Does your faction matter?
by Matthew Rossi 
Sep 18th 2007 at 5:00PM
I have several characters in World of Warcraft that I play most frequently, two being Horde and three being Alliance. My two Horde may well be my most frequently played at the moment, with both my warrior and shaman being active in their guild, but when my wife is home I generally play with her, and that means playing Alliance.
I don't know how or why it happened, but we've developed totally different mindsets. She is very invested in the Alliance questlines and stories, to the point where unfinished or unresolved quests annoy her, and she can't get into playing Horde with quests involving feeding diseased food and drink to helpless prisoners. As she put it when we discussed the situation, there's a world of difference between stiffing workers out of their pay and plotting to exterminate all life on Azeroth.
For myself, however, I have no trouble playing Horde. But when I'm playing my tauren or orc characters, I run into the opposite issue: many of my guildies are excellent players but they really dislike the Alliance, especially night elves. The amount of anti-NE bias I run into seriously staggers me at times. Maybe it's just because I have a night elf at 70 as well, but it always floors and baffled me when I run into statements like "All the Alliance are little kids" and "Horde players are more mature" because, well, so far I've seen utter toolboxes and jackasses in my time on both factions. The same proportion of people who teabag their dead opponents in PvP, the same general amounts of noobishness and dickery in the chat channels... I just honestly don't get why someone would prefer one over the other. Horde and Alliance both have their own compelling storylines and their own unique NPC's, and some fun quests as well as ones that ask you to do objectionable things.
I personally have no problem killing Alliance on my Horde toons or vice versa. In fact, I've often wished I could somehow PvP against myself, so to speak: I'd love to see how my tauren would fare going up against my night elf. (I suspect the tauren would win, he has much better gear and I think I've come up with a really effective build for him.) I guess for me the cross faction antagonism is just another element of the game.
What do you think? Is it important to pick a faction and support it? Does it enhance or detract from your ability to experience all the game has to offer? Or are you missing out if you're not invested in your faction?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, PvP, Quests, Factions
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Beaverius Sep 18th 2007 5:13PM
The grass is always greener...
Diaz Sep 18th 2007 5:18PM
"Is it important to pick a faction and support it?"
No. I imagine that many people enjoy WOW as a simple break from the day.
"Does it enhance or detract from your ability to experience all the game has to offer?"
This is a personal question and my answer would be a resounding, YES! My first toon was alliance and a stuck with him for a year. The whole time a enjoyed the horde players on the forums more and wished I had rolled horde. For some reason it just seemed, 'right'. Fortunately my guild decided to reroll as horde and for me there is no looking back. I can't touch my alliance toons and to be honest... I can't stand alliance in game. It's true I see an equal amount of childish behavior on both sides, but with alliance I see it at high levels with Horde it seems contained in the barrens. Also, with so few horde on most servers it seems even those 'kids' try to work towards a common goal. Maybe thats it, I feel like the horde tries to be a team and fosters some unity.
Malyfactian Sep 18th 2007 5:23PM
I think people put too much emphasis on faction sometimes, but then again I'm not a PVP-er. I enjoy the lore of both sides, for what it's worth, and have enjoyed rolling and leveling humans, orcs, and undead.
As for night elves, I rolled a NElf once and couldn't really get into it. Teldrassil is easily the least intuitive and least interesting starting area for any race. I'm glad I didn't roll that one first.
Lonecow Sep 18th 2007 5:24PM
Thank you sir!
I am a noob, just started playing a month ago. I started with an Undead Warlock and liked her alot, but then I switched over to a Warrior NE just to see what it was like on the other side and now thats the one I'm obsessed with leveling up. They were both fun, but really I just liked looking at the NE starting location compared to the zombie town.
Anyway, just this last week I've noticed that when I get on message boards if I say I play as a NE people start berating me and calling me an idiot, saying that 90% of NE players are idiots, etc, etc. They say the Alliance is for kids, but they are the ones acting immature about the whole thing.
Personally I never like playing as a villain in games, and it is something that has been adopted by gaming communities where they think it's "cool" to be the bad guy. They think it makes them different. It's the same people who have wall scrolls of Sepheroith on their walls.
That being said, I like the Horde because of their whole redemption side, the Orcs have a badass leader that is the sole reason I want to get far with my Undead character so I can meet Thrall. (Thrall doesn't really fit the villain archetype because he was a slave child who rose up and lead his people out of bondage, he rules). But some of the other Horde missions have questionable morals, like the one mentioned above.
Also I want to say that the whole reason I really got into WoW so quick is that everyone you meet as you play the game is super nice and helpful and really act like they would in real life. It just saddens me that the Internet community is so hostile to certain types and classes, and I hope it doesn't end up jading my experience in the long run.
Oblivion Sep 18th 2007 5:26PM
I sort of have two mains. One is an alliance character, one is a horde character (both 70). I think the people that only have leveled characters for one faction are really missing out on a lot of the game. The quests, towns, and travel methods are different for both factions. Horde and Alliance really do offer unique perspectives to Azeroth in terms of gameplay. Outland is a bit more homogenous considering Shattrath is a shared capital city and all zones are contested. I really wish that Horde/Alliance had separate capital cities and zones again in Northrend.
Gameplay aside, I've never noticed anything different in terms of players attitudes or behaviors. I don't think "horde people" and "alliance people" act differently.
Murloc Warlock Sep 18th 2007 5:29PM
from the day 1 i've decided to play both factions
orc warrior and nelf druid were born the same night
well... i've finally deleted poor longeared bastard a couple months ago never touching him for 2 years
now i got 4 70s and all of them are mighty hordes >:E, new druid included
can't remember how i've managed to actually play a gelf for about 20 levels -.-
Krick Sep 18th 2007 5:31PM
There's a /teabag emote?
