239: For the Horde!

[Mike Lemmer]

I have to disagree with people saying the Horde acts better in-Lore than the Alliance. They have acted like that so far because they are still a young nation led by an idealistic messiah. They have not had time for major, disastrous problems to build up. With Putress's betrayal and Garrosh's uprising, we are beginning to see the cracks in the Horde.

Putress represents the dark side of putting too much trust in formerly-evil allies. Garrosh represents the downside of putting too much emphasis on sticking together: there are always people that will exploit that for their own goals. I believe Cataclysm will show what happens to the Horde as they turn from a group of underdogs to a major power: arrogance, disrespect towards anything weaker than them, and a push to conquer anything in their way.

I've begun to see that in Horde RP. Blood elves look down on the others. Orcs scoff at anyone that doesn't fight as well as them. You can see schisms between the Forsaken/Blood Elves and the Orcs/Tauren/Trolls. Some of them are vicious & brutal with their enemies to the point of sadism. Others show a double-standard of demanding respect while denying it to others. Rather than an overall picture of the Horde being more tight-knit and honorable than the Alliance, it reveals they're more similar than they care to admit. For every racist, arrogant, or cruel Alliance, there's a condescending or vicious Horde. For every honorable, noble Horde warrior, there's a compassionate or protective Alliance soldier.

The ironic part is, the natural consequences of the Horde insisting they're better is what'll ultimately bring them low. Ah, pride, that oldest & most damning sin...

 

[Uberjoe19]

I just could never get into WoW. I like to be able to have complete control over my character's appearance, which the limited character creator would not let me have.

I played an old-school RPG called Improbable Island that was pretty much nothing but text. The RP was SO MUCH FUN. But then I left when a friend got banned by the asshole admin.

I think my character, just before I quit and deleted it, was on about 18 or so DKs. (For those who have never played II, a DK is when you kill the Improbability Drive, the game's Big Bad. Every DK unlocks new weapons and races for use.) I was a very high-profile player. When we started new plotlines, I usually tried to become involved. On one we played a game of "golf" that involved dynamite and a girl in a gopher outfit. And it was started by a goofy joke I made.

But enough shameless plugging. The main reason I disliked WoW was the gameplay and the fact that I had to pay a subscription.

(The above rambling comment is property of God-Knows-Who. Don't make him angry, or he will get a real name and then whine incessantly about your "IP theft".)

 

[ace_of_something]

I played pretty much only Horde and dabbled a bit in alliance. Why? Because I played every Warcraft game before WoW came out and liked the story behind the Orcs and Trolls more. So my first character that I really played was a Troll Shaman.
The Horde also I felt, had more interesting cities and looking characters. Humans and Human-like people are boring. I can play those in any game. I want to be a big musclebound weirdo.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

I actually went through a little of all the reasons people gave in the article. When I first started playing, I opted for Alliance because that was what my brother was playing, him being the only person I knew at the time who played WoW. Eventually a couple of my friends got into WoW and they had both opted to play as Horde, so I swapped over and played a Shaman with them. When Burning Crusade came out I swapped my main character over to a Blood Elf Mage, choosing my new race based on flavor reasons that would make you think I was going to role play with him. I loved the back story for the Blood Elves, especially the part about them being addicted to magical energies. If my avatar doesn't quite give it away, that's a character trait I can kinda relate to.

 

[Tavion]

In my experience of the Alliance during the higher-end PVP games, it was pretty much always a loss with only some wins in AV. Alliance tends to vibe on the "holy, fearless" hero image which means they tend to divide in the belief that they can win the game on their own =/ Meanwhile anyone who as ever played a game with a race called "orcs/orks" will know their mentality tends to be towards massing up and breaking down anything infront of them.

I love that humans have a racial trait called "Every man for themselves" it seems to support the idea XD My choice to join the Horde wasn't a concious choice rather than wanting my character to have a neutral race, a character that would make sense anywhere on any sort of mount. So decided to opt for a troll priest (not to mention I enjoy their funny accent, they are the dwarf of the horde in that respect)

RP with the horde is difficult in comparison to the Alliance, with the major RP occuring in Silvermoon City as a member of the down-trudden horde I find it sorta silly to RP in that city =/

 

[tetron]

I started when BC launched and rolled a blood elf paladin. At the time none of the alliance races really appealed to me(I do kinda like draenei though and am gonna roll a worgen when cataclysm comes out).

"PvP-wise, I'd definitely say Horde is more organized," that statement made me laugh because we are anything but organized and actually I don't know how we get by in pvp because people mostly run around doing their own thing and inciting the occasional zerg rush, this is evident in that alliance usually beats us if they're premade but that's really the only time.

I have rolled an alliance toon and the community seemed boring and yes quite filled with kids but also some mature players though they gave off the feel of "yeah we know alliance is full of 12 year olds but we've come to terms with that". The horde community is always fun and yes can be immature but in a mature way, I'd rather have a 20 year old troll in trade than a 12 year old one.

