I've kind of noticed this too over the last few years at Blizzcon. Part of it might be that the current presenters don't have the same intensity as Metzen, but Blizz has definitely in general gone away from the "For the Horde" and "For the Alliance" cheers. In Legion, there was a definite feel of "For Azeroth!" This year, they obviously tried to push the covenant thing. Even with BfA where the main story was Horde v. Alliance, it seemed in the panel like they were more interested in discussing what Sylvanas was doing and what was happening with Azerite than the actual split between the factions.
I wouldn't be surprised to see the barrier disappear in the next expansion or two.
World of Warcraft wouldn't function without the faction border, why? Because Blizzard wouldn't know how to create drama without it.
But can you say that anymore? I mean pre-BFA people were complaining that from end of Mists all through WoD the game was nothing but Orc, Orcs, and Orcs, and then end of WoD through Legion its all Demons, Demons, and Demons...we're tired of all this and we want faction wars back. Then after BFA faction wars suck and people don't want another expansion like BFA
While yes, covenants are likely only a expansion feature...people seem to hate factions or just simply want them to exist for the sake of existing
How many years have they been at war? It doesn't even make sense anymore. Every time Blizzard reiterates the faction conflict it's a giant eye rolling "this shit again? "
Next expansion will be about how a troll made a joke about Greymane. It will start the 5th war. And maybe the 6th war will be a competition of who can hold their breath underwater the longest (spoiler, only the undead survive). 7th war, 8th war, 123rd war? Who cares, it's WARcraft after all...
You would think that after facing gods and death itself they would come to the conclusion that the tantrums they throw at eachother are futile, laughable and pathetic. But naaah... FoRr dA HooRDe and fOr tHE aLliAnZz
Last edited by Ragnarohk; 2021-02-27 at 12:15 AM.
Yeah, but "no working together to stop the planet/reality/universe from being destroyed" is kind of hard to accept as making any sort of sense. I'd be happy if they would just implement cross-faction play for instanced PvE content only, so people could raid and do M+ with their friends without some people having to compromise on which faction they prefer playing.
I never did tend to listen to so-called informed people on MMO-C over the devs before, ain't about to start now.
Covenants are an expansion feature. People theorized that we'd have Artifacts and Order Halls forever moving forward, and both were yeeted out of the way with BfA's release.
I think a lot of the lower end raiders followed because that was where the guilds were. I looked in MoP for an Alliance raiding guild but couldn’t find one with the raid times and number of days I was looking for, so I faction swapped over to Horde and have remained there.
Good I would be much more inclined to play if this was the case, I have family that will only play alliance and some that will only play horde, we would finally be able to play together, if we still play by then that is.
No, I saw that. But previous Blizzcons had a ton of For the Alliance/For the Horde moments, not to mention a lot of ribbing by the devs towards other factions. This year, it really just didn't feel like the factions were all that important, aside from Ion's comments during the Q&A. That doesn't mean that they are 100% removing or keeping them, but it does IMO speak to the faction conflict not being as ingrained today as it was in WoW's past.
My guess is some sort of half mercenary mode that allows for cross-faction guilds and PvE groups, but not a full removal of the factions themselves.
Honestly, they are in a hole and I'm curious how they get out of it.
On one hand, it must be tough creating a story where the Horde and Alliance ALWAYS have a reason to fight each-other. This on-off war has been going of for DECADES. How many people has the player character alone killed in this war? How is the planet's population going to survive this?
On the other, they believe Horde vs Alliance is the core of the fantasy to Blizzard. No matter who the villain of the day is, it's still Orcs vs Humans. They can't just make peace and let gnomes get their stink all up in Orgrimmar.
Good, it should've happened after MOP. Horde vs. Alliance is very much Xavier vs Magneto, after like 4 or 5 frienemy xpacs/movies - enough already, move on. If players want the faction in full throttle Warmode then that'll be a big part of the Classic server lure. After teaming up to defeat strong foes then breaking off into war mode again 4 or 5 times, its getting harder and harder to sell me or anyone with a brain on the Horde vs. Alliance war or even cold war.