The Unofficial High Elf Discussion Megathread

Drede-cairne · March 18, 2019, 8:52pm

They where popular but they became massively popular with the rise of Mythic+ and being the exclusive Demon Hunter race on the Horde.

They went from 15-20% to 30% at the height of their popularity.

Izzabelle-draka · March 18, 2019, 8:58pm

Blood Elf popularity has always been at least 25% or more of the hordes population, once their population was established that is. I mean their population in Classic was Zero. So I cannot say they were always the most popular horde race. I don’t know about Night Elves. Still Blood Elves have always been rather High, Hitting close to 40% with Mythic.

I’m also looking at max level characters,

Lydon-emerald-dream · March 18, 2019, 9:20pm

They’ve almost always been top played by any metric WotLK onwards, especially after Forsaken got WoTF gutted, and even more made BE for the extra silence/interrupt.

Elenedhel-moon-guard · March 18, 2019, 10:27pm

…says the Belf.

gasp
HE KNOWS!
Flips scales

Fyorsing-sargeras · March 18, 2019, 10:43pm

I’m remain unconvinced that the “Redeemed” are being setup for anything meaningful – any Alliance players that didn’t read Before the Storm probably don’t even know who Calia Menethil even is.

In any case, the purpose of my earlier post wasn’t to highlight things that are likely to happen; instead, I was aiming to address some of the more brazen deviations from the setting that was described in the Chronicles. Which is to say:

The thematic of the Alliance should be dominated by the various Titan-based races, and generally be the more appealing option for elves.
The thematic of the Horde should be dominated by the various non-Titan-based races, and generally be the more appealing option for trolls.

That’s a fair point about the Amani. I wasn’t really thinking about tribal politics at all, and instead just used the name most commonly associated with Forest Trolls, but you’re absolutely right – and the Revantusk have been a part of the Horde for quite some time, which is even better.

There are plenty of reasons, historically, that would explain the Dark Trolls joining the Alliance – not the least of which is their interest in all of the same things Night Elves are interested in. The intent for adding them to the Alliance is to illustrate that while the Horde is probably a better fit for most varieties of troll, there are outliers; which is exactly the case, as it is, with Blood Elves an Nightborne.

Agreeable.

Agreed. I’m somewhat confident that Blizzard will stop implementing Allied Races patch-by-patch, going forward, instead reserving them as content “Unlocked with the purchase of [Insert Expansion Name]!”; which means that adding this many things is likely to take years (at least 3+, and that’s assuming we got like 6 per expansion).

If the Horde players prefer Mok’nothal, I’m entirely on board. The goal was merely for something to counter the Vrykul, and both Ogres and Mok’nothal are capable in that regard. What’s that hashtag meme, “#whynotboth”?

I’m not entirely convinced that already being an attache to either faction means anything special; the Dark Irons have been fighting with the Alliance for longer than Pandaren, and yet were only made playable a few months ago.

You may be right, but rule of cool, my friend.

If it wasn’t intentional, it might be the most coincidental accident in the history of video games.

I don’t think any of the retcon’d Eredar/Draenei information would’ve precluded the possibility of them being Titan-based themselves, unless I’m forgetting something?

There’s no mention because I was merely trying to address a perceived deviation from a “proper, in-universe delineation”, by doubling down on the underlaying racial elements of each faction – and while I’m not anti-Hozen or anti-Jinyu, they are sort of purposeless in this regard (likewise with Vulpera and Sethrak).

Alamara-goldrinn · March 18, 2019, 10:48pm

I wrote my opinions on what’s next on allied races here:

Next Allied Races? 8.2? 8.3?

My guesses, explained:

There’ll be four more allied races in BfA.

Basis:
– There’s space in the allied race character creation banners for exactly four more races, two per faction.
– There’s still two major patches coming, and allied races come in pairs, so one pair per major patch.
– Blizzard actually said there would be more allied races in the future
– Blizzard also said they have not finalized all allied race details, which means they are working on more.

Vulpera

Basis:
– Vulpera model was completely redone during alpha, evolving from a NPC-only model that was incapable of facial expressions (eyes painted on skull, unable to move and blink, for instance) to a fully new almost-playable model able to use gear, with lots of customizations and new animations (which include jumping and the Heart of Azeroth animation)
– All vulpera model needs to become fully playable quality is adjustments to shoulder armor size, helmets, a few specific gear geosets and a few new animations. They are more refined now than kul tirans were two months ago, when 8.1.5 PTR was made available.
– Vulpera proved to be popular
– I’d say their chance of being playable is above 90%.

