Exactly. I have no doubt that Blizzard seriously considered High Elves as an allied race. However, they just couldn’t reconcile the fact they are too similar to Blood Elves. Hence they created a new race.
1 Like
Based on a simple yes, it is, the devs are able to decide if something to be implemented in game could work or not.
They have to agree to some level that something in theory can work if they pretend to implement it in the game.
Titanforging was implemented in the game because the devs decided it would work, with actual logic behind it. It turns out didn’t. Even casuals like myself despise that system because it adds more RNG to the the endless RNG pile and trivialize gearing even more.
To implement Ilvl scaling in the max level open world, the devs tried to decide that it works, obviously it didn’t, because if break up the feeling of progression and make players feel weaker when they are supposed to feel stronger.
To implement the Azerite Armor system they decided that it would work, and agree that different items would require even higher item levels on the Heart of Azeroth to unlock their traits. I didn’t have to explain how bad this concept is in practice.
No, they cannot decide if something would work or not without it being put in practice, they can try to plan and predict the possible results of things in order have a higher chance of succeeding, but in reality, they can’t control those things.
Good things in theory not always go well in practice.
And the truth is, the Allied Race system might be the only one in BfA that actually worked, all of the Allied Races worked and were wins, empirical evidence.
1 Like
But this is an issue of story and, essentially cosmetic design. Not hard numbers and balancing or whether or not High Elves would be well recieved by the community.
They know people want to play High Elves.
They don’t need to “test??” the story or “test??” the aesthetics on the Live servers to see if they would work within the parameters they want to keep.
They can do that at a drawing table.
2 Likes
In other words, they didn’t listen, there was no compromise. We want a better deal.
5 Likes
I don’t get the point of what part of story the Allied Races are, they are not a story issue, they are a character customization and building aspect, cosmetic design as you said. The big story they are trying to tell us are the expansion plots, it have nothing to do with Allied Races whatsoever.
The only thing Allied Races have to be related is how they are present on the story, but they are not shaping it, they are just being part of it. Before their implementation they have to be presented to make players familiar with them and that’s about it, and the Void Elves were not, they just appeared on that BfA feature video.
They do test the story and se how players react with it on the PTR, and sometimes take their feedback. This is why the PTR exists, if they couldn’t simply decide those things there was no need to ask sugestions and opinions for a select group of players on the PTR. This apply to visual aesthetics just as well, as players are free to make suggestions about future Allied Races customization options after testing them on the PTR.
2 Likes
Have they ever actually tested and changed major story on the PTR? I don’t think so, but if you know of any instance I’ll be more than happy to hear about it.
Allied races aren’t a story issue but High Elves specifically have precedence to be. There are other reasons as well, of course, like others have said. Such as them being too similar to Blood Elves.
When you’re trying to make a compromise between two mutually exclusive things that are arguing over a position that something should exist or not, you’re not going to get a true 50% compromise.
You can’t have the light on but a little bit off. You can’t sort of have High Elves. You either do or you don’t.
Blizzard chose to not give them to you, but gave us Void Elves instead in the hope that it might appease some. Which it seems to have.
1 Like
I’ve given enough examples of how void elves could have been a true compromise to show you are wrong. Some changes to their recruitment scenario, a few added NPCs and some additional customization options would have made a whole lot of difference. Just show respect to what came before!
Heck, we spent three months discussing how it could be done before they were released!
But Blizzard went with the canon story that has nothing to do with the quel’dorei, so it can’t go back and fix things. You can’t change a first impression.
3 Likes
yet alleria just visited quelthalas and bent the knee to lorthemar. who smiled and said no child of quelthalas should be prevented from visiting the sunwell. although it was a mistake because she couldnt control her void powers ![:thinking:](https://d38bqls1q93fod.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/thinking.png?v=6" ":thinking:")
Can you do a mashup of void and blood elves too?
All the elves are seperated biologically by magic. Things like dwarves aren’t even seperated by that.
Genetically though there is likely no difference between a Shal’Dorei than a Kal’dorei.
The semantics of, “Allied Race” is pointless.
But here, let me kill this counter argument.
An orc is the same as a Mag’Har orc.
But demonic power turned the orc green.
As such, a blood elf is the same as a high elf, but demonic powers turned their eyes green.
insert supahotfire meme here
4 Likes
Again, Mag’har Orcs are fine because they are on the same faction as regular Orcs. Game play and balance needs to be considered. Playable High Elves would affect the balance of the game.
Here’s to hoping for either a) a dissolution of the faction system or b) an allowance of cross-faction gameplay, so that this imbecilic plot device stops hindering actual narrative growth.
Edit: And I do mean this broadly, beyond the scope of High Elves. There’s no reason, for example, the Tauren wouldn’t be on cordial terms with at least 50% of the Alliance’s member-states. The artificial red-blue divide prevents this from occurring, however.
2 Likes
And Void Elves are to Blood Elves as Green Orcs are to Mag’har. Why didn’t they affect the balance of the game?
6 Likes
Because a silly argument is silly. Nightborne and Night Elves look nearly identical in gear (especially females, who legitimately can’t be told apart outside of 10 yards or so). The game survived.
3 Likes
What orc allied race was given to the Alliance? Mag’har and green orcs are both on the Horde.
Gonna opt out of this convo again.
Once the argument falls back into “but muh models” and “but faction balance” my head starts hurting.
6 Likes
Void Elves were given a similar treatment. You got your Alliance Thalassian elves already.
You missed the point. You posited, and I quote, “Mag’har Orcs are fine because they are on the same faction as regular Orcs.”
The assertion being that a difference of pigmentation isn’t enough to justify the addition of an Allied Race onto one faction, if the original race it’s related to belongs to the other faction. If that’s the case, explain Nightborne. They don’t even have pigmentation distinctions. They’re literally Night Elves aligned with the Horde.
7 Likes
That’s exactly what this is all about. They want to play a Blood Elf, but don’t want to play on the Horde. Everything else is just a song and dance trying to justify this position.
1 Like