High Elf Handbook Welcome to your guide on High Elf argumentation. Always a work in progress. Navigation Story A history lesson on Elves, and the Quel'dorei in particular. The Main Argument How you can participate in the discussion easily with a virtual handbook of your own. Game Director's Response What Ion said and the problems surrounding it. Blizzard's Exhaustion Tactic How Blizzard intentionally fatigued the community to keep the issue out of their side of the field. The Void Elf Dilemma A quick recap of the Void Elf story, a major source of controversy. About Compromises Why you shouldn't humor compromises, but then we do anyway. Resources You should watch this video. And maybe some others, too. Credits A lot of this looks really familiar. Who's behind this project? What are High Elves? The TL;DR: they're Thalassian Elves that never participated in Mana Vampirism -- draining the mana from living things to sustain themselves -- and never joined the Horde, unlike their Blood Elf kin. The majority of remaining High Elves have been sided with the Alliance since it's beginnings in the original trilogy.



Alternatively, you can read a larger summary of their history below. The High Elf Story Artwork by Ercarp Artwork by Ercarp Why should I care about High Elves? TL;DR: Faction balance at the end of the game is crippling things like raiding and war mode, and is incredibly skewed towards Horde.

High Elves are allied with the Alliance and have been since the original trilogy.

People want options, man. They are one of the founding races of the Alliance. They are presented alongside the Alliance consistently and across multiple expansions, unlike similar "Allied Races" that only exist for an expansion, or worse, just a singular zone. On that premise alone, they hold merit as a playable race.



If you mean purely from a gameplay stand point, the High Elves offer many benefits that support their inclusion. Currently, there is a severe population difference between the Alliance and the Horde in end-game content; 55% of the population is currently playing Horde at 120, and while 5% might not seem like a lot, a similar difference in percentage is what inspired Blizzard to have the poll and write Blood Elves in as a Horde Race in the first place. 35% of that is Blood Elf, meaning the overwhelming majority of the playerbase on the Horde is playing one.





That kind of population difference in WoW means that the majority of endgame content is heavily shifted in favor of the Horde; there are far fewer Alliance raiding guilds than Horde, even less Alliance guilds that manage to make it in to the top 100. War Mode is entirely borked, being an absolute ghost town for the Alliance on most servers and free buff for the Horde. The Horde's racials are all-around better for PvP and PvE than the Alliance to boot (and have been for many, many expansions); all these problems together also mean that Alliance players are constantly jumping ship over to the Horde side, exacerbating the problem exponentially every passing second it exists. By the time you're reading this, it's gotten even worse.



If High Elves finally made it into the playable side of World of Warcraft, they would draw tons of players -- especially from the Blood Elf population, which on its own would be massively beneficial for the game's health. This population could even extend to raiders and PvPers if High Elf racials are competitive, though Allied Races with strong racials are a sore subject within the community (with good reason) and the raider/PvPer problem could be sorted out in other ways as well.



I'm also in the camp that, so long as it doesn't obliterate the sense of immersion in the game world, any player customization options are always going to be good ones. While it'd be silly to see something like Terran Space Marines made playable in Warcraft, High Elves are in-universe, part of the Alliance, and are shown in the game world all the time. It's more of an immersion break to keep them out of the player's hands, in my eyes. Artwork by Ercarp I hear a lot of arguments against High Elves, can you address those? TL;DR: Absolutely. You can read all about them by clicking the button below. The Main Argument Yes. There are many arguments for and against High Elves -- thankfully, the most common ones are simply the result of a lack of education on the subject or an over-indulgence in various fallacies, while the more complex ones come from a far more subjective stand point in the first place.



While it would be impossible to predict every and any responses at a given time for the High Elf discussion, I collect new arguments all the time and add them to the handbook. You can count on the vast majority of arguments you see being here, but if you see or think of one you don't recognize, please email me at [email protected], or use the form at the bottom of the page.



You can read the argumentation guide here. About the Author, or: are you some kind of super biased Alliance/Horde/Human/Blood Elf/Elf Loving Player? Some absolutely whack High Elf fanatic? Why are you writing this? TL;DR: Nope, centrist Nightborne ride or die player who plays a Darkspear Troll most of the time. Didn't care about High Elves till the Void Elf controversy. Having something presented so often alongside the Alliance but keeping it out of playable hands reads to me like a marketing move, and corporations exhaust me. Artwork by @Valarynn Far from it. While I play both sides, I have always played far more Horde, and my main was only ever an Alliance during Cataclysm and Warlords of Draenor -- 2 out 7 expansions -- and I was only ever ANY of the Elves for 2 as well.



If I had to say which my favorite race was, I'd say Nightborne, but I played a Troll on the Horde for all but Burning Crusade and Mists of Pandaria (both of those I played Blood Elf).



If High Elves were released, I'd make a token one, then get back to my Sylvanas-loyal Forsaken character and my Nightborne Warrior fighting for the future of the Shal'dorei, whom I'd really like to get to play sometime.



In the past, I didn't care about High Elves at all -- I was firmly in the party that "Whenever subraces come around, you'll get High Elves." Had I known that would take 15 years, I might've thought differently back then, but we're here now and that's what's important.



This next bit will assume you've read about the Void Elf story and the current political climate surrounding it within the community. If not, you can do so by clicking the button below. The Void Elf What? Due to the nature of their conversion, at the current point of the story, the Void Elves cannot be 'reproduced'. While it's unknown if they're capable of actual reproduction, they are at the very least incapable of adding new, actual Void Elves to their ranks, as they'd need the relic from Telogrus to do so. As a result, any High Elves coming in to study the Void with the Void Elf populace are just that; High Elf wayfarers. They cannot be the same playable Void Elves we currently have unless circumstances for the Ren'dorei change.



Like the Nightborne, the Void Elf "race" is considered by the community and Blizzard alike to be part of the "elf swap", which opened up those models to both factions of the game. Unlike the Nightborne however, the Void Elves received no new animations or edits to the actual skeleton whatsoever. All of their idles, their movement animations, even their base skeleton, are completely unaltered from their Blood Elf cousins. This is highly unusual as Blizzard apparently thought it was important enough to use those things to differentiate the Nightborne from the Night Elves, but then didn't do so to differentiate the Void Elves from the Blood Elves.



Highly unusual, unless that is, they were leaving room for the High Elves -- which would explain the weird bending-over-backwards thing the Sin'dorei and Ren'dorei stories do to justify the lack of High Elf inclusion in the Void Elf story.



My primary citations are the following: 1. Blizzard having to walk on eggshells to write this specific version of the Void Elf story instead of just doing the obvious. It would've been far easier to simply say Alleria had been training Elves in the art of the Void immediately after her return to Azeroth, and that this group was a mix of High Elves and Blood Elves drawn to her as a result of their mutual and united past.



2. The extreme inconsistencies of Blood Elf behavior and culture in the Void Elf story, debatably to the point of a plothole. Blood Elves were separated from their kin as a result of using questionable methods of magic in the first place; it is unquestionably odd that they would be so heavy handed with their treatment of the Void Elves. Even if they had to be exiled from Silvermoon, their study of the Void would undoubtedly have been viewed as useful by the Blood Elves -- why not set up a place for them to study it OUTSIDE the city, as far away as necessary? Instead, the story has the Void Elves banished to the Ghostlands and left to die.



3. The attention given to Nightborne to distinguish them from Night Elves, but then the lack of that same attention when it came to Void Elves, despite it being the same situation. Void Elves look absolutely identical to Blood Elves with full armor on, with no skeletal changes or a new set of animations to differentiate them, even though these sorts of changes were given to the Nightborne who presumably would've faced the same issue. Every single one of the original Allied Races (even the Mag'har and Dark Iron Dwarves which came slightly later) share tattoos as a new feature as well, but this was not given to Void Elves... tattoos being something that's been present on High Elves since the original trilogy and are still present on uniquely modeled High Elves like Alleria in current World of Warcraft. Because of this, the logical conclusion to me is that design room for High Elves has been left open, at the minimum.



