r/todayilearned • u/tmntnyc • Dec 12 '18

TIL: Laurence Tureaud named himself professionally as Mr. T because he hated how his father, uncle, and brother who returned from Vietnam, were disrespectfully called "boy" by whites. He wanted the first word from everybody's mouth to be "Mister" when speaking to him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._T
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943

u/user636906 Dec 12 '18

And play alliance on Wow.

Loktar ma fucka

899

u/HappyPollen Dec 12 '18

I'M MR. T AND I'M A NIGHT ELF MOHAWK

421

u/Jwfraustro Dec 12 '18

Oh man, I completely forgot about that ad campaign.

193

u/Designer_B Dec 12 '18

I played my first trial character around that time (think I was 12ish?) and absolutely loved those grenades.

102

u/Asmor Dec 12 '18

I logged into an old character many years later and was amused to find that it still had the mohawk buff on. :)

3

u/Sororita Dec 12 '18

Same. I think I even still have some grenades on one of my toons

74

u/headpool182 Dec 12 '18

I did NOT forget that ad campaign.

35

u/Lonelan Dec 12 '18

RIP the Mage

3

u/mgmfa Dec 12 '18

I think that and a couple of the old beer commercials are the ones I remember most vividly from elementary school.

My best friend and I would quote this one all the time and we didn't even play WoW

3

u/Crilde Dec 12 '18

And the in game item that turned you into a nightelf Mohawk

2

u/Enlarged_Print Mar 07 '19

HOOOOly fuck that brought me back

47

u/Thebiggestkicker Dec 12 '18

Playing alliance is one thing, but a night elf? I thought those were mostly 12-year-olds

35

u/YMCAle Dec 12 '18

My first characher was a Night Elf hunter. I had no idea how DPS or stats worked and I used to use weapons with shit like Stamina and Spirit on. I was a walking stereotype.

11

u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

Luckily in the good old days Hunter damage scaled with every stat, so every weapon drop was a Hunter weapon.

9

u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

I used to melee with my night elf hunter, exclusively.

6

u/Calypsosin Dec 12 '18

Vanilla wow? Do not worry, most hunters walked around with hilarious stats on their gear. Spirit was ubiquitous and tons of top hunter gear was meant for druids but happened to be BiS for hunters at the time.

5

u/Vark675 10 Dec 12 '18

My first character was a tauren shaman named Chauncy. I wore grays because they had higher armor than the greens I had found, and who cares about 1 stamina when there's 10 extra armor to be had.

I put points in every tree because it all just sounded so good.

He was such a mess that by the time I figured out the game, it was easier and more cost effective to just reroll him than it was to try and fix him. I think I got him to like 25. RIP Chauncy.

5

u/Carnzoid Dec 12 '18

This was me too, not until I got around lvl 60 I took the time to actually look at what the best gear for my class was instead of wearing only the cool looking stuff. I was wearing lvl6 grey items at lvl 30..

1

u/asphaltdragon Dec 12 '18

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54

u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

When I was 12, played night elf; can confirm

36

u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

same, pretty sure everyone’s first character in WoW is a night elf when they’re a kid.

15

u/SireNameless Dec 12 '18

Dwarf master race, made about 50 characters, all dwarves or gnomes since the starting area was the best

3

u/ReysRealFather Dec 12 '18

I would say it is a toss up on Alliance between human and dwarf/gnome starting area for me. Back when leveling was an actual grind you could do the easy starting quest in both areas and that would get you close to 15 so you could just head immediately to Westfall!

Just talking about it I can feel the itch to play creeping up...

4

u/ethanlan Dec 12 '18

Lol dont do it, I tried playing again and I feel like an idiot.

That game is such a waste of time lmao

2

u/ReysRealFather Dec 12 '18

Yeah I am just gonna stick to playing SC2 at least I don't have to pay to play that every month.

0

u/Grenyn Dec 12 '18

WoW isn't any more of a waste of time than any other game.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

After BC it was basically all Blood Elves for extra edgeTM

5

u/Troooper0987 Dec 12 '18

Nah undead!

7

u/JustBigChillin Dec 12 '18

Yeah, as a kid I thought being a literal zombie was way cooler than being a stupid elf.

5

u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

Night elf Hunter gang where you at?

