The eternal hostilities between Alliance and Horde in World of Warcraft are not only anchored in the story itself, but also in the gameplay. Not only do they fight against each other in PvP, members of both factions are also not allowed to raid together. Whether that will ever change is unlikely, but not unthinkable.
At Blizzcon 2021, Game Director Ion Hazzikostas spoke about the underlying problem in the course of the community question and answer session: The inequality between Horde and Alliance.
More horde than alliance
Why are there more Hordlers than Alliance members?
Game Director Ion Hazzikostas explains that in the times of Mists of Pandaria, for example, orcs and trolls had better factional ability than any other race. This in turn ensured that many professional guilds switched sides:
“We know that there is a very real problem here, especially in the high raid area and in the mythical-plus scene that has grown in the last six to eight years. The reason for all the anger was an inequality of the Race attributes that existed a little too long, so that many top Alliance guilds switched to the Horde side. “
If you want to tackle particularly difficult content, you are in much better hands with the Horde than with the Allianz. Because of this fact, considerably more players with the ambition to conquer the most difficult content such as Mythic+dungeons gather here.
In the meantime, the problem of the dissimilar racial attributes has been resolved and Hazzikostas emphasizes again that in the latest raid Schloss Nathria even the alliance had the advantage.
Truce for the raid?
Although the underlying problem has been resolved, it will not induce the former Alliance players to change their faction again, so the imbalance between the two factions remains. There is still no concrete approach to solve this, but an idea.
According to Hazzikostas, the battle between the Alliance and the Horde is an integral part of the MMORPG, but he does not think it is impossible that one day you will be able to tackle group activities such as Mythic+dungeons or raids together regardless of your affiliation.
The biggest hurdle here is that the choice of your political group should still be important. If everyone could tackle the group activities together, one of the points that makes the decision between Alliance and Horde so elementary would disappear.
“It is essential for us that faction and related identity matter in Warcraft. If we lose that, then we lose something very valuable. But I would never say never.”
“There are many reasons why it is useful and important to maintain faction identities. But in the end, an MMO like World of Warcraft is about being able to play with your friends and being able to play the character you choose.”
A solution will take time
Hazzikostas goes on to explain that these are problems that can hardly be fixed in the short term. Because it would be very difficult to get the players to change factions again. At least without repeating the mistake of giving one side too strong an ability.
For the developer, however, it is one of the most important points that one wants to solve in the long term. When and in what way is not yet certain.
What do you think would be the most sensible solution to the problem? Do you want a co-op between Horde and Alliance?
More from the Blizzcon 2021
At the Blizzard fair, the developers were not only available to answer questions, but also announced some innovations for World of Warcraft. Including the first major patch for Shadowlands.
There was also new information about Classic. Since it only received its last raid in 2020, it will still not end. Instead, the first add-on will soon continue there: Burning Crusade.