I dislike that Blizzard has kept people waiting for them for over a decade.



I dislike the bait and switch they pulled with the Void Elves.



And, most of all, I dislike Blizzard's response to the community, whether it was truly off-the-cuff or not. It's the typical corporate game of getting the community to turn in on each other instead of bringing the pitchforks to the corporation.



#votehighelf Or, as Lore says, #blameion Back to home

Back to home A High History terrible Meme format Zin-Azshari and the Highborne Or, "a Queen brings her demonic spacefaring boyfriend to dinner and ruins everything for everyone" Roughly 10,000 years ago, the Elves were one, a civilization of evolved Trolls called the Kaldorei that were blessed by the Well of Eternity -- a font of the planet's magical blood.



United under Queen Azshara in the city of Zin-Azshari, the Elves gorged on an era of prosperity, their civilization divided into primarily two classes: the nobility and the peasants. Your stature depended on your loyalty to the queen and your innate magical talents -- very little else mattered. The city of Zin-Azshari, and indeed, the world as they knew it came to an end during a cataclysmic event called the Sundering.



Queen Azshara and her Highborne mages, in pursuit of power and glory, used the Well of Eternity to summon the Burning Legion - she had made a deal with its master, Sargeras, who promised her the annihilation of the lesser races of Azeroth and a place at the head of his cosmic empire. A brutal civil war erupted once the Legion came through the portal, with lowborne Kaldorei fighting against their Queen and the Highborne who sided with her. The Kaldorei managed to destroy the Well of Eternity before Sargeras could come traverse the portal, and the world was saved - but not without cost.



The land itself shattered, a maelstrom erupting out of the corpse of the Well of Eternity, dragging all of Zin-Azshari and most of landmass into the ocean. Back to home Exile Hubris costed them everything, including their home. They must find a new land across the ocean. As a result, the Elves were now divided. A majority of them had died, and those that didn't hadn't forgotten the sins or tragedies of the past.



The Highborne that lived were looked upon with disdain -- even the ones that had not actively sided with Azshara, as it was their study of and societal push towards magic that doomed their empire.



The living Kaldorei demanded that the extremely small population of remaining Highborne go their own separate way, exiled from what remained of Kaldorei society, for their practice of the Arcane. A practice that, due to their extended exposure to, resulted in an addiction to magic -- an addiction with a withdrawal that would quite simply kill, were it not sated.



This addiction, the methods used to sate it, and the fading effects of the Well of Eternity all resulted in a warping of their physical bodies. Over time, these changed and exiled Highborne simply came known to be "the High Elves". After a journey of suffrage past the mysteries of the Maelstrom and the somehow twisted land of Tirisfal, they founded a new home in the northern Eastern Kingdoms, called Quel'thalas (or High Home). In defiance of its cold climate, they enchanted the land itself to permanently remain in a state of spring. Using a vial of the Well of Eternity's waters, they made the Sunwell -- a smaller, but suitable font of power and magic that would sate their addiction for the time being.



And, while they were forced to go their separate ways, the Quel'dorei still heeded the warnings of their Kaldorei brethren. They built their kingdom with respect (albeit not reverence) to nature, and in the hope of avoiding the Burning Legion's ever spying eyes, they erected a mystical barrier using a network of runestones at the edges of their land, that they may practice their magic without alerting Sargeras and his demonic servants.



With this, the High Elves secured themselves four milleniums of peace.



It wasn't forever. Back to home The Troll Wars With a new home finally in sight, they must fight to make it theirs -- but they can't do it alone. An alliance is made. The Kingdom of Quel'thalas was founded specifically for the leylines it stood upon, as well as the other various sources of power that proved beneficial to the magic-addicted people that now inhabited the land.



Unfortunate but inevitable then, that it's aboriginal populace, the 20,000 year old Amani Troll Empire, were not fond of their new neighbors. During their 4,000 years inhabiting the land, the Quel'dorei and the Amani fought more than their fair share of battles. Nothing came close to the scale of the Troll Wars, however.



After so long of the High Elves stealing Amani land and Amani relics for the purpose of furthering their own understanding and prowess with magic, the Amani had enough. They escalated the scale of their rivalry with the High Elves to an all-out genocidal war, and the Quel'dorei were outnumbered -- at a gracious estimate -- ten to one. While they had won their battles thus far with their use of the Arcane, such overwhelming numbers and similarly skilled mages on the Amani side meant that the High Elves were fighting a losing battle, one they had absolutely no chance of winning alone. The Quel'dorei made contact with the Humans of Arathor. In exchange for tutelage in the Arcane, the Humans would lend their numbers to the Quel'dorei's, and together they would attempt to take down the Amani Empire.



This was the first instance of Human and Quel'dorei working together, but it would be far from the last - in fact, the two races would go on to have a relationship that would stand the test of time even to the current day. Back to home The First and Second Wars A world at war, but politics bogs the High Elves from intervening. Some particularly heroic ones do anyway! The union of Arathor and Quel'thalas was powerful enough to fell the long-standing Amani Empire, and this in turn secured the High Elves roughly three more millennia in peace, even if it was at the cost of many Elven (and Human) lives.



Around this time, Sargeras's slow-burning plot to secure a Burning Legion foothold on Azeroth hit a crucial turning point; possessing the Guardian of Tirisfal on Azeroth and whispering corruption to the Orcs of the planet Draenor, Sargeras set in motion the building of a gateway between the two worlds, and sent his new minions through this "Dark Portal". The First and Second wars erupted quickly one after another - even though the First War took place almost the entire continent away from the Elves, a token force still lent their strength to the Humans of Stormwind and their new Alliance as a result of their ancestral ties to the Humans of Arathor. The Second War, however, hit the Human kingdom of Lordaeron - much, much closer to home, and something the Elves were far more capable of helping with.



While there was an initial bickering over whether more Elven lives needed to be tossed at yet another war, this discussion was quickly and brutally put to rest when the Orcs made allies with what was left of the Amani Empire. The Amani, familiar with the Quel'dorei and their magical barrier, began setting fires to both the Quel'thalas forests and corrupted one of the runestones holding the nation's barrier.



This thoroughly enraged the Elves; their ancient enemy, destroying nature, threatening the city they love? Their very way of life? It would not stand.



The High Elves provided their full support to the Alliance during the Second War. Unlike the First War, which resulted in heavy losses for the Alliance and could scarcely be called anything but a defeat, the High Elves joining full-force in the Second War coupled with political splintering from the Horde and its now-various factions meant a crushing victory for the Alliance. back to home The Fall A fractured people are shattered completely by the loss of their kingdom. Here, you'll begin to see the terrible divide that fractures these descendants of the Highborne even today.



Even in the First War, participating in the Alliance beyond what was absolutely necessary was viewed as an inconvenience and a waste of resources to many of the Thalassian Elves. While the Amani forced their hand in the Second War, the aftermath of said war, such as the care of the concentration camps for the Orcs, or participation in the Nethergarde defense force, was waved off by a majority of the Elves, who returned straight to their homeland in Quel'thalas.



A scarce few knew the threat of the Dark Portal, and by extension the Burning Legion, was not over. Joined by Alleria Windrunner, Ranger Captain of Quel'thalas, the Alliance Expedition set through the Dark Portal and to Outland - the obliterated remains of the planet Draenor.



