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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsFaction Changes Q&A
by Zach Yonzon 
Jul 1st 2009 at 9:40PM
Of course, with the shocking news comes a lot of questions, so Nethaera hops on over to the forums and answered a few concerns that players had. The biggest bummer for me was that I couldn't change race within my own faction! So... let me get this straight... I can change faction and become a totally different race but I can't swap my Blood Elf Death Knight into an Orc? Blasphemy! Unfortunately Blizzard doesn't think choice of race isn't something you can regret unlike faction choice. Anyway, more answers after the jump...
Q. Will we be able to switch between the races on our own faction?
A.. No. Players will only be able to switch to a race of the opposite faction.
Q. Will I be able to choose the race on the opposite faction that I want to change to?
A.. Yes, but you will only be able to switch to a race that has your class type available to it. So if you play a human paladin, you'd only be able to change to a blood elf paladin.
Q.How much will it cost?
A.. We do not have further information on this at this point in time.
Q.Will I be able to switch back to my original faction but a different race?
A.. No. You will only be able to switch back to your originally chosen race.
Q.. How will the switch between reputation, gear, mounts, etc be handled?
A.. We'll have more details for you at a later point in time, though we plan to keep these as close to a reflection of the other faction as much as possible.
Q.How often can you change your faction?
A.. We do not have any information to share on this at this point in time, however we will have restrictions on the frequency by which players can change their faction.
Q. How will this affect the balance of Horde and Alliance on the realms?
A.. We are taking great care in how we implement this new service in order to maintain balance between the factions on the realms but do not have any further details to share.
Odd how they won't allow race changes as part of paid character customization when faction change obviously creates a bigger impact on the playing environment. Then again, Blizzard may just be wary of players jumping to another race to min-max, such as all PvP players hopping on to Humans for that extra trinket slot. Oh well. Stay tuned!
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Forums
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 5)
BlackTiger Jul 2nd 2009 5:01AM
I want to be a human playing for Horde... Why not?
Why Alliance already have many "blood elfes" as NPCs?
Why I can't play as a human for Horde? Or blood elf for Alliance?
"Horde" and "Alliance" is more like a "mood" rather than something race specific.
I'm seek and tired of Reen's warrior's stupidity and lack of brains.
Thrall is better "chief". I have a lot respect to him but I want to be a human.
DanH Jul 2nd 2009 5:40AM
There's actual gameplay reasons you can't do this. One of the reasons for having different races in different factions is to visibly distinguish players of the opposing faction from players of your faction. It matters more on PvP realms, but until they abolish the concept of factions, you need to be able to look at somebody and say "big dude with horns - probably a hordie"
Jeremiel Jul 2nd 2009 8:50AM
Uhm, I've not completed everything Alliance side, so forgive me if I'm wrong, but...
Aren't those 'Blood Elf' NPCs you're talking about working for the Alliance actually High Elves? If you look close, they probably have blue eyes.
They're the remnants of the High Elf race (High Elves being Alliance aligned) who (for the most part) weren't in High Elf lands when Silvermoon was destroyed, and so who never proclaimed themselves Blood Elves or joined the Horde.
Any Blood Elves the Alliance can interact with are probably part of neutral factions.
Artificial Jul 2nd 2009 1:07PM
@Jeremiel: That's the point. There is no "high elf race" and "blood elf race" -- they're the exact same race. The only difference is their political alignment. So, why can't a player of this race choose between Alliance or Horde when NPCs clearly can?
Of course, this has already been answered. It's unanswerable from the in-game logic perspective, but it makes perfect sense for being able to quickly recognize friends vs. enemies in PvP.
BlackTiger Jul 2nd 2009 1:54PM
Is color of player's labels is not enough to recognize friends and/or enemies? Still see no point to not allow to choose your side...
Jeremiel Jul 2nd 2009 4:44PM
Re: Artificial.
Okay, I chose the wrong word - I should not have said 'race', perhaps 'faction' would be more accurate.
I was just trying to correct the OP's claim that there were Blood Elves on Alliance side.
There are not.
SpearXXI Jul 2nd 2009 6:36AM
I just want to switch one or two toons from Dwarf to Human. Is that so much to ask for.....
Mac Jul 2nd 2009 7:38AM
The PVP implications are interesting - on my server, Horde wins 2/3 of the PVP battlegrounds. Seems like I could jump over to Horde, do a bunch of PVP, earn honor/marks a lot faster, then come back to the alliance side.
Knyle2 Jul 2nd 2009 8:05AM
I BET IT HAS A LONGER COOLDOWN THAN THE 30 DAYS, WHAT I THINK IT WILL REALLY CHANGE IS GUILD RECRUITMENT!
Brouck Jul 2nd 2009 1:06PM
I'm just dissappointed I can't make my Human into a Dwarf. That's all I want to do.... Oh well, maybe I'll change my DK from gnome to Taureen as that's about the biggest change you can make.
bushkanaka86 Jul 2nd 2009 4:06PM
I can see where this could be useful but also very abused.
One of my best friends started playing WoW around the same time as me but we didn't know it. He rolled Alliance, I went Horde because my sister and other RL friends were all Horde. Now he has a high level warlock that he is in love with but all of his RL friends are on Horde. I think it would be great if he switched factions so he could actually play with us.
I also think this would be severely abused for many of the reasons already posted. It would be nice if it could be done only on a case by case basis and you had to submit a report for why you needed the switch and give proof and whatever then someone either declined it or accepted it and you could only switch factions once a year.
megamogx Jul 2nd 2009 8:50PM
Wont be long before they sell premade characters and items at this rate...
Orim Jul 7th 2009 11:01AM
After about 5 years of playing an alliance priest, I think I'd know how much time was going to waste when things were bad enough for me to switch factions. Achievements, titles, vintage gear, mounts, gold, heirloom items, raiding gear - none of it is reflected when you reroll to the opposite faction. It's all from bare-bones scratch.
The choice isn't an easy one, but people play for fun and go where they have to, even if they lose the years spent in their old mains. This implementation would give me assurance that my priest is not just some trophy case to be used to chatting with Alliance pvpers, but that it might be able to be used among the new faction friends you've made.
I would shell out good money to get all that back on my currently adopted faction. (Lok'tar Ogar!)