World of Warcraft will let Horde and Alliance players team up for the first time ever

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This could be one of the biggest changes to hit World of Warcraft in two decades

Sylvanas
(Image credit: Blizzard)

World of Warcraft is letting Horde and Alliance players team up for the first time ever in brand new activities.

As revealed yesterday in an extensive blog post by World of Warcraft game director Ion Hazzikostas, big changes are coming to the historic MMO. "I am pleased to announce that we are working on adding the ability for Alliance and Horde players to form premade parties together for dungeons, raids, and rated PvP," the game director announced.

However, it's going to take a hell of a lot of work. Hazzikostas stresses that there's two decades worth of code and systems to overhaul for Horde and Alliance players to team up together in World of Warcraft, and as such, it won't be ready in time to launch alongside the imminent Eternity's End content update.

Instead, the team-up will launch in the 9.2.5. update for World of Warcraft. Starting off though, the breaking down of barriers for Horde and Alliance players will only be available in the Public Test Realm when the 9.2.5. update arrives, so we'll be waiting for it to hit the full game for a while longer after that.

That being said, there'll still be some restrictions on teaming up. Instanced content like Dungeons, Raids, and PvP will permit grouping between Horde and Alliance players, but Guilds will still be restricted by faction, and while you're outside instanced content in the open world, players from the opposing faction will still appear as hostile.

Finally, grouping up will be possible through invites with your BattleTag or Real ID, and all of this teaming up will be entirely optional, so those who don't want it can happily sit out. It's wild to think of World of Warcraft breaking down these barriers after two decades, and this will be a story well worth keeping an eye on over the coming months.

Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer
Freelance Writer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.