Third faction or logistical nightmare?
by Anne Stickney 
Feb 3rd 2012 at 2:00PM
In the beginning, there was Azeroth and there was Draenor. The two worlds clashed together repeatedly over the course of three RTS games, each with expansions. But it didn't stay Azeroth vs. Draenor -- the orcs of Draenor had made Azeroth their new home, and the feud between the Alliance and Horde was forever etched in Warcraft history. And when World of Warcraft was released, players could choose either side" the native races of Azeroth, united as the Alliance, a group of good guys, or the orcs and other castaway races, thrown together as one motley group of bad guys, the Horde.
Each side has its own justifications for what they view as right, just, and honorable. Yet there are races on either side that seem more neutral than anything, whether it be the peaceful draenei, the equally peaceful tauren, or even the blood elves, who have spent time on both sides of the faction fence. These races participate in the battles and bloodshed as readily as any other, but their motives never seem quite in the right place.
And that's caused more than one person to wonder: Just what exactly would happen if World of Warcraft created a third faction?
Each side has its own justifications for what they view as right, just, and honorable. Yet there are races on either side that seem more neutral than anything, whether it be the peaceful draenei, the equally peaceful tauren, or even the blood elves, who have spent time on both sides of the faction fence. These races participate in the battles and bloodshed as readily as any other, but their motives never seem quite in the right place.
And that's caused more than one person to wonder: Just what exactly would happen if World of Warcraft created a third faction?
CraveOnline brought up the age-old question of a third faction as a possibility for future Warcraft content, as a shot of something new and exciting for the game. After all, WoW is several years old at this point, and new races are old hat by now. There are only so many new races Blizzard can make before we're able to play pretty much everything on Azeroth. A third faction is an interesting idea, particularly the suggestion that Blackrock Mountain be transformed from dungeon destination to capital city for discarded races banded together in a new faction.
The possibility of defection
So ... why not make a third faction? The idea for a third faction is one that's been brought up time and again. I think honestly it evolved from the idea of defecting from Horde to Alliance or vice versa. Defect, you say? Well, back in the days of vanilla, there was no paid faction change service; if you wanted to play the other side of the faction fence, you had to start all over from level 1. If you had a beloved character Alliance-side with tons of amazing epic gear (rare at the time), powerful weapons, and plenty of gold, you had to leave all of that behind if you switched to Horde. So long Ash'kandi, hello Practice Sword. So players wanted to keep their mains and switch to the other faction. The option to defect was a natural conclusion for many to draw.
Except that the lines between sides were firmly drawn in the sand, and crossing over that line wouldn't just bend the lore -- it'd snap it in two. When paid faction changes were introduced, all talk of being able to defect died out, and in its place, the idea of a third faction was brought up. Wouldn't it be great if we could play ogres, and centaurs, and naga, and murlocs, furbolgs -- heck, anything that is currently hostile to both Horde and Alliance?
Or better yet: In the wake of Cataclysm, both sides are struggling. The peaceful draenei don't really fit in with the Alliance; their hostility toward the Horde really can only be justified toward the orcs. And even then, the orcs of Azeroth had nothing to do with the atrocities committed on Draenor. As for the blood elves, they joined the Horde for help because their race was struggling with addiction withdrawal brought about by the destruction of the Sunwell, something the Alliance did nothing to assist with.
But that addiction has been addressed, and the Sunwell has been restored. Not only was it restored, but it was restored by the draenei, of all people. Alliance members. And then we have the trolls of the Darkspear. And the tauren. The gnomes of Gnomeregan. And of course, we have Sylvanas and her Forsaken, who seem to be bent on a task that doesn't quite have the Horde's best interests in mind ... or the Alliance's, for that matter.
A logistical nightmare
The problem with a third faction isn't that there couldn't be a good reason for one to exist -- it's that bringing one into existence brings up huge logistical issues. Sure, it'd be great for some of those faltering races from both sides to come together as one neutral organization, but would they be able to speak to both Horde and Alliance? Would they be opposed to both? How would PvP factor into play? Would that mean all current Battlegrounds would need to be redesigned and balanced around a third team? If people already have existing draenei characters, would they be swept into that third faction regardless of a player's wish? What would that do to servers that already have a severe faction imbalance?
What if, what if, what if ... The problems are endless.