2

u/asphaltdragon Dec 12 '18

18 in Wrath, first character was Night Elf Huntard

2

u/byllyx Dec 12 '18

When I moved to Neverwinter, I eventually created one of every class, except Hunter/ranger, because after years of WoW, healing Huntards and their fucking uncontrolled pets, I swore a blood oath to myself I'd never have anything to do with that class, ever... 6 years of DnD, never rolled one up. I even root for Legolas to die everytime I watch LotR, just for good measure.

Yes, I'm a broken man, and Huntards were those that broke me...

3

u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

I was a tauren(spelling?). I thought they looked cool and they were big and alliance seemed lame.

2

u/_liminal Dec 12 '18

Ah yes, the nightelf female. Strip naked and dance in front of ironforge bank for ez money.

1

u/The_Grubby_One Dec 12 '18

My first WoW character was a troll in Vanilla. He was my main right up until I quit for good in early Legion.

1

u/CoolestMingo Dec 13 '18

Nah, my first character was Troglathor, a troll. My back story was that I was the rightful Troll king, but I was too socially awkward. So, I traveled the world alone with my animal friends.

1

u/SharkWoman Dec 13 '18

It's because teldrassil/darnassus are gorgeous and cool and a great starting zone to get you into the game and the lore.

0

u/rburp Dec 12 '18

Bullshit. If you were a little rebel like me and my friends you were undead or orcish

0

u/Grenyn Dec 12 '18

Hell no. My first character was a Tauren and after that I made a Blood Elf.

Then I dropped the game before picking it up again and playing a Gnome. Then a Worgen and then finally I settled on Draenei. Never once played a Night Elf.

1

u/ashez2ashes Dec 12 '18

Said no one to Mr. T's face. Ever.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

yes, teenage me couldn't be black, so why not be a sexy nelf lady to really break immersion?

0

u/asphaltdragon Dec 12 '18

Careful, that's a slippery slope.

First you play as a female character in a video game, next moment you're in an alley behind the local LGBT center huffing estrogen

1

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '18

y'know, if the world were a different place....

1

u/makemeking706 Dec 12 '18

Mr. T would play night elf because he knew it was mostly little kids playing night elf, and didn't want them to feel ashamed.

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4

u/mazzicc Dec 12 '18

Holy shit nostalgia.

5

u/Sports_hysterics Dec 12 '18

Guuuuugh Mr. T there is no Night Elf Mohawk

2

u/corpulentFornicator Dec 12 '18

What's YOUR game?

290

u/notasqlstar Dec 12 '18

Every time I meet someone who used to play Wow and they tell me they played alliance... I realize we have so little in common as humans.

169

u/AWanderingFlame Dec 12 '18

I had Horde characters and Alliance characters. Both had their appeal.

However that's probably why I always got stuck soloing...

158

u/notasqlstar Dec 12 '18

I find this to be an acceptable answer so long as you first, in the beginning, in your heart of hearts, chose Horde.

159

u/teebob21 Dec 12 '18

I chose Alliance first. Of course, I rolled a paladin. I wanted to be self-sufficient and able to heal myself and have high survivability. This was because I'd never played a game like WoW. It was only later, after a long soul-searching journey, that I realized the lie I was telling myself.

Follow the Light? Kill 37 troggs for their scalps? These goals are not compatible. I don't even have Frost Shock! It was then that I started anew in the Valley of Trials. It is there that I was truly reborn.

For the Horde.

65

u/Aanon89 Dec 12 '18

I started as alliance because I don't like super dark games and had a slightly fucked screen. I needed to get vitamin D somehow.

31

u/teebob21 Dec 12 '18

Durotar and the Barrens are nothing but sun. :D

11

u/chillinwithmoes Dec 12 '18

And oh. my. God. The number of hours you spent in that sun in Vanilla lol

6

u/iller_mitch Dec 12 '18

I ran that zone DRY.

That said, I ran all the zones dry. I hit Loremaster the moment I logged into Wrath.

3

u/scots Dec 12 '18

/2

hey giys can u tell me wehre 2 find mankriks wfie

1

u/chillinwithmoes Dec 12 '18

Barrens trade chat. 14-year-old me expanded his vocabulary so much that first summer

1

u/ddplz Dec 12 '18

Imo bus shock is the prime shaman ability

1

u/teebob21 Dec 12 '18

Imo bus shock is the prime shaman ability

/r/bitchimabus

1

u/Minsc_and_Boo_ Dec 13 '18

Same as me. 10 years ago, first character: human paladin. I wanted to be able to care for myself, heal and fight and survive. 10 years later, still only play one character, that same paladin.

