The Alliance and Horde Imbalance: It’s no Conspiracy

[Willissz]

People continue to talk about the imbalance of population between the Alliance and the Horde. Is the imbalance true or has the Horde effectively conspired against the Alliance? Polls from multiple sites suggest an imbalance of population between the Alliance and Horde does exist.

Stratics, a site dedicated to MMORPG communities took a poll called, “Which race do you wish to play your main character as?” IGN.com, World of Warcraft Vault, also took a poll for the same purpose as Stratics, titled, “What race are you most looking forward to playing?” I added up the results from both polls and came up with this…

Human - 16.56%
Dwarf - 11.56%
Gnome - 6.51%
Night Elf - 23.60%
Orc - 9.60%
Tauren - 9.75%
Troll - 8.23%
Undead - 14.18%
Total Votes - 3,364 = 100%

Now I’ll use both polls to compare the Alliance and Horde in population.

Alliance - 58.23%
Horde - 41.77%
Total Votes - 3,364 = 100%

Night Elf overwhelming is the race of choice. But why would Night Elf be so popular? In my opinion, Night Elf could be chosen due to the eye candy they provide. One factor is the race' colors, colors like purple. Las Vegas casinos say one of the best ways to attract customers is by using purple. Pretty wild, don’t you think? But think about that statement; don’t you find purple attractive at times? And it just happens, Night Elves most used color is purple, causing people to be naturally attracted to them.

Another thing that may cause people to favor Night Elf in my opinion is because Elves are known to play an archer role. A poll taken by “MMORPG Network” called, “What role do you normally play in a MMORPG?” Out of 1,169 votes, 19% said archer.

With Human, I believe if someone cannot make up their mind on which race they want to play, they may simply stick with Human.

Undead, the third most popular race, may be because just like Human and Night Elf, people can relate to them. Undead and Elves sometimes play big roles in fantasy novels and movies. So with World of Warcraft, gamers can play what they read and see in the entertainment industry.

Dwarves also play a big role in fantasy novels and movies, but the fact is, they are not as tall as other races. That could be one reason Gnome is not too popular. People want to be seen and stand out, and if they are not tall, it makes it difficult.

Based on the novels and movies, Orc and Troll should also be popular. But because Orc and Troll play more of an evil role in World of Warcraft and not many people desire to be seen as the bad guy of a game, people might not pick them. These factors make the races of Orc and Troll harder to relate to, especially the Tauren.

And the Orcs in the successful "Lord of the Rings" took more of an Undead role. That might sway people into choosing Undead more often over Orc or Troll.

Overall more people can relate to Alliance races; consequently causing more people to choose an Alliance race.

If you were lucky enough to participate in the beta testing of World of Warcraft, many people noticed Alliance areas were much more crowded than Horde regions. I’m sure this will begin to equal out as Blizzard continues to add more content and eye candy to the Horde. But as of now, the Alliance continues to prevail over the Horde and more people should consider joining the Horde.

[Srawd]

Nice post.
What attracted me to become a Night Elf is their underlying qualities:-

-Heritage
-Patriotism
-Order
-Vigilance

Wasn't their purple skin although it does add to their appeal.

[powermongor]

I think its just the depressing nature of Horde locales...

I mean look at how colorful the Alliance zones are... and how flavorful the NPC's are (gnomes in particular). In particular, I don't like the Troll or Orc models, so that is enough right there for me to play Alliance.

[Srawd]

I think its just the depressing nature of Horde locales...

I mean look at how colorful the Alliance zones are... and how flavorful the NPC's are (gnomes in particular). In particular, I don't like the Troll or Orc models, so that is enough right there for me to play Alliance.
True also. I hate all the Orc and Troll models. Such an injustice *shakes head*. I also really hate the hunch that the Undead have.

[Sentinel]

Humans > all

Im mean come on. Theyre just as likely to BS you to make money as ally with you. Or that could be just me....

And as for the evil trolls and orcs turning ppl off, I prefer evil races. Its just all the WoW ones look like crap.

[zkajan]

I think its just the depressing nature of Horde locales...

I mean look at how colorful the Alliance zones are... and how flavorful the NPC's are (gnomes in particular). In particular, I don't like the Troll or Orc models, so that is enough right there for me to play Alliance.
I don't know, i really liked the serenity of Mulgore with a Tauren i got to lvl 3 (ok, no t much, i just wanted to check it out), and the Orc/troll area looked rpetty cool when i flew in the zeppelin on my lvl 11 undead.
Undead areas on the other hand look very depressing.
Questwise, it seemed to me that my human paladin got the most "farm creature x for item y" quests - boring.
I had a lot of fun playing as night elf priest and it seemed that both the location and qeust variety was cool. i also spent a lot of time with that char in Loch Modan and Wetlands, and i think gnome or dwarf areas are kind of neat too.

[WiglyWorm]

Myself and several RL friends have played in open beta and ST.. none of us liked the horde. Something about their lands just didn't feel right. Open savanna and grasslands is pretty and all.. but to me it feels more natural to adventure to there, rather than start there.

Obviously, this is the Hordes home turf, so of course they start there.. so the feel just isn't right for us.