Others stayed behind, in Human cities, for various reasons. Those gifted in Priesthood stayed behind in Lordaeron or made pilgrimage to other Human kingdoms. Many High Elves remained in the Human kingdom of Dalaran, including the High Elf Prince, Kael'thas Sunstrider of the Sunstrider dynasty.



This peace, however, was more temporary than any the High Elves had before.



Only 14 years later, Quel'thalas came under siege again -- this time, not by the now-crippled Amani Empire, or even the Orcs who had quite recently slipped free of their chains to the south -- no, this time they faced a new enemy. The Scourge, a massive swarm of Undead, led by Lordaeron's renegade Prince Arthas Menethil.



The actual kingdom of Lordaeron itself was gone; recently turned to a wasteland of death by Arthas himself. Most were forcefully assimilated into the Scourge. No one would come to rescue to them.



Arthas made use out of a traitorous High Elf named Dar'khan Drathir; with his help, Arthas secured a way through the Elves's magical barrier, and had the bountiful energy of the Sunwell temporarily bound so that the Elves' military would be crippled before the invasion.



In spite of this, Silvermoon arguably put up the greatest defense of any city against the Scourge. For every step forward the Undead took, the High Elves struck back with a counter-attack of their own -- so well, in fact, that the would-be Lich King himself personally slayed the Ranger-General of Silvermoon and raised her as the Banshee Queen. The King of Silvermoon, Anasterian Sunstrider, was also slain -- along with 90% of the population. However, the deaths of the Ranger-General and the King were far from the point of the invasion. Arthas was here to resurrect Kel'Thuzad, a Human Necromancer who served as his right hand. To do so, he'd need the magic of the Sunwell, which, with Silvermoon in shambles, it was entirely in his grasp.



He used dark magic to resurrect Kel'Thuzad with the Sunwell as a conduit, utterly obliterating the Elves' source of power, and the path he had taken burned a dead scar straight through the center of the Elves' beloved homeland, killing absolutely every living thing miles within their path. back to home Blood With the Sunwell gone, most Quel'dorei become Sin'dorei, draining the mana from living things. Others, however... An estimated 90% of the High Elf population died in the Fall of Quel'thalas.



To make matters worse, the Scourge then turned towards the city of Dalaran, arguably the second largest safezone for the remaining population of the High Elves. This city, too, was largely destroyed.



Prince Kael'thas made his way back to his homeland to find it in ruins. Lor'themar Theron, Sylvanas's second-in-command, had rallied what was left of the population. While Kael refused his rightful title of King, the Elves looked to him for leadership all the same, and he sought to reclaim the land of Quel'thalas. Many forests were burned to ash, and many fallen friends and family had to be vaporized instead of being properly buried to prevent them from being raised into the undeath. The possibility of an Amani attack gnawed at the back of their minds, but with the Prince's leadership and Lor'themar at his side, they reclaimed most of their homeland.



The Sunwell, however, could not be reclaimed. What was left of it was a corrupted and unholy facade of what it once was. Worse, a High Elven body could not help but draw from the Sunwell passively, which meant this taint was something they were constantly absorbing into themselves. Fearing permanent consequences if this was allowed to continue, Kael'thas was forced to destroy the Sunwell.



With its destruction came an overwhelming withdrawal. His people had been tied to the Sunwell for millennia, and magic for many more. Without it, many of his people would die.



He vowed to find his people a suitable substitute for the Sunwell, though it would take time. In the meantime, he taught them something he learned from Illidan Stormrage; mana-vampirism, or, the ability to siphon the mana from living things. With it, his people could survive... so long as there was life to absorb. Some disagreed with this, and thought that this dependence on magic had to end. Others thought that the vampiric part of the act was the problem, and that draining the mana from creatures made the High Elves little more than monsters.



Kael also had a new distaste for Humans, after what he considered a "Human" betrayal in Arthas Menethil, his ex-lover Jaina choosing such a monster over himself in the past, and Grand Marshal Othmar Garithos of Lordaeron refusing to assist in the reclamation of Silvermoon, in favor of sending Kael and his kin on suicide missions.



So it was, then, that when Kael named his people "the Blood Elves" in honor of the fallen. a small portion of the remaining population refused the name and left their kin. They would never forget how the Humans had saved them against the Amani, and the actions of a few would not speak for the many; and they would never resort to hurting living things for the sake of their addiction. They would find an alternative method themselves, or endure it altogether. This group continued to call one themselves the "High Elves".



There were also many High Elves that were lost throughout the rest of the world. There were survivors in the Alliance military, in Dalaran, in Elwynn, in out-of-reach places like Quel'Danil and Quel'Lithien, and even through the Dark Portal. All were allowed pilgrimage to Silvermoon if they so chose, and would be welcomed with open arms -- but many never left even hearing this, knowing the political differences that now separated them from the so-called Blood Elves.



These political differences manifested physically when the Blood Elves gained fel-green eyes and redder skin; for the reconstruction of Silvermoon incorporated a heavy use of fel magic within many core buildings, and an additional portion of the populace used their mana-vampirism on Demons for a quicker and far more powerful fix, the result being physical changes similar to the ones the Orcs underwent after they drank the blood of a Pitlord.



The number of Thalassian Elves who chose to keep the High Elf name were roughly 1/10th of the remaining populace, meaning only 1/100th of the original High Elf populace remained High Elves. back to home World of Warcraft High Elves stand by the Alliance for 15 real-world years. Since then, much has transpired in the Warcraft universe.



High Elves could be seen in all the previously described locations in-game in World of Warcraft, as well as some even further away from their kin, such as seafarers in Theramore, or explorers in Winterspring.



They've participated in multiple expansions as an Alliance faction as well. In Wrath of the Lich King, the Silver Covenant, a group of Dalaran High Elves led by Vereesa Windrunner, represented the Alliance at the Argent Tournament -- as opposed to the Blood Elven counterpart, the Sunreavers, for the Horde. They also are shown in-game to be members of the 7th Legion, who have participated in almost every major Alliance conflict since the Battle of Mount Hyjal.



The Silver Covenant was shown again in Mists of Pandaria, under the same premise. An Alliance-friendly, Horde kill-on-sight faction on the Thunder Isle.



During Legion, the Windrunner sisters are a major theme, and two of the three share many heavily pro-Alliance sentiments. Alleria is returned to the spotlight, wanting to bring Silvermoon back to the Alliance, and many scattered High Elves and Blood Elves alike flock to her upon her return.



In Battle for Azeroth, High Elves are shown multiple times in Alliance-only content, and at the center of many core features.



Boralus sees Alleria Windrunner as the Alliance Upgrades NPC.



The Portal Master that takes you to Warfronts is a High Elf, and there are other portal NPCs in both Boralus and Stormwind that are High Elves.



The Arathi Warfront features many High Elven NPCs fighting alongside you as part of the Alliance forces on the frontline.



Void Elves, while they are Horde Blood Elves gone renegade, have drawn the attention of many High Elf wayfarers.



Despite their numbers, they show up consistently in the story alongside the Alliance. back to home Beyond the Story The real-world politics behind why things are the way that they are. Since then, much has transpired in the Warcraft universe.



The High Elves were not made a playable part of the Alliance in World of Warcraft. Instead, the game chose Night Elves, a "neutral" race of forest warriors who killed all who entered their domain during the entire timespan of history described to this point, and the Gnomes, who were a race all but made-up as they were only mentioned in vague sentiments in some Dwarven or Dwarven related units in Warcraft II and III.



In spite of this, both races have made wonderful additions to the Alliance, and should absolutely be considered a good thing overall. While their additions were initially strange, they have clearly earned their place in the game (and Night Elves in particular have the right to be playable regardless, as an entire faction in Warcraft III).



