The Unofficial High Elf Discussion Megathread

[Mowachassa-dalaran (Mowachassa)]

Will people ever stop saying that High Elves are a Horde race? Or that making High Elves playable is tooking away a Horde race and giving it to the Alliance?

[Vexander-wyrmrest-accord]

Lets face it the High Elf crowd wouldn’t be happy if they got gaunt ugly versions of Blood Elves.

One of the loudest and most frequent noted pieces of feedback prior to the release of Void Elves, from the moment of their announcement, was to write the story so that they were Alliance High Elves transformed by the Void in some accident. At the time no one knew they were going to be coming from Blood Elves, but it was highly speculated due to Aethas Sunreaver’s comments on the Vindicaar in Argus, about feeling primal powers which shaped the universe.

So yes, we would have been happy if we had gotten gaunt, ugly High Elves, which is what Void Elves are, more or less.

So, now that no High Elves were lost to the making of the Void Elves, we’ll just keep asking for our Alliance loyal High Elves to be made into a playable Allied Race. Just as we have been for years, and will continue to do so for many more years to come, until WoW finally ends.

[Mowachassa-dalaran (Mowachassa)]

Even if High Elves ever represent a risk to Horde population, how that ever would shift things up? 55% of max level characters are Horde, 70% of the active playerbase is Horde, the crushing majority of high end guilds are Horde.
Search for premade groups in a Horde character and do the same with a Alliance character and see the difference. Horde BG’s queues take forever because there’s simply not enough Alliance players to queue against. Warmode is heavily dominated by Horde when the buffs are even.

[Archmage-azralon (Archmage)]

And they gave the Horde Night Elves so who cares anymore anyways?

Yeah they gave us Gaunt Ugly versions of Night Elves, The Alliances second most popular race. Which counts for 27% of the Alliances player base at 120.

In fact Horde has better version of Night Elves, they’re way more polished than Night Elves. If you think Nightborne is ugly you probably never played as Night Elf.

We say that Horde indeed get Night Elves because they are just slightest changed models, one of the reasons that many people complain, and they share the same color pallete of Night Elves, Nightborne colors are just more vibrant.

Void Elves in the other hand, come out from nowhere, don’t share the same color pallete of High Elves, don’t have the High Elves lore, and they’re not High Elves but Blood Elves touched by the void.

Horde never had any Night Elf in their ranks and yet they received something really close to it, while Alliance has High Elves even before Blood Elves were created an for some reason we are not allowed to have anything in the slightest related to them.

[Yipes-kiljaeden]

grats on 10k posts everybody! even if it all belongs to 10 people. still impressive!

[Leinadh-proudmoore]

I’m a bit late to the party on the whole social approach to magic, but I’d like to throw in my two cents anyway (because what the hell)

To me, the High Elves surviving their magical addiction essentially through a mix of going cold turkey and dosing themselves with magical artifacts is a major plot point that would play into their cultural or social make-up, as well as inform their position on magic. High Elves never rebuilt their kingdom like the Blood Elves did, and even after the sunwell was restored, they basically had to live in other races’ settlements to survive.

This is a long way to fall for a proud race that once taught humans how to even use magic in the first place. So a huge point about High Elves is that they spent the last 20 years eating humble pie. There’s still a pride there, but most of that haughty superiority complex has been beaten out of them.

They’ve also experienced firsthand probably the worst of their magical addiction and living through it. Silvermoon tried to ignore it or sequester it away, but for the High Elves? Not an option. Seeing the worst of what magic can do can change someone, so while I imagine most High Elves aren’t as strict or rigid about using no magic whatsoever, there would still be a considerable amount of High Elves that decided they were just not going to use it anymore anyway. A lot of High Elves might distrust all magics now on some level, or at least want to steer clear of it as much as possible. They don’t have to be strict or militant about it - they might just not really…like it all that much anymore. Think of it like a recovering drug addict being shown the drug they were addicted to for years, a drug that also killed their best friend. They’re going to want you to keep it away from them.

