After seeing this entire debacle play out since Void Elves were revealed, I have read tens of thousands of posts on the topic of High/Blood/Void Elves, yet Ion, and thus Blizzard, never changed their greater stance on High Elves.
High Elf Hopefuls have mostly been silenced by the overwhelming majority of players who are simply happy to look “close enough” to a High Elf, and have all but abandoned the notion of a full Allied Race, racials, etc. As I had always maintained, the argument would essentially vanish if one or both sides were simply given blue eyes.
Despite the insistence that people wouldn’t be happy with just repainted Void Elves, that is in fact what has taken place, and surprising no one, has placated the majority of the player base, Alliance especially.
To recap some highlights from the original thread:
“High Elves are different enough from Blood Elves!”
They weren’t, aren’t and never will be.
If you want to be a fair-skinned, light, blonde-haired, tall, majestic elf — that is a Blood Elf. … (If you’re) an Alliance player, and want to be a fair-skinned, light-haired, blue-eyed elf — sorry? The Horde is there and waiting for you…
-Ion Hazzikostas
…maybe there will be contact lenses in the future, you never know…
-Ion Hazzikostas
Fast forward to 2020 and here we are. Fair-skinned, light, blonde-haired, tall majestic elves, now complete with blue eyes. This is a Blood Elf. Void Elves will get some options that move the needle closer to what people consider a “high elf”, but I feel once the honeymoon phase is over, they will be back to asking for more Blood Elf options like blonde hairs and some of their new customization, etc.
“Blizzard did Pandaren for both sides, they can do Blood/High Elves on both sides! How could it dilute faction identity more than Pandaren?”
So this one is essentially the “path of least resistance” that Blizzard went with to settle the “High Elf Problem”. They knew they were never going to add High Elves, and they also knew the High Elf request would never go away. So they chose the “make mostly everyone happy” option and gave blue eyes to Blood Elves (for Horde who feel Blood Elves are the high elves), and gave light skin options and blue eyes to Void Elves as well (for Alliance who want to pretend their Void Elves are High Elves). I’m aware there are still those who take this and just continue to ask for other hair colors, sytles, racials, etc, to get closer and closer to a “proper” High Elf, but for the overwhelming majority of players on both sides, this is “it”.
“High Elves’ lore and history is rich enough to stand alone!”
Nope. It wasn’t enough. The “High Elf Fantasy” has now been 99% rolled into existing Blood Elf or Void Elf fantsies for players. These new customizations are the lowering of the nailed High Elf Allied Race coffin into the ground.
“Nightborne are just Night Elves, so we should get High Elves even if they’re just like Blood Elves!”
This route didn’t pan out either. Night Elves continue to differentiate from Nightborne. The aesthetic of “High Elves”, again, was rolled into existing Blood Elves and Void Elves. Anyone who wants to romp around as a fair-skinned, blue-eyed thalassian can now do so, and visually roleplay as a “high elf”.
“We can make High Elves different enough from Blood Elves! Look at all these tattoos and tribal motifs we made! Void Elves are not what we want!”
It seems that nothing here ever really mattered except getting the fair-skin and blue eyes. Alliance are proclaiming “victory” here in droves, despite the fact there is no High Elf allied race, no mount, no racials, no braids, no paladins, no warpaint or tatoos, no new hairstyles, etc for Alliance players. It’s repainted Void Elves and that’s it. If that makes most people happy, then the actual people invested in grander High Elf schemes or lore are either easily placated, or terribly few in number.
“You say there’s not enough High Elves left, but there’s even less Void Elves, yet they are an Allied Race!”
We’ve only seen Void Elf numbers continue to grow, and players adopt them at astounding rates. High Elves have all but been folded in to one group or another, with the vast majority only seen 12 years ago in the WotLK expansion.
“Blizzard reverted their stance on Classic Servers! If we make enough noise and cry enough, they’ll cave on High Elves!”
Nope here also. They didn’t cave or add High Elves, and instead just boiled it down to extra cosmetic options mostly for Blood Elves, and a few for Void Elves. If you consider this a “high elf victory”, then I suppose Blizzard was right in doing it this way instead of listening to the vocal minority clamoring for a full and proper High Elf Allied Race.
As a reminder:
Void Elves will get:
-Fleshy skin tones from Blood Elves
-3 shades of blue eyesBlood Elves will get:
-New skin tones, specifically dark and caramel shades
-New earrings
-New facial hair (beards!)
-New hairstyles
-New ear shapes/types (including a half-elf-like option)
-New 3D modeled necklaces
-New bracelets
-New eye colors, including multiple shades of green and gold, including blind eyes and odd-eye combinations
-Their own 3 shades of blue eyes
-Potentially new body jewelry (seen in an earlier alpha build)
With these new customization options coming in Shadowlands, we finally see and idea of a “High Elf Allied Race” thrown out, and fair-skin and blue eyes put up as a placation, one that most have accepted.
We see why High Elves, did not in fact, work. 
