With Battle for Azeroth, World of Warcraft is focusing entirely on faction pride and so-called community building. No one should have to play alone anymore if they don’t specifically want to. We consider which mechanics from other games would do WoW good in this regard.

Be proud of your faction colors! Only together we are strong! Us against the others! Make the Horde great again! What tends to lead to worried looks in real life is good form in MMOs like World of Warcraft. And why not – humans themselves like to find a tribe to join or an idea to identify with. And if you’re cheering on a soccer team in the real world, you’re welcome to proudly wear your faction’s crest and gawk at every opposing player. But the idea of a strong faction identity can also backfire: Even a cursory glance at the official forums quickly reveals that some players take the concept of a virtual faction a little too seriously, and so the community has practically torn itself apart in a whirlwind of bitter words and envy. At the other end of the scale, we find ourselves in a situation where the two factions differ only in their choice of popularity and the color of their clothing – no real identity is created here. All that remains is the annoyance of the separate chat channels of the Alliance and the Horde.

We therefore look at the question of what Blizzard could do to bring the community together on the one hand, and on the other hand, create a strong faction identity that people would like to maintain often. To do this, we tap other MMOs for good ideas and consider whether the often really clever mechanics that can also be found in World of Warcraft (buy now) can be implemented. After all, if there’s one thing we as players want in Battle for Azeroth, it’s the feeling of finally being “at home” in Azeroth again – and if the friendly enemy can be helped along with a few well-placed gameplay elements, then all the better.

WoW: What does “community” actually mean?
First of all, we have to put some sobering facts on the table: no video game company can “force” players to form a strong community – even if it would like to. The reason, of course, lies in the nature of MMOs themselves, because without a functioning community, an online game won’t last long. So when developers talk about “building a community,” they primarily mean using game mechanics to ensure the long-term success of their game. That’s not a bad thing, of course, because usually we as players benefit from these efforts: If there’s one thing we do automatically as online gamers, it’s group formation. However, to put this into perspective a little more, we need to define what ”
Generally speaking, a community in terms of online role-playing games not only defines a group of players, but also always includes an emotional bond. Anyone who has ever heard “For the Horde!” or “For the Alliance!” at Blizzcon and desperately wanted to shout louder than the other faction knows what we’re talking about. The average video gamer works best in small groups and has one area that they are particularly knowledgeable about. In our WoW example, that would be the roles of tank, healer, or DPS. Each member of a guild takes care of their assigned area and does their part to make the gaming experience possible for their friends. For example, no one can claim to have played through “Antorus, the Burning Throne on Mythic” – you either finish the raid with your guild or not at all. Again, over time, a strong emotional bond forms, because ideally, you stand up for each other within a guild. Now knead the bond with friends from Azeroth, pride in the chosen faction, and “belonging” to the group of WoW players, and you get a colorful lump of emotions and groups that is commonly referred to as the “community” of the designated game.

However, a group of players is by no means a “community” in the true sense of the word: where a motley group of players find themselves in a difficult situation and ideally respond with “No problem, let’s make the best of it”. , true community attitude is more like “How can we make this even cooler for everyone involved?” And that’s exactly the ideal case that both gamers and developers would like to have. If a game manages to build a real community around it, potential new players will also be happy to move around in its world. Anyone who thinks about the game when they are not logged in and is already looking forward to meeting old online friends and making new acquaintances, has found its community. So how do you support a good community and how do you grow real, enduring communities in the digital petri dish?

