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.
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Reader Comments (Page 5 of 5)
JR Nov 2nd 2009 3:28PM
"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?"
I'm guessing they'll see the correct animations for your race. As people have said, this only affects your client. The server still knows which race/sex that toon really is, and it will transmit your correct race/sex to other people you interact with. As far as I know clients don't interact with each other, each game client only trades information with Blizzard servers (correct me if I'm wrong...).
JR Nov 2nd 2009 5:09PM
This was supposed to be a reply to Bobby on page 1...
Tweeder Nov 2nd 2009 3:58PM
Some would say a waste of time... others would say a tremendous waste of time.
salvalera Nov 2nd 2009 4:05PM
Gnome Hunter lol , yes thats my hunter he fails big time
http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/821/wowscrnshot110209125604.jpg
Denis Nov 2nd 2009 4:24PM
YOU SERIOUSLY NEEDED TO SHARE THIS.Great now its going to be fixed...thaaanks....
poggg Nov 2nd 2009 4:25PM
Well, now that you've reported it, I give it a week or so before Blizzard takes it away.
Because fun is abuse, mirite?
Xavs Nov 2nd 2009 4:28PM
"You can't be a unique snowflake like an undead paladin to anybody but yourself."
You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else, and we are all part of the same compost pile.
McRaider Nov 2nd 2009 4:52PM
I had to have the first glimpse on the upcoming holy cow ;)
Exo Nov 2nd 2009 4:53PM
Ever since I've transferred Horde I've missed being Dranei. Now I get the fun of being a Horde dranei!
Bongo2k Nov 2nd 2009 5:11PM
I got really tired of leveling my pala....But now I can have a tauren pala it wont be so boring! :D
Vuoripeikko Nov 3rd 2009 1:10AM
I'll add one helpful tip on using this glitch. You can make the timing easier by doing this:
1. Log in alt, logout, choose main, hover the mouse over the alt.
2. Now, don't just click, but rather just hold down the mouse button.
3. Hit enter as you let go of the mouse.
Seems to work better for me. Although annoying to be in BG's, since whenever I get polymorphed, the change reverts :
aznhippi2 Nov 3rd 2009 12:36PM
If you use a death knight model as your target model, you'll look like the death knight. So not only can you choose race, you can also decide if you want the death knight flavor of that race as well. Orc Death Knight Mage. Yeahhhh.
hallowyd Nov 4th 2009 2:59AM
Still works. People in Stormwind were confused with my Tauren Warlock. Really surprised Blizz hasn't patched this quick.
robotsmoking Nov 4th 2009 12:14PM
Others don't see you as a tauren warlock, its your client only. I cant explain the confused looks.
wdm+hall Nov 4th 2009 2:30PM
Well thanks for setting me straight about that.
Realizing I said that toons were giving confused looks make me laugh heartily at myself. Unless they actually did a /confused (which they did not) how would one know that their preset facial expressions were expressing confusion.
I FAIL.
KEFIOX Nov 4th 2009 1:37PM
Night Elf Warlock FTW!
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s137/KEFIOX/NelfWarlock.jpg
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s137/KEFIOX/HordeNelf.jpg
Hampster Nov 4th 2009 3:07PM
I had some of the best fun in wow I've ever had running old instances with pals as all sorts of different races and hearing them comment about what's their favorite race, lol.
I'm being convinced to reroll because of this 'bug.' (-;
Also tauren rogue ftw!
Andy Nov 25th 2009 9:34PM
Can anyone confirm that this still works cos i cant make it WORK propely
Ricohardt Dec 22nd 2009 8:37AM
Same, I've been trying lots of different timings :|