With less than a week’s notice before 9.2.5 and cross-faction gameplay, I hope I’m not the only one curious how OTG will handle this? I know that there is, reportedly, a bnet based group between players who play both factions. Is that going to be how folks reach out to the opposite faction, in the event we want to coordinate raids, achievement runs, whatever?
If not, I’d like to propose making a new community that was character based, that folks from either faction (and even on the wrong OTG servers) can join. I think such a community exists for the horde already. (Link: WoW Horde In-Game Community)
The reason I suggest a community based on characters is partly privacy concerns for having blizzard net info instead of a character, and partly because it’s easier (IMO) to know who someone is by the character(s) they play on. (Ie, my bnet is not Endressa. I don’t have active plans to play the character with the same name, and I don’t expect anyone to look at a list with that name and make the connection between that name and my priest. If they know me regularly enough for that, they’re likely on my friends list already.)
If there are too many communities and groups among OTG already, then would it be reasonable to consider repurposing the older (largely abandoned) horde one to a mixed faction group?
Just tossing a few thoughts out there, since I couldn’t find any concrete plans on how this might be handled and suddenly it’s right in front of us! I’m excited to possibly run achievements and stuff with the alliance players I haven’t met, but admit I’m not thrilled about joining a bnet group.
Thanks for posting this. There is also an Alliance private group. Alliance In-Game Community and Combined Battle.net Community I suppose I’ve been taking a wait-and-see approach to see how WoW would handle it. I am certainly not opposed to having a character based community consisting of OTG cross-faction, but it is not something I have discussed with @Aerythe though, I am happy to do so!
Hi and thanks for your suggestion. Alliance already has a community. In fact we had 5 as we were trying out different things. (I just deleted 3 that were completely empty except for me.)
We have the Alliance one that is The Old Timers Guild. We also have a combined one with OTG Horde. It’s called Old Timers Guild Combined Battlenet.
@Moddoxx we are good to go. Just need to get those who want to be invited.
None are used very often, but they have been there since they first came out.
I would like to ensure only the Cross-Faction info is visible to alleviate any confusion on which community players need to join by next week if they wish to participate in any cross-faction events.
For those worried that people will not recognize them in this combined cross-faction community. Follow Aerythe’s instructions for identity 2 to place your main Toon’s name in the community chat window.
I am now a little confused. Which of the existing groups going to be used as cross-faction, or is that still TBD when @Moddoxx and @Aerythe have a time to connect on behalf of both guilds? Is it the battlenet one, or one of the two character-based ones? Or will there be one of each?
Again, I am not comfortable adding myself to a battlenet one at this time, though I actually was hoping to be able to run achievement runs for Shadowlands raids, in the event the cross-faction allowed us enough people to make a full group. (My attempts at horde-only events never had enough for a full raid group.) But if I’m the only one who doesn’t want to use a battlenet group and would instead prefer a community one, I’ll dip from organizing content or try to do so on the forums or discord.
@Endressa The combined one is the one for both groups. Yes, it is Battlenet.
Old Timers Guild Combined Battlenet
Other than the Battlenet community, we have no other options at this time. As @Moddoxx said above, we will wait and see what changes if any are coming.
At this time, Alliance has one static raid group that has been in existence for years. I would suggest getting with Prissy, who has been raid leader (also for years) to see about some achievement runs. She has already been doing that in addition to progression runs. This is a casual raid group that runs every Monday and Friday night. It has enough players to run, but also has room for more. (I’m looking at you, Horde Players. )
UNLESS THERE ARE TOO MANY PLAYERS for one raid team, It has been our experience than an additional raid group doesn’t work for us. We simply do not have the numbers to sustain two different teams at this time. Since we have had so much success with our current setup, I would prefer not to break something that ain’t broke. Hence, your best bet is to get with @Prissy and find out her plans.
If anyone has an issue with the link, please let me know.
For those of you who are interested in joining the cross-faction (Alliance and Horde), as well as all Battlenet games, via YOUR BATTLENET ID, the link is below. AGAIN, this uses your BATTLENET ID! So if you have a problem using that do not join that community.
I have not seen that the actual Battlenet ID shows anywhere in the community.
Click the link which will open your Battlnet launcher.
Click Groups+ on the upper left-hand side.
Choose the second tab “Join Group.”
Paste your code into the box that will pop up.
WoW will assign a channel number for that community
The community will be added on your left.
There is a “Add to Chat Window” option below the chat line/bar. You need to click that and choose General. This allows any chat to show up in your chat window.
If you are using Identity 2, these are the codes to use below. Simply type them into the chat line.
/id on
/id main (Insert your forum name or main character name)
/id enable guild
To enable the communities:
Go into your Identity 2 settings
Choose the Communities tab
From the Add Community Drop Dow Menu, choose the community you wish to add.
Make sure the Enable Community box is checked
Make sure the Enable Channel box is checked
Please note that Old Timers Guild Combined Battlenet has 2 channels.
I’m understand you have concerns on using the Battlenet Community. I can attest that it does not show your full Battlenet tag. It removes all numeric and only shows the Name. It allows you to add notes, so this would be the place to insert Toon names for a reference.
Identity 2 will continue to function by inserting your preferred Name after your community name.
You will only be able to join cross-faction events thru a cross-faction Community according to WoW.
We can’t do it yet, but i am assuming once it is live, it will be as simple as right clicking the name in Community chat and inviting to group. We will find out next Tuesday what works and what doesn’t.
Well if I can stick My 2 cents in here LoL I’ve been here forever. Jake (Wayfar) trained Me in almost everything in here I think? God I miss him Anyways, we have a raid group, yes, and we still have SCRUBS, which is an achievement group. SCRUBS players, Myself included, are kinda burned out right now. Some of our players are injured (Akiba), and since summer is coming, most of us are doing outside things with the weather. We had some of our players in SCRUBS not do their subs because they found other games that kept their interest. Our Alliance side is pretty set for groups I think, but they would always welcome new people. I hope this helps If not, you can find Me everywhere under Nawty or Nawtynurse (almost all social medias, too) - otherwise, have a GREAT day guys! <3
Our brand new, in-game, cross-faction community is up and running. As this is only an in-game feature, you will need to have an active WoW account. Other than that, any OTGer is welcome to the community, whether actually in one of the chapters or not. We just need to verify you are a member of OTG via your forum name as we would any new invite.
This does NOT require Battlenet ID, as it is in-game ONLY.
This community will allow all of us (Alliance and Horde) to group up for dungeons and raids without being in the same faction or even on the same server.
Once you are in the community, please be aware that it acts as an additional CHANNEL, not a guild. You can change the chat color to one you prefer in your chat settings.
WoW leadership is excited about this new feature and welcomes all OTGers with a WoW account. You don’t even have to be in one of our chapters…although we’d love to have you!
Any questions? Please see one of your friendly, neighborhood officers either in-game or in Discord.
Just need to get those who want to be invited. 
Anyways, we have a raid group, yes, and we still have SCRUBS, which is an achievement group. SCRUBS players, Myself included, are kinda burned out right now. Some of our players are injured (Akiba), and since summer is coming, most of us are doing outside things with the weather. We had some of our players in SCRUBS not do their subs because they found other games that kept their interest. Our Alliance side is pretty set for groups I think, but they would always welcome new people. I hope this helps 
