On the main forums, I came up with a plan for possible character Defection. You would retain your race, but actually change factions. I thought I might share it here as well and see if it gets similar interest. I know, in most cases, most ideas are met with "This is an old topic, they'll never do it, or wow does this suck" kinda responses. I am certainly open to almost any idea on ways to add to or even improve my concept below.
1) When the character reaches level 20, they visit an NPC in Ratchet that gives them a quest to begin their defection process.
2) The quest would be the starting leg of a 21 or 30 day chain of a single daily quest to convert. Much the same way the Winterspring mount quest was setup. By the time they finish, the character should already be 90.
3) On the last day, upon completion of the final quest (daily), a portal is opened to either Stormwind or Orgrimmar much the same way the DK is presented into the city.
4) Your last task is to meet with the city leader and gain Friendly status with your new faction. You also gain the achievement and title "the Defector", "the Spy", or "the Traitor".
5) Your change does come with minor penalties:
a) You get a 10% penalty to rep gained with Classic Horde or Alliance Races (the main 6)
b) Your change is permanent. The only way to go back is to pay for the faction change
service or reroll on your previous faction.
I think it would be a great opportunity for people who are SERIOUS about faction changing while keeping their race to see the other side of the story through the eyes of a defector / traitor. Also, it would prevent people from just faction hopping without any consequences and maintain balance between 2 factions as opposed to trying to introduce a 3rd Neutral faction that doesn't belong to either side.
With just 2 factions in play, there would be no needs for any new cities, or additional quest hubs. The amount of resources would be minimal as all we really need is the questline. Pandaren have already proven that picking either side is already a plausible game mechanic.
What are your thoughts / opinions on this? Would you be in favor of defecting or are you more of a lore traditionalist who would oppose members of the opposing faction joining your ranks?
Please remember, there are already several 3rd party groups in WoW that use races from both factions to fill their rosters such as the Cenarian Circle, Argent Dawn, Silver Hand, Twilight Cultists, and the Darkmoon Faire... just to name a few.