The List: Four Reasons We're All For World of Warcraft Getting Cross-Faction Guilds | MMORPG.com

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The List: Four Reasons We're All For World of Warcraft Getting Cross-Faction Guilds | MMORPG.com

One of the last features of cross-faction play still to come are the guilds. We're fans of cross-faction in World of Warcraft, so it stands to reason that we would also onboard with the impending guilds. Here are a few reasons why.

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IceAge

Please speak in your name.

"...four reasons I am for ... "

Cross Faction (Guilds and Party) is the worst thing ever happened to WoW, or it will.

The problem is not faction imbalance, because this was always "the case". The problem is that there are less players in WoW ..because guess what? Because of the last 3 expansions ( yes, DF included ).

Fix the game, fire Ion Hazzikostas and the problem will be solved. He managed ( how? ) to release 3 of THE most weak expansions ever in the history of WoW ..............in a ROW! That is the problem.

Adding Cross Faction guilds is pathetic. Literally they shit on the name ( and the game ) WARcraft. Also on the lore.

Adding Dragons as playable race and class was also a bad move.

I mean, is Ion. I literally expected that this X-Pac to be at least as much as BfA and Shadowlands..in terms of mediocricy.

"World of Warcraft isn't going all of a sudden lose its identity or become irrelevant because it's moving away from one of the pillars it stood upon for so many of its years. It's simply evolving to fit the players of today."

No! That's called DEvolving , not evolving. Aka its going down, not up.

Legion was the last expansion to be very good..and guess what? Is not that old. It ended in Mid 2018 to very good reviews. That's not even 5 years old. So, its not like it needs to evolve to a point where it loses its identity because ..the game is old. It needs good expansions. That's it. No radical changes.

Neoyoshi

Remember when we could Raid each main factions City and fight the leader of said city? And we'd have to fend off player enemies while getting to the leader, fighting leader, killing leader.

And after a certain amount of times doing this, you'd get a really cool mount?

I miss those days

Angrakhan

As IceAge mentioned above, I don't think the root cause of what's wrong with WoW is the factions. Matter of fact if you look at the game historically, the population was the absolute highest when factions were very much alive and well and at each other's throat; namely WotLK. Therefore, it seems like chasing a red herring to go down that road when there's other more obvious things to address to improve the game and rebuild player interest and population. Case in point I have no plans to play the current expac, and adding cross-faction guilds is not going to be the feature that brings me back.

ZenJelly

I have a better title, Four Reasons I'm out of Touch with World of Warcraft.

Mr.Gutsy

IceAge said:

Please speak in your name.



"...four reasons I am for ... "



Cross Faction (Guilds and Party) is the worst thing ever happened to WoW, or it will.



The problem is not faction imbalance, because this was always "the case". The problem is that there are less players in WoW ..because guess what? Because of the last 3 expansions ( yes, DF included ).



Fix the game, fire Ion Hazzikostas and the problem will be solved. He managed ( how? ) to release 3 of THE most weak expansions ever in the history of WoW ..............in a ROW! That is the problem.



Adding Cross Faction guilds is pathetic. Literally they shit on the name ( and the game ) WARcraft. Also on the lore.



Adding Dragons as playable race and class was also a bad move.



I mean, is Ion. I literally expected that this X-Pac to be at least as much as BfA and Shadowlands..in terms of mediocricy.



"World of Warcraft isn't going all of a sudden lose its identity or become irrelevant because it's moving away from one of the pillars it stood upon for so many of its years. It's simply evolving to fit the players of today."



No! That's called DEvolving , not evolving. Aka its going down, not up.



Legion was the last expansion to be very good..and guess what? Is not that old. It ended in Mid 2018 to very good reviews. That's not even 5 years old. So, its not like it needs to evolve to a point where it loses its identity because ..the game is old. It needs good expansions. That's it. No radical changes.

"Warcraft" is pretty much dead at this point. I've moved on. They can plunder that IP into oblivion. Couldn't care less at this point.

Xiaoki

They need to remove all faction restrictions at this point.

People not being able to play with each other is a major problem with the game that has only gotten worse with time.

Dragonflight is already one of the expansions for WoW, getting rid of factions would definitely make it the best.

