Alliance and Horde are Not Equal for Blizzard (!)

First of all, I hope for heated arguments here, but more than that I hope we can keep it civilized enough to not get a topic lock.

Lately (as in since Thrall became God after Cataclysm) I've been hearing a lot about how Blizzard favors the Horde over the Alliance. Now I'm not necessarily talking about this forum, but I'm guessing there are people here who feel this way too. I've heard about how the Horde gains ground everywhere, about how they razed Ashenvale, bombed Theramore, kicked Gilneans out of Gilneas, destroyed Southshore, had a complete revamp of Orgrimmar etc.

While on the other side Alliance lost Magni Bronzebeard, Bolvar Fordragon and to add salt to the wound, King Varian has horrible hair.

At the end of Cataclysm pretty much all Alliance got was a lousy victory in Camp Taurajo which was basically a massacre, and they did not even intend to do that.

And even though whenever they are asked Blizzard responds with, "Just you wait Alliance, great things are headed your way!" we all see the obvious truth before our eyes.

Now, what I want to say is, why is that a bad thing? Why shouldn't the Horde win? Why should the two fronts be equal? Why shouldn't the game be realistic? Is it that bad to have a winning side and a losing side?

To have peace of mind I will go ahead and say I'm not entirely on the side of Horde winning. Even though saying "For the Horde!" is much more fun than saying "For the Alliance!" (Their motto should be "Grab your sword, fight the Horde!") I did all my roleplaying on the Alliance side, so I did my share of Horde hating.

All I'm saying is, after 8 years of World of Warcraft, if Blizzard said, "Yeah, the war is over, and the Horde won." I would be okay with it.

It should be noted that the Horde favoritism has almost completely dropped in MoP, as Alliance is actually kicking ass atm.

For me, it is not so much as horde winning or not as it was about the Alliance having nothing that you can be proud of. No 'moments of awesome'. Take MoP Alliance Intro - that is a moment of awesome .

The Alliance is doing big things now.

As mentioned before, I think this would be the moment where you'll see things going the other way. Not to mention how it appears to be an accepted fact that Orgrimmar will be officially raided at some point.

I should've opened this thread back in Cataclysm. Again not playing MoP leaves me clueless. But the question still stands, how would you feel if one of the factions won the war? It doesn't matter if it's the Horde or the Alliance, but since most of the forum members are Alliance here, I was going with the Horde for a better argument.

They want to give varian some kick ass plot which makes him the greatest hero yet, last I heard. So they probably think that'll make up for it.

Thrall isn't a god either, by the looks of it at least.

I smiked at Thrall being characterized as 'the most powerful shaman', since Shaman's power comes from the spirits. So it means that Spirits could not agree on any other champion but Thrall, and empowered him. They could as well have empowered Agra, or Nabudo or the Low Shaman from Twilight Highlands.

Go read Wolfheart, Varian already went into god mode and succeeded where the entire Nelf army (including Tyrande) failed.

One man beats the entire Horde army, with King Greymane as a sidekick hanging around somewhere.

Just because a faction is 'winning' doesn't mean that they have Blizzard's favor or anything ethereal like that. That's a silly idea, almost like Blizzard's office is divided in red shirts and blue shirts and currently the red shirts are in the majority so that means the Horde is dominating in game. Honestly now is that a realistic way of looking at things?

And even if that were the case I am still thankful that it is actually possible for one side to be doing better than the other in a game otherwise void of any real consequence. I'll take 'losing' over an eternal status quo where nothing ever changes.

So in direct response to the thread "Alliance and Horde are not equal for Blizzard": Thank Heavens they're not! A little lopsidedness keeps things dynamic and interesting.

Thelos wrote:And even if that were the case I am still thankful that it is actually possible for one side to be doing better than the other in a game otherwise void of any real consequence. I'll take 'losing' over an eternal status quo where nothing ever changes.

So in direct response to the thread "Alliance and Horde are not equal for Blizzard": Thank Heavens they're not! A little lopsidedness keeps things dynamic and interesting.

Exactly what I think.

Aelrath wrote:Go read Wolfheart, Varian already went into god mode and succeeded where the entire Nelf army (including Tyrande) failed.

One man beats the entire Horde army, with King Greymane as a sidekick hanging around somewhere.

No. :p I'm refering to something much bigger. I once read a statement from Blizzard that they intended much more than what Wolfheart did.

Melnerag wrote:For me, it is not so much as horde winning or not as it was about the Alliance having nothing that you can be proud of.

This is what it's been about for me. Read the Blood oath of the horde, from the quest with the same name. Then look for something like that on the blue side. It doesn't exist.

The Horde just has "that something" that the Alliance is lacking.

