Bipartisanship

[Draugarögnir]

Am I the only one who - at least at times - tries to be polite and/or friendly towards players of the opposing faction?

I don't want to portrait myself as Mr. Nice Guy because I don't act like that when on a gathering quest - but I wouldn't be friendly or polite towards players of my own faction either (Image: "Please, take that mushan! I can wait til another one spawns"). None of us are, I guess. What I mean is, e.g. aid someone with some damage when he/she is fighting multiple mobs and it'n not to my disadvantage anyway.

I even once thought about setting up an Alliance counterpart of my guild, to work secretly on a Truce, without Blizz knowing it. (But I don't have time for that, and I'm not the most skilled player anyway so I'd probably suck as a guild leader).

Well, silly thoughts I guess, but I'm curious whether other people ever had similar thoughts. Would be cool somehow if Blizzard had some sort of option to get diplomatical and get your rep with the Other Side to neutral or so (the Argent Crusade could play a role into this, as they are always lecturing about uniting against the bigger evil).

I flew over Stormwind the other day, dropping stinkbombs, and I'd love to take a quiet walk there... Of course I'd wear my Night Elf mask so I wouldn't scare the kids

[Lysi]

You're asking a couple different questions. I have helped players of the other faction. It doesn't come up very often, but I have a few times. Like there are times, when leveling, if I happened to see a player in low health being chased by too many mobs, I'll try to grab some aggro, no matter which faction. And I once actually completed a quest with 2 opposing players, the quest was some kind of ritual. I'd looked up some tips so I knew what to do, and 2 players from the other side followed my lead. I figured they wouldn't get credit, particularly since it was vanilla WoW content (not the newer stuff where you can share quest boss kills as long as you get a hit in), so I was planning to wait to help them as they'd helped me. But I guess they did get quest completed, since they saluted me and left after. I always play PvE servers, so cooperation is easier. I've seen people post that they were cooperating with players of the other faction on a PvP server, but then weren't able to stop their own friends from killing the players they were just helping.

But the structure of the game works a certain way purely for gameplay reasons. How would being neutral work on a PvP server? Does it mean opposing city guards wouldn't attack you? If that's true, then you shouldn't be able to fight other players, either, because otherwise they'd be in their own city without protection from their own guards. So if you can't kill them and they can't kill you, you'd be losing the ability to PvP on a PvP server. Over the years I've seen many people suggest a long and complicated questline to change sides, actually become a traitor to your own side, to be like an Alliance orc, Alliance undead, etc. People find this idea interesting because of the novelty, but if it was actually possible, there would be no novelty at all. As soon as this questline became available it would be a race to see how fast you could get there, and pretty soon Alliance cities would be full of Horde races and visa versa.

A lot of things Blizzard does with the game are just that way for convenience and playability. That's why the game has neutral cities and shared goals fighting outside enemies, just so Blizzard's work isn't doubled for each expansion. So that's why you end up working with the other side all the time, but then you never stop fighting them, either. It never made sense that we'd run off to kill each other in Wintergrasp, then be happy hanging out together in Dalaran. If the Horde and Alliance were really at war, you couldn't turn it on and off. It's like you're in a constant state of *always* being at war and *never* being at war at the same time. If you had a "truce" questline it wouldn't change anything, it would just be another questline, because the game still needs to be playable.

So I see what you're saying, but it is what it is. I remember when I first did the stink bomb quest you're talking about, last year or whenever they added it, as my Hordies were flying through Stormwind on a broom, I realized I was looking around for Lil Timmy as I always do, lol.

[Draugarögnir]

Lol, I logged at my Worgen after quite some time (months, maybe more than a year) to obtain the Worg Pup, and on my way back to Zangar'mash I wondered why the hell the flightmaster at the Dark Portal at HF Peninsula wouldn't help me. I forgot there was a Horde and Alliance side there

I think the 'traitor' option would indeed contribute less to the game than the option of being able to become neutral... At least the way I envision it. (I would love to bring over my Worgen to the Horde side though, but that's just for my own convenience, not game dynamics).

Being neutral should indeed imply you cannot kill anyone, and not even toggle it off. It wouldn't make much sense on a PVP server, and those players involved should also be prevented from participating in PVP battles like Tol Barad, Wintergrasp etc. Their status, when visiting a hostile capital, should be comparable to what Death Knights experience just after their escape from the Scourge, Get booed at, people throwing bananas etc. Maybe there should even be a custodian, a guard to both protect you and make sure you don't do anything illegal. (So you'd feel like a tourist in North Korea, where a personal guide is always watching you.) He should also be an interpreter.

Well, it's only a fancy. I understand patch 5.1 will see a lot more PVP action, so it doesn't seem a direction Blizzards wants to move in.

[Mathew013]

Am I the only one who - at least at times - tries to be polite and/or friendly towards players of the opposing faction?

No, there are some of us still playing the game. In fact, I've named my toons Polite, Considerate and Respectful.
These aren't just names, but also a reminder of what the code of conduct should be.

Now, having said that - I used to PvP alot before MoP. And anything goes in PvP. I won't give any quarter, and expect none.
(Well, okay - in the rare instance, like the Children's week - maybe) but what I WON'T do is emote negative things. I simply
mush my opponent and move on.

When opposite faction players are in a jam, overwhelmed by mobs, I'll usually step in, try to help as much as possible; even on a PvP server. (Yes, I suppose that makes me a 'carebear.')

There's a quote I picked up from the WoW forums, "All these people you're playing [MMOs] with? They're real people...with real feelings. What you do in game matters just as much as what you do anywhere else. You don't get to discount any of it because it's "just a game." --Lisa Poisso, WoW Insider"

I'd like to see the game more cooperative, rather than everyone trying to clutch and grab nodes and rare spawns or get bent out of shape when they don't get them. (Guild Wars 2 does a fantastic job of this.)

[GormanGhaste]

I've never been fond of the us vs. them dynamic of wow. My favorite factions are neutral.

By the way, you can do the /kneel-/lie quest in DW with someone of the opposite faction!