Breakfast Topic: Faction Pride
by Amanda Dean 
Mar 15th 2008 at 8:00AM
I play Horde. I've been known to wear a t-shirt that says "Real Women Roll Horde." I've tried playing
There seem to be a lot of stereotypes of players on either faction: Allies are kiddies and goody-goodies; Hordies are bloodthirsty, basement-dwelling jerks who don't even play nicely with each other. If I come across someone who seems like a total stooge, the thought, "That guy probably rolls Alliance." crosses my mind. I've discovered that these are merely overgeneralizations and there are great players and great people on both sides. Maybe I won't pick fights with chicks who play gnome when Wrath of the Lich King is released.
What's your experience with faction rivalry beyond Azeroth?
Filed under: Horde, Alliance, Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Heilig Mar 15th 2008 8:08AM
I think you can draw certain conclusions from the fact that the overwhelming majority of PvP servers are horde-dominant, while the PvE servers are owned by alliance.
I'm really not sure what that conclusion is, but the numbers are there.
Matthew Rossi Mar 15th 2008 8:25AM
Tauren are the best looking race in the game: all their warriors look awesome, druid gear and druid forms look best on them, and their shamans and hunters make that mail look reasonable. Even the giant eyeball shoulders.
So for me, it's basically Tauren, then Alliance, then the rest of the Horde.
Skurd'jin Mar 16th 2008 10:39AM
I've seen alot more alliance players doing /rude, /spit, etc. at me than I see horde doing that when i play alliance. One of the reasons i went horde is for nicer players who are more mature (this is just averaging the players i know there are plenty of nice guys who roll alliance).
also on a side-note I think trolls are the coolest race, not tauren =P
FOR THE HORDE
-Skurd'jin
skalgrim Mar 15th 2008 8:31AM
Anyone who takes this game and the views held within it into real life has serious issues. I play Dwarves and Gnomes. I do this because of how they look, I enjoy it. I gravitate away from horde as I hate the way they *all* look (taurans and trolls - bare feet, orcs = hunchbacks, undead = armour looks crap on them). I hate how humans are muscle bound freaks and NEs and BEs? well, never, ever.
And I'd certainly never draw any conclusions about anyone I met in RL that played a certain race, faction or class.
Kaphik Mar 15th 2008 8:35AM
When i first started playing WoW over two years ago, I chose Horde because I wanted to be the bad guy. Little did I know that there was no "bad guy" side, per se, in the game. Still I've found those who mainly play Horde have a different mindset than Alliance players.
I remember being at Blizzcon, and standing outside the doors that opening morning. Looking at the shirts, hats, costumes, whatever people were wearing, there seemed to be about an even number of Alliance and Horde players. Suddenyl a couple of people shouted out "For the Alliance!" Immediately, a much, much larger number of people shouted "For the Horde!" and continued shouting it. Horde seem to be more boisterous, louder, you know when someone we're in the room.
In PvP, from what I have seen (and only playing Alliance pvp from 10-19), it seems that Horde are more willing to stick together. If one player is being attacked by Alliance, most Horde will stop and fight. Even if it isn't the smartest thing to do. I see a lot more Alliance players run past their teamates in distress. I'm not saying Alliance doesn't work together, I've seen that many many times, just looks to me like Horde does it more.
vildand Mar 15th 2008 8:36AM
I've played both because the rl friends I was playing with decided to go alliance somewhere around the TBC launch. So maybe that is why I don't have much faction pride.
I'm tied to races instead, I help out the alliance races I like and shun the ones I don't. Which for example means I refuse to group with elves, that aren't in my guild, which does cause some drama when you're the tank. :p
The same thing is true for horde where I usually emote away with tauren and trolls but go out of my way to make life misserable for bloodelves and undeads.
I guess it's not a very nice thing to do but it's a rp-pvp server and I'm a little dwarven racist!
Kaphik Mar 15th 2008 8:36AM
Edit: Second, paragraph, last sented SHOULD read "Horde seem to be more boisterous, louder, you know when we're in the room."
Seamus Mar 15th 2008 8:42AM
Horde sucks.
Nati Mar 15th 2008 8:41AM
Faction rivalry is ridiculous. Both sides have the exact same types of players.
BitterCupOJoe Mar 15th 2008 8:51AM
Agree with Nati. Faction rivalry is as stupid as those guys that paint their faces at football matches. It's just another idiotic form of tribalism. Whichever side I'm on, I'll try to beat the other side, if on a PvP server or BG. Other than that, I don't care if someone plays Alliance or Horde. It's just a game.
