Breakfast Topic: Would you betray your faction?
by Dan O'Halloran 
Sep 13th 2007 at 8:00AM
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Player Valansio of the Deathwing realm wants to be a Horde-lovin' gnome (will those short people call anywhere home?). He understands there will be consequences such as loss of current faction rewards, temporary exile status and/or a lengthy quest to perform. But he still wants it.This is not unheard of in the MMORPG world. Everquest 2 with its two player factions (now three, soon four) has patched in the ability for players to betray their racial faction and embrace the other side. This was done due to player demand. Some people want to be able to play with their friends regardless of which race they started with.
The ability to betray to the other player faction was floated to Blizzard pre-TBC and the response was along the lines of "no can do because of the pally/shammie thing." That reasoning is no longer valid. So Blizzard has now retreated to the RP excuse and recommends the petitioner roll a Horde alt.
What do you think? Should you be able to betray if you wanted to? Or should you just level an opposing faction alt to 70 to play with your friends?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics, Factions
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
begone77 Sep 13th 2007 8:14AM
I personally think it would be cool if they did something with the languages, like they betray, then do quests to slowly learn out language, thus being able to relay what they are saying to us or something along those lines
Kaylek Sep 13th 2007 8:18AM
The story needs to conform to the game. In other words, players want it, players should have it, and you rewrite the creative conflicts.
More importantly, in any realistic world, racial birth wouldn't riggidly define faction alignment. There will always be defectors, and as long as the task is hard enough to discourage flakey jumpers, there's absolutely no good reason for them not to allow it.
Anthony Sep 13th 2007 8:19AM
If this is going to happen I expect it to be a long time hence and coupled with another expansion. So not for years.
And even then i doubt it. Its just not in the vision of the game i guess...
4STR4STALeatherBelt Sep 13th 2007 8:21AM
Ever since I rerolled Horde almost 2 years ago I've always said I'd play a Dwarf above any other race (Even an Orc or Troll) if they were Horde.
A man can dream... :
Sirg Sep 13th 2007 8:24AM
It's a silly idea... the conflict between Horde and Alliance makes WoW interesting, gives sense to PvP, has lots of lore to support it and it's great for the game. Why ruin such a great and simple concept?
I think it would be fun if some more emotes and simple words could be used to communicate, not speak, with the opposing faction, like two people that don't share the language and do a lot of sign language and say silly words. Sometimes you meet players from the opposing factions on neutral ground, like the goblin towns or Shattrath, and it would be nice if you would be able to communicate further than kek/bur and the standard emotes.
Anyway, I'm against learning orcish or common by the opposing faction, that would ruin the game.
ThorinII Sep 13th 2007 8:35AM
This will never happen for one reason...
BLIZZ LOVES HORDE and they don't want the nasty Alliance toons to have the same advantages that the Horde toons have.
***Now I sit back and watch the fireworks :0P***
Vestras Sep 13th 2007 8:40AM
In a word, No. NOt gonna happen. The Horde/Alliance conflict is central to what WoW is.
I could forsee a time when there might be some sort of cross-factional party system, or a coop world event (Like AnKiraj) but never actual side switching.
Although, I could see some kind of gnomish/goblin experiment where you can (for a character transfer fee) be transformed into a member of the opposite faction permenantly. Sucha change though would eliminate all your rep except with neutral factions, and you woudl have to re-purchase other faction items such as mounts. All PVP gear and ranks would be voided, etc etc etc. Yea, not gonna happen, but still, that's what it would take and then some.
Really, I'd be fine if we could at least get some limited communication between teh factions. I mean nodding your head to say yes should be understood by everyone, same for rading even. I wave a Kitten-in-a-box at an Orc, and he wants it, He should be able to put gold in his hand to indicate he wants it.
tool03 Sep 13th 2007 8:42AM
gnomes need to defect and join the horde... Allies can have the our BE's, I never cared much for them anyway.
Silvermoon could explode via magic overload (sabotage via tauren of course) and become the new gnomer, and the NEW HORDE could liberate gnomer, something the allies could never do...
Bloody genius I say!
[/end][/ridiculousness]
Ryan Sep 13th 2007 8:43AM
I'm getting really sick of the forum Blues particular brand of RP corporate doublespeak.
dpoyesac Sep 13th 2007 8:44AM
I rolled a gnome rogue so I could scope out Ironforge, Stormwind, etc -- preparation for the eventual Horde raid. Turns out I love playing a rogue, and there were tons of Alliance quests that were new to me.
But I'm Horde in my heart. My pink-haired girl rogue would fight alongside the Forsaken in a heartbeat (mine, of course -- their hearts don't beat).
