Many WoW players dream of the Horde and Alliance being able to play together. The Game Director shared his thoughts on this.
The conflict between Horde and Alliance has long been a key aspect of World of Warcraft. However, over the years, this has been increasingly softened. For several expansions now, some players have been wishing for the ability to fight alongside the Horde and Alliance, form groups, and embark on adventures together. Now, Game Director Ion Hazzikostas has spoken up about this.
What is the problem? The division between Horde and Alliance has always been a crucial pillar in World of Warcraft. Red or blue, Orc or Human, Stormwind or Orgrimmar. Many players identify strongly with their side, and yet this strict separation also brings problems. For example, it halves the available pool of players for dungeons or raids.
Also, because some simply do not want to switch sides, for instance due to their guild or simply long-standing habits, it is difficult to leave that behind.
Therefore, the wish is: Cross-Faction play should be allowed, and the Horde and Alliance should be able to play dungeons, raids, or arenas together.
What did the Game Director say? Actually, the conversation was about covenants and why they can now be freely switched (with Patch 9.1.5). Hazzikostas explained:
The story and world fantasy are extremely important, and it’s ideal when they align with gameplay, but if story considerations alone dictate frustrating mechanics, then that is a conflict we need to resolve in favor of gameplay.
This led user MajicMundl to ask: “Does this apply to Cross-Faction gameplay as well?” He was referring to the possibility of the Horde and Alliance being able to play together.
Hazzikostas responded:
It does. The emphasis earlier was on the word ‘alone’. The division into factions is more than just the narrative. There is no easy solution here, but especially when it comes to access to endgame systems like Mythic+ or raids, such a barrier is a significant problem that we know we need to address.
So they are apparently at least considering solutions and are not completely averse to the topic.
What does Hazzikostas mean by this? If Hazzikostas is talking about more than just the story being significant for the division of the factions, he is referring to the entire game world. After all, cross-faction groups would bring a whole host of questions and sometimes illogical incidents to light. Some of these would be:
- Can Alliance players who are in a Horde group simply be peacefully in Horde cities?
- What about quests that require Alliance players to kill Horde characters? Would a Horde character do that?
- Is an Alliance character suddenly “friendly” with the Horde factions if they want to accept those quests?
- Should the system only work in closed areas, like instances or raids?
These and many other questions would need to be carefully considered and implemented. This would require nothing less than a complete redesign of World of Warcraft.
Why do players want to play together? There are many reasons for this. One argument is that some simply play on different sides and do not want to give up their beloved main character or switch factions. Another argument is mythic raiding, although this only affects a very small part of the player base. It has always been the case that one faction is extremely popular, while only a few players can be found on the other.
Ultimately, it makes sense to many that the Horde and Alliance finally lay down their weapons and embark on adventures together. In War Mode or on the battlegrounds, this rivalry can continue to be lived out.
When could this happen? If World of Warcraft decides to take this step, it will hardly happen with a small patch within an ongoing expansion – the necessary adjustments would simply be too great. A possible time frame would be the release of a new expansion or the preceding major pre-patch, which often brings new systems with it.
In the best-case scenario for supporters, something like this could therefore show up with Patch 10.0, which we probably won’t see before autumn 2022 – likely even later. However, this has not been confirmed yet.
Would you be interested in being able to tackle dungeons and raids together with the other faction?
