Mana tap is only arcane. There is no fel bent to it. You’re making that up. Just because it came from Illidan doesn’t mean its demonic magic.
Nowhere in any of your sources has it been Fel based.
Blizzard, the company who makes the game and its lore, does not agree with you.
The only change to them was their green eyes which has been explained as a feature that will dissipate over time.
It does not physically alter them in any way. Its a mere coloration change no different than the High Elves having their blue eyes from Arcane magic alone.
FWIW this was bunk from the RPG they de-canonized about fifteen years ago. There’s no canon source that ascribes the blood elves’ broader skin tone options to fel corruption… and that’s probably for the best.
I know it’s not really something WoW does because the idea of the alliance ever having internal issues is anathema, but I’d think that blood elves regaining blue eyes would start to make the high elves seem less trustworthy to the rest of the alliance, on account of what started this side topic in the first place - blending in to infiltrate enemy territory where they don’t belong. What’s to stop a blue-eyed blood elf from simply lying and saying they’re a high elf?
In game the closest we have is in a room with one crystal there’s an elf who will occasionally interact with it, there’s a green been between his hand and the crystal. There’s no cast bar or anything to suggest what is happening. As these are being used to power the city it is also possible that this is some measure of control, directing the energy to where it needs to go. That is the only elf I’ve seen interacting with those crystals.
Wretched are those that overindulged in mana feeding, which could have been draining a ton of mana wyrms too, once that happens they become like a mana zombie, This also happens to the ones who don’t mana tap creatures as we see with Quel’lithien lodge.
I rode out to the zone and am looking around but I don’t see any belves siphoning from the crystals. Do you know where I can look? I’m gonna need to see more than Wretched to buy this, because that degeneration can occur from arcane overconsumption as well.
I just remember Metzen telling some confused sod at a BlizzCon one Q&A that the writers didn’t consider them canon because it was impossible to square Warcraft with all their nonsense and character assassinations.
There’s some funkiness with lore going on, like I think they were (unless I’m mixing up different threads) were saying that most blood elves ended up like that
I’m not arguing that, my point is mana tapping and siphoning led to those Wretched and the questing makes it clear the mana tap was actually backfiring hence why Kael’thas betrayed Illidan. I think the lore is very confusing from BC era.
Yes. But here’s the point: the former are Kael’thas’s followers who threw away the one scruple we’re told Silvermoon’s faction of blood elves had, that of directly draining fel energy. That’s why Kael’s wretched are fel monsters with gooey bulging growths and rotting maws and green blood, and not just arcane-touched lemmings like those found in Eversong.
I don’t understand how this distinction has managed to lose you. Each group uses a different model (arcane overindulgence vs fel overindulgence) to make it extra clear.
Kael’thas revelation regarding this technique. The origins was kept hushed because who the teacher was. Illidan also provided those mana crystals we see all over the place in Quel’thelas.
The embrace of warlock magics as well as chaotic magic also had an effect on the population. The average Thalassian in Silvermoon had no idea how dangerous this magic was and this new racial ability. Only that it sated them. Some took it too far and others sated themselves so deeply with demonic mana crystals they changed to Wretched or worse as seen with the Felblood Elves.
I just provided several sources which show it was. Literally described as Illidan’s teachings brought by Rommath. How many times do I have to repeat this? The average ELF did not know. Blackfathom shows us why the Night Elves were wary and investigating this as a fel corruption was seen appearing on the blood elves hence why they were using naga and satyr stems to compare with blood elves. Eventually the truth got out. It wasn’t “chaotic magics” it was fel magic and the technique wasn’t helping them by making them less addicted it was making the addiction worse hence why we have crack elves aka the Wretched. SMH how do people miss this whole story line from Classic to BC? It’s a huge chapter in Blood Elven history that everyone just assumes nope it was just arcane. No it wasn’t.