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Warlords of Draenor Preview - Faction Change/Betrayal Quest
It looks like we're still getting information from the European press tour of Warlords of Draenor from February and the NDA has been lifted on one of the major features of Warlords of Draenor.

Judgehype, Mamytwink, and Millenium all posted about one of the biggest features we were able to test was the faction betrayal questline, which allows you to change factions without changing your race.

Important points:
  • The Alliance and Horde have been arresting the neutral Goblins and seizing their assets to fund the upcoming Draenor war effort, killing them when they resist. Each faction feels that this is justified, as the Goblins have been profiting off of the war between the Horde and Alliance for a long time.
  • You begin the quest by looting a Spy Report and taking it to Gazlowe, who is in need of assistance. He will consider your offer to help him until Warlords of Draenor has been released and the next phase of the questline is activated.
  • Upon accepting your help, Gazlowe and the Steamwheedle Cartel will require your protection at various points around the world, with their trade caravans, and eventually in Booty Bay.
    • Some of these events have a weekly participation cap, which will limit how fast you can complete this part of the quest line.
  • Baron Revilgaz will send you on a mission to protect Booty Bay. Something goes wrong and it ends with your capture and imprisonment in Tol Barad.
    • Upon reaching this phase of the quest, you are flagged as a traitor to your faction and you become a PvP target for both the Horde and the Alliance.
  • You escape from Tol Barad and meet up with the Steamwheedle Cartel again in a solo scenario.
  • You are then given the task of assassinating your faction's leader in another solo scenario, which was unavailable during testing. The faction leaders are traveling in a caravan to the Dark Portal. You are joined by members of the other faction, who see your heroic deeds and invite you to join them.
  • Upon joining the other faction you are still not trusted, and must unlock cities other than Stormwind / Orgrimmar by earning reputation with the various Alliance / Horde factions. Reputation is earned through defeating players of the other faction in PvP and doing quests that involve PvE.

Rewards
  • Your character changes factions, your race remains the same.
  • You are awarded a new character title:
  • You also get a new pet:

A couple sidenotes
  • You can keep and continue to use your faction specific mounts.
  • You can keep anything in your inventory or void storage, but your old faction will seize any assets left behind in your bank.
  • This is a one way change, you won't be able to change back after you do the quest.


WARNING: STORYLINE / SPOILERS AHEAD




The Reason for Betrayal
In the wake of Garrosh's escape to Draenor, heroes of each faction have discovered that their own faction has started hunting down and arresting or killing Goblins and using their gold to fund the Draenor war effort. Most Goblins have remained neutral throughout history, profiting off of the conflict between the Alliance and Horde, which is how each faction justifies such actions. These actions aren't okay with everyone though, and you will be given a choice to accept what is going on or help the Goblins and betray your faction.


Betraying your faction is not a choice to be made lightly, as it is irreversible outside of using the paid faction change character service. Once Patch 6.0.1 is live, you can begin the quest line by looting a Spy Report from rare spawn NPCs that run through the Barrens, Dustwallow Marsh, Tanaris, Stranglethorn Vale, Winterspring, and Netherstorm. These zones were selected to get players out in the world again, just like the Patch 5.3 events in the Barrens.

After getting a report and learning what is happening to the Goblins, you take it to Gazlowe, who is still enjoying his windfall profits from the friction between the Alliance and the Horde. He will be wary of accepting your help, taking his time to consider your offer. This means that while you can loot the report as part of the patch leading up to Warlords of Draenor release, you will be unable to continue the quest line until the expansion has been released.


Helping a Goblin in Need
Once the expansion has been released, you continue by going through a series of quests that require you to kill NPCs of your own faction that are attacking Goblins around the world. This will work similarly to the Patch 5.3 Barrens event, where a zone wide alert goes out when a group of attackers spawns, allowing you time to get to the location and save the Goblins.



Earning the Goblin's Trust
After demonstrating your loyalty to Gazlowe and the Steamwheedle Cartel, you will be tasked with protecting the Goblins on their trade routes by Baron Revilgaz. These quests are a mix of an escort quest and the Patch 5.3 Barrens caravans, as you will follow a group of Goblins and kill NPCs that spawn to attack them. These quests are gated by the limited number of trade runs you can complete each week, similar to the Mists of Pandaria legendary quest line requiring collection of items from raids.



