WoW: Cross faction play is good – and now it needs free character transfers!
Actually, it’s amazing that something in WoW has lasted for so many years without the effects becoming catastrophic – faction balance. Already in trouble for many years, the high number of players could hide the problem for a long time. At the end of Shadowlands, however, the numbers show that the imbalance is not getting better, but getting worse. The faction imbalance is now reaching catastrophic proportions indeed – at least for those left behind on the Alliance side. Not only with the top players applying for a place in the Hall of Fame, but also with the normal players, things are starting to look bleak.
Random raids are rarer than steak-eating tauren, and you’ll see the same players over and over again in the Mythic Plus dungeons. With Patch 9.2.5 and the new feature of cross-faction play Blizzard is now addressing this issue. In my opinion, this can only be one of two steps. Because you don’t want to dissolve the factions completely, apparently.
Compared to the Horde, the Alliance is dying out.
Source: buffed
problem only half solved
If alliance players can visit raids and dungeons together with horde players, then at least the problem of missing teammates is solved in places – provided the horde players accept the feature well and activate the comprehensive group search. But that won’t prevent the alliance from dying out. Migration to the Horde will be slowed down a bit, maybe even stopped in a perfect world.
However, unless many players stream back into the game in the near future, the alliance will be much weaker in the long term, which will also cause problems in PvP and the open world. So how could one “tempt” players to switch to the alliance?
Lower the barrier to switching
On the part of Blizzard you don’t really have to do much. There are a lot of players (at least in my circle of acquaintances) who are currently active on the Horde side but feel more comfortable with the Alliance. There are many reasons for this – more beautiful races, friends on the Alli side, different story and what else. But they all play in the Horde for one reason: more potential players.
This reason coincides with WoW (buy now ) Patch 9.2.5 but at least largely gone. Most I’ve spoken to will remain with the Horde, though. The reason for this is trivial. Switching back to the alliance with their chars costs them a bunch of money that they don’t have or don’t want to pay. So they stay with the Horde, although that doesn’t give them much of an advantage anymore and they would actually rather carry a blue banner.
Top guilds on alliance side? Quite possible
And over the past few years and months, we’ve also heard from some top guilds that they would like to switch to the alliance. Not only because the slightly better folk skills can now be found there, but also because that would bring a little variety into the game.
But there are three reasons why no guild has taken this step yet (from short-term trips to a nerf or double change for a single item aside). The first is that not only do you have a lot of players in your roster, but you also need regular supplies of top players. These have to prove themselves in various runs during a trial period. Of course, this is only possible if you belong to the same faction. And the Horde has more players, so there are more potential applicants.
The second reason is the guild community. The past World First Race showed us impressively how important the fans and thousands of helpers can be in the fight for the crown. Again, of course, the crowd is bigger on the Horde side because there are more players there.
The third reason, again, is money. Although Liquid, Echo and the like have a lot of capital, a change would still be expensive. All the members (significantly more than the 20 raiders) and their vast amounts of chars and helper chars would not only have to change the faction, but usually also the server. Max calculated in 2018 that it would cost Limit about $9,000 to switch the entire guild. This amount is more likely to have increased than decreased.
The first two reasons are pretty much obsolete with patch 9.2.5. Because through cross-faction play, both helpers and potential applicants can stand on both sides of the faction border and still support their favorite team. The reason for the expensive faction change remains.
Horde and Alliance have often worked together in the past.
Source: Blizzard
Free faction transfers as a solution?
So for many players, the cost that moving to Alliance would entail is an obstacle. This could be done relatively easily by Blizzard by offering to switch to an alliance free of charge. In the past, there were often such actions to relieve overcrowded servers and to fill empty servers.
Admittedly, the result was relatively manageable. But the starting position was different. And of course it is also clear to me that such an offer would not suddenly lead to a 50:50 ratio again. On the other hand, what would be the disadvantages if Blizzard just gave it a try?
I think the amount of players who are currently actually spending money to switch from Horde to Alliance can be counted on one hand – so the financial losses would be very, very manageable.
But there would be two positive effects. For one thing, the imbalance would definitely improve. Because such an action would probably not ensure that more players suddenly switch from the Alliance to the Horde. So if only a handful of players accept the offer, it would be better than nothing.
On the other hand, Blizzard would set another sign. So far, the responsible developers always state that they have recognized the problem, but the measures taken are rather hesitant and are aimed more at alleviating the effects of the imbalance than combating the actual imbalance.
Do you think a free transfer from Horde to Alliance could help along with cross faction play? Or to put it another way: Do you know players who would switch if they weren’t asked to pay for it – maybe even yourself? Tell us your opinion in the comments.
Reference-www.buffed.de