An upcoming patch for World of Warcraft is introducing an interesting new PvP mode: Mercenary. Designed to reduce queue times, it allows you to enter PvP matches fighting for the other side. Horde players can become Alliance and vice versa in order to fill teams in matchmaking.
Traditionally, if you play as Horde and try to enter a PvP match, if the Horde team is full you can’t play. Mercenary Mode allows you to take a spot on the ‘enemy’ team if there is one, allowing you to get on with playing the game. The fiction of the Warcraft world is maintained by suggesting that you’re playing as a mercenary for the other team; you’ll even be ‘disguised’ as a race that they support.
You’ll still earn all the same rewards as you would in traditional PvP (with the exception of faction-specific achievements). The only difference is that matchmaking should be much shorter, as it can fill empty team spaces with people from any allegiance.
The announcement on the World of Warcraft blog states that the feature will be coming to the Public Test Realm soon.