IGN Cross-Faction Grouping Ion Hazzikostas Interview

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Ion says the team is open to expanding the feature in the future to include things like cross-faction guilds. They want to start conservatively and grow it from there.

Really hope it gets there soon, cross faction is kinda neutered without cross faction guilds imo.

That's it. The franchise is dead.

No way will it survive removing such a core feature as the faction rivalry. Good luck with all the cosmic shit, Shadowlands worked out really well.

"The foundational pillar of Warcraft has always been adventure and not necessarily the war between the factions. It has often acknowledged that we have more in common than what separates us."

I'm a bit indifferent about the changes being implemented at this point. But it's a bit insincere to say that the game hasn't been about conflict. It's called WARcraft. And it was about literal interdimensional orcs invading humans. Yes there is nuance but the IP was built off the single idea of war.

World of Warcraft is no longer much of it's original self, the game is fine in it's own right. But it's really no longer Warcraft.

Originally Posted by Daronokk

That's it. The franchise is dead.

It died long ago, not because of this.

I expected as much, what with wanting to start small first. I simply hope that as Blizzard doesn't stop after the first step like it has with other things in the past. :|

I hope it remains optional at least....

Originally Posted by mcwhitenoise

"The foundational pillar of Warcraft has always been adventure and not necessarily the war between the factions. It has often acknowledged that we have more in common than what separates us."

I'm a bit indifferent about the changes being implemented at this point. But it's a bit insincere to say that the game hasn't been about conflict. It's called WARcraft. And it was about literal interdimensional orcs invading humans. Yes there is nuance but the IP was built off the single idea of war.

World of Warcraft is no longer much of it's original self, the game is fine in it's own right. But it's really no longer Warcraft.

WoW has generally always been about the WAR in WARcraft, but very seldom has it been about the faction war honestly. Mostly it's been things like war against the burning legion, war against the scourge, etc.

There's a lot more "lets team up and defeat this world ending threat" than people who care about the faction war give credit to.

Even in Warcraft 3, orcs, humans and elves were working together. That was the whole point of the story in that game. After 17 years where 99% of the people we fought were common enemies and world-ending threats, this is what breaks one of the pillars of the franchise? If anything it should've always been an option to do cross-faction play, for those who want it, because cross-faction alliances and friendships have always existed in the story and lore of the game.

People using the old "war is in the name" - we're still at war, just not with each other. The game has seen us teaming up with each other to defeat bigger evils since vanilla.

The game will be better for everyone with larger pools of players to play alongside. I hope they roll this out to everything; random queues too.

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

The team has been revisiting community requested things that they have said "no" to in the past

This is the interesting bit to me - the infamous Blizzard dev stubbornness is being addressed, finally? Did Ybarra lay down the law and tell them to stop being big crybabies and make changes to bring back customers?

We'll see. It's coming from Ion, so I automatically assume he's bullshitting us. He's earned that, and hasn't done much to earn trust back, but we'll see. And, not picking a horse in this race - I can see how it could be bad, and how it could be good.

Also, if they're putting devs on the code side of this, and it's as much work as they say it is...this patch is off in the future - and 10.0 isn't coming any time soon. MS may have reset a lot of things, like release schedules - sucks for those playing to have only SL to play in the meantime, but if they're going to get more time for 10.0, hey, maybe that's what they need.

Makes me wonder if there's a 9.3 in development, because 9.2 for the next year? Or more? That's the state of the game for the next year or more? Yikes.

Come on Ion, just admit that the true reason is that barely anyone is playing the game at this point. Anyway, this pretty much confirms that the story now fully shifts to the God awful cosmic garbage, so I think I won't re-sub for a while.

I would be very surprised if Blizzard removed Warmode and the restrictions on visiting cities of the opposite faction,
so those Horde and Alliance that love the faction conflict can can still gank the everlasting shit out of each other in Warmode and raid each other cities.

There is no reason why Blizzard would remove that as long as those that play the game for the gameplay can play with whomever they want.

classic <-> retail paid transfers inc

Originally Posted by Stoy

[b][size=3][*]They realize that they reached a tipping point awhile ago, but were stubborn and traditionalists and the thought of uprooting this foundational pillar was scary.[*]They eventually want you to be able to access all legacy content dungeons and raids so you can farm transmog with friends, but it will take more time

Funny, the community has known this for even longer and been asking for it. Glad they're acknowledging that it was nothing but their stubbornness that held everything back.

Not sure why the legacy content would be hard; we already have the buff applied to us to change our appearances to see the fights from the other side, it be no different than just doing that for the characters of the other faction. Hell, that tech has existed since literally TBC where our races were changed in the Caverns of Time.

Really hate this "start half-assed and fix later" mindset Blizzard always seems to employ.

Would it really hurt them to just go all in on an idea for once? What are they worried about? What is the actual negative result from allowing cross-faction guilds and queues?

"For now, the they are not ready to dissolve factions and let a bunch of humans run around Orgrimmar."

It kills me, they're making a step in the right direction with this but then they're pulling back. You want a reason for why a human might join the Horde? They fundimentally disagree with the Alliance and how they approach issues.

The thing is, people should just be able to pick their faction. The Pandaren are a great example of this. When you leave the Wandering Isle you have a choice between the Alliance and the Horde. Then, you go visit the leaders who say in no uncertain terms, "your former brothers and sisters who chose the other side are now your enemies. You are expected to behave as such." Mix that in with the revitalized new player experience on the small island as a choice given to you at the end of the island and this all melts away.

or in other words.. we think having ill will towards the opposing faction is discrimination and we are going full stream woke moving forward. enjoy

seriously, after i read the explanation for it. this is the only thing i could think. we dont want your character to hate the other races?!? wtf

About time. Should of happened years ago.

Originally Posted by kizcrew

It died long ago, not because of this.

It died when the old Blizzard left. But this makes sure it will never come back.

Originally Posted by Tyrathius

Really hate this "start half-assed and fix later" mindset Blizzard always seems to employ.

Would it really hurt them to just go all in on an idea for once? What are they worried about? What is the actual negative result from allowing cross-faction guilds and queues?

Have you seen the massive whine, literally everywhere? It is already hurting them with the little they announced.... They sure expected backslash, and it's been a lot of that. But people need to understand this is necessary from a technical point of view, given the low amount of people playing and the current state of the game.

Originally Posted by Daronokk

That's it. The franchise is dead.

If I had a penny for each time I've read this....