Later, Blood Elves were added as a playable race to the Horde. It may seem strange after absorbing the long version that they joined the faction with Orcs, Undead, and Trolls, and you'd be right. According to John Staats, a developer on the original World of Warcraft, this was done solely based off an Asian poll that stated more people in the region would be willing to give World of Warcraft a shot if they could play Horde and still play a "non-creepy" femme race.



Again, this is not to downplay the Blood Elves' additions to the Horde since their inclusion; they have been a crucial part of the Horde, both in-game and in-story, since they were added to the game. While it is a bit of a ludonarrative dissonance, it's been handled well since, and I have very little qualms with the Blood Elf's current position in the story.



The High Elves have not been made playable since, in the 15 years World of Warcraft has been a game. Many thought that with the addition of the Blood Elves for the Horde, the Alliance would have to wait for subraces before High Elves became playable; while Blizzard states that the Allied Race system is not strictly a "subrace" system, it is the place where subraces have gathered thus far, making the High Elves a perfect fit for the feature. They were not added with the system however, and according to the phrasing of the one out of a thousand questions about High Elves that was handpicked for a Q&A by Blizzard, we actually got Void Elves instead of High Elves.



People don't know how much longer they're willing to wait for High Elves, as it's been over a decade already. Blizzard's responses have been dull and intellectually dishonest, as well as worded solely for the purpose of turning the community in on each other and taking the issue out of Blizzard's lap.

back to home A Handbook on High Elf Argumentation An alternative layout is available for those who prefer the original post from the forums. Alternate Layout 1 High Elves are not playable in-game, and are separate from Void Elves or Blood Elves. This is noted multiple times in-game, recently by Elisande where she addresses Sin'dorei, Quel'dorei, and Kaldorei all individually. Most recently, High Elves are also established separately from Void Elves and Blood Elves in Alliance Warfronts and in Island Expeditions. 2 High Elves do have enough of a population to be playable.

There are markedly less Void Elves than there are High Elves, yet Void Elves are playable. 3 The Thalassian Elf Skeleton isn't Horde exclusive anymore. Void Elves are a playable Alliance race now. 4 You absolutely can give two of one faction's racial skeletons to the other. Horde have Nightborne and Zandalari Trolls, both of which use the (Alliance) Night Elf skeleton. 5 Just giving them different eye colors and tattoos is enough.

Lightforged Draenei exist, and those are their two most differentiating visual factors. "But Lightforged Draenei are on the same faction as Draenei!", they may shriek -- refer to points 3 and 4. If all else fails, remind them that Pandas exist and have been on both factions with the same exact silhouette and animations for 6 years now. Should they quote Ghostcrawler's post-Blizzard sentiment about Pandas, remind them that Void Elves double down on that design philosophy being alright in BFA. 6 Void Elves are not High Elves. If they were a compromise, they failed. Void Elves were a failed attempt at a one-sided compromise, one that has visibly failed with the uprising of High Elf supporters as a result of their implementation. It is not the community's fault or the fault of High Elves that Blizzard massively misinterpreted their community's wants. Don't blame players for that. It is my personal opinion that compromises for High Elves will never work due to the way Blizzard has cornered themselves with Void Elves being so few in number and Mag'har coming from an alternative universe. There will never be a good enough excuse to avoid implementing High Elves now. Despite this, compromises remain a hot topic. The wording of this point tries to avoid condemning compromises as a whole, but I do wholeheartedly believe that they're something that will purely never work for High Elves. You can read about that >>here<<. 7 "Ion already said no!" is not an argument, it's an appeal to authority. This is an appeal to authority -- a logical fallacy. In addition, if Ion's word was final, Classic WoW wouldn't exist as a concept. It does, because they walked it back. Flying in current content only exists because they walked their "no flying" decision back. After Ion's statements in April, the BFA Beta saw further changes differentiating the High Elves from the other race's military's, notably "Jaina's Angels" being renamed to "Auric's Angels", as in Auric Sunchaser -- Captain of the Allerian Stronghold in Terokkar Forest, and literally titled "High Elf Representative", a completely separate entity with completely separate forces from the Silver Covenant. See below the line for a dismantlement of Ion's argument. 8 They are not going to be taking the spotlight away from Blood Elves or Void Elves. Blood Elves and Void Elves have been leading major parts of the story since the end of Legion and that leadership is going to continue well past BFA. Blood Elves recently received a major cosmetic update including an entirely new eye color for their entire race, Liadrin leads in a Warfront, Lor'themar continues to make many appearances in the Battle for Lordaeron, and the Void Elves are rooted in with Alleria's story which was part of the entire Legion story and is going to be part of the future Void storyline. Neither race for as long as they have existed have been overshined by High Elves -- but High Elves have always been presented separately alongside both of them. Their sudden playability wouldn't change that. 9 High Elves potentially drawing from the Horde playerbase is not an argument, it's a benefit. They would have to be the most popular race in the game to have such a massive effect on the population, and none of the Allied Races are even close to that level of population. If that exaggeration were true, it would be an argument FOR High Elves and not the other way around, since as "the most popular race in the game" it's only logical that they be added. Far more importantly, the high-end raiding and PvP scenes (the two faction reliant end-games) are seeing a massive Horde bias, and the Alliance is in dire need of a boost. Detailed explanation >>here<<. 10 If you look around, you'll quickly find there are not "too many elves". Elves are staple in any fantasy setting; take Elder Scrolls Online for example. 2/3rds of an entire faction are Elves, and they make up 1/3rd of the entire playable races -- by comparison, roughly a fifth of the playable races in WoW are Elves). Not only are our Elves a minority in this regard, but as a whole they're one of the pillars of World of Warcraft. Even this expansion, we'll be fighting the Highborne Queen Azshara, who's crimes were the reason we have such a massive split between the physiology and cultures between Elves today. One of the other largest followings for Allied Races are the San'layn, by the way. If you're an elf-racist, Azeroth is basically your personal hell. Rest in peace Garithos. 11 Specific experiences do not extend to the whole discussion People who advocate Silvermoon being the new High Elf capital or want High Elf Demon Hunters are not the majority and cannot realistically be used to attack High Elf inclusion, unless arguing specifically with that person. Same goes for the other side; if someone who opposes the High Elf inclusion says something out of this world and whacky, they themselves can be dismissed from the discussion instead of hypocritically being used to attack the anti argument. 12 Giving the Alliance High Elves is not giving them Blood Elves. High Elves are actually one of the founding races of the Alliance (not only the current one!), and many have stuck with them since its beginnings. 13 High Elves are not being turned into Void Elves. If you play through the Void Elf unlock scenario, you know that the Void Elves are a small group of Sin'dorei scholars studying the Void. They become trapped by a relic on Telogrus, ensnared by the Netherguard who are trying to convert the scholars into Ethereals. This almost-conversion and influence from the relic is what causes the playable Void Elves to look as they do, and not purely the consumption of Void Energy -- it's why Alleria looks nothing like the Void Elves we play. All High Elves shown in Telogrus Rift and in Stormwind are explicitly shown with Void Elves, and not as them. Even if a High Elf studied the Void, they would not become a Void Elf in the playable form that we have -- they'd continue to be High Elves in all but name, like Alleria . Beause she did look a little messy right after consuming the Dark Naaru heart, and she does call herself one in the introductory quest for Void Elves, but we're 2/3rds through BFA and she still looks completely like a High Elf. Some people have taken this interview to mean that the Void Elves have figured out how to reproduce, despite not being explicitly stated. If that interpretation were true, and it provided actual benefits, Alleria would've taken them up on that offer already. Instead, she remains the way she is, which leads me to believe that the Void Elves haven't quite been able to reproduce their transformation yet, nor does it explain if they could why they'd want to. 14 There are High Elves that are absolutely fighting the Horde out in the field. There is an uninformed sentiment that High Elves are actually neutral, that their association with the Alliance is strictly through a neutral showing of Dalaran, and that there are never any High Elves on the frontlines, only as assisting NPCs in cities like Portal Masters.