[Srawd]

I don't know, i really liked the serenity of Mulgore with a Tauren i got to lvl 3 (ok, no t much, i just wanted to check it out), and the Orc/troll area looked rpetty cool when i flew in the zeppelin on my lvl 11 undead.
Undead areas on the other hand look very depressing.
Questwise, it seemed to me that my human paladin got the most "farm creature x for item y" quests - boring.
I had a lot of fun playing as night elf priest and it seemed that both the location and qeust variety was cool. i also spent a lot of time with that char in Loch Modan and Wetlands, and i think gnome or dwarf areas are kind of neat too.
Yeah I tried out the Tauren and their starting area really looks nice. Reminded me of the 'Shire'. I have to agree, Elwynn Forest had too many quests about collecting items. I got so bored including my friend who i finally convinced to play WoW. What a shame. Not to mention Westfall, throw me a pitchfork and call me Joe because all i was doing was farming items from mobs.

[Galron Kincaid]

It's not the mere purple color you find attractive. It's the purple boobs.

[Mr.Sunrock]

Hmm the ppl on http://www.webhallen.com from where I have order the game the most people with play Hord. Im gussing that on some servers there will be more Alliance then hord but on others horde players will rule. You cant expect somthing difrent. But from the looks of it most europeans and ecpecily the nordic players will play the hord.

[ZaxGreia]

I saw a good sample of different places, and I liked Mulgore a lot - probably because I have a soft spot for grasslands. The fact that the Tauren are the coolest race in the game is just secondary (I formed that bias after playing one exclusively in open beta - prior to that, I liked Trolls - character models turned me off to that one. The Troll females are just too pretty now ;)).

[PieDragon]

I live by Kansas. What more needs to be said? *shudder*

[Semidi]

I like troll, and I like the barrens. I've played alliance, but their lands feel wrong and boring. At least in the barrens you have oasises where it looks a little diffrent, but in terrassil it's all purple.

[Skatterbrain]

ACtaully reason so many people play alliance is because all the little kids wanna be the good guys. Oh and that night elf majority? I gurantee all the little ****ers withe Legolas or Leg0las or LEgolas1 make it up. **** YOU KIDS **** YOU. LOTR names should be banned. But seriously im pretty sure thats a large group of the alliance right tehre with the lotr names.
Im just going nightelf in retail to be a druid. That or tauren and I dont like cows to much. Plus the cat form with yellow eyes looks awesome

[Father Jack]

I only like the character models of the undead on the horde side, but i'll be playing horde anyway. Because they are our numbered. I like playing the underdog.

[tbl35]

Not to mention Westfall, throw me a pitchfork and call me Joe because all i was doing was farming items from mobs.
Westfall STINKS, it's ugly and I didn't like the quests much. I'm wondering if humans get better after that. I want to build a human character, but if it doesn't get much better, I won't bother. For the record, I got an undead up to the mid-20s, and I liked their quests much more than the human ones, though for me there was a point when all the quests I had in Silverpine were too hard for me and I ended up grinding entirely too much. (More undead quests please!) Between the 2 stress tests and OB, I've only played much as an undead and nightelf, with a teeny bit of troll and human thrown in.

Made it to 1000 Needles and the Great Lift on the last day, the prettiest area I have seen thus far.

There were MANY more irritating people in the human areas than the undead areas, at least on my server, and the human and nightelf areas were MUCH more crowded.

[220683]

The Horde appeals to me, I am really fond of the terrain of the Barren. Frankly, I am sick of cities especially one with humans. They just reminded me too much of RL.

[Longshot007]

Yeah its mostly those LOTR people. I've always hated the way elves look and act. Ooh I'm so hip and cool save the rain forest! I personaly prefer the gnomish Ideals of constant technological evoltution. Mostly though people just want to be elves named legolasand leegolas and lego-las.

[Longshot007]

Westfall STINKS, it's ugly and I didn't like the quests much. I'm wondering if humans get better after that. I want to build a human character, but if it doesn't get much better, I won't bother. For the record, I got an undead up to the mid-20s, and I liked their quests much more than the human ones, though for me there was a point when all the quests I had in Silverpine were too hard for me and I ended up grinding entirely too much. (More undead quests please!) Between the 2 stress tests and OB, I've only played much as an undead and nightelf, with a teeny bit of troll and human thrown in.

Made it to 1000 Needles and the Great Lift on the last day, the prettiest area I have seen thus far.

There were MANY more irritating people in the human areas than the undead areas, at least on my server, and the human and nightelf areas were MUCH more crowded.
Humans get a lot more fun after westfall. You can usualy leave around 16 if you're half decent.

[Bearcub]

Troll females rule, they do not stoop over like other horde characters. As a matter of fact the are the coolest female race as of now, more options and very cool. Tauren are great too, and nothing beats an orc hunter. Let the masses play alliance, go horde.

[Taajstein]

Made it to 1000 Needles and the Great Lift on the last day, the prettiest area I have seen thus far.

