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Obituaries

WoW Forever's Most-Picked Beta Race Costs $29.99

30 October 2026 · Short · Watch on YouTube

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The Undead came free with World of Warcraft in 2004. In World of Warcraft: Forever the game still comes with your subscription, and the headline new race, the Skyborne, costs $29.99 in the Heroic Pack. In the beta, where every account had the elf, Skyborne were 18.7% of a million-plus characters on the classicplus.io census, the most-chosen race overall. Undead were still the most popular race on one faction. An obituary, read by the deceased.

Read flat

“the new Skyborne race made up a combined 18.7% of characters, with a population of nearly 190,000”

Icy Veins, the ClassicPlus.io census · Icy Veins · PopTop · 2026-10-14

Sources

Every claim in the transcript below points at one of these. The quote is the source's own words.

  1. Blizzard Entertainment (news.blizzard.com) · 2026-09-12 When World of Warcraft: Forever launches globally on November 4, 2026, at 3:00 p.m. PST, access will be included with your World of Warcraft Subscription or Game Time.
  2. Wikipedia · 2026-10-25 The game was announced in 2001 and was released for the 10th anniversary of the Warcraft franchise on November 23, 2004.
  3. Warcraft Wiki (warcraft.wiki.gg) · 2026-09-20 Patch 1.2.0 (2004-12-18): Undead players will no longer be invisible when they first log in after watching the intro cinematic.
  4. Blizzard Entertainment (news.blizzard.com) · 2026-09-22 Free of the Lich King’s grasp, the Forsaken seek to overthrow his rule.
  5. Blizzard Entertainment (worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com) · 2026-10-29 Access to Skyborne Race or the Zephras Isle starting experience questline requires purchase of Skyborne Heroic Pack or higher edition.
  6. Warcraft Tavern · Luxrah · 2026-09-12 The Skyborne Heroic Pack is $29.99 USD, the Skyborne Epic Pack is $59.99, and the Forever Collection is $79.99.
  7. Blizzard Entertainment (news.blizzard.com) · 2026-09-12 Beta access is included with the Skyborne Epic Pack and the Warcraft Forever Collection, giving you an early look at the roads, stories, and systems waiting in this new World of Warcraft experience.
  8. Icy Veins · PopTop · 2026-10-14 Since the beta began, volunteers from classicplus.io have scanned over one million characters created!
  9. Icy Veins · PopTop · 2026-10-14 the new Skyborne race made up a combined 18.7% of characters, with a population of nearly 190,000, making them the most-chosen Race overall.
  10. Icy Veins · PopTop · 2026-10-14 Undead and Human are the most popular single-faction races on the Forever beta, making up nearly one-third of the player base combined.
  11. Blizzard Entertainment (news.blizzard.com) · 2026-09-22 When choosing to play this new race, players can choose between Horde-aligned Windshapers which can become Shaman, or an Alliance-aligned High-Order Skyborne which can become Mages.

Clips and footage

Shown under criticism and commentary, credited on screen and here. They belong to their creators.

  • Cube.: “We NEED To Talk About The Skyborne” (YouTube, 2026-10-03)
  • Mirakin: “WoW Forever: Undead character customizations and animations” (YouTube, 2026-09-24)
  • Dalorrian TV: “WoW Forever Beta - The Login Wait Was Brutal... Then I Made a Blue Elf” (YouTube, 2026-09-18)
  • 1Up Quinn: “WoW Forever Beta: Launch Day Queue Boss & Skyborne Shaman Creation!” (YouTube, 2026-09-17)

Transcript

Obituaries — The Free Race

World of Warcraft: Forever comes with your subscription1. So did I. An obituary. The free race. Undead, born two thousand four23. Blizzard's words: "Free of the Lich King's grasp"4. And of a price5.

Obituaries — survived by

Survived by an elf. Twenty-nine ninety-nine6.

Optimal. The beta gave everyone the elf7. Classic Plus counted a million characters8. Skyborne, eighteen point seven percent. The most-chosen race9. On my side, I was the most popular10. The elf plays BOTH sides11.

Obituaries — cause of death

I've read the obituary. Cause of death: the living paid thirty dollars6 not to look like me.

The full autopsy of WoW Forever is on the channel. I'll be here. Forever.