We've got the pandaren coming -- and they are able to choose either side to ally with. This choice is a uniquely pandaren characteristic and fits in the pandaren theme of balance. I have my doubts as to whether this is really a sign of more neutral races coming into play. Still, it's an interesting, wistful thought to play around with, though I think the likelyhood of our ever seeing it in WoW is slim to none.
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria is the next expansion, raising the level cap to 90, introducing a brand new talent system, and bringing forth the long-lost pandaren race to both Horde and Alliance. Check out the trailer and follow us for all the latest MoP news!
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
Doffencrag Feb 3rd 2012 2:06PM
For BGs I don't think it would be a problem. WC3 had four factions, but you only faced one at a time. WoW could conceivably handle BGs the same way.
Queue up for WSG as Horde and you will face either an Alliance team or a Third Faction team.
Boz Feb 3rd 2012 2:52PM
In rated Battlegrounds you frequently face off against teams of the same faction, with one team starting randomly in the opposite factions gate.
If anything I'd prefer to see factions removed from battlegrounds. It would:
*Further reduce queue times for both factions
*Add variety (e.g. Horde could go for Glaives in IoC)
The cost is ambiance due to faction aesthetics. But while battlegrounds have some lore behind them, it's shoehorned in and is completely irrelevant to the gameplay. Once you're in a BG, it's Red vs. Blue.
loop_not_defined Feb 3rd 2012 3:00PM
But now you've got Ogres defending Night Elf battlements. I know stuff like this already happens in Rated Battlegrounds, but having it happen in all Battlegrounds? I'd rather not, sorry.
loop_not_defined Feb 3rd 2012 3:03PM
Battlegrounds aren't "shoe-horned in". They have plenty of lore behind them, often reflecting major conflicts like the battles over Ashenvale, Alterac Mountain, and Gilneas. The ONLY reason you see same-faction battles in Rated Battlegrounds is because doing otherwise would absolutely destroy queue times (since all raids are pre-formed).
Regular Battlegrounds aren't that bad in comparison. They really aren't. Removing all lore aspects from Battlegrounds just isn't necessary.
AltairAntares Feb 3rd 2012 3:38PM
I'd infinitely rather have faster queue times then pay homage to a made up random division between players. TBH I wish factions didn't matter when queuing for LFG as well. Tell me honestly you'd wouldn't trade a random division for chance to make DPS queue times 5 minutes (or even 10-15 min) instead of the crazy 30+min queue times they are now.
AltairAntares Feb 3rd 2012 3:46PM
While I'm desecrating the RPG in MMORPG (apologies), I'd also like to allowing factions to do things like BGs and LFG/R together is exactly what is needed to help build back a sense of server identity that's been missing since the introduction of battlegroups and the LFG system. With double the pool of players queuing that'd greatly increase the number of time you're running with people from your server, people you're far more likely to care about and remember.
Outside of queuing however, feel free to knife each other in the back when you meet in world pvp of course.
Boz Feb 3rd 2012 4:17PM
Listen, I like lore - everyone that plays the game enjoys lore - but there comes a time when you have to look at how the game functions and what improvements could be made to increase longevity and enjoyment.
There is no reason outside lore and supporting aesthetics to have the queue wait for an opposite-faction team. While I like the contrasting appearance of the Horde and Alliance areas of Warsong Gulch, Twin Peaks, etc., I still believe the game would benefit from removing faction restrictions. I don't need to be Alliance to appreciate starting from an Alliance stronghold so I can grab Glaives once in awhile, and vice versa.
Further, as it appears I need to justify my statement that the lore is, "shoehorned in," let us look to Island of Conquest or Strand of the Ancients.
*Island of Conquest holds resources over which the factions are fighting.
*Strand of the Ancients has no lore; it's a mad-dash for the Titan Relic: And the factions take turns!
*Eye of the Storm
*Twin Peaks
Battleground lore was eschewed for gameplay long ago, and rightly so. Certainly the vanilla battlegrounds had lore behind them, but those days have passed. Only Alterac Valley holds any real lore anymore, and even that no longer makes sense given the progression of the story since vanilla.
Mists of Pandaria is an excellent time to update battleground mechanics in favor of short queues and additional variety.
loop_not_defined Feb 3rd 2012 4:29PM
1) The queues aren't so long that all lore ought to be tossed to the wind. I don't understand why you think this is a valid argument.
2) Cataclysm's Battlegrounds have featured nothing but lore. Battle for Gilneas? Twin Peaks? Those play on the two biggest faction conflicts in the entire expansion. Have you never played Twin Peaks or quested in Twilight Highlands? Honest question.
