Posted by Amatera on Monday, June 29th, 2009 - 53 Comments
Tags: Alliance, blizzard, change, faction, Horde, nethaera, ptr, service
Azeroth is quickly becoming the plastic surgery capital of the virtual universe! You can modify your character’s name, face, hairstyle, even gender. And soon, you can even completely change which race you play, too! According to a post from Blue Nethaera, Blizzard has finally heeded the call of players who wish to carouse with friends of the opposite faction:
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.
This represents the company’s boldest step yet in allowing character customization. Blizzard’s not kidding when they say that there are a lot of variables to consider when switching one’s race, and it goes beyond simple cosmetics. You have to take into account such things as potential shifts in server population. Alliance races, on the whole, are played far more than their Horde equivalents, and on my server it’s more than 2-to-1 in their favor. There are already too few people worth playing with, without having to worry about more turning coat and joining the other side.
FOR THE... Alliance?
And then there are issues such as race-specific abilities and stat changes that will no doubt occur if you go through with the procedure. While the overall impact might be small (a several-point decrease in Stamina, for instance), it’s still something worth thinking about before you make the jump. And what about quests, reputation, or faction-based achievements? Will you have to start from scratch, aside from the gear and items you’ve already accumulated?
According to Nethaera’s post, we may or may not see parts of the new service appear on the PTR, but it seems highly unlikely that it will be implemented in the forthcoming content patch. Nonetheless, if you’ve ever wanted to hide from people in-game, it won’t be very long before someone could potentially erase their footprint from any given server, changing virtually every notable aspect of their character in the process. Interesting prospect for a fictional world, huh?
What do you think, readers? Are you up for this change? Itching to level up with some of your cross-faction friends or simply looking for a different experience altogether? What lasting impact might this have on the underdog Horde? How much would you pay for the ability to wholly modify your race or faction?
Related Posts: Prepare for Paid Race Change Service “Coming Soon”, Paid Race Change Service Goes Live, Blizz Responds to Faction Change Questions, Faction Change Service Goes Live, Wishful Thinking: Neutral Faction,
By Carlos on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
First of all, I wouldn’t do it. I love Alliance.
I think Blizzard is kinda screwing it up with this one. Changing your appearance is one thing… but your Faction?
I don´t know, probably the price will be $15. I would like to hear other opinions though.
By Unholy on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
FOR THE HORD- uhh ALLIANCE
By Ditz on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
*sigh* next you’ll be able to chang your race
By Oreoo on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
FOR THE HORDE.
By weber on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Experienced it on P-server. no big deal realy it wont change much, and imagen what it gona be like when ur on a pvp server and changing faction, when u gona be in a horde guild as an ex-alliance= not NEVER. its realy not a big deal.
By Decado on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Wait a minute.
You can change your faction now, but you can’t change your race? Guess my shaman is staying as an orc.
By higy on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
i cant wait till they allow u to race change among ur faction cause i lvled a troll rogue to 70 and dropped him at wotlk because i hate trolls and had wished he were undead if he were undead i would probably pick him up again and maybe play him at 80
By Amatera on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
@ Decado
They say faction, but I’m guessing that there is an implied race change, as well. If you switch factions, they’ll probably allow you to choose which part of it you become.
Whether or not you’ll be able to change race within the same faction, though, seems up in the air.
By Ryan on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
I would much rather see a race-change than a faction change.
I’d like my BE mage to be Undead.
I’ll never go alliance though, FORT THE HORDE!
By b4k4 on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
I might be opening myself up to flames with this one, but as an RP’er, I’ve always thought it’d be interesting to be able to have Alliance races do a quest line to join the Horde, or vice-versa.
I’ve actually put about the same ammount of thought into the idea as I did into the idea of a quest line for existing characters to become Death Knights.
By Bullverine on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
I think they should try Race Change first and see how that goes, if not does that mean a player has to make his orc warrior to a human warrior and then back to a tauren warrior?? if they do it that way Blizzards makes more money and thats what is all about.
