The war in World of Warcraft will never end in favor of one faction. We asked a WoW employee about why this is the case during the interview at Gamescom.
At Gamescom 2018, we had the opportunity to speak with some developers of World of Warcraft and ask them numerous questions.
We asked Michael Bybee, one of the Senior Game Producers: Is it possible for one faction in World of Warcraft to take control for a long time and suppress the other side?
“First and foremost, we try to do what makes the most sense for the story we want to tell. That is a paramount factor above everything else. Moments like Teldrassil, which felt bad for the Alliance, or Lordaeron, which felt bad for the Horde – all of that serves just one much larger story goal that we are pursuing. And we have some great things coming soon.”
Fans have already speculated a lot about what this “larger story goal” could be. Some fans suspect that Sylvanas will receive a “redemption” story and, similar to Kerrigan in StarCraft 2, will end up being a necessary hero to avert a greater evil.
However, Bybee became more specific and explained that the Horde and Alliance would likely never rule over each other:
“I don’t think we would intentionally give one faction more control or power over the other faction – at least not for a long time. Because that would take away a bit of what I think is the ‘heart’ of World of Warcraft.”
A narrative dead end?
Interpreting the statements a bit, it seems that World of Warcraft has reached a narrative dead end. In a world dominated by war, there must eventually be a side that emerges as a winner at least temporarily, otherwise the story wears thin and becomes predictable.
One of the few alternatives to this is that a third non-player faction appears, such as the Naga under Azshara, which weakens both the Horde and Alliance simultaneously. This would give new momentum to the conflicts without drastically shifting the balance of power between the Horde and Alliance.
The Horde and Alliance will likely remain in conflict permanently – the domination of one side or the other seems excluded.
Also in the interview, we asked why other MMORPGs struggle so much against WoW.