So! I guess how I envision High Elf society is based on that. I envision High Elf society being relatively low magic, with the bulk of the people in a settlement being honest, hardworking individuals that take joy in innocent work like farming or carpentry or blacksmithing. But magic users would still exist as well - mages and priests would still live their lives without judgement, but they might be few in number, and much more averse to using magic without justification. For example a High Elf Priest might heal a broken bone, but only by using a small healing spell after bandaging the limb and letting it set in a cast. A High Elf Mage might gather wood for a fire rather than casting a spell to create a magical campfire, and so on. Magic can still be a part of High Elven life, but High Elves know better than to use it to the excesses that the Blood Elves do.

This is EXACTLY the way I see it.

[Nyshant-wyrmrest-accord]

First of all, how dare you. Nightborne women may look the archindore damned same as as Kal’dorei, but they are some of the most beautiful women in the game. I’d argue they are the most beautiful women in the game behind Draenei (the bc developers were like, "we wanted to give the Horde a pretty race and the Alliance an ugly race. So allies get Draenei, they’really like… literally prettier Succubi.) Though obviously a toss up with Kal’dorei tied because they look the same with flipped ears.

Maybe you disagree with your thigh gap, bikini bridge and your eating disorder, we can’t talk about it until after Mowa and I make our food thread and wonder how elves don’t have scurvy.

And second, I’m dreamy.

Anyways, the rest of the claim is pretty arbitrary. If we can give away our second favorite race and not capsize then the Horde… wait… what do you mean give away?

The Alliance has High Elves.

The people who were likely to switch because of faction preference already did when they literally gave the alliance blood elves.

And people need to stop it with the, “no cultural differences.” My Void Elf is literally a Blood Elf who hears voices.

If a blood elf suffering from some medical conditions qualifies as a new race and Shal’dorei qualify as a new race because of their twilight alcohol addiction then Quel’dorei are the most unique and different race on Azeroth…

Shal’dorei literally joined the Horde so they could skip out on rehab. Kal’dorei were like, “you need to stop abusing and find goddess.” And we were like, “Actually we are going to go hang out with the addicts on red team.”

And the Blood Elves aren’t part of the Horde. They have nothing to do with Horde faction identity… ever been to a Silvermoon party? Try going as an Orc sometime. Hint. You aren’t invited… and don’t worry, it’s recipricol. Go to Orgrimmar as a Sin’dorei to party. You are also not invited.

In the Darkshore cinematic where Malfurion ambushes a Horde supply train I saw that Sin’dorei paladin in the group and thought, “Wow that girl is really slumming it.”

The biggest issue is that all the Sin’dorei are mean members of cheer squad and the Quel’dorei are members of the cheer squad but they also want to to do choir… and the heathers… I mean sin’dorei can’t handle it!

[Nyshant-wyrmrest-accord]

I hate writing on a phone. I’m like, "Quel’dorei "and it’s like, “Did you mean unfathomable gibberish?”

[Nyshant-wyrmrest-accord]

And I’m about to have liver failure from the Arcwine, Ya’ll, so get ready for a new race when I get yellow eyes! Jaundice’dorei.

Actually I guess I’d just be a anemic Night Elf.

[Tephri-wyrmrest-accord (Tephri)]

One of the loudest and most frequent noted pieces of feedback prior to the release of Void Elves, from the moment of their announcement, was to write the story so that they were Alliance High Elves transformed by the Void in some accident.

I agree with you here, there was no reason why Blizzard couldn’t have made the Void Elves Evolve from Alliance High Elves.

So, now that no High Elves were lost to the making of the Void Elves, we’ll just keep asking for our Alliance loyal High Elves to be made into a playable Allied Race.

As I’ve claimed I think that the Alliance should be Given High Elves as a playable race. I don’t think they should be an Allied Race, because they go against what Allied races are. High Elves should be Given to the Alliances as a core race. Ogre’s should be given to the Horde as a core race.

55% of max level characters are Horde, 70% of the active playerbase is Horde,

Just because Alliance Players choose not to play the game, doesn’t change the fact only 55% of the 120 player base is Horde. Being better at something doesn’t make that 55% any higher.

