[Opinion] Cross Faction Guilds in 9.1

[callipygoustp]

Cross faction guilds : A solution for a non-existent problem.

Edit:
If anything, first, there should be cross server guilds.

[AngerFork]

Cross faction guilds : A solution for a non-existent problem.

Edit:
If anything, first, there should be cross server guilds.

I'd argue cross server guilds would be far more harmful to the game in general than cross faction guilds. If you have guilds coming together cross server, think about what else that brings in each time you raid or do anything with guildies.

Either stuff can't be shared between cross-server guildmates (enchants, potions, etc) which puts cross server guildies at a disadvantage, or you have to have trades and the like open. If you go with the latter, you've basically opened up a Pandora's box where all server economies are largely shared. Why? Because gold & items are now all transferrable between servers. Prices will certainly equalize after a little while and any mudflation that you see on larger servers would trickle into the smaller ones as well. Not to mention the headaches of trying to track down gold sellers that suddenly will be able to hand off their gold transactions from server to server. Add in cross server guilds...the only real identity servers would have at that point is trade chat.

Compare that with cross faction guilds. The economies are already shared between factions as all AHs are neutral, so that's not a concern. The WoW universe is already filled with organizations that have members from the Alliance & Horde both (Cenarion Circle, Argent Crusade, etc), so it's not like it's unheard of lore-wise. We've already seen guilds hold together with members in different organizations (Aldor/Scryer, the covenants, etc), so that's not a major concern. Letting guilds be cross faction and do raids/dungeons together is by no means a full merging of the factions, far from it. You'd have to remove the language barrier for guildies/recruits & there are a couple dungeons/raids with different versions for Horde & Alliance you might have to adjust, but that's really about it that I can see for consequences.

[sunxsera]

We all know this is the direction Blizzard is heading to resolve the imbalance created by previous mistakes. Let’s let them know we need this now and not next expansion.

and you think a system like this is developed, coded, tested etc. in ~4-6 weeks ?

[Mysterymask]

and you think a system like this is developed, coded, tested etc. in ~4-6 weeks ?

Oh dont bother with mmoc armchair devs...pretty sure half of them think fixing the game is as simple as adding the line (fun=yes) into the code

[Relapses]

Oh dont bother with mmoc armchair devs...pretty sure half of them think fixing the game is as simple as adding the line (fun=yes) into the code

Wrong. It's not (fun=yes). It's (favorite expansion=yes).

[Mysterymask]

Wrong. It's not (fun=yes). It's (favorite expansion=yes).

Oh my mistake also (%personreadingthis=win)

[Wolfrick]

I mean... us teaming up to save the world every 3 months kinda hurts the whole war thing...

I never really felt at war with the other faction since warcraft 2. Even in three it felt more like skirmishes.

well, that is a good point... I really hope that with the new systems we have that can suppose more things ingame, we can go back to more simple stories and focus on a great war/huge tentions between the alliance and the horde ^^

[ek0zu]

I hope it happens, the sooner the better!

[Bootynuzzler]

People persisted forever about the elimination of Pathfinder, but still Pathfinder is still around. If you want to use situations where the community outcry resulted in positive change for the game as an example, the best the community can hope for is maybe a compromise that is least impactful to people who don't want faction barriers dropped but still manages to give people who want the faction barrier dropped a little of what they want. If you want to reach a compromise with people who don't want the faction barrier to fall, we first need to find agreeable definition and terms by which can be safely compromised with. Without civil debate there can be no middle ground and no fair outcome for both parties.

Do you honestly believe that a multi-billion dollar corporation gives a rat's ass about what any of its players have to say beyond "please explain why you are unsubscribing"? If there is an issue that is causing a drop in MAUs, it will be changed regardless of player debate - and as someone who has been playing Alliance on the highest population realm for years - let me assure you, the absence of cross-faction grouping for high-end content is hemorrhaging Blizzard's MAUs. Ion did not address the question on this matter during Blizzconline - hinting that something is in the works - without good reason.

As for cross-faction guilds, specifically, I have no comment.

[gobio]

Lets get real,
Your Highmountain Tauren druid who allied with the horde for no reason must follow "muh queen" Sylvanas even she is poisoning her own troops.
You see saurfang defect in your face, but "faction is a core part of WOW", so suck it until she yell in your face you are nothing.

Because Sylvanas is right, you really are nothing.

[Not A Cat]

I just want the option to group up with the opposite faction for dungeons, raids, etc. We officially do it in the lore, might as well give us the option in game. Obviously make it optional, and make it impossible if war mode is on. That way the people who like the classic way can keep at it.

But for us RP nerds who have a cross faction group, this would be a great option so we can actually do dungeons and raids together.

[rowaasr13]

Hell no. Factions should never be able to cross, ever.

Just because "war in muh warcraft" mob fails to notice 95% of wars outside of stupid asspull faction conflict?

[Razion]

Do you honestly believe that a multi-billion dollar corporation gives a rat's ass about what any of its players have to say beyond "please explain why you are unsubscribing"? If there is an issue that is causing a drop in MAUs, it will be changed regardless of player debate - and as someone who has been playing Alliance on the highest population realm for years - let me assure you, the absence of cross-faction grouping for high-end content is hemorrhaging Blizzard's MAUs. Ion did not address the question on this matter during Blizzconline - hinting that something is in the works - without good reason.

