Cross-Faction Gameplay and What That Means For Hunters

[WerebearGuy]

Bit of a slowpoke, but Wowhead posted this absolute bombshell recently: https://www.wowhead.com/news/cross-fact ... 2-5-325824

Out of the tin, this is a huge step forward. Players no longer need to lament over petty nonsense regarding factions anymore, and you can finally party up with other players on the opposite faction. There are no downsides to this, except to the remaining "hardcore" roleplayers. This removes the divide in the playerbase, and will certainly help in many other ways. One of those other ways is very much a huge step for hunters that like to share pets and spawn information with others; the ability to invite via battletag or group. Directly quoted from the blue post;

* Players will be able to directly invite members of the opposite faction to a party if you have a BattleTag or Real ID friendship, or if you are members of a cross-faction WoW Community.

In 9.2.5, gone are the days where we would need to say which faction we're on when we say we can help others. Gone are the days of asking "Alliance or Horde?" when a newer hunter doesn't specify. Now, it's down to NA or EU, significantly dropping the number of requirements to play together. With this update, we'll be able to help other hunters much more easily. All we'll need to do going forward is state our region and battle tag, rather than region, battle tag, and faction. There are no negative downsides to this change, and it's one that much of the community has requested over the years. Now, some may say this is a "break glass in case of emergency" move like bringing Illidan back was, or this just might be a way to mask dwindling player numbers (and I personally think it's both), but I for one have a friend in a big group who only plays horde that will now be able to play with my Alliance-dominated group. This is an absolutely wonderful change in many ways.

[worgpower]

If that will be the case, anyone can help me get a pale soulseeker on my new main, I’m dying to get it again, but idk any alliance players who can help

[Boven]

I doubt it'll be roleplayers that'll be any issue. More likely, it'll be the people who go on about how the other faction's players are terrible both in-game and in real life. As someone who has (far too many) characters in both factions and on different server groups, I see that kind of thing all the time.

[Dewclaw]

Exciting news.

[Talihawk]

I think it's a huge win and super awesome.

[Tsukina]

Too bad it's only for dungeons/raids... I wish it was also for Wm Off...

[Ana]

A step in the right direction. Cross faction should be allowed everywhere imo, also in guilds but maybe it will come eventually

[WerebearGuy]

Too bad it's only for dungeons/raids... I wish it was also for Wm Off...

You might want to reread the article. They added some TL:DR to the top, with a very prominent one being "You can directly invite members of the opposite faction to a party with BattleTag or if you're part of a cross-faction WoW community". I'm fairly certain that means we can do any form of party content, other than faction-specific stuff. Group Finder also allows cross-faction partying, which would further imply that it's pretty much open.

[worgpower]

We should definitely make a cross faction petopia community once it enters the game, i would love to play with everyone and show off some of my beloved hunter pets

[Talihawk]

I'm super stoked for it!

[Wain]

It'll be wonderful for most pets!

Unfortunately, I believe we still can't party sync quests with the other faction, so that'll rule out quest phase pets (unless it works for non-faction quests?)

[SylviaDragon]

I knew it would happen eventually but phew, did it take a while! I can't wait to be able to talk to the other faction without having to constantly /point to a renamed battle pet over and over again if I want to help them with something! (or just hoping you luck out and are both playing elves that share a language) Looking forward to being able to help people out cross faction.

[Castile]

It'll be awesome for raiders who love the current guild/team but don't love the aesthetic of their chosen side/race. Like I love my horde guild but would also love to play my night elf again. win win!