239: For the Horde!
- Thread starter Jonathan Glover
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I wouldn't exactly call the Horde an anti-hero faction.
Lets review all Horde races.
Orcs.
Before the coming of the legion to their native world, they were a shamanistic race, communing with the elements and keeping the balance of their world in place. Then, the Draenei arrived which attracted the Legion and the result was Orc corruption. Now, on Azeroth, the orcs have more or less regained their shamanistic ways, but acquired a bloodlust that has been injected into their roots when they drank the blood of the demon pit lord. Needless to say, the Orcs, alongside all other races of the Horde and Alliance are concentrating their lust for battle on a common enemy (The Legion, The Scourge) while they could very well be waging all out war on the Alliance like they did during the great wars long ago. From this point of view, I believe that the Orcs, and especially such personas like Thral and Saurfang, are a very heroic race, a fact that people tend to ignore due to their violent nature.
The Forsaken.
At first (during the WoW classic days), I would probably also be chanting that the Undead only use the Horde for their own needs (destroying the Scourge and the living that hunt them down), but ever since some of the new expansions they seem to be more and more loyal and patriotic towards the Horde. Perhaps that is because of the Blood Elves joining them. The Wrathgate incident was organised by rebel alchemists and Varymanthras and Sylvanas herself was cleaning that mess up, so this can't be considered a negative act from the Forsaken, since not all or even the majority of them were involved or were even informed of this. The Forsaken have made the Horde their rightful place and help them fight for a common goal. I don't believe that after having her revenge on Arthas Sylvanas would just withdraw herself and her followers from the Horde to live in solitude.
Tauren.
There's not really much to say about the Tauren. They are probably one of the most noble races on Azeroth. Being shamanistic and always heeding the call of the Earth, their prime goal is to keep the delicate balance of nature on Azeroth. Also, can anyone recall any marauding or slaughter done by the Tauren (besides Grimtotem tribe, which aren't part of the Horde)? No? Didn't think so, moving on.
Trolls.
Same story as with the Tauren. They have many tribes in the world, yet all share a similar bond with nature. The Darkspears are the only tribe that is in the Horde and are also not known for any evil deeds, like the Gurubashi or the Amani. In fact, Darkspears are one of the forces that fight against the ''evil'' trolls.
Blood Elves.
Ok I'm not going to state my opinion much here, since I really, really, really dislike all kinds of elves. I'll keep it short: Kael'thas and his possy in Outland are the ones responsible for summoning Kil'jaeden through the Sunwell, the elves back on Azeroth had no idea and after finding out, joined the other races to defeat him.
Right...I think I covered the most important parts here. If anyone remembers something else, let me know.
Lets review all Horde races.
Orcs.
Before the coming of the legion to their native world, they were a shamanistic race, communing with the elements and keeping the balance of their world in place. Then, the Draenei arrived which attracted the Legion and the result was Orc corruption. Now, on Azeroth, the orcs have more or less regained their shamanistic ways, but acquired a bloodlust that has been injected into their roots when they drank the blood of the demon pit lord. Needless to say, the Orcs, alongside all other races of the Horde and Alliance are concentrating their lust for battle on a common enemy (The Legion, The Scourge) while they could very well be waging all out war on the Alliance like they did during the great wars long ago. From this point of view, I believe that the Orcs, and especially such personas like Thral and Saurfang, are a very heroic race, a fact that people tend to ignore due to their violent nature.
The Forsaken.
At first (during the WoW classic days), I would probably also be chanting that the Undead only use the Horde for their own needs (destroying the Scourge and the living that hunt them down), but ever since some of the new expansions they seem to be more and more loyal and patriotic towards the Horde. Perhaps that is because of the Blood Elves joining them. The Wrathgate incident was organised by rebel alchemists and Varymanthras and Sylvanas herself was cleaning that mess up, so this can't be considered a negative act from the Forsaken, since not all or even the majority of them were involved or were even informed of this. The Forsaken have made the Horde their rightful place and help them fight for a common goal. I don't believe that after having her revenge on Arthas Sylvanas would just withdraw herself and her followers from the Horde to live in solitude.
Tauren.
There's not really much to say about the Tauren. They are probably one of the most noble races on Azeroth. Being shamanistic and always heeding the call of the Earth, their prime goal is to keep the delicate balance of nature on Azeroth. Also, can anyone recall any marauding or slaughter done by the Tauren (besides Grimtotem tribe, which aren't part of the Horde)? No? Didn't think so, moving on.
Trolls.
Same story as with the Tauren. They have many tribes in the world, yet all share a similar bond with nature. The Darkspears are the only tribe that is in the Horde and are also not known for any evil deeds, like the Gurubashi or the Amani. In fact, Darkspears are one of the forces that fight against the ''evil'' trolls.
