Pride (in the name of the Horde)
by Elizabeth Wachowski 
Feb 21st 2007 at 10:12AM
Lok'Tar! For the Horde! Strength and honor! Ew, I'd never play an Alliance character. Look, it's another stupid night elf female. If it's red, it's dead! All the kiddies play Alliance ...
If you're Horde, you hear things like this every day. The Horde has a large number of loyal partisans who take great pride in being a member of the faction, and think less of anyone on the other side. The Alliance are pretty boys, little kids, ezmode, uncreative. The Horde has all the best heroes, the Horde are the real players, the Horde are the true good guys of WoW. You can't go five minutes in Orgrimmar without hearing one of these sentiments.
But, as Soy of Auchindoun points out, Alliance players don't seem to have the same vocal pride in their faction as Horde do. I've played both sides, and the most I've heard Alliance players call the Horde is ugly and evil. Which admittedly aren't good things to be called, but that's more about the lore than a direct attack on the players behind the avatars. Several players noted that underpopulated races seem to have more pride than overpopulated ones -- you'll see more troll, dwarf and draenei pride than undead, night elf and human. Perhaps that's the reason the Horde feels the need to claim superiority -- since they're the underdog on most servers, they have to do something to keep from feeling like scrubs. Also, the Horde has less prettiness, sparsely populated cities, and are widely perceived as evil. With all that on our heads, it's no wonder we need Horde pride. Adversity has strengthened our spirit and caused us to band together.
I started out as a night elf and ended up as a troll, so I don't really have too much faction pride. I feel a little proud whenever a Horde guild gets a world first, and I do like being a rare class/race/gender combination, but eh ... there are as many annoying people on my side as on theirs. Or, as Borogove of Proudmoore says, "Alliance has more idiots, Horde has more jerks. Pick your poison."
Are you proud to be a member of the Alliance or the Horde? What about your race or class? Do you really hate the other faction? Who do you think has more to be proud of?
Filed under: Horde, Alliance, Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, RP
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
BaboonNL Feb 21st 2007 10:17AM
Both sides are filled with retards, but it seems Alliance has a lot more mature people. (>25 years old, not those annoying 13 year olds who think they're mature because they're not 12 anymore)
Ollej Feb 21st 2007 10:37AM
I'm pretty much entrenched in the Alliance. I have an alt of every class on Kargath. I once rolled a few Horde characters on a different server. They have sat there for about 6 months, all below level 20.
Also, I'm all about the pride. If I see an Undead mage starting to cast a spell towards a mob, I'll try to hit it with a Holy Shock, just to flag it for myself. If I see a Horde that is flagged (yes, I play PvE). I will almost always attack. Heck, I was flagged once recently on an SM run, and I was flagged, this group of 5 horde tried to jump me and I ended up killing them with 1 consecration and just my Ret Aura. I didn't even have to take a swing, I think they didn't realize why they were dying once the consecration was over.
Zuuler Feb 21st 2007 10:34AM
@1
I hardly ever find anyone less than 20 on horde side, and the few that are under 20 usually say something along the lines of "My main is a (pick an alliance race and insert here)".
I can see this post breaking down into pandemonium right now.
I feel like being a horde character does give you a right to feel superior. The alliance has an advantage given to low lvl characters in that they have 3 zones, beyond the starting zones, that are alliance dominated with no horde town whatsoever (Redridge Mountains, Loch Modan, Duskwood). On PVP servers, this gives alliance characters zones to lvl to around 30 in with little horde interference. The only zone similar to this for horde is Thousand Needles, which has a high-lvl alliance flight path right on the border with Feralas, and also the easiest path for alliance to take to get to Tanaris.
When a horde character hits 20, the zone with the best quests/rewards is hillsbrad, which on PVP servers turns into a ganking ground. On PVE servers, you still have to compete with alliance characters for quest mobs.
Then of course theres the population imbalance that gives the alliance a larger population on most servers. Larger populations mean a better chance of good players in guilds, which indirectly means they end up with better gear, giving horde players a further disadvantage when facing off in PVP.
I started horde because I had friends who played horde, and obviously, as a noob, I wanted their help. The few alliance characters I have started turned me off to alliance completely because the starting zones always seem to be overcrowded. And asking for help in an alliance zone usually ends with nothing but aggitation.
I'm happy to play horde, and looking forward to killing alliance on my new character on a PVP realm.
the six winger Feb 21st 2007 10:35AM
For what I can tell having palyed on both sides. The ratios are just about the same. There are just about as many retarded, "kiddie" players per capita on alliance and there are on horde. But the horde does seem to have more pride in the fact that they are horde. Of course it does usually come with a diatribe of the alliance and the obligatory we roxor! Again having played both sides "I doth believe the lady protest to much."
