Faction Change Service Goes Live
Posted by 
Amatera on Wednesday, September 2, 2009 - 29 Comments Tags: Achievements, Alliance, Horde, PvP, faction change, items, paid service, quests
Amatera on Wednesday, September 2, 2009 - 29 Comments Tags: Achievements, Alliance, Horde, PvP, faction change, items, paid service, quests
We knew they were coming soon, but not this soon! Looks like Blizzard has given the Paid Faction Change service the go-ahead and it's now available for use (WoW or Battle.net ID necessary to log-in). Of course, according to the website, there are a few conditions to consider before you make the shift:
Orcs becoming Humans! And Humans becoming Orcs! What has Azeroth come to?!
A comprehensive FAQ, which can be also be found on the Faction Change site, details things even further. Here are some highlights:
Whew! That's quite the list of requirements, but if you think you're ready to deal with them, keep in mind that you're still going to have to plunk down 30 USD for the switch. That currently makes it the most expensive of the character modification services, indicating that Blizzard considers this quite a big deal (and so should you).
While Horde is outnumbered nearly 3-to-1 on my server, I can't say I really have any friends on the Alliance side, so it's unlikely that I'd ever change factions without an accompanying server transfer, too (55 USD, yikes!). How many of you out there are planning to make use of the Paid Faction Change, and why?
- The faction change process is not immediate, and a character will not be available for play while a faction change is pending. Under normal conditions the process should take under an hour, but please allow up to several days for a faction change to complete.
- During this process, you will select a new character race from the opposite-faction races that have the character's class available. You cannot change a character's class.
- To see how character-specific information such as achievements, reputations, and items are affected by a faction change, refer to the Translation Table.
- A realm transfer is not included in a faction change. However, the restriction on having members of both factions on a PvP realm has been lifted, so you can have characters of both factions on a single PvP realm.
- A character can change factions once every 60 days.
- Not every character will be eligible to undergo a faction change. If applicable, the reason a character is not eligible will be brought to your attention before payment is rendered. For example, faction changes may not be possible on certain realms or only one "direction" of faction changes may be allowed on a given realm.
Orcs becoming Humans! And Humans becoming Orcs! What has Azeroth come to?!A comprehensive FAQ, which can be also be found on the Faction Change site, details things even further. Here are some highlights:
- You can only transfer one character per transaction (so if you're planning to go full Alliance of full Horde, expect to pay out the nose).
- The character to be transferred must be at least Level 10 (under that, you might as well just make a new toon on the opposite faction).
- In addition to changing factions, you will also get to re-customize and re-name your character.
- You can switch a character back to their original race/faction, but that requires another paid transfer (and likely falls under the 60-day rule).
- The Faction Change itself is represented by a button next to your selected character on the character select screen, which will appear after you have been logged out for at least 30 minutes. The screens you go through will be similar to those used in the New Character Creation process, and you will be able to preview the changes before confirming.
- Your old character's name will be locked from use for 90 days, assuming that you decide to change it back.
- Items, Equipment, Titles, Achievements, etc. will remain unchanged unless they are faction-specific, in which chase they will be switched out for an equivalent.
- Non-combat pets, even faction-specific ones, can be transferred.
- A character who is being transferred will have their quest log cleared and all related items will be destroyed. Faction-specific quests which contributed to achievements will no longer be counted.
- Reputation will remain intact, though primary faction reputations will be transferred to their equivalent (i.e. Orgrimmar for Stormwind).
- Flight paths will be changed, but will remain level appropriate (a level 40 transfer will not automatically have all of the flight paths available to their faction).
- Friend and Ignore lists will be reset.
- Guild Masters cannot take advantage of this service.
- PvP-related currency (arena points, honor, etc.) will be carried over, except for any earned between the last maintenance and the time of the Faction Change.
- Mail and Auctions needs to be cleared before the change is made.
- Having more than a certain amount of gold per level will prevent you from using the Faction Change (this is over 20,000 at Level 80).
- This service cannot be used to change races within the same faction. That feature will be implemented later.
Whew! That's quite the list of requirements, but if you think you're ready to deal with them, keep in mind that you're still going to have to plunk down 30 USD for the switch. That currently makes it the most expensive of the character modification services, indicating that Blizzard considers this quite a big deal (and so should you).
While Horde is outnumbered nearly 3-to-1 on my server, I can't say I really have any friends on the Alliance side, so it's unlikely that I'd ever change factions without an accompanying server transfer, too (55 USD, yikes!). How many of you out there are planning to make use of the Paid Faction Change, and why?
