Dismantling the Factions

Felya-drenden · November 27, 2018, 11:32pm

Reallyhappy:

Why do people think this is a good idea? It will only increase the issues many players have about representation and the racial narrative. Blizzard already struggles to tell a compelling narrative with 2 factions being equally balanced, but by breaking down the factions into 20 different independant nations will just make it worse. Blizzard’s Neutral writing often works by making you work with a single organization, often dominated by a single races theme. We saw this in Legion were most order halls were either Human or Elven, and the vast amount of different priest (Loa Priest, Priestesses of the moon, Goblin Tevangelicist, Forgotten Shadow Cultist, Whatever the hell a gnome priest is) all operated from a Draenei themed Church.

I hate the faction war, don’t get me wrong. I find it a pointless plot that takes away from the setting and turns players into ravenous animals, but, i find a faction based story telling intriguing. It makes it so players will be able to relate to a few NPCs, no matter what. Even if you more heavilly identify with your characters race, a night elf would probably enjoy the gnome lore were getting more then say, helping the goblins exploit the environment to find a new vein of kajamite.

I don’t see how it’d make much of a difference.

Though dismantling the factions at least means they wouldn’t have to worry about trying to balance them.

Tannaril-area-52 · November 27, 2018, 11:35pm

I wouldn’t be a zero sum game. You wouldn’t make half the player base evil so the the other half get to be heroes. Sure, this race or that might be neglected, but at least that limits the damage.

Elenie-moon-guard · November 28, 2018, 1:31am

Conversely, perhaps without humans dominating a faction, they WON’T be the center of all development ever. Might give a chance for Gnomes/Dwarves/Worgen to shine for a change.

Ronstin-argent-dawn · November 28, 2018, 1:43am

You wish. Being in a faction doesn’t provide any reason at all for why they dominate both the material for that faction AND the neutral material. But they do. Blizzard isn’t going to stop focusing on them. Instead you’ll keep the same focus on the humans but will be giving up what little material you might once have received for gnomes/dwarves/worgen etc. to get a bit more from the orcs.

Elenie-moon-guard · November 28, 2018, 1:44am

At least it’d be something else.

Reallyhappy-dalaran · November 28, 2018, 1:47am

Basicly dismantling the factions wont stop stuff like dalaran and stormwind dominating the narrative.

Plus it will make it easier for them to force a race to be evil against what the players want. I think faction exclusive content is good for the future stories, simply because it wont lead to a subset of players to feel like they are underrepresented, as was the case with Argus, and Escalation in Mist. If you care only about your race, you wont gain anything from dismantling the factions.

Hell we are getting bloody gnome lore in 8.2 in the middle of the faction war.

Aíretam-tichondrius · November 28, 2018, 2:32am

Or you know maybe orcs can have some positive development as well. Maybe trolls can get a racial leader along with orcs.

Grandblade-wyrmrest-accord · November 28, 2018, 2:34am

Factions can stay. I just want expansions where we’re not fighting, so I can Cross-RP in peace.

Xoroth-crushridge · November 28, 2018, 2:54am

Changing something so close to the DNA of Warcraft is a pretty damn big gamble.

Anelaan-wyrmrest-accord · November 28, 2018, 3:21am

Blizzard has spent so much time, especially in Cata and BfA, trying to make us hate the other faction purely because they’re the other faction that I really don’t think they’d be able to pull off dismantling the factions.

The first time they had the ex-Horde working with Stormwind humans killing ex-Horde “evil” orcs/trolls or ex-Alliance working with forsaken to clear out “crazy” worgen that refuse to let the faction war die I’m pretty sure the fanbase would lose it’s collective mind.

Carmageddon-hyjal · November 28, 2018, 5:29am

So, if Blizzard is planning to radically change the faction system…is that why they are trying to make the factions feel as toxic as possible?

Unholyfear-proudmoore · November 28, 2018, 8:32am

I think it’s a horrible idea.

For the past 14 years we have been identifying with these factions. It’s a crucial part of the game, it’s part of our identity and the game’s. People buy Horde and Alliance merchandise, they make Horde and Alliance fanart and home decor, people have gotten Horde and Alliance TATOOS. This and other expacs are centered around the Alliance and Horde. Splitting up the factions would destroy this sense of faction pride that many people love about the game.

From a gameplay perspective it’d also be horrible. The game is already rumored to have a significant drop off, which isn’t a surprise with how this expac is going. 4 factions or more MIGHT work in the beginning of a successful expac, but a few months in as people drop subs, there’s going to be even more issues than there already are with dungeon, raid, and BG ques. They would be splitting up the playerbase even further which is a horrible decision. They would also be destroying guilds as half of a guild would be a part of another faction the next day.

Lorewise it’d be a mess because they’re struggling to write the 2 factions as it is. There’s no way they’d be able to write 4 or more factions intertwined with each other’s politics and actions properly.