WoW to Get Faction Change Feature

[LewsTherin]

I have mixed opinions about the entire thing to be honest. Truthfully I could see a mass exodus from the Alliance to Horde to be honest. Despite what people might think "The Horde" does not have better or more mature players (heck, Barrens chat is infamous for a reason). It's all about game imbalance issues and The Horde having been handed a lot of minor advantages which over time snowballed into a decent amount of favortism.

Penny Arcade once called rolling Alliance one of the biggest gips in the gaming industry. Game informer mentioned "Alliance Syndrome" with the angelic faction in their preview of Aion not too long ago. There has also been a lot of talk about "Bad guy Chic" and how developers almost always seem to put more time into the bad guys and make them cooler, and typically stronger. It isn't just WoW, if you looked at say Warhammer Online and what happened with Destruction right out of the gate it would be pretty obvious. The "Knights Of The Old Republic" MMO seems to be headed in the same direction with "Sith Mania" both with the attention they are getting in the lore, the players screaming "I wanna be Sith" and the various reveals.

Right now I think WoW basically needs to make Alliance cooler, and also needs to act to balance the results of long-term imbalance. Things that compounded based on "minor" issues that should have been fixed or changed years ago. Not allow for side switching.

I think a main problem is most of the interesting heroes from the alliance races either died (Muradin, Lothar, Uther, Antonidas, etc) or buggered off/switched sides (Malfurion, Illidan, Arthas). With the King of Stormwind making a comeback I'm thinking that Blizzard sees this as well.

I would agree with the general Horde favouritism as well. The horde races in the lore have had great developments forwards (the founding of Ogrimmar, the Forsaken breaking away from the Scourge), as the Alliance races are seen as dwindling cultures (The destruction of the World Tree and it's effects on the Night Elves, The fall of Lordaeron). With the campaign of WC3 we are introduced to more interesting Horde characters (Thrall) and previous characters are further developed (Grom)while the Alliance characters are more old faces (Antonidas/Uther)and the newer blood either, as I said earlier switches sides, dies off, or, in Jaina's case, isn't really looked into from that point on.

 

[Verbera]

Oh shi-

I'm suddenly glad I'm no longer on an RPGing server. The whining will probably be so loud that it reaches my server, too, as it did with the "change your character's appearance!"-chaos which resulted in a ton of spontaneous gender changed characters without any idea on how to portray a transperson respectfully. It was hell. I don't want to know what happens when people are able to transform into other races.

It would have been really cool if that was restricted to humans, though - infected vs. cured, sort of. Not realistic, but ... well. More logical than a gnome turning POOF! into a tauren.

 

[Rusty Bucket]

Kinda glad, my time playing as an Night Elf Hunter has left me with one thought bore into my mind, Alliance sucks. Seriously Horde is just so much cooler, Alliance players in my experience are all small children wanting to play the hero. Horde characters on the other hand have realized this, and are using their characters to punch these small children in the face.

Your avatar is mesmerising.

Yeah, this looks really cool and stuf...

 

[Lexodus]

Kinda glad, my time playing as an Night Elf Hunter has left me with one thought bore into my mind, Alliance sucks. Seriously Horde is just so much cooler, Alliance players in my experience are all small children wanting to play the hero. Horde characters on the other hand have realized this, and are using their characters to punch these small children in the face.

Wow, I don't even know where to begin with how wrong this is.

And yet, so right.

On an unrelated note, I faked the funk.

 

[Lexodus]

Am I the only person left who likes gnomes?

Yes. For God's sakes, YES.

 

[TJ rock 101]

i still want normal race change features. silly blizzard making total faction changes but not simple race ones pff.

 

[Lexodus]

"This is going to wreak havoc on RP servers."

to some, Havoc, to trolls, this is going to be awesome.

But when I heard about being able to change factions, I thought yo uwould be able to be a Tauren alliance member, or a Gnome Horde, now THAT would of been cool.

Even if you were a Gnome Horde, everyone would STILL hate you. We just don't like those annoying little bastards.