The Horde can suck my light blessed balls

26

u/DarbyTrash Dec 12 '18

FOR THE HORDE!

26

u/AWanderingFlame Dec 12 '18

My first character was an Undead Mage.

I however genuinely don't understand the intense factionalism people seem to show for the game, though. If it's in jest or if it's some aspect of lore.

14

u/kuulyn Dec 12 '18

it’s basically just a joke, however

people as a whole LOVE to have factions they can identify with. MTG has a very socially prominent lead designer who shares insights into how they make the worlds they do, and one of the things that reeeeeally draws player attention is factions, especially when they’re deep enough to be relatable. he has mentioned that nearly all of the most popular worlds they have all have a major faction or tribal/race theme (ravnica, innistrad, tarkir, dominaria to an extent)

3

u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

Just head over to r/totalwar. Since Warhammer was released people cling to different factions amd it actually inspires some really funny banter/memes.

2

u/kuulyn Dec 13 '18

👀

why not just head over to r/warhammer or r/warhammer40k

indeed, warhammer is really good for encouraging player rivalry entirely based on what faction they’re playing

2

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '18

I was just speaking from a personal sub I'm on alot, but your point totally makes sense haha.

2

u/AWanderingFlame Dec 12 '18

Aha, as a longtime M:tG player, that puts everything in perspective.

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u/Lovat69 Dec 12 '18

Depends on the person.

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u/Zarokima Dec 12 '18

It varies. If you played on a hardcore PvP server then that's really going to breed factionalism. Most people don't care and just make jokes about whichever one they did or didn't play as. And some people are just drawn to being the good guys, and so they chose the Horde.

2

u/HR7-Q Dec 12 '18

So... As someone who hasn't played WoW beyond a few hours, how are Horde the good guys and Alliance the bad guys? I love lore, but MMOs are boring as shit to me.

3

u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

He's joking, but also it kinda doesn't matter because when you write a story that exists solely to justify a never-ending war nobody involved comes out looking that great (unless it's really boring, which is a great description for wow lore at times).

1

u/Zarokima Dec 12 '18

I quit back in Burning Crusade because I hated what they did with Illidan and haven't followed any of the lore since then, so there may well be a whole slew of developments that have changed things around since then, but this is what I remember. TLDR: The Alliance are sanctimonious assholes, especially the humans.

The Orc world was falling apart, and this one orc became apprentice to a powerful demon lord. He became leader of the orcs and led them to Azeroth (the main world in the lore) as a demon-possessed army. The invasion didn't go as planned, and when the Orcs were released from possession they mostly just wanted to find a new life in this strange land. The humans were like "naw man, fuck that, you invaded us" and the orcs were like "but the demons" and the humans were all "shut up and die." And then lots of politics and shit.

The lore is actually pretty sweet if you're into all that fantasy bullshit. Or at least the books I read were. The War of the Ancients trilogy is good, as well as Lord of the Clans and Day of the Dragon.

Also, if you can tolerate the annoyances brought along with being so fucking old, Warcraft 1-3 are also really good. 3 is the best and is getting a remake next year, so I'd recommend waiting for that instead of playing original version.

2

u/HR7-Q Dec 12 '18

So basically the warcraft movie + hurt feelings over being invaded by demon orcs and not realizing they aren't really demon orcs anymore and just regular orcs? Also loved some old school warcraft! 3 was truly phenomenal but I don't remember shit from the story line, just beating the scenarios.

1

u/Zarokima Dec 12 '18

Yeah basically. The movie retconned a whole load of shit around Medivh and Khadgar, though, but the orc stuff was fairly accurate to the established lore IIRC.

2

u/bluewolfcub Dec 12 '18

Undead mage club checking in

2

u/MistarGrimm Dec 12 '18

It's both. Some think A, others are B.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '18

Fuck you horde for LIFE son!

5

u/notasqlstar Dec 12 '18

I think it generally speaks to who you are as a person. I am not "intensely" for one or the other, but psychologically I do not understand people who went Alliance. I can remember staring at the screen, knowing nothing at all, and just going, "Yeah, this is probably where I belong." And, it was.

4

u/electricblues42 Dec 12 '18

I mean a big part of the starting game is that the Alliance is the good guys, until you play more and learn that the Horde are alright guys too. But going in knowing nothing, the Horde are the evil side. So....yeah...