Boz Feb 3rd 2012 5:28PM
"The queues aren't so long that all lore ought to be tossed to the wind. I don't understand why you think this is a valid argument."
I'm not tossing all lore to the wind, only allowing same-faction queues for sake of expedience and variety. Looking at my post, I'm think you might have mistaken that I want to change the battleground itself.
The battlegrounds would otherwise remain the same, aesthetically and lore-wise. I am not arguing for a redesign of the BGs, only that we don't need more factions for BGs, and if anything we could use same-faction queues for the reasons I mentioned.
Alterac Valley would have to be an exception, due to the questgivers and associated factions.
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"Cataclysm's Battlegrounds have featured nothing but lore. Battle for Gilneas? Twin Peaks? Those play on the two biggest faction conflicts in the entire expansion. Have you never played Twin Peaks or quested in Twilight Highlands? Honest question."
The original Battle for Gilneas - the fight for the city - was scrapped in favor of a mini-Arathi Basin. It's a scenario BG and there is little lore to the BG itself, if any. There are no quests, there is no faction reputation, there is no story behind the BG-specifically as there was with the vanilla BGs.
Twin Peaks is a CTF map. It has no story of its own, no quest givers, not plot development, no NPCs. It is aesthetically representative of Twilight Highlands - designed in the flavor of the Wildhammer - but otherwise serves no role in progressing the story in any way.
Vanilla BGs had actual plot and supporting quests in their respective zones. They had entrances. They had associated factions. All BGs since have been designed to reflect the themes of their respective expansions, but otherwise do not contribute to the progression of the World of Warcraft story, to my knowledge. This is not a bad thing for the BGs, and the PvE game still has tons of great lore (Twilight Highlands was probably my favorite zone of the expansion, btw). BGs favor mechanics over the integration of lore, and that's fine.
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As an aside, I wanted to mention that YOUR queues are fine. Your single-person (okay, I'm assuming!), random, regular BG queues. For players queuing with friends in a party on the opposite faction, in other Battlegroups, for specific Battlegrounds, and depending on the time of day, the queue times can vary wildly.
eel5pe Feb 3rd 2012 5:38PM
Just how bad are your bg queues? I've never had more than a few minute wait at any time of day, and that's including queueing with people from other servers. And of course if you queue for a specific battleground (other than the CtA) it's going to take longer to find a group. Same as if you queue for a specific dungeon.
And they got rid of battlegroups for bgs in 2010. They only matter for arena now.
Separating factions is more than just for lore. Faction identity is very important to many players.
JattTheRogue Feb 3rd 2012 5:55PM
@AltairAntares: "With double the pool of players queuing that'd greatly increase the number of time you're running with people from your server, people you're far more likely to care about and remember."
Um ... that's not how probability works. If you double the number of people queuing, the percentage chance of queuing with someone from your server is still the same (aside from servers with large faction imbalances, but that would affect each factions' chances in reverse proportion and cancel each other out overall if you're looking at it globally rather than an individual player's chances). If, to make up some numbers as examples, right now there were 100 people from your faction on your server who queued for LFG and 10,000 people from all the servers from your faction who queued, you would have a 1% chance of queuing with someone from your server. If you doubled that and allowed both factions to group so that you had 200 people in total from your server queuing and 20,000 people from all servers, you would still have a 1% chance of queuing with someone from your server. Obviously, the real numbers are much greater than 100 and 10,000, but that's how it would work.
Of course, as I said, faction balance could change your probability (if you were an Alliance player on a server with a much larger Horde population, your chance would go up slightly and vice versa), but that's looking at an individual player's chances rather than the overall chance of any player to queue with someone from their server.
mason.jdouglas Feb 3rd 2012 6:54PM
On the plus side, if you allowed same faction battlegrounds, one faction could then do the other faction's battleground quests! Eer...wait...no... I mean they could see the NPC dialogue...
... Okay, well, they could read the little books and whatnot in the various spots in the battleground, yeah, that's it!!
...huh.... well I'm stumped.
WHAT LORE?!
Seriously, I can sum up the entire lore of any battleground in SEVEN words.
"The Horde and Alliance are fighting there."
Loop, I think you're confusing lore with Scenery.
That said, as someone who's primary interest in WoW IS lore, I say let it happen. You're losing no lore at all. No more than you do when you can fly from the Sunwell to Booty bay in 11 minutes. Or by being able to repeatedly kill all faction leaders, at least.
