Horde or Alliance? An Opinionated Discussion

[@ashketchum1456]

I like the Horde because all of their races kind of break the 'normal rpg races' stereotypes. Particularly the undead. And the Undercity is awesome. But I have a soft spot for the Alliance, because Stormwind and Ironforge both filled me with awe the first time i walked through their halls, and Elwynn Forest's music still plays in my head occasionally and it has been over a decade since I really played.

[@Elliriah]

"Elf"

[@vipershotz1457]

ye i play an orc warrior and it looks really cool, but in classic i rolled with the orc warlock because if 5% xtra damage

[@christianweibrecht6555]

I prefer horde because anything can happen and while it's races have defining features they are not constrained by them. While the alliance look human the horde act human. Also if your looking for wife, you should know thier are hot singles in your area. I just needed your credit card info to arrange hookups

[@celtic889]

I prefer alliance lore wise, but the horde defo won on the cool factor and having way more interesting allied races imo. I play both either way.

[@Dogmelter42]

Still waiting for the Horde to get its shit together. Until they figure out what 'Commom Ethics' or 'War Crimes Apply To Everyone, And Not Just Internment Camps', Alliance is my jam. Even if I love Belfs/High Elf lore. But let's face it. The best faction isn't the Horde or the Alliance. For Ner'zhul.

[@theoutlander1411]

Probably the most interesting character in WOW rarely brought up in lore videos. I see lots of mention of Guldan but rarely of Ner'Zul who was possibly the most powerful of Orc Warchief.

[@TheLewisScott]

The Alliance is boring because it has been chosen to be written that way by Blizzard since at least beyond Warcraft 3. It's hugely interesting in the Warcraft 2 time period with plenty of inner conflict. I thought they were finally going to give us inner conflict (which does not equate to falling apart and fighting each other) in BfA but it went nowhere. I think the Alliance races all need a status quo change I mean almost none of them have goals or those that do have been trying to accomplish the same one for years or in most cases not trying. The same is true of the Horde but they've had more stories overall so it's less obvious.

[@SekaiNoGaijin]

Alliance for me. Played horde for more then 10 years, but the Horde became a joke in my opinion. Honor this and honor that... kill everything but with hooonoooor.... bah. Alliance are hippies true, but still more clean cut. Less cartoony kid bullshit on ally side.

[@midotvadventure504]

Hmm I like this comment.. I’m trying to decide which side to pick and play

[@rustyshackelford4613]

@@midotvadventure504 the dark side, friend

[@necroxisz]

We all know what faction you were going to pick, so I chuckled as you were keeping it vague at the beginning :P The reason why I like the Alliance is that they're not constantly about to fall apart. I wish a lot of Warcraft lore fans weren't trained to think that 'inner-conflict' and 'near collapse due to civil war' means the story is good. Because that's kind of the worst parts of the story to me. Also yes! Varian's "For the Alliance!" right before his death was amazing.

[@Teeironor]

I think they can be good when done right. The fact that it's happened so many times for the Horde, if nothing else, really makes it lose its impact.

[@marcoscorpas2752]

I prefer the Horde because it gives me the opportunity to play as a monster, but still be a hero if I choose to. All these other franchises have orcs, trolls, undead, minotaurs(tauren), etc as evil things to be slain by men in armor. WoW makes it so everyone's perspective is seen.

[@theoutlander1411]

Tauren and trolls are some of the friendliest players too I have found. I don't know why.

[@cesargarcia8299]

Boy am I glad to hear of someone else who felt Sylvanas' "For the Horde" felt wrong. Knowing the character I just couldn't help but feel like she was just doing it to manipulate the soldiers because she knew just shouting it was enough; but no, instead it felt like everyone was gushing about "Yaaaas Sylvanas horde queeeeeen!" And it was just so weird man.

[@jameschristophercirujano6650]

Shhh... shadowlands doesn't exist, nor did Teldrassil burn. For the Horde!

[@theasorlins6027]

I prefer the Horde. I like our internal struggles more being on an RPserver I find horde play more interesting. I like the races better too. The Alliance though, I find boring for the most part and their looks while nice don't have much personality. Expect for the Draenei but they are aliens.

[@KnightofEkron]

Ngl, only the Worgen, Void Elves, and Light Draenei are interesting.

[@ArnoldTeras]

How can people STILL sympathize with the Horde after the Burning of Teldrassil? It's NOT cool to play as the genocide faction, honestly... :(

[@variant.edition]

I have no issues with either side. Spoken like a true Pandaren.

