Why Did You Pick Horde/Alliance?

[Swifti]

So. EU Final Beta is about halfway or more in. People have had time to test differnt classes and try differnt races. But the question that ponders me at times is why do people pick what faction in the first place. Already posts have been made about why people might choose Alliance because they're either new or like the look of a human over Horde.

But the more experienced MMO veterans tend not to go for things like looks? . What made you pick your faction? Racial traits? Race looks? Shammy/pally? or is one side more attractive because of its population?

I mainly look at racial traits and spells. Experience from daoc says (choose the bigger faction) so i can play the numbers game in mass pvp since wow isnt adapt to "gank grps". Maybe picking the larger size over race/class comparison might be wise in the world of wow PVP. But with Battlegrounds inc. Will 'Perfect setup gank grps' start to appear? and racial traits wil be a powerful advantage? (as im writing this i cant help but feel like im sounding alot like the main actress from "Sex And The City")

Also just like to add a question whilst a threads open. Horde are mainly less populated then alliance. So if Battlegrounds are to have even sides. Wouldnt more Alliance be left out waiting compared to a Horde player

(ps gnomes arnt cute! They're Deadly!)

 

[Fana]

I like the theme of the Horde, and find the races more interesting than the alliance ones (elf, human and dorf are all standard for a fantasy mmorpg etc). Add to that the average age seems to be higher on horde side, and most old daoc midgard players seem to chose horde (probably because we like to play the grittier darker side) and we have a winner imo.

 

[Fin]

allys r like albs, seen that , time to test something else

 

[Aremeriel]

Played a wee bit on Horde side and must say the scenery is just plain boring. Besides, I wanted to play what I felt good with and that was Alliance. Started as Night Elf in US stresstest and Open Beta, but ended on Gnome in US Open. Then Night Elf again in Final beta, but will be Gnome in retail (with some Night Elf alts).
Playing this or that side because it's leet, mature, easier or harder just doesn't work for me, I must play what I'm comfortable with. Same as when I started in Mid in DAoC, I just felt at home, partly because I'm Norwegian. Same reason I had for playing healer in DAoC, it was what felt right, not what was best or easiest or whatever.

And those people saying Horde will be older players than Alliance, consider all the teens wanting to look evil.

 

[Fin]

Played a wee bit on Horde side and must say the scenery is just plain boring.

hmm, horde areas r also ally areas, so which 1 is boring?

as west island aint horde only and east aint for allys only.

and most stuff happens in contest areas anyway.

own territory is 1-30,which u can do in 3 days

 

[Urme the Legend]

I played both Horde and Alliance in the beta.. to lvl 30+ and I have to say that alliance quests and areas are better for exping and doing quests.

But I'm going to choose Horde because it feels like Alliance are more like Albs in DAoC.. Horde are the minority on US and I think it will be less Horde players in EU too.

And Taurens are the best dancers!

That's why I'm choosing Horde

 

[Cyradix]

Playing the good guys all the time is boring.

We also plan to do alot of roleplaying..... and since we are bastards in RL the Horde suits us just fine

 

[Evoknox]

I always play the 'goodies' in every game, and played human in warcraft 3 wich I played alot. When I played horde it just didn't feel right so I went back to alliance plus alot of R/L friends and people I know from back when I played Diablo 2 are gonna play alliance as well.

And I've said it before about horde is for experienced grown-up gamers who can own whole zergs with just 2 people because theyre so gifted at playing MMORPGs, and alliance is for little kids who barely know how to install a game on their PC is 100% b/s IMO. Why do you suggest new people might choose alliance because they like elves and stuff? I know alot of new MMORPG players who are gonna start with WoW and they all go Horde because they rather be a brutal orc or a huge tauren than the 'gay' races alliance has to offer.

 

[Shawr]

I picked horde because my guild went horde, simple as that.
I'm not really bothered which side I'm on, so long as I'm playing with my friends. Although I do agree with Urme, Tauren are the best dancers...they look a bit like me after one too many.

 

[Sigh]

horde dont have to spend so much time looking for people to fight

 

[Coccas]

i like horde better than alliance but i am going to play alliance simply because i dont know anyone that plays horde

 

[Zedenz]

I don't know why people keep assuming "good guys" and "bad guys" because if you had played the previous Warcraft games you would know that in WC3 they were both allied versus the Undead/Burning Legion AND that the most powerful being at the end of the Frozen Throne expansion was none other than the former leader of the Humans Athras.

