Kinda sad regarding the transform thing, thought i can finally see taurens running around in stormwind....

Hope the switch is not a one time thing though, than i can betray and betray again, lol, sort of like a double spy....

My first reaction was "This is a cynical attempt by blizzard to make money".

That may or may not be true, but making money isnt necessarilya bad thing. In order to evaluate this change we should consider the impact it will have on the game.

I can see several positives

a) As a few people have mentioned, it makes it much easier to join friends who, for one reason or another are playing on the opposite faction.

b) High end guilds get a wider recruitment pool of talent. They no longer need to advertise "Horde only" or "Alliance only".

However, there are possible negatives.

c) If a faction is heavily underpopulated on a server (e.g. horde on EU-Silvermoon) will this cause even more of them to desert?

d) Will we see large numbers of people re-rolling to whichever faction is most successful in battlegrounds?

e) If a faction has long queues for battlegrounds will people desert it?

f) How will they handle things like keeping track of which quests you've done. Will you be able to do both the horde and the alliance quests in each zone? Similarly will we see horde characters running around with alliance mounts.

g) Will this be another nail in the coffin of the "RP " in MMORPG?

h) There's also a cultural difference between the two factions. Partly due to the sort of people who choose to play them. Partly reinforced by the different atmosphere that the players of each faction immerse themselves in (I know I for one feel completely different when I walk through Orgrimmar than I do when walking through Stormwind). So what will be the effect of players arriving in horde guilds who aren't part of the Horde culture (or likewise for alliance).

I'm currently not sure how it will play out. If only small numbers of people cross factions then the whole thing could probably be ignored. But how would things play out if a large proportion of one faction or the other decide to swap on a server. Could that happen?

It's a game breaker for me. I've already deleted it all and I'm done. Say good bye to battle grounds with billion horde and few alliance. This game has turned into a pile of garbage. Can't wait for a next MMO but until then I plan to relax and enjoy life.

I suspect the transfer service will also include a racial change.  Otherwise it might cause real havoc in pvp, plus the horde will never take dwarves.  They would burn the servers down first.  IMHO racial betrayal is something that should be left to story lines for quests and things of that nature and not allowed to players. 

What I have noticed about all of these changes is that they seem to be indirectly in support of after market character trading.  All of these things help that market.  Name changes, server transfers, pve to pvp transfers, account with different last names being merged under battlenet accounts and now faction transfers.  I think blizzard has realized that people are more likely to either resubscribe if they can move and play where they want, but also more people will give/trade their accounts to friends (or secondary market) if there is more flexibility.  The above is pure speculation on my part and I have no real evidence to back it up, but it makes "some" sense.

I like the idea of getting my characters from a faction that I no longer play and putting them to good use again.  There is nothing wrong with that and I bet the sides stay just as balanced as they are now.  Overall I think it is a positive change.

if this allows faction change without changing race I'm all for it.  I prefer druids to all other classes on wow, but I despise alliance and I can't bring myself to play a walking burger...I mean Tauren.  So yeah, I'll re-sub if it allows keeping the char's original race.

Otherwise WoW will stay where it is, off my computer /shrug

Originally posted by OldAgeJunkie

It's a game breaker for me. I've already deleted it all and I'm done. Say good bye to battle grounds with billion horde and few alliance. This game has turned into a pile of garbage. Can't wait for a next MMO but until then I plan to relax and enjoy life.

Just curious why you think this is such a bad change and a "gamebreaker" to the point of deleting it? How does listening to your players and providing a much asked for and sought after service turn the game "into a pile of garbage"?

you can make your ally a hordie but you can't make a troll paladin /weep

I don't know where every one is getting this idea that you could play alliance characters on the horde side.  Read the description people, "comparable" race.  But I am sure that the a day will come and blizzard will allow you to play ally characters on horde without race changes because blizzard is a sell out.

Why can't they make it a gameplay feature like EQ2's betrayal?

Originally posted by arctarus

Kinda sad regarding the transform thing, thought i can finally see taurens running around in stormwind....

Hope the switch is not a one time thing though, than i can betray and betray again, lol, sort of like a double spy....

 

 

 

Well in Warcraft 3 I can't remember there being a Horde and Alliance at war with eachother.