Junker gnomes

Basis:
– During early WoD, a thread in MMO-C made several mock-ups for “subraces”. One of them, a half-mechanical gnomes, was commented as a cool idea by devs in Twitter.
– Junker gnome mentions were datamined in several files since 8.0. From a “junker gnome island” to a “junker” (half-mechanical) prairie dog pet. There’s also the abandoned gnome area in Tiragarde Sound and several engineering weapons with color schemes that match the area and the junker pet. The many mentions in files made people speculate on a junker gnome allied race since alpha.
– Gnomes are one available model not yet used by an allied race, so a race based on it is very likely.
– Gnome characters in BfA have hinted at wanting to “become machines”. One is Kelsey Steelspark in the war campaign. Another comment on that regard is Galliwyx questioning if Mekkatorque’s objective is to become a machine (during Horde war campaign). These may be foreshadowing of the future allied race.
– Mechagon island and dungeon were confirmed for 8.2. While the Horde storyline is about goblins stealing tech, the Alliance storyline is about helping the half-mechanical commoners fight their tyrannical high-mechanized nobles. A perfect setup for an allied race, a lot like the nightborne storyline.
– “Mechagnomes” shown in the last Blizzcon presentation hint at lots of customization options, but until we see the actual models through datamining they could just be flavorful NPCs (or even just be the high-mechanized nobles cited above).
– I’d say their chance of being playable is around 60%. Far less sure than vulpera, but way above any other potential allied race right now.

Ogres (or mok’nathal).

Basis:
– When WoD was released and people questioned if Blizzard planned to use the WoD ogre models to replace the Azeroth ones, the answer was that the plan was to make proper HD models for the old ogres instead.
– Kul tiran model is a perfect basis for an ogre race. Since the kul tiran model is totally new, it cost a lot of resources, and it makes sense for Blizzard to reuse it.
– Rexxar model is based on male kul tiran’. Despite being a NPC that wears a mask, there’s a whole head model bellow it that is essentially an HD version of the old ogre model. This implies Blizzard is at least working on the above mentioned HD version of the old world ogre.
– The bloodmatrons of the blood trolls use a model based on female kul tiran that also looks a lot like a female ogre would.
– Rexxar is an active character in BfA, and could be used to bring either the mok’nathal or his Stonemaul ogre followers to the fight.
– I’d say their chance of being playable is around 50% right now.

“Lightforged Undead” (“Redeemed”)

Basis:
– Before the Storm novel introduces Calia Menethil as some sort of light-animated revenant, different from the Forsaken.
– Current storyline implies Derek Proudmoore will be sent to meet Calia.
– If the ogre theory above is right, then Horde is getting an Alliance model, which means the Alliance could get a model based on a Horde model, the undead, in exchange.
– Datamined material from 8.1.5 implies a storyline in Tirisfal, about the Scarlet Crusade reforming to expel the remaining undead from Lordaeron, including Calia. What’s she doing in Tirisfal?
– Personally, I don’t think the above is a lot of evidence, but there’s at least story hints towards it. For now, I’d say it’s bellow 20% chance, but above many other suggested allied races.

Other

Gilblins: Not popular at all, competes with the way more popular and already resource-spent-heavy vulpera as the goblin variant. And, as per Blizzcon, our allies in Nazjatar will be individuals, not races. Possible, but not likely.

Deep ginyu (Ankoa/ankora/whatever): For now we only have a single piece of concept art. Model could look totally different. Devs said their race is near-extinct and are just sacrificing themselves to defeat the naga at any cost. And, again, we will ally with individuals, not races, in 8.2. For now, I say people are too hasty to count on them as a allied race. We should wait for 8.2 datamining.

San’layn: Like sethrak, I don’t think Blizzard planned to make these guys playable. However, they are very easy to implement, their base model (blood elf) wasn’t used for an allied race in the Horde yet, and they are a fan-favorite. I think it’s the most likely Horde allied race to be added in a future expansion, but not BfA itself.

Sethrak: Unlike the vulpera, they do not feel like a race planned to be made playable. Their model has some high-quality aspects, but can’t equip gear nor have differentiated genders. Their supposed future faction, the Alliance, barely interacts with them. However, fan response could make Blizzard reconsider them for a future race. Also, their model is partially based on worgen’s, which is still available for an allied race. Who knows? Let’s wait and see.

High elves: As much as it pains me, I must admit that they are very very unlikely at this point. Fan outcry may make Blizzard reconsider, but not any time soon.

Saberon: I say there’s no chance, at least until they actually do something and are fleshed out. Even for NPCs, this race has barely any development. However, they were recently introduced in Azeroth and they use the worgen model, so it’s kinda possible, maybe.

Night elf worgen: I don’t see anything pointing towards that ever happening. Won’t count on it until we see evidence supporting it. For now, it’s just a request from very few fans.