By Rannar on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Wow, if my server was full of be paladins until now, what’ll happen when this hits and all those alliance pallys change to horde?
Never gonna change my undead priest by the way, she’s just too sexy
Seriously though, did I miss a year passing by? Cause I’d swear April’s fool was like two months ago…
By Octaviax on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
Im debating this one. I have both Horde and Alliance alts on many servers, but my main is a Forsaken death Knight.
Now, I like to Role Play, and as a Forsaken, I can make a much better story for myself than say, a human. Then again, I like Humans and the Alliance (Expecially Varian. He’s my favorite leader)
Forsaken are cool, yet so are humans. I dont know.
Also: Could w ebegin to see Holy Cows?
By Meren on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Woot!!! That would be awsome if I could change my race not to mention my Faction. For those of us who have been playing the game since before Burning Crusade we might like to change our main to Blood Elf or to Drenei.
And if I could change my faction me and some of my RL friends could play together without having to make entirely new toons.
By Shnoo on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Blizzard will never take out lore, there are lots of Horde/Alliance sympathizers from both sides, (from a RP perspective) The main reason : Blizzard is losing subscribers and hopes to draw some back with this, and to even out the obviously varying balances on some servers
By Xian on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
This sounds awesome! Even though it will likely end up as another “paid service”, I’d definintely try it out. Maybe change one of my BE alts to something else. >.>
By Alex Fugate on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
I think it is awesome. A good deal of my friends play alliance - as much as it pains me to watch them play alliance - and most of them say how they want to switch to Horde cause they just like it better. And the top 3 raiding guilds in the interworld is Horde, at least last time I checked. So they would switch over and I would love to raid with my friends but I could not bring myself to play Alliance - not cause of the stereotypes but I just hate the races no offense - and it would make it way more fun for me.
I do agree that it is going to make a lot of trouble and confusion. But I sense a lot of guilds dropping off the radar for awhile after it is released so people can switch then they’ll regroup.
By Montes on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
I would want to try this out becuase i want to see pvp horrde base and such and my server is full of horde lots of them not that many ally lol if this does happnd im gana think about it iwant to be horde but i would miss my friends
By stephen on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 4:08 am
A lot of people will exploit it and switch to human for a while to grind rep…
By belfhunter on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 4:14 am
I would like 2 c race and factoin change
only bc in BC i had a belf pally i would swich ally
btw im a space goat
g2l my name
By Ponyboyy on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 4:36 am
Seriously…what the fuck is blizzard doing to this game?
By Justin on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 5:59 am
@Ryan
same here bro i have a BE mage and i just cant stand the way they cast… but undead on the other hand:P
By Justin on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 6:01 am
Im gonna get a kick out of this by changing my dreanie(sorry if thats not how its spelled) shammy to and orc or tauren. And my Nelf hunter to a Belf or orc hunter. These were my first to characters but then i started up horde on another relm and they became my fav:)
FOR THE HORDE!
By Volgas on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 7:40 am
Can I do it now? Please? Very excited for this to happen… I have characters I don’t want to play anymore because I don’t play on that server/faction anymore. Awesome.
By Ugluck on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 7:44 am
I would love to change my troll rogue to undead, NEVER going alliance though, i might kill myself if Varian says “Oh hai we be friendz nao?’
By Voogle on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 7:47 am
On my server its about 10 to 1: Horde to alliance ratio. I definetely do not thing they should do this.