Snuzzle Feb 3rd 2012 7:51PM
@loop_not_defined: it's relatively easy to say "Third action has taken a temporary hold on the Night Elf battlements in Warsong Gulch. Get it from them at any cost."
After all, isn't that what's happening, lore-wise, when you "win" a BG? Of course, your hold doesn't last long. You have to go re-take it in your next BG. But it's not totally lore-bending to assume a Third Faction has taken an enemy base for a little while. After all, to them, it's an enemy base, too.
loop_not_defined Feb 3rd 2012 9:16PM
Scenery IS part of lore, and as someone who claims to be interested in lore, I'm surprised you'd take such a stance. TBH, I'm doubting you're nearly as interested as you claim to be.
Also, pointing out examples of things that hurt immersion for you isn't an excuse to hurt immersion further.
malchomemog Feb 3rd 2012 2:07PM
A third faction is not feasible at this point. Anyway if they were to implement new factions they would need to make it 4 or more, most likely 5 would be best. In Titan or any other new MMOs they really need to get out of the WoW, ToR, Rift, EQ rut of 2 factions that are exclusive to one another. More like the 4 races in EVE where in the end it is about who you group with and how you play not what faction your rolled day 1.
Llowe Feb 3rd 2012 9:15PM
Yeah, it's not just whether or not to add a third faction. If they were to go in that direction, it might make more sense to just open up a number of factions, each with its own unique politics / stance towards other factions.
Guyver2 Feb 3rd 2012 2:09PM
Interesting article, as usual, Anne.
Small error: On the blood elves, dealing with magic addiction was something the Horde did nothing to assist with. (I grokked your intended meaning though.)
Edymnion Feb 3rd 2012 2:38PM
I still contend it makes no sense, lore-wise, for the Worgen to have joined the Alliance. Oh, not that they wouldn't have wanted to, that much is clear. They hate the Foresaken and would basically join any side that opposed them.
What I don't get is why the Alliance accepted them.
Look at the history here.
Foresaken: Former members of the Alliance, murdered mostly through no fault of their own by the Scourge, and raised as undead. They are shunned and forced out by their own families and friends. No Foresaken in the Alliance.
Blood Elves: Former members of the Alliance, cursed with magic withdraw mostly through no fault of their own by the Scourge, who destroyed their sunwell. They are shunned by their former families and friends. No Belfs in the Alliance.
Worgen: Former members of the Alliance, cursed with lyncanthropy mostly through no fault of their own by Vrygul, who tampered with magics he shouldn't have. They are welcomed with open arms back into the Alliance.
Sing it with me now, "One of these things is not like others..."
Imnick Feb 3rd 2012 3:12PM
The Night Elves and Blood Elves exiled eachother about 7400 years before World of Warcraft and have not been good friends ever since. That sounds like a long time, but until fairly recently they were also all immortal, there are still living members of both species from that time, and a couple of generations is still not long enough to get over the "you kicked us out of our homeland" bias.
They don't have much reason to love the Horde either, but Sylvannas /is one of them/.
Had she not been scourged then Sylvannas would have ended up changing from a High Elf to a Blood Elf, they have strong family ties to the Horde.
The humans and Forsaken feel a similar thing. You know the Undercity? The ruins filled with bubbling slime, abominations and questionably moral experiments? That was once called Lordaeron.
Humans still shout "For Lordaeron!", it was the largest Human kingdom there was. Undercity was the Human capital! Then their king was killed by the undead and the entire kingdom was smashed.
Yes, that wasn't really the Forsaken's fault, but by the time anyone figured that out it was far too late. Both sides had been killing each other while fighting the scourge, because there was no reason for any Human to believe that any undead could be good guys, and by the time anyone realised that actually no, some of them were pretty cool, they had already forged emnities of their own (/they're squatting in the Human capital and filling it with sewage/).
And if that was ever going to change, it won't now. The Wrathgate sealed the deal. The Forsaken don't really have the best interests of the Alliance /or/ Horde at heart.
Anne Stickney Feb 3rd 2012 3:14PM
No, the Alliance did nothing to help the blood elves after the Sunwell was destroyed. ...well, other than try and get Kael and his troops murdered as many times as possible. That's why Kael teamed up with the naga and headed to Outland - and part of why the blood elves eventually joined the Horde.