Ugh, worst area ever. Well top 3. Shimmering Flats + 1K Needles + Desolace = Boring Hell

[tbl35]

Humans get a lot more fun after westfall. You can usualy leave around 16 if you're half decent.
Good news. I only just got into Westfall (think my human got up to 11 or 12, don't remember), but after an hour or so I couldn't take it anymore. Went back a few days later and still hated it. If it gets better and you get out of Westfall quickly, I'll try again in retail.

[myndreach]

My wife and I are playing horde because

1- our friends are

2- evil rocks lol

But is the horde really evil? I mean, the undead aren't aligned with the Burning Legion anymore, the Tauren are naturalistic neutralists, and the orcs just want their new homeland. The trolls are a bit evil, but are trying to overcome their past evil history. So I'd say the horde is neutral.

The alliance is hunting the horde, so I'd say the alliance is evil for trying to destroy those that don't agree with them...

We have some good parallels of this in our real world lol!

Trolls are awesome, imho. I was thinking of orc, but the models really stink...they look like humans with green skin lol, not the ORCS of warcraft.

[Longshot007]

Good news. I only just got into Westfall (think my human got up to 11 or 12, don't remember), but after an hour or so I couldn't take it anymore. Went back a few days later and still hated it. If it gets better and you get out of Westfall quickly, I'll try again in retail.
You also don't have to go to westfall. If you want you can take the half hour walk/swim from northern westfall too menthinel harbor and do quests in the night elf low-mid zone. Or go to loch modan by taking the subway to ironforge.

[Vol'jin]

It's not the mere purple color you find attractive. It's the purple boobs.
One man speaks the truth. :buddies: boobies with beers. :surprise:

[flaash42]

That's right, you stay away from the Horde, be whatever you want. There was never any doubt which side to go on, Horde all the way, and my Shaman experience during ST, and Paladin experience during OB, just solidifies that choice.

Human quests, deliver love notes between two farmers? Come on!

[tbl35]

You also don't have to go to westfall. If you want you can take the half hour walk/swim from northern westfall too menthinel harbor and do quests in the night elf low-mid zone. Or go to loch modan by taking the subway to ironforge.
True, and sounds like a good option. I didn't play human enough to really think about branching out. :)

[PieDragon]

Hey, if farmers don't fall in love, where will the grain of the future come from?!?! It's VERY IMPORTANT!

You go stop your rampaging harpie hordes if you want, but I have a date with destiny. Princess has run amok and Bob's carrots are wilting! Onward to save the starving children of Stormwind from porcine tyranny!

[moi]

I think its just the depressing nature of Horde locales...

I mean look at how colorful the Alliance zones are... and how flavorful the NPC's are (gnomes in particular). In particular, I don't like the Troll or Orc models, so that is enough right there for me to play Alliance.

darkshore?

[Krepta]

I chose Night Elf because of the Druid. I actually don't like their purple skin. It makes them look kinda pale and diseased to me.

[vsage]

The stats sound like something I would believe but you must consider what type of people goes to IGN for their news. I certainly don't and I play horde. Neither do my friends and they play horde. I don't think you'll find those votes are among more hardcore gamers (which favors the horde).

[archpsi]

the barrens must be one of the most dull-boring looking and playing areas, thats the thing that made my friend not want to play horde.
not that I care.

[Unreg!stered]

The reason for the race descrepancy is mostly due to the superficiality of the player base. Night Elf females look "hawt" and the males look very "cool", hence why you see so many elves running around. Humans are the most familiar of the races, which boosts their numbers. The undead are the best looking of the improperly labeled "evil" horde, and that's why you see a lot of them. In MMOs, very few people make "ugly" looking chracters unless it's for humor. Given the chance I think most of us would choose the more model-esque character over an ugly one (if we knew nothing about the races or lands to begin with).

Personally, though, I really like the Orcs, Trolls and the Tauren. I think the Tauren have some of the best quests in the game, I dig the voodoo vibe from the trolls, and I really love the barbaric code of honor Thrall represents. :D Having said that, though, one of my main toons on the RP server is human. ;)

[Hydro]

I personally love the Tauren myself. They are really the most good of all the races, as many of the quests seek only to balance nature. They are like night elves without the elitist tone...
Plus, Mulgore is so peaceful and nice, and Thunder Bluff is the most secure town in the game...

[Ulkieab]

I love the Gnomes and the Tauren and I shall be playing as both...

Humans I hate, oh and Trolls are pretty cool too... Orcs I hate, Undead are cool... and thats all i've played so far, oh NE too... I did not care for them really.

[Kupotek]

I played Night Elf priestess in open beta, and will do so again in retail because:

1. I like how they look
2. I like the way they move ( somersaulting owns )
3. I like the alliance lands
4. Horde chars are ugly to me and id rather play something i like to look at

[Korlak]

Thrall, barbaric? Quite the opposite.

At first I liked NE's simply because they seemed cool, but now I despise them. They're very shallow when it comes to knowledge and coöperation with other races (in general, anyway), thinking they are superior.

Being a Tauren follower, Tauren are just as in tune with nature as the Night Elves without the pretentiousness. And that's about the only notable noble aspect Night Elves have.

