Faction-Change Service in the Works

[Trouble]

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=18031079410

We wanted to give everyone a very early heads-up that, in response to player requests, we’re developing a new service for World of Warcraft that will allow players to change their faction from Alliance to Horde or Horde to Alliance. There’s still much work to do and many details to iron out, but the basic idea is that players will be able to use the service to transform an existing character into a roughly equivalent character of the opposing faction on the same realm. Players who ended up creating and leveling up characters on the opposite factions from their friends have been asking for this type of functionality for some time, and we’re pleased to be getting closer to being able to deliver it.

As with all of the features and services we offer, we intend to incorporate the faction-change service in a way that won’t disrupt the gameplay experience on the realms, and there will be some rules involved with when and how the service can be used. The number of variables involved increases the complexity of implementing this service, but we plan to take the time needed to ensure that it lives up to expectations before officially rolling it out. We’ll go into much more detail on all of this here at http://www.WorldofWarcraft.com as development progresses. In the meantime, we wanted to let you know that because this type of functionality requires extensive internal testing well in advance of release, you may be seeing bits and pieces of the service in the test builds we use for the public test realms moving forward.

[Merusk]

There were folks asking for this from day 1, surprised to see it now after 4 years of avoiding or saying 'no.'   Now the only question is, how long until you can just buy a character that starts at 70 or 80?

[Fabricated]

I suppose that's one way to get a level 80 horde character without suffering the shit that is horde leveling zones.

[Kail]

Well, now... that, I was not expecting...

I wonder if they'll come up with some way of changing your race, too.  Seems like it would be a pain, otherwise.  Say that normally Humans become Orcs and Night Elves become Blood Elves.  Your Human Paladin switches sides, but there are no Orc Paladins, so you're reassigned to a BE.  You switch back, and would normally become a Night Elf, but there are no Night Elf Paladins, so you're what, a Dranei maybe?  Or a Human again?  This could get tricky...

[Merusk]

Well, now... that, I was not expecting...

I wonder if they'll come up with some way of changing your race, too.  Seems like it would be a pain, otherwise.  Say that normally Humans become Orcs and Night Elves become Blood Elves.  Your Human Paladin switches sides, but there are no Orc Paladins, so you're reassigned to a BE.  You switch back, and would normally become a Night Elf, but there are no Night Elf Paladins, so you're what, a Dranei maybe?  Or a Human again?  This could get tricky...

I'll wager you get to pick your race when you switch.  I'll also wager you're going to lose all your achievements, factions, quest completions and skills.

[Ingmar]

Well, now... that, I was not expecting...

I wonder if they'll come up with some way of changing your race, too.  Seems like it would be a pain, otherwise.  Say that normally Humans become Orcs and Night Elves become Blood Elves.  Your Human Paladin switches sides, but there are no Orc Paladins, so you're reassigned to a BE.  You switch back, and would normally become a Night Elf, but there are no Night Elf Paladins, so you're what, a Dranei maybe?  Or a Human again?  This could get tricky...

I expect your new race will just be a menu option on the transfer interface.

[March]

Well, now... that, I was not expecting...

I wonder if they'll come up with some way of changing your race, too.  Seems like it would be a pain, otherwise.  Say that normally Humans become Orcs and Night Elves become Blood Elves.  Your Human Paladin switches sides, but there are no Orc Paladins, so you're reassigned to a BE.  You switch back, and would normally become a Night Elf, but there are no Night Elf Paladins, so you're what, a Dranei maybe?  Or a Human again?  This could get tricky...

I see what you did there... a two step process to change your existing character race.  I like it.

[Rasix]

I'll wager you get to pick your race when you switch.  I'll also wager you're going to lose all your achievements, factions, quest completions and skills.

Most of that would be pretty simple to translate over, even faction rep.

[Ingmar]

I'll wager you get to pick your race when you switch.  I'll also wager you're going to lose all your achievements, factions, quest completions and skills.

Most of that would be pretty simple to translate over, even faction rep.

Yeah I can't imagine they'll strip your skills off, there'd be no point. At best I would expect people to lose the few faction-specific recipes that exist.

[sickrubik]

Clearly the real answer is to port your character straight over, but just give him/her a goatee.

[March]

Clearly the real answer is to port your character straight over, but just give him/her a goatee.

Ah yes, the evil twin transfer service (tm).

[Lakov_Sanite]

I would actually pay for the evil twin service. would be great to rp a tauren druid pretending to be an elf.

[Rendakor]

It would be REALLY cool if you could stay whatever race you were like EQ2's betrayal system.

[Oban]

It would be REALLY cool if you could stay whatever race you were like EQ2's betrayal system.

Yes, I would pay for this service on all of my characters.

[Ingmar]

I expect it will never happen in WoW (though I would have thought this would never happen as well.) It would create a fair amount of problems for target identification in PVP, I think.