As for cross-faction guilds, specifically, I have no comment.

I think it's becoming more common for games to sit down and talk to representatives of their community about key issues and to foster healthy ongoing transparent discussion where everyone can work together to get what they want. (It's not like WoW doesn't do this entirely, anyway.)

Cynicism is fine and I'm not trying to puke rainbows here, I'm just saying everyone stands to gain from a little more transparency and cooperation.

[Soon-TM]

Would never happen. Doesn't matter how many "reasons" people give, it will never happen. Please learn to cope.

Well, Ion himself has come on record saying that while AvH may be pretty much hardcoded into WoW (the "pillar of the franchise", in his own words), he still acknowledges that

faction imbalance remains an issue. During a later question regarding server populations, he specifically noted that he has co-workers who want to play Alliance for lore or aesthetic reasons, but feel obligated to play Horde because that’s where their friends are already playing. The developers don’t see that as a desirable outcome — and from everything I’ve seen on player communities over the years, players don’t either.

Which would imply that they will have to do something about it, sooner or later. Unless of course, they acknowledge the issue but choose to turn a daft ear instead.

Cynicism is fine and I'm not trying to puke rainbows here, I'm just saying everyone stands to gain from a little more transparency and cooperation.

While I agree with this in principle, I'm cynical enough as to think that transparency isn't really Ion's strong suit.

[Relapses]

I think it's becoming more common for games to sit down and talk to representatives of their community about key issues and to foster healthy ongoing transparent discussion where everyone can work together to get what they want. (It's not like WoW doesn't do this entirely, anyway.)

Cynicism is fine and I'm not trying to puke rainbows here, I'm just saying everyone stands to gain from a little more transparency and cooperation.

I really wish Blizzard had the balls to tell 99.9% of their playerbase that whatever idea they think is best for this game is pants-on-head retarded, has no chance of ever becoming a reality and that a sample size of "some dudes in my Discord server" isn't a surmountable reason for them to immediately reverse course on the entire direction the game is taking. That's the transparency the developers need to give us. Sadly, I don't see that happening any time in the future.

[Razion]

I really wish Blizzard had the balls to tell 99.9% of their playerbase that whatever idea they think is best for this game is pants-on-head retarded, has no chance of ever becoming a reality and that a sample size of "some dudes in my Discord server" isn't a surmountable reason for them to immediately reverse course on the entire direction the game is taking. That's the transparency the developers need to give us. Sadly, I don't see that happening any time in the future.

99.9% of the playerbase is a lot (I mean, obviously this is hyperbole). If everyone is agreeing so wholeheartedly on one direction it's important that a step be taken back to understand the situation more. Something really core must be wrong for the experience to be so universally despised to a point where all players seem to agree there's a problem. Now obviously it's one thing if devs are hand-tied into trying to fix a specific problem, and if they really think this was the best fix to the proposed problem before... but, if all the playerbase is having a negative experience, which of the two problems at that point is greater should probably be re-examined. Of course, this is all ideal, and obviously not all universally agreed upon community perceptions are always right... but if everyone is having a bad time, something should change, even if it's going back a couple steps so things are less bad. It's unfortunate when there isn't a perfect solution to appease all parties -- especially if devs are in such a state that they are being told to find a solution to a problem... so, limitations in this way may be a reality that gets in the way of actually satisfying the user. But, I think to wrap things back around, being transparent about THAT is probably what I'd like to see more of. Just telling players that something is the best solution to the given problem doesn't paint the entire picture and isn't as comprehensive to the entire set of issues.

[Garretdejiko]

With some limitations, sure. BGs should still be faction based. They could introduce class based teams game modes (or Covenant based), were cross faction happens.
Major cities shouldn't be cross faction, Sanctuaries would lose their importance.
World PvP would be still a thing thanks to War Mode.
For everything else, Dungeons, Raids, trades, mailing, questing I see no problem. I'd be more willing to play Alliance.

[Coldkil]

The problem of faction imbalance is that it's a trend and not a static situation. It's a slow but consistent flow of players going to the more populated servers and most populated sides because it just makes easier playing the game.

More players = more stable guilds, more active pugging (which is a thing for a lot of players), lower prices in ah for consumables etc. There are a number of straight advantages about playing on the "right" side.

I'm pro cross-faction guilds. Factions need to stay, they cannot remove them at all. But PvE wise it makes sense to open up grouping for istanced content - if they really want to solve the issue about faction imbalance.

There's no easy solution. If something like this happens, it will be game changing and will make many people mad. On the the other side you have a non ideal situation but olayers are used to it and doing nothing will keep things running for a while.

I suppose they're postponing something like this to the day one faction is clearly unable to do relevamt content, but i don't think it'll ever happen.

[rowaasr13]

BGs should still be faction based.

Uh, you don't know that this is the game mode that is already cross-faction enabled? Look up "mercenary mode". Yeah, you CAN play WITH opposite faction in PvP, but for some stupid reason can't do that in PvE.

[munkeyinorbit]

We all know this is the direction Blizzard is heading to resolve the imbalance created by previous mistakes. Let’s let them know we need this now and not next expansion.

Didn't we have this thread two years ago when "we all know blizzard is going down this road". I'm not against.the idea but stop pretending that blizzard is close to implementing this. If they were we would have it by now.