The only thing a Hordie will ever envy the Alliance is the Loch Modan inn. That's it.

The winning or losing of the "war" is not important, it's all about how it is done, and when it comes to that, the Horde has been favoured by the writers throughout the game.


(these are not opinions, but objective, scientific facts)

I dunno, I always liked grasping back to ye ole days of grandeur to examples like Lothar, Uther and other Second War heroes whenever I was still playing for serious on my Alliance char. I've mostly read the Horde-oriented books, but the Alliance get quite a bit of 'badassery' to be proud of in Tides of Darkness and Beyond the Dark Portal.

When it comes to general feel, the Horde might have a bit more appeal due to its whole warrior culture thing going on, whereas the Alliance is more of a typical medieval society, at least plainly put (though deep down, there can be far more to it than that as well).

As for the on-topic question of whether it'd be more interesting to have one side win or not: I just can't exactly see it happening, since so many things have been pulled out of Blizzard's bums since WoW started. If one were to get the upper hand, some kind of 'superweapon' or another would be able to turn the tide again in the blink of an eye anyway. Like an angry anime-haired king entering Super Saiyan form.

Kozgugore Feraleye wrote:I dunno, I always liked grasping back to ye ole days of grandeur to examples like Lothar, Uther and other Second War heroes whenever I was still playing for serious on my Alliance char. I've mostly read the Horde-oriented books, but the Alliance get quite a bit of 'badassery' to be proud of in Tides of Darkness and Beyond the Dark Portal.

Yeah. Alliance was badass in WCII. We lost a lot of that over the course of WCIII and WoW. Only in MoP are we really starting to see some of that level of awesome again.

Clydas / Tar-Chan wrote:
The Horde just has "that something" that the Alliance is lacking.

I am now gonna show that thing that the Alliance is lacking.

For the Horde!

Muzjhath wrote:

Clydas / Tar-Chan wrote:
The Horde just has "that something" that the Alliance is lacking.

I am now gonna show that thing that the Alliance is lacking.

For the Horde!

The Alliance of Lorderon gave us awesome stuff equivalent to the Horde. It had a much better logo that easily rivaled the Horde one, and the battlecries ("For Lordaeron!" "Victory for Lordaeron!") are much cooler than anything related to Stormwind (although they only work if you're a human).

Stupid Scourge. Stupid Forsaken.

I really wonder if Blizzard has any plans regarding Lordaeron's fate. As far as I know Arthas still has a sister who is alive. Maybe a Menethil Queen can get the Banshee Queen's throne? (I'm the one writing it but even I know it's never going to happen)

Would be too much effort for them, more likely Calia would be undead and directly replace her someday. *shrug*

Alliance lacks a Theme, that is correct. The whole 'Lawful Heroic Good Vibe' just doesn't cut it. I had a good, warm feeling in Cataclysm in few places and now in Pandaria due to Alliance being that navy power that could invade the very shores of Orcs' homeland and roll up their army almost to the gates of Orgrimmar (barrens broke in half though). The sky-forteress has done a lot to increase that feel, as did the Sky-admiral herself.

Go Alliance, the steampunk-ish Air&Sea Superpower!

Yeah. That's one thing that's been woefully underused prior to MoP. Horde are superior infantry, while Alliance should have the superior technology (used to be superior magic, too, but that's long past since belves joined Horde). When Alliance tanks and fleets and gunships roll onto the scene, it should be something that puts courage in the Alliance and fear in the Horde (which the Landfall cinematic does perfectly).

Definitely want to see the Skyfire staying as our factional flagship for future expansions, it and Rogers have developed quite a dominating aura IMO. When you see the Skyfire come in, it evokes emotion ("Skyfire is here! We're going to kick some ass!") It's a great, powerful symbol the Alliance can rally behind, which is something we've needed.

In an odd way, gnomish submarines add to the feeling. Cutting edge technology in a fantasy setting, and it doesn't even backfire! The havoc it could wreak (until the goblins discover the uses of float mines) against enemy transports is awe-inspiring.

Clydas / Tar-Chan wrote:In an odd way, gnomish submarines add to the feeling. Cutting edge technology in a fantasy setting, and it doesn't even backfire! The havoc it could wreak (until the goblins discover the uses of float mines) against enemy transports is awe-inspiring.

... I suddenly had a Red Alert 2 flashback, nvm floating mines, strap a mind control device to a leviathan.

Clydas / Tar-Chan wrote:In an odd way, gnomish submarines add to the feeling. Cutting edge technology in a fantasy setting, and it doesn't even backfire! The havoc it could wreak (until the goblins discover the uses of float mines) against enemy transports is awe-inspiring.

They already have them. There's a ton of naval mines in the waters around Domination Point.