World of Warcraft has dropped a bombshell: Alliance and Horde can soon play dungeons, raids, and PvP together.
After many months and weeks of bad news surrounding Blizzard and World of Warcraft, there seem to be good news again. Just yesterday the WoW developers announced the end for “Boosting Communities”, shortly afterward the next cat was let out of the bag:
Alliance and Horde will soon be able to form groups together to tackle dungeons, raids, and rated PvP. The “Cross-Faction Play” is coming.
What has been said? In a rather lengthy post, Blizzard details the plans they have for “Cross-Faction Play,” i.e., the cross-faction gameplay between Horde and Alliance.
Essentially, there were two main goals in developing this feature that were particularly important to the developers:
- Focus on organized, instanced gameplay: Where players are required to form groups, barriers should be removed. The feature will therefore be activated for dungeons, raids, and rated PvP.
- Voluntariness is a key requirement: The entire system should be voluntary and optional. Those who want to play only with players from their own faction can continue to do so. Regular “random groups,” such as when leveling or randomly visiting a dungeon, will still consist only of players from their own faction. It should be an option, but not a compulsion.
What does this mean in plain terms? Once the feature is activated, players can utilize a variety of actions and functions with members of the opposing faction. These include:
- Inviting to a group when both players are BattleTag or Real-ID friends or members of a cross-faction WoW community.
- Organized groups in the dungeon browser (Mythic Dungeons, raids, arena, battlegrounds) will be open to both factions. The group leader can decide whether to allow mixed groups.
- Guilds and content with random player assignments (“Random Dungeons,” random battlegrounds) will remain restricted to one faction. This is necessary to ensure the voluntariness of the feature.
What about in the open world? Players can already group up and use a shared group chat in the open world, but the alignment of the characters remains the same. An Orc and a Night Elf in war mode can still attack each other, even if they are in the same group.
Which content is not included? Due to certain circumstances, not all instances and raids will be playable with a mixed group at the start of the feature. These include:
- The Battle of Dazar’Alor
- The Trial of the Crusader
- The Icecrown Citadel
- Some others with faction-dependent content
The reason for this is that these dungeons and raids have different paths depending on the faction. These instances need to be overhauled before Cross-Faction Play can work there too, which likely won’t be possible until Patch 9.2.5.
When is it coming? The system is expected to be integrated with Patch 9.2.5, and the corresponding PTR should start shortly after the release of Patch 9.2. While this is a quite large time frame and could mean anything from 3 to 9 months, it is still likely to be sooner than expected. Because most expected Blizzard to tackle such a system no earlier than with the next expansion 10.0.
Blizzard does not want to forget skeptics
The developers are fully aware that this decision will not sit well with all players. After all, many players associate something with their faction and believe that there should be no cooperation between Horde and Alliance.
In this regard, the developers write:
At BlizzCon 2019, we were approached by a guest about cross-faction play, and at that time we answered that the separation between Alliance and Horde is a pillar of what makes Warcraft, Warcraft. But on closer examination, that is too strong simplification. The truth is that the identity of the Alliance and the Horde is essential to Warcraft. And although this identity has often been marked by discord and open conflict, we have also observed that Alliance and Horde have found common ground and cooperation since Warcraft III (especially the last time a Warcraft chapter was titled “End of Eternity”…). There are also countless examples of cooperation in World of Warcraft itself.
We hope that these changes will even help to strengthen faction identity. This way, more players can play in the faction whose values, appearance, and characters they find more appealing, without feeling forced to choose between their personal preferences and the ability to play with friends.
After the events of Battle for Azeroth, there is an uneasy truce between Alliance and Horde. The factions are still hostile, and even if some of their leaders work together in the Shadowlands, there are countless members of both factions who will never forgive or forget the war crimes of the other side. For every Jaina, there is a Genn, and that will not change anytime soon. But why shouldn’t players be able to make their own choices? Especially in situations that are intended for cooperation and where the story revolves around fending off dark threats together?
What do you think about it? A wonderful thing that Blizzard is finally introducing Cross-Faction Play? Or is it a bad decision and just the “next nail in the coffin of WoW”?