Reader Comments (29)
i am considering it, taking my DK to horde side, and using it as a means of having a good income for new horde toons... i have been alliance since i started.
sounds cool, i wouldn't do it though. maybe if there was a good ally guild
If there was a way for me to copy a lvl 80 char, paid the transfer, and THEN do a faction change... I'm game for that. I would love to have my hunter on the PL Horde and Alliance fan guilds. Same specs and everything, just pay for the transfer and faction change.
But until then... Don't know.
I made a Forsaken to Play a Forsaken not to one day play a Human and if I wanted to I would make one from scratch I personally think this is stupid...but since I wont use it I guess I dont really care
personally i think its a horrible idea and blizz is always talking about pvp balance..........well hardcore alli pvpers are switching to horde as we speak good going blizz F@#cked up again
Well Radefa, it's not Blizzard's fault that the PvPers are going horde.... it's their decision. If they wanted to go Horde they would have rerolled in the first place.... this makes it easier for them to do what they want in the game. And most people have been requesting a change like this for a while now.
@ Mahabone
I'm basically doing the same as you, except in reverse. I'm taking my horde DK to Alliance in order to push to 80 and then start feeding my lowbie alts some heirlooms to ease the leveling process a bit.
The only problem will be working up the money to pay for the faction change in the first place....
I think this is great. All my RL WoW friends play horde, but we have all just befriended a new guy that some of us work with, he played Wow, Level 80 Dwarf Hunter, taking a break from it atm, wants to play again w/ ppl he knows in RL, doesn't want to roll a brand new toon or a DK so what to do? Tadda! Now he can realm transfer, faction transfer and play WoW with us till his heart's content on his main toon!
I'm going to end up paying out the arse anyway so I can 1st change my Dwarf Warrior into either an Orc or Tauren (undecided) and then move him from the PvE server he's on to the PvP server where my Orc Rogue is at.
i'm going to level a troll shaman right now and then transfer it once cataclysm comes out to get a dwarf shaman.
About time!
Screw Horde!
Hello Alliance!
** No. Im not leaving because Garrosh is an idiot. He isnt. IMO: Garrosh>Thrall
Im leaving cause Varian is too much of a badass
Pfft, if I want a Horde character so desperately on the current server I play, I'll just create one and level from there.
I want the lore and back story leading up to level 80, not leveling an easy race/class combo and then switch over. Defeats the purpose of PLAYING.
I was going to changed my Orc Hunter to a Dwarf hunter (no one I know plays Horde) but the cost is prohibitive so I'll just leave him alone or maybe delete him :s
I gona change all my horde characters to gnomes :D
Wait.... "Race changing will be implemented later?" really!? Come on Blizzard, I know this is a game for the players, but come on. If we make a choice at least let us stick to it!
I can see the validity of faction change, some people want to switch and don't have the time to level a new character to max. But still. changing races? What's next? Class changing services? Gear changing services?
Well, I for one am excited about changing races. I have a BELF pally who will undergo a sex...er...I mean race change to Tauren when the expansion comes out. Only reason I play a BELF pally is it happens to be the only choice for Horde (alliance gets 3 options we have 1 stupid one).
Well I know some people who will find this great personally, I don't care. If I wanted to be Horde I'd just level on from scratch and save myself $30, but that's just me.
Seems like this feature isn't yet available for us across the pond :/ I'll keep a lookout though.
Dumb feature. Like blizzard really needs to make more money..
I am stumped by the people on here that say it is stupid, if I wanted to play alliance or horde then I will go create another toon and level it. Some of us don't make WOW our lives and don't want to just create another toon from 1 and level him all the way to 80. I have done it three times and with the worgen race coming out I will probably make a worgen warrior and level him to 85. Last time I checked leveling from 1 - 80 wasn't a one week activity for people with jobs. Thanks Blizz, I have a human pally I am planning on sending over to horde and a NE hunter I am sending to horde also. I want to play the new Lich King content on horde but never created a toon.
I can understand why thy (Blizzard) is doing this. How many times have you heard I am Alli and my buddys are Hordies? It just makes it easier for those willing to pay.
The race change will be great for those who have level 80 X race and can now make them into Y race. I personally like the idea of a dwarf shammy.
If you have the cash what difference does it make :)
FINALLY! I can leave alliance (sorry alliance users) alliance on my server is terrible, im doing this ASAP
Great now we get all the Horde players that are turning gay and go alliance.
I am using this service because I want to take my already leveled alliance shaman to the horde. I dont understand peoples problems with this new feature. I have leveled toons to 80 on both sides and the thought of doing it again, at least until cataclysm drops, is to much.
Also @Andonur
As a gay horde player, who has played in one of the largest gay guilds in america that was also horde, there are plenty of gay hordies as well.
i dont give a shit about this faction change, but the removal of "one faction only" on pvp realms is sweet, now i can roll a worgen and stack it with heirlooms