Faction change US only. When is EU getting it

All being well; soon.

Q u o t e:
It's about time blizzard explained why Europe, which i'd guess has more subscribers than the US gets things second.

We get expansions first! :)

We have a whole lot more localisation to do also.

Q u o t e:
Just your thought , not an official statement.

This isn't possible when our text is blue. Anything we say can and will be held against us for all time should it be inaccurate! This is the same reason we avoid giving deadlines, and that continues to be the case.

Q u o t e:
Or you could say, we expect it to be within 7 days. But don't hold us to it.

If we were to say that, and it turned out to be inaccurate, I would put money that on the 7th day and 2nd minute a string of threads would appear saying "AMG they said 7 days, it's been more. FIX BLIZZ!". =)

Q u o t e:
That way, we have an idea its, soon-ish rather than 7months away. Like everything.

It will be soonâ„¢ish, it wont be 7 months. I am brave enough to clarify that much.

Q u o t e:
It sucks that they have to tread on eggshells just because some folk haven't been raised right, and it sucks that we get left in the dark because of a vocal minority of nitwits, but that's how the world works.

It is standard policy for us to not announce specific dates for this kind of service or for things like patches. It isn't an EU thing, it is a Blizzard thing. We are not leaving you "in the dark" without good reason, and the reason is not the one you suggest. One of the reasons is simply because we do not want to raise expectations and then squash them again. Experience has shown us that doing that is actually much worse.

Having said that, the release of this much awaited service in the US does implicitly raise excitement and expectations, and this is quite clearly evident by the popularity of this thread today.

Q u o t e:
Really, please be more specific. People are very excited about this new service (me included) and quite disappointed that it hasn't been implemented in Europe yet. So while we know that it's fun to use standard Blizzard rhetorics when addressing paying customers...

Let me just point out that wanting to give you rough dates and being unable to say anything other than the typical "soon" style response is not fun. I will admit that my response was a bit glib, and I am sorry for that. The more wordy response is: "We will be launching this service in Europe in a timely fashion. This release is being staggered across all the regions we cover, to ensure we deliver it in a polished and stable manner."

Q u o t e:
Is there any chance that it's going to be available today? If you're sure there's no chance, just tell us, so that we won't check our account manangement and forums every 5 mins.

Here we go: it is not coming today, tomorrow or this week, or probably next. However, plans can change though, but this reply should give you a much better idea of when it is probably coming and should help you to better plan in advance, should you wish to do so.

Q u o t e:
yes we all know that.. but i would like to know the REASON for that

I hinted at it with this "This release is being staggered across all the regions we cover to ensure we deliver it in a polished and stable manner" but I will explain a bit more.

This is not simply some kind of translation thing; this is a deliberately staggered release. There seems to be a perception that this new service was somehow as straightforward as a name change. It is not at all straightforward, there are lots of changes involved to make this work, in regards to items, reputation, and many other aspects too. There are many potential issues involved, and so we need to release with a bit of prudence and care.

Because of this we are being somewhat cautious with the release, and though this approach has triggered many comments such as "the poor US has to suffer being guinea pigs" frankly, this is somewhat the case. If issues are found early, then it is much better for the majority if these are sorted out before everyone gets affected with the same frustrating issues.

Internal testing catches a great deal of issues before something goes live (yes, it really does), but in the end there's always going to be things that may need to be ironed out or quite simply changed out-right after we have seen how something behaves "in the wild" on live characters. This is also the case with this new service.

We're not blind, we do see the feedback, we do see (and empathise with) the frustration and believe me we wish we could do more to help the situation out but ultimately there's a plan for the release and we are unable to do anything but reassure you that it is coming for EU and it is planned to come within a timeframe I felt able to describe as "soon" and until that point, or until plans change, there is little more we can do but remind you of this.

Ultimately we hope that the staggered release, however frustrating it is now, will mean that when it is live here the actual implementation will be in a state that is less frustrating in comparison to how some of you are obviously feeling now.

Please know we do honestly care, we don't just say this kind of stuff as some kind of automatic response, we empathise with and understand where you are coming from and why you feel the need to express yourselves in sometimes such harsh ways. We would do more if we could. In the meantime, I can only hope that you will take a moment to ponder what I'm trying to say to you, my simple statement that we do actually care and empathise, and remain patient a little longer (we announced this service first 8 weeks ago).

We just wanted to inform you that the deliberately staggered release of the Paid Faction Change service is still on track. We will of course update you when the service is available for use in Europe. Until that time, we appreciate your patience and understanding.

Being keen WoW players, we are also very interested in this new service and are excitedly looking forward to having it available in Europe also. Thanks again for your patience everyone.