Race changes confirmed
by Michael Gray 
Sep 4th 2009 at 9:00AM
The possibility of changing your character's race was indicated at BlizzCon 2009, during one of the panels. But then the news about it really got hot when Faction changes were officially announced, because eagle-eyed players noticed the following damning question in the new program's FAQs: Can I use this service to change race on my existing faction? The answer was confirmation enough for most folks: No. We will be releasing a Race change service in the near future for this purpose.
But, this wouldn't be the first time a bit of miscommunication or other confusion has occurred. The final confirmation of upcoming race changes came today, confirmed by Neth again in an official forum thread. All she was actually doing there was referencing the original thread about Faction changes, which had already said Race changes were coming. The announcement even showed up on the official Warcraft Twitter account. So this isn't exactly a brand new thing. Still, it's nice to have it confirmed all over again.
Race changes, of course, subtly differ from Faction changes because you'll still stay Alliance if you're Alliance, or Horde if you're Horde. Race changes might be performed for aesthetic reasons -- you might just prefer the look of a sexy little gnome. Still, I bet most Race changes will be to get access to "better" racials. Especially if racials do get revamped in Cataclysm, a lot of players will see the grass a little greener on the other side. Every Man For Himself, anyone?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items, Forums
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Brian Sep 4th 2009 9:06AM
yay, I wish my paladin was a little taller so I could see more detail on his armor.
Here's how my decision making went on launch day when I made him.
"ohh dwarves, I'll fling a hammer at you, You've got a belly full of haggis. Dwarf it is"
"hey paladin, sweet, lets play"
Dwarven racials have never been good for paladins and they've only gotten worse with time.
Aedilhild Sep 4th 2009 9:46AM
"I wish my paladin was a little taller --"
Cue Skee-Lo.
Brian Sep 4th 2009 9:53AM
THANK YOU. Took someone long enough to point out the reference :D
I had a friend in high school, that was his theme song, but he was a beast at basket ball even only being about 5'5" tall.
Rhabella Sep 4th 2009 10:50AM
"Dwarven racials have never been good for paladins and they've only gotten worse with time."
um...
#showtooltip Divine Protection
/cast stoneform
/cast Divine Protection
If you are prot the abilities are on the same 2 min cooldown, so they will always be used together.
Brian Sep 4th 2009 11:33AM
Stoneform doesn't do anything paladins can't already do. Any armor gain is reduced in effectiveness by diminishing returns for a tank. Ohh it removes poison, you know what else removes poison? Cleanse and it's not on a 2 minute cooldown. I literally never use the ability, ever, in 4+years of playing.
Brian Sep 4th 2009 11:41AM
when it made you IMMUNE for 8 seconds I can imagine that being nice if you pvp'd where 8 seconds is a pretty long time. But as a dual spec Prot/Holy paladin I never use the ability.
I can always squeeze a cleanse into my rotation when I'm tanking if need be, quite often I'm the most prolific cleanser in the party because Prot pallies are pretty OP atm and with most groups I just have to consecrate and hammer and I keep aggro just fine. Frequently I don't use devo aura when tanking because the extra armor is only like 1% damage reduction. I'd rather have fire aura or frost or shadow in certain circumstances.
For people who like Stoneform, great, glad you like it. I'd rather pay a couple bucks to have a taller character with a better /dance and maybe a slightly more useful racial.
Phantom Sep 4th 2009 11:47AM
Cleanse doesn't work on Bleeds, and can't clear more than one stack of poison at once. Stoneskin does both of these things, making it very powerful in the right situation.
There are certainly fewer situations where Stoneskin works for Pallies compared to other classes. But to call it useless is very short-sighted.
Dwarves also have a somewhat better Mace Spec than humans (5 instead of 3), although Humans have the advantage of both Mace and Sword specs granting a wider range of weapons overall.
Rhabella Sep 4th 2009 11:49AM
Not everyone is playing at the armor cap and last I checked, cleanse wasn't doing a whole lot for bleeds.
I am hoping they work in new racials for the old races and maybe stoneform is a 1% dmg reduction at all times, but that might just be wishful thinking.
Mace specialization isn’t that bad, but until Ulduar, there was 1 leveling tanking mace (not that it was needed), 2 from end game vanilla wow (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=21268 and http://www.wowhead.com/?item=19335) and 1 whole tanking mace in TBC (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=30058) If Blizzard wouldn’t insist on making all the maces for healers, tanks might get some love. The weapon specialization racials need to be 1% healing and damage while equipped 1% crit or something. The racial is decent, but it could use some work, like more available pieces to help take advantage or it or a better application for all players in the holy trinity.
Orrine Sep 4th 2009 9:07AM
YES! I will change my Mage to dwarf for the new ability to shapeshift into unstoppable Iron Dwarf. Oh, wait, I can already do it -_-
This new game feature sucks.
037 Sep 4th 2009 9:12AM
I will be changing my Belfadin to a Mooadin only because I have been a fan of minotaurs since reading Kaz back in the early 90s.
Redaurora Sep 4th 2009 9:37AM
Three cheers for Kaz!! My reason also!!
Silly alli friends.
Jacob Sep 4th 2009 9:13AM
instant lvl 80 worgen warlock here i come
Rhabella Sep 4th 2009 10:53AM
Though I don’t think Blizz has officially decided, there were some posts about delaying the ability to change to one of the new races. They are, obviously, very proud of the new starting areas and insist we all stroke their e-peens by leveling up through them.
DigitalMonitor Sep 4th 2009 11:46AM
Also they don't want people to use this as a fast track for "Realm First Level 85 Worgen"
Jacob Sep 4th 2009 12:02PM
ok so worgen warlock as soon as somebody hits 85. point is i am excited for the race changes. not sure why i was voted down on my first comment, maybe because it was an innacurrate statement?
Anybody heard anything on if they are increasing the number of toons we can have on a realm?
Jon Do Sep 4th 2009 9:13AM
Paid class change cannot be far behind, can it?
SpaceGoatPriest Sep 4th 2009 9:16AM
I don't know about that. That would take a lot more programming to figure out. Changing your race is just a spell or two and your appearance. Class change is ALL your spells, and a lot of gear is locked to a specific class.
Not saying they won't do it, but I really really doubt it.
Jacob Sep 4th 2009 9:19AM
I think the question is, when is blizzard just going to start selling lvl 80s?
Hyperius Sep 4th 2009 9:30AM
Well I'm not one to speak for Blizzard, seeing as how I would have never seen faction change or a list of other things they've allowed as possibilities, but if they were going to let you roll a hunter, with arguably the easiest leveling experience there is, and change him over to a druid at 80, whose early levels resemble banging your head against the wall repeatedly, that's much different than changing your avatar's look and a few non-class specific spells. I don't even really see much different between that and buying an account/character off of eBay. You still don't have to level and learn the class, you simply receive a class you might know very little about at max level, and your battlegrounds/heroics groups/arena partners have to suffer for it.
But hey, what do i know, right? =P
Deadly. Off. Topic. Sep 4th 2009 9:38AM
Probably the day they start selling 80s will be the the day of the Great Migration away from WoW (or the The Great Migration of Noobs into mainstream aggravation).