Blood Elves.
Ok I'm not going to state my opinion much here, since I really, really, really dislike all kinds of elves. I'll keep it short: Kael'thas and his possy in Outland are the ones responsible for summoning Kil'jaeden through the Sunwell, the elves back on Azeroth had no idea and after finding out, joined the other races to defeat him.
Right...I think I covered the most important parts here. If anyone remembers something else, let me know.
Of course the Horde isn't evil. Actually, the Alliance can be considered as more evil than they are.
Humans are huge bigots who discriminate everything and won't listen to anyone they aren't familiar with.
Night Elves are stuck-up and pretentious, thinking themselves as all high and mighty because they have a greater cause than any other.
Dwarfs are cool though. So are gnomes.
Draenei helped the evil guys and now they just whine about how they were screwed over... Then again, so does Blood Elves.
There is really no Evil or Good in WoW. There's only different shades of gray as they say.
Humans are huge bigots who discriminate everything and won't listen to anyone they aren't familiar with.
Night Elves are stuck-up and pretentious, thinking themselves as all high and mighty because they have a greater cause than any other.
Dwarfs are cool though. So are gnomes.
Draenei helped the evil guys and now they just whine about how they were screwed over... Then again, so does Blood Elves.
There is really no Evil or Good in WoW. There's only different shades of gray as they say.
I liked both sides really,but my old server before i quit (Lightning's blade) had idiots on both sides, that no matter what you said, you where called out on it because "UR A NOOBZ!!!!11!" and mind you, this was not Barrens chat (Thank you to those who know what im talking about) so i just gave up once i lev caped and have never looked back, gave me so much mroe free time.
When I first started shortly after launch I played Alliance, the only reason for that was because of my friend who wanted to play as a night elf druid and my step brother who had played since beta as a night elf hunter. There was no deeper reasoning behind the choice than that for me, but that was because it was my first foray into an MMO and I wanted the support that came with playing with friends.
WoW tends show off that idea that everyone has a bit of good and evil in them given the situations. The idea I came up with for all the kiddos playing Alli was that their parents decided what side they would play for, which of course you would never choose the 'bad guys' for your little darling to play with.
Top end raiders aren't all assholes, and I can say that because I am as much of one as I can be with my wonky work schedule. I still take time out to talk and help people, because hell knows I used to be a newbie too, everyone was. Those guys that ignore everyone are just sucked way too far into the game, it isn't fun anymore because it's a job that you have to constantly work at or you get screwed over.
I play Horde, I despise PvP mainly because it does not favor Enhancement Shaman, which is a broken class anyway. I just choose to stay away from it because I don't appreciate it as much as other people do, it's just not my idea of fun.
And before you think Horde is OP, take a look at the separate classes. Pally's still need to be hit with a hardened nerf bat.
Top end raiders aren't all assholes, and I can say that because I am as much of one as I can be with my wonky work schedule. I still take time out to talk and help people, because hell knows I used to be a newbie too, everyone was. Those guys that ignore everyone are just sucked way too far into the game, it isn't fun anymore because it's a job that you have to constantly work at or you get screwed over.
I play Horde, I despise PvP mainly because it does not favor Enhancement Shaman, which is a broken class anyway. I just choose to stay away from it because I don't appreciate it as much as other people do, it's just not my idea of fun.
And before you think Horde is OP, take a look at the separate classes. Pally's still need to be hit with a hardened nerf bat.
I was lured into WoW after a few months of my GF(at the time) guilting me into it, she'd played during the beta and loved it, I could have cared less and was happy in CoH. When I finally decided to play, I rolled Horde--because of the Tauren lore and, to a lesser degree, the Forsaken's. She was mad at me for doing so, as she played Alliance, so after more guilt trips, I rolled Alliance and found that not only did I not really like the lore as much (except for a few random heroes' individual stories), but that the players on the Alliance side were just...immature and snotty. It felt like EVERY kid that played the game, rolled Alliance because of their look-they were prettier, more relatable (damn Humans) and, well...they were perceived as "good".
It's too bad that really, neither side is "good" or "bad", they just are. I managed to play Alliance long enough to make some friends, rank my little dorh hunter up to Commander, but after she and I broke up, I left the server and sought out other people to play with-starting off with the Alliance until I just couldn't take it anymore and rolled back to Horde. years later, I'm happy with my decision--especially since my current GF plays Horde, as the Pally tank that my Tree heals.
