After nearly two decades, World of Warcraft recently announced it was allowing Alliance and Horde players to play together. In an interview, World of Warcraft Game Director Ion Hazzikostas explained the game’s reasoning behind this decision, and confirmed it had no plans to have another expansion with a focus on the Alliance-Horde conflict.
In World of Warcraft Patch 9.2.5, after the Eternity’s End update, Alliance and Horde players will be able to complete dungeons, raids, and PvP together, regardless of faction allegiance. Though WoW could implement more cross-faction content in other aspects of the game after that, it plans on doing so deliberately so as not to collapse under its own weight. According to Hazzikostas, cross-faction overworld content would be a mammoth undertaking because of the framework of the game, meaning it is unlikely to happen, though cross-faction guilds could be available in the future.
However, Ion emphasized he knows “better than to close any doors.” He stated he does not want anything to be off the table, nor does he want to cut off any communities formed via the cross-faction content being added. To that end, the story of World of Warcraft is unlikely to focus on the Faction War again like it did in Battle for Azeroth, and though cross-faction gameplay won’t be addressed in the lore, the existing armistice between the Alliance and Horde will likely persist, if not grow stronger.
Much like Shadowlands, the Battle for Azeroth expansion sold well initially, but quickly fell out of favor with many World of Warcraft fans. While the world building and plots were interesting, the focus on the Faction War felt forced after Legion, and it sabotaged the integrity of dozens of characters along the way. Battle for Azeroth proved World of Warcraft fans were sick of the Faction War, and would be glad to see an end to it.
This has led to an overwhelmingly positive reception to World of Warcraft’s decision to allow cross-faction gameplay, even in a limited sense. Players almost unanimously want to focus on moving past the war, rather than dwelling on old conflicts. They also want to be able to play with their friends regardless of what faction or race they choose. Many hope these changes can lead towards a WoW community where half of the player base isn’t encouraged to hate the other half.
A minority of players are still firmly against cross-faction gameplay, however. Some believe the Faction War is quintessential to Warcraft, despite the fact the Alliance and Horde have worked together to combat common enemies as far back as Warcraft 3. Others hold grudges against players across the faction line for other reasons, like toxic behavior or story-fueled grudges. Blizzard has affirmed it wants to keep cross-faction gameplay optional for this reason, and plans on listening to feedback and desires of its players as it explores this new era of World of Warcraft.
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is available on PC. Eternity's End is currently in development.
Source: IGN