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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe limits and possibilities of Bind to Account
by Mike Schramm 
Jun 17th 2009 at 9:00PM
Aeuis brings up an interesting point over on the forums: even though some of the items we get are called "Bind on Account" (or, more properly, Bind to Account, even though most people use BoA as shorthand) they're really not that, because you can't actually send them across factions or realms. Of course, that's pretty obvious to people who've been playing the game for a while -- Blizzard has never really encouraged cross-faction interaction at all (you can "send" items through the neutral AH, though even that is a bit of a hack, not really the intended purpose). So BoA items are actually bound to account, server, and faction.But Wyrxian is surprisingly open about "future possibility:" he does say that while Blizzard could allow us to send items between factions if they wanted us to, they also wanted to leave things open just in case the functionality came into view in the future. That doesn't mean we can expect a change in the next patch, but it does seem to mean that Blizzard is still open to the "possibility." You'd think it be tough technically (character inventories are all over the place, especially cross-server), but considering that we can now have cross-server battlegrounds, all it would probably take is a tweak to the in-game mail system. One character sends an item, another character receives it.
And really, the only possibility that might come open is just ease-of-use -- that's why BoA and Heirloom items are in the game already, and if Blizzard determines that it would be easier to have you share items between your characters' factions and servers (perhaps if they upgrade the character re-customization feature to include a faction change?), then it will likely happen sooner or later.
Filed under: Horde, Alliance, Items, Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Blizzard
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)
Amaxe Jun 18th 2009 2:48PM
Switching factions could have potential, but with the potential for abuse, it should not change your race. Nor should it allow your factions to automatically change. Think of it this way:
Supposedly you could betray everything you stood for and defect for the other side? Doubtless the ones you betrayed would hate you immediately (think the Wolvar/Oracle or Aldor/Scryer). However, i think also your new faction would be mistrusting of a "turncoat" and your faction rep would be very low (like unfriendly).
A quest chain would allow you to switch factions and build your new cities up to neutral (so you could do business).
That's the sort of faction switching I'd like to see. The RP potential would be fantastic and it would allow you to change sides if you needed to or wanted to, but it would not be something to take lightly
Kole Jun 18th 2009 1:09AM
After jumping ship from my Ally server to Proudmoore and playing only horde; not knowing anyone, no gold, nada...I would GLADLY delete an alt to change my 80 paly from human to anything but. I miss playing my paly, running heroics, etc. I just have no desire whatsoever to go do it on my old server or as Ally. After playing Horde for the last couple weeks I don't think I will ever go back...weird to be saying that, never thought I would. I guess being in an awesome guild helps too.
As far as BoA's....PLEASE!! Leveling sucks. We all know it. No I don't want to start from lvl 55 or whatever, but I just don't want it to take SO long to do. I love my BoA stuff and with a chest coming out soon and the fact that the XP will stack, it makes me drool and cry a little too that my horde toons don't get to have that too.
Yep, I could level a DK to try to get Heirlooms sooner, but I hate them so much I doubt I COULD level one...They make great bankers though :D
Sleutel Jun 18th 2009 1:52AM
1.) BoA should mean truly account-bound.
2a.) You should be able to mail other unbound items between any of your characters, regardless of faction or server, but with cross-server restrictions the same as for server transfers (no mail can be transferred into a new server until someone can transfer a character there).
AND/OR
2b.) Auction Houses should be by Battlegroup, not by Realm. Servers with low populations on one faction or the other can have drastically inflated prices.
3.) Because of racial abilities, racial restrictions on class, and faction PvP, it's highly unlikely that Blizzard will ever allow faction swapping, whether to just change your character's faction allegiance or change their race to that of one of the opposing faction.
McRaider Jun 18th 2009 7:11AM
Battlegroup AH... That's great idea! Most items would DRAMATICALLY get cheaper tho if the whole battlegroup had them on sale. You know, there's quite a lot of flask of endless rages already in there and if you merge 5 more realms with it... phew!
Anyhow I like the idea.
Sleutel Jun 18th 2009 8:19AM
I don't think it would drive prices to rock-bottom, since there will be more demand to go with the increased supply, but I think it will help even out prices across the board, eliminating the ridiculous highs and lows. Someone's hard-earned (well, okay, these days, not-so-hard-earned :P ) gold should be worth the same, no matter their server's population.
Lynnora Jun 18th 2009 1:58AM
Lorewise, it should be possible to turn a human into an Undead.
It should involve like, a long quest line in which you die in the end and get ressurected as an Undead, perhaps being sent back in time to fight in an epic battle against the Scourge which you won't survive.
You awake in Undercity, without any horde factions reputation, without gear (not sure, maybe you should keep your gear but that just doesn't seem right...) and you have to do a long quest line that teaches you how you've become this way and which earns you the right to be a horde player from now on.
That said, I'd do that immediatly with my warlock.
Two months ago I left the realm I had been playing alliance on for 4 years to play horde on a RPPVP server with all of my guildies. I did use the Neutral Auction House to take all the guilds money. I basically sold everything in the guild bank, asked all my guildies to send me their gold, kept good track of it all and shipped it through the Neutral AH to a lowbie horde character. I bought epics of the total amount of gold, because there is no fee on the Neutral AH and we didn't lose a lot on AH taxes.
