- Blizzard has explained why it added the controversial Skyborne race to World of Warcraft: Forever
- The Elf race, which is accessible to both Alliance and Horde, will manage “long-term population balance”
- The studio says the addition of Blood Elves in The Burning Crusade caused a major population swing, and the new dual-faction race will avoid that happening again
Blizzard Entertainment has defended World of Warcraft: Forever‘s controversial new Skyborne race and explained that giving both Alliance and Horde players access will help manage the long-term balance of the population.
Skyborne is a new Elf race added to the reimagined 2004 classic experience and arrives alongside a new starter zone, Zephras Isle. It’s also the first Elf Race in the game that is accessible to both Alliance and Horde players.
But why is that controversial among fans? Well, there are a few reasons, with some feeling upset about the addition of a brand new Elf race when High and Blood Elves already exist in the setting, the fact that some of the character models, particularly the druid forms, are more high-fidelity and contrast with the classic game’s older models, as well as the fact that the race is paywalled behind a $30 add-on.
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Now, in an interview with TechRadar Gaming, the WoW: Forever team explained the reasoning behind the race’s addition, saying that it has a “great story” to tell with Skyborne and it had the opportunity to use a culture kit that’s only used a few times in WoW in the Air Elemental architecture and environments.
“A starter zone felt great to ease this race into the world as well, as it’s not something that you’ll spend a ton of time with,” Blizzard said. “You’ll do the quests, experience the zone, and within 4-6 hours you’ll be back to terrestrial Azeroth where the bulk of the game happens. That also influenced why we chose these elves over, say, Quel’dorei elves from Quel’thalas.”
The studio added it has “bigger plans” for that region, and “To a degree we also want to signal that we may occasionally make a bold choice.” The team is also excited to showcase the “checklist” items most people have for Classic+, but it has a “long, long roadmap of content stretching out several years” in the works, so it’s “playing the long game” with how it rolls out content.
“We have seen great reception to the Skyborne in the beta,” the studio said. “This is especially true once people complete the starter zone and see how much effort we’ve put into their story to make it feel like a natural inclusion into the world.”
Regarding its decision to make Skyborne accessible to both factions, well, Blizzard has a pretty reasonable answer.
“As for the race itself and faction selection, I wouldn’t say it’s specifically for Horde or Alliance; it’s mostly to try and avoid a potentially avoidable population swing,” it said.
It explained that Blood Elves, and races that use the “high elf” model, are the most popular race in WoW, “bar none,” and when Blood Elves were introduced in The Burning Crusade, which were “introduced in part to give the Horde a less ‘monstrous’ race,” there was a massive knock-on effect that upset the balance of the game.
“The population swung massively, almost 40% in fact, from 60/40 Alliance/Horde to 60/40 Horde/Alliance,” Blizzard said. “We knew going into it that we wanted to do a high elf-like race, but we also knew if we only gave it to one faction, that could have long-term population balance impact, so that was something we were leery of. Additionally, when considering the scope of what we could produce for our launch, we had to make a tough choice about how to handle starter zones for a new race.”
During development, Blizzard explained, it needed to decide what to prioritize; with Skyborne making its debut, discussions were had about creating two starter zones for both Horde and Alliance, but due to the game’s scale, one starter zone seemed more reasonable.
“Our development team came from humble beginnings,” it said. “When development on WoW: Forever started and the full scope of what we thought we could deliver was more modest, we had a choice: Make two new starter zones and only have one large questing zone, or make one starter zone and gain an extra level-up zone.
“The calculus was very easy at that time; we opted for a second leveling zone, and that zone became the Riverglades. Once players have a chance to visit the Riverglades and fully experience it, I think they will agree with our decision here.”
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