I agree, tho, that more serious-minded players SEEM to play Horde, not all, but in my 4+ years of playing (and despite the inclusion of blood Elves as a playable race), it still seems like "the kids" play Alliance and the "adults" play Horde. The PvP servers seem to favor the Horde, and PvE the Alliance. Based on my experience, the PvPers who played Alliance seemed to start playing that aspect out of boredom--they couldn't raid all of the time, and back in the day (pre-BC), the best way to show that you were "l33t" was the be a high-ranking PvPer. I think that carried over into BC/Wrath with the inclusion of Arenas. *shudder* I'm not sure if it still is the same, nor do I have any explanation for the Horde's slower progression beyond smaller populations (on PvE servers), however.
Seems to me that for all of the Alliance's bravado-both in the lore and in the community, the Horde really DO seem to band together more with that "underdog" mentality either due to a "bloodlust" on PvP servers, or a sense of being in the minority on PvE servers.
In any case, I'm glad I rolled Horde, the community seems more like it's filled with brothers and sisters a lot more than the Alliance ever did.
It's too bad that really, neither side is "good" or "bad", they just are. I managed to play Alliance long enough to make some friends, rank my little dorh hunter up to Commander, but after she and I broke up, I left the server and sought out other people to play with-starting off with the Alliance until I just couldn't take it anymore and rolled back to Horde. years later, I'm happy with my decision--especially since my current GF plays Horde, as the Pally tank that my Tree heals.
I agree, tho, that more serious-minded players SEEM to play Horde, not all, but in my 4+ years of playing (and despite the inclusion of blood Elves as a playable race), it still seems like "the kids" play Alliance and the "adults" play Horde. The PvP servers seem to favor the Horde, and PvE the Alliance. Based on my experience, the PvPers who played Alliance seemed to start playing that aspect out of boredom--they couldn't raid all of the time, and back in the day (pre-BC), the best way to show that you were "l33t" was the be a high-ranking PvPer. I think that carried over into BC/Wrath with the inclusion of Arenas. *shudder* I'm not sure if it still is the same, nor do I have any explanation for the Horde's slower progression beyond smaller populations (on PvE servers), however.
Seems to me that for all of the Alliance's bravado-both in the lore and in the community, the Horde really DO seem to band together more with that "underdog" mentality either due to a "bloodlust" on PvP servers, or a sense of being in the minority on PvE servers.
In any case, I'm glad I rolled Horde, the community seems more like it's filled with brothers and sisters a lot more than the Alliance ever did.
I had an undead shadow priest in a pvp server back in the day. My buddy from school and I had many grand adventures, he was a Troll Mage, so each encounter we faced was very interesting.
Back before any expansions.. At level 30, he and I had this crazy idea to RUN from booty bay all the way to the Undercity.
We met up with a LOT of adversaries from the other faction. Our most successful battle was in Lakeshire, where a level 50 Human mage had been trailing us for some time, had been finally defeated with a few others that were our level.
It was a proud victory, to which our cheers of "HE'S DEAD GTFO NOW!!" were never forgotten to this day.
We met up with other horde travelers. Like the level 60 Tauren warrior who kindly saw us through the Burning Steppes, and the Orc Hunter who safely saw us through the Badlands as a thank you for helping him ward off a small group of gankers.
It was a Grand Adventure, a day that I will always remember as epic in my life as a gamer. One that I constantly beg to question "How did we not get our asses kicked?!"
It's just sad that the people in this town had to ruin the game for me after the first couple of expansions...
This has me thinking though. Maybe I should write tales of my gameplay as I play for others to enjoy on here... LOL
Of course they all wouldn't be WoW related.
Back before any expansions.. At level 30, he and I had this crazy idea to RUN from booty bay all the way to the Undercity.
We met up with a LOT of adversaries from the other faction. Our most successful battle was in Lakeshire, where a level 50 Human mage had been trailing us for some time, had been finally defeated with a few others that were our level.
It was a proud victory, to which our cheers of "HE'S DEAD GTFO NOW!!" were never forgotten to this day.
We met up with other horde travelers. Like the level 60 Tauren warrior who kindly saw us through the Burning Steppes, and the Orc Hunter who safely saw us through the Badlands as a thank you for helping him ward off a small group of gankers.
It was a Grand Adventure, a day that I will always remember as epic in my life as a gamer. One that I constantly beg to question "How did we not get our asses kicked?!"
It's just sad that the people in this town had to ruin the game for me after the first couple of expansions...