It's been 18 years, some people need to let go of the past.

LePetitSoldat

I'm all for radical changes...but not this kind of change. They could improve what is ancient and outdated in WoW, such as customization, models, animations, effects...

Ridrith

I love to shit on games, but Dragonfight is a good expansion. IceAge keeps bringing up the fact that there's nothing new in this expansion... Uh, what exactly do you think the vast majority of the people play WoW for? They aren't looking for new. They're looking for new dungeons, new raids, and new busy work or content to take part in. That's exactly what they've done this time around.

They've provided and catered to the majority of the people still playing. I suspect when they do release the sales numbers, that they'll have done quite well for themselves and have maintained close to the same sales numbers as before. Which are always extremely high.

DF is hilariously alt-friendly this time around, you can gear up faster than ever, and if you're a raider or a mythic key pusher, it's a good time right now.

The "new" shit they've added has consistently been the problem. As fun as legendary weapons were in legion, the borrowed power system became a chore. It was awful in BFA, I won't even birng up Shadowlands. DF takes the best of all of those elements and pulls them in the right direction. Dragon Riding is also extremely fun. Will it lose it's shine after a few months? Yeah, of course. I'm enjoying it. They're clearly moving in the direction that they know is a simple truth. People are going to play WoW for a few months, quit, and then come back for the next patch. They're building the game for that reality. It's quite clear they're building up a new foundation for the expansions moving forward.

People play the game differently these days. MMO populations in general are extremely fickle.
When it comes to cross faction guilds... Who gives a shit, just do it already. The Horde as a faction doesn't even make sense anymore and they're clearly going to continue to write the story with as much depth and nuance as a Saturday morning cartoon. The lore is a mess at this point. Consolidate the factions, get it over with, and let's move on from the idea of a war between the two factions. If anything, once we're allies, I think it will be more interesting once policy and internal strife breaks out. Plus, the Alliance can reforge Arathor at that point.

Mallyx

"So players can play the way they want" is such a non argument. What about the players already playing the way they want as it is now with factions being separate? This article was really poor, didn't show any real evidence for cross faction game play other than that is what the author wanted. Well go back to lotro and stop lying to us about friends refusing to hang out because they were in different factions. Factions was the best part of wow. The game is a very pale shadow of what it once was.

Viper482

This is a point of no return, forever destroying the lore that made Warcraft so epic. Once they make this move there is simply no going back, what a collective of morons. I can't believe the majority of players are for this.

Scot

"Truly allows players to play how they want, with who they want"
That should not be a priority, unless you want players to be to able to play Thomas the Tank Engine in WoW. Players need to be reigned in, not given free reign.

"Improves Raid Communication"
Ahem, with voice chat software you do not need to be in the same guild and who can't afford a mic? You can communicate by text in voice chat apps as well.

"Better Resource Pooling"
Having to use an alt, taking two steps to transfer resources is hardly the end of the world, I don't see what the issue is.

"Further breaks down the factionalism in World of Warcraft"
Factions make for great esprit de corps, a sense of belonging and a motivation for much of the gameplay in a MMORPG. I am sorry but the idea that some players disliking each other is a reason to remove factions from gaming is terribly namby-pamby. What next, remove all PvP because it makes some players dislike each other?

IceAge

Viper482 said:

This is a point of no return, forever destroying the lore that made Warcraft so epic. Once they make this move there is simply no going back, what a collective of morons. I can't believe the majority of players are for this.

The majority of (true) WoW players have left Retail and are playing Classic. The remaining are your usual casuals, which literally destroyed WoW with their "QoL" ..demands.

Moreso, they keep their subs running, even if the X-Pacs are bad, which ..they make them quilty for the state of WoW. If they would stop playing when an x-pac is bad ( BfA, Shadowlands ), then Blizzard would of think twice before making changes.

Yes, everyone is free to play how they want. But I met many who said BfA and Shadowlands sucks bad, but they still played the game from time to time and kept their subs running for the entire of the X-Pac. That is the problem.

Kappadonna

Cross-Factions is a simple way to make Blizzard's future game design easier, so that they can spend less time/resources on half-assed expansions like the past few they've had (including Dragonflight).

