In World of Warcraft a big change is coming: The borders between the factions are being partially abolished. However, there are restrictions. At the moment, the new Cross-Faction feature is being tested on the PTR.
What is this change? In January 2022, Blizzard announced that World of Warcraft will receive “Cross-Faction Play”. This means: Horde and Alliance can tackle many WoW contents together.
For years, fans have been calling for this repeatedly, and well-known streamers explain why this is important. Because although the entire Warcraft series is based on the war between the factions, MMORPG players want to play together with friends.
With the upcoming Patch 9.2.5, this will now be possible. But even now, the feature can be tested on the PTR.
How can I test Cross Faction? You need to download the public test realm of WoW (PTR). However, you first need an account for that. You can create one in the account management under Games & Subscriptions under the entry “Starter Edition & Public Test Regions.”
You will then need to download the actual client again via the Battle.net client. It is best to use the same folder as for your WoW installation to save space. In the game itself, the feature works quite easily:
- Group leaders can invite friends from both factions directly via BattleTag or Real ID
- in organized groups for raids, mythic dungeons, and rated PvP, you can set whether you want to play Cross Faction or only with your own faction
- Communities have the option to accept members from both factions
Cross Faction in WoW – Not everything can be done together
What restrictions are there? In a Bluepost in the forum, community manager Linxy explains that not all activities in WoW support the new feature. Guilds, for example, remain tied to the faction.
Also, content with matchmaking, such as heroic dungeons and random battlegrounds, does not offer an option for cross-faction play. All other dungeons and raids, however, can be accessed by both Horde and Alliance, except for some special cases:
- the Trials of the Champion and the Crusader
- Archavon’s Chamber
- Icecrown Citadel
- Baradin Hold
- Siege of Boralus
- The Battle for Dazar’alor
- the Darkbreaker Citadel (end dungeon of the new starter island)
The instances have special mechanics that are tied to the faction. Therefore, groups here must belong to the same faction, otherwise, they would theoretically have to compete against each other.
What comes next? With Patch 9.2.5, Shadowlands will likely end, as 9.2 is already the last content patch of the expansion. After that, the next addon will follow.
We do not yet know exactly which addon it will be, but the expansion will be presented in April. A release date is still pending, but it will probably not be released in 2022.
We also cannot yet say when exactly Cross Faction will come to the live servers. However, it may still take some time, as Shadowlands is likely to last longer than originally thought. Although there will be no official new “content update” after Patch 9.2, a new season that brings great changes is still coming in 2022:
WoW Shadowlands is going out with a bang in 2022 – Bringing back 6 dungeons from the past