HalcyonGT Feb 21st 2007 10:36AM
I agree with #1...both sides have an equal share of 'tards.
Derbeste Feb 21st 2007 10:39AM
Spoken like a true horde player, Elizabeth.
Alliance is EZmode? please. Everything is the same now cept for one thing....RACIALS! And who has the upper hand there? (hint: arcane torrent vs. perception? yeah....that's equal)
As for whiny kiddies, I have rolled a few horde toons and all I heard were little 10 year olds speaking "1337" and bitching in general chat.
I, myself, am 29 and everyone in my guild is at least mid 20s. It's easy to tell when you invited a preteen and they don't last long in ANY guild I've ever been in. NO faction likes them....period.
The only difference I have ever seen between the factions is that Alliance seems to like PvE more (and do better) vs. horde that seem to like PvP more (and admittadly...do better as a result).
So what you think is "pride" is really just "aggression". Maybe they were bullied and decide to relieve their frustration where they have a chance of winning. Maybe they are just mad the.....sizings.....they were delt in RL. But mob mentality does not equal pride. And just because you're better at beating a real player vs. a very difficult raid doesn't mean you're a better player.
It just means you picked a battle you think you can win more easily....and then chose to start trash talking about it.
That's "mature"?
Strongmark on Arthas Feb 21st 2007 10:50AM
I am totally proud of my guild, my server and the Alliance in general! I don't like the horde, for the lore and for the people. Though, I will admit, as I build my first char to 60, I am starting to see asshat alliance ganking lowbie horde, just as much as Horde did it to me (which is the biggest reason I hate them). Even though I run on a PVP server, I refuse to gank lowbie horde. I was running around Hillsbrad the other day, following a Horde on my horse, and I get this message that I should kill him. I ask the guy why, he says because he's horde!! While I agree with that statement (specially on a PVP server) I responded that there is no honour in me killing someone half my level (and I don't mean honour points, I mean true honour). As much as I hate them, I don't condone the killing of lowbie players because I can.
Also, I am pretty sure there are just as many immature people on Horde as there are Alliance, I choose to ignore the immaturity.
Anyways, I still love Alliance, and would prefer to play them anyday. One day I will try horde, because thats another 50% of the game, and maybe I will like them more. I doubt it, but we will see :o)
Popor on EU-Lightbringer Feb 21st 2007 10:55AM
#5 wrote, "I'm pretty much entrenched in the Alliance. I have an alt of every class on Kargath. I once rolled a few Horde characters on a different server."
I've always understood this to be true, that you cannot have opposing factions on the same server and same account.
HOWEVER, My main and a couple of alts are horde on EU-Lightbringer. I was playing around with character generation and was able to succesfully roll a human on the same server. I have played that human, just to confirm that it works. Isn't this normally not allowed... opposing faction on same account and same server?
Main... Popor - lvl 49 Tauren warrior
alt.... Ezreal - lvl 6 Human mage
Ephor Feb 21st 2007 10:55AM
Here's the stereotype you won't hear from many people who frequent this site: Horde have no lives. I've dabbled on a horde toon and while alliance are dicks when it comes to ganking, nobody will corpse camp you like an emo undead pussy crying in his parents basement.
The other side of that coin is horde have more hardcore players, and alliance is full of noobs, making pugs that much worse.
Even still, yea, I do have alliance pride, and it's partly because it's a bit friendlier and I've met more people who have real lives outside of wow who play alliance. There's less pressure to keep playing after a wipe because God forbid I should have a job, coursework, and a girlfriend; horde players will stalk you for that shit. I bought the ALLIANCE shirt at hot topic and the only thing that could make me love it more is if it said "EZ MODE" emblazed in bold letters on the back, :P
NeuroMan42 Feb 21st 2007 10:59AM
Both sides can have their share of morons. I prefer the Horde and have had a better feeling of community and a more mature group of players on that side. Also the maturity level on RPG realms I have noticed is MUCH higher then the other realms.
Gist Feb 21st 2007 10:56AM
Horde RP.
Heymish Feb 21st 2007 10:56AM
@1
I work with the mentally challenged, and I know a few that would pwn your ass if you met them in a BG. A lot of those guys have nothing better to do than play WoW, so next time you get slaughtered by a player, it might be a guy I know in one of our residences that has 4 lvl 60's and a level 70. So I think some of the best players may be people you would consider a retard. Ever seen an autistic man out DPS an entire raid group. I have and it was quite a sight to see.
Jeff Hogue Feb 21st 2007 10:57AM
The bottom line is this: nobody can back up any of their claims. Everytime you say; "Oh, the Alliance attract the kids", there will always be someone who is right there waiting to say; "OMG i'm 20-something and my entire guild is 20-something so you're wrong LULZ".