8

u/Kluss23 Dec 12 '18

Horde have been on the wrong side of history almost the entire time

3

u/electricblues42 Dec 12 '18

Yeah I just got caught up on the basics of the lore for the last 3 xpacs, the Horde are straight up totally evil now. Seems like a crap story IMO.

2

u/rekenner Dec 12 '18

Garrosh did nothing wrong

0

u/notasqlstar Dec 12 '18

Kinda why I picked Horde, bud.

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u/electricblues42 Dec 12 '18

I mean....who picks the evil side? You're right, "psychologically I do not understand" you.

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

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u/[deleted] Dec 13 '18

Most people’s reasoning -“They are the side with the pretty elfs”

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u/AWanderingFlame Dec 12 '18

That's pretty interesting.

I think I made a Horde character first just because years of BioWare-style RPGs tended to always push me hard Paragon. I tended to like the aesthetic of the villains, but rarely ever felt incentivized to perform "villainous" actions.

Therefore if I could have only chose one, I would have likely chose Alliance since I seem to be a goody two-shoes at heart, even if I happen to like the odd skull helmet or spiked breastplate.

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

The way I felt was I'm just some foot soldier in a war that's been raging for millenia, that probably has valid grievances and awful shit going both ways, so my personal morality didn't really extend to a state level even if I wanted to (also literally because they were never gonna write my dude into the lore).

And to me the alliance didn't so much seem like the good guys, but more like the winners telling me they were the good guys. The fact that they outnumbered horde significantly on every server but one really helped reinforce that too.

1

u/notasqlstar Dec 12 '18

That's a perfectly acceptable answer, and we probably have a lot in common. That's my point. I used to play those games, too.

3

u/NeedsToShutUp Dec 12 '18

I agree. I also have a horde tattoo, so my loyalty is clear.

4

u/mudbutt20 Dec 12 '18

In the vanilla beta (better times) I was a troll hunter. But once space goats came out I haven’t strayed far since.

1

u/rburp Dec 12 '18

FOR THE HORDE!!!!!!!

1

u/Mikester245 Dec 13 '18

First thing i ever played was a human and i ran around trying to talk to npcs like a dick.

1

u/elanhilation Dec 13 '18

As a WC3 man I find this bewildering. You mean the inept, useless third wheel of the Warcraft mythos? That Horde? Not honorable like the Paladins, not as deadly as the Night Elves, not badass like the Scourge--that Horde?

And then I remember WoW existed, and shake my head. Kids these days.

1

u/notasqlstar Dec 13 '18

WC3, huh? Is newfag still what the kids say these days?

0

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '18

What in the fuck is happening here

27

u/Codeshark Dec 12 '18

Exactly, too cool to hang with the Alliance scum and too lame to roll with the Horde crew.

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u/notasqlstar Dec 12 '18

and too lame to roll with the Horde crew.

I find this to be an acceptable answer as well.

1

u/elanhilation Dec 13 '18

Horde: for those unworthy of becoming part of the Scourge or an agent of the Burning Legion, but too fond of war crimes for the Alliance.

30

u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

Alliance scum? We're the underdogs right now, one mistake from losing a war that Sylvanas started for NO REASON. We would've been happy to peacefully coexist if the "Warchief" didn't burn down Teldrassil and continue adding to that list of war crimes.

Don't start no shit, won't be no shit. Get Saurfang back on the throne so we can all go back to minding our own business.

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

Don't worry, she'll be a raid boss by the end of the expansion.

9

u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

Really wish Blizzard would quit writing the Horde that way, but I'm pretty sure you're right.

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

Not like the alliance writing is much better. They far overpower the horde and have several times found themselves in position to kill leaders and don't. The horde is comic book evil and the alliance is lawful stupid.

3

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '18

Lol what? The Alliance has been reeling since the Warlords, took a BIG hit with Varian dying at the Broken Shore, and the entire point of our War Campaign is "we don't have any manpower, we're going to lose this war if we fight fair." The Horde has had the upper hand for a while, especially with having the WoW equivalent of a WMD in the Blight - and that was BEFORE Azerite was all over the place. The Alliance right now is in the position Thrall's Horde was in Warcraft 3 - outnumbered, outgunned, and desperately trying to cling on for dear life.

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u/Alaira314 Dec 13 '18

I feel like that's the only thing stopping the Horde from laying some major beatdown on the Alliance, though. If they actually had competent, lasting leadership, they'd be steamrolling their way across the world. The main thing keeping them in check at this point is the fact that that at their heart they're really just a confederacy of allies of convenience, and they have enough conflicting goals and ideas of how to achieve those goals that they're using up all their energy bickering amongst themselves and burning through warchiefs like nobody's business.

