You better be careful saying this.
Blizzard had itâs chance with âthe most obviousâ before and skipped it completely.
1 Like
I know. 
Thatâs why I said âmost obviousâ and not âthe sure thingâ. 
You really donât know me at allâŠas several pro-high elf regulars in these threads can tell you. Youâre spouting nonsense likeâŠ
âŠwhich deserves nothing less - and probably more - than my gentle poke at it.
2 Likes
OMG yes yes yes! Actually want to be a Night Elf shaman more, but anything is good!
Also just to stir the pot, now that we are in Shadowlands, I guess donât have to worry about population anymore. We can have as many High Elves as we want from the realm of the dead. lol
Well itâs pretty much the premise of the original thread on the topic.
If Ion got anything right itâs that thereâs no real grasp on what a High Elf actually is precisely because unlike most other groups theyâre a disparate bunch.
Of course people can easily refer to the Silver Covenant as an identifiable subsection of High Elves seeing their storied history on the Alliance. Even then Blizzard, like it did for most other races, can just invent more context to suit it to make that one subgroup even more representative of their group (like Void Elves).
What Blizzard can do if they so chose is to make a minor plotline about reuniting these disparate tribes under one new banner. Just like the Maghar which come from different groups, each bringing their own culture and contribution to the class selections (see Shadowmoon = priest but all Maghar can be priests), Blizzard can adopt the same idea for the âHigh Elvesâ.
Basically High Elves can come from at least four currently identifiable groups.
- Silver Covenant in Dalaran
- High Elf refugees in Stormwind (some previously from Theramore)
- Highvale from the Hinterlands
- Half Elves
In terms of lore justification for classes I would associate them as such:
Silver Covenant: Mage
Stormwind: Priest, Paladin
Highvale: Shaman (possibly Druid?)
Obviously any group can have any class but this is just a âdefaultâ association. Warriors, Hunters, and Rogues are the most origin-agnostic by nature.
The idea is that Silver Covenant represent the magical side of the High Elves, thus being the one to bring in the mages. Stormwind High Elves (and Half Elves) have lived historically among humans and have adopted their lifestyles most notably an association with the Holy Light. The Highvale elves are more connected to the Dwarfs of the Wildhammer and this would justify shaman.
Druids are a harder sell, and I feel like it would be more difficult because this is pretty much a Night Elf thing but it would be pretty cool if they made some kind of story to justify it⊠perhaps with some Night Elves, having left Kalimdor, now teach them their ways as they ally with one another.
In terms of aesthetic, High Elves could just represent the more âmundaneâ side of Thalassian elves. Their heritage for example would be far more reminiscent of what Alleria and Vereesa currently look like rather than what the relatively âhaughtyâ Blood Elves present themselves.
Personally Iâd like to see them focus on making their customization based on Half Elves. Give them a full range of skin colors to show the âhumanâ bits, shape their posture or thicken their models to make them more âhumanâ. Allow customization of ear size and facial âroundnessâ (via smart use of shadows).
Youâd be able to look like a full fledged Legolas if you want to or you can look like a half elf ruffian from the streets of Stormwind.
This is just scratching the surface of what they could do.
3 Likes
Murgatroydâs a pretty fair minded dude, even if heâs against High Elves.
Renoâs neutral.
I do feel like most Horde only players are against it just because theyâre generally against the Alliance in the first place.
Then there are the forum sadists that want Blood Elves to get blue eyes just because they want people to be, âHopeless.â and if I had a gold coin for every time Iâve heard that one I could buy a heirloom or two.
But thereâs no real polling data for any of this.
10 Likes
I mean if Blizzard takes actual lore steps to reintegrate the High Elves within the Blood Elves I would actually think thatâs cute. Theyâve already started it with the Undead.
Hell back when I believed that they were loosening faction boundaries (like most people) I even surmised that this is what would happen. I thought weâd finally see resolution and that High Elves would integrate with the Blood Elves back in Quelâthalas after forgiving one another.
Then both factions could be both if they wanted.
