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Would A World Of Warcraft Faction Merge Be A Good Thing?

Spoiler Warning! This post will contain spoilers for patch 8.2.5.

Would a World of Warcraft faction merge be a good thing? Patch 8.2.5 dropped yesterday and Lady Sylvanas Windrunner is on the run. High Overlord Saurfang is dead, and the Alliance may have cracks in its ranks. According to King Anduin, the Priestess Tyrande Whisperwind hasn’t responded to his messages. She’s clearly still harboring resentment toward Sylvanas for the burning of Teldrassil, and for Anduin’s handling of the situation.

The faction conflict has been a part of World of Warcraft’s fabric for 15 years. I will admit it felt strange yesterday for my dwarven hunter to run around Razor Hill. He was able to fly close to Orgrimmar without being marked as PvP too. I’m not sure how I feel about a faction merge, or even a faction split if we end up with three or four new factions at some point. No matter how I feel though, it’s clear that Blizzard is taking World of Warcraft in a new direction.

So, do you think a faction merge is a good thing? Or, would you rather have a faction split where we have new alliances? Please, leave a comment below.

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Would a World of Warcraft Faction Merge Be a Good Thing?

Where The Story Is Headed

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As a player, I don’t want a faction merge. I enjoy being able to play both my hunters on two different factions. The game looks and feels different on each side. I play Alliance and I love it. The story though may call for a shift. With N’Zoth being freed and Azeroth suffering from her wounds, if the factions don’t put their hatreds behind them, then Azeroth may die.

Story-wise there’s still going to be conflict. There’s no way that Tyrande would merge with the Horde. She’s still angry about Teldrassil, and who could blame her. Sylvanas murdered thousands of innocent Night Elves. Basically, Sylvanas has now become Garrosh 2.0 and is commiting War Crimes left and right. Genn Greymane got along fine with Lor’themar for a minute in Nazjatar, but Genn’s also still angry about the death of his son. Neither Tyrande or Genn would pass on a chance to have their revenge. So if a faction merge gets in the way of that they may walk away.

This then brings up the question are we going to have a faction split then? Instead of two factions, what if we had three or four? Maybe these factions would be separated by beliefs rather than necessity. The Horde has always been about honor, but most of the Horde races banded together for survival. Alliance races tend to believe in the light, but they also banded together to protect their homes. New factions could be split by light and darkness, or maybe life and death.

There are already rumors that we’ll be visiting the Shadowlands for the next expansion. If factions are divided by light and darkness, then we could see our characters split up by class instead of race. An example of classes in a darkness faction is Shadow Priests, Death Knights, Warlocks, and Demon Hunters. The light faction could be composed of Priests, Warriors, Mages, and Druids.

Is It Time For World Of Warcraft To Shift Gears?

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WoW Classic released last month, and it’s been one heck of a ride. Thanks to Classic, World of Warcraft broke records, which included having over a million viewers on Twitch on release day. Classic also grew WoW’s subscription revenue by 223%, which made World of Warcraft the 3rd top-grossing PC game in August. Thanks to Classic, Blizzard Entertainment’s stock rose 4.7%. This is great news after the company was going through a rough patch last year and had done layoffs. Classic, unfortunately, caught the attention of DDoS attackers too. So, basically, Classic helped elevate World of Warcraft back into mainstream consciousness.

Many old players returned to relive the madness. We also saw new players beginning their adventure within Azeroth. Classic saw us returning to World of Warcraft in it’s purest form. The game was slow and unforgiving 15 years ago, but it was also incredibly rewarding. It was way easier to make friends because you had to rely on each other for quests, professions, and group content. Retail is different because you can totally play the game by yourself. With WoW Classic being out though, does this mean that Blizzard feels they can take retail into a new direction?

A faction merge would be the biggest shakeup in WoW since the Cataclysm (Cata). The idea is even crazier than Mists of Pandaria (MoP), and many players didn’t take those rumors seriously back then. They thought panda’s in Warcraft would look stupid. Mists ended up being a pretty epic expansion. When most players complain about the worst expansions in WoW, they normally talk about Warlords of Draenor (WoD), Battle for Azeroth (BFA), or Cata.