[Ratate]

I would like to know if the polls where made pre or post open beta as that would probably change the result of the poll

[Unreg!stered]

Thrall, barbaric? Quite the opposite.

At first I liked NE's simply because they seemed cool, but now I despise them. They're very shallow when it comes to knowledge and coöperation with other races (in general, anyway), thinking they are superior.

Being a Tauren follower, Tauren are just as in tune with nature as the Night Elves without the pretentiousness. And that's about the only notable noble aspect Night Elves have.

Barbaric honor, a warrior's honor, you know, honor through battle and the like. Not Thrall's stomping around yelling nonsense and clubbing women over the head to take back to his cave. ;)

[AgeOfAbnegation]

We're looking at a heavy NE count because their shadowmeld will give us a good advantage strategically, not to mention they're sexy :).

I should post a new poll next week to see if Horde still has a 65/35% popularity edge on the Alliance. Seems to be more alliance players around here lately, and wow.net has been predominantly a Horde stronghold.

[sneakyfella]

I played an undead priest in beta, but im thinking ill end up doing a troll priest in retail. The main factor for me, which may sound stupid, is the dancing.... I loved how the undead did it ( :yep: )but i am not a really big karatae-kid fan, which is what the trolls do. If i were to pick night elf for their billie jean dance, id have to harm myself in some way. Ofcorse i picked a priest because its a very wanted and probally not so popular class.

Heres the good thing about MMOs though, you can change your character and start out fresh. Im sure my 3rd character I play will be the one i continue to use... if (close your ears for the forbidden word) EQ2 doesnt get any better.

and mmmmm, gimme some of that b33r :drink: - :buddies:

[Menethenes]

This is a pattern that has repeated itself in other games. The hardcore pvp crowd gravitates towads the brutish races, and the more RP crowd leans towards towards the classic human/elvish archetypes, usually in greater numbers.

So the battle, as always, is between the intensity of the monstrous pvp crowd and the greater numbers of the "good" races.

As I see it, if the Alliance can be lured away from thier PvE fixation, they will be a match for the smaller but more intense Horde forces. Its always a matter of willpower and interest that decides which side wins in PvP.

M.

[Auron Lightbringer]

Polls mean absolutely nothing. The recent 2004 Presidential election should be enough proof.

[Hydro]

We're looking at a heavy NE count because their shadowmeld will give us a good advantage strategically, not to mention they're sexy :).

I should post a new poll next week to see if Horde still has a 65/35% popularity edge on the Alliance. Seems to be more alliance players around here lately, and wow.net has been predominantly a Horde stronghold.

If I played alliance I would play a NE Hunter or Rogue, simply because 1. A shadowmeld hunter would be awesome (though I have never really played a hunter to a high level) and 2. A rogue with better stealth would be awesome (and I do own with rogues... :) )

[SoleSteeler]

The stats sound like something I would believe but you must consider what type of people goes to IGN for their news. I certainly don't and I play horde. Neither do my friends and they play horde. I don't think you'll find those votes are among more hardcore gamers (which favors the horde).

yup, took the words right outta my mouth

[ixidore]

reading what alot of ppl have said about the good/evil crapola that goes along with the superficial part. this game isnt about good or evil its just 2 sets of 4 races that hate each other with some serious passion. you cant honestly tell me that taurens are evil. like hydro said there just like NE sept there cows. im going horde becaus quite frankly i find all the alliance races boring caus they are all "humans" really though in RL there are such things as ppl with dwarfism and gnomes (granted there all labled midgets but its all the same). i can see ud being some what the evilest because of their history and wanting to destroy all the races and what not. trolls and orcs can also be labeld as evil but only because of the burning blade mishap. so lets not make this game a good vs evil type thing caus its not.....its just hate....pure unadulterated hate.

[Korlak]

Barbaric honor, a warrior's honor, you know, honor through battle and the like. Not Thrall's stomping around yelling nonsense and clubbing women over the head to take back to his cave.

Yeah, I understand. ^^ As long as everyone knows, We are "the new Horde"!

Also I'm glad that we're a minority. And what even things up, we have more skilled players! :buddies:

[Ortai]

I like troll, and I like the barrens. I've played alliance, but their lands feel wrong and boring. At least in the barrens you have oasises where it looks a little diffrent, but in terrassil it's all purple.

Ditto here. I only went to the Eatern kingdoms when neccisary to recieve training or for a quest. I came back to Kalimdor as quickly as possible.

I think the Troll models, are great. I love the wacked out hair, the face paint, and the tusks. The orcs are a little ugly though.

BTW whoever designed the UC must of been on acid. That place is insane.

[Nirth]

What were the powergamers playing?

I pulled these stats from Thottbot of level 40+s on the beta 2 server. I figure those that made it above level 40 are the power gamers.