WoW: Digital DIY Community Content
In order to implant a social streak in the average, egomaniacal online gamer, developers like to reach into their bag of tricks. Funnily enough, one of the best tools for creating a community is simply to give the player the entire tool kit. The magic word community content has been popping up more and more over the past few years, and for good reason: the moment developers give their players the opportunity to change or create things in their world, the developer’s world becomes final to the world of the players – at least felt. Good examples of this are the Cryptic games Star Trek Online and Neverwinter .

the community to outdo each other with stories bursting with creativity, which not only stretches the long-term motivation of the two titles practically to infinity. In addition, Cryptic’s own storytelling improved significantly through inspiration, and monthly prizes for the best creations and official-sponsored community events were established. The now-dead superhero MMORPG City of Heroeseven leads a pseudo-existence after death thanks to its groundbreaking community content and close ties to the hero society: On www.thecaperadio.com, ex-City-of-Heroes players plan joint excursions to other games and run the “Cape Radio ‘, which continues to provide music and chat to the now homeless community.
Would the concept of player generated content work this way in WoW? In all likelihood, yes, because all of the above examples have one property that makes the option interesting for Azeroth’s heroes too: they are instanced. This means that the player quests don’t bother anyone in the open world and no new “playgrounds” have to be screwed onto the existing continents. One of the biggest obstacles is the possibility that players will rewrite or completely change the existing history of Azeroth in their self-created quests. You could solve that, for example, by having our favorite bronze gnome Chromie take care of the whole thing and the missions depicting alternative timelines. Or we can simply open a book while the game is running and “read a story” before starting the mission. There are many ways to protect existing lore from writers with more passion than talent and give the WoW community the opportunity to let off steam in creative ways.

WoW: Training Wheels and Feudal Systems – Mentor System

Another popular way to help build a strong community is to implement a mentor system. Incidentally, the idea of ​​higher-level or strong players helping newcomers and handing out training wheels for learning the game also comes from City of Heroes. The game “invented” the system in 2004 and is therefore also in the Guinness Book of Records. Long story short, back then, the stronger player could level the weaker player up to their level with the push of a button, as long as they were in a group. In this way, even weaker players could explore all areas of the MMORPG – with the level scaling in Azeroth, however, at least this version of the mentoring system is no longer really suitable for use in WoW.Asheron’s Call for the favor of his community. And since the wild west of online role-playing games was relentless at the time, the systems for “community building” were also much more feudal: if you didn’t get your foot on the ground as a new player, it was best to look for a so-called patron to whom you swore your loyalty. The patron then received a separately generated share of all experience points earned by his vassal – and in return provided his vassal with items, helpful tips and resources. The highlight of the matter: As soon as the vassal at the time became a better player and took vassals under his protection, some of these experience points also rolled uphill to the first patron. Anyone who now thinks of a classic pyramid scheme is of course absolutely right. The so-called “monarchs” were unassailable at the time and ruled over a veritable guild army of vassals. However, this system is also rather out of place in WoW, because the maximum level is not reached today, as in Asheron’s Call, through months of toil. A few cozy game nights are generally enough – or you simply invest money to buy a high-level character directly in the Blizzard shop.

WoW: Destiny 2 and its Raid Tinder – professionals help beginners
However, the mentor system becomes really interesting when we look towards Destiny 2let roam. So that the game lasts longer and a solid player community can be formed, in the second part of the series a great deal of focus was placed on the function of the player clans and they were even built into the main story, even if only by mentioning them in a few subordinate clauses. One of the new clan features are the so-called guide games, which are intended to introduce inexperienced players to endgame content. The concept is simple, but very clever: clans can sign up for guide games as so-called “guides”. For this to work, at least half of the group must consist of clan members, after all, the feature is intended to recruit members for your own group. Who registers as a new player in the role of “Seeker”, is now placed in a group with the experienced clan members and can then, under the supervision of veterans, also master difficult content. Anyone who immediately has the impression of using one of the relevant dating apps with “Interested newcomer looking for experienced clan” is certainly not completely wrong – the willingness to talk to each other and the cautious approach under difficult conditions at least have the two systems in common .

