I don’t think it has any impact on the point I’m making at all, really.
I mean, you’re one of the bigger, more knowledged lore buffs on the opposite side, and even you set aside their abysmal/weak lore to make and remain active on a Void Elf anyway.
Because you say you did so out of love or hope for High Elves isn’t really relevant to Void Elves’ lore or popularity ,(especially as Void Elves share nothing at all with High Elves apart from faction and silhouette), and in fact only reinforces the idea that the race is popular for its aesthetics.
I’m sure there are plenty of people still playing Blood Elves as their idea it’s the best replacement to High Elves in lieu of High Elves, and that just opens a sub-topic of “Is a High elf closer to a Blood Elf because of their near-identical appearance, or to a Void Elf because of Alleria and their faction alignment?”, which really comes down to personal preference or opinion. One could argue for both.
Neither, however, significantly alter the fact Void Elves are popular despite weak lore, hence my original point that lore is clearly, not a deal-breaking factor for people rolling a race, even among those who hold lore as important like yourself and I.
Personally, I made a Void Elf Warrior because she looks boss af and makes awesome, roaring screaming sounds when charging/leaping and doesn’t sound like a ditsy teenager.
My wife made a Void Elf Warlock because she loves the dark, goth look and wishes Void Elves were just extra options for Blood Elves (“It’s my Blood Elf on a sad, depressing day”) instead of being the “Sorry Nightborne are going Horde despite you helping them also” apology she believes they were to the Alliance. Irony of course being Nightborne got horribly shafted going from NPC to player race, and aren’t nearly as cool to play, as they were majestically presented in Suramar and Legion.
On the other hand, if his hypothesis is true it’s the nail in the, “They aren’t different enough.” Argument. So either way the correct answer is playable High Elves.
If it’s, “They are playing them for lore reasons and it’s the closest thing to High Elves.” Then the correct answer is to add High Elves.
If its, “They don’t care about lore, they play them for how they look.” Then they should be made playable.
Not that the, “They aren’t different enough.” Bit was ever a nuanced argument. It always required a lack of knowledge and lack of curiousity about the lore.
I’m challenging this notion of the “invalid popularity” of Void Elves being due to “They’re closest to High Elves” or that “They’re only popular because we don’t yet have High Elves”, by explaining it doesn’t matter even if that were the case.
If anything, that only weakens a High Elf argument because Blizzard can look at it and say “Hey look, these people all rolled Void Elves anyway, even though they wanted High Elves, and we kind of pulled Void Elves out of nowhere.”
What exactly does Blizzard need to “fix” here when Void Elves are performing despite weak lore, and have adoption by both fans of High Elves and by people who value the lore?
I agree with this. For me personally, I know I play Void Elves for the sake of being the next best thing to a High Elf on the Alliance.
Personally in game I see a lot of Void Elves trying to look like a High Elf, SC Tabard and all - and that’s on a non RP server. You get the odd Void Elf actually trying to look Voidy but the majority in my experience in game has VEs trying to look like a High Elf as best they can.
If High Elves were in game but Void Elves were more popular, I’d say VE are more popular than High Elves. But because they aren’t, you can’t come up to that conclusion that Void Elves are more popular because there is no data to judge.
Void Elves are the most popular AR compared to the other Alliance ARs at this current stage, sure. But you can’t compare a race now, at this time, to a race that isn’t even added.
The only problem I see Playable High Elves causing, is that most prefer playing the good guys. If the most popular race was available on the good side. I myself believe many would either switch, or place there Blood/Void Elf characters on the back burner. I know that many will say. We wouldn’t switch all of our Belfs or Velfs, and I believe that. Still it doesn’t matter if no one switched at all. Having a Character on an account doesn’t guarantee that it will be played.
The question is how does Blizzard view the success of core, and allied races. Is it by the numbers made. Or by how many are at max lever, and how long players spend actually playing them. I would love to see High Elves made playable. Still if I was a company like Blizzard, and the success of each allied race depended on how many were at max level, and the time spent playing. I would weigh all the pro’s an cons of adding the most wanted race to the game.
Take Void Elves, despite their lack of lore, the are one of the most popular of the allied races. If there’s one thing that I firmly believe, it is this. When Blizzard creates something, they want everyone to love it. Even if everyone hates it. They still want everyone to love it. Knowing this if Blizzard thoughts on High Elves is that they will cause their other Allied races to stop being played as much. I don’t see them becoming playable anytime soon, which is sad. I said it earlier I think at times that High Elf Popularity might be one of the things that work against them.
Of course this is all just musings of a bored mind.
I guess I just can’t reconcile how “dissatisfied” one can really be with Void Elves while playing one, contributing to their popularity, and thus their measurable success despite having “weak lore”.
Playing a race like Void Elf, self proclaimed by people here as having shallow/weak lore, and rolling one anyway, completely run counter to the notion that these High Elf fans are hyper-concerned with the lore.
More simply:
It seems to me lore can be overlooked when these people make a pretty Void Elf, but when you can’t make a pretty High Elf, suddenly every lore bit about them becomes super relevant and it demands they be made playable.
It makes it look like lore is only an issue when Blizz isn’t giving you what you want, really.
Allied Races have to be unlocked. So if someone that plays a Blood Elves solely for the looks would want to switch to a High Elf (assuming Allied Race) and completely abandon their other character, they’d first have to grind their way to unlocking it and abandon whatever guild their character is in, if any - all for playing on a more fitting faction for their tastes.
This only sounds like some great feat for someone who only plays one side. People who experience both halves of this game, something I universally encourage, will have little trouble with one-time, account-wide unlocks.
Blizzard ideally wants it’s players to be excited about additional allied races. Until they add High Elves they can’t add any Allied Race to Alliance at all without infuriating a portion of their fanbase… and thata never going to stop.
You have us Mechagnomes instead of High Elves?
You gave us Orcs instead of High Elves?
One of their features is a perpetual rage inducing button for a significant portion of their fanbase.
It doesn’t run counter at all.
It’s pretty simple: there’s no playable high elves, so we go for the next thing in line. Like it or not, void elves are closer to high elves than night elves or humans, so that’s out choice. It’s still an unsatisfying choice, and still very far from what we truly wanted, but it’s the only choice that we were given.
Void Elves are no closer, to me, than Blood Elves are. They let you play a Thalassian silhouette on the Alliance. If that’s your barometer for “closer”, then it begs why one needs another version of that.
You try playing a Blood Elf, taking quests from orcs, trolls and forsaken, killing humans, dwarves, gnomes, night elves and on occasion actual High Elves, and convince yourself you’re a High Elf, actually.
Staying with the Alliance is a big part of High Elf identity.
I’m willing to put money that the portion is significant only in its vocalization of the issue. I really doubt die-hard High Elfers make up even 3% of the playerbase.