Bal’a dash! To my fellow Council members who know me, my passion resides in the Quel’dorei and RP realms. With that, my hope is that we can implement playable high elves as seen fit.
High Elves are a canon race in the Warcraft universe but have only been available to players as a Horde race via Sin’dorei, despite the ongoing demand to create an Alliance-aligned version. Discontent among the RP player base has been ongoing since then, and increasing with each new expansion.
The introduction of High Elves to the Alliance would give roleplayers and gamers overall who enjoyed high elves in other Warcraft campaigns the ability to experience the original Warcraft universe in its fullness. All while giving Alliance players access to a revitalized and lore-rich class and race option. High Elf-Alliance characters would also provide greater diversity to Alliance rosters, an important factor both in terms of the game’s balance and for roleplaying purposes.
On roleplay servers, the majority of the void elves are played as high elves from a quick peruse around Stormwind City and other major hubs with roleplay profiles. If they cannot be introduced as an Allied race, then I urge you to give us a way to override our race name such as Glyph of Elven Identity which gives us the [High Elf] when scrolled over - can do this for blood elves too if deemed lore appropriate.
I would like the same for Glyph of Dwarven Identity that gives a [Wildhammer Dwarf] race when scrolled over, as opposed to the Bronzebeard Dwarf. Such a minor change adds that layer of flair that is unique to RPGs and emboldens the concept of customization. The delineation got messy when Kul Tirans, who are humans, were added as a separate entity, compared to Wildhammer who were simply merged with Bronzebeard dwarves per their starting campaign. This can extend to humans and their respective kingdoms too.
Back to the Quel’dorei (high elves):
Not all high elves of the Alliance follow Umbric’s teachings or Alleria by far, and are aligned with Vereesa and the Silver Covenant who are very much Alliance. Let us have both flavors of Alliance Quel’dorei.
Ideas for the High Elves (Including Blood & Void Elves for Equality):
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New Hairstyles for High Elves & Blood Elves & Share Hairstyles Between All - This has been requested for some time by Blood Elf players too with regards to Void Elves, whilst Void Elves have benefited from the Blood Elf hairstyles. This is very very low-hanging fruit to add and I have done it myself via Blender. It’s silly for it not to be in-game with the low effort it takes, even for a novice like me.
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Option to remove the receded hairline in hairstyles that plague Void Elves; they can be enjoyed either way by Void Elves, High Elves & Blood Elves. Variety is the spice of life!
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Eye Color - Iris (eye color behind the glow) & Eye Glow (Divine - Yellow shades, Arcane - Blue shades, Fel - Green shades, Darkfallen - red shades, Void - the eyes fully encompassed in the Void Elf original colors, so on and so forth)
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Extra Note: These eye colors behind the glow depict Quel’dorei in Tides of Darkness: IE Cinematic with Sylvanas from Shadowlands that showcase her eye color without a glow and instead are a pretty blue-gray. Seeing this cinematic made me happy as players are often unaware of how the eye glow works on high elves. This should apply to all Quel’dorei (Ren’dorei & Sin’dorei) as well.
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Rework eyes to represent Tides of Darkness given that the cinematic pays homage to this story, where Vereesa has blue eyes, Alleria has green eyes and Lor’themar has brown eyes as written in the material.
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Warpaint/Tattoos: Just like you did with the Wildhammer - give warpaint to depict Alleria’s aesthetic. We love this so much and many put such warpaint in their art. I think blood elves would enjoy this too and it makes sense for them.
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Revamp Quel’Danil Lodge: With the many talks regarding a revamp of Azeroth, please give the Quel’Danil Lodge its high-elven architecture as depicted in other forms of media for the Lodge. There’s zero reason why it has Kaldorei architecture. This is low-hanging fruit considering the Blood Elf/Sin’dorei assets already in the game that need to be turned blue instead of red.
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Additional items via the Trading Post to celebrate the High Elves that are prominent on roleplay servers. Even established races are getting Trading Post items as seen with June 2023’s selection via the Sentinel shield.
Oftentimes, the argument is “There aren’t enough high elves in the world to justify a race!!” What about void elves (Ren’dorei)? These are specifically blood elf researchers who followed Professor Umbric and were exiled. I would say the population issue goes out the window with how niche this is.
Humans, dwarves and high elves have been a staple of the Warcraft universe. 20 years following the game’s initial launch, it feels like it’s time to bring our high-elven brethren home to the World of Warcraft properly as much-beloved, playable characters.
Thank you for your consideration. I realize not everyone is a fan because of ownership of Quel’dorei via the Horde but realize it is more nuanced than simply Sin’dorei as a political faction.
Do not forget the roots of high elves and the number of high elves who still stalwartly stay by the Alliance and their Ranger-General Vereesa Windrunner.
They have been part of the MMORPG since Vanilla, and played an even larger role with Wrath of the Lich King and beyond, from appearing in Dalaran and the Argent Tournament to continuing to have representatives (Vereesa & Alleria pre-Ren’dorei) who are properly part of storylines, with Vereesa Windrunner leading the high-elven military.
With talks of Azeroth revamps and new races, I feel this would be a wonderful reward for the community’s unwavering love for high elves throughout the many years for players wanting to properly play them, myself and my large-scale Silver Covenant guild included. And a homage to some of the original heroes of Warcraft within the Alliance.
Posting a thread below that I found useful for the conversation. I was happy to see my guild member Traycor’s art in one of them. (Hi!)
Megathread
High Elf Allied Race Megathread (Continuation) - Visuals & text for: Aesthetic, Heritage Armor, Mount, High Elven Points of Interest, and the most important component - the “Why High Elves?”
Comments I’d like to see are further options and scenarios to breathe life into making this idea for Blizzard seamless, all while making each party happy from all walks of life in the game. Customization is crucial so players can align with their character, beyond high elves despite their massive love for this particular race. This sort of connection transcends any of our own specific or indulgent desires not to have the high elves appear as a race.
I appreciate you all reading again. May Belore guide you and bless both the Alliance and Horde with its rays of light in the future!
Shorel’aran, fellow community council members!
EDIT 07/07: I appreciate the enthusiasm via the icon. Please only show your support with one character so Blizzard can see the genuine want for this ask. Thank you!