Dwarf: 67
9 hunter, 15 paladin, 9 priest, 9 rogue, 25 warrior

Gnome: 63
19 mage, 22 rogue, 13 warlock, 9 warrior

Human: 178
51 mage, 48 paladin, 16 priest, 15 rogue, 18 warlock, 30 warrior

Night Elf: 133
35 druid, 36 hunter, 14 priest, 31 rogue, 17 warrior

Total Alliance Side: 441
35 druid, 45 hunter, 70 mage, 63 paladin, 39 priest, 77 rogue, 31 warlock, 81 warrior

Orc: 48
3 hunter, 5 rogue, 14 shaman, 7 warlock, 19 warrior

Tauren: 60
17 druid, 9 hunter, 18 shaman, 16 warrior

Troll: 37
7 hunter, 8 mage, 6 priest, 2 rogue, 11 shaman, 3 warrior

Undead: 89
26 mage, 19 priest, 15 rogue, 9 warlock, 20 warrior

Total Horde Side: 234
17 druid, 19 hunter, 34 mage, 25 priest, 22 rogue, 43 shaman, 16 warlock, 58 warrior

Therefore, Alliance far outnumbered the Horde in terms of high level chars on beta 2 by an almost 2 to 1 ratio (1.9 alliance per every horde).

We can break down the numbers into percentages.

On the Alliance side:

For races the majority was human (40% of all Alliance) followed by night elf (30%).

8% druid, 10% hunter, 16% mage, 14% paladin, 9% priest, 18% rogue, 7% warlock, 18% warrior

On the Horde side:

For races the majority was undead (38%) followed by tauren (26%).

7% druid, 8% hunter, 15% mage, 11% priest, 9% rogue, 18% shaman, 7% warlock, 25% warrior

Note: For all the percentages I rounded to a full number.


Anyway, personally I enjoyed the Horde side more but I'll be playing Alliance due to "real life constraints" (aka, my girlfriend wants to play a gnome). I'll probably have my cherished horde char on the side somewhere.

[Shaggy]

woulda been horde, but all my friends backstabed me for the allience so i am more than likely goign to be a Human or NE preistess.

[Valriera]

The fact that there are more alliance players is absolutely true. I think there will always be more alliance players, because, saving undead, nobody knows anything about any of the other horde races unless they've played warcraft before. However, the Horde's advantage in PvP is just mind boggling. It will also always be mind boggling because of the races in each faction. Not everyone has a supercomputer, and in raids many people will lag up. The horde's faction specific is a shaman, which is not difficult to play in a raid. You just totem, shock, smack smack, heal maybe, shock again, change totems and kill. Shamans are easy to play even if you are lagging. Paladins, however, are quite difficult to play with lag. This isbecause a paladin has to keep an eye out for each member of his group, make sure they have the buffs, heal them when needed, etc. etc. If you're lagging, this would not be possible because you would not attain iformation as quick as you need. I think it is because of this that the horde will always be better than the alliance in PvP.

[aartamen]

Humans, bleh!


I played several low lvl character for horde and then at the end of OB I started a NE. Holy crap! I could not play because of all the friggin trees, no visibility! Felt very claustrophobic after the horde areas.

[Korlak]

Anyway, personally I enjoyed the Horde side more but I'll be playing Alliance due to "real life constraints" (aka, my girlfriend wants to play a gnome). I'll probably have my cherished horde char on the side somewhere.

Doesn't your gf want to be a nice Orc woman? They're much sexier. ^^

I reckon' a lot of female players will be playing gnomes, just because they look cute.

[Shaggy]

lol virtual claustrophobia.

[Protonium]

I wanted to go Orc so badly, but they just look so...homeless. Reminds me of a balding hermit whose once glorious muscles are now flabby or untoned, or something equally unappealing. What ever happened to their brutish, tough exteriors from WC3...

[Norf]

Well, I played a Tauren warrior through most of the Open Beta, and I enjoyed it a lot, but I also had some things I disliked about it, for example how ugly the horde captial cities (Ogrimmar and Thunder Bluff, Undercity is nice) are compaired to stormwind and ironforge (which I just adore, my first char was a dwarf warrior). I also hated the fact that warriors can be kited so easilly by several classes. So I decided to try a night elf hunter, I admit I'm of the opinion that hunters should be fast and agile, and use bows rather than guns (which dispite the fact that they fit with the WC universe, they don't fit with RPGs in my opinion). I really dislike the way male night elves look, and they're too big in my opinion, so they don't lend themselves to stealth very well. I was a bit against the idea of playing a female night elf inially because I knew there'd be 100K other guys playing female night elves simply because they are such blatent sex objects, somehow I felt it was lowering myself to play one even though I had other reasons. Anyway, after actually giving in and trying it, I plan to play a night elf huntress in retail. I love the flip jump and combat animations, they give the perfect feel for a hunter in my opinion, I love shadowmeld and the high agility and +dodge chance are just supurb for a hunter, and above all else, I love the 'feel' of the character. Some people don't like night elves becuase they're arrogant, however that's a plus for the sort of character I plan to play. The alliance lands are also just far more beautiful than the horde lands, and while I didn't have the blatent dislike for the barrens that some people do (the nice framerates I got there helped) the poorly done capital cities really bothered me. That being said, I would play a horde hunter of some sort if there was a single horde race I could reconcile with being a hunter. As is, none of them fit with the hunter ideal in my mind. Not the bow-weilding hunter at any rate. Taurens fit with the hunter ideal perfectly, but more in the sense of hunting things with big friggen hammers, axes, or spears, things like Kodo or storm lizards of various kinds. My Tauren warrior (who I plan to reincarnate in retail as well) was a hunter, just not a bow user.

