The whole “war mode as the toggle” has been my prediction for a while as well. Part of the reason I’ve been so big on speculating this change for 9.0 (or 8.3) was because war mode would be the ideal on/off switch for factional cooperation: an individual choice, which has also been a big theme in BFA!
“We each walk a line, choose yours.”
What "conflict"? The manufacturer one by Sylvanas? Without Sylvanas, there is no post-Legion war. So, then everybody is holding hands while N'Zoth is released, and Anduin isn't lamenting how few soldiers he has.
But please, tell me more about how there wasn't just a full CGI about "breaking the cycle" which speaks specifically towards Horde v Alliance all the way back to the early 90's. This War is boring, played out, and this time wholly manufactured. As stated in the CGI, this is more than horde vs alliance. It's about Azeroth, and their home. So they are choosing to fight for their home.
They will pull a Rift. When a faction based game either has a massive drop off or imbalance that has tried and cannot be fixed you merge them and make pvp flagging the factions.
What did you think war mode was setting up for? to facilitate gurubashi arena duels?
Honestly, totally with you about the factions having their own stories, their own identities. There needs to be an incentive to see the other side, IMO, and seperate stories, different approaches to the same universal PVEvil foes would be perfect for that.
Always have shared options for use with party sync, but individual stories and faction identity shouldn't and don't have to go away just because we can all play together.
And yeah, once again, war mode is an elegant solution as a toggle.
FFXIV - Maduin (Dynamis DC)
100% Agree.
And again, classic happening during BFA is potentially a huge non-coincidence. Right now, the WoW fanbase is very aware, keenly, that a game exists where Sylvanas is the queen of the Undercity, and the factions are completely non-optionally at war, and that will never change in that game. The anchor is laid in the past, it's not going anywhere.
They can sail that "retail" ship as far away from the old school as they want. Classic is there for you. It's true, it's valid, it's everything you want if you miss the "olden days."
They just divided their playerbase between two games in the same world. It's time to refine the modern game into a modern MMO, and modern MMOs don't burden the precious new player with "quick pick a side to decide which half of the playerbase you'll get to play with on your main!" That's crazytalk in today's dwindling market of modern MMOs.