Betrayal Discovered
After you have built up your reputation with Baron Revilgaz, he will give you a quest to assault the Horde or Alliance base of operations on the nearby Jaguero Isle before they can attack Booty Bay. Upon arriving on the isle and killing the leader of the camp, the recently freed Princess Poobah sees what you have done and panics. The Alliance / Horde (phasing will show you the right camp for your faction) on the isle then attack, driving you away from the isle. If you are able to escape without dying, you will earn a Feat of Strength achievement. They also send word of your actions to Orgrimmar / Stormwind, which results in a bounty being placed on your head.



Everyone's Enemy
From this point on the quest line, you will be vulnerable to attack from both factions and NPCs of your own faction. This means you will no longer be able to access your bank or safely idle in town. Unfortunately this also means you have to be caught to continue the quest. Approaching any major city and allowing the guards to attack you until your health drops low enough will trigger the capture. Once captured, you are taken to Tol Barad. A guard that remembers your assistance with clearing out the prison during Cataclysm takes pity on you, which begins a solo scenario, Escape from Tol Barad.


Upon escaping, you are met by members of the Steamwheedle Cartel, who have one final task for you. The Goblins have learned that your faction's leader will be part of a convoy traveling through the Blasted Lands to the Dark Portal. Your job will be to assassinate him while the convoy is traveling. This part of the quest line also uses a solo scenario that wasn't implemented yet. You will be joined by heroes from the other faction, who see your actions and offer you the chance to join their faction.



Betrayal Aftermath
However, the quest isn't over just yet! Once you have changed factions, you are still disliked by your new faction, with NPCs acting hostile towards you whenever they encounter you, similar to Death Knights at one point in their quest chain. Upon switching factions, you are limited to Stormwind and Orgrimmar only, with the guards of other cities removing you from the city if you try and enter. To prove yourself worthy to your new faction, you must earn reputation with each of the Alliance / Horde factions in order to unlock access to their NPCs and cities. Reputation is earned from defeating players of the other faction in PvP and doing quests that involve PvE.


Switching factions will also grant you a new title , as well as a tabard of your old faction, and a treasure goblin pet, similar to the Reaper of Souls preorder bonus. You will be allowed to keep and use the mounts from your old faction, which is a nice perk over the paid faction change service. Unfortunately anything in your bank will be lost after you betray your old faction, so anything you want to keep must be in your inventory or void storage.


Wildstar Beta Weekend Key Giveaway
Curse is giving away 300,000 Wildstar Beta Keys for North America and Europe! The giveaway is open to Curse premium members starting today, and will transition to all users with Curse accounts starting on Thursday. These keys are for the beta weekend April 4th to April 6th.

This article was originally published in forum thread: Warlords of Draenor Preview - Faction Change/Betrayal Quest started by chaud View original post
Comments 399 Comments
  1. tarkin12's Avatar
    For one glorious minute, I thought I might finally be able to get my Horde Dwarf. This is almost as upsetting as when they joked about a bard class.
  1. Reih's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by grexly75 View Post
    So you are QQing over a April Fools prank as I said in my post above some people just can't take a joke and your post illustrates this perfectly.. Do you really think that Blizz would give away such a big cash cow that is the Faction Changing Service..
    I voiced an opinion sir or madam. That's it. Your post clearly demonstrates that you cannot let something go, and must resort to, as you call it "QQing" about the others to get your point across Have a nice April fools!

    Edit: The faction change service is in fact a different thing all together. Its practically a glorified race change which again is why people are a tad miffed about this one. Because they aren't looking to become one of the 5 racess of either side. More or less have the one time option of changing your faction while remaining your race as the Pandaren had. After that they could resort to using the "Paid Faction Change" for future choices, should you wish to return and still charge players 30 bucks. So you gave a bit of a poor argument

    Edit2: Edited sentence structure for clarity.*
  1. lunchbox2042's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Azureqt View Post
    LOL

    nice job blizz. looks like you put more effort into your april fools joke than you did for the majority of the expansion.