You really only need to look as far as the recent Arathi Warfront to see that this isn't the case. There are many High Elves participating on this literal "war front" as members of the 7th Legion, and that's just a recent example from this expansion. You can see High Elves participating in less literal Warfronts like the Isle of Thunder in older content as well. There are also a few examples of High Elves out in the world that aren't friendly to Horde players, but are to Alliance players. 15 High Elves would not happen "instead" of X race. There's absolutely no reason to believe there's a limit on Allied Races of any kind. While it's fairly likely based on the current release pattern of "each main race getting an Allied Race variant", High Elves would be after the next set or two -- but so long as World of Warcraft continues to receive content updates and Allied Races are still a feature that can be developed and potentially monetized, Blizzard will continue to shove them out. 16 If you're feeling exhausted over the High Elf topic, that is Blizzard's intention. It's a huge problem that people on all sides are feeling. It's primarily from Blizzard's poor handling of the subject, spurred on by a lack of informed participation within the discussion, leading to tired argumentation on an already 14 year long subject. This site hopes to fix that by making it so that when someone uninformed shows up with an uninformed argument, you can paste a point down to shut them down instead of typing out how High Elves have more population than Void Elves for the hundredth time. As for some additional tips on facilitating a new and legitimately conversational discussion, remember that there is a person on the other side of the screen, with all sorts of emotions and complexes, just like yourself. While you may not agree on everything, compassion may help you see eye to eye if you're the first to extend a hand.



You'll find that people will generally regurgitate what they've heard from their peers, without checking back to see if it's fact. This leads to most "antis" cycling through the above points -- so if you think one is going to lead to another, I would absolutely try to preemptively strike with all the relevant points, instead of just one at a time.



Never get frustrated with the most popular "antis". They've kept the High Elf threads on multiple sites alive as long as any member of the pro-side has. They increase publicity for the topic by the sheer quantity of their replies/new threads. Having spoken to a few in private, many of them simply feel trapped by their own history, and are worried that the addition of High Elves would mean a personal loss for them on that front alone. Again, compassion above all else. In general, if someone is clearly not willing to participate honestly in the argument, that's totally fine -- so long as they keep replying, they continue to bump threads and keep discussion around them active.



This is just a list of copypastable points, and they can absolutely be improved. Don't be afraid to use the form at the bottom of the page to submit feedback for that very reason, or if you think a viewpoint is faulty.

Minor Arguments These are here because they're not common enough that they really need to be defended, but they're here in this 'secret section' in case they crop up as suggestions for the main argument page.



If there's nothing here, they've been moved to the main section.

Back to home A Handbook on High Elf Argumentation A more confrontational version of the argumentation layout, from the original forum post. New content may not be updated yet for this version. oh god give me back the other layout 1. High Elves are not playable in-game, and are separate from Void Elves or Blood Elves. This is noted multiple times in-game, recently by Elisande where she addresses Sin'dorei, Quel'dorei, and Kaldorei all individually. Most recently, High Elves are also established separately from Void Elves and Blood Elves in Alliance Warfronts and in Island Expeditions.





2. "High Elves don't have enough population to be playable!" is no longer an argument. There are markedly less Void Elves than there are High Elves, yet Void Elves are playable.



3. "We can't give Alliance the Blood Elf skeleton!" is no longer an argument. Void Elves are a playable Alliance race now.



4. "We can't give Alliance two of the same skeleton!" is no longer an argument. Horde have Nightborne and are getting Zandalari Trolls, both of which use the (Alliance) Night Elf skeleton.



5. "Just giving them different eye color and tattoos isn't enough!" is no longer an argument. Lightforged Draenei exist, and those are their two most differentiating visual factors. "But Lightforged Draenei are on the same faction as Draenei!" , they may shriek -- refer to points 3 and 4. If all else fails, remind them that Pandas exist and have been on both factions with the same exact silhouette and animations for 6 years now. Should they quote Ghostcrawler's post-Blizzard sentiment about Pandas, remind them that Void Elves double down on that design philosophy being alright in BFA.



6. "Alliance Thalassian Elves are playable already!" is not an argument. Void Elves were a failed attempt at compromise, one that has visibly failed with the uprising of High Elf supporters as a result of their implementation. It is not the community's fault or High Elves fault that Blizzard massively misinterpreted their community's wants. Avoid blaming the player.



7. "Ion already said no!" is not an argument, it is an appeal to authority -- a logical fallacy. In addition, if Ion's word was final, Classic WoW wouldn't exist as a concept. It does, because they walked it back. Flying in current content only exists because they walked their "no flying" decision back. After Ion's statements in April, the BFA Beta saw further changes differentiating the High Elves from the other race's military's, notably "Jaina's Angels" being renamed to "Auric's Angels", as in Auric Sunchaser -- Captain of the Allerian Stronghold in Terokkar Forest, and literally titled "High Elf Representative", a completely separate entity with completely separate forces from the Silver Covenant. See below the line for a dismantlement of Ion's argument.



8. "They'll take the spotlight away from Blood Elves/Void Elves!" is not an argument. Not only is it an entirely subjective thought, but Blood Elves and Void Elves have been leading major parts of the story since the end of Legion and that leadership is going to continue well past BFA. Blood Elves recently received a major cosmetic update including an entirely new eye color for their entire race, Liadrin leads in a Warfront, Lor'themar made many appearances in the Battle for Lordaeron, and the Void Elves are rooted in with Alleria's story which was part of the entire Legion story and is going to be part of the future Void storyline. Neither race for as long as they have existed have been overshined by High Elves -- but Hig h Elves have always been presented separately alongside both of them.



9. "They'll take too many Horde players away!" is not an argument. They would have to be the most popular race in the game to have such a massive effect on the population, and none of the Allied Races are even close to that level of population. If that exaggeration were true, it would be an argument FOR High Elves and not the other way around, since as "the most popular race in the game" it's only logical that they be added. On the other hand, the high-end raiding and PvP scenes (the two faction reliant end-games) are seeing a massive Horde bias. See here for a detailed explanation.



10. "We have too many Elves already!" is not an argument. Not only are elves a staple in any fantasy setting (take Elder Scrolls Online for example; 2/3rds of an entire faction are Elves, and they make up 1/3rd of the entire playable races -- by comparison, roughly a fifth of the playable races in WoW are Elves), but they are one of the pillars of World of Warcraft. Even this expansion, we'll be fighting the Highborne Queen Azshara, who's crimes were the reason we have such a massive split between the physiology and cultures between Elves today.



11. "Well THIS anti/High Elf poster said something non-sensical so anti/High Elf supporters are ALL like that and THEIR point is what I'm going to raise issue with!" is not an argument. People who advocate Silvermoon being the new High Elf capital or want High Elf Demon Hunters are not the majority and cannot realistically be used to attack High Elf inclusion, unless arguing specifically with that person. Same goes for the other side; if someone who opposes the High Elf inclusion says something out of this world and whacky, they themselves can be dismissed from the discussion instead of hypocritically being used to attack the anti-argument.



12. "You can't take our Horde race!" is not an argument. The Alliance already has actual, literal Blood Elves gone traitor on the Alliance in the form of Void Elves. We're discussing High Elves here, and High Elves are one of the founding races of the Alliance.



