Confirmed player agency doesn’t extend past your personal character, certainly not continued to at the expense of visual uniqueness
I’m still seeing a complete lack of “we’re fully giving you high elves”
You’re right. There are no promises for more mentioned there. But there are also no statements saying there won’t be more either
Blizzard decides when and where “visual uniqueness” matters… if it ends up mattering to them at all.
You do not have the natural hair colors in question
Not yet That’s kind of the point of asking for them!
You might want to pass that one on to the people posting about how these options seemingly over ride the void elves being void elves.
Void Elves will always be Void Elves mechanically, regardless of using High Elf customization options. Just like Dwarves will always be Bronzebeard Dwarves mechanically, regardless of using Wildhammer customization options. Just like Blood Elves would still be Blood Elves mechanically, regardless of using any potential Dark Ranger/San’layn options should they get them.
If Blizzard decided to add hair colors in the natural human spectrum to Void Elves, it would be no different than when they added the skin tones. It’s an RP tool and gives players the option to identify their character as they see fit visually.
Are they still? I mean what is a race mechanically that something as specific as bronzebeard or bloodhoof would come into play. And isn’t that part of the point of the new starter experience, to give tacit approval to anyone to make up the backstory of their own character.
And most of the ARs tend to be a version of “Specialized offshoot of main race” so Highmountain are the antlered tauren, LFD are even more light based Space Goats, Mechagnomes are the transgnomanist progression of the gnomes and so on. They’re basically a core race but with one special thing, and it feels odd to add so much that doesn’t reflect that thing.
Of course they are. The racial tag still says Void Elf/Dwarf/High Mountain. The racial abilities are still Void Elf/Dwarf/High Mountain racials. NPC’s will still refer to you as a Void Elf/Dwarf/High Mountain Tauren.
And most of the ARs tend to be a version of “Specialized offshoot of main race” so Highmountain are the antlered tauren, LFD are even more light based Space Goats, Mechagnomes are the transgnomanist progression of the gnomes and so on. They’re basically a core race but with one special thing, and it feels odd to add so much that doesn’t reflect that thing.
Since Void Elves are the only Thalassian race the Alliance have access to, Blizzard seems to have seen fit to use them as the avenue through which to answer the player request for Alliance High Elves. Just like they used Bronzebeard Dwarves to answer the player request for Wildhammer Dwarves.
That’s not to say Blizzard will definitely give Void Elves natural hair colors. They may well decide not to. But there’s no harm in asking for them. Just like there’s no harm in asking for Dark Ranger/San’layn customization for Blood Elves.
But the core races are still Dwarf/Tauren/Troll and they’ve announced that they no longer consider the core races at least to be from a specific faction anymore. I think they were a bit short sighted with the ARs and many of them should have been left as customization options (But I tend to prefer sticking all similar cosmetic options for a race into one bin and letting people make what they want, and I’m not too concerned about things like new racials and such)
Like I said, it feels like the core races are opened up much more for options, and the allied races ended up being a specific offshoot (well, other than the orcs where it’s reversed basically)
And similarly, as they are the alliance version of the thallasian race, Blizz seems to have had some intent to not have them be completely similar to blood elves in a generic sense. They seem to be trying to thread the needle between both sets of requests to a degree, they’ve been willing to give a lot, but there seems to be some reluctance to do it all.
I agree with this wholeheartedly. Lightforged and High Mountain in particular would probably have ended up as customization options rather than allied races if the customization revolution had come first.
Blizz seems to have had some intent to not have them be completely similar to blood elves in a generic sense. They seem to be trying to thread the needle between both sets of requests to a degree, they’ve been willing to give a lot, but there seems to be some reluctance to do it all.
I’ll admit that it’s hard to really get a bead on what Blizzard’s intent is right now. In SL alpha it seemed like there was going to be this huge customization renaissance not just at launch, but also during Shadowlands. But then the Blizzconline announcement of no more customization for the rest of the expansion happened. We’ll probably get a better idea of their intentions, and what they are willing and not willing to do, when the next expansion hits alpha/beta.
Just wanted to pop in here and share an interesting bit of trivia—the textures of a 3d model are called an “UV”. Like mathematical UV being used instead of XY because XY is being used in the XYZ of the model axis.
The more you know.
As they should considering more than just High Elf fans in this situation
I’m still not sure why this thread draws in so many people who are so staunchly against a request. It’s almost as if their entire history of the forums revolves around wanting to deny someone something that they don’t even have.
But it still keeps the post on the front page of the forums.
Remember forum-goers, you don’t have to spend all your time griping about how much you don’t want other people to enjoy something so simple as hair color lol.
The original request was asking for a carbon copy of Blood Elves, which was not popular among people who play Blood Elves. Those players felt the need to speak up in contradiction so Blizzard is aware that it’s not a universal desire. I don’t think it’s so much about denying people things but acting in self defense. I mean for some people it is but certainly not everyone.
It’s only within the last 24-48 hours or so that it was changed and people are now invested in bickering here. Changing the first post of a thread usually doesn’t change the direction of a thread deep in progress.
I personally take issue with carbon copying and think using different hues and saturations, and getting new assets sculpted is better than a bunch of hand-me-downs. Especially since the UVs for Velf hair aren’t identical to Belf hair to begin with and would have to have the UV layouts and UV art redone on one set of hair or the other to fit having both styles on one avatar.
I can understand that. We do need some differences, but honestly the way the thread has gone lately is just vile.
Yeah, it’s a shame so many people come in to a discussion of pixel elves in a game with attacks that make it sound like people with opinions on that are horrible people.
Agreed. “Your opinion doesn’t matter.” “I’ll just ignore the way I handled this and never apologize because I’m never wrong.” Is pretty… yikes.
But yes.
Overall, the game just needs more customization for everyone. The art team does a great job (and I love my wavy velfy locks. Just need some without tentacles).
Bickering is never a solution for anyone.