WoW Forever Alliance vs Horde: which faction to pick
28 Oct 2026 (AEDT), from the beta notes incl. the 26 Oct (US) final racial pass. Launch: Thu 5 Nov 10:00 AEDT. Unconfirmed = our read; may change at launch.
Factions stay separate in Forever: Alliance and Horde players can't group together (Deep Dive).
Class access
Shaman
Alliance: Dwarf (new) and no Skyborne. Horde: Orc, Tauren, Troll, Windshaper Skyborne.
Paladin
Alliance: Human, Dwarf. Horde: Undead (new).
Mage
Horde adds Orc Mage (new); High Order Skyborne Mage is Alliance only.
Everything else
Every class is now playable on both factions.
Racials that swing the choice
Alliance
Human Will to Survive (stun break) and Perception; Gnome Escape Artist; Dwarf Stoneform; Night Elf in-combat Shadowmeld.
Horde
Undead Will of the Forsaken (breaks charm, fear and sleep); Orc Hardiness (stuns 20% shorter) and Blood Fury; Troll Berserking.
Racials: 26 Oct dev notes.
Faction balance
Blizzard says that on PvP realms Forever will have systems to support Horde and Alliance balance, "similar to the approach introduced in Season of Discovery" (Deep Dive). Unconfirmed: Blizzard hasn't detailed those systems for Forever, and there is no official faction population data. We won't guess at numbers.
How to choose
Unconfirmed, our view: pick the faction your friends or guild play, since you can't group across factions. After that, pick on class access (Shaman and Paladin above) and the PvP racials. For realm types see PvP vs PvE realms; for races see Alliance and Horde.
- news.blizzard.com
- Blizzard — WoW Forever Beta Development Notes (Updated October 26)
- news.blizzard.com
- news.blizzard.com
- worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com