[Khal'jur]

Huh, I think the troll, orc, and undead character models look cool...I played some alliance as a dwarf and I still prefer horde side...


Tauren look hilarious when they swim.

[Korlak]

Well, I played a Tauren warrior through most of the Open Beta, and I enjoyed it a lot, but I also had some things I disliked about it, for example how ugly the horde captial cities (Ogrimmar and Thunder Bluff, Undercity is nice) are compaired to stormwind and ironforge (which I just adore, my first char was a dwarf warrior). I also hated the fact that warriors can be kited so easilly by several classes. So I decided to try a night elf hunter, I admit I'm of the opinion that hunters should be fast and agile, and use bows rather than guns (which dispite the fact that they fit with the WC universe, they don't fit with RPGs in my opinion). I really dislike the way male night elves look, and they're too big in my opinion, so they don't lend themselves to stealth very well. I was a bit against the idea of playing a female night elf inially because I knew there'd be 100K other guys playing female night elves simply because they are such blatent sex objects, somehow I felt it was lowering myself to play one even though I had other reasons. Anyway, after actually giving in and trying it, I plan to play a night elf huntress in retail. I love the flip jump and combat animations, they give the perfect feel for a hunter in my opinion, I love shadowmeld and the high agility and +dodge chance are just supurb for a hunter, and above all else, I love the 'feel' of the character. Some people don't like night elves becuase they're arrogant, however that's a plus for the sort of character I plan to play. The alliance lands are also just far more beautiful than the horde lands, and while I didn't have the blatent dislike for the barrens that some people do (the nice framerates I got there helped) the poorly done capital cities really bothered me. That being said, I would play a horde hunter of some sort if there was a single horde race I could reconcile with being a hunter. As is, none of them fit with the hunter ideal in my mind. Not the bow-weilding hunter at any rate. Taurens fit with the hunter ideal perfectly, but more in the sense of hunting things with big friggen hammers, axes, or spears, things like Kodo or storm lizards of various kinds. My Tauren warrior (who I plan to reincarnate in retail as well) was a hunter, just not a bow user.

Yeah, if I make a hunter then it would definitely be with a Female Night Elf because it's the most fitting.
And as for Thunder Bluff, I think it's brilliant. It makes the best wide angle shots, and I actually think human architecture is boring (in WoW therms). Too much light gray stone.

[Hydro]

Thunder Bluff is one of the best looking cities in any game in a while IMHO, with Orgrimmar a close second. I love the wide open spaces, and the simplicity of the 2 horde cities. I absolutely despise the Undercity and the Ironforge, but I like Darnassus and Stormwind is alright. I don't know... maybe I am strange...

[220683]

This is the reason for imbalance.

Hormone raging teens. =) (http://www3.sympatico.ca/cyc/wow.jpg)

[Norf]

This is the reason for imbalance.

Hormone raging teens. =) (http://www3.sympatico.ca/cyc/wow.jpg)

Precisely. That's the reason I was hesitant to play a nightelf... But I figure a lot of those idiots will quit before they get to high levels. And the ones that don't, I can always challenge to a duel when they blow me a kiss or dance with me.

[Dragon Reborn]

I didn't have the strength or time to read EVERYBODY'S post so if someone said this already, I apologize..............
The reason I am gonna play NE at retail is not especially cuz of there purple skin... It's because I like Alliance and in the Alliance the NE are very different then the other races (mainly in their looks)....

[Korlak]

Well, you can take Night Elves seriously but still have a little fun now and then. And who can say no to an orgy?

[Trebek]

This is the way it is with all MMO's. There is always one faction/realm that people are drawn to. I played Dark Age of Camelot for 3 years, and in this game, it was the realm of Albion. For those that havent played, DAOC was split into 3 realms, each one relating the tale of 'camelot/king arthur' in a different way. Midgard, who's basis was the viking side of the story, Hibernia, whos basis was the celtic lore side of the story, and Albion, whos basis was the traditional King Arthur and the Knights of the Round storyline. Now, most people are familiar with the latter, and tend to gravitate towards it. Even though gameplay wise, Albions are less effective as a single class type than their other-realm counterparts, most people still choose this realm for the storyline of the realm.

[Felicia]

First off, no such word as imbalanced. Please quit using it. Next time someone does, I will throtte ya! You've been warned. The proper usage for a word where things don't equal is unbalanced.


Now the reason why Night Elves and Undead get chosen so much is simply because the Alliance has far more content than the Horde side. At least during the early days of beta. Most recently Horde got a load of content updates but it won't show any immediate results for a while. The Horde side, around the Undead has quite a bit of content developed there and thus Undead get chosen a lot because there is far more worthwhile content to explore there than there was on the Kalimdor side of the Horde.