Void Elves in the other hand, come out from nowhere, don’t share the same color pallete of High Elves, don’t have the High Elves lore, and they’re not High Elves but Blood Elves touched by the void.

Strange up until the sacking of Quel’thalas, Blood Elves and High Elves, Basically shared the same Lore. So I’m assuming that you mean they don’t share the less than twenty years worth of lore, that differentiate Blood Elves from High Elves. Because other than that Void Elves share the same Lore.

while Alliance has High Elves even before Blood Elves were created an for some reason we are not allowed to have anything in the slightest related to them.

The Alliance had a group Of High Elves that turned on their homeland and their kin. The Majority of High Elves stopped being an Alliance race after the Second War. Just as High Elf fans get tired of Blood Elves fans claiming Blood Elves are High Elves. Blood Elves fans are most likely getting tired of High Elves never left the Alliance, when they did.

First of all, how dare you . Nightborne women may look the archindore damned same as as Kal’dorei, but they are some of the most beautiful women in the game.

To each their own when it comes tastes and how they perceive beauty. However I apologize for insulting the looks of a race that you find Beautiful. yes the female Nightborne are much nicer looking than their male counterparts I’ll cede to you on that.

I’d argue they are the most beautiful women in the game behind Draenei (the bc developers were like, "we wanted to give the Horde a pretty race and the Alliance an ugly race. So allies get Draenei, they’really like… literally prettier Succubi.)

In TBC Horde was given the pretty race because 70% of the warcraft population was Alliance. As you said Draenei women are probably the most Beautiful in the game. So while the Alliance got the Ugliest Male race, it could be argued they got the most Beautiful Female race at the same time.

And second, I’m dreamy .

Why yes you are, until the mask is removed.

And people need to stop it with the, “no cultural differences.” My Void Elf is literally a Blood Elf who hears voices.

I for one believe that Cultural differences go a long way in differentiating one race from another.

If a blood elf suffering from some medical conditions qualifies as a new race and Shal’dorei qualify as a new race

I never saw the Sin’dorei as being a different race from the Qual’dorei, to me they are the same. I could go and legally change my name today, that isn’t going to change who I am, it isn’t going to change my past, it’s not going to change my family, it only changes my name. But Blood Elves were tainted by fel, by draining fel tainted creatures. Are you saying if I being American needed a kidney transplant, and the donor was German. I would stop being American because I now have a German kidney?

“Actually we are going to go hang out with the addicts on red team.”

You know you would probably get a lot of Blood Elves switching to High Elves just to play the non Addicted Elves. thanks for pointing that out, it never actually crossed my mind.

And the Blood Elves aren’t part of the Horde.

Okay I’ll admit I was hoping that the Blood Elves would have left the Horde back during Pandaria. Or at least been given the choice of leaving the Horde.

In the Darkshore cinematic where Malfurion ambushes a Horde supply train I saw that Sin’dorei paladin in the group and thought, “Wow that girl is really slumming it.”

She isn’t slumming it, she’s there to make them look pretty, get it straight. HEY Sin’dorei can smoke, snort, chug, and shoot up mana all at the same time… Sorry to say but that takes Talent.

[Vexander-wyrmrest-accord]

As I’ve claimed I think that the Alliance should be Given High Elves as a playable race. I don’t think they should be an Allied Race, because they go against what Allied races are. High Elves should be Given to the Alliances as a core race. Ogre’s should be given to the Horde as a core race.

While I’m not outright against this, it is a significant amount of work to put in. They would need a starting zone and leveling experience, at least from 1-10 which would certainly help reduce the amount of content needed, but even then they would also need something similar to a city of their own, and while something small might work, it would still be a significant amount of work to put in.

The only way I could see a High Elven City and 1-10 Leveling Zone being justified as an addition to the Alliance as a Core Race, would be if it wasn’t strictly for High Elves, but also shared with Night Elves. However, I am also a firm believer that the Night Elves deserve far more than to share a city with High Elves after everything they’ve gone through.

