Is it plausible that Blizzard might actually be using the Void Elves as a springboard for playable High Elves?
There was a “What if…” posted in this thread a few days ago which basically pondered what might’ve happened if Blizzard had actually given us High Elves at the conclusion of Legion, using Alleria and like-minded “Void Elves” to act as a mirror to the Blood Knights.
I’ve been thinking that maybe this could still work, but in reverse. Here’s the thinking:
We know that Blizzard considered adding playable High Elves for Legion, but decided to go another direction because they weren’t distinct enough from Blood Elves.
We know that Blizzard didn’t utilize any High Elves in the creation of Void Elves (even Alleria was spared the indignity).
We know that Blizzard continues to utilize High Elves, quite often alongside Void Elves, showing that they are clearly capable of cooperation.
These 3 facts being what they are, I don’t actually think it’s implausible that Blizzard could simply couple the two groups together for the course of BfA (and beyond, if needbe), and slowly address anything that could remotely be considered a barrier.
We could see the Void being used to satiate the addiction of the High Elves.
We could see them utilize Void-colored eyes, a clear contrast to Blood Elves.
We could see the Void Elves being utilized narratively quite like Blood Knights.
We could see the High Elves maintaining all of their adopted mannerisms, and even their aesthetic (minus the insertion of the Void, where necessary).
It depends on how it’s done. I worry that the story could easily be mishandled.
Blizzard would need to do it with a lot of care and attention to detail, and people will be against it at first, so the story needs to be really welldone to convince them to rethink.
We don’t know that. It’s speculated on with a fair bit of evidence, but it’s not fact.
Eh… so far the only case of High Elves alongside Void Elves has been Mages in Stormwind getting along, and a pair of High Elves in the Telogrus Rift interested in studying the Void. I’d say Dark Irons have more precedent of working with Void Elves at this point.
Lothar looks pretty similar to me. Remember the movie was based on wc1 and he does have long brown hair and a beard like in the game. But yeah, you should take the movie with a grain of salt. Orcs were not half-giants.
Huh, upon closer inspection you’re right. I guess the loss of Stormwind in the First War really did hit him pretty hard.
I’m just so used to his much more detailed Warcraft II artwork and sprites I guess I never bothered to take a closer look at his Warcraft I art. I mean, who goes grey and bald that quickly?
The pre-Warcraft III timelines was completely changed over the years, thought.
Originally, the orcs were on Azeroth for decades before they took Stormwind. Lothar wrote the human story section of the Warcraft I manual then went missing for a decade before he was rescued in the Dead Mines. Garona was originally half-human, so born after the orcs came to Azeroth and a young adult near the end of the First War. Also, there was a time lapse of six years between the fall of Stormwind and the start of the Second War.
Current timeline was compacted, with the whole period between orcs coming to Azeroth and the start of the Second War happening over just six years.
tbf, blood elves are high elves, as stated by Ion the game director. his reasoning was high elves arent distinct enough from blood elves and would blur faction identity TOO much.
void elves are another flavor of high elves. because horde was getting nightborne the blueberries were a cool way to give the alliance our elf model
Yeah and we could have some of Talendrion’s newer art on display for examples! And actually be able to modify the first post since a glitch in the system has made it impossible for the current poster to modify it.
Blood Elves are not High Elves anymore. We were once High Elves, but we have moved on. We are now the Sin’dorei, we are the children of the blood. Named in the memory of the blood that was spilled, when the Scourge wrecked Quel’thalas. We are not High Elves, we are Blood Elves… Let go of your High Elf past Fyrebusche and finally become one of us, one of the Sin’dorei.
I’m curious what you guys think would be necessary, generally speaking, for such a scenario to be tolerable for either of you?
The thinking is mostly that if Blizzard’s opinion was that High Elves needed to become more unique before they could be considered for implementation, how might Void Elves be used to facilitate / springboard this “more unique” thematic.
An example might be for High Elves and Void Elves to work together and come up with a mutually beneficial solution to both of their magical needs:
Perhaps they could create an enormous, Arcane-empowered sieve that allows for the Void to be drawn both in greater quantities and much more safely (i.e. less likely to cause insanity).