I did the trial twice, once as a Nelf Hunter and once as a Tauren Druid (I liked Tauren better because Mulgore is just yummy with the mountains and rolling plains and... really great level design there, Blizz! :3) and the same amount of douchebaggery exists on both sides.


Also, what's so wrong with Belfs?

 

[Lexodus]

I have mixed opinions about the entire thing to be honest. Truthfully I could see a mass exodus from the Alliance to Horde to be honest. Despite what people might think "The Horde" does not have better or more mature players (heck, Barrens chat is infamous for a reason).

Oh, God. You just brought up some baaaaaaaaad memories...

 

[Ashbax]

This IS Blizzard, after all, so it will probably cost about as much as buying the game, each time you do it.

Ninja'd.

Nonetheless - its a second job people are paying for. so obviously they are prepared to pay more...Im ashamed to say My highest level character on wow was on a RP server, but only because I was about level 30 before I actually realised what the server really was, so i tried to avoid most of those hilariously poor RPers and just play the game - but I had to go into the cities some time, and from my experience, I certainly agree this is going to fuck up all those 12 year old level 40 warriors who run around yelling "RAEP TEH HOERDZ" All day, seeing who will actually try to make an RP conversation out of it...

I think im going to get a 30 day card, just to see their reaction back on my home-server. It will be HILARIOUS.

Whenever someone 'rp dies' they are gonna make themselves an undead for a day and invade goldshire or some shit. Seriously, they whined about level 30 mounts, barbershops and I even heard a few complaints about acheivements.

WoW players are very fragile, if you introduce a new game concept to them, they will whine.

Now, they are going to go fucking BALLISTIC. and I want to get a screenshot...

 

[GothmogII]

This IS Blizzard, after all, so it will probably cost about as much as buying the game, each time you do it.

Ninja'd.

Nonetheless - its a second job people are paying for. so obviously they are prepared to pay more...Im ashamed to say My highest level character on wow was on a RP server, but only because I was about level 30 before I actually realised what the server really was, so i tried to avoid most of those hilariously poor RPers and just play the game - but I had to go into the cities some time, and from my experience, I certainly agree this is going to fuck up all those 12 year old level 40 warriors who run around yelling "RAEP TEH HOERDZ" All day, seeing who will actually try to make an RP conversation out of it...

I think im going to get a 30 day card, just to see their reaction back on my home-server. It will be HILARIOUS.

Whenever someone 'rp dies' they are gonna make themselves an undead for a day and invade goldshire or some shit. Seriously, they whined about level 30 mounts, barbershops and I even heard a few complaints about acheivements.

WoW players are very fragile, if you introduce a new game concept to them, they will whine.

Now, they are going to go fucking BALLISTIC. and I want to get a screenshot...

You seem to have quite a low of opinion of RP'ers...or maybe RP in general, sorry you didn't get a better impression. Really though, people are the same regardless, there's always whiners.

As for the second job jibe. Hardly. I can play WoW for about ?30 a month (60 day timecard), and that comes out far less than were I to buy a full new release game per month. And, if it's fun, it's hardly work right?

 

[Lazzi]

Kinda glad, my time playing as an Night Elf Hunter has left me with one thought bore into my mind, Alliance sucks. Seriously Horde is just so much cooler, Alliance players in my experience are all small children wanting to play the hero. Horde characters on the other hand have realized this, and are using their characters to punch these small children in the face.

Wow, I don't even know where to begin with how wrong this is.

Clearly you and I have had different luck in the game of WoW.

I can see what your saying, but I wouldnt say all.

I think its a vanity issue, I encounter more abrasive people on the realistic humaniod races than the more anthropamorphic ones. I find the nices players on the allience tend to be Night elves and Dreanei, while the rudest horde ones tend to be Blood elves and Undead.

All in all the most pleasnt people I encounter are ethier Tauren or Dreanei.

I also find people tend to act nicer once they are past Lvl 20. However this is most likely do to the fact that by that point the have gotten more comfortable playing the game by the point so they tend to lossen up.

 

[Arbitrary Cidin]

I don't play WoW anymore, but I figured they'd do something like make Gnomes and Humans allowed to be on the Horde, and Orcs allowed on Alliance. Like a Traitor Quest. Bah! This game promotes racism.

