I concede there is an impassible reason we likely won't get faction mechanical change

[Omedon]

If you should, unlikely, recall any other discussions I've had on this subject, likely during BFA, you'll know that I have been mister "they HAVE to do it some time" regarding doing something, anything to the factional barrier that seperates players in WoW. There are countless ways you can make change that doesn't break the narrative, I mean for starters you can look to the precedent of every notable NPC that crosses faction lines all the time as a matter of importance. You can argue that the raiding scene needs it, that the PVP scene needs it, but there is sadly one major point that I've come to realize is the most stubborn reason that this seemingly "no brainer" of "getting with the times" will not happen in WoW.

It's our fault. It's the community's fault for being so tribalistic and toxic. Well... ok, you could also argue it's WoW's fault in creating a tribalistic narrative that we've bought into.

The one toe in the water they've made on this front is the potion you buy in... I think it's Dalaran that lets you very pointedly opt in to being able to hear the other faction's chat in shared channels, IF they have also drunk the potion. I for one have never bought one, and I don't know anyone who has... but I'll admit that my circle of players I associate with is pretty small and insular.

But let's start with the potion's example. It's so "I consent to hear you if you consent," because WoW knows what they've built. They know that if we can suddenly understand each other, every Sylvanas loyalist (which I'll take this moment to remind you is your right to decide for your character but is not canonically recognized) will sound like... you know I'm not going to finish that sentence with the real world example I was going to use, but they will sound like terrible people to every Night Fae Night Elf Druid.

WoW has, you must admit, put in a considerable effort, if not a perfect one, to become at least passably good at trying to keep our worst sides from directly interacting. They can't always win this battle, but one way they could lose it utterly would be to let us communicate cross faction in any randomly assembled dungeon or battleground party.

And that, right there is the only line that matters. For every manually assembled team content avenue, there exists the argument that you aren't meant to be playing with strangers (Semi-related PSA: M+ is not casual content), and if you're not with strangers, you're with people you know that can decide what faction to play, what server to be on, and to go do that. The only modes that WoW are wholly responsible for curating the customer experience are the ones where we are grouped by the game itself, and for that level of play... no, they can't let us hear each other if they can't trust us to behave... and they can't trust us to behave. Not on this point.

So they don't need to give it to the upper end raiders, they don't need to give it to rated PVP, because you should be playing with people you know. And they can't give it to the LFX randomly assembled tier because it's toxic enough without faction bias stinking the place up.

Sure, there are ways to do it, but are they worth the effort? I certainly think so, but do they?

That's the real question. I'm not confident, myself.