Blizzard Paid Services

Grats on level 10. Good question.

I've heard that back in the day realm transfers were available but severely restricted - you could only go from a PvP realm to a PvE realm as far as I'm aware - not the other way around. I see a very good reason for this in that levelling up to 60 on a PvE realm is far quicker and easier and then to transfer over to a PvP realm would be unfair.

As for the race/gender/name stuff, well names were certainly changeable by GMs (for example on RP servers if our new friend Uncle Ganus McAnus were strutting around Stormwind) for RP reasons. Not sure about race and gender changes though, perhaps that came later.

Blizz will certainly be discussing this. Bit of a conundrum for them concerning race/gender/name stuff because the extra income would be very welcome in the boardroom but then again were race and gender changes available back then? If not then they're risking backlash for not going with authenticity.

Provided that a good amount of players may leave after the first month and/or there are imbalanced faction populations, Blizzard might add realm transfers.

Provided that a good amount of players may leave after the first month and/or there are imbalanced faction populations, Blizzard might add realm transfers.

I'd be okay with that. More money for Blizzard - keeps them happy and motivated. And it doesn't effect your gameplay... Well maybe you'll lose some friends. :cry:

Well changing race/gender/name may affect the Classic experice, since back then people had 'reputation' assigned to their character and had to play by the rules, but I guess we have to wait and find out.

teebling thanks!

I can't think of any reason why they shouldn't implement the appearance change service, provided they remove the name change portion of it. Without the name change portion I can't think of any sort of harm it could cause.

Race change I'm mostly okay with, but then you hit the priest issue. Would lead to a fair number of alliance players going non-dwarf for leveling, then swapping over to dwarf at max/near-max. I think that one's really a matter of how much of a difference that makes with leveling speed. Could also potentially lead to guilds pressuring any non-dwarf priests into changing race because "it's only $25".

(for example on RP servers if our new friend @Uncle Ganus McAnus were strutting around Stormwind)

By the shitty taste of your racial booze, I say ! You can bet I'll be strutting around Stormwind but most of all I'll be enjoying myself while transmogrifying you & your Kor Kron pals into something more.....suitable !!

While it might be cool for the person doing the changes, it actually is detrimental overall to the social aspect of the game.

When you can't get refund on something, you become overall satisfied and more committed to the "product".

For instance on Kronos, you could "legally" trade characters, but once someone started they just couldn't stop. They'd trade characters a number of times before never being satisfied again and quitting to reroll on a server where you couldn't do this (no joke, every serial trader I knew left for Lightshope).

By allowing changes you think someone's just going to do it once but it'll likely lead to an uneasy feeling that your friend is just...not the same person as they were last week or the week before that, and instability is the last of what we need in a community, even if it is subtle.

Also, race or faction changes... that's just asking for min-maxing pressure! Night elf priests will disappear as their raid leaders send them money over paypal to change races for "the good of the guild" and warlocks on PvP servers fork over cash after one particularly rough weekend with lots of UD...

Just not the World of Warcraft I want to be playing in. Be committed. Your decisions should matter.

For instance on Kronos, you could "legally" trade characters, but once someone started they just couldn't stop. They'd trade characters a number of times before never being satisfied again and quitting to reroll on a server where you couldn't do this (no joke, every serial trader I knew left for Lightshope).

That feels very apples to oranges. I can't see how changing your character's hair color is anywhere near the same as this.
By allowing changes you think someone's just going to do it once but it'll likely lead to an uneasy feeling that your friend is just...not the same person as they were last week or the week before that, and instability is the last of what we need in a community, even if it is subtle.

This seems overly dramatic to be honest. Do you get confused when your friends get a hair cut? Are they no longer the same person if they dye their hair or get a tan? How are they suddenly an entirely different person for small appearance changes, and how does that same issue not apply when they change gear?
Just not the World of Warcraft I want to be playing in. Be committed. Your decisions should matter.

Big decisions should matter sure. Race and class should matter. The hair style I picked at character creation which is not an entirely accurate representation of what it looks like in-game shouldn't. The skin tone I chose for my character a year ago that I'd like to change now shouldn't matter.

For instance on Kronos, you could "legally" trade characters, but once someone started they just couldn't stop. They'd trade characters a number of times before never being satisfied again and quitting to reroll on a server where you couldn't do this (no joke, every serial trader I knew left for Lightshope).

