World of Warcraft Faction Changes Now Available: UPDATED

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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World of Warcraft Faction Changes Now Available: UPDATED


The World of Warcraft "Faction Change Service" is now live, letting players switch their characters from Horde to Alliance and back - for a fee.

World of Warcraft players looking for a change of scenery will now be able to hop the fence and see what's happening on the other side, although certain restrictions will apply. Characters must be at least level ten to be eligible to change factions and while players can choose the race of their newly-factioned character, they can only choose from races that are normally available for their character class. Players who switch teams will be able to customize and rename their characters; faction-specific equipment and mounts will be automatically exchanged for a "cross-faction equivalent," while non-faction-specific materials will be left unchanged.

But all this comes with a price tag, and it ain't cheap: The process will cost $30, plus any applicable taxes, for a single faction change for a single character and it cannot be reversed unless you purchase a second Faction Change. In other words, this probably isn't something you're going to want to be doing on a weekly basis.

But if you do have an itch to see how the other side lives, the "Faction Change Service" is now available through the World of Warcraft Account Management page. More information about using the service, including restrictions and lists of faction-specific equivalents, can be found at the official World of Warcraft Faction Change FAQ [http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?locale=en_US&tag=FCFAQ].

UPDATE: The changes are live in North America but apparently will be delayed at least a week in Europe. In a post [http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=10711192751&postId=107096600885&sid=1#228] on the World of Warcraft European forums, Blizzard poster Wryxian wrote, "It is not coming today, tomorrow or this week, or probably next. However, plans can change though, but this reply should give you a much better idea of when it is probably coming and should help you to better plan in advance, should you wish to do so."

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Amnestic

High Priest of Haruhi
Aug 22, 2008
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The process will cost $30,
*makes loud impressed whistle noise* $30 a pop? Even if I did want to switch to the best race in game (Troll), that's a little too rich considering I'd have to leave my guild behind as well.
 

SomeBritishDude

New member
Nov 1, 2007
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$30?! That's pretty damn steep. Not sure why anyone would want to do this.

Everyone knows the horde is the only way to go anyway. If you didn't start that way I'd say tough luck.
 

Rathy

New member
Aug 21, 2008
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I can understand this for people who just really need a new crowd, or just have people trying to spite them on their side if they like the server, but thats still pretty expensive, especially when other services like their "Recustomization" only cost 10-15$.(Not 100% on price) That, and I kinda miss their servers being about horde vs alliance...
 

Amnestic

High Priest of Haruhi
Aug 22, 2008
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Pankeyman said:
So 30$ for an Alliance Tauren?
Article said:
Characters must be at least level ten to be eligible to change factions and while players can choose the race of their newly-factioned character, they can only choose from races that are normally available for their character class.
Reading comprehension. It's gooooooood stuff.
 

Ophiuchus

8 miles high and falling fast
Mar 31, 2008
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Pankeyman said:
So 30$ for an Alliance Tauren?
Of course not. You have to change to a race of the faction you're changing to.

The smart way to save all this hassle, particularly if it's just for the sake of curiosity, would be to have a character from each faction on the 10-day free trial. I'm sticking with Alliance - my attempt at playing Horde was quickly ruined by 'witty' people playing the Troll race who thought it was funny to spam the chat with "I'M A TROLL YOU GOT TROLLED HUR HURRRRRRRR". Well, that and Alliance is just more my style.
 

sunpop

New member
Oct 23, 2008
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30 dollars to be able to switch knowing blizz will screw up while doing it probably in the switching rep over.
 

John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
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SomeBritishDude said:
$30?! That's pretty damn steep. Not sure why anyone would want to do this.

Everyone knows the horde is the only way to go anyway. If you didn't start that way I'd say tough luck.
Dirty stinkin' Horde. We don't want your kind over here.
 

oppp7

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Aug 29, 2009
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Guild Wars did something even worse: $10 for a name change of one of your characters or change their face.
 

