WOW to enable faction-swapping

By Robert Purchese Published 30 June, 2009

On same realm to "equivalent" char.

Blizzard has announced the development of a faction-swapping mechanic for World of Warcraft, which will allow Horde and Alliance forces on the same server to swap sides.

"We wanted to give everyone a very early heads-up that, in response to player requests, we're developing a new service for World of Warcraft that will allow players to change their faction from Alliance to Horde or Horde to Alliance," Blizzard Poster Nethaera writes on the official forum (pointed to by 1UP).

"There's still much work to do and many details to iron out, but the basic idea is that players will be able to use the service to transform an existing character into a roughly equivalent character of the opposing faction on the same realm.

"Players who ended up creating and levelling up characters on the opposite factions from their friends have been asking for this type of functionality for some time, and we're pleased to be getting closer to being able to deliver it," adds Nethaera.

Players will have to become an existing race of the opposing faction, then. How this will work is unclear - the point seems to be that Gnome Rogues or Magi shouldn't expect to carry that career into Tauren hooves, or something. It's unlikely class will be changeable, too.

There's no mention of a premium charge, yet server transfers, name, physical appearance and gender changes are all existing, paid-for services.

"As with all of the features and services we offer, we intend to incorporate the faction-change service in a way that won't disrupt the gameplay experience on the realms, and there will be some rules involved with when and how the service can be used," explains Nethaera.

"The number of variables involved increases the complexity of implementing this service, but we plan to take the time needed to ensure that it lives up to expectations before officially rolling it out.

The post is clear that the service is a long way away, although testers may see related features appear on the test servers.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (22) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Nostrus #1 3 years ago

    Not like anyone didn't see this coming.

  • Canyarion #2 3 years ago

    Haha, April Fools is early this year.

  • towser #3 3 years ago

    For the Horiance!

  • darkmorgado #4 3 years ago

    "Haha, April Fools is early this year. "

    Erm... April was, like, 3 months ago dude

  • Dizzy #5 3 years ago

    WoW is getting sillier and sillier. Maybe they will turn all classes into just one androgynous factionless class with just 2 buttons? Ranged attack and melee attack. Faction has had no sense since the original game... horde and alliance now do /hug /dance and /kiss all the time.

  • VicViper #6 3 years ago

    wish I was on your realm Dizzy, we just kill each other all the time followed typically by /spit

  • spudsbuckley #7 3 years ago

    He probably doesn't play the game anyway, he's more than likely just one of the multitude of people who love to bitch about WoW every time Blizzard announces an improvement.

  • Psychotext #8 3 years ago

    "Not like anyone didn't see this coming."

    Yup. From pretty much the second they put all the same types on both side.

  • towser #9 3 years ago

    WoW is like my third child... costs a bomb, has me thinking about it when I'm not around it, and it stops my friends from coming round to visit me.

    Happy days!! :-D

  • Dizzy #10 3 years ago

    "wish I was on your realm Dizzy, we just kill each other all the time followed typically by /spit "

    Yea that is how it used to be in original. Now on my server it is a 100% PvE based experience without any aggression towards the other faction. War my ass :) A missed opportunity IMHO. We used to hate/fear the Horde.

    LOL how my comment got bad karma... insecure WoW carebears here?

    "He probably doesn't play the game anyway, he's more than likely just one of the multitude of people who love to bitch about WoW every time Blizzard announces an improvement. "

    ORLY? I am an officer in one of the better raiding guilds (not top 10... but top 20 :) on Turalyon.
    Edited by 4 at 30/06/09 @ 16:16

  • AphoticCosmos #11 3 years ago

    I like milk, I think Blizzard obviously does, too.

  • MikeP #12 3 years ago

    Sigh, if only WAR could implement this, would help deal with the almost permanent realm imbalance on the servers.

  • MaxiSleep #13 3 years ago

    What would be really interesting is allow blood elves (as high elves natch) or humans to play both sides (maybe a rump lordareon government aligning with the forsaken, with a rival high elf lot setting up in the eastern plague lands.

  • TriggerHippie #14 3 years ago

    This is the death of the Tauren Druid. Well, until they decide to nerf shadowmeld again :p
    Edited by 1 at 30/06/09 @ 17:34

  • Red-Moose #15 3 years ago

    Related news: Blizzard announces that you can do absolutely anything you like and painty your toenails blue as long as you keep giving us cash every months, SUCKERS!!! :)

  • Nephirion #16 3 years ago

    Blizzard are clearly going to charge to change sides, its so obviously another " service " they can sell, nothing to do with WoW lore or anything, WoW is fast becoming just pure money driven, what's next? EA adverstising billboards in all major cities?

  • EmiliasHorse #17 3 years ago

    The Karma system is terrible, I have it set to "show all" because I am an adult and therefore can make up my own mind about what level of threshold I should have censored.

  • Canyarion #18 3 years ago

    Thanks Crofto. :)

    I think it would help if it would show both the - and the + score. A very controversial post would receive much -rep, but also much +.

    But seriously, swapping factions? I don't mind, but you'll have to agree it's silly when you think about it. I love me some quasi-realism.

  • MBar #19 3 years ago

    The poor choice of implementing a "karma" system on this website is highlighted once again in this comments section; all lovers of Blizzard and WoW are automatically giving negative marks to anyone who dares not to masturbate over the game. Dizzy has given polite and fair comments, yet is marked negative for it.

    All his posts are are whining about how Blizzard are apparently nerfing his once hardcore game for nubs (a very popular stance these days by the so called "elite";) and anecdotal instances of how on his no-doubt PvE realm, people don't actively go out of their way to kill each other. Um ... duh? Want PvP? Stop raiding and do Battlegrounds or Wintergrasp or server transfer to a PvP realm.

    He got marked down because he's whinging about non-issues. I know this, because I actually play the game.

  • actionfitz #20 3 years ago

    @ Dizzy

    "ORLY? I am an officer in one of the better raiding guilds (not top 10... but top 20 :) on Turalyon. "

    Really? Me too :p
    Which one?
    Im in "No Guild" on Turalyon :)
    Though Im most casual these days after having no home internet for like 2 months there.

  • butler` #21 3 years ago

    This change pisses me off. From a PvP perspective it's just like "ok so you need to pay us actual real money in order to compete on live servers".

  • mr_boogedy #22 3 years ago

    As far as I'm aware they haven't announced how this will work. Personally, I like the idea! It makes sense, whether you're looking at it from a lore perspective or from a roleplaying perspective. Or if you just want to play with your buds. As long as it occurs organically in the game: ie through questing. If you have to pay for the 'privilege' I'm going to furrow my brow and declare shenanigans!