We all know that Faction balance on PvP realms is terrible, but what can blizzard do to fix the issues.
Assumptions:
Breaking mega servers and meshing them together is not an option (either blizzard doesnt want to deal with the fallout or fear that people will just transfer back to create single faction servers).
Blizzard will not do faction specific queues or lock character creation (because as incredible as these tools would have been on launch, they dont really fix the problem now that it is so far out of hand).
I have two possible solutions in mind, but both have caveats thay i am sure will deter and least a group of players.
The first is that they inplement some form of cross-server tech. Immediately you can tell this will hurt the classic fanbase as many people detest cross server in classic (See RDF thread 10,000). However the main reason these lopsided mega servers exist is because they offer the largest number of activities for people to join in a single place. If you break that barrier, suddenly players can play from a lower pop/more balanced realm and not lose out on the ease of forming groups and finding pug raids.
The second and possibly more palletable option would be changing PvP servers to be dynamic server types. By “dynamic” I mean that if the server detects that the faction ratio of active max level players reaches a certain threshold, the server will flip from a PvP server to a PvE server. The thresholds required to “flip” a server are for blizzard to decide and a check for if the server needs to flip its type would have to be done at regular intervals (probably weekly maintenance). This is probably more of a bandaid than a solution, but at least when factions start to tip, the minority faction no longer has a huge incentive to leave as they are continually griefed due to being outbumbered at every corner.
While you are free to critique the ideas that have been put forward, i would prefer people add to this discussion by adding new ideas for people to consider.
Not much you can do. Unfortunately a significant portion of the playerbase convinced themselves they like PvP servers, only to later find out they don’t. They initiated these mass migrations, either to PvE servers or to flock to more balanced or Alliance dominated PvP servers. Because their faction was dying, even people who might have been ok with PvP would also start transferring off just to have more people to play with. That’s when you started seeing the first imbalances in Classic, way back in 2019 still, the thrills of phase 2 were just too much for some people.
Then it just became the server meta. My faction is dying? Move to a server where it dominates, why bother transferring to a balanced server when I can just go where the grass is greener? Blizzard allowed it, so it happened.
This begs the question of why are these people even rolling on PvP servers. Literally PvE options are there… and clearly players prefer PvE servers to PvP servers. But still we see so many PvE centric players roll on PvP servers.
I personally relish PvP servers and the behaiviour that many consider “toxic” is exactly why i rolled on a PvP server. I dont mind being camped for hours or having my raid night griefed. I just see that as what a PvP server “Should” be and i give back just as hard as I get given. I even play alliance on Arugal because it vastly increases my exposure to what a PvP server is.
Mate both of those recommendations are not exactly anything anyone really wants. Blizzard is more than capable of restricting what faction can transfer to a realm to help maintain a balance to some degree. There is also the issue of oh we are no longer faction locked on PvP servers so players can literally make either faction characters on PvP servers. Well, that doesn’t really help the situation either. Currently, the best option is to limit what faction can transfer to a realm. Though if someone wants to level a fresh character of the opposite faction then got give it to them. That sucks to do now that there is no Joyous Journeys buff.
Personally, completely against cross-server actions being made. As for the “dynamic” server idea, there are many players on PvP servers that actually enjoy world PvP and that would completely destroy the culture that they nurture and love.