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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsFaction restriction on PvP servers lifted [Updated]
by Zach Yonzon 
Aug 4th 2009 at 8:50PM
Is this an intended change? It doesn't appear on any patch notes or blue post, so we're not so sure. A change of this magnitude usually merits a Blizzard announcement of some sort. In this case, expect realms to undergo some form of downtime in the near future to address the issue. So if you've ever had words you wanted to share with players of the opposite faction - some invectives or even forbidden love - heck, this is your time to do it. If you want to participate in some arbitrage ala PvE realms, that might be possible, too. Though don't look at me when Blizzard shuts everything down and all your Gold disappears in Steamwheedle limbo.
However, there's also a good chance this is an intended feature - after all, they did announce faction changes, right? Disabling the restriction will allow players to switch factions on PvP realms without any problems. Since Blizzard has broken down traditional barriers in the past - from realm transfers to PvE-to-PvP restrictions - this change isn't out of the realm of possibility. Stay tuned as we learn more!
UPDATE: It's been CONFIRMED. The change is intended! There is no longer a faction restriction on PvP realms in preparation for the faction change service, according to Eyonix over at the official forums.
Thanks to Jon for the heads up!
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Filed under: Patches, Bugs, News items
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 6)
megamogx Aug 4th 2009 9:13PM
Mmmm id roll a horde dk if only i could send heirloom items to other faction >
Negatron Aug 5th 2009 8:26AM
You cant
Eberron Aug 4th 2009 9:15PM
How long before we can move BOA items?! Come on! T_T
Brune Aug 4th 2009 9:42PM
I was tempted to post an "inb4 'I've got one good thing, gief moar.' " comment earlier, but decided against it. Which I hadn't.
Eberron Aug 4th 2009 10:31PM
Not trying to be persistently a downer or anything, it's just that having same-server cross-faction is great!
... if you wanna be an Ambassador on a PVP-RP server.
Otherwise, who cares?
Lokasenna Aug 4th 2009 10:39PM
What does faction transfers have to do with the Ambassador title?
Eberron Aug 4th 2009 10:58PM
It's not a reference to a title, it's a reference to a role you could play in an RP environment. :)
Birdfall Aug 4th 2009 9:44PM
ALLIANCE BANK ALT!!! XD
I'm going to make SO much gold off of this.
Keyra Aug 4th 2009 10:09PM
...except that you still can't transfer gold/items between your own characters of different factions.
:-(
Birdfall Aug 4th 2009 11:40PM
I have a friend who made 40,000g buying low on one faction and selling high on the other. The trick, he said, is to switch valuable items from one faction to the other on the Neutral AH but only do it with items that could have a 200g+ markup and sell quickly. I think if I can catch some cheap Argent Tournament pets on one side, I can make a bundle on resale. And they cost nothing to list. I have a horde one to start my alliance bank off with plenty of capital, too! :D
seanthehorde Aug 5th 2009 3:28AM
Actually I hate to burst your bubble BUT you can send money from one faction to another, via the neutral auction house.
Step 1: Post item with the character you want to receive the money. Put it at how ever much money you wanna send
Step 2: Buy auction with your main.
Step 3: Sit back and enjoy
Endless Aug 5th 2009 4:02AM
@seanthehorde:
Endless Aug 5th 2009 4:04AM
Damn this comment system! XD
@seanthehorde: "Step 1: Post item with the character you want to receive the money. Put it at how ever much money you wanna send"
Step 2: watch a "You can't buyout your own auctions" message on your main, thinking about whatever went wrong. :P
Skya Aug 5th 2009 4:22AM
I along with a lot of other people have been doing this for several years, it's easy when you have two accounts. You simply alt-tab between the two characters and buyout your items the moment you put them up. Faction specific companion pets and cooking recipies made me a mint either side of Christmas, almost everything I bought was 1g or less and I was selling them almost instantly for between 50g and 250g. It was simply a case of undercutting everyone else by 25% or more since I was still making a massive profit on the items.
One word of warning though about trying to transfer gold using the neutral AH, these Auction Houses take a large percentage of the sell value of the auction, something like 15% which you need to be aware of since you'll lose 150g out of every 1000g you transfer.
Just a to back up something others have mentioned it already, you definetely CANNOT buyout any auctions that belong to another character on that same account (whatever their faction). If you don't have more than one account you still require someone you trust to buyout your auctions and then /trade you the items back.
Birdfall Aug 5th 2009 10:26AM
Good details to have, about not buying your own Neutral Auctions. I'll make sure the character I run to Booty Bay belongs to my husband's account.
Leonffs Aug 4th 2009 9:46PM
Welp. They may as well go ahead and remove the language barrier if this is the case. What's the point of orcish/common language barrier if you can just log onto an alt?
Adam H. Aug 4th 2009 10:16PM
You have to remember PVE servers have been this way, and anyone on a pve server could always switch to an alt of the other faction, so I don't see why this would lead you to believe that the language barrier now needs to fall.
Luke Aug 5th 2009 12:18AM
Well, on PvE servers, members of the opposing faction can't drive you into fits of rage the way they can on a PvP server.
Gulliver Foyle Aug 4th 2009 9:49PM
I didn't know this restriction on PvP servers existed. Can someone quickly explain why it did, and how this change will affect the game experience?
Zinger314 Aug 4th 2009 10:01PM
It existed so there wouldn't be faction "spies," i.e. if one faction was planning a raid, a mole could pop into a character of the other faction and alert everyone.
This became redundant when World PvP died. I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner.
The only major change is that you can be spammed by lv. 1 alts if you gank someone. :)