve most likely never reached the levels it did because there could be no debate that Void Elves arenât Alliance-affiliated High Elves if they were specifically drawn from a cadre of High Elves loyal to the Alliance. You wouldâve been happy because there wouldâve been no question of âdilution of Void Elf themes.â The majority of High Elf fans who specifically wanted to play a group of High Elves that were always Alliance-aligned wouldâve been happy, or at least grudgingly accepted it. Blizzard wouldâve looked like they remembered their lore, and for those crying âHorde Biasâ it wouldâve been a piece of evidence that Blizzard also thinks about the Alliance, enough to remember they had a group of High Elves to pull Void Elves from at least. I feel like that wouldâve been a win.
Fifth, I just got done suggesting that Blizzard also give options to let Void Elves double down on their voidiness, so they can have void with their void while they void in the void. Iâm not even saying that a âlighterâ option is the way to go, simply acknowledging some of the High Elf fans want it, some Void Elf fans donât, and saying if weâre going to move to less Void letâs also move to more Void. Glyphs would be a good way to do this, in my opinion, since those in the past have added different appearances for things, i.e. 4-winged Avenging Wrath, Celestial appearance for one of the Druid forms (I canât remember which) and stuff like that. Both of those are at least as iconic for the respective classes as Entropic Embrace would be for Void Elves as a race. Plus Glyphs still exist that change the appearance of various things.
So by all means, letâs not make âless voidâ without also making âmore void.â Options in both directions.
But your mileage may vary.
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its possible to make them look different and still have standard elven features though.
i suggested perhaps more of a space theme also. so neon colors, planets, stars, more along that theme. there are several possible ways to make them look different, even outside entropic
This is the only thing I disagree with. Having Void Elves recruit SC elves would explain exactly where Void Elves are recruiting from while including Alliance aligned elves into their background for good. That way people can say for certain that theyâre playing an Alliance High Elf
Doesnât mean they need to take the void out of Void Elves, it would just help fulfill what people wanted from the beginning
Basically this
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I think thereâs a difference between saying âSome High Elves have left the Silver Covenant and joined with the Void Elvesâ and saying 'The Void Elves are now a subfaction of the Silver Covenant." One maintains the sovereignty of the Void Elves, and the other doesnât. I am advocating against the latter.
Or even, to salvage some semblance of the idea that the Void Elves couldâve come from Alleriaâs group, âSome High Elves from Outland, upon learning of Alleriaâs return, sought her out, and learning what she has become have decided to seek further knowledge of the Void.â
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Hi.
Well, the demon hunter thing is a problem because the DH player character is an illidari. Unless theyâre recruiting post-Legion, thatâs a tough one to explain. Paladins is a major problem, and the only solution I can offer would be reskinning paladin and all its skills into a shadow knight class and make it exclusive to void elves. At least that way the change doesnât feel like a nerf, as you put it.
There is a whole group of emâ. (To elaborate, I mean, they can train more people.)
But Shadowlands is the Death expansion (after the Void expansion. Sort of.) and after the sort of fel expansion. So⊠not so sure.
yeah almost seems like they need their own classes, theyâre so odd. they are essentially the equivalent if you made shadowpriest a race. otherwise, theyâll end up being behind every other race on class availability. for example, a highmountain tauren has nothing against them being pallies, druids, shaman, etc. the only classes a highmountain would be held back from by lore, are dh and locks. and taurens would make very cool demon hunters.
Agreed. The inherent problems with a void-aligned race rear their ugly heads when we look at it from that perspective. Itâs such a lose-lose situation, too. If you give VE void knights (reskinned paladin), void shaman or void druids, people will complain that void elves got something no one else has. On the other hand, you canât do much with them because of how the void thing limits them.
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might be a good time to let us select a high elf as a custom tied to classes we might otherwise not be allowed to play cause weâre weirdos haha
That would be preferable, though Iâm sure someone would complain about having a cake and eating it too.
But for some reason they⊠and Lightforged Draenei⊠can be infused with death magic.
the other possibility is some kind of void purging quest chain, and that character can never be a void elf again and lose their racials, though i am not sure what their racials could be then.
iâm so confused. lol 