[Kail]

I expect it will never happen in WoW (though I would have thought this would never happen as well.) It would create a fair amount of problems for target identification in PVP, I think.

I would have thought this too, before the Powers That Be decided that the only REAL PvP was in Arenas, where there's already Orc-on-Orc action.

I have to admit, I am really curious about the specifics on how this will work.  There's a ton of stuff that's still factional; mounts, weapons, rep, quests, flight paths, auctions, mail, achievements... what happens to all this when you switch?  Resetting it would cause as much confusion as keeping it...

[Rendakor]

Anyone wanna guess how much Blizzard is going to charge for this?

[Chimpy]

Anyone wanna guess how much Blizzard is going to charge for this?

$50

[March]

Anyone wanna guess how much Blizzard is going to charge for this?

$50

5000 gp, but faction discounts will now apply.

[Oban]

I expect it will never happen in WoW (though I would have thought this would never happen as well.) It would create a fair amount of problems for target identification in PVP, I think.

How?  Red is dead.

[Zetor]

Eeenteresting. Well, if they do that, they'd best do away with race/class restrictions too.

I want a gnome priest/shaman/druid, dammit!! :p

[kildorn]

Eeenteresting. Well, if they do that, they'd best do away with race/class restrictions too.

I want a gnome priest/shaman/druid, dammit!! :p

A gnome enhance shaman would be a thing of wonder.

[Ingmar]

I expect it will never happen in WoW (though I would have thought this would never happen as well.) It would create a fair amount of problems for target identification in PVP, I think.

How?  Red is dead.

Past a certain distance you can't see names, so target ID gets slower, as you have to click on them, etc. It would really only matter in Wintergrasp/BGs, arenas are another animal entirely.

[chargerrich]

I would prefer the ability to change races on the same faction first.... my old 68 troll rogue is too damn ugly to play so he languishes because i dont have the heart to delete him... now if he were undead.... 

[apocrypha]

If they'd done this a couple of years ago I'd have been stoked. Could have swapped the level 60 Alliance druid & rogue I have to Horde and stopped feeling dirty for playing Nelves. Now, well, getting to 60 is so easy, especially with RAF, that I'm not bothered, but that's just the effect on me personally.

Will be interesting to see if this will have any effect on the huge faction imbalances on some servers, although I doubt it and in fact suspect it may make it worse on some servers.

[Fordel]

I expect it will never happen in WoW (though I would have thought this would never happen as well.) It would create a fair amount of problems for target identification in PVP, I think.

How?  Red is dead.

Past a certain distance you can't see names, so target ID gets slower, as you have to click on them, etc. It would really only matter in Wintergrasp/BGs, arenas are another animal entirely.

Once you reach that distance though, everyone looks the same anyways. Only Gnomes, Taurens and Male Draenei stand out enough. Even Dwarves can get blurred into the generic humanoid shape.

[Oban]

If you can't tab target it, it is not important.

[Hutch]

The original post has been updated with a Q&A.

You get to choose what race you switch to, as long as that race supports your class.

If you switch to the other faction and then back, you have to switch back to your original race.

They want to "maintain balance between the factions" on a realm, which sounds to me like they'll stop you from switching if it will overbalance the H:A ratio. For a yet-unknown value of "overbalance".

[WindupAtheist]

Q. Will I be able to choose the race on the opposite faction that I want to change to?
A.. Yes, but you will only be able to switch to a race that has your class type available to it. So if you play a human paladin, you’d only be able to change to a blood elf paladin.

Fuck.

[Kail]

Q. Will we be able to switch between the races on our own faction?
A.. No. Players will only be able to switch to a race of the opposite faction.

Oh, what the fuck is this...

[Ingmar]

Q. Will we be able to switch between the races on our own faction?
A.. No. Players will only be able to switch to a race of the opposite faction.

Oh, what the fuck is this...

I am pretty sure that is ENTIRELY due to human reputation racial hax.

[bhodi]

Who gives a shit? Really? Is this considered game-breaking?

If someone wants to pay cold hard cash to switch races so they only have to whack 90% of the foozles to get their flying black lizard or whatever, just fucking let them.

[Ingmar]

Presumably because the spot where they're drawing the line on RMT is 'no actual gameplay benefits'. I don't see it as that big a deal either, but if their intent is to limit RMT to purely cosmetic/convenience issues, then it makes sense.

[Kail]

Presumably because the spot where they're drawing the line on RMT is 'no actual gameplay benefits'. I don't see it as that big a deal either, but if their intent is to limit RMT to purely cosmetic/convenience issues, then it makes sense.

Except that it doesn't stop that; I can change my Orc warrior to a Human to take advantage of their rep racial, and then change back once I don't need it anymore.  I can't do that with my Gnome warrior, though.   

[Lantyssa]

I would pay them money, lots of it, to let me play a Draenei (or Troll) warlock.  Or a couple of other combinations.  They could buy Money Hats for their Money Hats.