Is WoW Forever cross-faction?
Short answer: ❌ No. Horde and Alliance can't group, and you also can't group across rulesets. Pick both with your friends before you roll.
| With the other faction or ruleset | Allowed? |
|---|---|
| Group, quest, dungeon or raid with the other faction | ❌ No |
| Join a guild with the other faction | ❌ No (same ruleset and faction only) |
| Group with someone on another ruleset | ❌ No |
| Battlegrounds with players from other rulesets | ✅ Yes, except Hardcore |
| Both factions on one account | ✅ Normal, RP, Hardcore · ❌ PvP |
What Blizzard says
Blizzard's ruleset article keeps the factions apart to preserve the "war" in Warcraft. Its starter guide adds that you can group, join guilds, run dungeons and raid only with players on the same ruleset and faction.
The one mixing point is battlegrounds: they can pull players from different rulesets (not Hardcore), but it's still Horde against Alliance.
The PvP ruleset faction lock
- Once you make an Alliance character on PvP, you can't make a Horde one there, and vice versa.
- Blizzard may temporarily limit new characters for one faction to keep populations balanced, as it did in Season of Discovery.
- Normal and RP let you play both factions.
Before you roll with friends
- Same region. Region and account setup
- Same ruleset. Changing later means a new character. Character transfers
- Same faction.
More: rulesets explained
Sources
- Blizzard: Choose Your Ruleset (updated 22 Oct)
- Blizzard: New Player's Starter Guide for WoW Forever