any plans to fix horde via crossfaction soloq and/or free faction changes?

atm it really sucks as horde since the server population is roughly 70% alliance 30% horde which would be alright if we would have crossfaction soloq so reduced que times and free faction changes so after finding an arena partner in lookingforgroup/global, we could hop over to our partner's faction if they are the opposite one or vice versa (this happens very frequently on horde).
we can whisper crossfaction but other than that we can't do anything with them.
crossfaction soloq is gone so horde soloq que times are insanely long even at 0 rating, i've heard people saying that they sat in que for 30 minutes, i play healer so i get much faster ques but still, my que times averaged like 2-4 minutes at 0 rating, while on old blackrock crossfaction soloq i've never sat a que longer than 1 minute (average was around 20 sec) even at 1.9k rating.(note that i only play during prime-time)
also for some reason horde is full of people who just created a character and que soloq in full starter gear while knowing nothing about their classes so yeah if you are an experienced player then playing soloq on horde is not a really fun thing since you keep losing after you sat a long que because your teammates have no idea what's going on and the enemy will be alliance like 95% of the time and they do know what is going on.
finding like-minded arena partners in chat is also painfully long since only 30% of the server is horde.
many people can't even collect points for a faction change because they only play blackrock, therefore no point income so they have to deal with the agony of being horde after the update.
(sorry for the wall of text)

are there any plans to bring back crossfaction or free faction changes?

thanks for the answer in advance

I'm having the same problem. It's even worse as Horde dps. Please bring back crossfaction soloq to Blackrock!

Why is crossfaction soloq disabled in the first place?
I mean, 3s teams from the other wotlk realms don't face soloq players anyway so the "it's not Blizzlike" argument isn't valid.

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Originally Posted by truthwow1

Why is crossfaction soloq disabled in the first place?
I mean, 3s teams from the other wotlk realms don't face soloq players anyway so the "it's not Blizzlike" argument isn't valid.

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i would guess that 1 server hosts all the pvp related things, even blackrocks soloque. if that is the case the core for that server likely isn't able to do cross faction for solo and non cross faction for the rest.

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Originally Posted by Skuddy

i would guess that 1 server hosts all the pvp related things, even blackrocks soloque. if that is the case the core for that server likely isn't able to do cross faction for solo and non cross faction for the rest.

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even just adding back free faction changes would fix the problem or make things a lot better.
if adding back cross faction soloq is not possible because of technical issues regarding the core, then just give us free faction changes.
if the core can't handle blackrock-only custom commands for faction changes either, then make it so faction changes via the website are for free on blackrock.
problem solved.

I agree with OP, horde dps characters that want to play soloQ atm are effectively not able to do so. I have a few characters that I spent months gearing and can't play anymore.

Could you please confirm if cross faction soloQ will stay disabled?
I remember a few years ago when soloQ first started. Back then faction changes were free, and at start it was not cross faction. So some people would abuse that buy queuing soloQ with 2 friends on horde side (at the same time with same mmr and a strong 3v3 comp), and they would almost always be matched together for easy wins. We might face the same problems now.

If cross faction soloQ remains disabled, it would be nice of you to give everyone 1 free faction change. You could limit that to horde only and for a limited period of time. We were not expecting that cross faction soloQ would be disabled, or else many of us would have changed to alliance before cross realm went live.

At the vert least I think we should be able to collect points on Blackrock like on the other servers. Then we can change factions after a while.

Thanks a lot.

Can confirm,
I wanted to climb soloq on my undead warlock and after over an hour I am still on 0 rating, even though I didn't lose a game.
I got 3 invites in that time and in all three cases the match didn't start because it was 2v3.
There is a bug atm where you can't enter the arena when you get invited while you are in a duel, that's why a lot of matches won't even start if you finally get that invite. Do you guys know what to spend honor on now, since the case trader is gone, btw?

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Originally Posted by paroka

are there any plans to bring back crossfaction or free faction changes?

thanks for the answer in advance

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Very likely on the latter.

@Proterean
In an earlier thread, you mentioned it likely won't be free to change from horde to alliance. I strongly suggest making it free on Blackrock both ways. Mainly because it's not just one-time thing like on other realms and was used on regular basis by most of the players.
You've met a potentional arena partner in the duel zone? Change faction and queue with them. It didn't go well? Change back.

As of now, there is only 192 horde players online on Blackrock, the vast majority of them being new players with little interest in arena. Solo queue is pretty much dead on the horde side. Anyone who wants to take the arena seriously will create human from now on, because aside from the much more active bracket, it's objectively the best race, especially with heroic trinkets readily available. The way things are now, horde arenas are going to die, because most of the players will grab the first opportunity to switch to alliance and will never come back.

If players have the opportunity to switch factions liberally, it will actually make horde feel more active. People who like playing horde will be able to switch for casual pvp situations such as bgs, duels, or even for specific comps like beastcleave.

If you absolutely must generate some income using faction change, I suggest having us pay once for unlimited changes.