13. "I am tired of discussing High Elves so stop discussing them!" is not an argument, it's a huge problem, exhaustion, that people on all sides are feeling, including myself. It's spurred on by a lack of knowledge about the actual discussion, leading to tired argumentation on an already 14 year long subject. This thread hopes to fix that by making it so that when someone uninformed shows up with an uninformed argument, you can paste a point down to shut them down instead of typing out how High Elves have more population than Void Elves for the hundredth time. (CTRL+F XIII for more info)



14. "High Elves are just being turned into Void Elves!" is entirely untrue and physically impossible. If you play through the Void Elf unlock scenario, you know that the Void Elves are a small group of Sin'dorei scholars studying the Void. They become trapped by a relic on Telogrus, ensnared by the Netherguard who are trying to convert the scholars into Ethereals. This almost-conversion and influence from the relic is what causes the playable Void Elves to look as they do-- it's why Alleria looks nothing like the Void Elves we play. All High Elves shown in Telogrus Rift and in Stormwind are explicitly shown with Void Elves, and not as them. Even if a High Elf studied the Void, they would not become a Void Elf in the playable form that we have -- they'd continue to be High Elves. But Ion said...

Back to home Back to Argumentation Ion's Response On April 26, 2018, Ion Hazzikostas (Game Director of World of Warcraft) issued a statement in a Q&A about World of Warcraft about High Elves.



The transcript is as follows: Question:

"When deciding on Allied Races, why did you choose Void Elves when High Elves seemed a much more organic (and popular) choice?"



Ion: Basically, Blood Elves kinda ARE High Elves, with slightly different eye color, different backstory in terms of their relationship with magic and the sunwell, but they are -- if you want to be a fairskinned, light blonde haired, y'know, tall majestic elf -- that is a Blood Elf.



Ion: And, giving that race directly to the Alliance, I think would've blurred a lot of the lines between the two factions, but also there isn't a clear example of who or what High Elves are as a larger group that still remains in Azeroth. There's a couple, y'know, we just met Alleria, but they're not out there in the same way. And so we're looking to, when we add Allied Races, there's a desire to have things be a bit more distinct, especially between the two factions, with the faction conflict being so prominent.



Ion: And so the Void Elf angle, as it's tied in to the story of Argus, the power of Alleria awakened and was able to train others to harness, was able to give something that felt a bit like a Blood Elf but had a unique flavor of its own to the Alliance. That said, obviously I understand that if you love Alliance and you're an Alliance player, and you just want to be a fair skinned, light haired, blue-eyed elf... sorry? The Horde is there waiting for you -- eye color is not quite the same, but there might be contact lenses in the future, you never know. Anything is possible in the future, but no plans I think in the near term to add High Elves as an Allied Race. Ion's main points can be separated out and argued with individually, to show this is a very weak response. In his defense, it was supposedly off-the-cuff, but since it is so often used to attack the High Elf argument, it becomes mandatory to dismantle the entire thing.



Point 1: "They look too similar to Blood Elves".



It's an easy argument to make, but it very quickly becomes a soggy answer for a number of reasons. For one, most Allied Races are another race with minor tweaks. If all High Elves are is Blood Elves with a different eye color, then all Lightforged Draenei are is Draenei with a different eye color. All Mag'har are is Orcs with a different skin color. All Nightborne are is Night Elves, period. But there are a number of ways to differentiate the race that are canon to High Elves (eye color, hair colors, tattoos) , and several that could be added without the help of canon at all (stance, idles, voice). In this sense, Void Elves are a much bigger poster child for this problem -- they have the EXACT same silhouette as the Blood Elves. If the two were fully armored, the difference would be the color of their ears. Even this pretends that the problem exists at all, which is arguable -- Pandaren have existed in the game for years with no issue on target identification from the player's side of things, and the only Blizzard employee to have ever spoken out against the concept no longer works with Blizzard.



Point 2: "By creating a High Elf playable Allied Race, we are giving the Alliance Blood Elves".



Another easy argument to make if you're not familiar with the story of the world. High Elves came first, and were originally aligned with the Alliance. The race was forced to splinter after a handful of political and ideological disagreements, as well as pressure from the Alliance itself. The group that continued to call themselves High Elves have always been Alliance, and continue to be so for every expansion they've been a part of, even Battle for Azeroth.



Point 3: "It blurs faction lines".



No more than adding Blood Elves to the Horde did after High Elves had been established both in the original Warcraft series and then Classic WoW onward as an Alliance race. No more than Void Elves do. No more than Pandas did, in the absolute worst case scenario where no unique customization is offered to High Elves save for eye color, which is undesirable for all parties.



Point 4: "There isn't a clear example of who or what High Elves are".



This was the line that led a lot of pro-High Elfers early on to thinking that Ion was "trolling" a bit -- an overwhelming number of threads, polls, suggestions, and even tweets made at him during the Q&A included different factions and origins for THE group of High Elves that would join the Alliance. The Silver Covenant, Auric Sunchaser's High Elves, Hinterlands High Elves, etc. were all listed consistently in an effort to provide flavors of High Elf for the community and Blizzard to choose from. As far as leadership, Vereesa has been a character in WoW since Wrath of the Lich King, with a plethora of reasons to throw her lot in with the Alliance -- and she has, both in Dalaran and elsewhere like the Isle of Thunder.



Point 5: "If you want High Elves, you want a fair-skinned, light-haired, blue-eyed elf, and the Horde is waiting for you."



This was a way for Ion to push the idea that anyone who wanted High Elves were vain and superficial, solely chasing after an aesthetic. He chose to word it in a way that also made a connection with Hitler's master race concept, in a way that cannot be easily dismissed as accidental -- this has the added benefit of turning the community on each other, and gives the anti-High Elf crowd an incredible source of ammunition in numerous ways.



It's now politically correct to attack anyone who is pro-High Elf because if they like High Elves, they're "sharing an ideology with literally Hitler".



Since the line itself is solely in relation to looks and is his only direct attack on the High Elf argument itself, to the anti-High Elf crowd it is easily seen as an attack on the "core" of the argument, as if Ion was calling out High Elf fans for "what they're really after". Anyone who says they like anything about High Elves other than their looks is now dismissed as being dishonest, because the Game Director implied that they were.



It goes an additional step by making it very demoralizing to talk about High Elves, even in a casual setting, because anyone regardless of how informed they are can parrot Ion's argument and feel righteous by shutting it down in a "politically correct" way.



The community now blames each other, instead of Blizzard's response (blaming the player instead of the company), taking any Blizzard response out of the equation much to the company's convenience.



It isn't the player who wants High Elves' fault that Void Elves were added to the game. It isn't the player's fault that 2 of the Allied Races added (of 8 confirmed so far) have been Elves. Yet, the points that are entirely out of the player's hands are used to attack the High Elf argument retroactively more than anything else at this stage.



This all ties into the last, and biggest point against High Elves.



In no small part thanks to Ion's response, it is now exhausting to talk about High Elves with the community at large in any capacity. Exhaustion

Back to home Back to Ion's Response Exhaustion Even seeing the word "High Elf" in a thread title, whether you are for or against High Elves, is exhausting. It is the closest thing I have ever experienced to a physical manifestation of the phrase "oh boy, here we go again".



People who advocate the inclusion of High Elves feel like they're exhausted defending why they should have a place on the Alliance time and time again, over dozens of threads and hundreds of comments. People who advocate against High Elves feel like it should've ended when Ion said his piece.



The aftermath where people who were for High Elves still wanted High Elves, because Ion's argument intentionally avoided touching on any part of the actual High Elf discussion. Where people who were against High Elves still had to see thread after thread of High Elf discussion, for and against, day in and day out for weeks afterwards, discussion still cropping up even now -- it was, again, something that was undesireable for both parties. And the result is exhaustion.