Lanth Sep 13th 2007 8:50AM
I believe they should split it up into four factions, similar to Warcraft 3:
Horde (Orcs, Trolls and Tauren)
Scourge (Undead and Blood Elves)
'Spose you could call them Islanders (Night Elves and Draenei)
Alliance (Humans, Dwarves, and Gnomes)
When you create you character, you are automatically friendly with your own faction, and unfriendly or hated with the others. However, you can switch between the factions less aligned to your race, but not with the faction you hate the most.
Fairly confusing, so an example:
I roll an Orc. He is friendly with the Horde, neutral with the Scourge and the Islanders, hated with Alliance. Over time, he would become better with Scourge and less with Islanders. However, by doing a series of rep quests, he could switch to being friendly with Horde and Islanders, and hated by the Scourge and Alliance. He could never become friendly with the Alliance, because they really don't like each other (and Scourge and Islanders couldn't be friends, because Islanders would hate undead beings and magically addicted beings, and the Scourge would just be pissed off at them for hating them for what they are).
It would help create the theme of multiple factions intertwined with each other, which it sort of is at the moment.
Troz Sep 13th 2007 9:13AM
I think if one is going to switch factions they should have to become hated with both for a time before they can rank up as neutral and eventually friendly with the opposing faction. Something that should only be possibly at 60 or 70 as well.
I'd love to have a quest line for my Draenei to go hated with both factions and become a Broken. Would be nice to see a 3rd faction of those pledge their allegiance to the Legion then have the choice to join Horde or Alliance later on.
wowinsider Sep 13th 2007 9:44AM
"It's a silly idea... the conflict between Horde and Alliance makes WoW interesting, gives sense to PvP, has lots of lore to support it and it's great for the game. Why ruin such a great and simple concept?"
Though the Horde, they keep insisting, aren't supposed to be the bad guys anymore. So, yknow, the idea does make a certain amount of sense.
One of the things i love about all the Lore involved in the history of Horde v. Alliance is how wonderful *complicated* it all is, with very few cases of outright Good Guys vs. Bad Guys.
dekulink Sep 13th 2007 9:08AM
No. Nononono.
The alliance Shamans and Horde Paladins were bad enough (when it was first announced), this would just make me even more furious.
In my opinion PvP needs to b a bigger part of the game. Shortly after Wrath they should release a small expansion that has no new dungeons, no new abilities or levels, but whole new PvP (Faction vs. Faction, not something like Arenas) content. At least make it a huge patch, or something.
Morrigän Sep 13th 2007 9:09AM
@11: Scourge wiped BE's land. How can you put them on the same faction?
Anyway, that idea is really plausible. The "horde vs. alliance" theme is as old as Warcraft 2, and it's far behind. Both factions are fighting against the same evil for quite a while, doesn't make much sense to keep the "opposite factions" context.
Too bad it wouldn't fit on PvP servers.
Justin Sep 13th 2007 9:19AM
A step down from total faction betrayal, I do like the idea of being able to learn the other languages, as some have mentioned.
If some quest givers can learn how to communicate with both Horde and Alliance, why can't we theoretically be allowed to as well?
yotix Sep 13th 2007 9:17AM
I started on Alliance ... and really, really wanted to switch sides when I saw the Alliance concentration camps, complete with starving orcs and forced labor.
Wulfhere Sep 13th 2007 9:17AM
Actually, if you called the faction 'Forsaken' it wouldn't be so far of a stretch. Yes, the *Scourge* wiped out Quel'thalas, but the free willed undead under Sylvanas hate Arthas with a passion... it's a natural alliance of convenience and hatred. Plus, most BE's probably respect Sylvanas herself as the only effective resistance to Arthas' attack.
I'm sure there would be tensions... for one thing, at least SOME BE's have got to hate Sylvanas for failing to stop Arthas and resent the undead for reminding them of the ones that attacked them, and some undead have to be resentful of the lives they lost that the BE's get to enjoy. But that would just make it more interested.
I don't think NE's and Draenei should leave the Alliance, plus, I don't think an orc could ever get friendly with the Draenei. They're good and all, but if the genocidal murderers of my people decide they want to be buddies, I don't think I'm going for it.
Wulfhere Sep 13th 2007 9:18AM
@Votix -
What did Horde of the Second War do with their prisoners?
Oh, right. They didn't take any. They just killed them.
Dotixi Sep 13th 2007 9:23AM
Blizzard wants WoW to feel like a real world, however, they continue to deny us things that are possible in the real world...betrayal, running up hills, killing anyone we want, communication with the other faction, mounts that can be flown anywhere. Players want WoW to be more involved, more real, yet Blizzard keeps denying us game mechanics that other lesser games contain.