Faction-Change Service in the Works

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=18031079410&sid=1

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.


maybe intresting for you Siheld

OMGOMGOMG!!
My dream comes true!

Well, that is a bit dramatic i think..
But how would that work?
I mean.. You would have a horde char, but also an alliance list..

Now.. I need some sort of Emanee-like story for Siheld..

As the post is saying, this seems poorly thought out, or at the very least, poorly illustrated to the community.

I hope it's Race Change, Faction Change would cause Horde to have more 'Alliance' then the Alliance itself.

I'm sure Siheld would be a plus for the Horde RP community

Lol I wonder how much this will cost...

Dont mention it

I guess it's no suprise, they seem to be milking everything they can out of the game.

Having said that, a lot of other online games exist where you spend real life money openly to get ahead in them, so obviously activision decided it would be a nice way for them to get rich too.

Also, I would probably use it myself.

What?!
You are going Ally mode?

Siheld wrote:

What?!
You are going Ally mode?

Pffft not with Vex, but maybe one of my other toons.
I already have an account on both sides though.

Interesting question though, how will it work on pvp servers?

Vexacus wrote:

Siheld wrote:

What?!
You are going Horde mode?

Pffft not with Siheld, but maybe one of my other toons.
I dont have an account on both sides.

Interesting question though, how will it work on pvp servers?

I changed it for me, I probably make my Nelf a Belf..
We will see, I was wondering the same Vex

That would be awesome, I probably would use it on one of my characters if at the point it comes out I've caved in...

Vexacus wrote:

Lol I wonder how much this will cost...

That's the nub of it.

End of the day, this is a shite idea that is purely about getting more cash and nothing to do with actually being helpful. I want to see them actually enable it as an in-game thing like you do in Sholazar with the Oracles and Frenzys!

I think it wont work on RP-PvP realms...unless they force you to switch totally to another faction..
wasnt it the rule that it was impossible to have a horde on (RP)PvP server when you had an alliance already? (and visa versa)

ah well.. If they do allow it, I think it's a great feature..
Could help cross-faction RP a lot with translations.
Though I wouldnt and couldnt say goodbye to the good times I have(had) on alliance side.

Drakonis wrote:

I think it wont work on RP-PvP realms...unless they force you to switch totally to another faction..
wasnt it the rule that it was impossible to have a horde on (RP)PvP server when you had an alliance already? (and visa versa)

ah well.. If they do allow it, I think it's a great feature..
Could help cross-faction RP a lot with translations.
Though I wouldnt and couldnt say goodbye to the good times I have(had) on alliance side.

I can't see how it will. After all, once you've transferred to the other faction you no longer have communication, just like those already there. The only way to do it is to use forums like this, MSN etc, which you can do already.
And it's not like you can do much original RP. All you can do is RP like all those who have created a Horde account and do something like Emmy or Lion have done, but that's a fairly limited option. Far better is to be able to actually remain as your race and yet change faction and RP the change, ideally doing it with a group/guild, through a series of rep quests.

The Faction change thing will go like this:

My female dwarven hunter --> Sin'dorei ranger, always wanted to be that.
Lvl 50 or so, so if possible that will become my new main! Roleplaying a ranger: lovely!
Blue Moth pet, fist weapons, long, slender bow = perfect ;D

HELLOOO HORDE SIDE

Hmm interesting ... might be a bad thing .. or a good thin .. depends on how blizz does it.
Will probably not use it myself .. with exception if it would be a good thing for a chars RP story, and only if you can have both horde and ally on pvp server ... and that I doubt that will happen

Has to be said, for those completionists out there it will mean that they can get all the PVP achievements by killing all faction bosses!

Gurfang wrote:

Has to be said, for those completionists out there it will mean that they can get all the PVP achievements by killing all faction bosses!

rewarding what? another recolored drake or bear?

munechi wrote:

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.

So it would probably go a bit like this:
Nelf --> Belf (or Tauren seeming that was the opposing side in the original version of the game)
Dwarf --> Orc
Gnome --> Troll
Human --> Undead
Draenei --> Tauren (or Belf, as said above)

I probably wont use it >.> but merely because I honestly don't have the RL funds for it (being a student is both fun and it sux at the same time ^^ ) + dont have any friends on horde side

Indaril wrote:

munechi wrote:

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.

So it would probably go a bit like this:
Nelf --> Belf (or Tauren seeming that was the opposing side in the original version of the game)
Dwarf --> Orc
Gnome --> Troll
Human --> Undead
Draenei --> Tauren (or Belf, as said above)

I probably wont use it >.> but merely because I honestly don't have the RL funds for it (being a student is both fun and it sux at the same time ^^ ) + dont have any friends on horde side

I object to Gnome --> Troll!

This reminds me, there was already a possibility in the game to turn into a race of the opposing faction: the Orb of Deception.
There, the race pairings were the following:
* Night elf ↔ Forsaken
* Human ↔ Orc
* Gnome ↔ Tauren
* Dwarf ↔ Troll
* Draenei ↔ Blood elf

However, I think during the faction change you probably will not be able to change your class, and your talent tree etc. won't be lost. So Nelf Druid --> Tauren Druid, but Nelf Rogue --> Belf/Undead Rogue. Similarly, Belf Hunter --> Nelf Hunter, but Belf Warlock --> Human Warlock... etc.

I think the same as you Snicka, aah well, I hope it will turn out that way

Also, you may find this table interesting. It show how many classes certain Alliance/Horde races share, thus showing the "similarity" of these races. Some of these are really surprising!

	Human	Dwarf	Night Elf	Gnome	Draenei
Orc	3	3	3	3	3
Undead	5	3	3	4	3
Tauren	1	2	3	1	3
Troll	4	4	4	3	5
Blood Elf	5	4	3	3	4

Following the table (and taking in consideration how many classes these races can play), you get the highest class overlap the following way:

Human - Undead (91% - 5 classes out of 6+5)
Dwarf - Blood Elf (73% - 4 classes out of 5+6)
Night Elf - Tauren (67% - 3 classes out of 5+4)
Gnome - Orc (67% - 3 classes out of 4+5)
Draenei - Troll (83% - 5 classes out of 6+6)

Yeah, I have too much time...

PvP achievements won't matter, they will simply change into those of the other faction (thus replacing your old ones?)
Same for the mounts I guess.. I guess they will be replaced, dunno.. either way it's not really worth the cash is it? (Fugly goggle bears)

Drakonis wrote:

Gurfang wrote:

Has to be said, for those completionists out there it will mean that they can get all the PVP achievements by killing all faction bosses!

rewarding what? another recolored drake or bear?

Potential world and server firsts of people who get the achievement, and personally I'd love to see something like a reward of 2 mounts for it with a non-flying mount that does 125% speed increase and a flying mount that does 300% speed increase. It's a worthwhile reward to go for but because it requires having a decent team that stays together for all 4 cities it means that the chances on most servers are low for it to be a regular thing to get (of course, on SSL that may well be an easier thing to get but if it gets more people in then who cares!).

However, personally I'd prefer them to add in Vo'Jin and Mekkatorque into the achievement too.