It would not suprise me in the least if they start selling an auto level system. For $50 you can automatically level up to level 80, for $50 more you can start with entry level epics, as in a tier below the current top raiding gear.  Watch it happen within a year or two.

Man, so many conspiracy theories.

Let me break out my tinfoil hat first, so that Blizzard can't use their brain wave machines to subvert me!

Argh!  Too late... feel myself... slipping...

No, wait.  That's just a headache.  Must have been from slamming my head repeatedly into my desk from reading some of the crazy things on this here interwebs.

Seriously, though.  Some of what I've read in this thread alone smacks either of insanity, or demogogy.  Calm down.  Take a breath.  The world hasn't stopped spinning despite all the other "mistakes" Blizzard made with WOW thus far (and trust me, there has been a litany of game-breaking errors according to previous years' doomsayers), and I doubt it's going to stop now.

When it's time to worry, then just quit the game and feel good that you'll be doing your part to hurt Blizzard where it actually hurts most: their bank account.

Otherwise, I suspect they aren't much hurt by anonymous criticisms on a message board when those same critics keep shelling out money each month to play.  If you pay to be offended, you forfeit the right to complain about it.

It is good if you have chosen a little gnome for a tank and find that it is a huge mistake after obtaining level 80 and you can't see what you should. To change to a bit larger race that makes it better for you to be a tank.  /shrug  or you could just eat deviate fish and save your money. ;)

Many reasons peeps would want to change race I suppose but $25 is rather steep IMO to pay to change your race. Many want to give Horde/Alliance a try and can do so then go back after a given period if they don't like it. There is a cost other than the money though in changing so I caution you too look at the whole picture before leaping.

The thing that worries me about the faction change is that in the past many times Blizzard insisted on "it'll never happen". Now we see that the mighty $ made it happen (i see absolutely NO other reason than that) and i'm wondering what other "services" their RMT-programm will offer in the future.

-25$ instant level 50

-10$ 3 factions exhalted

-10$ armor set XY

or similar.

Blizzard seems to have set the game on total sellout-status.

I am such an old man at the age of 29. This is just silly to me, it takes away from earning for your character and making an identity on a server. Name change is one thing, the server change was another, and now race too? Blizzard is making a killing on selling these services to their players. I enjoyed WoW at first, but it's become so huge, mainstream, and commercialized. Gah, why did I read this... I'll stop complaining and let people enjoy their "You don't need to make a new character, just spend more money!" all they need now is to sell the gold themselves.

If memory serves me correctly EQ started selling Plat to eliminate the farmers. So yea anything is possible. My big question there is though doesn't that effect the economy they all seem to scream about?

I mean if you log on one day and find you are missing a large amount of the hard earned gold you have earned and put in a ticket and they say we see you had and earned and did not spend it. We don't know what happened to it but we can't give it back because it would hurt the economy. Then doesn't selling gold or plat do the same thing? Oh wait I think I have it "if we sell it it does not hurt the economy because we are making money (RL) off it". 

So yea if it puts money in their pockets then I would say we can expect about anything as being possible. So for anyone who thinks it is unfair or doesn't have the funds to get it oh well tuff.

Blizzard meeting:

Hey guys what do you think about letting players change from 1 race to a different race.

that makes no sense, you can't just change from a gnome to a elf, that's stupid!

what if we chage $25 for it?

I like it!!  lets do it!!  ca-ching!