The other important point to consider is that many people dig originality and Night Elves are quite original. They are very different from the standard dark skinned and even regular elves or previous fantasy epics and stories. Night Elves are tall, muscular, have beards, and are quite feral looking. The fact that Night Elves abhor magic is also another interesting aspect about them that gives them more uniqueness and originality. In addition the cities and structures of their buildings are very different from standard elven structures. Relying heavily on outdoor-based structures along with building tree houses, but with no connecting bridges. Indeed Night Elve tree houses aren't terribly original except for the aspects that their tree houses aren't connected. It's also important to note that of all the races in WarCraft 3, the night elves make the biggest amount of noise, ranging from complaints, to praise to unbalanced screams and tweaks. They've always been the most complained about. The Undead shares these same reasons, as well.

As it currently stands though, especially checking in the OB on the newer, never-before used servers, the results showed that the Horde numbers were quite even with that of the Alliance side. Granted, on the Alliance side there seemed to be more higher level players than Horde, but the numbers were quite even.

[Norf]

This is the way it is with all MMO's. There is always one faction/realm that people are drawn to. I played Dark Age of Camelot for 3 years, and in this game, it was the realm of Albion. For those that havent played, DAOC was split into 3 realms, each one relating the tale of 'camelot/king arthur' in a different way. Midgard, who's basis was the viking side of the story, Hibernia, whos basis was the celtic lore side of the story, and Albion, whos basis was the traditional King Arthur and the Knights of the Round storyline. Now, most people are familiar with the latter, and tend to gravitate towards it. Even though gameplay wise, Albions are less effective as a single class type than their other-realm counterparts, most people still choose this realm for the storyline of the realm.

Yep, and I belive alliance is shaping up to be the Albion of WoW... It has more of the albion style to it, but it's not really any worse than Horde class/race wise, asside from the shaman, which will probubly get hit with the infamous fren'tab. Of course, in DAOC I prefered the lore of Midgard to either other realm, although I wound up playing Hibernia more simply because of the community on Hib/Perc. Generally speaking I play whatever race/class combination 'feels' the best to me. Class ballance shifts constantly in an MMO, the only thing consistant is the class style. If I pick a class purely based on how powerful it is in one thing or another, and that ballance shifts, I'll find myself not wanting to play it anymore, but if I pick based on feel, no changes to the class are likely to make me want to quit it.

[Yogo]

When I loaded up the open beta, I tried Undead warlock as the first thing, because the intro movie had inspired me.

Then I tried Tauren druid and loved it much. Big and strong, but very peaceful.

Then I tried Undead again, and I simple wished everyone was Undead, because I love how the Undead are trying to get something on their own without getting bashed (though they are evil, I think that everyone, Wow universe like, makes them look much meaner than they really are.)

Next was troll and I loved it also. To me, Alliance doesn't look good. Humans are plain, dwarves are short and gnomes even shorter!

For Da Horde!!

[Suicidal_Savant]

Polls mean absolutely nothing. The recent 2004 Presidential election should be enough proof.

agreed 100%

[mk_mage987]

well i think people play alliance more than horde is cause the females just look way better. Undead and troll females are ok but alliance just has the upper hand in that department. I only play horde cause i love to be the underdog. I read the book on thrall and how he became a shaman. also why i love orc shaman class. For me it is not a matter of overpopulation since i will be playing on 2 servers. One for my horde chars and one for my alliance chars. some ppl are just biased towards on or the other. Thats all.

[Willissz]

Wow, lots of good posts, I didn't even almost expect this.

One thing I have noticed while playing open beta and by the people I know personally, the Horde players are usually older and more mature; alliance players are usually younger and less mature. This gave the Horde a huge advantage in PvP; during beta, the Horde usually dominated the Alliance in raids or duels.

But I'm sure you can feel in many forums and during beta, Alliance does outnumber Horde. Look at all the posts people stating they would play as Night Elf; it was no surprise to me. I don't think I saw one person say they will play as a Gnome. And I think I saw one person say they will play as a Dwarf.

Overall, I think Horde will do just fine. They proved to be the organized and aggressive faction during beta.

[Mini_me000]

I love the Gnomes and the Tauren and I shall be playing as both...

impossible, unless you plan on playing on non pvp or on two different servers.

[Ortai]

I played a troll, Tauren and a dwarf, and I found the horde side of things just plain better. Tauren have the best 1-15 quests I have seen. I was totally satified with the content in the barrens. I found the dwarf content fractured and without meaning, compared to the Troll and Tauren content.

Plus, I find TB and org to be great cities, and reflect the character of the races that live there.

[red.13]

I wouldn't really be so sure about the imbalance. Ofc you can clearly say that many ppl will be playing NE, but I on the contrary believe that UD are also choosen quite frequently. Even if the imbalance numbers were true I don't think that so thin difference would change something. Remember also that however Horde consists of less players, many of them are powergamers.

[Ortai]

I wouldn't really be so sure about the imbalance. Ofc you can clearly say that many ppl will be playing NE, but I on the contrary believe that UD are also choosen quite frequently.

It is interesting you would point these two races out since they have to stand against the combined might of most of the enemy. They need all the numbers they can get I guess.