 

[xxdomoxxkunxx]

i didnt know that azoroth had plastic surgery but its stupid as hell but the fuck do i care the series is dead to me i would slit there neck becuse they murdered the diablo series while it was in a coma and i just hope to god they dont get starcraft are there is going to be a war with south korea

 

[xxdomoxxkunxx]

indeed BAD memories

 

[WrongSprite]

I've never heard of this "World of Warcraft", but I'm intrigued. Sounds like it really might catch on.

Seriously, though. I've been considering signing up, since I will soon have a computer capable of running WoW. More features like this (ie. ability to change sides if I discovered that I picked wrong) are always a nice addition.

Have you tried running it?

Most microwaves can run WoW nowadays.

 

[Nostalgia]

I've never heard of this "World of Warcraft", but I'm intrigued. Sounds like it really might catch on.

Seriously, though. I've been considering signing up, since I will soon have a computer capable of running WoW. More features like this (ie. ability to change sides if I discovered that I picked wrong) are always a nice addition.

Have you tried running it?

Most microwaves can run WoW nowadays.

You're kidding, right?
My computers runs everything wonderfully on highest settings minus Crysis and WoW.

I guess if you set everything to low so you can barely make out any textures or anything past a few feet from your face, then it'll be okay.

 

[coldfrog]

Penny Arcade once called rolling Alliance one of the biggest gips in the gaming industry. Game informer mentioned "Alliance Syndrome" with the angelic faction in their preview of Aion not too long ago. There has also been a lot of talk about "Bad guy Chic" and how developers almost always seem to put more time into the bad guys and make them cooler, and typically stronger.

While the cooler bit is debatable, if you've played it you can't really call the Horde "Bad Guys" exactly. This is exactly what I thought the first time I played, but I realized after a bit of lore that the Horde overall is more Klingon-y and, with the exception of the Undead (specifically the Royal Apothecary Society) there are no truly morally corrupt factions on the Horde. The most amazing thing I think they've done with this game is make neither side definitively evil or good, they just happen to be on opposing sides, kind of an Israel/Palestine deal going on perhaps, and while you can't justify all their actions, neither can you point to one side a say for certain that they are entirely in the wrong or entirely right.

However, I will say that the Horde lore seems much more interesting to me than the Alliance lore. To me most of the Alliance stuff seems fairly standard medieval fantasy style stuff while the Horde lore is all from an original perspective (even if they are mostly based off of other things). However, I DO love the concept of the Draenei, and interestingly enough I hate the Blood Elves. Very few stories have been able to make elves interesting to me, and WoW is no exception.

Also I can't ever play a human. I'm already a human, why would I want to pretend to be one when there's so many other choices?

Nevertheless, I can't believe this will get as much attention as people think it will. You can't escape immaturity, and I always knew where my friends were playing so if I wanted to play it was easy to get a character with them. I just want a neutral faction that can join either side. Or, as suggested earlier, the defector idea. Either one would be cool.

 

[Ocelano]

I think it would be way cooler if you could have 'defectors'.
You know, playing a night-elf on the horde side.
Then you'd keep all of your gear, and mounts and everything!

And THAT would cause loads of whining.

I know just what I was thinking you could do it buy some quest for a shady indiviual where they say that you will be wlecomed by the horde if you can obtain information on the alliance plans to attack (insert location here) maybe like a pvp area like arathi basin or omething with a warning that changing back would be difficult/impossible that would be brilliant however you would probably instantly lose your guild and friends and any honor points within the alliance would become dishonour points and you would be required to rebuild your honour status from scratch

 

[Geamo]

Wait, what?

Glad I left WoW at the top of the hill, just before all of the good bloggers decided to bail and the content no longer interested me.

Although marketing-wise, it's a positive move. You've now got the tools to allow a character at high-level to nigh-completly change thier character without having to re-level a new one. The only thing binding characters is classes now; which is good, gameplay wise. A hardcore raider that times all of his cooldowns precisly and optimizes his gear to the point of perfection doesn't give a damn about what faction he's fighting for or what race he's playing, only the bonuses given.