Everything I learned from running as far as I could through the Skyborne starting area in WoW: Forever

After I got my hands on the World of Warcraft: Forever demo in the BlizzCon media village, I knew that a single play-through of the Skyborne starting area wasn’t going to be enough to answer all of your questions about how this unique zone looked and felt. Every time I fired up the test play, I had a slightly different goal in mind.

An idea that I 100% stole from by con buddy Dan O’Halloran and ran with (literally) was devoting the entire 30 minute demo time to exploration, and using it to see as much of Zephras Isle as I could. If you just can’t wait until the November 4 release date or a possible beta invitation, read on to hear my impressions and discoveries of this floating forested zone.

The Skyborne architecture resembles that of their Night Elf cousins with a powder blue recolor. There are plenty of ruins scattered throughout the zone, as this faction of Elves didn’t escape Azeroth yesterday. We are eagerly awaiting the ability to learn more about their history once Forever goes live, but it’s been a few thousand years since the Skyborne settled here. Given their recent troubles with their air elementals, it’s not surprising that some of their temples and monuments would begin to crumble.

The critters and creatures of the island were mostly familiar, but if I had to bet my Forever beta key on which one would be the Skyborne racial mount I’d have to go with the galestrider. With upturned feathers, a lean, windswept look, and rusty and cerulean color schemes, I can easily see Sky Elves riding around on these sleek crane-like steeds.

Progress through the zone proceeds in a U-shape. After leaving the level 1 Thendal Village area in the northwest corner of the map, players head south and downhill through sparse forests and open farmlands. Snow-capped mountains ring the area, and the anchor pylons that surround the island and keep it afloat can be seen beyond the hills.

The ruins and statues evoke Classic areas like Dire Maul, which makes sense given that the Skyborne are a splinter group of the Shen’dralar who resided there before deciding to run it on demon battery power. There are also very heavy Throne of the Four Winds vibes with some of the floating towers and mini-castles.

At the very end of the loop around Zephras Isle, the updated lighting engine kicked in to high gear. After crossing a bridge from the Shrine of Alar to Shadowgate Forest, it was like somebody turned out the lights. An eerie, glowing blue fog clung to the ground, and I could see only the silhouettes of some ravenlord-like murder birds skulking in the distance.

The Ruins of Ban’aethal lie at the northeastern edge of the island. I assume this is where properly experienced Skyborne head to their next zone (or Azeroth proper), but all I found was a sleeping elemental dragon. It was none other than Altarius, the second boss from Vortex Pinnacle. This checks out as those Cataclysm dungeons actually took place within Skywall.

Experience from reaching new areas of Zephas Isle has boosted me to level 2, but I stood no chance against Altarius once he awoke and charged me. Perhaps players who have played through the story will have better luck asking for his help in reaching further zones within the elemental planes or meeting up with their fellow adventurers on Azeroth.