Even with this site, the chances that you read through the entire thing is pretty slim -- not only is it lengthy, but it's about High Elves. Chances are, you've read most if not every single point there is to make here on both sides.



Think of how many people would feel differently about them if they had been part of the series since the original Warcraft -- think about how many people would feel differently about them if advocaters would showcase lore instead of wasting time trying to defend against a point with absolutely no weight. How many people would feel differently if this wasn't the 400th time they've heard something about it?

Back to home The Void Elf Situation Around the time 7.3 was released, Void Elves were 'leaked' -- primarily with their weapon models and the file name description of "void_elf" attached to them. They were found next to races we had come into contact with pretty recently in Legion and for some reason all of them had some leftover character creation screen options/lines as well as armor equipability enabled, which was sort of whack, especially for the Nightborne who had absolutely no way to equip armor at the time with the model they were using. It's quite clear now that this was in preparation of the incoming Allied Races feature, but we couldn't have known that back then.



Allied Races got a proper announcement towards the end of the year, Void Elves included. I was on MMO-C for most of the discussion so there were ton of threads about the whole feature and Void Elves in particular, the one I remember mainly being this one about how they needed normal skintones, based on the fact that the preview made it seem like they wouldn't have any (the one shown in promotional art was ghoulish white).



I actually thought, at the time, this was super silly, since there was absolutely no way Blizzard would give Alliance Thalassian Elves and then not make a pass for the inclusion of High Elves for roleplayers (meaning, even if it was only superficially in skintones). But Blizzard, for whatever reason (good or bad), bent over backwards to exclude High Elves from Void Elves. Not only were there no "regular" skintones for Void Elves, most of their hairstyles were sickly and tentacle-infested; really cool look for Void elves, not so much for High Elves!



The Ren'dorei story is that they started as a group of Blood Elf scholars exiled from Quel'thalas for their study of the Void. The particular reasoning behind their exile is that the Sunwell, now being a source of Light aspected energy, could be catastrophically damaged if it came into contact with a force of Void.



The scholars, seeking to study the Void further, opened and journeyed through a void rift -- into a barren landscape referred to only as "Telogrus Rift". There, they were ensnared by the Netherguard, a group of Void Ethereals who had led the Blood Elves into this trap from the very beginning. The Netherguard used an ancient and mysterious relic to begin converting the Blood Elves into Ethereals, but they were saved by Alleria Windrunner in the nick of time. It didn't come without cost, however.



As a result of their half-conversion to Ethereals, they now took on a sickly and Void-infused appearance, as well having an overwhelmingly powerful and malevolent voice trapped inside their heads with them. These rogue Blood Elves, being exiled and left for dead in the Ghostlands, claimed the name "Ren'dorei", Children of the Void. Alleria Windrunner then took the Void Elves under her wing -- for she was the most experienced Void user on Azeroth. How did players feel about all that? Got it. Take me back to where I was, kinda

Back to home The Void Elf Situation: Part 2 How did players feel about all that? Well, they felt everything you'd expect.



Some people thought "Hell yeah, now I can play a literal blue Blood Elf on the Alliance, this is all I've ever wanted!". Some people thought "Void Elves are such a great theme and I'm happy to see a race like that come out of the left field!".



The two largest responses from the vocal community, however, were far different.



"The High Elf community", or, the various forum voices that still clamor for High Elves... still clamored for High Elves, the people who've been fighting alongside the Alliance this whole time, that NEVER indulged in mana-vampirsm. They received a second round of riling when Ion responded with the idea that High Elves were on the table, but that we got Void Elves instead.



People against the inclusion of High Elves for any given reason, commonly dubbed "antis" by the High Elf community, were absolutely appalled by this response, and felt like the High Elf community should've been abolished with the inclusion of Void Elves -- failing that, it should've absolutely been crushed with Ion's response. But even STILL it persisted. Forum noise didn't quiet, threads didn't die, people were still talking about it.



Since then, Blizzard's only play has been to keep the issue out of their lap. Much of the wording from Blizzard's end has only been to turn the community in on each other, and then punish everyone involved once things get roudy as a result. Threads about High Elves are some of the most commonly locked threads on the forums. All of this ties back into community exhaustion, which you've probably already read about, but if not you can tap the button below. Whatcha mean exhaustion? No I can probably imagine it myself, take me back wait, what did ion say?

Back to home Credits The Author Just one guy absolutely shocked with Blizzards handling of the situation.



Some of it might seem familiar if you've been in all the usual places.

Many of the arguments and discussions presented are things I commonly saw or found myself and others talking about over and over from the WoW forums, MMO-C, and three specific subreddits.



The title, as well as few of the core sections of the site, are from a fairly popular thread I wrote on the official WoW forums.



While I've participated in nearly every aspect of content in World of Warcraft, including mythic raiding, every possible avenue of PvP, and all 36 mage tower challenges with dirt for gear, I'm a very casual sort of player. Roleplay, Battlegrounds, and Allied Races my favorite aspects of World of Warcraft and Allied Races in particular are a wonderful addition to the game, one I'm hoping that Blizzard continues to add on to the feature well into the future. This particular site is about High Elves, but I'd kill a man for Ethereals, Arakkoa, and some frickin' heckin' Nightborne model fixes man. How come Lightforged Draenei get like 5 sets modeled for them and a whole armory of weapons, but Nightborne, who are the exact same type of Allied Race in terms of having a whole patch of content for their environment, get none of that shit? Blizzard, bro, what the heck?



I also couldn't have made the site without Carrd.co just being a generally all-around awesome and easy to use site. I haven't designed a website in my life. This stuff was literally click and drag tier easy. There's a couple of things stuck together with duct-tape, string, and paperclips, but I can't overstate how easy Carrd makes it to make a functional website. The Artists ercarp's Art __Donate__ Many images of the art used for this presentation are (used with permission) from Ercarp, who can be found at the following:

Reddit

Tumblr

Artstation

Deviantart

Please consider donating to their Paypal. Ercarp's art is incredible and has been used to support the visual and cultural sides of the High Elf discussion in more places than just here! Azrathel's Art Azrathel's "Icon of Endurance" piece is used (with permission) for the background of the website. Originally, the site used an unrelated official BFA wallpaper image for the background, but when I saw Azrathel's art I knew it was a perfect fit for the site. Hopefully you feel the same. Absolute Accomplices This section is going to be filled with proper thanks to the people who helped provide, format, and proofread the site. This was the first website I've ever built, and I couldn't have done it alone. Icana My absolutely wonderful girlfriend who is a penultimate victim (sometimes accomplice) of my lunatic ravings over... well, everything, but in this particular instance video games and the corporations that make them, as well as more than our fair share of World of Warcraft related ones.



Don't worry babe. Highmountain Tauren will get their eagles... one day. Whenever they decide to attach the already-working mount model to an actual item.



Anytime now, Blizzard. I'm serious. Any fucking time. Sickidan Sickidan has been an incredibly patient friend, listening to my confused and near-endless philosophizing on Blizzard, current WoW, and High Elves. He helped proofread the site and made major suggestions about some of the formatting, especially with the entirely new layout of the argumentation section.



Archeus will sheath where it belongs one day, brother. Liselise Liselise has been with me on an over-decade long World of Warcraft adventure, and is also a victim of my absurdly lengthy rants on the little things. After proofreading and helping format various parts of the post, the term "High Elf" could very well send her into a mouthfoaming seizure.

Thanks for always putting up with my shit. Kagero13 The only reason this site can exist as is -- Kagero13 paid for the premium toggle for the website, and despite not playing World of Warcraft herself (yet), she too endures my never-ending vigil on minor World of Warcraft topics.

Thank you for always, always looking out for me.