I’d love to see what a city made by High Elves and Night Elves would look like, and I’d like to think the two races, now sharing the experience of near-genocide on a racial level, would have a great deal more in common and be able to form a very powerful relationship of trust and respect. That said, I don’t think it’d be fair to Night Elves players for their new city and leveling zone to essentially be co-opt’d by High Elves, even if the High Elves don’t play as prominent a role in it as the Night Elves do.

It would be easier overall to simply add the High Elves as an Allied Race. I’d gladly take them as a core race, of course, but Night Elves desperately need the kind of development and work that a core race should get, before any new core races are added.

[Mowachassa-dalaran (Mowachassa)]

Maybe you disagree with your thigh gap, bikini bridge and your eating disorder, we can’t talk about it until after Mowa and I make our food thread and wonder how elves don’t have scurvy.

It feels weird to people call me Mowa, my generic nickname that i use for everything is just Wachassa and i made this character without thinking that it would became my main (monks are really fun to play), i might pay for a name change.

[Tephri-wyrmrest-accord (Tephri)]

The only way I could see a High Elven City and 1-10 Leveling Zone being justified as an addition to the Alliance as a Core Race, would be if it wasn’t strictly for High Elves, but also shared with Night Elves.

I think that would be a great idea. I think Focusing a little on the High Elves returning to their Night Elf roots wouldn’t be bad.
Night Elves are more tolerant of arcane magic now, as long as it is used wisely. High Elves after seeing the destruction and devastation misuse of magic can have both on the land and themselves, have become much more respectful of it. So the idea of the two races reconciling and rebuilding a home they could share doesn’t seem all that farfetched. This would also Further set High Elves apart from Blood Elves, it would over time lesson their dependency on arcane magic. It would also after a while open the option of druids to the them as they are taught to use nature magic.

I now have all these idea’s running through my mind on how best to make something like this work.

[Nyshant-wyrmrest-accord]

Strange up until the sacking of Quel’thalas, Blood Elves and High Elves, Basically shared the same Lore. So I’m assuming that you mean they don’t share the less than twenty years worth of lore, that differentiate Blood Elves from High Elves. Because other than that Void Elves share the same Lore.

I’ve never got this, “It’s only been twenty years” bit. In the last twenty years Azeroth has nearly exploded like thirteen times.

Also my Void Elf is separated from Blood Elf Lore by an afternoon and some Blood Thistle.

yes the female Nightborne are much nicer looking than their male counterparts I’ll cede to you on that.

dreamy.

In TBC Horde was given the pretty race because 70% of the warcraft population was Alliance.

Believe it or not developers have revealed it had very little to do with population and had very much to do with requests from Asian countries for women to have a pretty race to play with their boyfriends.

and if you’ve ever seen Lineage, or Aion it becomes pretty obvious why. Those games bleed pretty.

As you said Draenei women are probably the most Beautiful in the game. So while the Alliance got the Ugliest Male race, it could be argued they got the most Beautiful Female race at the same time.

It’s so funny because the Devs were like, "We’re adding an ugly race to Alliance.’ and we got Female Draenei

Are the developers like, some pickup artists or something? Are they just trying to neg them to lower their esteem?

Why yes you are, until the mask is removed.

I look pretty good with the right head gear. I want to get the celestially aligned hood.

But I don’t have a ton of time to play right now and Nyshant’s underneath getting that ring from naval missions in Draenor and capping off my gorgeous Ren’dorei rogue and monk in my to do list… Maybe under hitting 120 on my Sin’dorei mage too. Not sure.

I’ll prove you wrong some day though.

I for one believe that Cultural differences go a long way in differentiating one race from another.

I genuinely believe that adding Quel’dorei to the game will be a net service to Blood Elves.

I’ve seen some players on these forums say, “I was confused about why there were elves on both sides” and I think Quel’dorei just have a rich viewpoint to offer WoW.

I never saw the Sin’dorei as being a different race from the Qual’dorei, to me they are the same.

I think this is an Allied Race nomenclature issue. Which isn’t the Developers fault. You choose “Races” to play as.

The issue is when people conflate “Allied Race” into meaning what it doesn’t.