Lydon-emerald-dream · March 19, 2019, 12:41am

While we may be getting Ogres or Mok’nethal at some point, I don’t find Rexxar’s model update to be purely, if at all, indiciative of this. Lor’themar, for example, got a model update recently as well, for seemingly no reason at all (except maybe to make him look awesome for the Heritage Armor questline?). Liadrin similarly got her golden eyes and armaments from her Hearthstone appearance. Blood Elven Spellbreaker guards, some of the last models left that use the original Blood Elf model, were also updated and given model updates, as well as female options, finally.

Even if they did do it to indicate they are updating the Ogre models, this also would only be indicative of redoing most/all of the old world models as they have been (from things like Elementals to Troggs to Squirrels and Quillboar).

It leads me to believe that Classic will have an option to toggle HD graphics and player models, and implement it as purely cosmetic, optional option to entice both newer crowds wanting to try Classic, and allow no change diehards to keep the old stuff (very similar to how Halo:CE’s remaster handled this).

Fliktarg-thrall · March 19, 2019, 12:59am

it won’t. I really want a graphics toggle for classic but they said they are not doing that and many classic purists hate the very idea of having newer graphics to the point of the water graphics at the highest setting are the modern textures.

I do have a strong gut feeling that an old world update will be happening relatively soon. In fact it has already started. They are not doing another cataclysm. They are doing a zone or 2 at a time. They start with warfronts to make all the new racial building assets and then once a substantial amount has been done (with perhaps other zones being updated for non warfront things) they will finish it all up. I believe they will leave the leveling as is in the cata version and have the new old world be a max level thing that you can toggle between. They might even do world quests for all the zones like go this X rare or go cull this murloc village that has been raiding the roads.

Alamara-goldrinn · March 19, 2019, 1:10am

I think so as well.

The game needs a revamp in leveling to bring new players.

The longer it takes for Blizzard to do it, the more likely it becomes.

And I think you are wrong.

There’s the perfect opportunity to finally add ogres. We have a good base model, a perfect system for “minor” races and a HD ogre head. I don’t think it will be wasted.

Hey guys, upvote this little question in the Q&A thread, please? Thank you!

Delusion-ravencrest · March 19, 2019, 1:56am

as for the dance animations, what about those of us who like our copied dance animations? What about those who like the void elf having a twirl?

Alamara-goldrinn · March 19, 2019, 2:03am

It’s a general question on improving allied races, with a year-old quote from Blizzard itself.

Delusion-ravencrest · March 19, 2019, 2:08am

It’s a general question. They should fix bugs and clipping, of course. But people also might not look too kindly upon changing things about their characters when it comes to non optional aesthetics such as silhouettes.

Alamara-goldrinn · March 19, 2019, 2:09am

That’s Blizzard’s problem to solve. I think the general question on improving the races is worth asking.

Talendrion-wyrmrest-accord · March 19, 2019, 2:14am

So that High Elf ranger I was drawing? I finally finished him

https://i.imgur.com/ltWnPbt.jpg

Bladinas-scarlet-crusade · March 19, 2019, 2:17am

Aw, that is sick dude! I love the asymmetry for the shoulderpad and gauntlets! It looks awesome!

Talendrion-wyrmrest-accord · March 19, 2019, 2:21am

Thank you! I used the Eagletalon Armor set as base, gave it Highvale colors -bright blue/cerulean- and used Alleria’s asymmetric design as a template, for that War2 vibe in wow terms

Alamara-goldrinn · March 19, 2019, 2:22am

Very awesome!

Bladinas-scarlet-crusade · March 19, 2019, 2:29am

Not sure if you know this, but there is a PVP set that is a blue and gold recolor of the Eagletalon gear. It’s exclusive to the Alliance (horde gets a red recolor)

I really wish there was an option to have only one shoulderpad or customize your shoulders- like having shoulders from different sets.

Alamara-goldrinn · March 19, 2019, 2:29am

Clever question.

Grimtale-sargeras · March 19, 2019, 2:56am

Very well thought out ideas. I think the only stickler in this is that Blizzard will probably not be interested in adding that many allied races, given Ion’s comment about how they don’t want a huge amount of different races everywhere and want to keep it more lowkey than that, but I can honestly see quite a few of these ideas making it through and others not being ruled out completely.

I would reiterate as well that I really do think the only way a Worgen allied race would be interesting is if it course-corrected the race back into being darker like the devs initially hyped them up to be. Maybe Nightbane or Nightmare Worgen would do the trick, I know I’d really like Worgen that didn’t have a human form at all and couldn’t shapeshift, and just went further into the Worgen side to really emphasize the curse stronger, but still have a darker bent to it so it’s not just Furbolg in wolf form. (Of course, if we were to go with Vulpera as a Goblin allied race, I could see Furbolg with Worgen model and animations be an appropriate counterpart.)

Of those options, they definitely hit a cord with races I want or would want to play. Wildhammer Dwarves, Dark Trolls, Vrykul, High Elves, San’layn, Amani Trolls, and so on. I really would like to play a lot of those races.