There is a gold limit for a transfer, but no limit in items. I sent my level 18ish blood elf, bags filled with epics, over to our new realm, sold all the epics (made a slight profit even) and gave everyone of my guildies their gold back on the new realm.
The rest of the gold was put into the guild bank, giving us as a new guild on the horde side a good start.
If BoA REALLY was BoA we all would have simply bought heirlooms with our bulking stash of Stonekeeper Shards and that would be that. But it's not.
matthew.pumphrey1 Jun 18th 2009 3:01AM
Question. Can you put heirloom items on an alt then transfer him and still have them?
Lynnora Jun 18th 2009 3:20AM
Yes that is possible, though not cross faction (which is obvious).
Draketh Jun 18th 2009 3:18AM
The character re-customization feature really needs to allow faction changes. Why? Well, simply because it would offer a great deal of flexibility to being able to enjoy the game by broading are ability to find players groups or guilds to join.
I've played this game on/off for the last 4 years, mostly as Horde. Many many guilds have come and gone. I've made some recent IRL friendships with other WoW players, but unfortunately they are Alliance. So, I'm forced to reroll... and meanwhile as I level on the Alliance side, I'm not able to really join in with them as they are all at the level cap. (sigh)
I think an MMO is about connecting with people, and any way that can be made easier is a win.
Azbulldog Jun 18th 2009 3:59AM
How about the option to send cross-realm whispers with cross-realm, maybe faction too, friends lists?
Neyssa Jun 18th 2009 4:06AM
"Blizzard has never really encouraged cross-faction interaction at all (you can "send" items through the neutral AH, though even that is a bit of a hack, not really the intended purpose). "
Please, someone help me with a question, that is a little related to this article:
Currently me and my boyfriend have 3 accounts. We are playing Horde on Ragnaros EU on two accounts, with lvl80 characters, etc. However, we had an old account that wasnt used for a year or so. Now, my 13 old nephew got crazy about wow, his friends are also playing, so I decided to be a good auntie and I am also paying for him to play with our 3rd account.
I heard you can make a good money about selling cross-faction pets and items. So I decided to make two characters on his account (nephew is playing on different server with his friends), one in Booty Bay AH and one in Stormwind. This way, I can transfer goods via cross AH for low price, not pay a lot cross-AH fee, and sell it in normal Alliance AH.
The question really is: is this illegal? Can Blizzard ban me for doing it? I honestly dont see anything not fair except for using the possibilities of two accounts. But I am paying for both, and it is on the same name. Please help me, if it is illegal I wont do it but it sounds like a good idea :)
Janaa Jun 18th 2009 4:33AM
This behaviour is fine. Blizzard isn't going to do anything to take away reasons for players to have more than one account. People have been doing this since the game first launched. You're fine!
Neyssa Jun 18th 2009 4:56AM
Thanks a lot, I thought the same but wanted to go on the safe way :) I was even thinking about writing a gm but that would be too much I think :)
follisimo Jun 18th 2009 6:17AM
I still wish they would allow the recruiter to send the recruited member heirloom stuff. It would make things even easier for leveling.
Shellfire Jun 18th 2009 8:51AM
Would be a great idea, but what about all the duplicate names? My main's name is used on at least 5 other servers. Blizzard is probably concerned about how that functionality would work. But on the other hand, it would be a great way to get me playing my 3 lowbie horde toons again!
dapcmeck Jun 18th 2009 9:06AM
I see the potential issue though. One big one is the names. I have several toons on other servers with the same name. This could be a problem.
Kylenne Jun 18th 2009 1:13PM
Add a field for realm name. Problem solved.
yunkndatwunk Jun 18th 2009 9:08AM
As Blizzard more and more relies on people already subbing and less and less on bringing new players in, features like this that cater to the current players who have several characters will have to increase. Even if 4 years ago such features might have really broken the feel of the game and interaction and conflict between the factions, now it's not the same game anymore.
Rob Jun 18th 2009 9:19AM
1) Allowing cross-server trade would enforce globalization, and discourage (or kill) monopolies. That is if there was no barrier to the free trade. If say, everything cost 100g to send to another server (and no gold xfers), that would slow it down. It would still be possible for rich guys like Gevlon to transfer a dozen mechanohogs, but when you think about it, it would still be hard work to establish yourself on a new server. But yeah, i'd kill to send my BOA items to other factions/servers
2) Its probably one of those things they will never ever do, allow you to switch faction. But they could probably make a good penny doing so. I'd gladly pay $15 to play my level 80 horde toon on alliance or visa versa. I am in the process of leveling my horde druid (at 70), while my alliance druid was 80. I no longer play alliance. I could have saved about 6 months of leveling if I could have transfered (but if I did that, then i probably would have stopped playing by now since I would have finished all raid content). Some of us have alot of money to throw at this game, but the options for monetization are very limited. I'd gladly pay for XP boosts, or level jumps, or anything to make the grind (my 6th 60+ toon) better. I know they have recruit a friend but that doesn't work when you dont have anyone to recruit. I also know I could start a second account, do RAF, then xfer, but that's too much money for a level 60. I could buy the character outright from ebay, but that's cheating.
Colosus Jun 18th 2009 9:50AM
ok i get the whole BoA faction and realm thing but b4 i go getting a BoA item can i change it between my toons after giving it to 1 toon. I mean if its BoA then it shouldnt bind to my toon it should b useable for all my toons of the same faction if it helps them or is useable by them