I could go and legally change my name today, that isn’t going to change who I am, it isn’t going to change my past, it’s not going to change my family, it only changes my name.

Sure. If you only changed your name it would mean those things.

Let’s change this metaphor though.

The American Revolution

The Colonies were british. Then they weren’t british.

The moment that happens despite shared history they’re two separate groups.

The only difference between the two groups may be ideology. But they’re different groups.

So yeah. Changing your name doesn’t make you a different person. But never speaking to your family again and only keeping your friends who also don’t speak to your family can change your life.

But Blood Elves were tainted by fel, by draining fel tainted creatures. Are you saying if I being American needed a kidney transplant, and the donor was German. I would stop being American because I now have a German kidney?

Nah. I’m saying my Ren’dorei got hit by some Void Magic and got kicked out of Silvermoon.

Ideology is important.

Ideology is what is different between the Pandaren.
Ideology is what is different between the Draenei (And a ritual.)

Quel’dorei and Sin’dorei have different ideology.

If Sin’dorei didn’t get affected by the Fel. If they had the same eyes as the other Quel’dorei… and they decided that they would be more authoritarian (They are) and join the Horde

and the Quel’dorei decided that they wouldn’t do that and stay with the Alliance…

That would be enough for Quel’dorei to be a playable Allied Race with the alliance.

They could be the exact same.

Luckily they’re not.

You know you would probably get a lot of Blood Elves switching to High Elves just to play the non Addicted Elves. thanks for pointing that out, it never actually crossed my mind.

I don’t think so. I think people like being on the Horde and being Sin’dorei.

At most this affects the people in Silvermoon roleplaying Quel’dorei anyways.

Okay I’ll admit I was hoping that the Blood Elves would have left the Horde back during Pandaria. Or at least been given the choice of leaving the Horde.

They can’t as an artifact of gameplay. Players would be upset with their race being faction changed.

She isn’t slumming it, she’s there to make them look pretty, get it straight. HEY Sin’dorei can smoke, snort, chug, and shoot up mana all at the same time… Sorry to say but that takes Talent.

Which is one of the many reasons that they’re inferior to Shal’dorei. Now hold my Arcandore Fruit while I shotgun this Arcwine.

[Nyshant-wyrmrest-accord]

How do you feel about Wacha?

[Drede-cairne (Drede)]

Wacha

Bound to get back. Back to the past.

[Tephri-wyrmrest-accord (Tephri)]

I’ve never got this, “It’s only been twenty years” bit. In the last twenty years Azeroth has nearly exploded like thirteen times.

Also my Void Elf is separated from Blood Elf Lore by an afternoon and some Blood Thistle.

Yet Humans, are still Human, Dwarfs, are still Dwarfs, Trolls, are still Trolls, Orcs, are still Orcs. If none of those races underwent any massive chances what make Blood Elves the exception?

Believe it or not developers have revealed it had very little to do with population and had very much to do with requests from Asian countries for women to have a pretty race to play with their boyfriends.

If this was true, it actually wouldn’t surprise me. However for now I will go with what I remember reading, although it’s been years.

It’s so funny because the Devs were like, "We’re adding an ugly race to Alliance.’ and we got Female Draenei

Are the developers like, some pickup artists or something?

Male pick up artists, because lets face it, they put much more work into the females of a race than their male counter parts, Unless you are talking about Kul Tirins, that is one race where the females got smacked down.

I look pretty good with the right head gear. I want to get the celestially aligned hood.

But I don’t have a ton of time to play right now and Nyshant’s underneath getting that ring from naval missions in Draenor and capping off my gorgeous Ren’dorei rogue and monk in my to do list… Maybe under hitting 120 on my Sin’dorei mage too. Not sure.

I’ll prove you wrong some day though.

I look forward to it.

Nah. I’m saying my Ren’dorei got hit by some Void Magic and got kicked out of Silvermoon.

Actually your Sin’dorei was kicked out of Silvermoon, got hit by a void volcano, became Ren’dorei, and joined the Alliance. The Ren’dorei had been givin the proverbial boot long before they drank the grape coolaid.

