Category: World of Warcraft

Blizzard wants to enable players to change their Horde characters into Alliance characters and vice versa.

In the years since the launch of World of Warcraft back in 2004, Blizzard has implemented numerous premium services that allow users to modify their play experience for a small fee. First they began offering paid (and occasionally free) server transfers, then came name changes and, eventually, the ability to alter a character’s physical appearance and sex. According to a post on the official World of Warcraft forums (via WoW Insider), the biggest change is yet to come: Paid faction switching.

Because of potential complications with things like faction specific quests, pets, items, and Achievements, you probably shouldn’t expect to turn your Blood Elf Paladin into a Dwarf anytime soon. But Blizzard poster Nethaera promises that sort of functionality is coming, and that they’re working on adding it in a way that has the least amount of impact on gameplay. Nethaera offered the following tidbits of info:

“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. 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 leveling 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.

“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. 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. We’ll go into much more detail on all of this here at http://www.WorldofWarcraft.com as development progresses. In the meantime, we wanted to let you know that because this type of functionality requires extensive internal testing well in advance of release, you may be seeing bits and pieces of the service in the test builds we use for the public test realms moving forward.”

We’ll be sure to deliver full details on World of Warcraft’s major faction changes as they’re announced. 

How many were paying attention as they leveled through the Dread Wastes and into a path of discovering the Klaxxi and their long lost Paragons? Were you paying attention as the final truths of the mantid were revealed at the end of the Klaxxi reputation grind? That’s all well and good … but those weren’t the final truths to be learned. The latest in the faction short story series, Death From Above, is a look at the Klaxxi thousands of years before the events of today — in fact, years before the pandaren had even begun their rebellion against the mogu.

Written by Robert Brooks, Death From Above tells the tale of Kil’ruk the Wind-Reaver and how he came to be a Paragon, cleverly winding in the story of Warlord Gurthan and his final resting place on the Terrace of Gurthan in the middle of it all. It’s a story of the mantid swarm, the Empress, and the cycle — but it’s also a story of the Klaxxi, their place in mantid society, and the unique origins of the Paragons who are laid to rest around the Dread Wastes, their locations kept secret until we uncover them.

And, in a way, it’s a story about you — the Wakener, the one who has opened the amber shells of the Paragon. It’s the story of a Wakener from long ago, and what he learned in the process — the relationship between Paragon and Wakener is explored, as well as the odd attributes of the Paragons and how they came to be. Perhaps most importantly, it’s a tale of the mantid, who are one of the coolest races to be introduced in Mists of Pandaria, and completely deserved a story of their own. Robert Brooks did an amazing job with the tale, right down to the chilly and entirely unsettling ending. You can read Death from Above over on the official site, and while you’re there, be sure to check out the other fine tales in the Destination: Pandaria section. 

A new short story, The Blank Scroll, is now available on the official site. The next in the series of faction short stories, The Blank Scroll, by Gavin Jurgens-Fyhrie, takes a look at the Lorewalkers against a most unlikely backdrop. A goblin team has been delving into the secrets of what Pandaria has to offer, but their efforts are stymied by the mysterious appearance of a terrible monster, and a pandaren Lorewalker who seems to know far more than she’s telling.

Gavin Jurgens-Fyhrie was also the author of Gallywix: Trade Secrets of a Trade Prince, so he’s already got the knack of writing goblin characters down pat. But what’s surprising here is that the focus of the story is the story itself, in a weird chain reaction of events that eventually play out to a mostly happy ending. I like clever tales. The Blank Scroll is exceedingly clever. Not only do we get a closer look at a Lorewalker in action, we get a better look at goblins, their relationship with the Horde, and even Gallywix himself, oddly enough.

I have to say, while I’ve been enjoying these short stories immensely, I do wish they were released with more frequency. I’d like to see what the other factions of Pandaria have to offer. However, The Blank Scoll is an excellent, somewhat cheeky addition to Mists of Pandaria’s collection of faction short stories, a breath of fresh air after the somewhat darker nature of Trial of the Red Blossoms and Bleeding Sun. You can read the full story for free on the official site. 

A new short story is available on the official Blizzard website for lore fans. Bleeding Sun, written by Matt Burns, sheds some light on the Golden Lotus and the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. Although there have been small bits of story about the Vale and its guardians, there wasn’t a lot of clarification on the process itself. We knew that the Vale had guardians, that those guardians had been there before the August Celestials chose to open the gate, but how those guardians were chosen, or what that choice entailed was still a mystery.