WoW's entire premise was based on Faction vs. Faction. Story, quests, zones, PvP, even at times dungeons. That foundation eroded long ago, but then further plunged into oblivion starting with Legion. BFA made a weak attempt to bring some level of faction vs. faction content, failed. Now? Blizzard doesn't care to make a game that treats Horde and Alliance as separate entries because it requires more zones, level design, quest design, and all the extra effort that comes with it each time they make new content.

Blizzard treats WoW as an aged cash cow that still produces good green milk because there's enough loyal people to still play it. And they are only loyal because there hasn't been a good western MMO to come out in over 12+ years.

From Blizzard's perspective? The less money they have to spend on maintaining the game the better. Knowing that people will still buy it just because its Warcraft and they've been conditioned to accept what the game is today as Warcraft merely because they have no other alternative.

Ridrith

IceAge said:

Viper482 said:

This is a point of no return, forever destroying the lore that made Warcraft so epic. Once they make this move there is simply no going back, what a collective of morons. I can't believe the majority of players are for this.

The majority of (true) WoW players have left Retail and are playing Classic. The remaining are your usual casuals, which literally destroyed WoW with their "QoL" ..demands.



Moreso, they keep their subs running, even if the X-Pacs are bad, which ..they make them quilty for the state of WoW. If they would stop playing when an x-pac is bad ( BfA, Shadowlands ), then Blizzard would of think twice before making changes.



Yes, everyone is free to play how they want. But I met many who said BfA and Shadowlands sucks bad, but they still played the game from time to time and kept their subs running for the entire of the X-Pac. That is the problem.

LOL, what is a "true" WoW player in comparison to anyone else playing WoW? That's such a hilarious basement dweller level thing to say. I've played WoW since launch, I was in a top 10 tier raiding guild from Vanilla to Wrath on Illidan and Sargeras, I've got a High Warlord orc warrior that I haven't touched since 2007, and three other officer-ranked PvP characters that I've moved on from over a decade ago as well.

I've dabbled in nearly every expansion that has launched (but didn't play MoP, WoD, or SL). Classic by the way, who cares. I played the game when that content was relevant. People blew through those raids within the first week. Know why? Shit was easy, especially now. Players know how to play. They've gotten better. The only reason BC or Wrath have a better curve at this point is because Blizzard is actively going back and tuning the raids, tier content, etc. Otherwise, they knew it would get stormed through just as quickly.

Self-masturbatory pride in a way you approach a game is a joke. Casual players are the only reason MMOs exist, and they will continue to be the only reason these games exist. Without them, they'll either die, be underfunded Kickstarter junkers, or just never get made if the money isn't there to be made.

Hengist

It's strange that when, (was it 20 million players?) that there were no issues at all with having two separate factions, and having that whole "War" part of Warcraft. It was part of the allure. While there were obviously some people who had to switch factions to play with friends, by in large, it was a huge win, a selling point for the game.

These days, with the dwindling player base, which is still immense, I find it funny that they continually diverge from some of the key aspects that made the game a titan in the genre. Then again, either evolve or die may be a true consideration.

That said, still feels like this caters to the people who want "Participation awards" and feel that they are entitled to everything, and are afraid to make choices.

While I understand that casual players make up the vast amount of players today, and the game has to work for them, I think when WoW had 20 million odd players, it was made up mostly of casual players then as well. I'm not sure that cross factions are a solution to whatever ails them today though.

Games like ESO seem to cater to casual players, and I know I've been enjoying it for the past 6-8 months again, but that's been it's niche. When I was heavily involved in WoW years ago, it had elements that appealed to the hard core gamer, and the casual gamer as well. So why this change?

If you have a car accident, the EMT does triage, and immediately treats the worst injury. WoW making this change feels like they did triage, found that the game was bleeding out, and they decided to put a band-aid on a torn fingernail. In the scheme of things, not really a problem, but hey, its something!

Maybe I'm all off, but Blizzard seems to be resisting taking account of the game, and the market. Keep your identity, be who you are, it's what sets you apart, and generally that's a reason to play a game. Look at all the WoW-clone games that came out and failed for trying, and failing to be as polished at WoW in the first 7-10 years after it launched. This is now WoW trying to be like everyone else, and cater to everyone. When you do that...you rarely get the result you want, you'll never make everyone happy anyhow.

