It’s not news to anyone who knows World of Warcraft lore that the Alliance and the Horde are bitter rivals except in the direst circumstances. Even when they do come together as one, the hatred and rivalry boils just below the surface ready to explode. While there are some exceptions to the rule for the most part Horde and Alliance are meant to be pitted against each other.
This rivalry plays out into the in game world as well. Alliance and Horde are pitted against each other in bloody arenas and intense PvP. It’s also apparent in PvE, especially if you’ve ever tried to set foot in one of the opposite factions towns. No one will talk to you, and all the NPCs will attack you if you get close enough. With not even a warning they will happily own your face.
With the most recently added content Blizzard has opened up faction transfers, breaking the invisible barrier between Horde and Alliance. This decision was met with much support especially from those who felt they had been playing the wrong faction all along. Not all were supportive though; there was an equal amount of disapproval being spewed in trade chats and forums everywhere.
For a mere thirty US Dollars you can change the course of your WoW career completely by changing from the brutish Horde to the light filled Alliance or vice versa. No treaties need to be signed, no pledges of allegiance given. Simply pay the fee and you are made a fully fledged member of the faction of your choosing. Welcomed into the bosom of the enemy with open arms and no questions asked.
With the recent events experienced at Wrath Gate, hostilities were once again reopened between the Horde and Alliance much to the dismay of Thrall and Jaina. This story line seems to set the stage for what could become a battle of epic proportions between Horde and Alliance. To further the idea of an epic battle lurking just over the horizon the news that Thrall may be replaced in Cataclysm by a more war loving leader leads us to conclude that the oncoming battle is closer than we think and not to be avoided.
So to make changing faction almost as simple as a snap of the fingers seems to directly contradict the hostile environment that Blizzard has given rise to and wants to further promote in Cataclysm. Even on PvP servers where the ganking of opposite faction players is the norm and hostilities should be at their peak, thanks to faction changes you now have the option to play both Horde and Alliance.
Another smaller but important issue I can see happening is those who choose to faction change and decide that they regret the move. If a player has never played for an extended period of time on the other side they may be unhappy with what they find there. This could lead to lack of interest in playing,playing, poor performance, and eventually the player could stop playing all together. Or at least until they are eligible for faction change again.
Thankfully after looking at the data at WoW Census it appears that the faction changes have had little to no affect on Horde and Alliance population. As always they are fairly even, with Alliance slightly ahead. I will admit when I first heard the news the first thing to go through my head was “Oh great just what we need a billion more Night Elves named Legolas or some variation of it.”. No offense intended to any Night Elf.
This does not appear to be (thankfully) the case at all. It appears those jumping ship so to speak are those who are very certain about their decision and do not take the choice lightly. This means that very few people overall are actually using the faction change option so far, making the population of both Horde and Alliance remain relatively normal.
So faction changes are not the pure evil that many thought they would be. The World of Warcraft universe is still spinning, the Zeppelins have not crashed out of the sky, nor is there an infestation of Night Elves. While it does not coincide with the looming war that Blizzard has alluded to, and has opened up new problems to deal with, there is also the potential for great good to come of this change.
That being said, I know where my loyalties lie, and my passion for my faction runs deep. I can say without a doubt that I will probably never use the new faction change option. Lok’tar ogar! For the Horde!
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