[@georgebeucher5557]

really liked this video, i don't usually click videos by channels i don't know but this one was surprisingly helpful!

[@radicalcentrist4990]

I am with the Alliance because that's what I first started with, and for the first few years of playing this game I almost exclusively played Alliance, therefore my most nostalgic memories of this game are on the Alliance side. But it's not just that, I prefer their cities too, their territories, the races themselves, their aesthetics. I know that for many they might scream "generic high fantasy stuff", but personally I kinda prefer the generic high fantasy archetypes, honestly. I also like their leaders more, I seriously dislike Sylvanas. I had Horde alts but I don't remember if I ever leveled one to max. But I'll just say this: the old school Barrens (pre-Cata) was my favorite zone in the entire game. I just have a thing for savannas.

[@omegaangel6766]

Horde for me. I really wish Blizz had handled the MOP faction conflict better. They've really done the horde several great disservices these past few expansions. I think the Alliance could be much better if Blizz would allow them to have even a slight shade of gray, like they did pre CATA

[@mudshrooze]

I too am a lover of both. I'm a bit exhausted of the hordes warchief troubles. I hope that stops for like...10 years. But overall I'm loving the main story. It's a lot of the side stories and such that I dont think they are necessarily doing the best on. But that's a lot and no need to share. Personal opinion. Make A Quilboar tribe horde race, leper gnomes neutral. I'll have to watch the resttomorrow. Night shift work is killing me and I'm tired haha.

[@ThePastAnalysis]

Good video. Personally, I'm much more of a fan of the Horde than of the Alliance. Early on when I didn't know much about the lore I played the Alliance most likely because my cousins, older brother, brother's friends all played Alliance. After learning about the lore, I gravitated more towards the Horde, because in my honest opinion, I can sympathize more with them and feel like the Horde more so than the Alliance addresses the evil's within its ranks. As a general rule, the Horde races don't live in the best of conditions, they struggle to survive, and for that reason some in their ranks resort to evil dishonorable means to achieve victory, but many in the Horde fight against such evil and are the first to denounce said evil. Meanwhile, most Alliance races live in fairly pleasant settings, many don't quite know or seem to care for the plight of "lesser races," and while they're generally good, they don't seem to understand or care about the underlying reasons for the Horde's actions. Most characters in the Horde interest me as they're very steeped in the individual cultures that made them who they are. Some characters in the Alliance are truly awesome characters. These characters are the peacekeeping ones. These would probably be Velen, Anduin, and Jaina. Velen has always been an awesome character because he sees the larger picture and is able to overlook many of the horrible actions committed against his people in the name of peace. Anduin is equally as interesting as he was taught by Velen and embraced the same peacekeeping agenda even when many in his ranks angrily wish war on the Horde. Jaina generally is an awesome character as she was a strong ally of Thrall and was arguably the first Alliance character to recognize the differences in Thrall's Horde. That being said, after Theramore, Jaina lost all sense of sympathy for the Horde and still doesn't seem to understand why Theremore was attacked. All Horde players who quested through Southern Barrens know why. Jaina was looking the other way as Varian used her city as a port to conquer the Horde's main land. The timing of Garrosh's attack lined up perfectly with the quests in Cata Southern Barrens quests. I like other Alliance characters, but each one of them seems to never get why the Horde acts the way it does. Varian Wrynn is in my opinion one of the worst Alliance characters because he never seemed to understand that Thrall's Horde was different. He started a war with the Horde in Cataclysm, never repented for it, and in typical Alliance fashion played high and mighty at the Siege of Orgrimmar. He was just as guilty as Garrosh, but because Anduin helped convince him not to go as war crazy, he thinks himself vastly superior. It's characters like Varian that make me hate the very ground the Alliance stands on. In short, I'm a Horde player because I tend to generally see them as the survivors that they are and I want to be part of that kinship in helping them survive. To let them die out as the Alliance wishes is in my opinion deeply immoral. The Alliance's careless might and self righteous attitude makes me hate the grounds their faction stands on.

[@creakychair9387]

I prefer the Horde in terms of races and aesthetics. But by the rat god's arse have grown tired of horde warchief starting "good" and turning into a arse. And the constant rambling about honor has made me associate the word with bad writing. I don't really like the alliance either. The aesthetics are mostly fine when it comes to dwarf and human but the elf gnome and draenei shit is just grossly overdone (I have the same problem with most of the new aesthetics in general as time goes on so it is not just specifically alliance) and i feel they have the same problem with the light as the honor thing for the horde. Also just hate the banner.

