Phase 5 of World of Warcraft Classic is right around the corner, but faction imbalances on certain servers are causing trouble for the opening of the gates of Ahn’Qiraj, a major milestone in the game that requires immense efforts by both Alliance and Horde to complete.

The main problem comes in gathering the items needed for the War Effort, which demands a huge amount of materials. For example, the Alliance must collectively hand in 800,000 Linen Bandages, 600,000 Silk Bandages, and 180,000 Light Leather – just to name a few components. On a server with an equal amount of Alliance and Horde players, this is no problem at all. Even on servers with an imbalance of 80% to 20%, it is feasible, but there are some extreme imbalances.

Amnennar is one example of a lopsided faction balance at 30% Horde and 70% Alliance, but that is likely still manageable for the War Effort. On the other hand, several servers in Asia are predominantly one faction or the other, leaving 1-3% representing an entire side.

In these cases, there are a few options. First, Classic has a feature that has long been removed from the retail version of the game, and that is the neutral auction house. This can be used to post materials needed for the War Effort by someone on one faction and purchased by another. Players can thus coordinate with each other, or simply create a new character for themselves on the opposing faction, if they are not on a PvP realm.

The problem of faction imbalance is only affecting some realms, however. Most players who are invested into the long-term progression of Classic all knew exactly what would be required to open the gates of Ahn’Qiraj, and have been stockpiling the components for months. This is an interesting solution to a problem many saw coming, and further illustrates the reality of Blizzard trying to “recreate” the original experience.

It would have been truly fascinating to see Blizzard change the components needed for the War Effort at the last minute – without letting players know beforehand. Sure, it would have gone against the “no changes” philosophy, but it also would have recreated the real feeling from fifteen years ago.

In any case, only a few players seem to be shocked by the consequences of rolling characters on servers that are predominantly one-sided for a faction, and most others are still well-prepared.

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