Now we can only assume he has taken a back seat in WoW, but the only reason they are fighting each other now is because they have no common enemy.

(and yes WC1 + WC2 was just Orcs versus Humans)

As for the posters question, I actually wanted to go Alliance but the majority of my guild wanted to play Horde for one reason or another. I'm not too bothered really, I like both the factions despite the much better looks of the Alliance races.

Zed

 

[Elenos]

I don't approve of people calling the alliance races 'gay'. If you knew anything about fantasy roleplay you would know not to call a dwarf gay. Also i agree with the post about the previous warcraft history. All along horde and aliance have fought each other but when you play the various factions through warcraft 3 and through the frozen throne expansion you see that both the hordce and the alliance are strong and weak at the same time. Tharzull in TFT for example has a sensitive side and is devoted to keeping his orcs safe in his own little community away from the alliance and the legion.

Saying that the horde is mean nad brutal and that the alliance is soft and 'gay' is simply not true and i advise to check up on some of the history of the game before you make comments such as these.

As for the age split between horde and alliance i can't see that any one faction appeals more to younger people than to older people. More mature players may enjoy playing a human or dwarf with a long family history and the family name to uphold in some serious RP. Whereas playing an Orc may appeal to the younger community of hacking and slashing things and generally going mental with bloodlust all the time.

I think it is unfair to generalise a particular faction into age or sex or maturity.

Personally i am playing alliance at the moment and intend to try one of each class to level 60 when retail hits

 

[Ukle]

Alliance as a whole are not Gay but Warcraft Gnomes definatly are Gay ... never has more a gay race been created in MMORPG history. Rather worryingly planning to play a gnome now in final even though the ridicule i will get ... as planning to play a mage and there racial talents far outway (for a mage) the human ones and in PvP any advantage is always good.

As to why alliance, its the Horde areas, to put it bluntly they mostly suck.

The only Horde area's that i liked to any degree was the undead side of the world it has atmosphere, but given almost half the horde plays undead not going to start there. Tauran is to barren and open - i need trees and hills, and never managed to get passed the troll / orc starting area as it is just so off putting with its colours.

While for alliance only one i dislike is the night elf, just the quests there and the building style really are poor and almost feel thrown together at the last minute.

 

[Aremeriel]

hmm, horde areas r also ally areas, so which 1 is boring?

as west island aint horde only and east aint for allys only.

and most stuff happens in contest areas anyway.

own territory is 1-30,which u can do in 3 days

Having played both US stress tests, US open beta and now Final Beta I know very well that neither island belongs to either side. When I said horde areas have boring scenery, I meant Horde's own territories/zones (I thought that was self explanatory, but maybe I should have said Horde territories/zones instead of side).
Yes, I'm well aware that most stuff happens in contested areas, and I'm not 30 yet in Final Beta, so no, I didn't do own territories in 3 days. Have way too many other things to do at the moment, like getting my apartment liveable.
Besides, if you read more of my post than the first sentence, you'd see that I picked the side that felt good for me, ie not just the scenery, but the races and all other things that come into the equation.

And Zed, I agree with you that there's no good or bad side, but the Horde races do look more evil than Alliance races, at least I think so and I think a lot of "kids" think so too.

 

[Minn]

Simple ...
I was gonna duo with a pally so playing alliance ofc
and tbh, its nice
Tried horde some on Korean beta, but I prefer alliance

 

[Swifti]

One of the best things about wow is all the servers and all the alt's people can make. Because most of my guild is Alliance, ill be going alliance in retail to 60 and then trying a Horde to 60. But when we're talking about what side appeals to what 'type' of person, i still agree Horde will appeal to more experience/hardcore players. On server 5 i think (90%) sure that most of the Horde are at a higher level than Alliance. That in it self shows that Horde either have better quests or better experience players at xp'ing.

But the majority of Horde i've seen havnt been any pvp smarter then an average alliance player. All the Horde i see ive mainly killed wondering if they even know what their doing. If WOTF wasnt inplace ied win a majority of my fights. If http://www.wowrankings.com/ would work for more EU players i might be able to back this theory up.

 

[Tinu]

like horde better, only tried gone/dwarf and ne starting place but they bored me.
friends also playing horde.

 

[Elenos]

On server 5 i think (90%) sure that most of the Horde are at a higher level than Alliance. That in it self shows that Horde either have better quests or better experience players at xp'ing.

