TSMC Japan's Second Fab to Produce 3nm Chips by 2028 
SMIC Allegedly Supplies Chipmaking Tools to Iran's Military, U.S. Officials Warn 
California's AI Executive Order Pushes Responsible Tech Use in State Contracts 
NASA's Artemis II Mission: First Crewed Lunar Journey Since Apollo 
Elon Musk Ties SpaceX IPO Access to Mandatory Grok AI Subscriptions 
Meta Ties Executive Pay to Aggressive Stock Price Targets in Major Retention Push 
Federal Judge Blocks Pentagon's Blacklisting of AI Company Anthropic 
Britain Courts Anthropic Amid US Defense Department Dispute 
Cybersecurity Stocks Tumble After Anthropic's Claude Mythos AI Leak Sparks Market Fears 
Apple Turns 50: From Garage Startup to AI Crossroads 
NASA Artemis II: First Crewed Moon Mission Since Apollo Takes Four Astronauts on 10-Day Lunar Journey 
OpenAI Pulls the Plug on Sora, Ending $1 Billion Disney Partnership 
Microsoft Eyes $7B Texas Energy Deal to Power AI Data Centers 
Annie Altman Amends Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman 
SpaceX Eyes Historic IPO at $1.75 Trillion Valuation 
SK Hynix Eyes Up to $14 Billion U.S. IPO to Fund AI Chip Expansion 
Nanya Technology Shares Surge 10% After $2.5 Billion Private Placement from Sandisk and Cisco 
Massive changes are underway for “World of Warcraft” as Blizzard Entertainment announced it is working on introducing new “cross-faction” features. That means, in a future update, players belonging to either Horde or Alliance will be able to team up with their friends from an opposite faction.
The separation of Horde and Alliance factions has been a foundational aspect of “World of Warcraft” since the game was released. So if someone is playing on the Horde side and their friend belongs to the Alliance, their options to do things together in the game are very few to none. That goes to show how huge these changes are going to be.
In a blog post on Monday, penned by “World of Warcraft” game director Ion Hazzikostas, it was noted that even Blizzard had made clear statements about keeping Horde and Alliance apart. Hazzikostas noted that at BlizzCon 2019, fans were told that the separation of these factions is the “pillar” of the game. “But upon reflection, that’s an oversimplification: Alliance and Horde identity is what is fundamental to Warcraft,” Hazzikostas wrote.
Meanwhile, Blizzard said they set some rules that guided them in crafting the upcoming cross-faction features. First, they wanted cross-faction functions to “focus on organized instanced gameplay.” That means Horde and Alliance can primarily join the same group when joining raids, rated PvP, and entering dungeons. Hazzikostas noted that in other aspects of the game, especially in War Mode, “World of Warcraft” factions will remain unfriendly and hostile to one another.
The new features will still bring about sweeping changes to “World of Warcraft.” Soon, Horde players will be able to send direct invites to Alliance players, and vice versa, as long as they have the other person’s BattleTag or Real ID. Players from opposing factions will be able to join the same Premade Groups listed on the Group Finder for Mythic dungeons, raids, and rated arenas.
As mentioned, some gameplay will still follow the faction-based rules. Cross-faction will not be available for Guilds and other “World of Warcraft” activities, such as Heroic dungeons, Random Battlegrounds, and Skirmishes. And if these changes still seem bizarre for some players at launch, Blizzard said one of the core rules set for these updates is that cross-faction functions should be opt-in features.
Hazzikostas noted that the cross-faction changes were not completed in time for the launch of the Eternity’s End content update (also known as version 9.2) for the Shadowlands expansion. But Blizzard is planning to release the new features in update 9.2.5.
