When cross-faction play was first introduced to World of Warcraft at the back end of the Shadowlands expansion, one of the few things players weren’t allowed to do with each other across the Horde and Alliance divide was create and join a guild. In an WoW Patch 10.1 though, players will be able to cross the faction line with their guilds.
“We are quite excited about that and that really is just kind of aligned with some of the philosophies that we’ve been discussing about cross-faction,” WoW associate game director Morgan Day said in a group interview earlier this week.
Day said the initiative to push for cross-faction guilds was inspired by conversations surrounding cross-faction parties and raid groups, and how “‘it would be neat to have these people in my guild.’”
And although the idea of a cross-faction guild seemed quite obvious after the floodgates opened in Patch 9.2.5, Blizzard is still treading carefully, as the rivalry between the Alliance and Horde still plays a massive role in the aura of WoW for many players.
While relations between the factions have been quelled since the end of the Battle for Azeroth expansion, the two sides of Warcraft’s historic war are still at odds with each other in many ways. Players who have War Mode enabled (or are avid PvPers) might feel some type of way regarding the introduction of cross-faction guilds. With that in mind, Blizzard is still trying to find a happy medium for both players who are content playing with the opposite faction, as well as players who can’t help but see red when an opposing faction member locks eyes with them in the open world.
“Alliance and Horde are a huge part of World of Warcraft,” Day acknowledged. “Even if I can play with people in the other factions, the tremendous weight that they have, especially in the story, is something that will never go away in World of Warcraft.”
Cross-faction guilds will be one of the first features available for testing when the Patch 10.1 version of the WoW public test realm goes live later this month.
