Project Lore

Well folks, it looks like we have some, but definitely not all the answers regarding how the possibility of faction changes announced earlier this week could work. Wednesday, Blizzard blue poster Nethaera updated his original post on the subject with a few more details on the matter - probably because of the incredibly high number of questions (and complaints) that players posted. Several of the updated answers relate to questions regarding the race of characters who request a faction change.

Q. Will we be able to switch between the races on our own faction? A.. No. Players will only be able to switch to a race of the opposite faction. Q. Will I be able to choose the race on the opposite faction that I want to change to? A.. Yes, but you will only be able to switch to a race that has your class type available to it. So if you play a human paladin, you’d only be able to change to a blood elf paladin. Q.Will I be able to switch back to my original faction but a different race? A.. No. You will only be able to switch back to your originally chosen race.

This clarifies up several of the issues that could have resulted if Blizz didn't go about things carefully. You'll be able to decide what race you want to play in the opposite faction (and although it isn't explicitly stated, one would guess you'll also get to personalize the toon just as if you were re-rolling anew). To a certain extent. Of course, they're not going to all of the sudden allow every race to play every class. So if you're, say, a human paladin who wants to switch factions, you'll be limited to playing a blood elf. An Orc Paladin? That would just be weird. Or how about a Tauren rogue (you hear their hooves, but never see them)? Blizz will never allow us to learn THOSE secrets. Back on a serious note though, this also means that players wouldn't be able to faction change twice and end up with a toon of the same faction but different race. This seems like a pretty obvious move on Blizzard's part. But it's good that they clarified that pretty quickly for all those skeptics out there. Onward to more answered questions:

Q.How much will it cost? A.. We do not have further information on this at this point in time. Q.How often can you change your faction? A..We do not have any information to share on this at this point in time, however we will have restrictions on the frequency by which players can change their faction.

So maybe these are more like non-answers. It seems like the faction change would cost something. Will it cost RL money, like it does if you want to change realms? That seems the most likely scenario to me. But there also could be some kind of in-game cost as well.

Q.. How will the switch between reputation, gear, mounts, etc be handled? A.. We’ll have more details for you at a later point in time, though we plan to keep these as close to a reflection of the other faction as much as possible.

This part seems like it will be a HUGE pain in the ass and a ton of work for Blizzard. Basically, for every single faction- dependent item you can possibly get in-game, Blizz will have to try to match it with an equivalent of the opposing faction. Certainly, there will be many items that will match up perfectly. But there's also certain to be injustices on both sides. And that's just for gear. What about for reputation? For example's sake, say you're exalted with Thrallmar. The logical Alliance equivalent would seem to be Honor Hold. But what if the gear/mount you want is through rep with Kurenai? I foresee a related QQ fest coming. And one more important question answered so far:

Q. How will this affect the balance of Horde and Alliance on the realms? A.. We are taking great care in how we implement this new service in order to maintain balance between the factions on the realms but do not have any further details to share.

Once again, this seems pretty obvious. If anything, Blizz would probably want to use the service as a means to balance out servers that are heavily populated by one faction over the other. Maybe they'll do something similar to their character transfers out of over-populated realms: Offer free faction transfers only if you're, for example, an Alliance character on an Alliance-dominant server. Then again, would anyone WANT to switch factions under those circumstances? Well, that's it so far, and lots of questions still remain: Would faction changes be allowed on a PvP server? If so, would you be required to switch ALL of your characters' factions on that realm?  It seems like Blizzard would have to make that requirement - either that or require a server change, too, if you want to only change one toon's faction. And of course, when will all this happen? It seems like it's still a long ways off. And another thing: If you decide to faction change, then change back, would you be able to regain your old gear/rep/stuff, or would it be matched with equivalents twice, and in the process change into something new? If it's the latter, the result could lead to some exploits. And I'll add another question, since I grow attached to all aspects of my characters: Will toon names stay the same? Now that we have a little bit more information, I'd like to know what you all think of this service. How do you think this will go, once it's implemented? And what do you think are the implications of it all? Will a sense of faction pride fade? What about knowledge of the lore - would you want to switch to a level 80 toon of another race for which you don't know all the back-story? Stay tuned for more information as it's released!

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