Izhana you and Caelin and Naahmah make solid arguments against the faction changes being expressed…
Thank you! It absolutely is a player base issue. I am not sure how Blizzard caused the imbalance as it appears some suggest but I would love to hear how they did that. The implementation of Warmode? Ok maybe. Or maybe the rewards varying for being in Warmode depending on your faction making us aware of the imbalances that we might not have noticed as much otherwise?
We just had a Horde vs Alliance themed expansion though its execution depends on your perspective.
@Thundahstahm the story isn’t bad because of the faction issues in my opinion. They should have progressed what they had and what made the game successful but as far as I can tell without investing too much time in to it, a lot got retconned from Warlords of Draenor and from there on, as indicated by new players going from exiles reach to BFA with no other option the other content doesn’t matter. Sadly. Pretty insane given it was the foundation for the success of the MMO for the first roughly 6 years or so. Warlords on appears to me to be the story Blizzard is trying to tell and I really do not understand why these changes have been made and it doesn’t appear like a lot of the playerbase does either. Would love for Blizzard to share those perspectives and not in a professional corporate way but as people who play a game and enjoy the universe. Needing to read books, whether you are an avid reader or not, to get the full expansions story is absurd. Those books should enrich the foundation of story told, not be required as I am under the impression they are. I have them I just cant be bothered to read them at the moment. That might not be true though but it seems to be community perception, or maybe its just an argument of principles.
The faction imbalance, however valid or perceived, has always been a problem and people have always looked at whatever data they felt was worth using to decide where a good faction population existed as far as server choice went. I have done the same thing when I decided on a home for my Horde and Alliance characters. Years ago my Alliance characters were on Scilla. No idea if that server is still around. Its population was fine and then one day it tanked for no reason I could discern. I know a portion server transferred for whatever reason but thats all I ever found out.
It would be interesting to see how many players are on Horde because they feel like that’s where the player population is verse whether they would prefer Alliance but player participation in the suggested “survey” would likely be underwhelming unless Blizzard implemented filling it out before log in or something ridiculous and unreasonable to implement.
Players might not like the idea, and I certainly don’t, but its been pointed out that people can play whatever race or faction they want to. As someone who started as Horde I really don’t identify with a lot of the races as I once did and they don’t fit for me anymore and I prefer Alliance races. If you want a newly rolled character to be your new main I think a lot of people fully understand the implications of grinding stuff back out. The leveling process is probably the easier part I would say by a notable amount verse regearing and I would say that leaving old characters behind doesn’t feel good either so I assume that’s why people advocate for this faction stuff.
This faction discussion is not a simple one despite the way some people argue it. Good points on both side of course. I don’t mind people Qing for a raid or other group PVE content like they do in pvp but even that feels kinda weird on a personal level when you realize its someone undead helping you etc.
The games current state in terms of the overall experience is a massive issue and I think personally gets underestimated in its contribution to the issues some players experience though I do sympathize with those players who are stuck on lower pop servers etc. I was once in that boat and eventually moved the characters I cared about and skipped the ones I didn’t.