Breakfast Topic: Do you have qualms about playing the other faction?
by Nik Mitchell 
Sep 21st 2011 at 8:00AM
Talk to any self-proclaimed altoholic: They'll tell you stories of rolling characters on both sides of the two factions that split the World of Warcraft. For many, their attachment to one side or the other is merely dependent on "What do I want to play today?" However, for me, playing the other faction has some serious consequences: pangs of agony, nervous twitches, tummy trouble, you name it.
I started WoW on one side but quickly found myself tempted to try the other (I heard they had cookies) and never looked back for years. I filled out all 10 slots with the faction I loved. Seven 85s later, I get the whisper from my officers that they are swapping sides as a pet project. The worst of all isn't really that I'd consider playing the dark side again; it's that my closest of guildies are happily getting entrenched. Lured by the real-life friend of another, lo and behold, they found a level 25 guild that would gladly receive some potential recruits... and now my guildies want me to join them, too.
Now don't get me wrong -- I don't deny the opposite faction their right to exist (well, except every time I get killed in Tol Barad), but it feels so completely wrong to be rolling this character (not to mention having to delete my mid-30s mage). What about you? Have you ever had a question of conscience to even begin to create a character of the opposite faction?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 8)
SleepySlug Sep 21st 2011 8:01AM
0 Alliance Toons
For the Horde!
Thomas Higgins Sep 21st 2011 9:27AM
I love Undercity. One day, when the forces of the Alliance take it and exterminate the zombie scum and their bitch of a leader, all I would do to change it for the better would be to clean up the sewers and put in some more lighting. The rest is perfect as it is, and it is the one thing I miss as a former player for the Horde, who still has more dead Alliance players and npcs on his kill list than dead Horde ones.
The Exodar I would love to nuke from low Azeroth orbit.
restodr00d Sep 21st 2011 9:41AM
@Thomas
you must be 10
Wolftech Sep 21st 2011 10:44AM
Friends don't let friends play Horde.
GLORY TO THE ALLIANCE! DEATH TO THE HORDE!
Rai Sep 21st 2011 11:16AM
As an Alliance main, I temporarily have qualms about playing Horde before I remember that a bunch of my fellow-Alliancers spam Trade chat and ruin our RP and proceed to go on a killing spree.
Very good stress relief.
Wulfkin Sep 21st 2011 11:54AM
FOR THE HORDE!
I tried playing Alliance a couple of times, never got beyond the first few levels. It just felt wrong, so very wrong. Not simply because I love Horde, but I think I have a Horde soul. I was Horde before WoW was released.
trefpoid Sep 21st 2011 2:07PM
It's painful to play Alliance for me. Really. I cannot live in a world were I cannot eat gnomes for breakfast. Also, I can't stand humans at all. They make me wanna puke just by looking at them. My girlfriend made me roll a Worgen so I could transfer the starting cloth robe over to her Horde toons for RP purposes, and I cannot describe how awful it was. Not only because the Worgen zone felt endless, but because it just felt so damn wrong. I will never, ever, play an Alliance toon again. I like nelves though, lorewise, but having to fight evil monsters with gnomes and humans as allies is just to much for me to bare. Culling of Stratholme traumatized me too, seeing my beautiful normal self turned into a black, bald human.. oh god. Oh, and I could never PvP with an Alliance toon. Killing my fellow Horde is completely out of the question, and I know it sounds silly because it's a game and all, but I just can't.
So I have 10 Horde toons and I love 'em :D
Bynde Sep 21st 2011 2:48PM
I strongly support Thomas's idea of nuking the Exodar, the most god-awful sprawl of shiny things and confusing levels and corridors since an Escher print.
Thomas Higgins Sep 27th 2011 10:01PM
Nope, about four times that, resto. When I hate something, I hate it. When I like something, I hate it. I hardly ever have any middle ground.
Matchu Sep 21st 2011 8:04AM
I get lost. A lot. Particularly Undercity, which seems like it was designed by a small child fuelled by LSD.
puffcake Sep 21st 2011 8:12AM
It's weird, I feel the same way about Ironforge...and the Exodar. :)
Matchu Sep 21st 2011 8:14AM
The Exodar? Never heard of it.
;)
Luke Sep 21st 2011 8:17AM
But... Undercity and Ironforge are just giant circles... how does one get lost in a circle? Especially considering there are guards to point you where you need to go...
Matchu Sep 21st 2011 8:23AM
IF and Undercity are both essentially big circles. But whereas IF is all on one level, Undercity makes you go up. Or down. Or up and around. And down then up then around then down. It makes my head spin.
Jen Sep 21st 2011 8:30AM
Exodar isn't that hard to navigate once you get used to it a bit. Undercity... let's say I have needed an escort in the past just to find the damn gate.
Smashbolt Sep 21st 2011 8:31AM
Undercity's confusing because of having to find the various pathways that go between different levels to get around in there. I've known a good few people who will get to Undercity for the first time, make their way to the AH or somewhere in the middle of town, then be stuck in that inner ring for half an hour trying to find a way back out...
Luke Sep 21st 2011 8:35AM
"Undercity's confusing because of having to find the various pathways that go between different levels to get around in there. I've known a good few people who will get to Undercity for the first time, make their way to the AH or somewhere in the middle of town, then be stuck in that inner ring for half an hour trying to find a way back out..."
I'm laughing with you...
I promise...
Kylenne Sep 21st 2011 9:22AM
People who get lost in the Undercity seriously baffle me, as do people who die to the elevator. I seriously don't understand how either of these things is even a thing. Once you understand where the elevator is (which is the hardest part if you're new), how the hell do you get lost in a circle? And I say this as one of the most directionally challenged people there is.
I also don't understand people who get lost in the Exodar, which is another giant circle/hub. And one where it's fairly obvious where most everything is, unlike a certain other Alliance city I could name...
Stormwind. I played Alliance for maybe 8 months at the very beginning of my WoW career. I never knew where the fuck anything was, and those canals made everything 50 times more confusing. Counterintuitive locations for things. Orgimmar was similarly stupid before the revamp, but for some reason I grokked it almost immediately.
marcoscr05 Sep 21st 2011 9:48AM
I agree with Kylenne...the challenge in undercity is the elevator. My first time there the city was easy to understand...getting out of the city...still gives me nightmares.
Eros Sep 21st 2011 10:04AM
The thing with the Undercity is that it all looks the same. I constantly have to open my map to tell where i am in the circle.