WoW Forever Census: Hunter and Paladin Lead the Beta

A WoW Forever beta census, taken on September 20, 2026, has been making the rounds on social media ever since. Population numbers by race, class distribution by faction: streamer Venruki dug into it in a video to break down this WoW Forever census, between statistical surprises and old community debates.

A Beta Census Spotted on Reddit

The WoW Forever census first circulated on Wowhead before landing on the r/wowforever subreddit. The sample remains modest: around 5,000 characters in total, 2,062 on the Alliance side and 2,928 on the Horde side. The WoW Forever beta, open to anyone who wants to test the project, therefore represents only a fraction of the players who have access to it (see our article on the beta opening).

Venruki stresses this point before even commenting on the numbers. A beta is not a launch. Players test combinations they might never have chosen in the final game, switch race or class with nothing at stake, and experiment freely. The proportions seen today could still shift before the November 4 release.

Races: Humans in the Lead, a Wave of Undead on the Horde Side

On the Alliance side, Human dominates by a wide margin with 612 characters, followed by Highorder (the high elves of WoW Forever) at 410 and Night Elf at 386. Dwarf nearly closes out the list with 338 players, just ahead of Gnome at 316.

This ranking contradicts a recurring complaint on Venruki’s stream. Several viewers claimed everyone would play Dwarf. The opposite turns out to be true: the race only lands in fifth place, likely held back by a class choice limited to four options.

Highorder and Windshaper (a Horde race) owe much of their popularity to their spell animations, according to Venruki, more than to any real in-game power. Players are prioritizing looks over efficiency.

On the Horde side, Undead crushes everything else with 1,173 characters, nearly double the runner-up. Windshaper follows at 594, then Orc at 441, Tauren at 405, and Troll at 315. Many Undead players have picked Priest, Mage, or Rogue, classes where the race’s macabre imagery fits the character well.

Alliance Classes: Hunter on Top, Warlock Snubbed

Out of 2,062 Alliance characters, Hunter comes out on top with 330 players, ahead of Warrior and Paladin. A ranking Venruki didn’t expect at all, given that he plays a Human Hunter himself and can’t stop praising the class.

• Hunter, 330
• Warrior, 293
• Paladin, 279
• Druid, 253
• Priest, 217
• Rogue, 213
• Mage, 194
• Shaman, 155
• Warlock, 128

At the bottom of the table, Shaman and especially Warlock struggle to convince. No surprise for Shaman: on the Alliance side, only Dwarves can play it, and the race remains unpopular. Warlock, meanwhile, has no such racial excuse and is simply picked less.

Horde Classes: An Avalanche of Paladins

On the Horde side, no class comes close to Paladin. With 753 characters out of 2,928, it alone surpasses the combined total of Hunter and Warrior. Only Undead can play Paladin on the Horde side in WoW Forever, which explains much of this enthusiasm.

• Paladin, 753
• Shaman, 457
• Druid, 344
• Hunter, 337
• Warrior, 305
• Rogue, 201
• Warlock, 191
• Mage, 176
• Priest, 164

Priest brings up the rear with only 164 players, a position that surprises Venruki. Conversely, Shaman is doing very well on the Horde side with 457 followers, a striking contrast with the 155 Alliance Shamans. The faction where race gates class access changes everything.

What These Numbers Say (and Don’t Say)

Venruki’s takeaway fits in one sentence: many players put race above class. After years of feeling boxed into certain choices in retail, part of the community is using WoW Forever to finally play the race they love, even if it means working around the available classes.

This WoW Forever census remains a snapshot in time, taken three days after the beta opened. An article on the site already captured this full-scale testing atmosphere after eight hours of play on this reimagined Vanilla, and nothing guarantees these habits will hold up until launch day.

The number of players actually in the beta far exceeds this 5,000-character sample, as shown by the beta’s Twitch viewership numbers. Venruki himself hasn’t decided between Horde and Alliance yet. He’s leaning toward a Human Hunter, the class he already knows and enjoys, while keeping an eye on Mage.