well very soon you ll be able to change your alliance character into a horde and visa versa . what a horrible idea . i dont know why blizzard are so intent of destroying warcrafts gameplay for short term gain but thats whats happening . i know its still pretty popular but everythings so dumbed down and easy now so as to appeal to kids and this move really takes the cake . but i would like to thank blizzard of curing me of my warcraft addiction every time i think i might go back i see something like this to remind me how godawful things have become in this game now .  what a shame .

How does this related to being dumbed down? How is giving player's a choice relate to something that is dumbed down?

How do you know how they will implement it? 

How do you honestly think this will appeal to kids since the majority of the WOW playerbase is adults (can be proven statistically) and also the fact that parent's would be the ones who would have to make the change for the kid?

What about other games (EQ2) that already have this and have had it for sometime?

How will it destroy WOW's gameplay?

Why is it such a horrible idea? Honestly, give us some good reasons....I would really like to read them. Otherwise, thanks for another, boring troll post with no substance.

I agree with templarga.

I'm sure their are many players who chose the race they liked the best even though they didn't want to be that faction.

And the fact that their are never any "traitors" or defectors has never been very realistic for a game based on warring factions

Well, this lets me switch my main lvl 80 character to the Faction and server that my son's lvl 80 character plays on, or vice versa.

I don't see how this a bad thing.

Who says there not adding a new faction?

Anything for blizzard to soak up more money from people willing to pay to try anything to keep playing.

Really, this allows people who have not tried the oppisite side at all to do so.

I would just wonder, if I have 5 characters on a server, and i want to make one horde (Being that it's pvp) Am I going to pay for each character to be changed. I bet I will. SO that's only 125 bucks.

Every patch since release has been a landmark in WoW's slow decline to the top.

Originally posted by Ashkael

Every patch since release has been a landmark in WoW's slow decline to the top.

And to think...you thought you said something witty.

OP is one of those [Mod Edit] who would stop at nothing to bash WoW, even if it means supporting the authoritarian China or misinterpreting the upcoming faction change as a sign of a declining playerbase.

Faction change will help many servers alleviate the faction ratio problem.

how can i hate wow i played it for 4 years . i loved it up untill recently . i did nt like the obvious class imbalances in pvp but i still enjoyed that side of the game . i actually enjoyed a lot of the quests in wrath of the lich king ( lots of warcraft fans hated that expansion ) .

for me it was nt any one thing that destroyed wow for me but a number of small things that made warcraft not worth playing anymore . things like faster leveling , class imbalances , ease of obtaining epics from raids and battlegrounds in the endgame , dual classes at level 80 to name but a few .  the game has been made far too easy to appeal to very young children thats fine blizzards succeeded in that . faction switches make things easier simply because instead of leveling a new character .its just another expample of blizzard going for the quick buck at the expense on long term gameplay .

look i m not saying dont play warcraft . at present it offers the best mmo experiance even if its not as good as it once was .mind you that could all change this autumn depending on how good or bad Aion is . all i m saying is faction switching is proberbly the worst idea i ve heard of . once its implimented you ll see exactly what i mean .

Originally posted by Krewel

 

Faction change will help many servers alleviate the faction ratio problem.

Or make it worse, people tend to choose the winning side

Originally posted by Krewel

OP is one of those idiotic hateboys who would stop at nothing to bash WoW, even if it means supporting the authoritarian China or misinterpreting the upcoming faction change as a sign of a declining playerbase.

Faction change will help many servers alleviate the faction ratio problem.

hows that going to happen if anything people are going to want to go to the larger faction on that server . you also really should learn to read things properly too . where did i say the playerbase was in decline ????? i said the gameplay was in decline .

just another example of a stupid person making an assumption i guess rather than taking the time to absorb what is written . its not hard to see why you play warcraft and still enjoy it along with all the 8-12 year olds . i doubt you could handle anything more in depth .

and where the hell does authoritarian china come into it ?

Agree with the OP, WOW simplified everything except raiding when it comes to MMO. But they did it good, easy for new players to enter the game. I like the game, but are looking for something with more depth, but that's very hard to find if you want a polished fun game. 

Dont worry OP, you're not the only one who has defeated their wow addicted. Clearly the posters underneath haven't and are currently the ones Blizzard are catering for.

Faction change is just stupid. Its just a gimmick... it royaly bums everything the original WoW stood for at creation. You were supposed to pick your faction/race/class and enjoy the game... All that has been thrown out the window. You can even have gender changes and there is a hairdressers ingame. The hairdressers I could stand since it's only getting new hair.

The newer people won't understand our frustration, so don't expect them too. It is just not the game we once knew and loved. I haven't subsribed to it since a week or two after WOTLK. But you have to remember that the casual players are all in now and they are casuals so they will lap up all these new gimmicks and slap in the faces because Blizzard loves them and they don't know any better..

AV is going to be very fun now...

