In a recent group interview with NA Content Creators (a summary can be found on WoWHead), Game Director Ion Hazzikostas discussed several topics related to Patch 10.1, including cross-faction guilds, Mythic raid lockouts, and more. The interview covered a wide range of topics and provided insights into the direction of World of Warcraft.
One of the major topics discussed was cross-faction guild restrictions. Ion Hazzikostas acknowledged that they would like to increase the guild member cap beyond 1,000, but technical limitations make this difficult. However, they are considering the experience of alts as there are very few guilds with 1,000 active humans in them. Additionally, the team is moving in the direction of tearing down faction barriers, but they want to do so carefully.
Regarding upgrading systems, the current system is very Dragonflight-themed, and the hope is that it will work in Patch 10.1 and be a unification of multiple upgrade tracks. If the system carries forward, it can be a permanent evergreen feature going forward, and they can use universally named currencies.
On the topic of raids, for the first time, the first LFR wing will be released at the same time as Normal, Heroic, and Mythic. The rest of LFR will be delayed to ensure that friends and family guilds can experience the progression together. The team wants everyone to see the end of the story and the final boss, and LFR exists to make that possible.
The interview also covered class tuning, customization, dragonriding, bag space, crafted gear, tier bonuses, and timewalking. Hazzikostas discussed plans to balance defensiveness and survivability, allow for more class/race combinations, and improve bag space in future expansions. He also talked about the possibility of adding book collections to the game and continuing to evolve the weekly event rotation.