But now that theyâve stressed their view on faction divisions, I donât see how that will happen now⊠and itâs kinda depressing. I feel the same way about Undead. I was looking forward to possibly playing one on the Alliance.
Maybe thatâll be what the Undead Night Elves will be? I mention that they might be a Horde AR but Lilian could easily âreturnâ them to the Alliance with Caliaâs help and they would end up being a Night Elf customization much like Undead High Elf will be a Blood Elf customization.
Of course if Undead Night Elves end up being Alliance, that would put a hit on my theory of an Undead Night Elf / High Elf AR pair so Iâm not gonna hitch myself unto that ride just yet.
1 Like
I never thought theyâd loosen faction boundaries, because of their comments about the Horde Alliance divide being an integral part of WoW in interviewsâŠ
And it makes sense. People choose a faction in WoW and essentially join that tribe. Being Horde or Alliance becomes a part of someones identity and once you make a choice like that then youâre going to be a lot more likely to stick with the game.
If they get rid of the factions then peoples only tribal loyalty would be being a âWarcraft Playerâ and thatâs a much easier tribe to break off from.
3 Likes
You know, you donât need to necro an old mega thread or post a new one every single time the current one gets locked. Feels like Iâve been muting a different High Elf Mega thread every week now. It is possible to go a couple of days on the forums without talking about high elves, which I know, is crazy! Yes, I understand that it is frustrating have people exploit the auto lock function to lock down the discussion, but trying to force the topic to remain relevant 24 hours a day is just obnoxious.
2 Likes
Well when the 20k post-full of flags from a lot of ppl mega thread gets locked for weeks, it kinda runs rampant to where a new one to reset it is needed.
2 Likes
Itâs a discussion forum. You donât get to decide what other people talk about. If you donât like the number of High Elves threads, then stop muting them so people can talk about what they want, after all, theyâve chosen to discuss things on an internet forum.
3 Likes
There is multiple active topics talking about High Elves. I dunno why there is just so much spam these days.
I blame the kids with their hula hoops and their jump ropes and their game boys andâŠ
5 Likes
I plan all the Aliens. Because you know⊠Aliens.
1 Like
Aliens how do they work?
It is interesting that generally, High Elves are a topic split between Horde and Alliance players. The liked players of the antiâs primer thread was a sea of red, while the most popular Helf mega threads were mostly blue
2 Likes
Well one can argue that itâs pretty pathetic that Blizzard has to resort to exploiting tribalism, an actually significant problem in modern culture, to retain subscribers.
Most players donât actually care for the faction boundaries, and pride can be retained in what a faction stands for rather in what members constitute it.
1 Like
Well on one hand people are typically proud to be a part of their faction, especially those on the Horde. That doesnât mean we wouldnât like to work with the opposite faction for dungeons and raids though, since us working together has been a major theme as of late
4 Likes
This is a far more benign version that would actually make sense without actually altering the setting too much.
This is what I was expecting at a minimum and they couldnât even deliver on that.
Meanwhile Horde has been able to engage in mercenary mode in PvP for quite some time now, but apparently that canât be extended to Alliance in PvE.
As usual it feels like their reckless decision making is just biased for the Horde experience even though itâs probably just haphazard choices without actual context.
1 Like
Yeah. Thatâs the baked in tribalism of WoW. The developers want people to choose a faction and most people donât hop back and forth like I do.
Like, I think if they brought up the topic of High Elves at Blizzcon, youâd hear more of a negative reaction because the people that go to Blizzcons tend to be more Horde. You hear that whenever they do a Horde/Alliance shout.
And a lot of Horde players arenât big on Alliance players getting things.
Most of my friends that only play Horde are against High Elves. Where I donât have any Alliance friends that are against them, even if theyâre not particularly interested in playing one. The people who play both sides also seem open to them.
Makes people like Murgatroid interesting since most Alliance players are for it.
There also seems to be a correlation between sadist alliance players and not wanting them. Since a lot of the blue portraits you see against them also make those, âMake them hopeless.â comments.
2 Likes