Client bug allows you to swap character models
We've been sitting on this one for a few days now to let people have their fun before we draw a little too much attention to it, but there's a rather interesting bug in the patch 3.2.2 client: you can glitch out the model being loaded for your character upon login, and switch it with that of another character. We don't know how long it's been around or how long it will stay, but watch the video above (which is pretty large, our apologies) for a demonstration.
The WoW.com staff has confirmed it works, though the timing required is very precise. You need to be quick, but being too fast hitting one or the other is just as bad as being too slow. A few of us found that we had to slow down our fingers to do it properly, because "fast" to a hardcore FPS gamer is very different than "fast" to a casual MMO gamer. Click first, hit enter second. Not the other way around.
Whether this falls into exploit territory or not, we don't really know. What we do know is that the model 'swap' is only visible for you on your client, nobody else sees it, so nobody else should be impacted by it. It's also only graphical, no benefits carry over from one character to the next. You might see your epic iLevel 258 shield on your level 1 rogue, but you won't have the stats. You can't be a Horde draenei to anybody but yourself, so no screwing with people in battlegrounds. You can't be a unique snowflake like an undead paladin to anybody but yourself.
It's a whole lot of fun to see what a draenei rogue would look like, or a gnome druid. Check out the gallery below to see what came out of WoW.com's experimentation, and a few from our friends, too.






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Bobby Nov 2nd 2009 9:07AM
How does the /dance work? Which race does it choose?
JR Nov 2nd 2009 10:04AM
The dance fits the model you're seeing. If you're seeing an undead, it dances like an undead. I thought I could make a horrifying, dreadful movie of my male draenei paladin dancing like a night elf female that would make people's eyes explode, but alas, that was not to be.
Qot Nov 2nd 2009 10:38AM
What about race/spell combinations that don't exist in game? Is there a draenei or Tauren stealth walk, or do they just turn semi-transparent and walk normally?
JR Nov 2nd 2009 10:56AM
I may be wrong, but I think there are some Tauren NPCs who can stealth, so these combinations exist. Anyway, I just tested this with both Tauren and Draenei and they both have their own stealth animations.
A stealthed Tauren for your viewing pleasure: http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/224/wowscrnshot110209134852.jpg
Nathanyel Nov 2nd 2009 11:10AM
Qot: All races have all possible animations, like e.g. the Tauren War Stomp, since you can change your appearance in various ways, including other player races, the most simple one being Orb of Deception.
Bobby Nov 2nd 2009 12:20PM
Yeah but what I was wondering was since other people still see you as your character will they see you dancing as the other race, the wrong one?
Kir Nov 2nd 2009 1:02PM
[sighs] Under the radar for eons and then WoW.com smacks it. ;_; I love you guys but you already cost me my pet Worgen, I hope this doesn't get broken too.
Muse Nov 2nd 2009 2:01PM
It works almost exactly like the teleporter malfunction for engineers where your character turns into the last character that went through the teleporter. The game fully supports every class/race combination purely visually.
Nathanyel Nov 5th 2009 5:59PM
Of course they will see the dance for the model which they see, your client doesn't send "do the Draenei dance", it just sends "dance", which is passed to the other clients, who then pick the dance animation of the model you are currently displayed in for them (your actual race model or a normal costume, but not the model you glitched with this trick, only you see that one)
Stella Nov 2nd 2009 9:09AM
This bug has been ingame since pre-Wrath.
Ignatius Nov 2nd 2009 9:12AM
Some say bug... I say hidden feature!
Stephen Nov 2nd 2009 1:30PM
My favorite bug is the one that causes all the other characters in my raid to appear to be naked. I still haven't figured out how to replicate that one.
There's another bug that causes a server-side glich where a player's model will have the wrong race texture. I say server side because it can also be seen by everyone else in the raid. Blue blood-elves, green tauren, & brown/hairy undead.
Cwilks Nov 2nd 2009 7:01PM
Hell, I hope they don't nerf it now.
This bug has kept me playing (and PAYING to all you Blizz Devs who read wow.com) through a bunch of the slower parts of Wrath.
Anyhow, if it does get nerfed, at least it was fun while it lasted =)
Knob Nov 2nd 2009 9:09AM
Items showing up of course can be avoided by having the target race be naked. That way just the model is swapped instead of all the gear models as well.
As for me, I haven't been able to get the timing down at all but now that race change went live, I can't be bothered to try anymore. I didn't pay 20 euros to change my race just so I could glitch it into seeing something else. :P Yeah yeah, I know you can make it glitch into showing the other faction as well, but my point still stands.
Neyssa Nov 2nd 2009 9:12AM
Can you do it back?
swampsquatch Nov 2nd 2009 11:13AM
Yes. There are a few things in game that will revert the changes immediately such as Druid shapeshifting and sometimes a shave and haircut. Also something else I wanted to add was not only does it change the race but as you can see from the video weapons and gear will show up too. Here is an example of what I mean:
Log onto a cloth wearer and take all their gear off, then log out and do the swap while highlighting a plate wearer like a DK. If it works, you will have a caster in full plate gear. However, when you start to put the cloth gear back on it overrides the plate so it is only for looks. It is really cool though, if you are starting a new character with no gear that won't get a helm or shoulders for a while (assuming you don't have BOA) you can run around leveling while they looked decked out in gear.
niko Nov 2nd 2009 9:13AM
ya.... that draenai rogue is HOT.
wtb!
..........
.......... i don't mean like REALLY wtb, because that would be wrong, but wtb like you know, draenai rogues... err, nevermind :/
:D
Aaron Nov 2nd 2009 9:58AM
O_O
mech Nov 2nd 2009 10:57AM
and when u thought a draenei couldnt get any hotter... BAM, draenei rogue T-T
Zamn10210 Nov 2nd 2009 9:18AM
Why must every WoW video have such awful, awful music?