Or maybe they create a quasi-standard font of magical energy and from that they shape into being a whole lot of Arcane- and Void-based aberrations that are individually tailored and assigned to each High Elf (and, potentially, Void Elf)?
Making good use of already known characters such Auric and Vereesa, and ofc making them more about wielding the Void, like Alleria does, than being corrupted by it like Umbric and all other Void Elves, and also giving us a good lore reason for why it’s happening, since High Elves are kinda purists, who dont wanna deal with vile magics.
My own fanfiction now: They can expand about High Elves severing any connections they may still have with the Sunwell or Quel’thalas, and then Void Elves come to aid, building a mini-city with a Voidwell allowing all High Elves to have a new source of power and also making their eyes to glow blue or purple. After this, all the remaining High Elves become to be known as Void Elves, with Alleria, Vereesa, Auric and Umbric forming their council.
But I don’t know if it fits, it’s just an idea, I’m not a good writter. The first part is the most important.
Firstly, that we’re not all trying to derail the thread. There’s also no ultimate subliminal motive to get you to stop talking or caring about High Elves; No secret plan to take your speculation and requests from you. That has never worked. I’ve played this game since early Vanilla. High Elf requests through the ages lived and died without you. We’re not trying to snuff a candle.
Secondly, I find it dangerous when anyone simply walls themselves in a safe space and acts like all opposing voices are enemies. Let me be clear: you’re not fighting us. You’re fighting Blizzard.
We’re as passionate as you, but we aren’t the gatekeepers of High Elves no more than you are it’s liberators. We are all fans of elves spouting on merely two sides of the same coin.
Lastly, while it’s important for self-policing to call out and report those who are purely agitators and trolls on both sides, don’t use it a crutch to label anyone who simply doesn’t agree with you.
If any of you are up for actual debate, I encourage and welcome you to my thread (which honestly has more posts from your side than mine).
Trolls will be trolls. If you want Pro-side trolls to not characterize your entire side, I expect the same courtesy.
All that Alliance High Elves need to be playable is to be made distinct from Blood Elves. How do we make them distinct? Quite simple really.
Story Focus. The Alliance High Elf story shouldn’t have anything to do with the Blood Elf story beyond a short reference to how they diverged along different paths. We know the Blood Elf story already. The story we haven’t been told yet is what those High Elves who stayed loyal to the Alliance have done since then. That is the story that playable Alliance High Elves need to focus on.
A unique idle stance. Much like the Nightborne, the High Elves could use a unique idle stance without any real justification necessary. You don’t need to be tainted with magic or have some physiological difference to change how you stand. It would be a noticeable visual identifier that changes their silhouette and makes High Elves appear different from Blood Elves at a glance.
Different hairstyles. While having hairstyles unique to them would be nice, High Elves don’t even need that to be different from Blood Elves. They could simply borrow a few hairstyles from Humans, Kul Tirans and Void Elves (sans tentacles) which Blood Elves don’t have, which again, changes their silhouette at a glance. This also reinforces the fact that Alliance High Elves have been living in primarily human communities (Stormwind/Dalaran/Theramore/etc).
Different customization options. Facial Hair, Jewelry, Tattoos, these would all be different from the options Blood Elves have. Some could be borrowed from Humans and Void Elves (facial hair mainly), others could be unique to them (Alleria-style tattoos for example).
Color palette. While some skin tones would be shared/similar, High Elves could have darker skin tone options that Blood Elves don’t have with the justification of some human ancestry mixed in to their bloodline. Hair color options could also be different shades of any shared colors that Blood Elves have.
If those things are done, Alliance High Elves more than stand out as different from Blood Elves and do not step on the Blood Elf identity. Outside of a shared model, Alliance High Elves would have little else in common with Blood Elves, either visually or story-wise in game.
Blood Elves don’t get their toes stepped on at all in this case.
The reason we typically categorize all of those against high elves as trolls is because quite honestly this shouldn’t be a debate.
When taking a step back and looking at the situation and history of the franchise and WoW itself any sane person should see that it is obvious high elves should be added as a playable race to the alliance and trying to debate otherwise is an absurd notion.