Ridrith

As far as I'm concerned factions no longer being a thing, when it officially happens, and make no mistake, it will eventually happen, will only be a net bonus for everyone playing. Players no longer having to make a choice about which faction to join and being allowed to play what they want is a win for players. Factions stopped mattering a long time ago, now it's only a point of contention in game. Imbalance in WvW, the whining about certain racials being "OP" or "Required" or why "*Insert Faction Name* alwyas wins in PvP", etc, etc. Can all go away.

The story as to why anyone is fighting at this point doesn't even make sense. We're already in a "ceasefire", and given the Horde literally committed genocide against an entire race of the Alliance, they're obviously willing to forgive horrendous grievances for the sake of continued peace. It's stupid writing. Factions aren't required to have sustainable PvP, even then, they could just as easily continue to exist, but you can join friends/enter cities/etc. It wouldn't matter at all.

theGnade

At this point I don't really care. WoW quality is so down and keeps going even more down. There just no point fighting it and I just accept that WoW just keeps getting worse.

corrosivechains

IceAge said:

Please speak in your name.



"...four reasons I am for ... "



Cross Faction (Guilds and Party) is the worst thing ever happened to WoW, or it will.



The problem is not faction imbalance, because this was always "the case". The problem is that there are less players in WoW ..because guess what? Because of the last 3 expansions ( yes, DF included ).



Fix the game, fire Ion Hazzikostas and the problem will be solved. He managed ( how? ) to release 3 of THE most weak expansions ever in the history of WoW ..............in a ROW! That is the problem.



Adding Cross Faction guilds is pathetic. Literally they shit on the name ( and the game ) WARcraft. Also on the lore.



Adding Dragons as playable race and class was also a bad move.



I mean, is Ion. I literally expected that this X-Pac to be at least as much as BfA and Shadowlands..in terms of mediocricy.



"World of Warcraft isn't going all of a sudden lose its identity or become irrelevant because it's moving away from one of the pillars it stood upon for so many of its years. It's simply evolving to fit the players of today."



No! That's called DEvolving , not evolving. Aka its going down, not up.



Legion was the last expansion to be very good..and guess what? Is not that old. It ended in Mid 2018 to very good reviews. That's not even 5 years old. So, its not like it needs to evolve to a point where it loses its identity because ..the game is old. It needs good expansions. That's it. No radical changes.

Not just Ion, the whole company needs cleaned out and rebuilt from the ground up. Too many people employed within the past 10 years have a raging hate-on for the fanbase which was built up since the early 90's, and it's reflected in the content they've been gradually introducing into the game since BFA.

Hating your fanbase and constantly rubbing it in the face of your customers is not a winning business strategy.

Maggon

What about immersion? Faction culture identity, hell even racial culture and otherwise identity, all of these things are being stripped away, race identity has been in decline for years on end, which is a massive shame, fir some reason blizzard is hellbent on trying to make every single race that the player can play as the same.. and it sucks - My first character was a tauren druid back im vanilla, I loved the world feel, coming from W3 meant that i at the same time wanted to check out places found in that game just brought in at a higher detail.

I think its been 8 years at a minimum since I was last in Thunderbluff, because theres just no teason to actually go there.. sure I could just go there anyway, but all the new atuff is. Eing added to Orfrimmar anyway.. and now valdrakken.. the fact that every race you choose is just essentially the same alm around is honestly boring.. everything that made your race, your faction unique is being taken away, just leaving an empty shell behind.. or so I atleast feel.

I loved hating the alliance, it was fun and i have fond memories of large groups invading different zones only to be met at an opposing group from which we would kilma eachother for hours. I dont think thats even a thing anymore, is it ?

I think we would have to go back to WoD when I last even went to an alliance city to take on one of their leaders.. lol

Not to mention that as soon as you get to the dragon isles you’re practically becoming best buds with the alliance as if BFA had never happend..

Oh and dont fet me started on that they supposedly want every class for every race, now I know some people just want to play a race with anh class.. but man.. it really just takes me out of the world.. and it sucks.

I apologies for any typos that might exist.. writing this on my phone.

Andemnon

When the Horde also has Northshire as a starting zone, yeah, kill it with fire.