Whereas in World of Warcraft Legion the Horde and the Alliance were still laughing hand in hand as they skipped across the green meadows of Val’sharah and threw flowers, this is finally over in Battle for Azeroth. The war between the two factions is in the foreground. And who wins? At the time, clearly the Alliance, because Blizzard hated the Horde!
World of Warcraft fans are currently sitting in the honey pot, at least when it comes to the announcements from BlizzCon 2017. The new Battle for Azeroth addon finally brings the war between Alliance and Horde back into focus. Plus Classic Servers for the retro-loving gamers. A dream. But especially Horde fans will probably have to prepare for very hard times with the Classic servers, because Blizzard was not the biggest fan of this faction at the beginning of World of Warcraft. This may sound crazy, especially after the Horde has been in the spotlight for the past few years. After all, there was the borderline-debilitarian Garrosh, the Vol’jin storyline, and of course the green Jesus Thrall. But that wasn’t always the case. We’ll show you why the Alliance got their asses handed to them back then, while the Horde crawled through the Barrens on their toes.
WoW: Quests? That’s not Blizzard’s problem!
There have always been differences between Horde and Alliance. From the different races, to the different classes (more on that in a moment), to the incredibly different quests that Blizzard set different standards for. The Alliance often had at least two areas to choose from at all levels, and thus a corresponding number of quests. However, this was not the case with the Horde. It sounds like a conundrum, but at some point every player inevitably ended up in the Barrens – hence the region’s dubious reputation today. Barrens chat was no accident, but the result of complete overcrowding and frustration. But why frustration? It was mainly due to the comparatively few quests that covered an incredibly large area, because back then the Barrens was a single region, without a fiery scar. Escape points and graveyards were also few and far between. Thus, many players often had enough time for chat conversations and related shenanigans.
Of course, this is no coincidence and no bad intentions on the part of Blizzard. But the games company started developing with the alliance and its areas and regions. While there was of course plenty of time for that, things were getting pretty tight for the Horde at the back as the release approached. So it came as it had to come: the game had to be released, but the Horde didn’t get as much love as the Alliance until then – and so the child fell into the well.
WoW: The capital city thing
Blizzard’s low love for the Horde is also evident in the capitals. The most important places in the alliance, namely Stormwind and Ironforge, are real gems with many nice details and interesting NPCs. In Stormwind a huge castle with all kinds of guards
of the city and annoying kids rampaging through the streets. In Ironforge, on the other hand, there is the abnormally large room for the forge with flowing lava, a large museum and of course the deep train that connects the two locations. With the Horde, there’s… well. gammon? Yes, it’s no coincidence that this grumpy fellow is so famous, as he was one of the absolute highlights of Orgrimmar at the time, which is actually pretty sad. What else do Hordlers remember? Exactly, the bank roof. A tauren and a bank roof. Many thanks too!
But there is much more to tell about the capitals. For example, did you ever notice that the leaders of the Horde were much easier to kill than the brave leaders of the Alliance? Just look at Orgrimmar, where the western bridge led straight to the seat of the then Warchief Thrall. resistance? Nonsense. The main gate was uninteresting. Or Undercity with the sewers you could just swoop across to kick Varimathras’ ass. Who cares about the elevators and their guards? Or just have a look at Thunder Bluff, because there an elevator went almost directly to Cairne Bloodhoof. And at the alliance? Ironforge and Stormwind had exactly one entrance back then – apart from the Deep Tram. This entrance led right past the players’ population centers, while the leaders themselves were hidden quite far in the city. A quick attack? Unthinkable. Stormwind didn’t even have a port back then!
But there is more! Looking at the vanilla endgame, all sorts of challenges found their place in Blackrock. Blackrock is easy to get to from Stormwind City and Ironforge. And the Horde? They either had to fly halfway across the continent or sail to Booty Bay by ship – and then fly halfway across the continent. In terms of PvP, things didn’t look much different. While the Alliance quickly took the ship to the Barrens to hunt down innocent players, the Horde had a harder time in the Alliance’s leveling areas. Not only were these well-protected in far-flung locations, but Horde outposts were virtually non-existent. Well, you could probably write a whole book on this subject.
WoW: PvP and PvE? Alliance ole!
But it wasn’t just the locations that used to show that the Horde was not necessarily the focus of developments. Let’s just look at the very early versions of the Alteractals. The alliance has an advantage? In case of doubt, this is always up to the players, but it is actually true. The base of the Alliance with the bridge and the bunkers behind it was much easier to defend than the Horde’s beaten path, because the players could come from any direction there.
For many, however, PvE is more important, because this is where the big guilds have been fighting each other openly for years. And what should we say? Once again, Blizzard has hated the Horde for a very long time – until the first addon, The Burning Crusade. You want to know why? Simple: the Alliance had Paladins and the Horde didn’t. This caused problems on several occasions. It starts with the powerful Blessings of the Kings, which was only available to the Alliance at the time and massively strengthened the groups. The Shamans and the Horde were looking down the tubes and thus often faced stronger battles in Molten Core. Blizzard then changed that with patch 1.9, in which the Shamis got a corresponding totem. However, this shared space with the Windfury totem, which was also essential for many teams. Thanks, Blizzard…
Patch 1.9 finally brought a new totem for the Shamans, while the Paladins were completely overhauled and strengthened in many areas. Blizzard promised similar revisions for the Shaman very soon, but thanks to community manager Eyonix, it never happened. He was sick on the day of the Shaman skill rework, so the class was pushed back in the rework. The changes then came a proud six months later – along with the mages. Players were not very enthusiastic and massively blamed Eyonix for this disaster. In the end, however, Blizzard did not correct its changes, as The Burning Crusade was already within reach. Thus, the Paladins eventually joined the Horde, while the Alliance took on the Shamans.
And now we’re interested in your opinion! What do you say to these stark differences between the two factions in the vanilla era? Especially in light of the upcoming Classic servers. Tell us what you think in the comments!
What is WoW Classic?
World of Warcraft Classic is a true recreation of the original WoW as you know it from 2006. All parts of the game – from combat mechanics and talent trees to character models and zones – have been recreated, contributing to the authentic experience.
Getting Started
All players with an active World of Warcraft subscription or game time on their accounts have access toWoW Classic at no additional cost.
- Open the Blizzard Battle.net Desktop App and select World of Warcraft from the menu.
- Select World of Warcraft Classic from the Version menu. If you have more than one World of Warcraft account, you’ll see a second Account drop-down list. In this column, select the active account you want to play with.
- Click the Install button. The progress bar will tell you when your game is ready to play.
- Click the Play button when the installation is complete.
You will need to select the realm you want to play on from several different realm types. Make sure you choose the same realm as your friends – in World of Warcraft Classic, you can only group with characters that are on the same realm as you!
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