    LOOOSAHS
    Blizzard had nothing to do with this specific joke. Sadly, I'd actually pay $50 for an expansion with this feature.
  1. jishdefish's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by lunchbox2042 View Post
    Blizzard had nothing to do with this specific joke. Sadly, I'd actually pay $50 for an expansion with this feature.
    Same. Being able to be an Undead on Alliance side? Draenei on Horde? Yes please. I wish this were real.
  1. paladative's Avatar
    This is AWFUL, even orcs are fine, on pile of bones are welcome in Stormwind
  1. mirthen's Avatar
    See this is just CRUEL!!!! i soooooo would love the ability to 'turn coat' on your faction. Ive been saying i would love that ability since TBC. It would make for a really neat part of the game, being able to turn your back on your faction and hop in bed with the other side. Not to mention getting around the $30 damn faction change cost...
  1. Stellan's Avatar
    I didn't realize it was an April Fool's joke until I got to reading these comments. I'm thinking "oh no! everything I hate about the game in one quest line." Oh well. Good one Blizzard.
  1. Jaq's Avatar
    "Some of my favorites are: /twerk, /ew, /chewgum, and /whatever. Also keep in mind that the models shown here are using a temporary pose, which may make her appear more animated and lively than she will in the final product.”

    I lost it here.
  1. La's Avatar
    Haha. Love the descriptions for Harbingers of the Smackdown
  1. Thessik-Irontail's Avatar
    Why on azeroth is this an april fools joke? this sounds like a really great solution to the faction population problems that are causing horrid queue times.
  1. grexly75's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Reih View Post
    I voiced an opinion sir or madam. That's it. Your post clearly demonstrates you cannot let something go either sir, and must, as you call it "QQ" About the others to get your point across Have a nice april fools!
    A little hostile aren't we, to get so uptight over an opinion and not sure you are getting the I can't let something go bit from my post you quoted and from the hostile tone of your post you are telling me I can't let something go.. ROFL!!!

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by mirthen View Post
    See this is just CRUEL!!!! i soooooo would love the ability to 'turn coat' on your faction. Ive been saying i would love that ability since TBC. It would make for a really neat part of the game, being able to turn your back on your faction and hop in bed with the other side. Not to mention getting around the $30 damn faction change cost...
    Well was a well played screwing with peoples heads so to speak, and no way would Blizz give this cash service up..
  1. Partyshark's Avatar
    Sure glad they are spending the time putting out new content and not jokes... oh wait..
  1. Facerockker's Avatar
    Boo. These are boring.
  1. Reih's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by grexly75 View Post
    A little hostile aren't we, to get so uptight over an opinion and not sure you are getting the I can't let something go bit from my post you quoted and from the hostile tone of your post you are telling me I can't let something go.. ROFL!!!
    *Sigh* I'll give you a piece of advice for the future grexly75, if you had left your original post on thinking I was a QQ'er I'd have more respect for you. Now I just find you petty since you're resorting to more hostility in your posts than I have shown to you.

    With that being said this is the last I will ever think of you, acknowledge you or speak to you in my lifetime, least wittingly. Wishing you the best in your life and hoping you one day figure out your anger issues! <3
  1. grexly75's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Partyshark View Post
    Sure glad they are spending the time putting out new content and not jokes... oh wait..
    Would take all of an hour or so to do it, not like it is going to break the bank so to speak..

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Facerockker View Post
    Boo. These are boring.
    The way you know your joke worked well is by the reaction it garners and I would say this particular one work very well by seeing some of the posts on here about it..
  1. edmorte's Avatar
    Best april fools.
  1. Spotnick's Avatar
    How come some of Blizzard's best ideas are April's Fools.

    That dungeon in the dark, now this? would allow you to play the damned race you want.
  1. grexly75's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Spotnick View Post
    How come some of Blizzard's best ideas are April's Fools.

    That dungeon in the dark, now this? would allow you to play the damned race you want.
    Thing being is it may have created more problems than it would have solved, and well if you forgot your stuff from your bank well that's a lot of years worth of collecting stuff gone..
  1. mmoc2a7830ed1a's Avatar
    I knew it was an april's fools because they have already announced all the features that will come with the new expansion... which aren't many at all anyway lol... If only someone at blizzard was brilliant enough to actually implement that into the game it would have been awesome.
  1. Dome Fossil's Avatar
    Had to check one of the source sites to see what the title was since it's absent above; should have figured, it's "the Betrayer."

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