Terrant Mar 15th 2008 8:54AM
I think it's cool if people feel an attachment to one side or the other -but I don't! For $15 a month, I'm squeezing every bit of entertainment I can out of the game, and that includes seeing both side's quests, thank you very much. :)
Juliah Mar 15th 2008 10:44AM
Mostly agreed, Terrant. I'm here to play all the content. Frankly, I think it's a bit silly to make sweeping generalizations about one side or another, given that this game is so huge. There are far too many players of both faction to say "Horde players do this/act like this," or "Alliance players do that/act like that." I guess it's all right if it's playful ribbing, but that's as far as it should go. Any real aspersions or negative judgments about someone based on an in-game faction are ludicrous.
PropagandaPanda Mar 15th 2008 2:48PM
Same, I play both factions. SO not sure what conclusions you can draw from that.
Calybos Mar 17th 2008 10:30AM
EXACTLY. I have characters of all classes and all races, so I can see all areas and quests in the game. I can't imagine, even on the RP servers, taking "faction" so seriously as to deprive myself of some game content.
Tenchan Mar 15th 2008 9:30AM
Faction pride is cool. Faction hostility is not.
Jane Gray Mar 15th 2008 9:51AM
Lol yeah on the racism... I love that I can give people crap for going Scryer and becoming "filthy elf sympathizers". Fortuneately everyone ASSUMES I mean filthy blood elves... not so. All elves are inherently freaky. Stupid nelfs with the jumping and the ears are just as bad.
I have noticed that blood elves are the only ones who like to wreck a good losing premade AB naked dance party.
Scrooge Mar 15th 2008 10:09AM
I don't know what it is, but I only have dwarves and gnomes. I think part of it is I love the snow in the beginning and the only capital city that I like is IF. I don't mind SW, but I can't stand all the others. My brother and friends give me a hard time about it, and some think I'm weird. Lots of people think I'm weird though because all my characters are named after characters of Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol."
But as far as horde goes I just never have been compelled to roll one. My brother badgers me all the time, but I have yet to roll horde. I don't have a prob with them though. I actually had a horde rogue save my dwarf life one day. I'd aggroed a huge mob, blown all my mana, and was going to die on the last guy (that really hacks me off by-the-way). Suddenly the rogue appears and kills the last guy, saving my butt. It was the first time in the game where I wished I could communicate across factions other then the emotion deals.
Oh well to each his own.
Zeldaguard Mar 15th 2008 10:18AM
My main is a tauren, so I tend to roll horde more often. However, when my friend rolled a gnome lock and I laughed at him, he told me I was racist...so now I don't hate gnomes as much. Night elves are a different story.
TomWolf Mar 15th 2008 10:22AM
I like faction rivalry. I think that if you play Horde you should hate, or strongly dislike, the alliance and its races. When you roll a Human you should fight undead with bloodthirst. Atleast when it comes to rp and rp-pvp servers.
That aside, it's your character that does the hating of other characters. You, as a player, should be aware that the other players are often enough nice people, no matter what class, race or faction they choose to play.
I have friends on both side of the faction limit and I play on a rp-pvp server. Those I know who are Horde I mostly fight fiercly when we meet except in some cases where we have a roleplaying reason to not attack eachother. One player I know have one troll character that are like a brother to my dwarf while he has a tauren who rips my dwarf a new one when they meet.
The only *players* that are deserving of some dislike are those that exploit bugs in battleground, whiners who cry "we are gonna loose again!" 5 seconds into the battle and blood elves. (last one was a joke for those that didn't get it right away)
Ed209 Mar 15th 2008 1:42PM
One of my biggest problems with the game is the way people react in real life to your faction of preference.
Here is an actual conversation we had with someone at Blizzcon while waiting for the Video Games Live to begin.
Horde guy: What faction do you guys play?
Us: We play alliance.
Horde guy: Ewwww. Alliance. You are dead to me. *Turns around*
Us: Dead to you?!? We don't even know you! And we play the exact same game!
That got a chuckle from those around us. But in all seriousness it is true. Although we can't communicate, we are still doing the same quests, killing the same bears, going into the same dungeons.
I work in a video game store and I refuse to tell people that I play. After 3 years of arguing which is better, at this point I really don't care. We are all playing and enjoying the same game. And that's all that matters to me.