A minor rant: the Elf spectrum

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Half a million compared to 8-9 million subscribers for WoW, 10-12 million NEW copies of Final Fantasy 7 sold, or even an estimated 5 million active D&D players? Again, 500k isn't above the range the more successful Suikoden and Wild ARMs games shot for, much less really high profile offline games.

Compare apples to apples: EQ1's half a million subscriber peak does not reflect their total box sales, which are quite high. I'm hardly a fan of what SOE did to EQ1 with Luclin and later, but I've got to give them their due: They really did sell to a lot of players, even if they weren't great in retaining them over the long haul.

Actually, both Lineages, Final Fantasy XI and Runescape were all quite a bit higher as of the last hard numbers I can find (from about a year ago). I'm pretty sure LotR Online is higher, now, too, but can't find numbers for it on a quick search.

Eeeeh, it's tough to compare their numbers to WoW, except for LotR, which is a drop in the bucket besides WoW. While WoW has a certain number of gaming cafe subscriptions, those are the primary numbers for the Lineages, FF11 and Runescape. Like Barry Bonds, their numbers require an asterisk.

 

[Exen Trik]

...Great, now I'm visualizing rainbows made of elves.

But hey, as long as were on the subject, let's fill it in a bit:

Elves
Eladrin
Drow
Half-Drow
Half Elves
Half-Eladrin
Eladrin-Elves
Drow-Elves
Drow-Eladrin
Eladrin-Drow-Elves
Half-Eladrin-Drow-Elves
Drow-Eladrin-Drow-Elf-Drow-Gnome-Halfing-Drow-Dragons


And even though I'm kidding here, I fully expect most of these to show up sooner or later.

Except that last one.

Probably.

I hope.

...

 

[Mad Mac]

Well, tens of millions of people did see the Lord of the Rings movies, so Elrond has more exposure than Tanis ever has, just on that alone. My mom knows who Elrond is, and finds him sort of cute. My mom will know Tanis only as an ancient real world place name.

Sorry, didn't make myself clear. Not many people even realize Elrond is a half-elf. I know I didn't until I saw it on some message board somewhere. Not saying people think Elrond=lame, but rather think of him as a typical Elfie dude.

Magical cookie baking powers kick ass.

I concur.

 

[Gundark]

I agree that eladrin seems to be a little overkill with the whole elf thing. I really don't see how they're all that different

 

[Nifft]

...Great, now I'm visualizing rainbows made of elves.

Fey Pride?

, -- N

 

[Kwalish Kid]

So far we're getting eladrin, elves, half-elves, and drow. If drow are significantly different from eladrin, perhaps we will end up with "shadow elves" and "half-shadow elves" as well.

As a proud member of the Mystara community, I have to put up some props for the original Shadow Elves. This was an excellent, non-Drow, subterranean (until they made the big push upstairs) elven society with a great back story and society.

So, until you read the Shadow Elf gazetteer, back off, nancy-boy!

 

[Exen Trik]

Fey Pride?

Come on now, be serious.

Clearly, elven rainbows happen when fey break the law, and get sent to prism.

 

[Nifft]

Come on now, be serious.

Clearly, elven rainbows happen when fey break the law, and get sent to prism.

The Luskanite is on the grass.
The Luskanite is on the grass.
Preparing lightning chain and someone's hideous laugh.
Got to prep an extra find the path.

The Luskanite is in the hall.
The Luskanites are in my hall.
The golem holds their folded faces to the floor
And every day the Mythal's lure brings more.

And if the Weave breaks open many years too soon
And if there is no room in any Hell
And if your god is slain by mortals, mice or Ao
I'll see you on the dark side of Faerun.

The Luskanite is in my head.
The Luskanite is in my head
You raise the dark, you make the mark
You re-arrange me 'til I'm Shar's.
You block the Weave
Enhance Necromancy
There's someone in my soul but it's not me.

And if the moon bursts, silence dark with fear,
You pray and no one seems to hear.
And if the bard you're with starts playing different tunes
I'll see you on the dark side of Faerun.

"I can't think of anything to say except...
I think it's Sharvelous! HaHaHa!"

- - -

Elves: the forgettable rainbow.

Cheers, -- N

 

[The Ubbergeek]

If the dwarves are allowed to be annoying and with more subraces than expected, let the elves be.

Dwarves are worse, in my eyes - and hypocritly glorified for a race of basicaly bourgeois reactionaries and holy water frogs.


Ubbie, signing for the Commity to Stop Dwarf Hypocrisy

 

[Gwathlas]

Unless FR manages to fit them in again. Together with demonic elves, mountain elves, rubber elves and elf elves. But then again, FR has silly subraces for everything other than humans.

In defense of Wizards, multiple elf subraces have been pretty common in modern fantasy. High Elves, Wood Elves and Dark Elves are all staples. At least 4E will apparently make the racial distinction (which should just be cultural, as far as I'm concerned) actually meaningful, by splitting the Eladrin off.

Half-Elves are staples to keep the grognards content (though yeah, I don't know anyone who actually likes them either).

Well I do for one along with dwarves and haflings. You can be human anytime, and probably are in day to day life so try a little fantasy gaming