Faction changes? WTF?!

A day or two ago, a blue announced that Blizzard would soon be implementing character faction changes into the game. This is one of those things like PvE to PvP server transfers, something we never thought would happen. However, this is a far more intricate change, with many more repercussions. Sure, the way players play differs by the type of server, and many would say it's much easier to level on a PvE server and then switch to a PvP server. I don't think most players would do this though. Unless they're changing to a server where they know some friends, or because they want to join a particular new guild, most people are going to stay on the server they started on. Also, the actual change was easy to implement; all Blizz had to do was put an option in to let players change to a PvP server no matter what server they were coming from. No problem.

This change is way larger. Your character is changing races AND changing factions. This means, for example, any Horde-specific titles, mounts, pets, quests, gear, or items have to be either changed or removed upon changing to Alliance. I'm sure there are tons of little tiny details that have to be worked out that only Blizzard knows about. This has to be a very time-consuming venture.

So why are they doing it? Surely Blizzard has enough to do, with a new patch rolling out in the next month or two, BlizzCon to plan, Icecrown to come in another patch, and another probable expansion, not to mention the next MMO they've started, and SC2 and D3 to release. Why do the one thing no one ever expected when they have so many other things worth doing?

It may be just that: shock factor. Something's gotta keep all the big blogs in business, after all. That doesn't really make sense though; it's not as if the game was stagnating in any way. As iterated in the previous paragraph, there's plenty going on the the Blizzard community right now. It could be to help restore faction balance on some realms. I know on my server, Horde far outnumbers Alliance. This kind of situation really is a bad cycle. Not many Alliance players want to transfer to a realm in which they're outnumbered 3 to 1, and many probably end up transferring off the server for frustration of being so outgunned in Wintergrasp and world PvP. This way, there may be Horde flowing out and Alliance flowing in. It's a previously unavailable way out of the cycle.

The larger answer may lie in Blizzard's overall philosophy for this game. WoW has always been a game for more casual players. Now, as we get towards the end of the game's lifecycle, the devs are extending this even further. The rationale is the same as the rationale for the PvE to PvP server changes; previously PvP-disinclined players want to experience a PvP server, but don't want to level up yet another toon, a player wants to be with some friends who he/she discovered play WoW on a different server. In this case, it's that a player wants to experience the Alliance without leveling a toon, wants to play with friends on another faction. Essentially, it's the same thing.

In any case, we should probably stop saying Blizzard is never going to do certain things. It seems they're not at all opposed to breaking their own "rules".