Cross-faction inspecting now available on the PTR
by Mike Schramm 
Mar 14th 2008 at 4:00PM
Great news for compulsive /inspect-ors from the new patch -- Hortus confirms that in neutral areas and out of combat, players will be able to do a little cross-faction inspecting. No more will you have to wonder what kind of helmet that dirty Human Warrior is wearing around Shattrath -- you'll be able to pull them right up and check out all of their gear.The sky, as you may have noticed, didn't fall when Inspect changed back in patch 2.3 to let anyone see anyone else's gear and talents, and it won't fall again when this change is introduced (trust me). It is interesting to consider how much the Armory has changed the game, though -- odds are that if you'd suggested that we should be able to check the other faction's gear and talents to a developer at the launch of vanilla WoW, they'd have said that, like limiting cross-faction communication, it wasn't right for the feel of the game they wanted to make.
But now that the Armory is up and showing off everyone's secret gear of shame, there's no reason to hide it any more in the game either.
Filed under: Horde, Alliance, Patches, Items, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Factions
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ryan Mar 14th 2008 4:07PM
Great, now all they need to do is allow cross-faction chat, and/or a faction swapping quest.
Killah Mar 14th 2008 4:27PM
Signed for Faction swapping quest. Or, at least make it a paid service.
RogueJedi86 Mar 14th 2008 4:23PM
Not a big deal, I have armory on my auto-complete, I'm always pulling up my armory page, removing my time, typing a Hordie's to see his gear and spec(and level if I'm on a pre-61 character).
But how is it? Can you see Hordie's talents and honor gain too?
Swiss Mar 14th 2008 4:27PM
If you just want to know something as simple as a character's level or talent build, I suggest you download and install CowTip. (WoWAce Addon available through the Updater)
It's a fairly light-weight tooltip replacement that can be customized to show all sorts of information. Including a player's level and talent build- even if they are of the opposing faction.
bohemian21 Mar 14th 2008 4:28PM
This has nothing at all to do with the article, I just think you deserve bonus points for putting a picture of Inspector Gadget. I love Inspector Gadget, especially the hand that comes out of his hat holding a flower pot.
Mindaika Mar 14th 2008 4:33PM
I'm excited! Now I can hunt down the Hordies in full Season 3 and blame my BG losses on them! (I'm not kidding either).
Mindaika Mar 14th 2008 4:33PM
Also, I don't think there should be cross-faction comm. Think of how bad intra-faction comm is, and just imagine the BG channels full of "Pwnd n00b! Lrn 2 ply ur class!"
doyesac Mar 14th 2008 4:36PM
I've gotten pretty good at looking up Armory profiles in 30 seconds or less -- while waiting for a spirit rez during WSG or AB on my lower-level alts. Being able to announce that player X is a confirmed twink allows us to focus-fire or otherwise change strategies, and has sometimes allowed us to pull a win out of an otherwise guaranteed loss.
Knowledge > twinkage, so this change will be tremendous help in certain areas.
Sedna Mar 14th 2008 5:02PM
Makes sense to me; checking out someone's gear is pretty different from being able to talk to them. (Plus if you get caught ogling sexeh members of your opposite faction, you can just say you were inspecting their, er, pants.)
Skewed Perspective Mar 14th 2008 5:23PM
In the early days of World of Warcraft... you could do this! I was pissed when they took it out.
Milktub Mar 14th 2008 5:35PM
Oh nice.
I may be proudly For the Horde, but I give respect to my fellow warrior tanks. Sometimes that means seeing some sweet piece of Alliance warrior strutting around, and I just want to see what gear is covering that stud.