No, Horde and Alliance Cannot Directly Group for Questing

I‘m afraid the short answer is still no as of 2023 – Horde and Alliance players cannot directly party up together for normal questing and exploration out in the open World of Warcraft. The faction divide still runs too deep for that.

However, since Battle for Azeroth‘s launch in 2018, Blizzard has slowly opened the door to more cross-faction cooperation and instanced content. So let‘s dig deeper into exactly what Horde and Alliance character can (and can‘t) do together now…

Queuing for Instanced Content

The biggest change enabling Horde/Alliance cooperation is the addition of cross-faction queues for dungeons, raids, PvP and more via the group finder. Here are some stats:

This has hugely expanded the pool of players that can group up. No longer are you limited to just your faction – now you can tackle difficult Mythic+ dungeons, raid progression nights, or competitive ranked arena with allies from the other side.

As a hardcore WoW player myself who loves heroic raiding and high mythic+ keystone pushes each week, I love that I can now draw candidates from a wider population. The quality of group finder pick up groups has noticeably improved thanks to cross faction queues.

War Mode & World PvP

While you still can‘t directly party up out in the open world, Battle for Azeroth‘s introduction of War Mode has led to thriving world PvP between the factions.

By enabling War Mode, players gain access to lucrative bonuses to experience, rewards, and enemy players out in contested zones. I‘ve had a blast grouping up informally with other Horde players to hunt rare Alliance characters as they quest in places like Vol‘dun or Stormsong Valley.

And when the battle heats up over an Azerite node or world boss spawn, suddenly 100+ players are warring in epic open world PvP brawls. It really succeeds at fostering a persistent frontline in hotzones across Kul Tiras and Zandalar.

Communities Replace Guilds… For Now

Now, we all know the glue that holds most MMOs together are player-formed guilds. And as mentioned initially, the faction barrier still applies to being in the same guild in WoW… for now.

However, Blizzard added the introduction of cross-realm communities in Battle for Azeroth as a sort of interim solution. With communities, Horde and Alliance players can still chat together freely and form persistent groups.

I run a couple of cross-faction communities myself for things like Transmog runs where we assemble characters from both sides of Azeroth to clear old raid tiers for armor appearances. It works very smoothly and I‘ve made Alliance friends that I couldn‘t before.

That being said, I and many other players eagerly anticipate Blizzard enabling full cross-faction guilds down the road. Data mined sound files showing placeholder mechanics for this feature already exist indicating it‘s at least being tested internally in future patches.

As a Horde loyalist, I have to admit it would be strange embracing Alliance players into the fold after fighting them for so long. But if the armistice holds after Sylvanas‘ treachery, perhaps the time of Banshee versus Lion has passed. We can only hope!

The Future Possibilities on Faction Identity

I want to wrap up with some commentary on the state of Horde versus Alliance looking ahead. If cross-faction grouping does ramp up further, what might that mean for the deeply-rooted tribal identities World of Warcraft players carry?

Personally, I don‘t foresee Blizzard ever fully dissolving the faction divide altogether. The proud banners of the Orcish Horde and Human Alliance are just too iconic for the franchise. Not to mention so much quest content and narrative hangs on the schism.

However, with new threats that care not for faction – be they corrupting Old Gods below the surface or cosmic forces from beyond the stars above – there lies compelling reason to keep slowly bridging the gap.

My hypothesis is the factions themselves will endure, but how players interact and connect with those "on the other side" will keep transforming. And I believe that‘s healthy for the long-term social fabric holding Azeroth together. Burning with hatred for your fellow player leads nowhere fun.

Even if I ever bless Alliance steel with my Horde warhammer in joint force, I will always remain loyal to green skin. But a temporary truce could make for very interesting times ahead. Let‘s see what the whispers of the Dragon Aspects blow in next…

FOR THE HORDE! (And maybe for new Alliance allies too.)