World of Warcraft: Forever hasn't come without its controversies, with the most notable of all perhaps surrounding the new Skyborne race – but the Beta proves it's not that unpopular.
The WoW: Forever Beta has been underway for nearly a month now, giving fan-led projects like Classic.io, which collects player data from the game, a chance to bloom.
So, what do the numbers on the site tell us so far, then? Well, perhaps most interestingly, the Skyborne aren't even the least popular race. In fact, the Alliance-aligned Skyborne are the fourth most popular race, with their Horde-aligned counterpart following close behind.
They've got the Night Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Tauren, and Trolls beat, too. The only races ahead of them are, perhaps unsurprisingly, the Undead, Humans, and Orcs, with the Skyborne making up nearly 20% of all World of Warcraft: Forever players.
Heck, Skyborne Druids also make up the fourth most chosen race and class combination in the game, and folks have had some less than positive thoughts about that combo to say the least.
Blizzard actually had to step in recently and promise to make World of Warcraft: Forever's Skyborne less "jarring" to look at, specifically mentioning Druid animations in its statement. So, yeah – the stats are a bit mind-boggling, as they don't line up with all the controversy.
I suppose it's not too surprising, though, when you consider the fact that the same $30 that grants you access to the WoW: Forever Beta comes with the Skyborne included.
I'm happy with the periwinkle-skinned elf race myself (the pink hair goes hard, y'all), and I doubt Blizzard regrets its introduction, either.
Senior game designer Josh Greenfield said the team always "knew we wanted to add some sort of elves" and the Skyborne had apparently stemmed from veteran Chris Metzen himself – so, there you go. They're here to stay and it doesn't seem the community is all that broken up about it, honestly.
I am, however, disappointed to see Night Elves so low down. If it were up to me, we'd all be donning some sort of elf character – lore be damned.
