Factional "Never say never" is borderline insulting at this point.

[Omedon]

Look, we know they want us all playing together. We also know that they don't want the new player to "choose which half of the community to hit you with fantasy racism" upon arrival in the game. If or whenever they ever lift faction restrictions, yes, it's going to be a tribalistic mess until the feature is trivialized. Whether they do it now or later, there will be a period where LFX is full of "dirty [faction]" vote kicks and insults, so either say NO when asked pointedly (good on Scott Johnson BTW for point blank asking: "this isn't happening, right?") or tear the bandaid off.

I for one don't see them ever doing it unless they can completely "community proof" raids and dungeon access with some kind of NPC party, but in the meantime, "never say never" just feels wrong to say. They created this toxic tribalism, and now it's their major hurtle to overcome. It's got nothing to do with "the soul of the game" and everything to do with "welcome to world warcraft... half the community hates you by the way, look forward to them in chat!"

[Wheeler]

Because they don't NEED to do it yet. Should they? Of course. But do they NEED to? No.

Despite it being harder to recruit and raid alliance side, you can still recruit and raid alliance side. You can still do M+, you can do everything you can do on Horde side, just with more effort required. I did BFA on Alliance, and all of Legion/SL on Horde. The difference is definitely there.

When it gets to a point you CANNOT do the same things, or the experience is so shot (Think multi-hour queues for everything), is when they'll decide it's time. Not before.

It's an inevitability likely reserved for the final WoW expansion, where we become "Azerothians" or something and fight the biggest of the big bads. It works on 2 fronts. Population is perfectly balanced for matchmaking because there's only 1 population. You will absorb the Tanks/Healers from the other faction, so those will be OK too. You can tie it into the story as well as stated above.

Boss dies. Roll cutscene about a united Azeroth, show both factions thriving in cities, roll credits.

[Kauko]

Just remove this faction barrier and finish it already. What is the point of the barrier anyway??? PVP? Hahaha. Keep it for Warmode.

In the current state, we have more bad than good with the separation and I just don't see any other solution and Blizzard also...

Ion said in the same interview that they waited for to long with the Realm imbalance problem, now they are waiting for to long with the faction imbalance. Until it will be ruined beyond repair.

[A Chozo]

Don't forget to prolong your subscription, Mr. Borderline Insulted.

Ion didn't say anything wrong. He's considering the options, and I bet that he wanna do it in a way that fits some in-game event, so it's not just the flip of a switch.

Stop being insulted just because you disagree with the lead dev.

[Omedon]

I bet that he wanna do it in a way that fits some in-game event

Honestly, I hope that's what's happening. I for one have already set my chat settings so most toxicity doesn't hit me, but I'm a veteran. The new player walking into this woodchipper of tribalism they've created is a much bigger "health of the game" issue.

[Tadkins]

It's going to happen eventually. It will have to. It doesn't make sense to split the playerbase anymore. My only hope is that it will happen sooner rather than later.

[Luxeley]

Everything about that Q & A is insulting, its the single worst content and display of transparency Blizzard ever displayed.

[Zorgulon]

While I absolutely do not want horde and alliance to be merged and cross faction being a thing, Shadowlands kinda seems to be the xpac to do it.
Like, we could have made it so pvp is vs the other covenants, so a Kyrian human and orc fight side by side. That would ofc be very imbalanced because of cov abilities and such, but you get the idea.
BFA had me really excited, for I thought it would be an xpac of purely allies v horde war, but ofc turned out to not be, since we gotta fight some world destroying common enemy every xpac... It should just have been better written tbh and we could have had a good war xpac.

[Kelduril]

Because they don't NEED to do it yet. Should they? Of course.

They absolutely shouldn't. When they remove the barrier they become the same as the other failed MMOs like ESO who had to break down the factions because their playerbase wasn't big enough.

Warcraft is built on the Alliance vs Horde conflict, it's its identity. If they bring down the walls EVERYONE will just roll Human.

No thanks.

[delus]

I mean, yeah. People are going to be toxic over fantasy racism in cross faction groups but over time it will probably fade. I think it would be a good thing for "faction pride" to be less toxic.

