Common groups of Alliance and Horde in World of Warcraft are here. But how do you like the feature? What are your experiences?
Patch 9.2.5 has been active for almost a week now and has brought a few small improvements and nice, wicked new features, such as the unlocking of the Dark Rangers.
But the “heart” of the patch is clearly the removal of the faction barriers in instanced content. Whether PvP battlegrounds or dungeons and raids of all difficulty levels – since the patch, members of the Horde and Alliance can jump through such content together. The language barrier has been resolved in these groups and all mechanics work as one would expect with members of their own faction, such as healing or buff effects.
The system has no impact on the open world – here players remain hostile, cannot support each other, but can at least talk to each other through group chat.
Patch 9.2.5 also brought more story to the Forsaken, such as this cutscene:
Advantages and Disadvantages of Cross-Faction Play
The advantages of the system are obvious. More players are in a shared pool and therefore there are also significantly more teammates that can be invited to groups. Whether raids, PvP, or M+ – when both Horde and Alliance can apply for a spot in the group, the group window fills up quickly. This benefits the Alliance especially, which traditionally has far fewer players in the endgame area.
The second major advantage is that you can play with friends without having to give up your beloved faction. Everyone knows a friend, acquaintance, or coworker who also plays World of Warcraft – but unfortunately “on the other side.” This is now simply no longer a barrier and allows both to remain true to their faction while still experiencing endgame content together.
However, there are also disadvantages that disturb some players. For many players, “Horde” and “Alliance” are fixed attributions that should not simply be dissolved. The fact that one can now play harmoniously together bothers some people’s sense of belonging. After all, it has been nearly 18 years that Horde and Alliance could only attack each other and not play peacefully together. That this is now simply lifted tears down an important pillar that belongs to World of Warcraft.
Others fear that hostilities between factions will now also be expressed openly in joint groups. For example, if an Orc in an Alliance group makes a mistake in a dungeon, conflicts and accusations could arise more quickly.
For exactly this reason, we want to start a survey now to find out how you perceived the feature in the first days. Were you able to benefit from Cross-Faction Play? Did you find groups more quickly and were able to do more with your friends? Or do negative experiences outweigh for you?
If you would like to elaborate on your experiences with Cross-Faction groups, please leave us a comment and tell us in more detail how you have perceived the feature so far.
We are looking forward to your opinion!