Guide Game tickets are capped per – Season to avoid selfish newbies constantly exploiting helpful Clans just to get high-tier items. In return, so that the clans also adhere to the principles of fair play, both games enter into the “guardian oath” before each game: the signatories vow to be “helpful, attentive, careful, willing to teach/learn and friendly”. Helpful Clans can increase their “Guardian’s Oath” score this way, effectively cementing their good reputation officially. Anyone who violates the oath represented by a special buff, for example by leaving the game prematurely or throwing their protégé out of the group, will receive a point deduction as punishment.

Can the guide game system also be implemented in World of Warcraft? Of course: Azeroth is brimming with great challenges, of which raids are the most important. While the Raid Finder already exists, let’s face it, if you use the browser because you value harmonious teamwork and patient learning of boss mechanics, you might as well run into traffic and learn to dance. The ability to match shy newbies with helpful guilds via an automated system has little downside, as both users know in advance what they’re getting into. Guilds would be able to assess directly whether the newcomer would suit them, and raid beginners would receive important tips and perhaps find the right guild, to really get into the game. And for those who absolutely do not want to communicate via voice chat: UnlikeDestiny 2 even has a text chat in WoW.

WoW: The wall has to go! – No single servers = better community
Some games have resorted to a method that, although not a game mechanic in the narrower sense, often promotes the formation of a community: the abolition of server limits. Anyone who has ever created their first character as a motivated beginner and started playing, only to find out afterwards that all their friends are playing on a different server, knows what we are talking about. One of the ways in which the community is able to play without borders is the path that Rift : Planes of Telara has taken. The MMORPG, launched in 2011, lets its players switch servers for free – even if there is a small waiting period involved each time. Also interesting is that Trion WorldsEntertainment met the wishes of its community and offered an additional server and payment model that does not require any Free2Play elements. In doing so, the studio cleverly combines the wishes of veterans who long for the good old days and the gameplay habits of newer, more casual gaming oriented players. Of course, Blizzard took up this model with the announcement of the Classic Server and thus met with unqualified praise from the players. The idea of ​​changing servers for free could also be implemented in WoW, but would in all likelihood lead to rather dubious results very quickly – there are always a few black sheep who spoil the fun for other players.

EVE Online goes a different way, which makes server changes unnecessary from the start, because the gigantic space intrigue sandbox from CCP uses the so-called megaserver technology. Everyone has heard of the EVE community, as the tales of betrayal, real money, and world record after world record consistently top all gaming media. The battles, in which real money amounts in the five-digit range are sometimes atomized , are only possible because all players can really play on the same server at the same time – without any instantiations or

community is absolutely legendary and undoubtedly identifies more closely with the game than any other community out there. Countless EVE celebrations , regular player – run big events , and real dramamake the game an experience beyond compare and weld its community together (despite anger and tears) like no other game could. However, just the idea of ​​finding all the players in the world at the same time in a single Azeroth almost makes our hearts stop. In the case of EVE Online, the model only works because space is very, very large – in all directions. Filling a comparatively tiny world like Azeroth with several million players would be like trying to put two hundred live, angry cats on a two-hundred-page stamp album: Surely there’s a way to do it. The result is, however, neither pleasant, useful nor painless for the provider or for those affected.

Play without limits with Battle for Azeroth
It almost seems as if Blizzard wants to weld its customers together into one large community across all guilds and games: With Battle for Azeroth, the so-called “communities” are brought

The announcement made many players confused,

because the difference between the communities and “real” guilds is in the details. Where your guild is your family in a figurative sense, the community should represent your home village: guilds provide their members with active support, an emotionally charged sense of belonging and of course with bank spaces. Membership in a community, on the other hand, is cross-guild. For example, anyone who joins the “Roleplaying in Stormwind” community will meet members of various guilds and be able to communicate via their own chat channel. Don’t want to join the RPG community with all your characters? No problem, because the membership is character and not account bound. You can also join as many communities as you like, so your tauren warrior can join the Baine Bloodhoof Fans and Down with Baine Bloodhoof! stop.

