Cross-faction guilds are not a new topic in the World of Warcraft community. In fact, it has been a go-to topic among fans and players alike since the game’s release on November 23, 2004. Some are hoping for mixed memberships between Alliance and Horde characters right from the start, while others simply do not like the idea and prefer to keep the way things are.
Looks like the debate would end soon as Blizzard is reportedly considering the possibility of having a cross-faction system moving forward. The news comes from the latest interview with World of Warcraft ’s very own production director Pat Dawson, who revealed the studio’s interest in potentially adding the said system to the game.
Dawson said that the studio has been carefully considering cross-faction gameplay since June 2022. This was specifically when a patch for Shadowlands was introduced. While he did not confirm a release window, the system could very well be implemented for guilds at some point in the future.
Even the official announcement relating to the cross-faction gameplay said: “Make frenemies of your enemies when you party with players from the opposing faction.”
With cross-faction, players in World of Warcraft will be able to find premade groups in the group finder designed for dungeons, raids, rated arenas or battlegrounds, and even Torghast. And once they become a member of a party, they can use the party and raid chat to communicate with other members.
“Upon entering a dungeon, raid, or rated PvP match, however, all members will be friendly and able to assist each other in combat, trade loot, earn shared achievements, and otherwise fully engage the same way members of the same faction do,” the official announcement explained.
However, when involving guilds, these would simply “remain single-faction, and random matchmade activities like Heroic dungeons, Skirmishes, or Random Battlegrounds will all remain same-faction.”
Dawson claimed that cross-faction guilds have been a “hotly requested” feature. He added that while Blizzard is “certainly considering” adding the feature to World of Warcraft soon, they have nothing concrete to announce yet. The executive notes though that as development of the feature continues, players will be getting more updates and seeing significant changes over time.