In my opinion, choosing a faction in a RPG is a part of the lore and story. When i start playing a MMO, i read the lore and story and choose the faction. If i have friends alreaydy playing, then, there are good chances that i pick the same faction as them (like i did in WoW). Either way, changing faction is just dumb. It also shows how WoW PVP is worthless and factions doesn't matter, even for RP players... And from the screenshot i've seen, you don't just change faction, you change your race as well. Night Elf becomes Tauren ? WTH... I have to agree a bit with the OP that WoW now wants to appeal too much to the mass and sacrifice important parts of an MMO to achieve this goal. Then again, you aren't forced to play a mainstream MMO and that's probably why i haven't returned to WoW yet and probably never get back.

trepo

I've only been playing WoW since the early days of BC and I've been both Horde and Alliance. I pick my faction because the race I want to play is a part of it. The recent changes and new options (like the hairdressers and abilty to re-customise your character) dont really bother me. Ultimately if you spend hours playing a game with a  single character you should have the right to change things about it - you are afterall paying for it. However, I hope if Blizzard does implement this Facton Change option, they dont take the "pay £10, poof! and it's done" route. They should make it a part of the experience. Make potential defectors undergo quests for the other side first. Perhaps you shoudl also need to find a sponsor first to support your application. Make players role-play the change. The character's journey will be much more enriched for it and the community will respond. "Kill Teams" will form as high level members defect, and PvP battles will be much more intense if you know you are fighting a traitor.

I play WoW to do one thing: to play and develop a character in an immersive game world. Blizzard need to let me and others do that by opening up more options. My character's story is important to me and these changes will affect it. However, if done right, they can be positive.

I'll never play any other thing but Horde!  For the Horde!  LOL!  So this doesn't bother me.   I am sure there are people that would like to switch sides and that is OK.  I do agree, with what another poster said, that Blizzard requires players to actually quest their way through changing sides.   Not just  pay X amount and poof your playing for the other side now.

[Mod Edit] Why is it declining? Because players will be able switch factions? Yeah, nice logic. Did you play WoW recently, I mean, for the last 2 years? The old Orc vs Human conflict has been succeeded by many other concepts and conflicts. The whole "for the Horde!" thingy is no longer in the foreground as it was years ago. The times have changed, the lore has changed and with it the whole World of Warcraft as a game. Do you really believe that the same old crap Orc vs. Human would be so attractive and fresh after... 10 years in an MMO that needs to adapt to the ever-changing market and society, upon which is built?

The point is WoW has changed. If that has upset "elitist" players, then there are many other games out there to choose now and more are coming. But if you think that Blizzard could survive and make so many successful games and make WoW such a success world-wide if it used the "Orc vs Human" story for ages and the content only available to no-lifers, then I'm afraid you live in a cocoon.

If you want to stay an Orc, then be an Orc, noone is forcing you to change sides. Besides, the whole Horde vs Alliance is very very old and nowadays we usually have scenarios that involve the factions working together to destroy a common enemy. In TBC the enemy was the Burning Legion, now it's the Scourge.

The whole Horde vs Alliance thingy is very flexible anyway. If you didn't see this faction change incoming, then you haven't been paying attention to how the game evolved.

Originally posted by Zorndorf

Look at the latest announced (and sometimes already implemented) changes.

Level through doing PvP.

Joining BG's from everywhere.

Dual specs (even when you are in a dungeon/raid) helping the group or doing the PVP/PVE spec switch in one second.

In game one button gear switcher (for the dual spec)

In game portable bank to stock that extra spec gear.

Experiene turned off or on at will.

BG's for twinks only !

Switching factions to where your newer friends are (server/faction).

----

Those changes were asked by the players already for years now and finally it happens.

And you moan .....

Silly.

Zorndorf, while i agree with some of this changes i cant believe how a person that actually likes wow and its lore can defend a change like this, i mean who cares lorewise if i can join a bg everywhere or equipment manager, but to change faction?

I mean, so now i am a Human paladin named X and tomorrow i am the same paladin named X but now i am a blood elf? This is just stupid and even if you are the greatest defender of wow you are lying to yourself if you dont admit this is a scam to get more money for the game, and another proof of this is that other change where they are going to allow character server tranfer EVERY 3 DAYS, thats right 3 DAYS!!! for god sake, it is a show of decline and a very clear show

Originally posted by tryklon

Originally posted by Zorndorf

Look at the latest announced (and sometimes already implemented) changes.

Level through doing PvP.

Joining BG's from everywhere.

Dual specs (even when you are in a dungeon/raid) helping the group or doing the PVP/PVE spec switch in one second.

In game one button gear switcher (for the dual spec)

In game portable bank to stock that extra spec gear.

Experiene turned off or on at will.

BG's for twinks only !

Switching factions to where your newer friends are (server/faction).

----

Those changes were asked by the players already for years now and finally it happens.

And you moan .....

Silly.

 

Zorndorf, while i agree with some of this changes i cant believe how a person that actually likes wow and its lore can defend a change like this, i mean who cares lorewise if i can join a bg everywhere or equipment manager, but to change faction?

I mean, so now i am a Human paladin named X and tomorrow i am the same paladin named X but now i am a blood elf? This is just stupid and even if you are the greatest defender of wow you are lying to yourself if you dont admit this is a scam to get more money for the game, and another proof of this is that other change where they are going to allow character server tranfer EVERY 3 DAYS, thats right 3 DAYS!!! for god sake, it is a show of decline and a very clear show

Yes it will make them money. But charges also stop people abusing it. Get over yourself. And server changes can and do go wrong, it would suck royal dick to change for a guild only for it to disband a day later. and you still have to pay every time. If you think 3days means people will change on a whim, you must be either very deluded or live in a very rich area