This is turning into a worse mess than the actual WoW forums -.-

What most people seem to be overlooking in this change is the target audience. While Blizz will take your money regardless of your reasons, this change was meant for players who have a high level character on one faction, but his guildies/friends/significant other plays on the other faction. As someone who has had to re-roll factions twice, this change is very welcome to me. Otherwise my level 80 mage with epic flyer, decent gear, and 3500 spare gold would remain useless to me because I have since made a new character to play with friends on the other faction.

In essence, quit your QQing and think about who this will help before you pretend who it will hurt.

This isn't a -true faction change-, this is mearly a -change your character- change.
If it was a true faction change, it'd let you be a Night Elf in the Horde faction.
Glad I gave up on WoW though, not because this will ruin it because that TBC did all by itself.

needausername:
Kinda glad, my time playing as an Night Elf Hunter has left me with one thought bore into my mind, Alliance sucks. Seriously Horde is just so much cooler, Alliance players in my experience are all small children wanting to play the hero. Horde characters on the other hand have realized this, and are using their characters to punch these small children in the face.

Cry more.
On the horde side, everyone is trying to be the next Thrall.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but it doesn't MATTER which side you are on.
Both sides are just as much morons as the other side are.

Eric the Orange:
Hating the other faction is only one step above racisim.

What?! No no you are completely wrong?
It's the basis for all PvP combat, city raids, and there's a huge amount of lore behind it!
If Alli/Horde didn't hate each other it would be one massive friendly PvE clusterfuck.

hannarr:

Eric the Orange:
Hating the other faction is only one step above racisim.

What?! No no you are completely wrong?
It's the basis for all PvP combat, city raids, and there's a huge amount of lore behind it!
If Alli/Horde didn't hate each other it would be one massive friendly PvE clusterfuck.

I was talking about people who in real life seriously hate people because they play the other side, not RP or jokingly.

Psychosocial:
This IS Blizzard, after all, so it will probably cost about as much as buying the game, each time you do it.

Yaay Blizzrd!

Well, they are up for doing anything like this as long as they make $£€ from it.

"This is going to wreak havoc on RP servers."

to some, Havoc, to trolls, this is going to be awesome.

But when I heard about being able to change factions, I thought yo uwould be able to be a Tauren alliance member, or a Gnome Horde, now THAT would of been cool.

This is genious, I got to admit it.

I can agree that it ruins the roleplay, but I find it hard to believe that it would ruin PvP.

WoW is, believe it or not, a social game. The more friends you play with the more fun it is. I for one would love to get to play with my old friends again.

I think they are going to have a hard time figuring out quests, achievements, reputation, mounts and faction-limited items though.

EEEEEK, that is all.

KeyMaster45:
*snip huge chunk of rant*

My word I seem to have flown very far from the original topic. I apologize, as a lore junkie once I get started I can't seem to stop myself. At any rate I think I've given a semi-good synopsis of the story from both sides to the best of my knowledge. (leaving out, well, some rather large bits of back story that come from books and what-not) It's probably Horde biased in some way since I do primarily play and interact with the Horde's side of the story Arc, but I feel I've got a pretty good grasp on the bigger picture.

Thank you for that, it was a good read. :)

Eric the Orange:

hannarr:

Eric the Orange:
Hating the other faction is only one step above racisim.

What?! No no you are completely wrong?
It's the basis for all PvP combat, city raids, and there's a huge amount of lore behind it!
If Alli/Horde didn't hate each other it would be one massive friendly PvE clusterfuck.

I was talking about people who in real life seriously hate people because they play the other side, not RP or jokingly.

I see. Haha I give my alli friends shit about it but I guess you're right, it should always just be as a laugh.

CantFaketheFunk:
This is going to wreak havoc on RP servers.

Roleplayers are just going to have to pretend there's been a surgical breakthrough in the WoW universe.

quote="Baby Tea" post="7.121898.2436013"]I think it would be way cooler if you could have 'defectors'.
You know, playing a night-elf on the horde side.
Then you'd keep all of your gear, and mounts and everything!

And THAT would cause loads of whining.[/quote]

...and chaos ensues.

This would be a better idea than trying to figure out all the equivalents.

I have but one thing to say about this:

Nice.

quiet_samurai:
Why would you ever want to be on the alliance?

I agree with you friend ^__^ I love my little troll hunter so much, I would never exchange her for a weak little allie XP

You know, I could care less about this than what I think MOST players would really really love..

The ability to change your RACE.

I know waaaay too many people who started and leveled a race they just arent happy with anymore who would be more active if they could use a character they prefer.

For example, I have a level 72 Tauren hunter that I would love to level except that honestly, I'm TIRED of Tauren. Tauren were cool when I first started the game so many years ago, but now I hate him... I hate how big they are, how they take up so much screen space, how navigating hallways is such a pain in the butt, and their hit box might as well have a "slay me first" sign on it. Being able to switch to a Blood Elf would reinvigorate the class for me. Same goes for my Mage Troll

Give it a couple of years and Blizzard will be giving us the option to change our tauren's eye colour for a tenner. At what point do they decide they have enough cash?

finally, my human warrior can be an orc!

