http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3175000
"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."
Qyn
Tue, 06/30/2009 - 11:41amIt's interesting how many things Blizzard said they would never do that they are now implementing in an attempt to keep subscribers.
Crazy Rambles
Tue, 06/30/2009 - 2:23pmWoot!
Wait.
Changing into the other faction's equivalent? Lame...
Still, IMO there should be an ambassador quest that makes one a diplomat between the two factions requiring one to level up their language skill in either Orcish or Common. (Then again, the language barrier is simply there to cause more friction between the factions, and keep ppl from pestering those of another faction.)
N8
Wed, 07/01/2009 - 8:06amI've been playing WOW for nearly five years now, and I think Blizzard is actually killing WOW, or maybe it's Activision that's responsible, by getting too greedy and dumbing down the game to accomodate people who don't care for a challenge and who have little patience and short attention spans, people who want the rewards without any effort. I expect, too, more and more product tie-ins, like the Mountain Dew promotion. Can the Burger King crown be far behind? And has anyone noticed that they sell advertising on their webpages? It's very sad that a work of collective genius such as the game is should have been reduced to what it now is, a shameless and money-grubbing shill.
In any event I've been checking out Aion and it's looking very promising. From the character creation to the locations. Kinda pretty, I suspect I might check it out when it releases on Sept. 22nd.
Here's a linky for the creation screen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE_Ake-mh4U
N8
Wed, 07/01/2009 - 8:09amOh a few more things, nothing, and I mean nothing, will kill WoW except for Blizzard's own new MMORPG IP they are currently developing. That said, Aion looks like it could be the next big thing in terms of something "new," regardless of what WoW continues to do. Warhammer did nothing but clone WoW and make it exclusivelly pvp, AoC could have been great had they waited another year but they botched it. This game is made by, probably, the most successful MMO developer besides Blizzard and actually brings some of the best aspects of all their old games into one new package.
I will say the coolest thing about the game, that I've seen, is the combat. It is not in any way the usual click 1-2-4, 7, 1-2-4, 7, bullcrap we've all become so tired of. This game actually requires you to respond to your opponents actions and attacks(not speaking of pvp, regular AI) and makes combos and response abilities a huge part of the action. You can't just walk around and watch a movie while you absent-mindedly tap the number keys or your macro's all day or you will die. The other thing that this game improves upon by leaps and bounds as opposed to a game like WoW is the world and characters models. To say one doesn't care about the graphical representation of armor or weapons is just a straight-forward lie, because half of the point of acquiring all those stupid armor pieces in a game is to impress all the children in-game. Lineage was well known for this as well and this game is sure to please those in search of a more fantastical world than the now bland WoW.
Qyn
Wed, 07/01/2009 - 8:14amThe problem with Aion is that it's an NCSoft game and thus will be super popular in like, Asia, but only marginal elsewhere, despite how good of a game it might actually be.
Crazy Rambles
Wed, 07/01/2009 - 8:47am"This game actually requires you to respond to your opponents actions and attacks(not speaking of pvp, regular AI) and makes combos and response abilities a huge part of the action. You can't just walk around and watch a movie while you absent-mindedly tap the number keys or your macro's all day or you will die. "
Mmm....something the very first MMO should have done. If all works out, Aion sounds like a worthy adventure.
EDIT: One question about char customization--will people frequently see your person's face? It seems like in WoW and Fallout 3 that they have some sort of char customization, but one has to particularly bored to zoom the camera around and look at people's faces. Oh well, I guess the most entertaining part of char customization is the process of making the face. So, it seems they did a good job with that!
15
Wed, 07/01/2009 - 2:44pmWow. If this change goes live uh, bye guys.
Vasya
Wed, 07/01/2009 - 3:20pmI have to disagree that there's much effort to be put in in order to get most of the things in WoW. Most of the effort that is required is a simple time investment, and ability to deal with other people. If anything, I think them breaking down those assertions that anything in WoW is "hard earned" is a good thing - it encourages people to just have fun with the game.