[@Pelagion98]

7:05 Oh my god and here I thought I was the only one to dislike that cringefest. I love the voice actress for Sylvanas, and I like Sylvanas as a whole (though I hate her at the same time) but God damn, people who believed that Sylvanas was genuinely patriotic towards Horde made me laugh hard. As to the subject of this video, I would mostly agree. I prefer Alliance, I like the races more, I like the lore more. But as you said they are bland. Wrynn's have almost unquestionable hegemony over the other leaders and that makes it just boring. I was kind of hoping that after on of Anduin's peacekeeper disasters he would be austed as the High King in favour of someone more war driven. Or at least in favour of someone who would make some ripples in the cohesion of the Alliance. Genn Greymane would be probably the best leader of the Alliance at the moment. Maybe Anduing taking Stromwind out of the war in favour of Saurfang's rebellion would cause some drama. I would kill for having to pick sides within faction just as Horde players could do until now. Also on the subject of Anduin, the fact that the Horde get from the Alliance side constantly the benefit of the doubt baffles me to no end. The Alliance saw nothing but bad and toxic behaviour from the Horde yet still they see that they as a whole faction have honor, simply because they know 2-3 individuals who are not completely reprehensible?

[@theoutlander1411]

I agree from the Classic experience, Sylvanas seems far more likely to create her own Horde with the Forsaken and the Blood Elves than have any care for the races in Kalimdor.

[@Hrimstal]

I was initially attracted to Horde because they have more unique races. You have the ability to play as characters you don't typically get to experience in fantasy games. Horde has a rough culture, and the races are united by necessity. They are the underdogs. The Alliance has a more classical fantasy theme, which I know a lot of folks love. It has brighter culture and is more diplomatic. The races are less brutish and more humanoid, which is a good pick for players wanting some resemblance of themselves.

[@TOGYS7]

Horde gets away with everything, with a scapegoat here and there, so they have more fun.

[@creakychair9387]

Also i complitly agree with the alliance being static. Like they are suppose to be the more advanced of the factions in terms of organisation culture and tech but where is the intrigue court backstabing lies use of religion in political machinations want to expand. We don't see any of that. We kinda saw it in vanila but that was mostly due to the one black dragon queen whoose name i cant remember. Since then we have seen very little to none of the corruption that would naturally come with more organised societys. All we really get are obvious backstabings.

[@Teeironor]

I have to partly disagree here; the member races of the Alliance have all had their share of malcontents or political intrigue: Moira's status in Ironforge, the Fandral-Tyrande power struggle, the Godfrey-Crowley-Greymane power dynamics, etc. The issue, rather, is that these rarely affect or cross over to the Alliance as a whole; rather, they are the problems of each individual race.

[@miguelfrancescohogar7501]

One of my biggest issues with Sylvanas’ reign was that she didn’t utilize the Stonemauls. She wanted big brute fighters or those who can take a hit, boom the ogres.

[@Teeironor]

It's not the first, and it definitely won't be the last time they don't use a seemingly-obvious story element when it would make sense to do so.

[@thenerdbeast7375]

You say the Alliance is static, I call it stable. I recently went Alliance because I was so tired of the bullshit the Horde goes through every other expansion, with Saurfang's martyrdom being the straw that broke the Kodo's back. Orcish Honor™️ is fake, I'm tired of the Horde always at odds with itself and I am tired of the revolving door of Warchiefs. There is a possibility that the Alliance will face inner conflict in the near future, with Tyrande and the Army of the Black Moon going AWOL and all, but it will be different than the Horde going "The Warchief is evil, there is no honor blah blah blah" again.

[@Sodacacik]

same reason i also play alliance for some time but its true that the faction is really static with pretty much 0 inner conflict between the races,

[@Teeironor]

I definitely agree that the Horde is way too unstable at the moment. My main point of comparison in regards to saying the Alliance is static, though, is the old Alliance of Lordaeron, which was very much not, even if I were only to count the time of the Second War, when they were most united.

[@ThePastAnalysis]

@@Teeironor I think the Horde made a massive mistake in our Mists of Pandaria Civil War. We put in Vol'Jin without realizing that the inherent flaws in the Warchief system. It has no real checks and balances other than rebellion. Sure the current Warchief might be great, but one slip up and the whole thing falls apart. I have big hopes for the Council even if it potentially puts the Horde in a weaker state.

[@xPWN74]

For the Alliance!

[@ElieZ]

"Orcs and dwarves are cool."

