In the open beta of World of Warcraft: Forever, the new Skyborne race is split into two factions — High Order Skyborne (Alliance) and Windshaper Skyborne (Horde) — but its members understand each other and other elves when Darnassian is selected as the chat language.

In the open beta of World of Warcraft: Forever, an unexpected detail surfaced: characters of the new Skyborne race, split between the Alliance and the Horde, can freely read each other's messages — and those of other elves — in the in-game chat. In a test interaction between two players from opposing factions, both correspondents are speaking Darnassian in the chat window: by selecting that language, you can read messages from Skyborne of the opposing faction and other elves.

How it works

• Forever adds a new Skyborne race. At the start it is unified, but then splits into two factions: High Order Skyborne joins the Alliance, while Windshaper Skyborne joins the Horde.
• All Skyborne have Darnassian — the language of the night elves — unlocked by default. If Darnassian is selected in the chat window, messages from Skyborne of both factions are visible to each other.
• Night elves also know that language, so they end up in the circle of readers too.
• Messages are displayed in the sender's language — there's no auto-translation, just the language barrier between elves is removed.
• The source notes: it's still unclear whether this is an intentional feature or a side effect of all Skyborne starting the game in the same starter zone. Blizzard has not commented on the change.

Why this isn't the first such exception

In the comments under the news, readers recalled that the language barrier between factions has already been bypassed in different WoW versions more than once: with the launch of Battle for Azeroth, blood elves and night elves gained a shared language, and earlier, from Legion, demon hunters had the same effect with the demon tongue. Pandaren and warlocks, who had a similar mechanic earlier, are also mentioned in the discussion. The source notes that similar mechanics have existed in other versions of WoW before.

What this means for you

• If you play a night elf or blood elf — select Darnassian in the chat window: that's the only way messages from Skyborne of the opposing faction will become visible to you.
• If you play a Skyborne — Darnassian is unlocked for you by default, which is enough to see the chat of other Skyborne and night elves.
• If you're into PvP — keep in mind: enemy elves can now see your chat messages without intermediaries. It's worth revisiting the habit of 'not writing anything extra' in general and faction channels.
• If you're counting on a global language system — for now it's only elves and only chat. Expansion to the entire game world isn't confirmed in the sources.