Blizzard Explains Why WoW Forever’s New Skyborne Race Isn’t Locked to Either Faction

When Blizzard first unveiled the Skyborne as World of Warcraft: Forever’s new playable race back in September, the reaction from parts of the community was mixed at best. Players questioned why the Classic-adjacent mode needed another Elf race when High Elves and Blood Elves already exist, some beta testers felt the new character models clashed with the mode’s older art style, and plenty were frustrated that playing a Skyborne meant buying the $29.99 Skyborne Heroic Pack. In an October 7 interview with TechRadar Gaming, Blizzard addressed that backlash directly, explaining why the Skyborne works differently from every Elf race that came before it.

Why Skyborne Isn’t Locked to One Faction

Unlike High Elves, Blood Elves, Void Elves, or Nightborne, Skyborne can be rolled on either the Horde or the Alliance. Asked about that choice, Blizzard wouldn’t frame it as belonging to one side over the other, telling TechRadar it “wouldn’t say it’s specifically for Horde or Alliance.” The team pointed back to The Burning Crusade, when giving Blood Elves exclusively to the Horde reportedly flipped faction population from roughly 60/40 in the Alliance’s favor to a similar split favoring the Horde, a shift Blizzard described as touching almost 40 percent of the player base. Locking a popular race like Skyborne to a single faction again, the team said, risked causing that kind of population swing all over again.

Skyborne characters on Zephras Isle, official artwork from Blizzard’s World of Warcraft: Forever reveal.

Zephras Isle Is Only the Start

The Skyborne’s starting experience plays out on Zephras Isle, a roughly four to six hour introduction before characters move on to a second leveling zone called Riverglades rather than a full second starter zone. Blizzard said the region has bigger plans attached to it long term, and that Zephras Isle was partly meant to signal that the WoW: Forever team is willing to make unconventional design choices as the mode grows. According to Blizzard, reception to the Skyborne during the ongoing beta has been strong so far.

An Elf Race Blizzard Admits Is Popular, Behind a Price Tag Fans Still Resent

Speaking to Windows Central back in September, Lead Classic Designer Tim Jones was blunt about why Blizzard keeps adding more Elves to World of Warcraft: “We know that being an elf is extremely popular.” Principal Designer Kris Zierhut added that Skyborne ties into the story of Shen’dralas, a region between Mulgore and Desolace connected to Eldre’thalas, the city that later became the dungeon Dire Maul, and to Prince Tortheldrin’s fall. None of that lore context has done much to soften the other half of the complaint, though. As we covered when the WoW: Forever beta went live, the Skyborne Heroic Pack’s $29.99 price tag made it the first time Blizzard has sold access to a playable race outright, and that criticism hasn’t gone away just because the faction question has an answer now.

World of Warcraft: Forever launches in full on November 4 at 3 p.m. PST, bringing the Skyborne and the rest of the Classic-adjacent mode out of beta and into general release.

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Picture Source: Blizzard Entertainment