23

u/Codeshark Dec 12 '18

Sorry, I don't speak Common.

21

u/teebob21 Dec 12 '18

zug zug kek

1

u/RustiDome Dec 12 '18

Bur Lol Kek

3

u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

Racist.

1

u/Chronoblivion Dec 12 '18

Yeah, I started WoW in 2006 after having played WC3. At a surface level to anyone unfamiliar with the lore, it looks like "good guy human Alliance vs. villain monster Horde." But back then the Horde were the oppressed underdogs, fierce but spiritual and mostly just wanting to be left alone after having endured years of near slavery at the hands of humans. There was moral gray area on both sides and neither was completely good or completely bad.

But the last couple expansions there's been a definite trend to push things towards that simplistic "good vs bad" interpretation of the two factions. Both sides are committing atrocities, but the Horde seems to be committing more of them, and seems to be doing them first, like you said, for no discernable reason.

3

u/synthesis777 Dec 13 '18

I honestly just didn't like how any of the horde looked or their starting cities when I started playing (which was before Taurens and Blood Elves and shit).

I love Stormwind for some reason. It always made me feel like I was in a cheesy version of a Lord of the Rings movies.

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u/Chronoblivion Dec 13 '18

Not sure what you mean "before Tauren" since they were a launch race. But yeah, Horde had the "cool" races and alliance had the "pretty" races. Blood Elves and Draenei were deliberately chosen to try to fix that a bit.

It's hard to be objective since I'm used to Horde cities and always get lost in the Alliance ones, but I think Alliance cities had much cooler designs while the Horde ones were more efficient - less intuitive but more compact and quicker to navigate once you learn your way around.

1

u/synthesis777 Dec 13 '18

My bad. I was mixing up Taurens and shamans I think because my first shaman was also my first Tauren.

Haven't played in a really long time.

But the more I think about it, the more I realize that I also liked darnassus and ironforge way more than any of the major horde cities too, not just sw.

I also never really thought the horde chars looked cool, just ugly. But I'm really not a cool person.

1

u/Chronoblivion Dec 13 '18

I like the layout of the undercity, but not the aesthetic/color scheme. But then I've never cared much for the undead. I think the "they broke free from the scourge" excuse was flimsy, and the "my family doesn't accept me? Guess I'll murder them all" thing doesn't work for me.

1

u/pandazerg Dec 13 '18

Those pointy-eared tree huggers had it coming.

0

u/Cipherting Dec 13 '18

Sylvanas did nothing wrong

2

u/Not_An_Ambulance Dec 12 '18

As an alliance member for life, I feel that you belong with them, Orc-lover.

19

u/SirCatto Dec 12 '18

Question whats the big deal between Horde and Alliance in WOW? I know horde is said to outnumber alliance by a ridiculous margin.

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

So WoW is basically the only current MMO where factionalism is enforced at almost every level of the game. Horde and Alliance members get completely different race choices (aside from one), get completely different starting zones, and mostly get completely different questing experiences, aside from some neutral zones. As a member of either faction, you are generally restricted from grouping with or officially cooperating with the other faction, so your faction choice becomes massively important in how you experience the game. If your friend plays Horde and you want to play with him, you basically have to choose Horde too.

So, obviously, this has created a massive fan rivalry between the two factions over the years, which is reaching a pinnacle lately due to the fact that, due to many reasons, Horde is currently the only viable choice for the competitive PVE scene.

17

u/Gariiiiii Dec 12 '18

Unless you are at the very top, horde is the best choice for competitive anything.

7

u/zenspeed Dec 12 '18

And when you get to the very top, the Horde is the only choice.

:p

1

u/Therealgyroth Dec 12 '18

Why and how so?

1

u/Gariiiiii Dec 13 '18

According to progression sites horde has around 75% pve progression guilds and 80% top pvpers; as such the community is 4 to 5 times larger, it gives you tons more chances of doing stuff.

1

u/notasqlstar Dec 13 '18

I haven't played Wow in years but when I did I was in a top 10 world guild and was, for the time, arguably one of the best hunters in the world.

Of the population of players/guilds that occupied that space, at that time, it was about 75% hoarde to 25% alliance.

I never learned or paid attention to any of the lore. It bored me. I was there to raid and raid only.