This has me thinking though. Maybe I should write tales of my gameplay as I play for others to enjoy on here... LOL
Of course they all wouldn't be WoW related.
i play horde....or did, i was a cow man cause ive always loved minotaurs from greek legend, and being bigger than everyone else was fun
i generally hated alliance altho had some good alliance friends i met on there, the game is jusy designed to make u hate each other, and it does it well
when i started i actually thought, wow who would play normal humans and gay elves when they could have awesome orks and tauren, but i was shocked to find my server was around 2:1 alliance to horde
i generally hated alliance altho had some good alliance friends i met on there, the game is jusy designed to make u hate each other, and it does it well
when i started i actually thought, wow who would play normal humans and gay elves when they could have awesome orks and tauren, but i was shocked to find my server was around 2:1 alliance to horde
I must say that overall I don't care about faction choice.
I just like to casually avoid the whole arguments over whose groups of pixels are better.
I just like to casually avoid the whole arguments over whose groups of pixels are better.
I picked horde for my first character (tauren warrior) since if I'm playing a fantasy game I'd rather be something different and alot of alliance races (this was pre TBC) all looked very humanish - but just had different body proportions.
Plus after playing for a while I tended to find that alliance had alot more dumbass/douchebag players that you would end up teamed up with.
Plus after playing for a while I tended to find that alliance had alot more dumbass/douchebag players that you would end up teamed up with.
My brief experience of playing Horde (specifically, Orc) was made fist-clenchingly annoying by people playing Trolls who thought it was hilarious to spam the chat with "HURR IM A TROLL IM TROLLING I TROLL YOU LOLOLOLOLOLOL".
I know it's probably wrong of me to judge a whole demographic by what is probably just a few idiots, even more so because it was only on the 10-day free trial, but... yeah, that was enough for me. That said, I've always preferred to play the more 'stalwart hero of the land' type character, so I'm pretty much pre-programmed to go Alliance.
I know it's probably wrong of me to judge a whole demographic by what is probably just a few idiots, even more so because it was only on the 10-day free trial, but... yeah, that was enough for me. That said, I've always preferred to play the more 'stalwart hero of the land' type character, so I'm pretty much pre-programmed to go Alliance.
Any time someone talks about the Horde's "deeper story", and how they're the "underdog", I have to laugh. How about the fact that I can point to no point in lore where the horde ever lost for any reason other than dissension in their own ranks? How about the fact that the horde's attitude seems to simply be "join us or die"? How about the fact that the Horde has twice almost destroyed humanity? How about the fact that they refuse to apologize for it? How about the fact that they blame everyone but themselves for their problems? Seriously, all but the Tauren are a bunch of whiny, violent, selfish, killers. Mind you, this is all lore here, what people are in game is another matter (though I find what people I know who rolled Horde tend to be more competitive). In any case, I needed to unload that, the horde is not "misunderstood", they're violent, selfish, and by and large, live to kill.
Also, to all the "kids play heroes, adults play villains" crowd. I find children enjoy antagonizing, because they're built to test limits, that includes yours. Adults tend to want to defend the status quo, sometimes to a fault. Now, I realize people have been attempting to turn the definition of maturity on it's head, but really here.
I play alliance because I like being the guy who would give his life without hesitation to save a complete stranger, the heroic champion of freedom and good, who is not perfect, and the fight against that imperfection is what drives him forward. Not some violent savage who only wants to prove to anyone who will listen that he's stronger than anyone. I mean, hey, you want to play that, that's fine, but don't stand around and pretend you're smarter or more mature because you play a green viking.
Also, to all the "kids play heroes, adults play villains" crowd. I find children enjoy antagonizing, because they're built to test limits, that includes yours. Adults tend to want to defend the status quo, sometimes to a fault. Now, I realize people have been attempting to turn the definition of maturity on it's head, but really here.
I play alliance because I like being the guy who would give his life without hesitation to save a complete stranger, the heroic champion of freedom and good, who is not perfect, and the fight against that imperfection is what drives him forward. Not some violent savage who only wants to prove to anyone who will listen that he's stronger than anyone. I mean, hey, you want to play that, that's fine, but don't stand around and pretend you're smarter or more mature because you play a green viking.
To me, it's never been a good vs evil thing, the good vs evil is Alliance and Horde against the Scourge.
It's far closer to old D&D stuff, Alliance are lawful and Horde are chaotic.
As for players, I've experienced both side, and run a guild of over 3 years on Horde side, and I think there's a fairly comparable number of great players and utter tools on both sides.
I guess I can agree with some of the above in that I was originally drawn to the Horde as they felt like the 'underdog' option.
It's far closer to old D&D stuff, Alliance are lawful and Horde are chaotic.
As for players, I've experienced both side, and run a guild of over 3 years on Horde side, and I think there's a fairly comparable number of great players and utter tools on both sides.
I guess I can agree with some of the above in that I was originally drawn to the Horde as they felt like the 'underdog' option.