WoW Cross-Faction Guilds Are Possible Thanks To A PTR Glitch, But Don't Expect It To Become Official

When Blizzard announced World of Warcraft would get cross-faction support in the upcoming patch 9.2.5, it made clear that the feature would not, at least at launch, include the ability for Alliance and Horde players to call the same guild home. That little fact, however, hasn't stopped players on the game's public test realm, who have discovered how to make cross-faction guilds a reality thanks to a glitch.

As discovered by WoW content creator MrGM (via Wowhead), entering into an instanced dungeon or raid on the PTR with a member of the other faction while possessing a guild charter will allow for the creation of a cross-faction guild. This is due to the game for all intents and purposes treating players using the new cross-faction feature as if they are all on the same faction while inside an instance, which allows the new guild charter to be signed by members of the opposite faction. It seems only members of the opposite faction who sign up this way can make it into the guild, with the normal guild-invite feature only working for members of the same faction.

The bug will no doubt be fixed prior to patch 9.2.5's full release, but it nonetheless highlights a potential feature that many fans are hoping will eventually become an official reality. It wasn't all that long ago that grouping with members of the opposing faction was nothing but a pipe dream, but the ability for members of the Horde and Alliance to play together on friendly terms is finally happening soon. Taking cross-faction support a little further to allow for cross-faction guilds seems like a natural next step.

That being said, it could be a while before Blizzard is ready to cross that bridge. As WoW game director Ion Hazzikostas has said in interviews, the door remains open to the possibility of cross-faction guilds, but that Blizzard wants to be guided by feedback and make sure of its decision, as there would be no way to roll back such a feature once those restrictions had been lifted.

Patch 9.2.5 does not currently have a release date but is expected to arrive soon. When it does release, it will bring cross-faction support and new story content to serve as an epilogue to the Shadowlands expansion. It will also introduce Shadowlands Season 4, which will repurpose earlier raids from Shadowlands as well as Mythic dungeons from old expansions like Legion and Warlords of Draenor to be relevant once more.

Season 4 and patch 9.2.5 will help to tide fans over until the release of the game's next expansion, Dragonflight, which does not have an official release date but is rumored to arrive sometime around March 2023.