By cocopuff on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 7:59 am
my 80 rogue my 80 mage and my 80DK are all gnomes and i would not change them for the world i am proud to be part of an elite race i could honnostly care less how they cast or how they swing i find it funny how i can kill things 5 times my size i find the other races kind of boring maby is because i am really short my self
as for all the plastic sergery both MJ and britney spears had plastic sergery look what happen to them. now all thats missing now is class changes then you could just flip a fair coin for to choose your fraction roll a dice to choose your race flip a coin to choose your gender roll a dice to choose your class and the and roll three dice to choose your look and then random your name your not going to be stock with it i dont know about you but for me the hardest thing about making a new character is design it choosing your fraction your race i hope it is easy for you to decide your gender your class your look and then your name cause you dont wanto look like a big turd one of the reason i dont go horde u used actauly have to think about your decisions in wow now everything caan be changed everything can be reversed reguiring minimun thought
By Essam on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 8:30 am
Fuck yes im going alliance, screw you horde! dreanie shammy INC
By Dan on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 8:55 am
I might take advantage of this. My friend is a die hard Alliance and I don’t feel like starting new on a new server. Starting a new toon on the server I am on is different. I have an 80 to fight back any annoying alliance that attack me. I can send myself full netherweave or better bags. And if I ever run out of gold I can have my main send some over.
Now I can just finish leveling one of my toons to 80 and just transfer it over. Curious what the rules about this will be.
By moophobia on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 8:56 am
Horde ’til the day I die. Nothing about the alliance interests me. If I want to see the other side of the game and experience different races, I’ll go raid an alliance town and say hello with my axe and follow it up with a pat on the back with my hoof. The only thing I’d possibly be interested in is the ability to change my race. Tauren and Undead are my favorites. If Blizz really wants to make some cash, they could, for a nominal fee, allow people to start a toon at level 55.
By Kyle on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 10:38 am
Always thought blizzard could make something, like an alliance, human preferably, was in plaguelands or something, got the plague, and then turned into a forsaken. Then i was thinking, that wouldnt work because you couldnt go the other way, turning forsaken back into a human, or else that would mess up the lore, a cure for the plague!
By Pinkspear on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 10:46 am
this sucks….either all of the good horde are gonna leave for higher populations or all the alliance 10 yr olds r gonna go horde…why o why…
By Collapsar on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 10:57 am
Well, i think this will be very interesting. Though i think it would be cool if you could only change your faction in this and not your race. Then you can be an orc in an alliance city, alliance will surround you and be like…WTF HE NOT FLAGGED!!! tho, for me, id NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER
switch from Horde to alliance, alliance are all scum!
FOR THE HORDE!!!!
By Unforsaken on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 11:00 am
Ill be happy when i can make my space goat a moo cow. I dont play him anymore due to the fact that he is alliance but if and when i can make him horde ill start playing him again.
By Thorrhan on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 11:07 am
It would’ve been easier to just have the ability to speak to the other faction, easier and cheaper way to experience the immaturity of the Alliance……
j/k, Hooray Alliance, burn in hell!
HORDE bitches
By Theblackness on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 11:08 am
WOW that us a terrible idea cause if you have gear that only horde can get and you switch whats gunna happen to it plus I don’t want children comin over to the horde
By amidaman on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 11:15 am
its problematic when you’re on a pvp server and have like 10 characters on it, you’d have to change ALL of them to alliance and that would cost you an arm and a leg
By Jumblepie on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 11:48 am
This is a tough one. For my own personal use, i would switch to horde and then back to alliance so i could re-pick my race. Im tired of my dwarf. But i think it would be interesting to be able to switch and experience battlegrounds and raids from the horde point of view.
You also have to consider the population balance. If this goes live and all of a sudden there are no horde/alliance players, how will it be anywhere close to fair?
People will also switch just for the race bonuses. Horde warriors will most likely switch twice to get the tauren stamina buff. just something to think about.