HyenaThePirate:
You know, I could care less about this than what I think MOST players would really really love..

The ability to change your RACE.

I know waaaay too many people who started and leveled a race they just arent happy with anymore who would be more active if they could use a character they prefer.

For example, I have a level 72 Tauren hunter that I would love to level except that honestly, I'm TIRED of Tauren. Tauren were cool when I first started the game so many years ago, but now I hate him... I hate how big they are, how they take up so much screen space, how navigating hallways is such a pain in the butt, and their hit box might as well have a "slay me first" sign on it. Being able to switch to a Blood Elf would reinvigorate the class for me. Same goes for my Mage Troll

That's essentially what this is. From what it sounds like, it's just that if you want to be another race on your current side, you have to pay twice to do it.

Vanguard_Ex:

CantFaketheFunk:
This is going to wreak havoc on RP servers.

Roleplayers are just going to have to pretend there's been a surgical breakthrough in the WoW universe.

We're/They're roleplayers. Pretend is our/their forte. Do not understimate us/them! ^_^

Will they allow you to transfer more than once?
There will probably be a time frame.. once every 6 months or something..

I'd gladly pay for the ability to change my race, not just my faction. I enjoy being horde, never liked Alliance nor do I really like the idea of alliance players suddenly flooding the horde with their usual immature behaviour.. (in my experience mostly children and 'casual/mainstream' players choose Alliance because the humanoid/elf/dwarf races are more attractive to them, who envision themselves as the "heroes" of the story slaying the traditional "beast monster" enemies).

As for faction only gear/mounts stuff, I suspect they'll just reimburse you the in-game equivalent or cost.. if it cost x-badges then you'll just get those back. For example, you'll get all of your Arathi basin points back to spend, etc...

Long overdue feature. It was ridiculous how you couldn't play with your friends just because they happened to go on the other faction.

That said, the game is basically unfixable. I don't foresee playing it again, even for nostalgic purposes, as the pricing model effectively kills dabbling.

I'm really looking forward to this as now I can make one of my lvl 80 horde characters alliance and therefore raid with all my friends :D

Deserters would be awesome,but I will NOT be changing my Paladin(human) to a Blood elf,no no no.

What I mean by "deserter" is as in a human paladin that joined the horde,only trouble would be making sure the two sides stay balanced.
A waiting list could fix that,you line up you to change and(for example) there is a orc warrior and you(whatever you want to be) than since you are in first and so are they you trade places,there we have -1 for the horde and -1 the alliance and +1 for the horde and +1 for the alliance and as most of us know 1+1-1-1=0 and so the player ratio remains the same.

There was a thread on if you talk to yourself,seemly I also typed to myself.

They should let you keep your current character, just change faction. You'd be an obvious traitor and the first guy to die in PvP.

Baby Tea:
I think it would be way cooler if you could have 'defectors'.
You know, playing a night-elf on the horde side.
Then you'd keep all of your gear, and mounts and everything!

And THAT would cause loads of whining.

Yes! A billion times yes! I don't play WoW anymore, but this seems like something the game could do with, an extra dose of 'realism'.

As for the main point, I truly cannot see this working. It sounds like a smokescreen to divert attention away from imminent nerfs. You saw it here first (possibly), ladies and gentlemen.

Baby Tea:
I think it would be way cooler if you could have 'defectors'.
You know, playing a night-elf on the horde side.
Then you'd keep all of your gear, and mounts and everything!

And THAT would cause loads of whining.

I hope we get that eventually! I had a Night Elf in the P&P that worked for the Horde Side. She even dual-wielded Tauren Halberds. THORIUM Tauren Halberds.

She was a badass, I should hit my mate until he starts DMing that again...

So all the Alliance guys are going to go to the Horde and the Horde are going to....stay as the Horde.

I have mixed opinions about the entire thing to be honest. Truthfully I could see a mass exodus from the Alliance to Horde to be honest. Despite what people might think "The Horde" does not have better or more mature players (heck, Barrens chat is infamous for a reason). It's all about game imbalance issues and The Horde having been handed a lot of minor advantages which over time snowballed into a decent amount of favortism.

Penny Arcade once called rolling Alliance one of the biggest gips in the gaming industry. Game informer mentioned "Alliance Syndrome" with the angelic faction in their preview of Aion not too long ago. There has also been a lot of talk about "Bad guy Chic" and how developers almost always seem to put more time into the bad guys and make them cooler, and typically stronger. It isn't just WoW, if you looked at say Warhammer Online and what happened with Destruction right out of the gate it would be pretty obvious. The "Knights Of The Old Republic" MMO seems to be headed in the same direction with "Sith Mania" both with the attention they are getting in the lore, the players screaming "I wanna be Sith" and the various reveals.

