Requesting a Race Change: Is It Possible?Follow

Not gonna happen.

.. and frankly, I'm surprised you're even asking!

Until someone figures out there's a lot of money to be made that way, and from that day on, Eurasia will always have been at war with Oceania.

The issue here is really that changing your race doesn't "translate" like changing your name does. When you change your name, new text pops up above your head. If you changed your race, you'd literally be creating an entirely new avatar. How would that work? Would features from one race forge appearance in another? (Female NE face marking X = Dwarf beard Y?)

There'll never be race changes. If it really comes down to it, Blizzard will just let you re-create your avatar.

I could see sex, that's probably just a flag. But race does all sorts of things. Let's say you're orc and want to change to blood elf. Well you're riding a wolf which is fine for an orc, but to ride a wolf as a blood elf you'd need exalted with ORG. So what would they do?

Think about changing from undead to Tauren. You have skeletal horses and other mounts which are fine for your current race, but your new one can't use them. What should Blizzard do?

There are WAAAAY too many technical things that would have to change to be able to let you switch races. Plus, as I said before, to change stuff, even if you COULD, Blizzard would charge you REAL money, not in-game gold at a shop.

Actually he is asking "Requesting a Race Change: Is It Possible?"

The answer is yes, it is possible to ask for a race change :P

If Michael Jackson can do it so can you!

No. This is why the average person thinks changes in code are easy. It's much easier said than done. Even the smallest of things can be harder than originally thought.

A couple of similar examples:

1. Think of it like installing an after market stereo in your car. It sounds pretty simple. Can't you just pull out the old one and put in the new? Well that depends on the size and style of what you want to put in. What about door speakers that are 1" larger than the originals? You'd have to do some cutting and adjustments to the door. What about a sub? What if you wanted a changer? A hard drive? A dvd player with a drop down screen? It sounds easy but can get a bit complicated once you really get into it.

2. Think about it like remodeling your home. You can't just randomly tear down walls and make one big giant room. If people did that then they're roof would fall in. You have to look at your current plan for foundation, bearing walls, etc. A simple remodel of adding a closet to a room or turning two small rooms into one big one can be a bigger job than expected. What about electrical, plumbing, etc? There's more too it than just tearing down a wall and putting up a new one.

3. Think about it like tricking out your car or truck. You can't just place parts wherever. You can't just stick the fastest and biggest motor in any car or truck. What if it doesn't fit? What about tires, rims? Turn a car into a limo? Turn a truck into a monster truck? It's not as easy as it makes it sound to a normal person, "just make it bigger", "just make it longer". It takes a lot more work than that.

These are similar examples as to why it's not as easy as it sounds. I would put code at the top of this list. Even the smallest of changes or fixes can break something else. It can vary a lot based on whoever first created the code and anyone else who has made their own adjustments. Code can quickly and easily get sloppy. Changing something that sounds like a minor change can have a dramatic effect. Like was mentioned there's more connected to race than just the model, there's racials, reputation, mounts (not all races can use all the mounts), etc. It's not a simple matter of flipping a switch.

Sex got added and can be allowed because it's a purely cosmetic difference. Race, on the other hand, is linked to many in-game mechanics and variables so they won't allow that. At least, not without changing many mechanics within the game (such as mounts that some races can use but not others within the same faction, etc).