If eye color was enough to depict a theme why did void elves need new skintones and hair colors to be high elves?
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I agree with that.
I’m not entirely sure why some feel they need to either devalue Blood Elves or overvalue Blood Elves themes to fit a narrative where we’ve gotten multiple themes for Blood Elves so they’re not as bad off as they are. Every race has one or more themes, some major some minor.
The difference here is that one race got a major change and the other did not. Some balance I think is not a bad thing to ask for.
I get some use visual distinction for why they specifically don’t want to see more things for Void Elves and are quite persistent about it, but thats their opinion on the matter and they are very much allowed to say so. (And I kinda get where they’re coming from though I’m not of the same opinion.)
That doesn’t mean we need to try to represent the opposite for Blood Elves, they can be two separate things even though they are inexorably linked.
Just my thought I guess… not sure I made it clear enough.
That all said as well I want to point out I still request for Void Elves, but I also want Blood Elves to get a lot more than they have now and I’d love it if there was some reciprocation for Blood Elves to get a little sooner rather than later given how much my Void Elves have gotten. (While I realize I’ve still not really gotten any void options, but most folk weren’t asking for void options so I didn’t think I would right away. Just hoped.)
Not trying to start anything this is just my thoughts and opinion.
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Not trying to start anything either but there’s a reason that Void Elves got what they got and Blood Elves stayed pretty much the same.
There’s never been anything like the call for playable high elves on alliance, for the other faction.
Blood elves on the other hand have pretty much always been furthered with their main aesthetic - regal posh survivor elves. They are pretty much the quintessential “sun elf” “high elf” “altmer” types you would find in many other fantasy tropes pretty much. All the customizations they’ve received so far has followed those aesthetics.
Were the shadowlands additions for them lackluster? Yes I won’t argue they weren’t.
But on the flip side, Void Elves barely had any identity (and still don’t have much) and were repeatedly referred to as, “to give something like a blood elf to the Alliance” during their inception. They couldn’t make the race stand on its own.
Quite clear that Blizzard for some inane reason just didn’t want to give Alliance High Elves at that point despite how popular the request was.
Whatever made them change their mind about it we’ll never know, but we do know the options were given so both Thalassians could play to their high elves roots.
Again, not saying Blood Elves shouldn’t get whatever is requested but the context for why Void Elves ended up how they are today and how Blood Elves are how they are today is because of drastically different visions Blizzard had for em.
None of that matters now though as we appear to be getting options based on what’s actually requested, which is good.
So it’s best to keep on requesting, but this idea of “why do they get so and so and we haven’t, we should ‘catch up’?” feels misplaced.
Because nothing Blood Elves have received is somehow against their themes, they just haven’t received themes people are requesting now.
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So what you are asking is for Blizzard to take all the copy and paste things back and make entirely new stuff? Okay.
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Because a high elf isn’t just blue eyes Thalassian.
But green/gold eyed Thalassians will always be only Blood Elves.
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Mainly because as well there’s never been as much push back as well. Other requests don’t have the same situation where there was a back and forth driving up engagement. You get huge threads because people push back and threads lock out. Most of the other race requests don’t have that, and so the threads stagnate.
And it sounds like you agree that blood elves just have their one main visual theme. I’m frankly not really sure where the story would show them getting an additional theme from either. I just don’t feel that labeling eye colors as equivalent to a theme works, as they’re pretty much representative of “blood elf that (is in with the light/cleansed by the sunwell and their blue eyes have returned/still showing signs of fel taint)” It’s an aspect of the visual motif there to signify a characters personal themes and story.
For me right now this discussion is less about what the void elves have and more about pushing back against a narrative that for some reason is claiming blood elves have something they don’t. Yes they have eye colors, and yes for some people in their story that is an important aspect of their character, but on the level of the model as a whole, it’s an aspect of it that can add some narrative flavor if you want to use it that way, but it doesn’t change the appearance in a significant way.
ETA: My point about the popularity of the request is meant less to be about diminishing the number of people asking for high elves and more about how other less controversial requests might be undercounted.
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Lol, what makes this so ironic is it’s what they asked for and what makes it even more ironic is that them asking for that instead of new stuff like new stuff is exactly why they have gotten what they have and yet they are still here complaining.
I mean Blizzard also said no to it literally as well after acknowledging it. They just happened to change their mind later on.
And I wouldn’t call it stagnation due to low pushback as there’s been many threads which have had push back, like Fallyn’s San’layn thread off top of my head. Then there’s been pushback discussion for whether Sethrak got added if they would go Horde/Ally.
I feel like they have very broad themes and their latest additions added more to it. It just obviously isn’t enough for most here requesting more (not bad, should always request more, always).
Like some of the skin tones they got look very earthy/tree-like and let’s them fit a “Wood Elf” aesthetic better if they want to (look up Bosmer / Wood Elves) and Blood Elves not only can encompass Sun-based elves with their options but now Wood Elves too.
My opinion ofc, like I said to some others it’s not gonna feel that way at all. We’re all individuals so it makes sense.
To me it’s simply that Blood Elves have a lot, even if players make not like what they do have, they still have a lot of actual options available to them. So on the flip side I don’t like when there are people that make it seem like they’re bottom of the barrel in terms of options they do have.
