Ah, the denizens of Quel'thalas!
In true fantasy RPG fashion, WoW has a lot of varieties of elf. Thanks to allied races, there are four playable elf races, the Kal'dorei (Night Elves - Children of the Stars,) the Sin'dorei (Blood Elves - Children of Blood,) the Shal'dorei (Nightborne - Children of... either Night or Darkness, though I'd assume the former) and Ren'dorei (Void Elves - Children of Void.)
But, ironically, the first elves to appear in Warcraft at all, the High Elves, who have been in the games since Warcraft II, haven't been playable... sort of.
Of course, that's kind of a subjective matter. The High Elves were officially renamed Blood Elves after the Third War by Kael'thas Sunstrider, taking the bitterness and grief over losing 90% of their population and enshrining it in the very name of their people. Effectively, the Blood Elves are the High Elves, and generally speaking, Blizzard's attitude is that that should satisfy the players.
But even in-game, there's a distinction. The Blood Elves, during their alliance with Illidan, started feeding on crystals of Fel energy, turning their typically arcane-blue eyes fel-green. Those who refused to comply with this, and who stuck with their old allegiances to the humans and the rest of the Alliance (and who didn't succumb to horrific magic withdrawal and become Wretched) kept their blue eyes and remained known as High Elves. Most prominent of these elves is Vereesa Windrunner, youngest sister of the Windrunners and head of the Silver Covenant.
Since Burning Crusade, many Alliance players have asked that the Alliance be granted the ability to play as these High Elves, given how they are clearly established in-lore. With the Pandaren breaking the old rule that members of each faction should be easily recognized by their silhouette, it seemed more and more practical for Blizzard to just give those Quel'dorei fans what they wanted.
When BFA came out, though, the Alliance got something... similar but different. The Void Elves, totally new to the lore (and also new in-lore) suddenly allowed the Alliance to play elves from Quel'thalas, but it was very different than the classic High Elves a lot of players were hoping for.
Now, personally, I actually find the Void Elves really interesting and cool (I guess I also just have a thing for any race that can be blue,) but I can also see how, to some, this felt like the rug being pulled out from under them. After all, if the Alliance was getting a second elf race, and one so clearly modeled on the Blood Elves, it made the likelihood of actually getting High Elves that much lower.
So... the announcements for new options to customize both Blood Elves and Void Elves in Shadowlands comes with a grain of salt.
First, let's talk about the new options:
In addition to new skin colors for Blood Elves, which allow you to be a non-white blood elf, you can also choose new eye colors. This started during BFA, when Blood Elves could choose holy light-colored golden eyes, which I think reflects the new, partially holy nature of the Sunwell. But, in addition, in Shadowlands, Blood Elves will be allowed blue eyes, which also reflects that the Sunwell is functioning once again as it did prior to the Third War.
So a Blue-eyed Blood Elf is actually physiologically no different than a High Elf. It's really just a change in culture and politics.
However, lest Alliance players who have wanted this for so long cry foul, the Void Elves are getting new skin color options - allowing all the skin colors granted to the Blood Elves, which notably includes many that, you know, aren't blue.
So you will be able to make a Void Elf who looks exactly like a High Elf. You will be able to make a character who looks like a High Elf, with human-like skin tones and blue eyes, and who is loyal to the Alliance, and who comes from Quel'thalas.
So we're done, right?
What this means is that both factions can now make identical-looking High Elf characters.
Now, I've never really needed High Elves to be a thing (again, I find Void Elves more interesting) but I wonder if this will finally satisfy those who want it. This is not another fully-fledged race, and if you mouse over your character, even if they have beige skin, it'll still say Void Elf. Your character's racial abilities and voice lines will still reflect that they're a Void Elf. But in terms of both aesthetic and factional alignment, you'll be a High Elf. (Which the Void Elves sort of are already.)
I think this does it, and I think that the vast majority of players will be ok with this, though I'm sure the most nit-picky will still find this underwhelming.
Still, in a roundabout way, they've effectively made High Elves the only other neutral race than Pandaren. I'd actually love to see what's going on between the various Quel'thalas elf factions following the end of the "Fourth War." Feels like there's potential for stories of reconciliation there.
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