You mean in SL which they’ve cemented into the game’s lore and tied to other stories and even this latest expac making it permanent? After the ruination of the game’s lore from that it doesn’t matter what else they do.
I mean at this point you people are pointing at the charred remains of a castle that Blizz blew up and complaining that they’re doing some graffiti in a corner of it.
The lore is ruined. They never cared about the lore after year 2, these restrictions were kept in place out of dev whimsy (same reason they gave players void elves, not high elves, not because it makes more lore sense (it doesn’t at all), but because they’d rather do that). And writers who write from the point of view of whatever the current whim is are never going to stick to their own rules or even have consistency.
Their long-time argument about why we couldn’t have high elves? Not enough population left. Yet we’re to believe a fraction of a fraction of the blood elves (already a ruined, diminished, depopulated and devastated people) went heretical, dabbled in evil magic and now there’s enough for a playable race? Ridiculous doesn’t begin to describe it. Just contempt for players.
They gave up on the lore at the tail end of legion when they began planning for what was next. Final patch and on-ward just jumped the shark with ying/yang void elves and light draenei and then BFA and Sylvanas and Arthas retcons and Jailer retcon insertion and SL and on and on. You’re not in Kansas anymore, nor in the Azeroth you or I may have initially grown to love that existed up until that point. I question at this point why nitpick about this of all things then?
At least in lore there is this basis for the fact that these classes are NOT tied to racial gods that favor a given people and allow them to practice it. There’s no reason a draenei can’t become a rogue if they put on some soft-soled shoes, maybe they’ll never be as good of one as an elf or a goblin but there’s no reason they can’t try. Likewise no reason that there can’t be heretics, foolish people who shun the customs or religion of their people to practice dark magic. The argument again against it is “well there wouldn’t be enough of them to be represented in game by players” which as seen with the high elf thing was always nonsense and hardly a good one.
Yes there are certain hard-restrictions barred by lore they shouldn’t cross. Void Elves cannot be light-wielding priests, they cannot be paladins. They are infused with a contradictory and incompatible type of magic and the fault there is Blizzard’s for creating them in place of high elves and the player for choosing one.
I personally think the insertion of Man’ari red skinned eredar is probably a mistake if only for the reason that canonically there’s no reason for them to be allowed in cities and not murdered on sight. Unlike death knights which had no choice in their creation as abominations, who were dominated by dark magics from re-birth until the defeat of the LK at light’s hope chapel and who were welcomed in to fight their very own former master, these types cannot claim that, they appeared after BFA when the Legion was no longer a threat, coming to us as a defeated enemy who CHOSE to embrace the fel gift and serve the Legion. I don’t think most Alliance citizens would be okay with them being around. At the very least they should get rotten fruit thrown at them randomly in cities.
But those are a tiny carve-out. There’s no reason you can’t have a (purified, non-fel corrupted) blood elf who studied to become a druid or shaman.
I agree. I think it’s time to decouple combat bonuses from races.
Instead allow all characters to choose one combat bonus regardless of race of their choice in talents or something. Keep flavor racial bonuses like goblin discounts on vendors or bank summon spells. I’d even say Night Elves should keep shadowmeld as it’s not really a bonus in most cases for raiding or pushing mythic keys so it’s more flavor though it is a utility.