Besides the inevitable flaming, why cant Horde and Alliance communicate?

[Agent Smith]

In all the books, cut scenes, movies etc they're able to communicate with each other. Not once did I hear an Ally say BUR in any cut scene.

So im kinda wondering, whats the point to this? Only thing I can think of is, /say /whisper and /yell trolls. Other than that, not sure why the communication barrier.

Thanks for your answers to this insignificant question that really is at the bottom of the totem pole of importance.

[arkanon]

In all the books, cut scenes, movies etc they're able to communicate with each other. Not once did I hear an Ally say BUR in any cut scene.

So im kinda wondering, whats the point to this? Only thing I can think of is, /say /whisper and /yell trolls. Other than that, not sure why the communication barrier.

Thanks for your answers to this insignificant question that really is at the bottom of the totem pole of importance.

Win Trading. Honestly, no matter what other reason Blizzard might give, this is the core of it.

[Yarathir]

Hopefully, it'll be something we can do, eventually.

[Thetruth1400]

Horde and Alliance all speak the same language in cutscenes and quests for narrative purposes. Sure, some of the leaders may know the languages of other races for diplomacy reasons, but for reality, they don't all speak the same language.

Why we can't in game, besides the trolling, would be an inability to communicate with your own faction strategically in PvP and win trading. "Hey, you guys stay out of this area, we will stay out of your area, we both profit!"

[ShmooDude]

At this point, I don't think the benefits would outweigh the negatives. In the past, you could only communicate cross faction outside the game. This is no longer the case as you can communicate "cross faction" through Battle.net friends list.

Expanding this ability to the entire game would mainly result in increased toxicity and/or exploiting without adding much to legitimate usage.

[Agent Smith]

Ahhh yea win trading. IDK why I missed that. Seems obvious now.

This is why we cant have marginally nice things.

[Biomega]

Win Trading. Honestly, no matter what other reason Blizzard might give, this is the core of it.

I don't think this is the reason tbh, if you wanted to do win-trading it'd be trivial even without communication. It's not like you meet a random in a BG and go "yo wanna trade wins", it's an organized scheme that doesn't rely on in-game communication.

The real reason is probably simply the one in OP's title: inevitable flaming. That's why they didn't put chat into Hearthstone either, and people still managed to flame with "ironic" emote spam.

[Mysterymask]

Cant Demon Hunters talk to eachother still....

[Relapses]

You answered your own question. The community is toxic enough without the added layer of faction communication.

[Sorshen]

https://www.wowhead.com/item=2460/elixir-of-tongues

[EyeOculus]

In the current days of discord and communities, the whole win trading reason is a bad point.
Furthermore, people can already talk to each other with the help of a potion, outside of PvP.
Pandaren also can talk to each other while outside of PvP areas.
Not sure about VElves with BElves and NElves and Suramar Elves, but my guess they can outside of pvp as well.
And if my memory doesn't betray me, Demonhunters can aswell talk to each other in the class hall.

So yeah... It's a quite inconsistent. The reasoning is purely gameplay related, not by lore reasons. I think the heroes of Azeroth should be able to talk and understand the other factors main language.

[Mysterymask]

It is kinda gameplay related...its meant to try and reinforce the separation between Alliance and Horde..they've been slowly taking steps to try and loosen the seperation but its supposed to be a full separation

Also yes...Pandarian, Void/Blood Elves, and Demon Hunters can talk to EACHOTHER cross factoin

[Jastall]

Horde and Alliance all speak the same language in cutscenes and quests for narrative purposes. Sure, some of the leaders may know the languages of other races for diplomacy reasons, but for reality, they don't all speak the same language.

Why we can't in game, besides the trolling, would be an inability to communicate with your own faction strategically in PvP and win trading. "Hey, you guys stay out of this area, we will stay out of your area, we both profit!"

I doubt the language barrier is a thing lorewise when as far back as WC3 Grom, an Orc from another world who isn't exactly a linguist or a scholar, could easily and instantly communicate with Night Elves who have been isolated for ten thousand years old, or when a Forsaken can go to Argus and have a nice chat with broken Draenei that have been stuck on the fel blasted planet for more than 25 000 years.

As for the OP, easy win trading would be my best guess. It's still possible to do with that alts or external tools, but enabling it in-game might make things messy.

[the game]

We're at war.

[EyeOculus]

We're at war.

Nope, we are at a strained cease fire for the moment.

[Minikin]

Nope, we are at a strained cease fire for the moment.

it will get real tedious switching that on and off given how quickly that situation changes. not to mention the whole "I am not talking to you! Cuz im mad at you!"

[Thetruth1400]

I doubt the language barrier is a thing lorewise when as far back as WC3 Grom, an Orc from another world who isn't exactly a linguist or a scholar, could easily and instantly communicate with Night Elves who have been isolated for ten thousand years old, or when a Forsaken can go to Argus and have a nice chat with broken Draenei that have been stuck on the fel blasted planet for more than 25 000 years.

Yes, which is exactly why I said it's a narrative purpose for game play.

An Orc from another world who has never seen a human (since there were none on his home planet) let alone spoken to one is not going to suddenly show up speaking and understanding perfect Common. Likewise, A Forsaken may know a few words in Draenei from interacting with a Draenei or two in passing, but isn't going to be able to hold a conversation with a Draenei, let alone a Broken who has 25,000 years of divergent linguistic evolution.

We're supposed to sit back and just accept that everyone can / can't communicate with each other when it's necessary for the narrative of the story. Since we're of two factions, we're expected to not understand each other, which is why we can't make one on one friendships.

[kaminaris]

https://www.wowhead.com/item=2460/elixir-of-tongues

Guys, this. Probably best solution as both parties must consent.

[Pony Soldier]

Because Blizzard has to have some way of keeping this nonsensical faction divide going.

[Grythletubs]

Cant Demon Hunters talk to eachother still....

So can void elves and blood elves