Crazy Rambles
Wed, 07/01/2009 - 4:56pmIMO: No challenge=no fun.
Also wanting to infuse an emerald nightmare in whoever decided to FINALLY give roots for indoors just before the point where CC becomes pointless...bleh.
As for faction changes. It wouldn't be too bad story-wise considering there have been many times where the Horde and Alliance have had to work together. If they added in a diplomat quest line to go with this then it'd be nice. (give Jania more use for everyone too.)
yori
Wed, 07/01/2009 - 8:59pmwhat the fucking horrible
Furiouso
Wed, 07/01/2009 - 10:00pmI think they're doing everything possible to retain users and subscribers... Maybe they see the writing on the wall, something's going to bleed users from WoW eventually, maybe even something else from Blizzard. But they want to keep people playing as long as possible until it does, and this is something that for most people is a nice change of pace and something that a lot of people have been asking for.
Qyn
Thu, 07/02/2009 - 7:32amYep, I agree with George.
15
Thu, 07/02/2009 - 8:08amActually this could be really good. Instead of changing factions I'll wait for all the douchebag whiny 13 year olds to change factions thinking "horde will be so much cooler"
The only reason I would change is if I could change to undead. And if that's possible then there's no reason for bliz to NOT let me switch ciar to a human anyway.
Vasya
Thu, 07/02/2009 - 8:36amYeah, I guess the only things left after faction changes will be race and class changes. Let's see how long until they crack on those.
John
Thu, 07/02/2009 - 7:06pmThey may take my life, but they'll never take my night elves.
Qyn
Fri, 07/03/2009 - 8:46pmHahaha.
Crazy Rambles
Sat, 07/25/2009 - 12:52pmThis message you wrote has been brooding in the back of my mind. If it ever comes out with a demo/trial version let me know (although what you have said about combat seem to have pretty much sold me on the idea--so if you get it let me know what server/faction you're on as well!)
15
Sat, 07/25/2009 - 9:37pmThey'll let you change to any race on the opposite faction (with respect to class restrictions) but they still won't let you just change your race while remaining a member of your current faction. What the fuck? I don't understand how that could even remotely make sense unless they understand that people _do_ place an extreme value on pvp viable racials and they don't want to see the already low dwarf/gnome population become totally extinct.
Thanks fuckwads.
Vasya
Sat, 07/25/2009 - 11:01pmThey sampled just my account to see whether the dwarf population was low. So they think that about 60% of WoW is played with female dwarves.
Qyn
Sun, 07/26/2009 - 12:44pmWell, how would letting you be an undead rogue with dwarf racials who plays for the Alliance make any sense?
Vasya
Sun, 07/26/2009 - 4:57pmThat's not what Toast is saying at all.
15
Mon, 07/27/2009 - 9:32amNo that's not what I'm saying at all.
You can switch to any horde if you don't like your dwarf racials. So I can swap to undead and get WotF which is still good in pvp. Or to a BE so I get an extra silence which is also OP as hell.
I can do that, but I can't just change to a human for EMFH. And I can switch to horde and then BACK to alliance if I want, but only back to a dwarf...
Qyn
Mon, 07/27/2009 - 8:46pmThanks Vas, that clears that right up!
Qyn
Mon, 07/27/2009 - 8:47pmOh, I see.
Vasya
Tue, 07/28/2009 - 12:23amChris, I figured you'd just go back and actually read what Toast said :)
Crazy Rambles
Tue, 07/28/2009 - 3:51amXD
15
Tue, 07/28/2009 - 5:32amTimmeh
Tue, 07/28/2009 - 9:58amThis thread = rofls.
Qyn
Tue, 07/28/2009 - 1:14pmNAH!
I've been forumsing here for so long that I kind of just quote shit at random and then respond with whatever pops into my head.
Vasya
Tue, 07/28/2009 - 3:35pmWHAT WTF
Qyn
Tue, 07/28/2009 - 6:05pmOne time poop was coming out.
Qyn
Tue, 07/28/2009 - 6:05pmTrue story.
Vasya
Tue, 07/28/2009 - 6:09pmGood story.