One of the more controversial moves - or rather, more of a lack of a move - at Blizzcon was the that there is no real change coming to the faction system in WoW. Citing its importance as a core mechanic to the game, they shot down any hopes of cross-faction grouping or any loosening of restrictions for friendly interaction between the two factions.
I am sympathetic to those who see this as a sacred thing to WoW. After all, there's basically nothing in the original cinematic other than the two sides fighting, and that division is something that has existed since the beginning.
That being said, it is also a little frustrating. Time and time again, we get to this point where it feels like the two sides have finally come to an understanding, finally realizing that their animosity toward one another serves no purpose. We saw it after the Third War, after Mists of Pandaria, and now toward the end of BFA.
This is actually an area where the mechanics seem to be driving the story more than the other way around. We keep falling into conflict because the game's mechanics demand it, even when the story really seems to be suggesting that most of Azeroth wishes that the two sides would just figure their problems out and at the very least just leave the other side alone. (It's also frustrating that the Horde always seems to be the instigators - it's annoying as an Alliance player to be constantly told that we need to stop fighting when the Alliance is almost always playing defense.)
While I really wish there were an option moving forward for our characters to decide if we're still invested in this whole faction conflict - indeed, this would play into the theme of player agency they seem to be focusing on in the new expansion - I think that lore-wise, Shadowlands will probably be side-stepping the issue by having us go to another plane of existence entirely.
In pretty much every previous expansion, our journey to new lands has been part of a larger military campaign. It actually makes sense given Warcraft's strategy game roots. The two factions are large military powers, and while we're the elite adventurers who do the heavy lifting, we come with large armies to support our efforts.
Legion was something of an exception, as the major military offensive - the attack on the Broken Shore - was actually a total catastrophe. The Kirin Tor were not really part of that fight, but on top of that, the Broken Isles were not really an entirely unknown territory - Val'sharah, for example, was literally Malfurion and Illidan's homeland.
BFA also had us coming to familiar territories, and rather than a major military invasion, we were securing new allies who were well-established in the new territories. Kul Tiras in particular felt like a totally settled country that just happened to be having some very major problems that we needed to deal with.
But with the Shadowlands, it would feel very strange for us to march in there with an army and a bunch of airships ready to fight the Jailor with military might.
We have yet to truly understand the nature of the Jailor and his forces. Even supernatural foes in Warcraft have tended toward a sort of militaristic structure. The Burning Legion, as the name implies, is a real army of demons. And even the Old Gods have an ancient Black Empire that kind of lends them a structure that you can seem to defeat militarily.
Given that we are meant to be the special people who can escape the Maw, I'm guessing that even if we do attack using a military strategy - perhaps assuming that the threat is really just the Scourge - it's going to be a disaster on par with the Broken Shore.
Subsequently, our exploration of the Shadowlands will require us to adjust to a very different kind of world.
I am curious to see what holds the story together. I strongly suspect that Bolvar will be our major NPC guide to all of this. Indeed, he might effectively take the role that Khadgar did in Warlords and Legion.
But it would be very strange to see big Orcish spiky buildings or Human ones built of white stone popping up in Maldraxxus or Ardenweald. I don't think we're going to see the factions really establish themselves in the Shadowlands. But that, interestingly, makes this more of a personal struggle for our characters as champions of Azeroth, and perhaps just champions of the living in general.
It's too bad that our characters can literally find themselves in the afterlife and still not be able to get over factional resentments. And while I basically never play in War Mode, it will be very strange to see Alliance and Horde killing each other in what is basically heaven (Bastion.)
Still, I feel pretty strongly, and I'm also pretty confident, that we shouldn't be seeing a bunch of faction-conflict story going on in Shadowlands. The exception might be those who remained loyal to Sylvanas, but I'm given to understand that, canonically, those who did made the wrong choice - Sylvanas is going to do what she's going to do, and while she thinks it's the right thing to do, and your character might have thought so as well, it's not going to save you from what she has set into motion.
I hope that, moving forward, we'll have more real player choices - preferably not limited to only one of the two factions. I'm also hoping there will be more complex and nuanced choices involved. It's pretty obvious from the get-go that Saurfang is the good guy and Sylvanas is the bad guy in that story. I know Warcraft doesn't tend to go for very complicated moral questions, but I'd like to see some choices emerge in grey areas.
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