Matt Burns, also the author of Charge of the Aspects from last year, tackles this subject with flair — but it’s a dark flair, one that was entirely unexpected. I’d mentioned before that Trial of the Red Blossoms, Blizzard’s first foray into Pandaria’s many factions, was a little dark. Bleeding Sun beats it, hands down — and all by using a character who is entirely devoted to the Light of An’she’s sun. Sunwalker Dezco makes a unexpected return in Bleeding Sun, along with his twin sons, now named Redhorn and Cloudhoof. Dezco has been trying to to come to terms with the death of his wife Leza and the result of their grand journey across Pandaria. He and his followers found the Vale … but what now?

And that’s where it gets really grim.

I really only have one bit of advice for those planning on reading this tale — bring tissues. It’s not often that a Warcraft story can really wrench my heart. But Dezco’s journey was one of those moments from leveling my character through Krasarang that I really never forgot about. I was always happy to see Dezco pop up in later moments, even happier when he appeared to be firmly on his own side of the conflict between Alliance and Horde, choosing to protect Anduin Wrynn rather than try to kill him. I loved the latest leg of Wrathion’s legendary quest chain particularly because Dezco made an appearance. But I wondered where his children had gone, and assumed they were being taken care of elsewhere.

Through Sunwalker Dezco’s eyes, we get a glimpse of the Golden Lotus as a real organization of people, not just a group intent on handing out multiple daily quests. And although the story is a sad one, I’m hoping that this means Dezco’s tale is far from over. He’s too good of a character for that. I’m hoping we’ll see him make some sort of prominent appearance in patch 5.4, it’s only right that he be present at whatever point events with Alliance and Horde finally go down. As for Bleeding Sun, it may be sad, but it’s another chapter in Dezco’s story, and in the story of the Vale itself. As someone who really enjoyed the end sequence of quests for the Vale, I was happy to see a little more information about the place.

You can read Bleeding Sun on the official website, in the Destination: Pandaria section of the Expanded Universe guide. As with Trial of the Red Blossoms, the story is available for download in multiple formats — choose from PDF format, ePUB format for the smartphone, tablet or Nook, or mobi format for the Amazon Kindle. 

If you’re wondering why that rocky outcropping is continually lamenting about its stolen ship, chances are you’ve stumbled upon a Smuggler hard at work. He brings the pew-pew from afar by using Rogue-like Energy and taking cover behind objects (or just crouching down), thus lowering damage received and enabling access to long-range shots.

Gunslinger
You’re in for a special kind of warm, fuzzy feeling when delivering a friendly “hey, there” via the red-hot muzzles of a pair of blaster pistols. Like the Marksmanship Hunter, the Gunslinger specialization mixes quick, instant shots with inductive abilities thematically similar to Aimed Shot. Plunking points into the Sharpshooter tree hulks up your shots with faster cast times and more demolishing critical strikes.

For appeasement of your inner Demoman, set your sights on the Saboteur tree. DoTs and grenade buffs galore beckon your points like an unencrypted credit safe; Incendiary Grenade, for instance, immolates enemies with a napalm AoE thrown from cover’s comfy confines – just the ticket for Explosive Shot-happy Survival Hunters. Maniacal cackle optional.

Scoundrel
Although the Smuggler’s trustworthy mainstay is the almighty pistol, he nevertheless won’t balk about shortening the gap for a more personalized tussle. Specializing as a Scoundrel (figuratively, of course) will have you strapping on a stealth belt for surprising enemies with the gentle love tap of a sucker punch right in the gut. The Scrapper tree advertises a risky yet rewarding style of play: sneak in, ravage an unfortunate soul with Back Blast, then dance the melee tango with careful management of costly short-range strikes. The Feral Druid’s absolutism on nailing that initial burst damage out of stealth is as crucial a requirement for the Scoundrel’s cocksure grin to see the light of another day.

Of course, the Scoundrel takes every advantage he gets, and that typically includes fixing up his fellow buddies with healing medpacs boosted by the Sawbones tree. Its periodic healing ability improvements echo the Druid’s Restoration tree, even rubbing shoulders against Wild Growth with the AoE Kolto Cloud.