Grouping/Guilding restrictions in WoW: Your Thoughts?

[Warrik]

**** Keep in mind, the game is months away from Beta, so we are talking about an alpha product atm. Nothing is set in stone, and nothgin is concrete. I feel discussions like this are valuable as it helps to get the pulse of the public.***




If grouping and guilding restrictions are rigidly enforced in WoW to support the Horde/Alliance theme, would this be a major issue for you the player?

Blizzards offical statements:

- Why can't Alliance and Horde races be in the same party?
Because the whole game is based on those two opposing factions. It would kill the storyline to have them able to ally. It is possible that this could change, however, if people don't like it and/or Blizzard changes their approach.

- Will there be Alliance vs Horde battlefields that act as PvP zones?
Yes, these areas would be only Alliance vs Horde fighting, meaning that Alliance races can't fight each other (no Human vs Dwarf) and the same with Horde races.

- With all the race restrictions as far and grouping and guild restrictions being what they are, is Blizzard aiming for a DAoC-like theme? That is, are they setting the stage for a Horde vs Alliance type scenario in the game where this will be a major part of PvP?
Yes, there will be a heavy Horde vs Alliance theme. Also, Blizzard confirmed that the plan now is for no cross race-grouping and guilds will have to either be Alliance or Horde. They don't think that this will change, even with gaining a good reputation with the opposing race, but this isn't set in stone.

[Quineloe]

Sounds good imo. I didnt like grouping with ogres anyways.

Jolly ogres are a pain. This will let people think twice maybe before selecting an ugly race for shitz and giggles :P

[Kildace]

The problem is, it has to be done right. We can't have a Sullon Zek happen where everyone on one server goes to the same faction. And it also adds a severe headache because classes have to be balanced with each other, and against each other.

I think the idea is good, but it need to be very carefuly implemented and might turn into a headache *fast*.

[keb]

I am all for those restrictions. I agree that game balance is going to need to be finely tuned to get it working as intended, however promoting PVP-style restrictions on grouping and guilding makes perfect RP sense.

The current crop of MMORPG's suffer from a lack of diversity at best to an abundance of cookie cutters at worst. Hopefully, game mechanics of this type will discourage class/race homogeneity at the expense of easy (yet irrational) gameplay.

[archilles]

WoW is their game let them do what they want. When its finished you try it if dont like dont play. Dont need another SWG where the "fanboys" got everything they wanted... a total shit game in the end

[Iannis]

with only 3 classes I don't imagine actually having the Horde and Alliance with similar levels of melee/magery/healing a problem..heh.

its when you start to balance lots of classes or multiple teams that it seems to become a nuisance.

[Szlia]

I can understand the idea, but to implement it well is close to impossible unless the two sides are almost identical. And as mentioned above, if 80 percent of the people are on the alliance how do you make the game interesting? Artificially dividing the players and the game world is problematic too.

That's the kind of design choice that I am sure makes SOE happy. But maybe Blizzard will be able to make a PvP system that is fun and grief-play free where you do have the feeling to fight for something (not like in DAoC).

[Sean]

For a game that is 90% Non-PVP, it is completely pointless. On a full PVP server, this is a great idea, but on something that's basically a "blue" server, pointless.

You have huge groups of friends from other games wanting to play WoW, and with only 3 races per team (Human/Dwarf/Night Elf vs Orc/Tauren/Unrevealed) there is not something for everyone. You have groups of anywhere from 20 to 60+ people wanting to stick together, there is no way all of them are going to all play one side or another, not only due to race choices, but class choices as well. For promoting social interaction, this is a really bad idea. Absolutely no reason to split people up like this in a mostly non-pvp enviroment.

I'm sure any problems that arise will be ironed out in beta though, I trust Blizzard to do a good job.

[Abyss_703]

I would rather play the game as blizzard wants it. SWG is a perfect fucking example of what happens when you listen to the playerbase. The masses dont know shit.

[Warrik]

with only 3 classes I don't imagine actually having the Horde and Alliance with similar levels of melee/magery/healing a problem..heh.

Theres more classes yet to be annouced. To quote Blizzard:


"-Approximately how many classes for each race will there be?
While no number has been set in stone, there should be at the very least 5 per race at launch "

[Darus Grey]

Far as understand...10% of the land ..after you strip away cities..etc..is closer to 30%..and even just 10% flat land is pretty big.

Well I respect your opinion Sean, I think WoW is gonna have a Fairly heavy PvP..Hmm..I dont wanna say focus..but..incentive? to the point where..I'd imagine most players would want to PvP at some point.
PvP *is* what the blizzard fanbase is, and I'd have to agree with any elements like this they decide to include.

[ChewieTobbacca]

Originally posted by Abyss_703
I would rather play the game as blizzard wants it. SWG is a perfect fucking example of what happens when you listen to the playerbase. The masses dont know shit.

well blizzard better not be listening to the masses.. read their boards sometimes... you'll really wanna run away at some of the pure stupid ideas out there..

that being said, this split thing IMO is actually what a lot of their players want...

but i agree with sean in that with a low % of pvp this wouldn't make much sense..

but i guess thats what beta is for anyways

[Furor Planedefiler]

This is totally different than DAoC guidelines simply because DAoC forced you to remain in your realm and extend maximally to the Frontier lands. So you would miss quite a bit of their already craptastic content (Although I have heard that there are some servers where you can now go all over, no clue as to its validity). Ultimately, it was a PvP game with PvP being the 'end game' based around one hell of a shitty PvE gameworld. WoW is a PvE game with PvP built in as an added element of immersion - i.e. to add some strife and chaos to the gameworld.

Now I won't say this game will be heavy PvP at all. I don't think it will be heavy PvP. Afterall, the game is HEAVILY content driven and built up as a PvE game. The option to PvP is definitely open, however, and encouraged in certain parts of the massive gameworld. I like this - a lot. PvP done right adds a missing element of danger to MMORPGS. Then again, that's been the problem that all MMORPGS have faced to date. If I were to task anyone with getting it right, though, it would be Blizzard.

As far as not being able to guild/group with other races - for now I have a negative opinion about it as I feel it's an unneccesary funnel/choke on players. The term good and evil is completely relative to who is actually running a character. Certainly there will and should be faction choices that players have to make, but I feel that should they make those choices, they should be able to indulge in the benefits, i.e. grouping with what their tribe considers the enemy, becoming a traitor of sorts. On the other hand, I have not PLAYED the game yet, the game is still in Alpha (although in EQ terms it should have shipped already), and has over half a year of beta testing ahead. Therefore, I merely wait and see what Blizzard has in store for us. From what I've seen so far, I highly doubt I'll be disappointed.

[Abyss_703]

I think faction work is the best way to solve the problem. This keeps the majority of people on the correct side. But if you really want to be that evil night elf, with some work and quests you can do it.

This allows guild members that MUST be a certain class or race the ability to have their cake and eat it too. It also opens up some interesting guild combinations and recruting.

No different then in eq seeing High Elfs banking in Neriak.

[Heales]

With their game being in alpha everything can happen, and looking at Blizzard's track record they've had a tendency to release highly playable games that catered to the player.

In the alpha process new stuff can be added and removed. Things can be changed completely etc. etc.

When a game is entering beta the tuning starts. Early in a beta things might still change, but normally all the important design issues will be resolved in the alpha stage.

So far it looks to me as Blizzard has been taking elements from all over the place in an attempt to really make a true next gen MMORPG. Some people have been blaming Blizzard for "stealing" ideas from older games. The truth is that no good idea is too good to not be used again.