This is a pro-neutrality post as someone might assume. And I’m feeling that this long in the games life faction boundaries should be loosened .
I say loosened because I can’t expect them to ever be completely disbanded either in the lore or the game. But I think it’s come to that point where something must be done.
Let’s explore this from a lore perspective first. Yes the factions had always been at odds. Old hatreds die hard, especially when you have cosmic forces conspiring against you. However. We are at the point now that a lot of stuff had happened. Our characters have fought Titans and world ending dragons. Maybe not everyone in the world would have their views shifted after that. But honestly I think such events would put the ideals of many into perspective. As further evidence there are actual characters now that have seen such a perspective and actually changed. One example being Valeera Sanguinar who as of the current patch openly comments on how the factions repeat the same tired cycle. Other examples include Khadgar or Magni. And as of late Jaina and Thrall seem to have remembered that war among the factions is a bad thing. And this is where the factions are a problem for me. There are so many characters who had arcs that transcend the faction conflict. Alleriah and Turalion are a prime example for me. Both they and the army of the light had spent very literal millenia fighting the burning legion. They knew the manipulative tactics they used behind the scenes. Yet, when the time for BFA came that was seemingly thrown out the window, because the alliance needed an allied race. Someone could argue that maybe this was old god manipulation and whatnot. But it still doesn’t excuse such an 180 degree turn a whole army had on its views.
I’m an amature writer, a bad one too. But what I’ve learned from my poorly punctuated stories with very basic plot structures, is that if you try to write a story while trying to fulfill a list of requirements you are bound to mess up your plot. I’m saying this to highlight that the factions are a narrative crutch.
Turalion could have risen above the faction conflict and instead be someone who urged both factions to forget the past. But the alliance needed the allied race so he got stuck in a more enlightened version of what he was before the second war.
The nightborne could have been friendly to the heroes of the alliance that helped them. But since they are a horde race they hate alliance now.
The gilgoblins of Narjatar could have been a neutral faction since they had no reason to pick sides but since both factions needed a “unique” ally for that storyline, they chose sides.
I can keep listing examples but I think I made my point.
Now let’s go and give the gameplay side of things a look. Let me just say it here. The idea of having two opposing teams that players could join was genius, 10 years ago. Back in Cataclysm it still made sense. Half of the systems we have today didn’t even exist and player population was more evenly spread. Fast forward to today however and you see that a solo que pvp alliance player can get a bg in 3 minutes when a horde player takes over 15 sometimes. A problem that has been addressed already with the mercenary toggle. However this solution only applies to BGs and it’s fairly out of the way. It’s something that you have to go out of the game to look for. And since only applies for BGs it means all other content is excluded. Mythic + and Raid groups are harder to come by if you play alliance. Guilds and communities are a way to guarantee you have people to play with that’s for sure. But many people don’t have the time to maintain a presence in either of those.
And this is with a far smaller playerbase than we had in the past. Blizzard had said that the game is best played with friends. And I couldn’t agree more. However, what happens when two friends like different races? Not factions mind you. Just races. What good is served by forcing people to pick a side just so they can play together in 2020? You see what I’m getting at yet? With how the game works today factions are getting in the way of a better player experience.
I understand that the factions are a foundation of the game. But I don’t buy it as an excuse to not loosen at least some restrictions between them.
I also don’t buy the excuse that moving away from the narrative that there’s war in Warcraft. Infact I think that’s a very cheap claim to make if you look at the lore. This is a universe where the very literal forces of creation fight one another to be on top. There will be plenty of war even if some players or lore characters decide to be buddies both in the game and in the story.
Having said all that I’m not blind. I know many still like their faction and don’t even concider neutrality. I also know that even if ,my wishlist, so to speak was fulfilled there would still be issues.
After all if neutrality was enabled how would a neutral and non-neutral races of the same faction work? How would world pvp function? What questlines would a neutral character do? Would neutral characters have access to all cities? Most of those questions have complicated answers and I don’t have those. But I want to find convincing answers. Because I want this idea to be a reality some day. Because a game or even a world this big. Deserves to have more diverse characters. It deserves more freedom in what players choose. It deserves to be presented for the actual depth and potential that it has.
Thank you for bearing with this far 