WoW Classic’s new seasonal servers will enforce faction restrictions in the name of balance

World of Warcraft Classic’s upcoming seasonal PvP servers will, for the first time ever, seek to maintain an even balance between the warring Horde and Alliance factions.

The next season of Blizzard’s old-school version of the MMO, titled Season of Discovery, will bring big changes to the 2006 version of WoW, including game-changing new abilities for every class as well as new quests, raids, and upcoming mysteries. found in the game world. It will also introduce new open-world PvP events, with the war between WoW’s two player factions, the Horde and the Alliance, looking to be a major part of the new season.

With that in mind, it seems Blizzard saw Season of Discovery as a good time to try something different. In a forum post, Tom Ellis, lead producer for WoW’s Server and Live Operations team, said the team has received “a lot of feedback” since the launch of WoW Classic regarding the faction balance on PvP servers. He outlined the plan for Season of Discovery’s PvP servers and announced that Blizzard would add “additional seasoning” to the PvP servers in that this time around they “were designed to maintain faction balance as let them grow up.”

“Yes, this is actually happening!” Ellis said in the forum post. “However, this faction balance comes with a potential cost that we want to make sure you are aware of: if one faction is significantly more dominant in a PvP realm, it is very likely that faction selection will be temporarily limited in a PvP realm .this area. That said, our overarching goal for Season of Discovery is for it to be a fun, fluid experience, and we’re prepared to change course if necessary. Your requests for faction balancing have been heard loud and clear. This is a new direction for us, and one we’re excited to try.

This is a big difference from WoW Classic’s PvP servers so far. Since Classic’s launch in 2019, there have been numerous examples of PvP servers spiraling out of control, where one faction would make up the vast majority of a server’s population, essentially driving the other faction out of the server via server transfers. It appears Blizzard is looking to avoid that kind of scenario this time around, but warns that playing on a faction-balanced PvP server can be a “double-edged sword.”

“Awesome and fun new challenges await you, but also potential obstacles you may not expect,” Ellis said. “Your favorite farm spots may be a little spicier than you’re used to! »

Ellis encouraged players who are not “engaged in the challenges and difficulties of PvP” to consider creating a character on a non-PvP server for Season of Discovery, where there will be no faction balance restrictions .

In addition to forced faction balance on the game’s seasonal PvP servers, Ellis said the launch of Season of Discovery would be similar to how Blizzard handled the rollout of the game’s Hardcore servers, with an overall number of servers smaller but with each server offering increased player capacity. . However, if the season proves popular, more servers will be added if necessary, Ellis said.

The WoW Classic Discovery Season begins on November 30. In addition to Discovery Season, Blizzard will re-release a classic version of WoW’s Cataclysm expansion next year, as well as the first expansion in a new trilogy of expansions for modern WoW Blizzard. calls The Worldsoul Saga.