By cocopuff on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
most horde players i know are under 10 my main realm the horde:alliance ratio is 3:1 i injoy that actualy made pvp very easy the arenas and world pvp though they still suck in BG this may tip the scale to some waht even and i honnostly i dont have a problem with that i injoy a challage but what about the server my rogue is on the number of horde and alliance is preaty much equal what will this do to it ya alliance population could destricly increase it could work vice-versa the ratio could stay some what the same, the alliance players turn horde and horde players will go alliance thier is thiers a 66% chance that this will play out badly i am not liking my odds
By cocopuff on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
forgot something
ALLIANCE RULE AND HORDE DRUEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FOR THE ALLIANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By Uhnk on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
I have a lvl 80 Dwarf Warrior on a PvE server that I quit playing in favor of moving to a PvP server where I now play a (currently) lvl 75 Orc Rogue. The Dwarf is a guild master of a 2 man guild (and the other guy moved to the same PvP server and faction as me). We’ve been lamenting of late about how much Frostweave and Titansteal are stockpiled in our guild vault on the old server, not to mention Runic potions that our current guild could really make use of. Been toying with the idea of rolling a lowbie Hordling on the PvE realm and manipulating things a bit in the neutral auction house to get those mats and my Dwarf’s gold in the hands of a horde toon I can then pay to have moved to my PvP realm and hand it all off to my Rogue… this, if it happens, could eliminate a few steps, but in the end would obviously cost me more real life cash to pull off.
By Kyndranigar on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Flames and junk aside, I think the service is, at it’s heart a way for people who know one another to try and get together without the grief caused by “rerolling” on your friend’s server.
“Hey, Jim. Man I’m bummed.”
“Why’s that, Fred?”
“We wiped in Ulduar last night, tried for a hard mode challenge and just assed it.”
“You play World of Warcraft too? Dude! What server?”
“Horde Troll Shammy on Bloodhoof. You?”
“Damn. Alliance Mage on Silvermoon.”
“Wish we could play together.”
“Yeah.”
By cocopuff on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
is it just me or did kyndranigar senario sunded kind of kinky
By cocopuff on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
sounded*
By Sathas on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Just bought a character recustomization >.<
oh and, I’m fine with this change as long as it doesn’t make the alliance population on my server spike (it’s already 3-1, and I’m horde)
By Octaviax on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Regeardiny my earlier post, my choice is made:
Continue leveling my Forsaken and when the feature is active (Likely after 3.3) Im making him a human for a few reasons:
1) Roleplaying: After the Lich King’s defeat, a few (very) forsaken were freed from their undeath. In my case, I’ll still be undead “Death Knight” but ill have all my flesh back^^ After witnessing the horrors of the Forsaken, and the resurfacing of the Bloodlust and demonic representation in the Horde, I will secretly defect to the alliance and combat the evils I once called my allies.
2) Varian is a badass
3) They got Thassarian
4) PL is Alliance. All abord the crew train!
By Andonur on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 4:19 am
FOR THE HORDE.
I think it’s a stupid move, peeps won’t think about what faction they pick anymore cause in the end u can change it, just like your hair etc. It’s not cool if u change from faction, u picked a faction and stick with it. Blizzard really have to watch out with what they are doing, a lot of peeps won’t like this change. And why would a horde go alliance anyway, only if he’s as gay as they are.
If u regret you picked an alliance or horde, too bad for u, should have thought better bout your choice.
By Andonur on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 4:21 am
@ cocopuff
U suck.
By pim on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 7:07 am
what will come? change games? change from blizz to THQ? and then! when will the changing stop?!
By warfather on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 8:01 am
I would prolly guesse that it would likley be more of a betrayal of once faction, and u will still be ike human that goes for horde, and all will be happy XD
By cocopuff on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 11:02 am
i palyed horde and i just cant bring my self to kill any alliance and oncce you betray your fraction i find it hard tr obelieve that our former fraction wil ltake you back i mean how many betrayals will it take
By Nebyula on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 2:48 pm
“Horde ’til the day I die. Nothing about the alliance interests me. If I want to see the other side of the game and experience different races, I’ll go raid an alliance town and say hello with my axe and follow it up with a pat on the back with my hoof.”
I. Love. You.
By Glamis on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 at 5:05 am
My first toon out of EU beta was a night elf druid, and I love her to pieces, but my bloke wanted to play hordeside. So, I play with him on hordeside but I still miss my druid.
I think for people who have friends on the other side or who just don’t want to play a certain faction, it’s a perfectly reasonable idea.
I do wonder how they’re going to work this into the “lore” though…