That feels very apples to oranges. I can't see how changing your character's hair color is anywhere near the same as this.
By allowing changes you think someone's just going to do it once but it'll likely lead to an uneasy feeling that your friend is just...not the same person as they were last week or the week before that, and instability is the last of what we need in a community, even if it is subtle.

This seems overly dramatic to be honest. Do you get confused when your friends get a hair cut? Are they no longer the same person if they dye their hair or get a tan? How are they suddenly an entirely different person for small appearance changes, and how does that same issue not apply when they change gear?
Just not the World of Warcraft I want to be playing in. Be committed. Your decisions should matter.

Big decisions should matter sure. Race and class should matter. The hair style I picked at character creation which is not an entirely accurate representation of what it looks like in-game shouldn't. The skin tone I chose for my character a year ago that I'd like to change now shouldn't matter.

My friends are not made of overly simplified pixels that were designed to be a permanent representation of themselves.

The way your character looks in game is meant to be recognizable and not change, at least in Classic.

Neither I nor any of my friends make a decision about a character before going in game to check how the hair looks both from behind, front, and in the character portrait as well as within Luna Frames.

Making uninformed or hasty decisions may lead to dissatisfaction.

My friends are not made of overly simplified pixels that were designed to be a permanent representation of themselves.

This statement is contradictory. You say people should care about their representations of themselves, but you also say that they're "overly simplified pixels" implying that we shouldn't care. Even the idea that somebody's representation of themselves should be permanent is just contradictory to how humans work. For most people how you want to represent yourself changes over time. Why shouldn't they be allowed to change their character to go along with their natural changes? Have you never changed your style over time? Your interests? Tastes? Any one of those can have a cascading effect that can make even the smallest past choice one you no longer enjoy.
The way your character looks in game is meant to be recognizable and not change, at least in Classic.

This all falls apart the moment you bring gear into it though. Why is changing my gear an allowable change to my looks but hairstyle isn't? What if I decide to start using a different mount? I've changed my representation. What if I roll up an alt that looks even slightly different let alone a different race?
Neither I nor any of my friends make a decision about a character before going in game to check how the hair looks both from behind, front, and in the character portrait as well as within Luna Frames.

Making uninformed or hasty decisions may lead to dissatisfaction.

I'm glad you can be happy with it, but other people might not be for perfectly valid reasons. Even something as simple as "I liked black hair back then, but now I prefer blonde" is a perfectly valid reason to want to change. Ignoring that as "shouldn't have been hasty, deal with it" just seems unempathetic and dismissive for no good reason.
When you can't get refund on something, you become overall satisfied and more committed to the "product".

Meant to address this before but forgot to. I don't agree with this in the slightest. If I dislike something and can't get a refund on it I call it a bad product and toss it out. Deciding to just tough it out and deal with it is classic sunk cost fallacy. Even with that being said, characters are bits of computer data that can be changed. In this case, provably so since Blizzard already has these options. There's no valid reason why one "can't get a refund" in this case.

I'm a little torn on this one. I completely understand that race/gender changing is completely harmless to the game itself. However, part of what made vanilla so great is that your choices mattered. While features like this can be great, it's a slippery slope into a system that feeds on instant gratification and as we all know, Vanilla is anything but that.

I would say no to name/gender/race chanes. Server transfers should be regulated for population control. Can't just up and move to any server you wish. Only certain ones will be available.

Transfers should be restricted but allowed, and should have a very long 'Cooldown' either per account or per character to prevent some abuse of the system.

I don't like the idea of the race/gender changes, I like the idea that you make a character, and you commit to it and it's reputation in the community. The easier it is to race/gender/appearance/name change/transfer, the more anonymity and the higher the possibility of toxic interactions and communities.

Transfers should be restricted but allowed, and should have a very long 'Cooldown' either per account or per character to prevent some abuse of the system.

I don't like the idea of the race/gender changes, I like the idea that you make a character, and you commit to it and it's reputation in the community. The easier it is to race/gender/appearance/name change/transfer, the more anonymity and the higher the possibility of toxic interactions and communities.

Great points about anonymity.

As long as the name remains unalterable bar the RP related matters, the skin may well be tinkered with insofar as the anonymity's conundrum will never come to effect.

A classic-tailored iteration of a barbershop would make for a pleasant no-change transgression as far as our wigs and toupets may be concerned by the possibility of receiving a good stroke of polish.

*Displacing himself away in a manner that allows him to neuter the nay-changers' onslaught ravaging and blasting the area at his just-deserted previous location and all the way down to Azeroth's core, but a moment later___... :surprised:/ *