Rift17

New member
Sep 3, 2009
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ya some people will be put off by the price, but alot of people have jobs that result in them having money and less time to play. so 30 dollars for a full 80 on opposing faction instantly is a nice option. or maybe they started as a blood elf and wanna be undead. switch to alliance and switch back, 60 bucks but meh. all in all blizzard is doing what they do best. make money.
 

Proteus214

Game Developer
Jul 31, 2009
2,270
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I so want to reactivate my account, change factions, and grief the fuck out of my old guild...

If only I didn't play a goddam shaman...
 

Amnestic

High Priest of Haruhi
Aug 22, 2008
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oppp7 said:
Guild Wars did something even worse: $10 for a name change of one of your characters or change their face.
You mean like the Warcraft Paid Name Change and the Warcraft Paid Character Recustimisation (allows sex change and other physical changes like skin/face changes)?

CantFaketheFunk said:
SomeBritishDude said:
$30?! That's pretty damn steep. Not sure why anyone would want to do this.

Everyone knows the horde is the only way to go anyway. If you didn't start that way I'd say tough luck.
Dirty stinkin' Horde. We don't want your kind over here.
Troll>Humans>Everyone else.

'Fact'
 

John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
20,364
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On topic: I don't necessarily mind the fee given that it's A.) completely optional and B.) this is probably something that they really want to discourage happening too often. It's not like just changing your character's name or appearance; they are probably wary of this being used by gold sellers, or just "Hey, (Item X) is available on the Alliance Auction House but not the Horde. Lemme just switch real quick!"

Amnestic said:
oppp7 said:
Guild Wars did something even worse: $10 for a name change of one of your characters or change their face.
You mean like the Warcraft Paid Name Change and the Warcraft Paid Character Recustimisation (allows sex change and other physical changes like skin/face changes)?

CantFaketheFunk said:
SomeBritishDude said:
$30?! That's pretty damn steep. Not sure why anyone would want to do this.

Everyone knows the horde is the only way to go anyway. If you didn't start that way I'd say tough luck.
Dirty stinkin' Horde. We don't want your kind over here.
Troll>Humans>Everyone else.

'Fact'
Dwarves > Trolls
 

Shycte

New member
Mar 10, 2009
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Amnestic said:
oppp7 said:
Guild Wars did something even worse: $10 for a name change of one of your characters or change their face.
You mean like the Warcraft Paid Name Change and the Warcraft Paid Character Recustimisation (allows sex change and other physical changes like skin/face changes)?

CantFaketheFunk said:
SomeBritishDude said:
$30?! That's pretty damn steep. Not sure why anyone would want to do this.

Everyone knows the horde is the only way to go anyway. If you didn't start that way I'd say tough luck.
Dirty stinkin' Horde. We don't want your kind over here.
Troll>Humans>Everyone else.

'Fact'
Sorry Funk, I thougt you were cool. I thought you were THE SHIT. But now. Alliance? I don't know.

Amnestic speaks the truth.
 

Bigeyez

New member
Apr 26, 2009
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CantFaketheFunk said:
On topic: I don't necessarily mind the fee given that it's A.) completely optional and B.) this is probably something that they really want to discourage happening too often. It's not like just changing your character's name or appearance; they are probably wary of this being used by gold sellers, or just "Hey, (Item X) is available on the Alliance Auction House but not the Horde. Lemme just switch real quick!"
Doesn't this also get you the whole character recustomization thing too? I haven't played WoW in a while but I remember when they first announced this on the forums they said it most likely would come with character recustomization. If so that explains the $30 price tag because recustomization was already $20 bucks.

Oh and I'm FOR THE HORDE...er well I used to be.
 

Takoto

New member
Mar 25, 2009
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30...what...
That's way too steep, most WoW players won't pay that much unless their super hardcore players.
 

ChaosTheory3133

New member
Jan 13, 2009
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Was waiting for something like this... As I am lazy and don't feel like starting over just to play the other side. I might come back and give the horde a spare priest.