I don’t think so. I think people like being on the Horde and being Sin’dorei.

I like playing as a Sin’dorei on the Horde and wish they hadn’t retconned the lore as badly as they have. I will also enjoy playing as a Qual’dorei on the alliance once they are introduced as a playable race.

They can’t as an artifact of gameplay. Players would be upset with their race being faction changed.

I wouldn’t have wanted the whole faction changed just the Idea of having the choice to change would have been nice.

Which is one of the many reasons that they’re inferior to Shal’dorei. Now hold my Arcandore Fruit while I shotgun this Arcwine.

Dips Arcandore fruit in grape Coolaid, don’t worry you can still eat it, you’ll be fine.

So a different question entirely. What do you think of a High Elf & Night Elf revamped starting zone. That consists of both Buildings on the ground, and high up withing the Branches of the trees.

[Lavinya-moon-guard]

Yet Humans, are still Human, Dwarfs, are still Dwarfs, Trolls, are still Trolls, Orcs, are still Orcs. If none of those races underwent any massive chances what make Blood Elves the exception?

Their history? A whole lot happened to Blood Elves in those twenty years (including the entire race becoming fel-corrupted and now part of it becoming light-infused). Different things happened to High Elves.

Their culture changed big time. Sin’dorei now live in a totalitarian state with light as a central part of its culture, Farstriders have been replaced by Blood Knights as the race’s “heroes”, and they’ve mostly kept to themselves (can’t blame them, with allies like the Horde…). Meanwhile Quel’dorei still live separated across the world (and multiple worlds), and have been mingling with other races, both biologically and likely culturally.

[Nyshant-wyrmrest-accord]

@Tephri-wyrmrest-accord

If none of those races underwent any massive chances what make Blood Elves the exception?

I don’t think that Sin’dorei have suffered from enough fel energy to be significantly effected outside of their more red hues and perhaps their attitudes…

Selin Fireheart

See Felblood Elves for going too far.

That being said, I think they got hit with enough of it to be considered a change… I mean at the end of the day the changes are really arbitrary. We’re basically arguing rules imposed by others.

Quel’dorei look fine the way they are and if were added as is they’d be ok.

If this was true, it actually wouldn’t surprise me. However for now I will go with what I remember reading, although it’s been years.

A shame the thread is thousands of posts long. I quoted it awhile back in one of the two.

Unless you are talking about Kul Tirins, that is one race where the females got smacked down.

I could never play a male Kul’tiran unfortunately. Their ascetic doesn’t suit be.

That being said, I understand there are people that are really excited about the representation of a plus sized character into the game.

@Nyshant-wyrmrest-accord

I like playing as a Sin’dorei on the Horde and wish they hadn’t retconned the lore as badly as they have. I will also enjoy playing as a Qual’dorei on the alliance once they are introduced as a playable race.

I wouldn’t have wanted the whole faction changed just the Idea of having the choice to change would have been nice.

When they add Quel’dorei you can always say you saw the writing on the wall.

I want to change my Sin’dorei Paladin over to a Quel’dorei…

I can’t actually play BFA as that character and assume it’s actually him participating anyways. I’d have murdered Nathanos right out of the gate or died trying.

Dips Arcandore fruit in grape Coolaid, don’t worry you can still eat it, you’ll be fine.

I’m a Warlock, what’s a few more voices?

So a different question entirely. What do you think of a High Elf & Night Elf revamped starting zone. That consists of both Buildings on the ground, and high up withing the Branches of the trees.

I’m torn on everything.

I miss the pre-Draenor revamp… and I think Classic will fix that a bit so it would at least be there to go look at. Like, I’d never play classic again, that’s crazy. But I might want to go see the mage district…

and because I really want to go back and see that stuff I kind of disagree with them changing things like that.

On the other hand, the slog to 120 is rough right now for new players. I’m not sure how they get new Blood in right now and have them have a good experience leveling up.

I like how they do alternate instances of zones now.

so I’m pretty ok with them changing any zone as long as I can talk to a Bronze Dragon and go back and see how it was.