The highlight of the matter is that the communities cannot communicate with each other across factions, but can communicate with each other across servers. If you want to quickly put together a group in your self-created “Farming old raids” community, simply post a quick join invitation in the chat and shortly afterwards go into battle with like-minded community members. If you want to schedule large or small events, all members in your community will automatically receive a calendar invitation if they wish. And so that the community feeling is complete and (almost) all barriers fall, Blizzard WoW also has its own voice chat. And no…we’re not talking about the failed attempt from 2007, which tended to take on the quality of a scratched vinyl record when there was a lot of client activity.Overwatch successfully tested and approved. And, of course, guilds will also get all the calendar, invitation, and chat features of the new communities.

WoW: The most important thing: a solid foundation – without a good game, there is no community

So what is the panacea? With which features can you enrich a game in such a way that a strong and loyal player community is not long in coming? In summary: not at all. A community is not “built” by the developers – it just happens. And that brings us to the crux of community building: the game itself, without any additional social features. If you take a close look at our prime example, City of Heroes, you will see that the game only received the often praised mission architect in 2009. However, the strong community was already formed before that. World of Warcraft was given additional guild features with Cataclysm, but has had a strong community since its inception. And even single player titles likeSkyrim has been able to build a community around itself that, years after the game’s release, is still producing content like there’s no tomorrow. A solid house can only be built on it if the foundation is stable.

In plain language this means: game mechanics for community building are a good idea and are often used by the players. But even the best idea won’t work if the underlying game only offers mediocre fare. And after the gals and boys at Blizzard proved with Legion that they can still make good MMORPGs, we’re confident the trend will continue with Battle for Azeroth. In particular, the burgeoning faction conflict could be a good opportunity for Blizzard to further fuel the renewed interest in Azeroth. Because, as you can see with EVE Online, a high potential for conflict is also good for creating unforgettable gaming experiences. And we remember: What makes a good player community is, that even conflicting situations are approached with the sentence “How can we make the whole thing a little cooler for everyone involved?” See you on the battlefield.

WoW: Pack fights, Pack gets along
Yep, we know the objections: the conflict between Alliance and Horde is old and seems very trying now – and according to the latest findings from the Alpha, only the Horde seems to be able to produce war criminals. One of the lessons we learn from history books is that if people don’t learn, tragedy repeats itself. The thing with the repetition seems to go down a little too well with Blizzard. Also, how should an expansion that emphasizes the differences between the factions bring the game’s community closer together? Anyone who observes at Blizzcon that players who wear a Horde T-shirt do not sit down at a table with Alliance T-shirt wearers naturally wonders whether two communities are forming here that are alienated from each other.

Amusingly, that’s exactly the answer that game director Ion Hazzikostas gave in an interview to a slightly startled Forbes reporter who wanted to play with his Horde friends: “To be honest, I’d almost say that we want you to be different from your friends who are playing the opposing faction. You should remove these people from your circle of friends and question their choices in life!” Of course, the whole thing wasn’t meant to be taken seriously and was commented on with hearty laughter – but at its core, Battle for Azeroth is supposed to provoke exactly that: wild faction pride inside and outside of the game.

What is WoW Classic?

World of Warcraft Classic is a true recreation of the original WoW as you know it from 2006. All parts of the game – from combat mechanics and talent trees to character models and zones – have been recreated, contributing to the authentic experience.

Getting Started

All players with an active World of Warcraft subscription or game time on their accounts have access toWoW Classic at no additional cost.

1. Open the Blizzard Battle.net Desktop App and select World of Warcraft from the menu.
2. Select World of Warcraft Classic from the Version menu. If you have more than one World of Warcraft account, you’ll see a second Account drop-down list. In this column, select the active account you want to play with.
3. Click the Install button. The progress bar will tell you when your game is ready to play.
4. Click the Play button when the installation is complete.

You will need to select the realm you want to play on from several different realm types. Make sure you choose the same realm as your friends – in World of Warcraft Classic, you can only group with characters that are on the same realm as you!

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