Right now I think WoW basically needs to make Alliance cooler, and also needs to act to balance the results of long-term imbalance. Things that compounded based on "minor" issues that should have been fixed or changed years ago. Not allow for side switching.

At any rate if they WANT to allow people to switch factions, they should look at Everquest 2 as an example of how to do it. In EQ 2 there was a quest chain that allowed a character to change sides between Qeynos and Freeport (at least when I played briefly) so if you wanted to play a Good Dark Elf or Ratonga you could, and if you wanted to be an evil High Elf or whatever you could do that as well. This would solve the achievement issues and such.

I've also sort of felt that at least on the RP/PVE servers there should have been a neutral option. Lorewise I'd imagine there would be heroes and such more or less agreeing with the position of Jaina Proudmoore rather than everyone being a mindless fanatic of one side or
the other.

I understand the whole game design around faction rivalry though and why they did things the way they did.

>>>----Therumancer--->

I think that all the races should have their own factions and allow the players to choose the alliances per server. Say the taurens and the Night elves gang up and just destroy everyone else. think that would make the game awesome!

Therumancer:
I've also sort of felt that at least on the RP/PVE servers there should have been a neutral option. Lorewise I'd imagine there would be heroes and such more or less agreeing with the position of Jaina Proudmoore rather than everyone being a mindless fanatic of one side or the other.

I like your ideas and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

I understand the whole game design around faction rivalry though and why they did things the way they did.

If it gives my Night Elf the opportunity to visit Orgrimmar or my Troll the chance to see Darnassus, though, I'd be willing to look the other way. Even if I'll be attacked by a lot of Warcraft lore fans.

Therumancer:
I have mixed opinions about the entire thing to be honest. Truthfully I could see a mass exodus from the Alliance to Horde to be honest. Despite what people might think "The Horde" does not have better or more mature players (heck, Barrens chat is infamous for a reason). It's all about game imbalance issues and The Horde having been handed a lot of minor advantages which over time snowballed into a decent amount of favortism.

Penny Arcade once called rolling Alliance one of the biggest gips in the gaming industry. Game informer mentioned "Alliance Syndrome" with the angelic faction in their preview of Aion not too long ago. There has also been a lot of talk about "Bad guy Chic" and how developers almost always seem to put more time into the bad guys and make them cooler, and typically stronger. It isn't just WoW, if you looked at say Warhammer Online and what happened with Destruction right out of the gate it would be pretty obvious. The "Knights Of The Old Republic" MMO seems to be headed in the same direction with "Sith Mania" both with the attention they are getting in the lore, the players screaming "I wanna be Sith" and the various reveals.

Right now I think WoW basically needs to make Alliance cooler, and also needs to act to balance the results of long-term imbalance. Things that compounded based on "minor" issues that should have been fixed or changed years ago. Not allow for side switching.

I think a main problem is most of the interesting heroes from the alliance races either died (Muradin, Lothar, Uther, Antonidas, etc) or buggered off/switched sides (Malfurion, Illidan, Arthas). With the King of Stormwind making a comeback I'm thinking that Blizzard sees this as well.

I would agree with the general Horde favouritism as well. The horde races in the lore have had great developments forwards (the founding of Ogrimmar, the Forsaken breaking away from the Scourge), as the Alliance races are seen as dwindling cultures (The destruction of the World Tree and it's effects on the Night Elves, The fall of Lordaeron). With the campaign of WC3 we are introduced to more interesting Horde characters (Thrall) and previous characters are further developed (Grom)while the Alliance characters are more old faces (Antonidas/Uther)and the newer blood either, as I said earlier switches sides, dies off, or, in Jaina's case, isn't really looked into from that point on.

Oh shi-

I'm suddenly glad I'm no longer on an RPGing server. The whining will probably be so loud that it reaches my server, too, as it did with the "change your character's appearance!"-chaos which resulted in a ton of spontaneous gender changed characters without any idea on how to portray a transperson respectfully. It was hell. I don't want to know what happens when people are able to transform into other races.

It would have been really cool if that was restricted to humans, though - infected vs. cured, sort of. Not realistic, but ... well. More logical than a gnome turning POOF! into a tauren.

needausername:
Kinda glad, my time playing as an Night Elf Hunter has left me with one thought bore into my mind, Alliance sucks. Seriously Horde is just so much cooler, Alliance players in my experience are all small children wanting to play the hero. Horde characters on the other hand have realized this, and are using their characters to punch these small children in the face.

Your avatar is mesmerising.

Yeah, this looks really cool and stuf...

CantFaketheFunk:

needausername:
Kinda glad, my time playing as an Night Elf Hunter has left me with one thought bore into my mind, Alliance sucks. Seriously Horde is just so much cooler, Alliance players in my experience are all small children wanting to play the hero. Horde characters on the other hand have realized this, and are using their characters to punch these small children in the face.

Wow, I don't even know where to begin with how wrong this is. :P

And yet, so right.

On an unrelated note, I faked the funk.

Boxpopper:
Am I the only person left who likes gnomes? :(

Yes. For God's sakes, YES.