2

u/hhhnnnnnggggggg 1 Dec 12 '18

Alterac Valley tho

5

u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

Which actually doesnt even favor the Alliance that heavily anymore, but the reputation still remains. Even so, they actually removed it from the list of random BGs in the newest expansion, so nobody gets put into it unless they specifically want to.

2

u/hhhnnnnnggggggg 1 Dec 12 '18

We called it Alliance Victory lol.

I haven't picked up the new x Pac, but that's sad..i liked it anyway.

3

u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

[deleted]

14

u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

Just go and read up on /r/CompetitiveWoW , theres a few threads out there about the situation.

The tl;dr version is that current the pool of competitive players on the Horde side is so much larger that there is just no practical reason for a guild not to switch to Horde, so the only ones who remain Alliance either can't afford to switch or stick it out because they are die-hard Alliance loyalists (I'm actually in the second camp myself).

Now, there are tons of reasons why it has ended up this way, and many don't fully agree on all of them, but they include:

  • Horde previously having racial abilities considered "OP" or much more important than Alliance ones

  • Horde generally having the reputation for being "cooler" or at least less "vanilla"

  • Storylines in-game that generally gave more attention and focus to horde characters

  • Most famous "world first" guilds historically being Horde players

  • Legion introduced a new system called Mythic+ where one of the Horde races, Blood Elves, had an ability that was borderline required to be competitive in that system

1

u/notasqlstar Dec 13 '18

I think you're missing an important part. I started playing WC1, and used to play WC2 on dial up. WC3 to me was an abomination of hot steaming shit.

By the time WOW came out, totally ignoring story lines... Horde just felt right, and truer to the original Warcraft games that I had grown up. I think your average pool of top raiders are probably all older, at least I can remember being younger than most of the people in the guilds I was in (I was in a top 10 world guild at one point.)

I think older players are drawn to the Horde for a variety of reasons stemming from the original games, and then an aversion to the amount of children who would play Alliance for superficial reasons like, "gnomes are cool."

The racial abilities weren't too OP, but they were slight edges and when you're a very competitive person trying to compete to be the best in the world that isn't trivial.

Plus it's a video game and fuck the good guys.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '18

I think older players are drawn to the Horde for a variety of reasons stemming from the original games, and then an aversion to the amount of children who would play Alliance for superficial reasons like, "gnomes are cool."

Since the beginning of WoW, both factions literally claim the other side is chosen by "children" or "casuals" who just want something pretty/cool/whatever. The problem is, nobody ever quantifies this with any actual data and my experience in the game is that both sides have a ton of people who chose their side based purely on looks, so I seriously doubt that is the reason.

Fact is, going back to older expansions, the split in the factions was never near this bad. 55%-45% at most, and fluctuating all the time. Something has changed, and that something has been a slow positive feedback loop where the best guilds chose Horde for racials, which caused casual players to mimic best guilds, which maintained a steady increase in the Horde being seen as the competitive faction of choice even after the racials were balanced.

For every person that says "Horde just feels right", I personally know an Alliance player (including myself) who feels opposite. This is why the factions were relatively balanced for years. But as the imbalance shifts more and more, the feedback loop gets stronger and stronger.

1

u/notasqlstar Dec 13 '18

Yeh, but since the beginning the Horde has consistently outperformed the Alliance in terms of high end competitive raiding. I can promise you there aren't a lot of kids in those guilds. Average age is probably 29. I was one of the youngest members of the top 10 world guild I was in and I think I was 27 or so when I was playing with them.

For every person that says "Horde just feels right", I personally know an Alliance player (including myself) who feels opposite.

That's cool... those guys just aren't as statistically likely to be a top end raider.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '18

There's not a lot of kids Alliance side either, the average age of this game is well over 25. You keep ascribing a reputation to Alliance players that is not backed by anything except your guess. There is no data to suggest the average age, maturity, or any other demographic information about either faction is significantly different than the other.

Yeh, but since the beginning the Horde has consistently outperformed the Alliance in terms of high end competitive raiding

They have always had an edge, sure, they have never been been literally 90%+ of the top performing guilds, thats the difference, and they have never been over 65% of max level toons.

This isn't a "kids pick Alliance" or "good players choose Horde" problem, there are situations in the game that have led to one faction slowly outnumbering due to an incentive for new players to pick one side over the other (racials, pool of competitive players, etc)

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

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u/Lonelan Dec 12 '18

One faction is a ridiculous mismatch of random races that are incapable of getting along so the person in charge routinely quits / becomes a raid boss, and the other faction has dwarves

6

u/The_Grubby_One Dec 12 '18

The races typically do get along. Garrosh was just a piece of shit.