In the end I love playing horde because above all else they're prideful and honor driven, more than the alliance could ever be. Lok'tar Ogar FOR THE HORDE !

 

[Ohlookit'sMatty]

Good read // I went Horde cos I wanted to play an Undead Warlock and loved the lore behind them and the rest of the races within the Horde // I also had a load of friends who where horde // How that is not to say I dont play Alli's, cos I do // I just spend more time on the Horde side cos of the people

-M

 

[Need MOAR APPLES]

I've played Alliance for my entire WoW life Played a Nelf Warrior (Female of course gotta love the dance) No, seriously though +1 dodge was always awesome for tanking. Though I will not lie I was one of those Alli guys that was on the forum always bitching about WotF would've made stance dancing a heck of a lot easier.

In the end it didn't matter everything is equal now so yeah only reason to play either side is friends.

 

[Omechron]

I play horde and here's why: my first character was a dwarven paladin. I went out into the starting area and started doing quests. I played for... maybe an hour? I only got to level like 3 or 4. My weapon was a discarded SHOVEL. I had five people ask me for gold. Me. A starting, level one character with CLEARLY no subsidized equipment. Five people.

Since joining the Horde side, I've had to constantly refuse people trying to GIVE ME money and help because I wanted to do things on my own. I have seen a total of three beggars in all my time playing the game, and that was in trade chat not harassing me personally. I find the environment just much more mature. Now granted, that may just be a "Feathermoon server circa 2005" thing. It may even just be a statistical anomaly. But it was enough to color my perception of the alliance.

Do I hate the alliance? Not seriously. But I find the game is more fun when I "decide" to hate them. They're the enemy. Eff them.

 

[Therumancer]

The answer to this question is very simple, Horde is played as much as they are because they are greatly favored by the game itself. Strips like Penny Arcade and other "sources" have actually referred to rolling Alliance as one of the biggest gips in the entire gaming world.

A lot of the interviews in the above statements are total trash. The Horde is not really defined as being "evil" except for some factions of the undead. Their areas are no less iconic either. They have that whole "Barbarian" vibe that has been around since Conan and resonates heavily with the 13 year old mentality as much as anything else.

About the only true statement was someone talking about how the Orcs for example have the best PVP racials in the game. Pound by pound you'll find this is true of all the Horde races compared to Alliance races (and this includes PVE racials as well), except maybe the Draenai.

It's also noteworthy that The Horde also has been greatly favored with quests and gear, obtaining pieces to fill slots like rings in a "fresh" untwinked playthrough considerably faster than Alliance. Not to mention the placement of some of their towns/hubs and flightpoints throughout the world. A lot of this was noticed and commented on when the
game was coming out of Beta.

A lot of these problems seemed to be acknowleged by Blizzard at various times, but their infamous "we make games, not promises" response has so far rung true on any signifigant balance fixes. Especially seeing as with time, what could be considered minor advantages truely snowballed. For example some fixes to PVP and game balance, including giving BOTH sides access to all classes occured, but The Horde was still in possession of a masssive material advantage for a while in terms of high-end PVP gear that they had obtained. What's more certain things that needed to be fixed, were not repaired at all.

Right now "roleplayers" are somewhat scorned through the entire MMORPG community, characters are the Avatar of players, and this is why you can find so many people always asking questions like "why do people roll 'toons of the opposite gender?". In the end The Horde pretty much attracts those out to dominate the game, due to both the long term infrastructure, and the continued game balance issues. If your looking to dominate endgame, or melt faces in PVP and sit down and analyze the info before rolling a character, your going to go Horde as it gives you the best odds.

In comparison Alliance types tend to be those who want to play a specific type of character, or like traditional fantasy races. It also has a higher content of those scorned "Roleplayers" (of which I used to be one... I even play on an RP server).

There has been some discussion about age back and forth for a long time, and various statistics about the Horde and so-called "alliance kiddies" but in the end I think it evens out. If anything the Horde has a slight advantage because of the age/intelligence needed to really min max and the patience needed to do the research... but it's not extreme. What's more when it comes to maturity, The Horde has been infamous for "Barrens Chat" for a long time. In general even if older they tend to be a bigger group of mouth breathing dweebs... though it is admittedly close since you can still lose Brain Cells listening to too much of the Alliance trade chat.

 

[Cybercoco]

First, being one who has played both factions for a considerable amount of time, I will say that this idea that Horde somehow has the more "mature" community is a myth (and pure idiocy to be frank). Both sides are pretty much the same, community wise, with different skins on the screen. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, because it's simply not true.

Second, using arena ratings to calculate PVP adeptness is pretty weak for this game that certainly doesn't show the whole picture. Considering arena is met with much disdain by the general player base to the point the developers themselves have questioned the idea of including them to the game at all. In all my time, I have simply not seen any special advantage one side had over the other where general PVP is concerned. It's just another myth concocted by the deranged, and somehow spread as popular opinion that's simply not true.