[Nagawithlegs]

They aren't going to spoil a major upcoming expansion feature ahead of time, even if the community wants them to.

Ion basically confirmed cross faction was coming, but he will not reveal it.

[dcc626]

Everything about that Q & A is insulting, its the single worst content and display of transparency Blizzard ever displayed.

not overreacting much huh? why do i have the feeling that the phrase "the worst (insert thing here) ever" is a phrased you throw around a lot.

- - - Updated - - -

I mean, yeah. People are going to be toxic over fantasy racism in cross faction groups but over time it will probably fade. I think it would be a good thing for "faction pride" to be less toxic.

people are going to be toxic regardless of what happens. because they sit anonymously behind a compter monitor. most internet toughguys wouldnt say a damn thing to anyone if it meant having to back it up.

[Kauko]

People have to realise one thing. If one faction dies, they will all play Horde vs NPC Alliance... That is a good thing i guess...

I mean, if there was another solution, don't you guys think that Blizz would already done it? I bet they are waiting with this merger just because of all the crying trolls on the forums that want their faction fantasy intact...

[evertonbelmontt]

Game would be much better with crossplay between faction. Separating friends and family from playing togheter sucks. And imagine the ammount of money they would make from race changes.

I myself would go back to human or void elf in a heartbeat.

[Athredas]

Warcraft was, is, and always will be the story of Horde and Alliance, deal with it or go play some other Friendship is Magic simulator

[varren]

What they're doing with Classic TBC so far gives me hope for Retail faction balance. It at least shows they are willing to put some effort towards solving the issue.

I am guessing 10.0 expac will have cross faction play

[huth]

Because they don't NEED to do it yet. Should they? Of course. But do they NEED to? No.

To be honest, i think an expansion launch would be a better time for it, so they probably shouldn't do it right now.

- - - Updated - - -

Don't forget to prolong your subscription, Mr. Borderline Insulted.

Ion didn't say anything wrong. He's considering the options, and I bet that he wanna do it in a way that fits some in-game event, so it's not just the flip of a switch.

Stop being insulted just because you disagree with the lead dev.

They probably also don't want to announce anything until they're 110% certain on it.

[rogoth]

They absolutely shouldn't. When they remove the barrier they become the same as the other failed MMOs like ESO who had to break down the factions because their playerbase wasn't big enough.

Warcraft is built on the Alliance vs Horde conflict, it's its identity. If they bring down the walls EVERYONE will just roll Human.

No thanks.

the current WoW playerbase isn't big enough to support the faction divide, region divides, and the different ways people play the game, especially the raiding population which is at the lowest now that it has ever been, and has been consistently getting lower and lower since the end of WoD, in the current tier of mythic raiding less than 3000 guilds WORLDWIDE have cleared HALF the raid bosses in the raid, that's never happened before at this point in the lifespan of the instance, it's 3 months old at this point and to have such a low progress rate shows that there simply isn't enough people anymore to fill that gap, and even after the 'tuning' done to the place kills on 9th/10th bosses haven't really improved much if at all, and right now there's a large drop off of players and guilds who were once the guilds that would always clear content either step down their schedule and not worry about clearing content anymore, or straight up quitting the game with no indication of whether they will return or not.

the faction divide has been long overdue for removal after having so many 'we must team up or face oblivion' moments it's pathetic and petty at this point the storylines they are trying to force feed people to make this 'faction war' still make sense 20 years later.

[razorpax]

Mercenary mode

[Kelduril]

the current WoW playerbase isn't big enough to support the faction divide

Yes it is. The current WoW playerbase has thousands of guilds working on Mythic Nathria. It's doing quite fine.

, in the current tier of mythic raiding less than 3000 guilds WORLDWIDE have cleared HALF the raid bosses in the raid, that's never happened before at this point in the lifespan of the instance

Citation needed. Not that it would prove anything, maybe the raid's just too hard.

the faction divide has been long overdue for removal

No. The factions are the core of WoW's identity. Go play ESO if you want factions to mean nothing.

I don't need my groups full of Humans.