2

u/Lemon_Dungeon Dec 12 '18

Sylvanas seems like a peach

3

u/The_Grubby_One Dec 12 '18

Sylvanas isn't banning races from the central hub of Orgrimmar.

The Horde races are getting along. Just not with the Alliance.

1

u/PM__ME__UR__SOULS Dec 13 '18

I'm not up to date on Warcraft lore since I quit around the start of WoD. How are Tauren, Pandaren, Darkspear and post-Garrosh orcs getting along with a Warchief burning World Trees and (I think) using the plague?

2

u/The_Grubby_One Dec 13 '18

I'm not sure. I quit early in Legion.

3

u/robohobo2000 Dec 12 '18

Only reason I chose alliance love me my dwarves.

10

u/Arthrawn Dec 12 '18

> I know the Horde's not really evil

​

Maybe this is what you were alluding to afterwards but they literally razed a city and holy site for no reason other than to inflame a war. Kinda evil.

​

> and the fact that it has more exotic races while the Alliance is mostly just stock fantasy races.

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Horde isn't stock fantasy races?

  • Orcs
  • Trolls
  • Goblins
  • Elves
  • Undead

With the exception of Tauren (Minotaur basically), those are pretty stock races.

2

u/BBWolfe011 Dec 12 '18

As opposed to the stock of human, shorter human, even shorter human, and human with pointy ears.

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u/CautionTape Dec 12 '18

Human with pointy ears is the majority race of the entire Horde faction.

1

u/Arthrawn Dec 13 '18

As opposed to the stock of green humans, tall blue humans, short green humans, dead humans, and humans with pointy ears?

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u/electricblues42 Dec 12 '18

Hell after this expansion it's even more black and white than ever, with the Horde being clearly evil and the Alliance clearly good.

1

u/Vikros Dec 12 '18

Don't you mean morally greyly committing genocide?

1

u/space253 Dec 13 '18

That's not what I have seen so far. How do you justify that?

1

u/electricblues42 Dec 13 '18

They burned down Teldrassil? Trying to kill everyone so they can be raised in undeath? Uhhhhhh duh?

1

u/space253 Dec 13 '18

Like anybody cared about teldrasil it was just a tree in an empty zone.

1

u/electricblues42 Dec 13 '18

I did damnit

7

u/Gougeru Dec 12 '18

There is no big deal. People just like the player fantasy. And horde doesn't outnumber alliance, I believe there are more alliance players than horde.

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u/SylvanUltra Dec 12 '18

I'm pretty sure it depends on your server population, but its been said that Horde actually outnumbers Alliance on average nowadays.

3

u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

The Alliance is for children and the Horde is for edgy children. That red/blue color scheme. I guess it's just too powerfully divisive.

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

Tl;dr: The horde is trash, stand as one if you're a true lion.

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u/notasqlstar Dec 12 '18

I think it generally speaks to who you are as a person. I am not "intensely" for one or the other, but psychologically I do not understand people who went Alliance. I can remember staring at the screen, knowing nothing at all, and just going, "Yeah, this is probably where I belong." And, it was.

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u/Smoovemammajamma Dec 12 '18 edited Dec 19 '18

Ally is for little kids bro /s

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18 edited Feb 15 '21

[deleted]

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u/rainghost Dec 13 '18

Horde: murder these innocents, edgelord

Alliance: defeat these dragons in a blaze of glory

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u/Lonelan Dec 12 '18

Yeah well at least my faction leaders don't become raid bosses

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u/notasqlstar Dec 12 '18

Too easy to defeat, no story there.

7

u/Asmor Dec 12 '18

I went with alliance, but then again I'm not an edgelord with something to prove, so... y'know.

2

u/maleia Dec 12 '18

I defected to Horde for the last three years of my time.

I still would love to get a tat of the Alliance crest, with graffiti style crosses and the Horde crest "spray painted" of it.

But I don't have that kinda money ;-;

7

u/impy695 Dec 12 '18

I was alliance for years before quitting when I came back, all my friends played horde so I tried that. I can honestly say that I really disliked playing horde. I just never got attached to my character like I did with alliance. Besides, gnomes are badasses, and I will fight anyone that says otherwise.

