Should neutral be a playable faction in The World of Warcraft?

Yes

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by Daniel Coffman

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Should a third faction, one that is Neutral, be introduced to the World of Warcraft MMORPG? I believe it would greatly improve the game, and draw in an even larger audience.

First off, for anyone unfamiliar with World of Warcraft, or MMORPGs in general, here's a quick overview. MMORPG stands for Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game. In the same vein as Dungeons and Dragons, Vampire: the Masquerade, and similar tabletop RPGs (Role-Playing Games), players of MMORPGs create and play characters in a simulated virtual world. Generally, these worlds are filled with creatures and enemies to fight and quests to accomplish, both of which reward your character, or "Toon", with money, items and experience.

In World of Warcraft, known as WoW to its fans, you choose to be a member of one of two opposing factions: the Alliance, a Feudalistic group consisting of Humans, Night Elves, Gnomes, Dwarves and Dranei; or the Horde, a more barbaric conclave of Orcs, Trolls, Tauren, Undead and Blood Elves. Although the Horde is represented as barbaric and the Alliance as orderly, neither side is necessarily pure good or evil.

Being a member of one faction automatically makes one the mortal enemy to member of the opposing faction. This means that guards and other NPCs (Non-Player Characters) of the Horde will attack an Alliance player, and vice versa. Each race has it's own home city and smaller satellite towns, as well as numerous camps and outposts throughout the virtual world of Azeroth. With a few notable exceptions any camp, outpost or town is considered to be faction-controlled. This means that no Orc can enter or even approach the Human city of Stormwind.

A few cities are Neutral, however, and these can be freely visited by members of any race or faction. These areas are generally run by one of the Neutral races, mainly the crafty Goblins. One may also find non-faction specific vendors of all races in these areas, allowing a Gnome to perform quests for a Tauren NPC, and an Undead to buy and sell to a Night Elf vendor. One aspect of the game are Trade skills, special trainings every player can choose such as Tailoring, Cooking, Blacksmithing, Mining, etc. These Trade skills have to be learned and expanded at the appropriate trainer.

One aspect of play in WoW is the PvP environment. PvP stands for Player vs. Player, and allows member of opposing factions to attack one another. Members of the sane faction are also able to challenge one another to "Duels", one-on-one battles marked with a flag, usually taking place within the safe confines of a city. Usually, PvP combat is voluntary, meaning both players must agree to be actively PvP to attack or be attacked, although glitches in the game sometimes allow non PvP players to be targeted, although this is rare.. Some servers -separate hosts that allow a certain number of payers to participate in the same game world- are strictly PvP, so that simply playing on that server opens one up to attack by players of the opposing faction.

Many people prefer PvP, feeling it lends a certain thrill to the game. Many others, however (myself included) are perfectly happy to play the game without fear of attack, especially whilst in the middle of a difficult or complicated quest, or during vulnerable periods, such as healing from a recent battle. I find PvP tiring, especially when I find myself being stalked by players who hover near your corpse or the nearest graveyard, waiting for the right moment to strike again while you are still vulnerable.

Aside from PvP servers and duels are Battlegrounds, separate instances which allow large groups of players to gather in separate camps, then go head-to-head with a matching troop of the opposing faction. These Battlegrounds, or BG, have a specific goal involved, such as Capture the Flag or kill the opposing group's leader. Once this goal is accomplished, the Battleground ends and the winning side is rewarded with special honor points and badges which can be traded in for unique equipment. Once again, many people enjoy Battlegrounds, still others do not.

For those players, like myself, a Neutral faction just fits the bill. Although some feel adding a third faction to the mix could be confusing or disruptive, I believe it would cater to a group that already exists in the game. Those of us who do not enjoy Dueling, Player-vs.-Player and Battlegrounds are sometimes mockingly referred to as "Vanilla", but we do play the game, and pay the same fees and spend the same time playing and leveling and contributing to the game.

What would be the advantages of a Neutral faction? To be able to freely enter either faction's cities and towns would be a bonus. Sometimes travel throughout a region is made very difficult by the presence of a camp positioned along travel routes (Feralas comes to mind here). The number of quests, vendors, Tradeskill trainers and repairs available would increase. To balance these advantages would be the loss of potential Battleground gear and certain quests and equipment.

One argument against the Neutral faction is that it would disrupt the balance between Alliance and Horde. But, I suggest that this could be avoided by introducing new playable races to the game, instead of allowing the existing races to choose Neutral. One might laugh at the idea of playing a Goblin, but is that any sillier than a Gnome? The potential is already there: Goblins, Centaurs, and other NPCs exist as vendors and quest givers throughout the game already. New races were added to the game with its first expansion, Through the Dark Portal. The Blood Elves, an offshoot of the Night Elves, were introduced as members of the Horde, allowing Horde players to choose to be Paladins for the first time. And the equally-strange Dranei allowed Alliance players to become Shamans, whereas only Horde could be Shamans before. In fact, new races could be introduced for the Neutral faction, just like the Dranei and Blood Elves were.

Since so many players already exist who would rather not attack or be attacked by other player, who could not give a hoot about Battlegrounds or Honor points, the ability to play a Neutral-aligned character would be perfect. Characters must gain "Reputation" with towns or groups to gain access to certain quests and gear as it now stands. A Neutral character would have the same uphill climb, without the advantage of an Alliance or Horde starting city. Perhaps it could be made more difficult to gain said Reputation for the Neutral player. There are myriad possibilities for balancing such an option.

In short, there is a market and a niche for the Neutral faction, and its introduction does not necessarily have to disrupt gameplay. In fact, adding a third faction could actually enrich the game, and draw in even more players, ones who might otherwise be turned off by the idea of PvP.

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