I do understand if you don’t like any of the options then they might as well not exist. That’s how I feel about DI and LFD being Paladins, like great I don’t give a crack about dwarf/Draenei Paladins so those may as well not exist to me.
Sometimes we just gotta keep requesting what additions we want in the meantime.
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I love how the first reply to you was to tell you blue eyes wouldn’t be enough for a visual theme because they obviously know and recognize a visual theme when they see one, after VEs start off blue, and now have access to the complete visual theme of non blue regular skin toned elves as well.
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I mean we’re not all the same people, I’m happy for what Void Elves have now and I don’t believe I’ve argued they haven’t gotten any passes 
if I did though then I’ll take it back.
Having one person here and there out of all the people posting that acknowledges that Void Elves have gotten new stuff and have gotten what was asked for is an exception to the many that are here complaining day after day about how Void Elves still haven’t gotten anything new yet or what was asked for so far so not really sure what to tell you outside of what I see in lots of posts.
I never seen that dwarf guy before. And I only see maybe 1-3 people who keep repeatedly saying VE didn’t get an actual pass.
Seems like a far cry from the masses that pushed for HE aesthetics.
Yeah, except that is not the case. I mean, shall we visit the one thread where people have said no to all the request for Void Elves recieving any options involving High Elves?
I mean, here you are, with a few other Anti’s such as yourself, all these years, telling people that if they want to roll a High Elf, they should be rolling Horde.
Then boom, Shadowlands come, and as soon as the Blue Eyes were dataminded, Ion said that the Blue Eyes were not available for Blood Elves as they have evolved passed that. And considering Void Elves had Blue eyes before the Blood Elves, the crying from all the anti’s was so historical, Blizzard gave in, and gave the Blood Elves blue eyes, then decided to add fair skin options to the Void Elves.
Then some from the High Elf communtiy created a thread for more High Elf customizations, and the Anti’s back at it attacking it as if to say, “NO, ROLL HORDE BECAUSE EVERYTHING HAS TO BE HORDE”. I’m just glad Blizzard listened to the High Elf communtity on the neutral hair options, because it is a step closer to us being as close as High Elves on Alliance.
Did I agree it had to be exact copies of skin colours and hair colours, no. But am I someone who pays the same amount for a subscription who has more of a say? No.
I mean, I can link up so many post of Lanns saying, “I hope Blizzard gives Blood Elves more options before giving the Void Elves more options,” find me one post of a Pro saying something like that.
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You can see it all the time, for example in the new mount thread there’s multiple posts about it and it has nothing to do with the new mount.
It’s mainly from someone quite literally equating an eye color with a visual theme, that’s it.
Whether the blood elves have a lot can be opinion, it’s a bit up in the air. Men are kinda low and didn’t get much love, and it feels like the bulk of female customization is tied up in jewelry which I wish was its own thing and not part of the same settings as parts of the body.
It all depends on how you categorized them. A lot of times there can be a lot of visual overlap in elf types, and I’m not a fan of using the new skin colors to denote a theme as much as correcting a lack of normal variety in the usual fantasy look.
As I’ve said before, I’m a fan of DIY RP, were you take what you have available and run with it if you want, so maybe I separate themes that deal with lore and visual themes more than others do. To me, a lot of wood elf’s distinction depending on franchise is more cultural than physical, all about how and where they live separating them more than their body type, although that may be a bit more tolkienish.
For the most part outside of void elves, I think all the other races are their own visual theme, and the distinctions between subgroups play out in other aspects. And yeah it is a broad category, but that’s good as it encourages freedom in what your character is. So an elf’s eye color does not make it a new type of elf visually, but it can inform others of the choices you’ve made making your character and maybe of the background and how that influences them as an elf. Like a scar signifies a life that’s known conflict, elf eye color can tell you about their past as well, but it doesn’t overwrite that they are an elf.
Like the ones going on about how void elves need to get all the high elf options before they get any void ones?
That’s a distraction. We all ask for what we want, other people have different opinions than you do and different priorities. We aren’t blizzard, you aren’t blizzard, none of what we say is going to happen as we say it, only if Blizz thinks it is a good idea.
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I thought he just told Avarie blue eyes wouldn’t be enough to give the Alliance their HEs? I thought he admitted to dropping that argument by saying that?
Yes, blood elves, some that had their eyes turn green from the fel crystals, and some whose eyes turned yellow from holy energy in the sunwell. Neither eye color is an entire theme by itself.
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I mean, frankly, I care so much about eye color exclusivity that I feel if you’re going to basically put high elves on alliance, let them have green eyes so people can tie that in to being one of the elves stuck in Outlands for years and all the fel exposure there.
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I just want good options for the races I like that should have been given in the first pass. Maybe none of this would have been an issue if blood elves actually had effort put into them, and actually received things commonly requested, including dark ranger looks if they wanted to give void elves the belf skin colors, and now the hair colors.
The first pass for core races was so incomplete, and inconsistent.
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I feel like they needed to have a list of universal features. Just some of what should be baseline if you’re going to give it to any race. Scars, jewelry, funky eye conditions, it makes no sense to only make that for some races and not others. As well as consistent categorization of features, if one race has a separate category for beards and musctaches, than any race that has them should have them split (And let me choose my body fur pattern/color and mane? color individually dammit)
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