Honestly I really want “Half Elf” customization for High Elves.
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On the topic of the playable Nightborne being woefully inadequate, I can agree with you.
The Nightborne were really done a disservice. They are a modified Night Elf model that uses the basic Night Elf faces but worse and they didn’t adjust the eyes at all. In their effort to make Nightborne faces look detailed they added lines instead of contour shading. Know what lines do to faces? It makes them look old.
To add insult to injury they also left Nightborne with far fewer options than I find acceptable and the males didn’t even get the one Night Elf male face that isn’t completely busted.
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yes. All the various groups of high elves united as one bringing all customization options.
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So much potential ![:thinking:](https://d38bqls1q93fod.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/thinking.png?v=6" ":thinking:")
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I would like to see Arator, Alodi and Kalec get a unique Half Elf model.
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Half Elves and High Elves (along with their dragon counterparts) being the only major units with placeholder models is always good for a giggle.
Ishnuallah, said the High Elf Dragon.
At least give them unique VO yikes.
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Take a breath, reread what you wrote. Stop contradicting yourself.
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Exactly this. And we’ve seen Kul Tirans in game before. Both at Theramore and at Tol Barad.
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Yeah Kul Tirans just have a body slider.
Similarly, I want High Elves to be thicc Blood Elves. ![:smirk:](https://d38bqls1q93fod.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/smirk.png?v=6" ":smirk:")
(Alex and Noz style)
No one questioned dark irons suddenly having white skin colors or fiery beards. No. One.
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Lydon, you’re clearly passionate about this topic and I appreciate the discussion you’ve added throughout this thread. I find myself all too happy to debate with those who disagree about adding Alliance High Elves, but I can’t figure out exactly what makes you so against them.
I don’t think we need to argue about them being relevant, whether or not they’re a different race (because they’re not), or how populous they are. I also don’t like people suggesting that modern Quel’dorei are the true inheritors of High Elf culture before the destruction of the Sunwell, because they most definitely are not.
But it cannot be debated that High Elves exist on the Alliance. They are iconic in that they fight alongside humans and dwarves just as they did back in the RTS days of Warcraft, probably moreso than Blood Elves are iconic for the Horde (Can’t recall if I’ve seen BE’s in promotional art or any major cinematic since TBC).
Future allied races will be based on player feedback. Anyone would be lying to themselves if they said that High Elves wouldn’t be popular, it seems like a no brainer to me. While the current High Elves are nothing more than npc skins, give Blizz enough development time and we’d surely see something new and cool that doesn’t need to step on the toes of Blood Elves
I love the idea of Half Elves. If Blood Elves exclusively retain their pink/reddish skin tones as well as green/golden eyes (I’m all for them getting blue/purple arcane eyes too), then we could see High Elves get half elf options to help differentiate the two.
As stated before the blue eyed High Elves exist as a skin color, not a face type. They’re noticeably more pale than what Blood Elves have access to (I mean BE’s can be pale, but HE’s look like they’ve seen a ghost). Perhaps High Elves could have exclusive access to pale, non red skin tones as well as the darker skin tones available to humans. They could have face types with significantly shorter ears, and natural non glowing eyes. Throw in a different idle stance, voice and racials and we’ve got ourselves our Alliance High Elves (at least in my book).
I like to imagine Half Elves, the descendants of Alliance loyalists who were once a noble race, searching for their place in the world and trying to prove themselves by uniting against the Horde. All fanfic of course, and not every pro Helfer would be on board, but I’d personally love it.
I feel like this post became something else from when I started typing… My apologies lol
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Lydon has expressed that he feels that playable Alliance High Elves would somehow infringe on Blood Elves both visually and in regards to their lore since the two share a history up to the point of the split.
At the same time he doesn’t seem to think it makes any sense for those High Elves who live with humans to adopt different habits, trends and styles from their environment to differentiate them from Blood Elves, even though that would address the visual issue (though apparently not enough for his liking).
Lydon also seems to believe that the High Elves don’t have a story to tell that isn’t the same story that Blood Elves have, even though some have been living with Humans for thousands of years in Dalaran prior to the split, and more recently since the split have been living with Humans in Stormwind and other places.
The story of what’s been happening to the High Elves that stayed with the Alliance after the split doesn’t seem to be compelling enough to Lydon to be used as their focus as an allied race…
It’s also possible that he has a problem with just the name “High Elf” being used.
This assessment comes from numerous back and forth posts he and I have had. He might disagree with some of what I have said here though.
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This. Every current allied race was set in stone a long time ago, and they all build upon an existing race and are given different options. Given that the next allied races will be based on player feedback, I’d be willing to bet that High Elves are already being considered by Blizz, if not internally confirmed already.
But it takes Blizz a while to create new player options. They’ll probably save High Elves for 9.0 and use them to promote the new expansion, given how popular they’re sure to be. Can’t wait to see what they’ll look like ![:slight_smile:](https://d38bqls1q93fod.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/slight_smile.png?v=6" ":slight_smile:")
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It’s unfortunate to me that he feels that way, but I guess it’s just a matter of opinion. Personally I’d love to explore those cultural differences that are sure to exist between the two, as I think High Elves would only enrich the Blood Elf story. While they may be underdeveloped, it makes them a blank canvas for all sorts of possibilities
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Sorry but I do not want them to enrich the Blood Elf story. I Honestly believe that is part of the problem.
Nearly every time you see a group of High Elves in game doing anything meaningful, it’s opposite a group of Blood Elves. They have been doing nothing but enriching the Blood Elf story right from the beginning. It makes it seem that their only purpose is to enrich the Blood Elf story. They need to create their own story, one removed from the Blood Elves. One that will make them more than just characters put in to make the Blood Elf story more interesting. Something that will allow Blood Elf players to see them as more than just copy and pastes of themselves.
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Um… they represented the Alliance every time… and the Alliance doesn’t exist to further the Blood Elf story no more than Undead exist to further the Human one. That’s just your delusion.
It’s rather evident that High Elves were propped up because the Blood Elves have never and will never make sense as an antagonist to the Alliance. Every single time I see Lor’themar standing by Sylvanas I cringe.
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tbf, the devs addressed this exact subject in a q&a; they said they couldnt figure out a way to make them distinct enough from blood elves. since the horde was getting nightbourne who share the same rig as night elves, void elves were a way to give the alliance access to the thalassian elf model
I amused that some players think the feelings of a few Blood Elf-only players ever crossed the minds of the devs. One look at the Nightborne dismisses all of that.
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Tbh this is why I’ve previously advocated for a storyline that:
-Brings the war to Silvermoon, only for the Blood Elves to win (addressing and closing that chapter of the conflict)
-Forces the High Elves (and Void Elves) to think about a future outside of Quel’thalas, and beyond the war.
-Causes the High Elves to do something radical to distinguish themselves ie crowning a new King or Queen, which would insult the Blood Elves, drive a further rift between them and cause long term diplomatic problems (ie the Blood Elves refusing to recognize the new High Elf king or queen)
-Escalates the conflict to a point that the High Elves (and possibly Void Elves) strive to find a new, safe homeland, far from the Sunwell, far from the Blood Elves, and somewhere they can build anew.
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The reason Blizzard cannot make them Distinguished from Blood Elves, is because they have only ever really used them as Blood a Elf opposition. They need to move away from that, start showing them as a group that supports the alliance as a whole, and doesn’t just fight against Blood Elves. If they would do that, it would give High Elves a story that would distinguish them from Blood Elves
I’m not actually seeing Playable High Elves in the game… looks to me like those few Blood Elf players are actually on the Dev’s minds.
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