I don't know whether or not I like this move, as I think it should be free, and part of the story.  Don't make it a paid transaction, add it into the story.  I've always wondered why they couldn't make wow a bit more realistic.  I mean seriously, why wouldn't Thrall accept allies defecting to the horde.  In terms of story that would be like, free alliance secrets.  Easier ways to beat em (and vice versa for the Alliance)..

Originally posted by Talraekk

I don't know whether or not I like this move, as I think it should be free, and part of the story.  Don't make it a paid transaction, add it into the story.  I've always wondered why they couldn't make wow a bit more realistic.  I mean seriously, why wouldn't Thrall accept allies defecting to the horde.  In terms of story that would be like, free alliance secrets.  Easier ways to beat em (and vice versa for the Alliance)..

I think it would be cool if they did that but then you might get into the issue of people "faction jumping" just for the hell of it. Someone gets mad that they lose in AV and they decide to go join the Horde without thinking or vice-versa and then you have massive server imbalances, etc....

The only way they could do it, is to make the change a very long and involved quest where you have to prove yourself to the new faction. However, it would be hard to make any quest chain long and hard in WOW without involving something crazy like faction farming or some other mundane activity which seems to be the antithesis of Blizzard's design goals right now.

My one hope is, no matter how they implement it, it is a one way change and there is no way to go back once you make it.

I honestly think this is a stupid move on Blizz's part but they are doing something right I guess to continue to have such a large marketshare.

As mentioned by some people earlier in this thread, its all about maximizing profit - nothing else. First character transfers, then name changes, race changes and now faction changes. The paid lvl 55 char option indeed isn’t far I guess. They milk their subscribers as much as possible until...well I guess wow2 isn’t too far in the future anymore.

But its not only on the income side, they also cut costs and expenses wherever possible. It started with Shattrath, I mean what the hell where is the spirit of having an opposite faction you are supposed to be at war with - horde/alliance standing together around in the major TBC city and shop, talk around happily? riiiiiight..... the budget obviously didn’t allow to create 2 major cities.
The trend became more obvious in WOTLK. Of course a mutual major city again and a raid content that is just ridiculous. There was no single new raid dungeon at the start, beside a rehashed old instance and some cheap single boss encounters - in  TBC we had 2 complete new raid instances PLUS Karazhan right from the start.

The genius introduction of heroic and hard modes gives them the possibility to feed us a single raid instance at a time that just serves all, from hard core raiders to casual players. Well you want it hard? just go in there with 20 people instead of 25 or beat some timer or any other twist in the encounter which isnt much more than some scripting - just cheap really.
I m just amazed that people don’t see that and swallow it so easily.

Originally posted by akritas

 

As mentioned by some people earlier in this thread, its all about maximizing profit - nothing else. First character transfers, then name changes, race changes and now faction changes. The paid lvl 55 char option indeed isn’t far I guess. They milk their subscribers as much as possible until...well I guess wow2 isn’t too far in the future anymore.

But its not only on the income side, they also cut costs and expenses wherever possible. It started with Shattrath, I mean what the hell where is the spirit of having an opposite faction you are supposed to be at war with - horde/alliance standing together around in the major TBC city and shop, talk around happily? riiiiiight..... the budget obviously didn’t allow to create 2 major cities.
The trend became more obvious in WOTLK. Of course a mutual major city again and a raid content that is just ridiculous. There was no single new raid dungeon at the start, beside a rehashed old instance and some cheap single boss encounters - in  TBC we had 2 complete new raid instances PLUS Karazhan right from the start.

The genius introduction of heroic and hard modes gives them the possibility to feed us a single raid instance at a time that just serves all, from hard core raiders to casual players. Well you want it hard? just go in there with 20 people instead of 25 or beat some timer or any other twist in the encounter which isnt much more than some scripting - just cheap really.
I m just amazed that people don’t see that and swallow it so easily.

 

If you dont know why horde and allaince share shattrath and Dalaran then you need to pay more attention in game, horde and alliance are not at WAR, they tolerate each other becuase they know there is a bigger danger out there... illidin and arthus.  Do you know the whole story of Jaina Proudmoore and Thrall? i suspect not, go read up on it, enlighten yourself.

