{
  "id": 16769272,
  "title": "'A Lot of Players Don't Want to Play a Monster' – WoW Forever Principal Designer Sheds More Light on Why the Skyborne Were Added",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/27/a-lot-of-players-dont-want-to-play-a-monster-wow-forever-principal",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-27T17:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "IGN",
    "slug": "ign",
    "url": "https://www.ign.com/articles/a-lot-of-players-dont-want-to-play-a-monster-wow-forever-principal-designer-sheds-more-light-on-why-the-skyborne-were-added"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Blizzard principal game designer Kris Zierhut revealed some reasons behind the addition of the Skyborne race to World of Warcraft Forever. The primary goal was to introduce more elves to the game, while maintaining balance between the alliance and Horde factions. Zierhut noted that elves are the most popular races historically in World of Warcraft, but the existing alliance and Horde races from the Classic Era have a tendency to cause an imbalance. One reason for adding elves specifically was that there is a segment of the player base that does not want to play unique races such as Orcs, Trolls, Taurens, or Undead, as they prefer prettier options. While discussing Silvermoon, the home of the Blood Elves, Zierhut mentioned that the team didn't want to compete with the retail team's storyline for Silvermoon; they intended to let that story develop independently before potentially revisiting it later. He also hinted that the Blood Elves might return to the game in the future, but for now, players can only choose the Skyborne race if they wish to play an elf on the Horde side. In the coming weeks, Blizzard will release updates less frequently than the regular eight-week patch cycle seen in the current game. Zierhut also mentioned that the Forever team is considering revisiting some locations from past expansions, such as Northrend and Pandaria, in future updates.",
  "summary": "World of Warcraft Forever has its full launch a week from now on November 4, but ahead of time, Blizzard principal game designer Kris Zierhut shared a little bit of insight on why the new Skyborne race was added to the game.",
  "key_points": [
    "Blizzard adds Skyborne race to World of Warcraft Forever to introduce more elves.",
    "Designers aim to balance alliance and Horde factions by adding elves.",
    "Blood Elves might return to the game in future updates."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}