How'd I miss that one?
...
Krick
http://www.tankadin.com
Olee Sep 18th 2007 5:38PM
Personally I find the Horde more interesting. Granted we have the BEs and the Forsaken who seem to be extremely self serving, but on the whole, the Orcs and Trolls and Tauren seem to be good (remember good and evil are relative) beings.
That doesn't mean what the Orcs did wasn't wrong, but they weren't exactly themselves at the time, were they? I think they've realized this and are now just trying to live on the new world they were forced upon.
The trolls, of course they have bad apples, but all of the races do really.
And of course for the Tauren, well...theres not much to say about them. They allied with Thrall and the Horde to fight against centaurs, not Night Elfs. An alliance of convenience.
There just seems to me to be more corruption within the races on the Alliance side. Who knows.
rick gregory Sep 18th 2007 5:41PM
Honestly, the people who really, seriously say that they hate NEs, BEs, gnomes etc. scare me a bit. I mean... it's a game people. It's NOT REAL...
Hooper Sep 18th 2007 5:42PM
FOR THE HOR.....wait.....teabag?
Really? Really Now?
. . .
(Addon developers such as LeeroyHillsCatsPower reading this, get on this /teabag shortage issue NOW)
twh Sep 18th 2007 5:44PM
It really shouldn't matter which faction you choose, but it should be based on your personal preference.
However, the reason why I've chosen, and stuck with, Alliance, aside from the fact they had real paladins first, is that the Horde players I've met had this hubris that I just could not stand at all.
Granted, this does not include all of the Horde players, nor does it mean that there are no such players Alliance-side. However, it was those few experiences that have kept, and probably will, keep me from rolling Horde every time I hear one of the allegedly 'mature' players saying how much better the Horde is than the Alliance or when they say, "For the Horde" in all caps, as though being part of a faction in a video game actually means something.
blackwolf675 Sep 18th 2007 5:56PM
This may sound RPish or crazy, but - I genuinely care for my faction and its people.
I've been Horde since Beta and I never once questioned that decision. I love the varied cultures and attitudes of its races, especially the Tribal nature of the Orcs, Tauren and Trolls.
I've always felt unaccountably proud to finish quests for Thrall, even after so many levels and alts. Hell, the Blightcaller's backhanded compliments make me smile.
I can't explain it really.
The times I've tinkered with an Alliance character, I could never get them beyond lvl 25. Alliance territory makes my skin crawl - not so much because of the players as much as the atmosphere and cities.
Seeing a Horde emblem on a car or Tshirt always gives me a warm feeling, a sense of kinship even with strangers.
Home is where the Horde is.
Soroka Sep 18th 2007 5:56PM
I think that the percentages of noobs/teabaggers/etc are probably the same on either side. Generally speaking, Alliance outnumber the Horde - sometimes as much as three to one on a given server. So going by base numbers, there are technically more Alliance noobs than Horde.
And yeah - some of the Horde quests involve some mean things. But we don't have Lady Onyxia running any of our cap cities. ;)
Markoss Sep 18th 2007 6:11PM
Well, i think its not a big deal which faction you choose as long as you have basic maturity in your playstyle and behaviour you're fine, faction matters only when you are realy connected to the lore but i think most people could not care less for it
Corrodias Sep 18th 2007 6:01PM
Night Elves are ugly.
Urthona Sep 18th 2007 6:04PM
After my main hit 70, I set about finally doing what I always meant to: Roll one of each race + class in the game. It's odd that my heavily armored classes ended up Alliance, and my Horde are glass cannons. Alas, they are the stories I want to play.
While it's true that Alliance has a lot of pixelphiles with Night Elf Female Hunters, Horde seems to have a lot of kids into Goth and monster fetishes. As all of my alts are 20-30 right now (aside from Aertho my JC prot paladin) I've been witness to a lot of low level immaturity and showing off on both sides.
While my main is a Malfurion-specced druid on Alliance, I look forward to leveling my troll priest and tauren shaman to see if the rumors of "maturity" and helpfulness are true on the red team — I've been lucky to find a solid group of friends on the blue side.
Ken Lydell Sep 18th 2007 6:04PM
I can find no good reason to grief strangers because their toon's race belongs to the other faction. Perhaps I am too old to remember what is like to think like a child.
Superfluous Sep 18th 2007 6:09PM
I've played both sides and I have to side with #13 there. I just really couldn't get into the alliance zones at all. To me, elwynn and loch modan were just dreary. I think it has to do with the Alliance being a lot more establishes in the history of the world and the Forsaken and Orcs and all trying to make their ground and live out their lives. Always kinda nice to root for the underdogs.
In general about the players, I've met equally mature people on both sides. Heck, people in my guild have high level toons on both sides. I feel thought that less number of Horde on the PvE servers keeps some of our channels less chatty and annoying.
Arg Sep 18th 2007 6:21PM
Elves smell funny, no matter what faction you play. This is a cold, hard fact.
As for myself, I rolled Alliance because my roommate (who got me into the game in the first place) played Alliance. I love the Dwarves, but could really care less for the other Alliance races. Overall, however, the Tauren are probably my favorite race, if nothing else for the aesthetic.
Dc3 Sep 18th 2007 6:26PM
I have played both Alliance and Horde and as a previous poster pointed out, Alliance and Horde are equally immature during the lower levels, but Alliance characters seem to carry that immaturity into the higher levels.
Something very curious is the fact that most PVE realms have A/H activity ratios favoring Alliance while PVP realms have ratios favoring the Horde. Whether it be something as simple as racial abilities or player mindsets this fact interests me.