No, I Don't Want a Full Integration in World of Warcraft

Now now, don't crack the whips and pull out the torches just yet; let me say my piece.

World of Warcraft has been an ongoing game for 18 years now, and I'm pretty sure that practically every member of the community has spoken about the possibility of the Alliance and the Horde joining forces. After all, chances are we've all had that one friend that is a rebel and prefers the opposite faction (cough my wife cough) or met that one particular Orc we fell in love with that just couldn't help but want to befriend. Alas, Blizzard was hell-bent against opening the floodgates, citing that the feud was just one of the things that made Warcraft what it is. I mean... I thought this was World of Warcraft and no longer Warcraft, but what do I know?

Come 2022, around a decade or so ever since I began playing and desperately wanting faction integration feverishly, and finally: Blizzard announces that World of Warcraft is getting cross-faction play for dungeons, raids, and rated arena/BGM. A step in the right direction, as game director Ion Hazzikostas unveils that factions will finally be able to join forces... with a caveat.

You see, Hazzikostas stated in his interview that Blizzard didn't want World of Warcraft to incorporate cross-faction play in large part due to the game's "foundation" dating back to Warcraft. The explanation for this feud to continue almost 20 years after the release of World of Warcraft? Well, you're born into each faction and thus are fated to hate the enemy...

I'm not gonna argue the fact that this feels a bit poor in comparison to some other arguments that exist out there, including that the Pandaren race was introduced to Azeroth and their feuds years after these factions were established. Yet somehow, the Pandaren ended up choosing a faction that they sided with, despite most of their fundamental beliefs of peace being practically the opposite of the Horde.

Blizzard is no stranger to arguing that some things can't happen because of lore reasons. This same argument was used to fight against the idea of Gnomes being Priests (before they were added in Cataclysm), citing that they aren't followers of the Light, but rather a clever race of engineers with no affiliation to a religion. Yet, when Shadowlands dropped, the Pandaren — a race that had not interacted with Azeroth throughout the period in which Arthas was active — can somehow become Death Knights. Now, I understand that Bol'var is doing this to bolster the ranks of the Ebon Blade, but if somehow we can find a loophole to make Po become a necromancer, how then can Gnomes still not be Paladins, despite them already having a connection to the Light as seen with Priests?

I'm getting sidetracked. In the interview, Hazzikostas mentions that Blizzard is not ready to let a bunch of humans run around in Orgrimmar, and it led me to wonder: Is that even what players want? I know I don't. I'm not upset with the factions being integrated. Hell, all I want is to be able to play a Gnome whilst my wife plays an Undead and quest. I don't want Sylvannas and Genn Greymane to kiss and make up, but rather I want to see exiles of the two factions for their faults. I want to see defectors of both factions join the other and I want to see some Horde normie leave because of what Sylvannas has done. An indirect amalgamation between the Horde and the Alliance that allows some humans to continue being attacked within the walls of Orgrimmar, that allows wars to continue between the two opposing factions due to differing views. 

Ion Hazzikostas says that he will be leaving the large-scale faction wars behind with Battle for Azeroth and instead let the players choose how they feel about the enemy. Isn't the best way to let those players decide whether they side with Horde or Alliance ideals, rather than forcing ideals because they were born there? This won't stop tons of humans from running around Orgrimmar as he so nicely put it; however, it will certainly keep it controlled to all of the players that do align with Horde morals. Let us choose our race, and give us a second option to select our allegiance. I assure you defectors will spice up the war. Better yet, give us one singular quest in an expansion that poses the question: Will you remain loyal to your faction? Both factions eventually accepted Death Knights. Hell, Varian stood side-by-side with Sylvannas at one point, why not defectors?