World of Warcraft Gear Shift Continued 

The best expansions in WoW are usually picked because of the storyline, gameplay, and overall epicness. Most players have fond memories of Vanilla, the Burning Crusade (BC), and the Wrath of the Lich King (Wrath) expansions. So those of us who’ve played WoW for at least 11 or 12 years like myself, remember the old school way of doing things. In general, when players talk about their favorite expansions you’ll hear Wrath, MoP, or Legion quite often. Most of these expansions share commonalities. The storyline was engaging because these expansions took a risk, and they were usually connected to Warcraft III. So these expansions also featured popular heroes and villains that fans wanted to see.

Blizzard may need to take a risk to keep World of Warcraft afloat. The only things constant in life are change. As fans, many of us may be afraid to see a faction merge or split, but if we’re being honest with ourselves maybe we’re ready. The game can’t grow, and the story won’t change if we don’t see anything shocking. When Cata first happened, many of my friends stopped playing because they didn’t like the changes. The game world looked different, and the gameplay wasn’t as difficult. WoW didn’t feel like the game they had fallen in love with. If Blizzard hadn’t done Cata and then released MoP right after, maybe WoW wouldn’t still be online today. The gaming industry has shifted focus to a casual gaming audience. They want games to be more accessible and trendy.

A faction merge could actually make the game more accessible to a casual audience. For many newer players, maybe the faction conflict feels outdated and confusing. The challenge though is that some races wouldn’t want to be too close. Most humans in WoW probably still remember the Orcs invading their lands, and the Night Elves haven’t forgiven the Orcs for their lumber operations. The Tauren don’t appreciate Dwarves digging through the Earth. Goblins want to be rich. As long as they make money then they don’t care who they’re allied with. Anyway, you get the picture.

Should Players Have A Choice?

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Horde players were allowed to choose whether to betray Sylvanas or not. You saw a different final cutscene in the War Campaign if you chose to side with her. This is the first time Blizzard has allowed our choices to affect the outcome of the story. Wouldn’t it be cool if we could choose whether we want the factions to merge or split? If our choices actually affect the story than that gives more power to the players. It’s already awesome that our playable characters are in the cutscene with the heroes. The game creates a cohesive story. Sometimes it feels like I’m playing an interactive movie. A lot of Playstation 4 games feel like this too. Maybe this is just an industry standard, but it’s fun.

Would you like Blizzard to let the players choose the story direction? Leave a comment with your thoughts.

Would A Faction Merge Last?

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The heroes have a habit of only getting along for a minute. A theme of trust seems to be an undercurrent in this expansion. It’s been mentioned several times that King Anduin is too trusting. This could leave the Alliance in a bad situation, especially if the Old-God whispers pertaining to the lies from the boy-king are true. If there’s a faction merge, no one is just going to forget the bloodshed. How do you trust someone who murdered your friends and family? It’s not impossible for the factions to merge, but it doesn’t make sense for them to sing Kumbaya either. Each race is highly aware of what the other one is capable of. What would stop the Horde or Alliance from secretly furthering their own gains?

Everyone says they want to protect Azeroth, but it could just be talking. A World of Warcraft faction merge for necessity rather than a common bond could cause it to break. There are prejudices and preconceived notions formed from years of war. None of those are going to disappear overnight. Most humans probably consider the Orcs to be savage. Tauren assumes the Dwarves have no respect for nature. We have several types of elves now. Are we sure the Night Elves, Blood Elves, and Nightborne are no longer bitter about Queen Azshara and the Sundering? Thalyssra and Shandris didn’t seem like the best of friends in Nazjatar. Also, Tyrande and Thalyssra aren’t the best of friends either. It just seems like a faction merge could be a temporary thing. Half of the characters can’t stand being in the same room for five minutes.

Would A World of Warcraft Faction Merge Be A Good Thing?

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Do you think a World of Warcraft faction merge is a good thing? Please leave a comment below. Also, don’t forget to share this post on Twitter, or to share the pinnable images on Pinterest.

Be sure to check out the 11 must-have ground mounts in World of Warcraft. Also, don’t miss the best addons for WoW Classic. BlizzCon 2019 is in November so don’t miss out on this possible World of Warcraft expansion leaks. If you’re looking for awesome quests be sure to check out the Seven Best Quest Chains in WoW Classic. Exploring in WoW is super fun, so check out the most interesting zones in classic when you can. Also, how to make gold in WoW Classic is helpful if you’re struggling to save up for your mount.

Thanks for hanging out at my hearth.

Happy Hunting,

Spyells


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