[@kinocrone7275]

I like the horde, mostly. I apreciate the idea of it. I mostly don't agree with the ethos of many of its races, but I find them interesting, at least. What I don't like is the 70% of the player base who think they are the outcasts or the rebels for being horde, when they are in actuality the popular choice. They also mock the alliance for ... being driven to do good? (they aren't always good, but you would need to actually read the quest text to notice that) Apart from its players, I prefer the Alliance because their actions are motivated by what the world could be, not what the world is, like the horde. Both respectable, but the alliance just resonates more. And, well, the Wrynns. I'd die for those fictional boys.

[@takojitsu2197]

I don't know this to be true but the factions of the horde seem to operate with more autonomy than those in the Alliance. The king just seems like he has more final say so than the war chief.

[@learningagain4094]

I always wished Alliance got a badass instigator of conflict, rather than being defensive good guys.

[@bigger_mibber6029]

I don't know why, but nowadays whenever i hear somebody yell "for the horde" or mentions the word "honour" i just cringe a little bit. I feel like these words have been overused in resent years a lot more then before, but i am not sure. Nevertheless I am a horde fan primarily and alwasy liked the primitive/tribal feel of the faction (if we exclude the blood elfs and maybe the undead)

[@michaelbirkle2771]

Horde for life but I'm not happy with how blizzard has done the story for horde and I have a soft spot for Alli at least when they had Varian

[@WhiteBoyMikey21]

i play alliance because im a low fantasy guy also i like my char to resemble me as much as possible so it feels like i was portet into the world and i can put my own personality into the char not adapt one from the looks of the char, also i dont like the looks of the horde its not cool or badass to me its cringey like a edgelord teen who acts hard ngl. also who is harder ? a huge green monster who fights a little human, or the human who takes on the green monster?

[@hennibsdp9528]

FOR THE ALLIANCE!!!!

[@thenerdbeast7375]

The Alliance is the Justice League, The Horde is the Avengers

[@mohdimansaifullizan6193]

Choose your side Alliance or Horde

[@Billaxle]

I'm really conflicted. On one hand I'd rather play a Belf over any other race. On the other i can't stand Zandalari Trolls and i hate what Blizz has done to Sylvannas. T_T

[@deathkilleraw.o.w3244]

Play both but God horde main cities are alot easier to get around but both have great stories and even say play the stories on both to see what you missed because your faction only shows half the story.

[@Goremonger2]

As someone who loves the Horde, but plays both factions just about every race, why limit something you're paying for. I do miss Varian he was a cool badass that provided a sort of adversary who could meet you blow for blow where you both hate each other but also respect each other. Anduin has been a disappointment since MoP where he would rather cry and talk over feelings than stand his ground.

[@lilsabin]

I only play alliance because i find their environment really nice , like kul tiras is way more interesting then zandalar , now as for gameplay (pvp) , horde all the way

[@Nick-cb3xd]

I am really considering switching to horde, simply because as you said, playing horde feels like being part of the comunity, whils playing alliance is just meh

[@lovroxyz3119]

i like the horde more becouse most aliance races are just deferent styles of humans... dwarves are just drunk mountain humans gnomes are smart midgets, wargen are warewolf humans,kultiran humans,humans, the only race thats somewhat original is the drenai oh yea and nightelfs are just purple hippie humans with pointy ears

[@Altermerea]

And Orcs are just green barbarian humans, Trolls are blue rasta humans, Blood Elves are pointy ears humans, Forsaken are literally dead humans... What's your point? Only Taurens are somewhat more "original"... In being cow-humans.

[@Kokkenbollz]

I'm completely for the Horde. I also liked Sylvanas because she used everything to fight the alliance

[@moch.farisdzulfiqar6123]

Did I hear 'future wife'? That is, Teeironor is secretly Tommy Wiseau 😲

[@rayqon8055]

im in a standoff, some i know wanna go to the horde and the others to the alliance i cant decide :D

[@westcoast9285]

I admit I’m a horde person. I really liked Vol Jin but as you said I felt he was underdeveloped by blizzard for being the first non orcish warchief

[@theoutlander1411]