[red.13]

I wouldn't really be so sure about the imbalance. Ofc you can clearly say that many ppl will be playing NE, but I on the contrary believe that UD are also choosen quite frequently. Even if the imbalance numbers were true I don't think that so thin difference would change something. Remember also that however Horde consists of less players, many of them are powergamers.

[Willissz]

This is someone's explanation to why the Alliance outnumbers the Horde. It's really funny. :)

http://homepage.mac.com/xidius/pictures/wow/difficulty1.jpg

[Taajstein]

I'm not going to read 4 pages of this stuff, but these are my observations.

Alliance early on can level quite a bit faster than Horde, later on it levels out with maybe a slight edge to the Horde just due to placement (Tanaris, Faralas, Plaguelands).

The reason NE and Undead get played IMO are pretty simple.

Many people I know think the Gnome, Troll and Orc races look like crap.

It comes down between the Tauren and Undead on the Horde side. I think the Undercity may have a factor in the decision, and Undead are badass overall.

On the Alliance side, Dwarfs and Humans are maybe a bit too real life like for some people. However you could still throw all this out and people would prefer Night Elves. And it comes down to the anime fan wannabes who think Night Elves look cool. Really isn't any deeper than that.

[Dark606]

Alliance outnumber horde in the western continent but from what I have seen there are alot of gaurds protecting any entrance to horde territory.

that leads to less pvp in horde territory and more in NE territory.

[Un1ucky_Irishman]

Im going horde undead because I can relate to the undead, everyone hates them so they want revenge >:). Also when you get to the point in silverpine where the quests are too hard, go to the barrens. Youll have more quests than you need, trust me I was in OB.

[Taajstein]

there are alot of gaurds

I'll never forget the Human who thought because Tarren Mill was contested she could just walk into it and start attacking people...

12 guards jumped her, insta-death.

[Dark606]

I'll never forget the Human who thought because Tarren Mill was contested she could just walk into it and start attacking people...

12 guards jumped her, insta-death.
lmao...I thought I could walk into barrens. Little did I know they had like 5 gaurds at entrance (unlike any NE territory) and I was slaughtered.

[Solaquin]

I'd be real interested to see the numbers of what people were creating on all the test servers during the final stress test and open beta. I think the numbers are probably closer to equal between Horde and Alliance than they were for the closed servers. I noticed a big improvement in the Horde areas between the first Stress Test and the Open Beta.

I managed to try all the races during Open, even the ones I was ambivalent about (gnome and tauren). I liked the tauren lands and quests, but still couldn't get into the race. Gnomes were silly and fun, a pleasant surprise for me; I'm not sure if I'll play one on release or not, but before Open I'd have said I'd never play one so that's a change. I love the troll females though, the options for hair, face, etc. are just wild and fun. Big purple mohawk! How can you go wrong with that? :D The Orcs were ok, but not that exciting; the undead were a trip though. From the blighted woods to the gruesome quests and variety of appearances, they really stood out from the other races. Humans didn't do that much for me, though I love their starting areas. Night elves weren't as painful an experience as I was expecting. I really hadn't been looking forward to them because of the cliche and kiddie factors, but I definitely wanted to try them out. I'm happy with them; the ears are great :) and I like their areas and animations too.

On release I'll be playing both sides (on different servers, obviously). I'll probably have roughly half of my characters on each side, for various reasons.

One thing to think about regarding adding polls together: it needs to be considered that people who saw both polls might have voted in both, which could skew or exaggerate the results. And of course polls are of questionable use anyhow, so we can only wait and see.

[rhwbullhead]

I haven't played the game yet, but I hope I'll get it at 12:01am on Tuesday. Anyway, before I read this thread, I was leaning towards two types of characters. The first was either going to be a human or gnome, and the second a tauren. I wanted to be a night elf b/c of shadowmeld but I really didn't like the male artwork, and the fact that it was a popular race made me decide against eleves. The fact that gnome isn't that popular is a plus and I think they look cute.

As for class, the tauren will most likely be a hunter. The gnome is going to be a rouge. (Class is the only the I've had decided for awhile. I'll definately be leveling the gnome first, and then I start the tauren later for variety).

[MasterMac]

There are also alliance guards guarding Loch Modan which, as a horde player, is virtually required to pass through to get to Badlands when you're at that level range ;)

And there aren't even any alternative enterences to Loch Modan either like there are for the Barrens :p

[ipbah]

lol @ ppl complaining about the guards at the barrens/ashenvale border.

try getting to teldrassil as a horde - atleast u can get to durotar/mulgore......
watchout for the one npc in bloodhoof that is even over lvl15!

[Dark606]

lol @ ppl complaining about the guards at the barrens/ashenvale border.

try getting to teldrassil as a horde - atleast u can get to durotar/mulgore......
watchout for the one npc in bloodhoof that is even over lvl15!
I only have one complaint about the gaurds, why have them at the entrance for horde and not alliance?

[ipbah]

I only have one complaint about the gaurds, why have them at the entrance for horde and not alliance?

I think i pointed out the answer.
a) you can camp our newbie zones and those guards at ashenvale are the only ones u have to go past
b) we have to actually take a town to get to teldrassil and even then i dont think we can get there.

It evens out imo