Blizzards move to make Paladins available for Horde and Shamans for Alliance (which I support btw) made me think of the viablility of the Alliance/Horde segregation in general.
As it is now Alliance and Horde compete for the same server ressources, wether they are of technical nature (lag) or ingame goods (Dreamfoil spawns), but there is almost no interaction between the factions. As a matter of fact, the opposing faction could as well be on a completely another server when it comes to assessing the community value of sharing a server. I have even stopped following the raid progression of the Alliance guilds on my server, because it seems so inconsequential. The competition for raid progression is solely within your own faction now (unless you are a member of one of the internationally known uberguilds), as is the e-peen wielding in Orgrimmar or respectively in Ironforge.
The faction wall is a relict of the initial days of WoW, when it was supposed that the game would have a strong PvP component to it, but let's face it: PvP died a long time ago, and I really doubt it will make a comeback and will ever be on par with the PvE content. Every game has it's strengths and weaknesses. The PvE content in WoW is very well done, while PvP is boring and abysmal.
Now the faction wall just hurts the game, as it cuts the server community in half, while consuming full server ressources. Tear down the wall and let us raid together, for better community, greater competition and an improved economy. PvP could be made free for all, as I have never grasped the idea why I should kill the unknown Nightelf while I couldn't smack the Orc which is a pain in the ass to be around.
As it is now Alliance and Horde compete for the same server ressources, wether they are of technical nature (lag) or ingame goods (Dreamfoil spawns), but there is almost no interaction between the factions. As a matter of fact, the opposing faction could as well be on a completely another server when it comes to assessing the community value of sharing a server. I have even stopped following the raid progression of the Alliance guilds on my server, because it seems so inconsequential. The competition for raid progression is solely within your own faction now (unless you are a member of one of the internationally known uberguilds), as is the e-peen wielding in Orgrimmar or respectively in Ironforge.
The faction wall is a relict of the initial days of WoW, when it was supposed that the game would have a strong PvP component to it, but let's face it: PvP died a long time ago, and I really doubt it will make a comeback and will ever be on par with the PvE content. Every game has it's strengths and weaknesses. The PvE content in WoW is very well done, while PvP is boring and abysmal.
Now the faction wall just hurts the game, as it cuts the server community in half, while consuming full server ressources. Tear down the wall and let us raid together, for better community, greater competition and an improved economy. PvP could be made free for all, as I have never grasped the idea why I should kill the unknown Nightelf while I couldn't smack the Orc which is a pain in the ass to be around.