As to cheap content, even Blizzard has a limits, plus more is not always better.  Everything cept raiding in WOTLK was done to a very VERY high standard indeed... much higher then TBC.

Name changes, server transfers, (possible) faction transfers is not "milking", they are paid features some players might want to take advantage off... its good to have choice.  The fee is there, yes to make a little money (shock horror) but also to stop players going crazy, its not a simple script that runs to swap servers etc, if you have ever tried the PTR you will often have to wait a few days for your characrter to copy over, there is obviously more to it than a simple script, so imagine if 300,000 decide to tranfer faction the queue would be a few weeks long.
 

Originally posted by ZsasZ

EQ2 has had this for years. It's called Betrayal, and it's free.

You obviously have no clue what this new option will do then.

There won't be ally Tauren druids running around.

Also, from a recent Q&A: 

" Q.Will I be able to switch back to my original faction but a different race?
A.. No. You will only be able to switch back to your originally chosen race. " 

I quit playing for about 6 months when Blizzard and Activision merged.   Came back because I was bored and didn't seem like any drastic changes happened.   But I always suspected that it (coming back) would bite me in the ass.

Wow is just a corporate product now.   Might have been from the beginning.   I lost the passion I had for the game.   I might still play it (haven't played since I heard the annoucement) but its just a game like freecell or spider solitare.  A diversion for me.

It sucks because I believe WoW had the most lovingly created game world of all mmorpgs.    Tree looked like they were placed with care not plopped down anywhere.   I just wish Blizzard shown the same respect for the game as they showned the game world.

I don't understand why people are critical of Blizzard for instituting and charging for services like faction/name changes. I think it's fine but faction change should be limited to once per year or every 6 months at the earliest. ...to avoid the "I'm with the winning team" battlegrounds scenario. We pay for a game with the knowledge..per eula..that content/playing experience may not remain consistent. We don't buy a box set...or 3...and $15.00/month...to demand everything else..for the remaining lifetime of the game.... for free. If it is then great.(..and a lot of content is added at no additional charge.) Heaven forbid a corporation make as much money as possible from people who are willing (not forced) to pay ....and WOW has always been a corporate product,as most products are. People purchased WOW by the millions...they purchased 2 expansions...at increasing sales numbers...they paid for transfers and name changes...and they will pay for faction changes....and all the while paying $15.00/mnth.  Nothing wrong with that.

Originally posted by coffee

Originally posted by akritas

 

As mentioned by some people earlier in this thread, its all about maximizing profit - nothing else. First character transfers, then name changes, race changes and now faction changes. The paid lvl 55 char option indeed isn’t far I guess. They milk their subscribers as much as possible until...well I guess wow2 isn’t too far in the future anymore.

But its not only on the income side, they also cut costs and expenses wherever possible. It started with Shattrath, I mean what the hell where is the spirit of having an opposite faction you are supposed to be at war with - horde/alliance standing together around in the major TBC city and shop, talk around happily? riiiiiight..... the budget obviously didn’t allow to create 2 major cities.
The trend became more obvious in WOTLK. Of course a mutual major city again and a raid content that is just ridiculous. There was no single new raid dungeon at the start, beside a rehashed old instance and some cheap single boss encounters - in  TBC we had 2 complete new raid instances PLUS Karazhan right from the start.

The genius introduction of heroic and hard modes gives them the possibility to feed us a single raid instance at a time that just serves all, from hard core raiders to casual players. Well you want it hard? just go in there with 20 people instead of 25 or beat some timer or any other twist in the encounter which isnt much more than some scripting - just cheap really.
I m just amazed that people don’t see that and swallow it so easily.

 

 

its not a simple script that runs to swap servers etc, if you have ever tried the PTR you will often have to wait a few days for your characrter to copy over, there is obviously more to it than a simple script, so imagine if 300,000 decide to tranfer faction the queue would be a few weeks long.
 

it will be as simple as the orb of deception it only takes blizzard a 3 second cast and BAM $15 in the pocket.

its in the game for years and yet ppl think it will take forever to change factions.

didnt see the link posted for the Q&A, but here's one

www.wow.com/2009/07/01/faction-changes-qanda/