I always thought the night elf epilogue would be a story for the post-war, and not something that would be taken care within BfA itselt.
But I donât see a satisfying way to continue it in Shadowlands. It feels like itâs turning into a story about the nature of Elune. In other words, yet another cosmic thread, instead of keeping it as racial drama and an opportunity to develop and move forward the race.
And it also has the possibility of turning Tyrande into a villain for not wanting to hold hands with the horde. I am so annoyed with Anduin and that whole plot.
To be fair shes not been immensely helpful for our people over all. She keeps burning bridges or running off after Malfurion. Now all she is is vengeance given form.
I donât care for her much overall, but painting her as a villain for wanting people to be held accountable for Teldrassil and telling Anduin so is ridiculous. Especially since I still suspect there will be a redemption âplot twistâ for Sylvanas.
But gods in fantasy are absent. She helps enough by giving powers to her priestesses and many creatures. I donât expect gods to come to aid mortals directly unless itâs a threat of godly proportions.
To me, Tyrande blaming Elune feels like a spoiled child calling for mommy because she couldnât handle her job right.
Makes me smile from ear to ear when I see how long the High Elf discussions and threads always goes. And to those that would say that itâs carried out by an equal amount of love and hate, if not more hate, then Iâd like to suggest that you look at a lot of polls out there. More often than not, when High Elves are being voted for, they tend to have more going for them, than against.
I want the war back. I want Tyrande to more bluntly tell Anduin to stuff it, remind Feathermoon just who the High Priestess of Elune and leader of the Night Elves is, rally her Army of the Black Moon (knowing Iâm right there), and get to it. If she wants to claim a Queenâs crown Iâll gladly hand it to her.
âThey were designed that wayâ isnât a valid counter argument. The counterpoint is, âYeah, and?â
Which other than an arbitrary timeframe that does not matter doesnât make them different from the Highborne, who are part of the Kalâdorei?
Yeah. Elves slightly changed by magic over 10,000 years. Blood Elves were visibly changed by magic as well. Void Elves did it in an afternoon.
Theyâre Night Elves.
There is no counter argument.
Pandaren are the exact same race, across two factions with political differences.
They show that you can look EXACTLY the same and be on both sides.
Which, High Elves and Blood Elves donât look exactly the same.
âThey were designed to be on both factions.â is an irrelevant statement. Not a counter argument.
That certainly didnât happen. Iâve listened some of the cultural differences that exist. Keeping in mind the medium, a game about a bunch of people who fight eachother, the changes are fairly dramatic.
You can agree to disagree, but you never disproved any of it. Just moved some goal posts.
âBlood Elves belong to the Horde.â > âTheyâre different.â
âBlood Elves and High Elves are the same!â > âPandaren.â
âPandaren were designed to be neutral!â > âNightborne and Void Elves.â
âHorde should get an Alliance Race!â > âYou did. Night Elves = Nightborne.â - Return to start.
The Sunreavers are a military faction. With the way youâre categorizing ethnic cleansing, it would be like saying that someone was performing ethnic cleansing when their leader told them to, âKill all the Marines on the beach.â
Obviously, in a fantasy game with fantasy races the incidents of targeting a group that is likely to be compromised of entirely one race is likely. But itâs not like the players are performing ethnic cleansing everytime they roll over the Steamwheedle Cartel, etc. etc.
With that same definition practically any dungeon a player enters is an act of ethnic cleansing.
An expansion âfocusedâ on a war between Alliance and Horde will certainly take a while, as it well should. However, that doesnât mean the end of the conflicts between factions within the Alliance and Horde. If Blizzard doesnât waste Tyrandeâs time and doesnât put her in the Shadowlands for too long, then Iâm sure that her and/or Malfurion will continue on the fight against the Horde.
They are two entirely different systems, so why Pandarens are even in the discussion of the Allied Race system makes no sense other than for the pro-side trying to grasp at the straw of âhigh elves with very little changesâ.
The entire design philosophy for the pandaren similarities was entire upon its conception.
The Allied Races focusing more and more on differences from their core models has become more and more apparent (heck, the next one isnt even a goblin but just its model).
Using the Pandaren only âworksâ if you ignore that the argument doesnt take into account the system difference, the core philosophy difference, the success difference, etc. Its just an overused argument to push for the 'high elves with no changes" which isnt going to be a thing with the allied race system.
Saying the pandaren argument is a good argument, is like saying nuclear fusion and fission are the same thing because it has to do with nuclear energy and deals with atoms. If you ignore everything else besides the appearance, thats how you have an argument.
Which brings me to this part:
This comes from the idea that Nightborne and Void Elves have already happened Call. So if High Elves do happen, people want another Alliance race.
Its called a 1-for-1 trade.
Horde getting something brand new in exchange for High Elves = bad trade for Alliance because Horde gets new themes and new races.
Horde gets another reskin in exchange for High Elves = bad trade for Horde because Horde get really nothing in compensation for blood elf model being used again for Alliance.
Horde getting something from Alliance for High Elves = Balanced Trade.