How I see it, the factions are different but equal. Until Blizzard issues a mandatory survey and posts the results, the "kiddy" arguement will never have a right side.
As for pride, as a Horde player I think we deserve the mass amount of pride we have. We have less numbers, and PvP racials. So if a Horde guild get's a world first, it's that much more impressive. The Alliance have more players, which leads to more guilds, and they have a HUGE advantage because their racials are very PvE oriented.
Pruflas Feb 21st 2007 11:08AM
I started alliance, did alot of battle grounds in guild groups and solo on my rogue.
I switched to horde, did alot of battle grounds in guild groups and solo on my mage.
Big differences.
The reason you see more pride in Horde then Alliance? - numbers. Horde seems like it's outnumbered vastly. This forces the horde players to group with just about all members in their level range at some point or another. On alliance - unless it was a guild group, i'd hardly ever run with most.
So most Horde members have run with, or know the others on the horde side.
Can alliance say the same thing? I dout it - i know my old main couldn't name off 1/100th the alliance members in his bg (server - pre cross sever bg's).
When you've leveled and ran with just about everyone, and you run into that person again later on - you check them out talk about old times and it builds a community - which results in "pride". I'm happy when i see someone i ran with show up in town with a new set of armor on they just won.. I can't say the same on my Alliance toon.. most of the time i wouldn't have even noticed them.
MadCow Feb 21st 2007 11:07AM
I've played both sides (started Ally, switched to Horde) ... while they both have their fair share of poptarts I find the ally tarts to be a little more palatable ... Barrens chat says it all.
I have found the players to be more "mature" on Alliance. While Horde tends to have the better overall players ... they are offset by the droves of players with "issues" anywhere from crying in Vent over a drop, to wiping a raid because of drop, etc. I've yet to experience that kind of bullshit on Alliance ... I've also yet to find a player that could match up to a Horde "Hero" 1vs1. Sure the Alliance has a few more "kids" ... usually it's one asshat in a city spamming crap vs barrens chat ... I'll take asshat for 2g Alex. At least that bastard is /ignore-able vs having to leave the channel completely in the Barrens.
Sideshow Feb 21st 2007 11:08AM
#9, you can roll both factions on a PvE server only. You can only roll one faction on a PvP server. I assume it's to keep things fair in a "always-flagged" world where you could hop back and forth.
Zuuler Feb 21st 2007 11:16AM
@8
I have a full time job
I own my own home
I have a fiancee and we're getting married in a few months
And I am former US Marine Infantry (not so much of a pussy now am I).
...And my computer is upstairs, which wouldn't matter because my basement is finished and is pretty nicely done too.
The guild I am in now was started by a group of my younger brothers friends. They all have full time jobs (most are in the military) and some are married with kids which eat up most of their time (ever stop halfway through an isntance because someone had to pick their kids up?).
I'm not saying all horde have lives, I am sure there are those out there that spend 20 hours each day playing. But its unfair to not mention that their are alliance with no lives. The first lvl 70 was a dwarf, and he did it in 28 hours if I recall.
And as far as hordcore players, who doesn't know who Death and Taxes is? Only the most hardcore of the hardcore players in WoW, and they're alliance.
So now, you're reasons for alliance pride can be applied to both factions. So how can you have pride in one faction over another when your beliefs about one also apply to the other?
Hub Feb 21st 2007 11:18AM
I've played both sides (Ally on RP and horde on PVP). There are plenty of 12 year olds and obnoxious adults that can ruin a PUG on both sides. I have to say I found the horde culture a bit whiney and self-righteous. This is probably explained by the fact my two mains are gnomes (lock and mage). There's a brotherhood among those of us that play gnomes. When you're 2' tall you can't take yourself too seriously and can really have some fun in the game. The rest of the Allies are just there for our entertainment, and don't know they're the real butt of the joke.
Deafdumbandblind Feb 21st 2007 11:21AM
Agree with #1
I've got 8 Alliance chars and 4 Horde
The only difference is that horde PvP players generally have better gear than Alliance because they have like a 30 sec waiting time to get into BGs so they can do more games per day and so they get more points.
I do believe that htere has been an increase in the Horde kiddie population with the inception of the Blood elf race (many many legolases).
WHo do I prefer? Alliance, the horde are just too damn ugly to play for any length of time. On the plus side their sound bytes are better than the Alliance.
nea Feb 21st 2007 11:23AM
Just because there are (in most cases) less Horde then Alliance, doesn't mean Horde is an underdog. The pride is something you simply pick up from hearing npc welcomes, reading quest logs and, quite often, chatting with other players, even on PvP/non-RP servers. What else can I say.
FOR THE HORDE
playing an Orc Warrior.