In episode 7 of the official WoW: Forever podcast, published on November 12, 2026, a Blizzard developer called the ogres of the Riverglades the Horde's new allies: "It's always cool to have ogre allies, right?" The line is about a clan the Horde meets while questing. Nobody on the show announced ogres as a playable race, nor any new race or date.
The episode, "Turbo Nerds Lore-ing Out", brings together Blizzard's Senior Game Designer Josh "Aggrend" Greenfield and Lore Historian Lead Sean Copeland, with Platinum and Nobbel87 as guests, for 76 minutes of lore. We read it in the video's English captions; the minutes below are those of the episode on YouTube.
What was said about the ogres
- 46:01, the question. A guest who has not reached the zone yet asks for the Horde's side of the Riverglades.
- 46:09, the answer. "You're going to spend a lot of time interacting with a clan of ogres." The clan used to belong to the Twilight's Hammer and served Cho'gall. After the battle for Blackrock Mountain, it broke away to go its own way, and much of its conflict in the zone is with the Twilight's Hammer still there. In the game, this clan and its village are the Bolder'ok.
- 46:59, the line the press quoted. "It's always good when the Horde makes new allies like ogres, you know, that's cool. It's always cool to have ogre allies, right?"
- 47:20, the follow-up. A guest takes up "ogre allies" to ask about new races. The answer, from 47:47, is about the Skyborne, the elves both factions can play, and why Blizzard made one race for both sides. It says nothing more about ogres.
What the episode did not say
No playable ogre, no new race, no date, no plan. The "ogre allies" are the Horde's allies in a story told through quests: the Bolder'ok themselves. If Blizzard announces a race, it will do so in its own news, and we will cover it the day it does.