Since there wasn't much focus or research in the article, I'm not quite sure what point the author was trying to make. That Horde players are some super skilled elite? The "mature" adults of the community? Or any other stereotype that could possibly be crammed into a short article...

...Or perhaps Horde consists of normal players with different tastes just like Alliance?

 

[Dreyfuss]

I swear to god if I lived anywhere near the east coast I would find this guy and gank him.

You either talked to the worst possible examples of Horde players or simply picked and chose those that didn't call out your faction for the losers they are. You are the reason we grief Allies so hard. The Alliance is NOT "noble" or "heroic" and the Horde are NOT "downtrodden losers." It's clear WoW is your first Warcraft game, and you completely lack any imagination as evidenced by your inability to relate to anything that doesn't look like your boring, dime-a-dozen self.

It has nothing to do with being the underdog, or having a "mature" playerbase, or any stupid thing like that. Horde are stronger, tougher, more organized, and a hell of a lot more attractive than you disgusting pinkskins could ever be from now until your inevitable extinction at our hands. YOU are the ugly race, with your plain, unremarkable features, frail bodies, and uniform skintones. At least Dwarves COULD resemble something attractive, though only by a far stretch of the imagination, sharing that same vile pink skin as the rest of your kind. I don't know what the Draenei see in you. Clearly they all hit their heads very hard in that crash.

We trolls, with our magnificent tusks, beautiful blue skin, and long-limbed bodies are the pinnacle of the sentient form. The Orcs have their impressive musculature and ferocious green hues, and the Tauren are all gifted with fine coats of fur and intimidating statures. Even the Forsaken are okay with us. After all, the only good pinkskin is a dead one.

We Horde are the superior race on Azeroth. Don't ever roll a character on Vashj or I will corpse camp you until the end of time.

P.S. Blood Elves are NOT Horde! GTFO of our faction!

 

[Fortesque]

I have always played Horde.

Something about the Undead just draws me. I love Zombies and am a huge fan of the Undead backstory. Never liked the Alliance because I found them too plain. Why play a huge fantasy game with Monsters, Magic, Goblins, Dragons etc.. and play as a human. I think it sort of ruins the experience.

I stopped playing just after BC release, I also found the all of the Alliance to be slight variations of humans. Humans - Human, Dwarf - Short Human, Gnome - Shorter Human and Night Elf - Purple Human. Horde on the other hand, Undead - Rotting Human, Orc - Green Tusked Creature, Troll - Tall Tusked Creature and Tauren - Big Cow Man. Different it just more fun in my opinion.

 

[infohippie]

I started out playing Horde because I found them more interesting lore-wise, as well as having much more awesome towns and architecture. Plus, Orcs are cool. Then I finally got around to getting the BC expansion and pretty quickly switched to Alliance because female Draenei are just so. Damn. Sexy.
I never found any appeal at all in playing the other Alliance races, so while on the Horde side I have Orcs, Trolls and a Tauren, on the Alliance side I have only a bunch of cute female Draenei.
I'm very bored with Alliance now and am thinking of going back to my Horde characters, but unfortunately they're all level 35 or below.

 

[Broderick]

I started playing wow a few months after it came out. I first tried alliance, I had a human paladin, kinda liked him but got bored after a while. I experimented with all the races on alliance, but just couldnt get a good feel for them.
After a year or so of getting some RL stuff back together, I returned to wow when the first expansion hit. I first tried a dranaei paladin, but after 20 levels I got bored again. So I then tried something I only dabbled with in the past, horde. I tried two things I never played before, a mage and a blood elf; after a few minutes I was in love with the playstyle of mages, and the lore of the blood elves.
I eventuallly tried other race and class combos, but I always loved elves and those friendly cow people, the taurens. I have sticked with my mage ever since, blasting through raid encounter, killing kael'thas, illidan, and others.
I just loved the lore of the horde, and how they were just a band of different races, getting together so they can survive and thrive. Thrall is possibly one of my favorite fictional characters as well.
Anyways I always have a place in my heart for my origonal paladin, still have him on my old server =)

 

[Hoopybees]

I never got to play much but I actually did prefer the hoarde for aesthetic reasons. Most of the characters I have played were Tauren or Troll, just because they are more interesting to look at. This is a fantasy land. Why would I want to play as a human? I am a human. Boring.

 

[Aroddo]

Somehow I couldn't find Flaareon. Neither on US servers, nor on Europe servers (english).
I did find shadows and dust on Ravenholdt though, but there's no Flaareon.

There are several Shaktiri but none on the Servers where the Burning Tusk Tribe can be found.

The hotlinked characters all lead into the void.

One can only assume that the author pulled all the interviews out of his ass.