Im not going to labour the point but how does this show anything? other explanations for a higher level could be that the majority of the alliance players are casual players ... or that they have many alts and are trying out the different classes. I still fail to see how you can read into anything during a beta session. This is not the real game. People are not playing their heart out to reach lvl 60 . If you are then what are you going to do when your char gets wiped? do it all again!! the point of the beta, keeping in mind that the servers are going to be wiped anyway, is to test the game out and try different things in the game to make sure that they all work. Plus you will always have the split of levels on any server and at certain times the average ( though how you would find that out i simply do not know) level of any particular faction may be higher ... So i am sorry but your idea that the horde players in the beta session are more experienced .. or better MMORPG players.. or better at exping is complete wank. Show me the average levels of ALL players across every server and i may start to take you seriously but until someone comes up with some accurate figures then please stop spouting shit... not just swifti but everyone that says that horde is for older players and alliance is for noobs.

and congrats .. you made me labour the point .. again.

 

[Tallen]

I like the theme of the Horde, and find the races more interesting than the alliance ones (elf, human and dorf are all standard for a fantasy mmorpg etc). Add to that the average age seems to be higher on horde side, and most old daoc midgard players seem to chose horde (probably because we like to play the grittier darker side) and we have a winner imo.

Orc, Troll and undead are standard fantasy races as well.

I find horde players are more wtfpwn everything uber 1337 types, whereas alliance are more kiddies whining and bickering on PvP.

PvE is much the same, only toned down a little.

 

[Swifti]

Im not going to labour the point but how does this show anything? other explanations for a higher level could be that the majority of the alliance players are casual players ... or that they have many alts and are trying out the different classes. I still fail to see how you can read into anything during a beta session. This is not the real game. People are not playing their heart out to reach lvl 60 . If you are then what are you going to do when your char gets wiped? do it all again!! the point of the beta, keeping in mind that the servers are going to be wiped anyway, is to test the game out and try different things in the game to make sure that they all work. Plus you will always have the split of levels on any server and at certain times the average ( though how you would find that out i simply do not know) level of any particular faction may be higher ... So i am sorry but your idea that the horde players in the beta session are more experienced .. or better MMORPG players.. or better at exping is complete wank. Show me the average levels of ALL players across every server and i may start to take you seriously but until someone comes up with some accurate figures then please stop spouting shit... not just swifti but everyone that says that horde is for older players and alliance is for noobs.

and congrats .. you made me labour the point .. again.

Before this turns into a flame war im just suggesting things. Not spouting out shit or whatever you wanna call it. On server 5 i see more higher level Horde. Yes Alliance might have more casual players or want to try other chars b4 the wipe. Why dont the Horde do that too?. The only reason i keep leveling up on the same char is to stay in a nice level range when i pvp. This may only be beta but might i just add that i have and do play on my USA acc. Your post was more or less one sided and didnt show anything. But from my MMO experience. The type of faction usualy is determind by the type of people/age of people that play the game. If Horde gets a reputation for having more 'Real' gamers then Alliance and not as many casual players. That might attract the non-casual type of players. Then again i think Alliance are branded as n00bs because of stereotypical experience suggests that the most populated side is the nubby side since an average gamer might pick a Human over an Orc.

Anyway. Since theres no real proof this is all speculation
Just have to wait and see in retail.

 

[Fana]

Orc, Troll and undead are standard fantasy races as well.

Well what i mean is that you can usually play human, elf and dorf in most fantasy mmorpgs, but in wow there are other interesting races that you cant normaly play, like undead, that are indeed playable I find it more stimulating to play one of these not so commonly availabe player races.

 

[Deacan]

I did want to try a Gnome warrior, but nothing is better than smacking a silly Elph with a giant axe.

And to say Horde = Evil and Alliance = good is just blind, read the lore and you will find they are both evil and good.

If you read the lore you will find its the damn Elphs fault! they should of never messed with the Well of Eternity...

 

[Garax]

VGN went alliance on PvP server 8 for no other reason than the majority of the players fancied Alliance, i also know Random Roleplayers are playing Alliance (you can't say either of these DAoC guilds are in-experienced guilds). With the fact the sides are so close you really can't say that one side is better or worse than the other. Personal preference really comes down to the races/looks of your characters, at lvl 60 there wont be a gimp race as such as in DAoC.

On PvP 8 there is probably an equal share of high level players, except that the alliance players don't usualy stoop to camping low level areas such as redridge, unlike the horde on our server who feel like real champs when they take over a low level contested zone with level 40+.