[Archmage-azralon (Archmage)]

@Tephri-wyrmrest-accord

Strange up until the sacking of Quel’thalas, Blood Elves and High Elves, Basically shared the same Lore. So I’m assuming that you mean they don’t share the less than twenty years worth of lore, that differentiate Blood Elves from High Elves. Because other than that Void Elves share the same Lore.

Yet those twenty years are defining what the High Elves that stayed on Alliance side are truly about, something that makes them even more interesting than a bunch of magic addicted, who hasn’t any loyalty to any faction, and can’t choose their own path, because Lor’themar is just a puppet of Sylvanas since Burning Crusade.

High Elves that stayed on the Alliance changed as much as those who become Blood Elves, incresing the gap between those groups. While Blood Elves were going crazy seeking for more and more fonts of magic, the High Elves controlled this desire. While Blood elves became more and more corrupted by fel magic and by slaving pure light creatures, the High Elves became more pure trying to avoid as magic related activities.

@Tephri-wyrmrest-accord

The Alliance had a group Of High Elves that turned on their homeland and their kin. The Majority of High Elves stopped being an Alliance race after the Second War.

It’s a point of view, for those who remmained with the Alliance, was the Blood Elves who turned their backs to their culture and allies. While I agree that Garithos had created some animosity between Human and Elves, we can’t forget that Horde tried to conquer Quel’thalas and killed more Elves than Garithos could ever dream.

The very Horde capital Orgrimmar is a tribute for Orgrim Doomhammer, who with Zul’jin help, tried to wipe out the High Elves in the past:

Orgrim Doomhammer and his sizeable force continued its march towards the elven kingdom of Quel’Thalas uninterrupted, having succeeded in losing the pursuing Alliance army in the Hinterlands. As they passed the Amani capital of Zul’Aman, Warlord Zul’jin entered the city to rally his entire race to join in the impending assault on their enemies. Whipped into a frenzy, thousands of forest trolls streamed out of Zul’Aman, ready for battle, and marched alongside the Horde in its advance on high elven lands.

Outer high elven defenses were easily razed to the ground by an army the size of which Quel’Thalas’s citizens had never seen.

With the powers of its spellcasters returned, the Horde continued its push through Quel’Thalas. The army ravaged the countryside as it marched, burning villages to the ground and slaying every elf in its path toward the elven capital of Silvermoon City. King Anasterian Sunstrider issued orders to resist the invaders, calling on his greatest generals and warriors. There seemed to be little hope for Quel’Thalas, however, before the arrival of Turalyon and a large Alliance army.

While Turalyon deployed his forces against the Horde, Alleria Windrunner returned to Silvermoon City to meet with her kin. There, she notably brought the head of a freshly-slain forest troll warrior before the Convocation of Silvermoon, throwing the grisly trophy at King Anasterian’s feet. The ranger then implored her king to join forces with the Alliance to push the Horde from their lands permanently. Enraged and moved to action, King Anasterian called for the full mobilization of his armies to take the field. The elven war machine was able to provide many archers, rangers, and destroyers for the conflict, as well as numerous craftsmen for the Alliance lumber mills. These efforts were largely coordinated by Sylvanas Windrunner, the Ranger-General of Silvermoon. Now, for the first time in hundreds of years, humans and elves were united against a common enemy, and the Horde suddenly found itself at a conspicuous disadvantage.

Unfortunately for this new union, red dragons soon arrived to drastically turn the tide of battle. Having finally mastered their mounts, the Dragonmaw clan were now ready to descend into battle with the full might of the enslaved red dragonflight. The dragon-riders’ appearance threw the dwarven gryphon riders present into disarray, as they had no experience battling such beasts. The dragon fire decimated the Alliance ranks, burning their troops to cinders. The Horde’s actions destroyed much of Quel’Thalas’s forests, and soon a firestorm enveloped the Eversong Woods whose smoke blotted out the sun.

To escape the flames, the majority of the high elves took shelter in Silvermoon City.

Source : Wowpedia / Second War / Ashes of Quel’Thalas

Second War