I’ve developed a pretty extensive battle.net list of friends who run keys. Every time I run a key with good people I try to add them to run more keys with them later. However with each passing day my list of friends gets shorter because people keep transferring to Horde.
And it’s a gap that will continue to worsen because as the gap widens it only increases the likelihood that people transfer to Horde. Why wouldn’t they? That’s where people are doing keys. I’ve personally never experience the M+ Horde queue, but all I hear is that it’s so much better than alliance.
I think the solution to this is cross-faction gameplay. I’ve spoken of it before, but it would solve the problem if we just allowed Horde and Alliance to be able to queue up and run dungeons and raids together.
Before you say anything, yes I understand Hall of Fame is still a thing. I think when Hall of Fame is over and cross-realm raiding unlocks then we should just unlock cross-faction raiding as well. Dungeons I think should just be cross-faction from the get-go. So often they’ve teased at Alliance and Horde working together to defeat a greater foe. Why not let us feel a part of that? We’re the players, right? The whole point is to provide us a story and let us experience it, so let us experience this ability to work together with the Horde for once.
It is. Noticeably. I was able to get into +10-15 groups easier on my less-geared horde toons than I am on 470+ characters.
While this would fix one specific issue, it would also create many more. This would essentially ruin the lore of the game. There’s not really a justification for allowing cross-factional play in every aspect of the game. It could take away from people’s perception of the storyline for the expansions which is a huge thing for a lot of players.
It’s important to keep in mind that functionality goes hand-in-hand with the fantasy. People play for other reasons outside of gearing up; so when Blizzard is making decisions that affect game, all areas must be considered.
Well said, I just don’t know how they are planning on fixing this gap, but I just hope they have something in mind because I think it will only get worse.
I disagree. The Horde and Alliance have been working together off and on since Warcraft 3. We’re continually working with NPCs of the opposite faction toward common goals. If anything, being unable to cooperate with PCs of the opposing faction is a bizarre contradiction of the story in which we end up working together to face “a greater threat” expansion after expansion.
Right this is my main point. We see all these cut-scenes of Horde and Alliance talking and commiserating, but we never get to experience that. Aren’t we the champions of the greater cause?
I should rephrase… it would ruin a players perception of their game. Though alliance and horde have worked together many times, it doesn’t mean that it should be a constant thing. I think that would ruin the essence of the game.
Many people love the alliance versus horde narrative and it would ruin wpvp indefinitely.
In my scenario it wouldn’t change wpvp at all. The ONLY two changes I would like to be made is the ability to see each other in queue and to enter dungeons/raids together. Those who want to world pvp still get to do so. You could even make it so you can’t use the same summoning stone unless you both have warmode disabled.
I’m not saying that conflict shouldn’t be an option. I am saying that cooperation should also be an option. It’s the choice that our faction leaders and heroes have made over and over, but it’s always been denied to us, the players.
And imagine the story possibilities if “the Horde and Alliance fight, but ultimately have to team up to defeat the big bad” was off the table. We might actually see this world and these characters take a step forward instead of being caught in the same cycle expansion after expansion.
The only way it wouldn’t ruin world PVP would be if we could kill opposite faction characters in raids.
Agreed that we need to get rid of the “ultimately have to team up” part. Alliance don’t need Horde to help us with raid bosses, and we should keep the loot to ourselves.
I really wouldn’t mind if they merged factions once and for all. The world in which we live is being torn asunder from every possible angle right now. Dividing a player base against itself and fostering an air of artificial bigotry feels like a step in the wrong direction.
My grain of salt says this isn’t a huge deal, and if nothing changes it might not make an ounce of difference, but seriously, I think segregating your community, effectively diluting the participant experience is an outdated operation.
Is it more important for the game to keep telling their convoluted, hackneyed stories where the most relatable character ends up being some throw-away shaman extra, or would it be better if they improved the game-play experience of the majority of the player base by effectively doubling the number of groups, tanks and healers for all players?
I realize that this is so ingrained, so physically and emotionally intrinsic to the game that it will likely never change, but I think they need to seriously look at this division and its lasting effect on the gamer experience.
"I think segregating your community, effectively diluting the participant experience is an outdated operation.
Is it more important for the game to keep telling their convoluted, hackneyed stories where the most relatable character ends up being some throw-away shaman extra, or would it be better if they improved the game-play experience of the majority of the player base by effectively doubling the number of groups, tanks and healers for all players?
I realize that this is so ingrained, so physically and emotionally intrinsic to the game that it will likely never change, but I think they need to seriously look at this division and its lasting effect on the gamer experience."
I think this is their trump card for when the game is really and truly on its last legs (financially)
I believe people overthink this possibility. Capital cities and faction specific quests stay the same, everything stays the same; but you can now see the opposite faction in group finder, the same for LFD.
So Orcs and Humans can group up to kill the dungeon boss, but when they hearth, each of them goes to Org/SW respectively. There are a few minor details to gloss over (like Warmode ought to be disabled for cross-faction groups to work), but this is the gist of it.
Thinking back to a game like EverQuest, this is essentially what happened. You could play together as any race (unless you were PvP enabled), but “evil” hometowns attacked “good” characters on site, and vice versa. I, as a Halfling, could group with an Ogre or Troll, but if I were to go to Oggok (Ogre town) I’d be immediately attacked by guards. Kill on site (KOS) was the term back then.
I can’t believe anyone brings up story or lore anymore. It is horrendous now. Things start and stop with no idea where they came from or where they went.
It’s like they don’t even know themselves where it’s going or someone from corporate axes it mid way thru.
The only thing that has been good the whole way is the world design and art. Story, lore and system design has been on a downward slope.
Can’t the horde queue alliance in pvp (bg)? How this would be any worse or better? They will need to do something one day anyway. It’s already very hard to fill a cross server Mythic raiding group on the alliance the only thing you get is bad players.