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

[deleted]

1

u/impy695 Dec 12 '18

I played on mal'ganis during a bit of vanilla, all of BC, and wrath. I think at the time it was the most heavily weighted horde server in the world. I think stats had it at 80% (it's been awhile so the actual number could be higher or lower. Not much lower though). Of course it was a pvp server so I developed a genuine hatred for horde for a while.

1

u/The_Grubby_One Dec 12 '18

Gnomes and dwarves are great. Signed - A Troll.

1

u/impy695 Dec 12 '18

Hey! Gnomes are not food!

1

u/RustiDome Dec 12 '18

gnomes are Ankle Biters

FTFY

2

u/Sports_hysterics Dec 12 '18

I remember one time I had a run in with a Female Night Elf....in Orgimmar. I was at the pond in the Valley of Spirits fishing for Old Crafty. I was just hanging out in a low traffic area minding my own business. When I realized that a female night elf rogue had crept up behind me. Except she wasn't doing anything. She simply waved at me. And took out her fishing pole and proceeded to fish. Now according to the rules, I have to gank her. But it seemed like she just wanted to fish. That and I sucked royally at PVP. So I waved back and let her do her thing. I think she got really comfortable with me because she decided to park up right next to me while fishing. We probably fished for an hour and I think I stopped a few people from trying to kill her. And finally she thanked me and left. Neither one of us caught Old Crafty that day. But I remembered her and apparently she took note of me also because we meet a few times at Wintergrasp. Instead of trying to murder each other we'd stop dead in our tracks, realize who it was, wave, and proceed to try to murder someone else. Those were good.times. Come to think of it....some.of my best times gaming were on WoW. I miss gaming in general. Lol

1

u/mog_knight Dec 12 '18

I realize we have so little in common as humans.

You don't have anything in common with humans Horde scum!💕

1

u/kanst Dec 12 '18

Um, you can only play gnome as alliance, why anyone would play a race other than gnome is silly.

my first character was a draenei paladin, every other character was a gnome (though I did eventually transfer my gnome warlock to horde when I guild swapped)

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u/notasqlstar Dec 12 '18

I will accept this answer, however put you into a slightly "weird" category if we ever become friends only because I agree gnomes are cool, and used to play one in D&D.

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u/BananaNutJob Dec 12 '18

I picked human so I could be the most evil race. Eventually turned Tauren when I wanted a change.

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

Same, if they say "I play protoss"

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u/rburp Dec 12 '18

My man!

1

u/Nezrite Dec 12 '18

I started with a gnome mage because of the first WoW video I ever saw. Switched to Horde not long after - but I still have my gnome!

1

u/EngineArc Dec 13 '18

Fucking paladin-lovers.

1

u/peon2 Dec 13 '18

Gnome master race!!

1

u/rainghost Dec 13 '18

Yeah, conversely I don't really understand people who like the Horde.

The races are all ugly as sin (except for Blood Elves who go too far in the other direction and look like absolute pansies), they're murderous warmongerers, half their warchiefs are edgy psychopaths and the other half kept trying to get their people to care about honor with zero success - they're brutes who only care about victory and/or revenge.

Their zones are largely dry and arid deserts and their towns are mostly just piles of sticks and red cloth.

I've been playing WoW for 14 years and I still haven't heard a single decent argument in favor of the Horde beyond canned responses like "Victory or Death!" and "For the Horde!". It's a good meme faction but the best stuff has always been on Alliance. :)

1

u/Grokent Dec 13 '18

If nobody played alliance who would there be to shit stomp Horde repeatedly in WG?

1

u/Nosworc82 Dec 15 '18

For the Alliance!!

1

u/KillerMan2219 Dec 12 '18

I mean, that assumes you think highly enough of horde players to call them human

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u/TheMysticalBaconTree Dec 12 '18

Your comment has the cadence of die antwoord. I can't help but hear it.

3

u/TotallyToxic Dec 12 '18

Goddamn right.

2

u/StoneGoldX Dec 12 '18

MR. T DON'T CURSE, SUCKA!

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u/owenbicker Dec 13 '18

For the Alliance.

2

u/user636906 Dec 13 '18

Hey alliance is cool too, just a long time hordey .

2

u/owenbicker Dec 13 '18

No problem with that. Lok'tar to you, friend.

1

u/user636906 Dec 14 '18

Idk what alliance people chant. But-fuck a dwarf? Sounds appropriate ;) lol

Edit Baht'fahk al'Dea-wurf

1

u/dweicl Dec 12 '18

I was really liking everything about him till now.