I only play Classic, and as someone new to WOW but familiar with the old lore, I prefer the Horde, not do to any grander WOW related narrative, but because the Horde is a faction of extremes with races that have more unique backstories since pretty much every race is starting at year zero. Orcs trying to rediscover the past as brought up in Warcaft 3, Trolls trying to move from tribal society to being a nation of the world, Tauren finally able to settle and live in peace and stability due to their alliance with the Orcs, Forsaken being Undead Lordaeron citizens living their life free from the Lich King's rule, and Blood Elves trying to cope with the loss of the Sunwell, destruction of their homeland, and their race moving on from the alliance to find power and purpose elsewhere. Alliance more or less represents the standard, good guy, faction which can be fun to play if you want a more neutral fantasy story. Additionally, there is more of a moral extreme. I find the Eastern Horde to be more selfish and evil, whereas the Western Horde more focused on surviving in a harsh land trying to live in tune with nature and their traditions, which allows you to play either a more good or more evil character. Lorewise, I found Alliance references a lot of Warcraft 1 human lore and Warcraft 3 NE lore, and even though Dwarves reference some Warcraft 2 stuff, it tends to be very different from that era's maps. Horde is more the side for Warcraft 2 and Warcraft 3 players, minus Blackrock mountain which is kind of out of the way for them. As for the player base, I found I like the people who play Horde more. Alliance seems more serious, which can be fun in some ways, but results in things like discord verification and sign-up sheets for guilds whereas the Horde guild I joined will be there to help if you need it, though I found friendly players on both sides on a person to person level. I will caution though that the Horde has a lot of ups and downs whereas the Alliance has been generally fun. Horde has a lot of quests drawn out in areas where there are a lot of walking, or enemies surrounding their out of the way bases. Alliance has more straightforward, but still interesting quests centered around accessible hubs in each zone. Horde also has some of the more intriguing quests doing sneaky stuff like making poisons for the Forsaken, securing outposts and ones where you feel you're at war as opposed to the Alliance, whereas Alliance is more slay the dragon, save the town and wipe out these orcs in the mountains. If I was to make a third character, I'd make it Alliance not Horde, as the Alliance levelling, while it didn't wow me, flew by, whereas with Horde I had genuine "Oh wow cool!" moments mixed with tedium, walking and it feeling like a chore at times. Pick your poison, but I think Horde is the faction that makes WOW stand out, has some of the most iconic places, has the personal story depth, and some of the coolest people who had struggled what you have struggled with to get where they are. That said, Blood Elves are a hit or miss. Especially Paladins.

[@theoutlander1411]

Alliance also has stuff like "I'll give you 5 silver to find my dog" at level 5, whereas Horde is like "Kill 15 Centaur on the other side of the map and I'll make you a two-slot bag" at level 5.

[@Swordart2022]

That UGH showed you are alliance main confirmed! FOR THE HORDE AND QUEEN!

[@uaespetsnaz2391]

Nice body

[@richardszalai5230]

Grettings

[@damdumah2552]

Been Horde since 1996

[@SnakeA113]

Im always the Horde

[@theoutlander1411]

Real OGs. Alliance is temporary, Horde is forever.

[@Ayshire991]

You call alliance static i just call it BS alliance storytelling...

[@QueenAsh88]

I like both

[@LedosKell]

Gorian Empire for life.

[@Teeironor]

Da king! Da king! Da king!

[@LedosKell]

*"Say the word and I will end your suffering."*

[@KnightofEkron]

I feel like their sycophantic need to constantly portray the Alliance as the "good guys" has turned them into a completely bland faction.

[@волимбабе]

cool video! 👍

[@jthiggins4886]

Horde is about to fall apart? The Dark Lady takes down the Lich King SOLO! it isnt possible to beat someone who can reanimate your dead and make them serve as their army

[@Swordart2022]

Alliance is boring spineless faction with no pride and just likes to takes punch to face.

[@aleksandarvil5718]

Alliance = DCU Horde = MCU

[@Altermerea]

Horde = Iron Man Alliance = Captain America

[@damdumah2552]

@@Altermerea no if you watch civil war iron Man signs the papers to be on a leash AKA alliance rules protocols regulations all that Captain America did not sign he chose to do what's right on impulse does not wait for voting AKA Horde

[@voidwalker6581]

Horde for glory and save the world , alliance farming mounts and hiding like a cowrd boring faction I don't like it , it's make me quit the game

[@Azure_clematis14]

Horde, why? I'll explain: The horde story is amazing. They got more action than the stupid alliance, the races and the allied races are cool than the alliance, the horde is more "powerful", i mean, the alliance are very very annoying and boring, i mean look at this "gnome", and this "human", and this "dwarf" what the freaky hell are those races?! Look at the horde: orcs, undead, blood elves, and more amazing creatures. Next reason: ummmmmm... Well i said what i said already! 😁

[@Azure_clematis14]

STAND WITH ME, FOR THE HORDE!