Back to home Back to Argumentation About Compromises Within the High Elf community, the conversation of "compromise" comes into the fray quite a bit. Basically, what would be okay with X or Y individual "instead" of High Elves. Usually, this conversation is directed towards the other side of the discussion -- what antis would agree on to make High Elves ok, or what High Elf fans would be alright with having but only if it isn't actually High Elves.



I think it's a strange conversation to have at the current juncture -- the Game Director's dialogue implies that he thought what people wanted was "the Blood Elf flavor, but on the Alliance". This is an analogy drawn by Blizzard, not the players. While there are inevitably people who only know High Elves from their perspective as Blood Elf players in World of Warcraft, many who desire High Elf inclusion are familiar with them from the original trilogy. People want a High Elf flavor for the Alliance, not a Blood Elf one.



If High Elves had been included as part of the Void Elf story to begin with, we might be standing in a very different place. But now, between the described numbering of Void Elves (an "elite crack squad") and the origin of the Mag'har Orc Allied Race (from an alternate timeline here to fight our wars with us), there's no reason to ever settle for a compromise. Even should the High Elf population somehow be subject to a complete and total genocide, to the point where not even a "squad" of them exists, we could simply pull them from another timeline and call it a day. There will never, ever be a good enough reason to exclude High Elves from the playable races anymore. Blizzard wrote themselves into that corner. I wanna discuss compromises anyway

Back to home I realize my mistake About Specific Compromises Since discussion is inevitable for it regardless, this is my outlook on the most popular compromises (again, as someone who thinks the compromise discussion itself is silly). Compromise 1: Void Elves with High Elf Customization Void Elves receiving a High Elf set of customization, preferably of the "unlockable through quest chain" variety, similar to Night Warrior customization for Night Elves. This would avoid a "High Elf" Allied Race on the character creation screen, meaning a minimal amount of effort in the "unique options for High Elves" department, no unique animations, racials, or Allied Race mount/zone necessary for them (keeping in mind that most Allied Races already have a minimal amount of effort here).



From a lore and roleplaying perspective, this could make Void Elves more than just an "elite crack squad" and help justify their presented numbers, as well as justify the spooky number of people who completed the Void Elf recruitment scenario and then immediately turned around and wrote their characters to be High Elves turned Void Elf despite its impossibility.



This compromise has the added benefit of potentially making High Elf customization very prestigious if done in a way similar to Night Warrior customization for Night Elves -- Void Elves are already one of the most longest and most egregious Allied Race unlock grinds, adding a potentially difficult quest chain as an extra barrier between players and High Elves customization means you could potentially have a pretty suitable number of High Elves out in the world. It must be pointed out that this is also the only compromise ever publicly discussed by Blizzard and given the only recognitional comment High Elves have received from "upper management" at Blizzard since April 2018. It feels to me like more of the same "never say never" we hear from Blizzard about a lot of things, but to a lot of people this causes a heavy lean into this compromise, so I thought I'd mention it. That being said, only two races in the game have added customization so far, and only one race in the game has unlockable customization, in 15 years of World of Warcraft. While speed for that could absolutely increase and the game absolutely needs a pick-me-up in player customization, it reads unlikely to me that an Allied Race would be among the first few to receive such an addition, and either way, it could be a long, long time from now.



In addition, from a player perspective, High Elves being included in Void Elves would mean that they share Void Elf racials -- and they're pretty specifically Void related. When the Blood Elves were first taught mana vampirism, the information that it had been taught by a Demon was strictly excluded from the brochure. Kael'thas and Rommath were a little worried how the Blood Elves would react to that. Most High Elves left on the premise of the mana vampirism alone, even without the knowledge of its origins, and despite Kael'thas's encouragement. If your High Elf felt that same way, that any magic viewed as risky or dark was not worth the in-take, they probably wouldn't have jumped at the similar opportunity in Alleria absorbing a literal Sunwell equivalent of pure Void energy. Worse, since one of their racials is quite literally "randomly become purple and wispy and do some Shadow damage", you can't really just ignore your racial lore and call it a day. It would be a lot like wanting to play Human but then rolling a Worgen to do so.



There were also a number of High Elves that stayed behind in Lordaeron during the Wars -- the land that founded Paladins, and during this very time no less. Void Elves can well and truly never be Paladins, and thus this particular compromise also would fail to deliver on this front for people who wished to play High Elf Paladins. Compromise 2: Half Elves One of the most popular locales for High Elves to come from is Dalaran, since a ton of them have hung out there with the Humans for a hot minute. Vereesa Windrunner leads the Silver Covenant there, and these are the High Elves most commonly seen out in the world alongside the Alliance.



Because of this, and every Windrunner sister falling in love with a Human, many have sought to "Half Elves" like Arator being made playable as part of, or sometimes instead of High Elves.



As I already stated, I don't personally believe in any of the compromises, but I have to say "Half Elves instead" is a particularly short-sighted one that reads to me like someone wants Half Elves in particular, not High Elves, and is using the heat of the discussion as a way to get their two cents in. We saw what adding a different-yet-similar race with the Void Elves did -- cause outrage. While this is desirable for Blizzard as outrage is accounted for in community engagement metrics, it's not desirable for the players. The game, as you can tell if you're playing it OR following it, has enough drama as it is.



Moving on from that, Half Elven features in addition to High Elves as a way to differentiate them from Void Elves and Blood Elves could be neat. The only downsides are that they take extra dev time, and there's always the chance that (much like Void Elves) they just upset the chance at Half Elves being a race of their own. I doubt any race would be offended with extra customization, and this 'compromise' is really just "give High Elves more". Again, though, it's not necessary to differentiate High Elves in that way. We've seen in other Allied Races that merely the addition of tattoos and an eye color change is enough. Compromise 3: Blue Eyes for Blood Elves This is usually mentioned alongside the "leaked" faction merge that people regurgitate all the time. If you simply add blue eye color options to Blood Elves and then make the race neutral, they function almost same way High Elves currently do ingame -- the Blood Elf model with blue eyes (albeit there are other minor differences in the current models as well, just none worth causing a fuss over).



I don't personally believe a faction merge is incoming and I think this compromise forces High Elves to lack the nuance of the divergent history they have from their cousins. I can't even cite "new-feeling racials" as a problem for a High Elves that gets solved here, because both Draenei and Lightforged Draenei have extremely thematically similar racials and Blizzard didn't have a problem with that.



It would, however, solve a lore based problem where there are almost certainly Sunreavers in Dalaran with blue eyes who consider themselves Blood Elves, and High Elves who were part of the Alliance Expedition who naturally gained green eyes from sitting in Outland. This is something never presented in-game, but has been discussed by the CDevs. While CDevs have been rendered non-canon before, this is one of those "middle canon" things where it's not necessarily disproved by things in-game but also could've just been something that was thought of at the time but then never put into action for other reasons, like the "Elune is a Naaru" thing. For context, this was Ask CDev Answers - Round 3, which was in 2012. Seven years later, we haven't seen a single Blood Elf with blue eyes since the Sunwell exploded and we haven't seen a single High Elf with green eyes save for a few that have the blue eyed model but a green glow, which could easily be dismissed as a bug (but is worth mentioning).



It's also important to note that High Elves are not strictly blue-eyed in general. The glow itself is merely from the use of Arcane, and even that can change -- as an example, Vereesa's Hearthstone card shows her with pink eyes, and Sylvanas is shown with regular, unglowing eyes in her Warbringer cinematic. I generally get the impression that a lot of people who hopped on this train solely did so with the intent to further bruise the ego of the High Elf community, who have been taking a pretty thorough kicking from both Blizzard and the general community after the Lead Game Director's response in April 2018. Keep in mind someone's tone and their other posts when they come up with this compromise; don't jump the gun. Back to Home

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