Hood Today

It is safe to say that World of Warcraft is a fairly popular game; the last statistic I read was something regarding several million players. I, myself, am a player. I started on the Shadow Council realm, or server, shortly after The Burning Crusade expansion was released. I played for about a year, left for about another year, and then came back after the Wrath of the Lich King expansion was released.

After my return I transferred my, then, level 70 warrior to the Bloodhoof server, taking with him all of the money of my low-level alts and starting anew. This sort of purge, for those of you who have never done such a thing, was something akin to what I imagine the pilgrims upon the Mayflower experienced. It was a move toward the Promised Land, where I could grow another 10 levels freely and find myself a new guild.

Which is precisely what I did.

I was told that I was in for several surprises when I upgraded to Wrath of the Lich King. What surprised me about Wrath of the Lich King was how easy it was compared to The Burning Crusade expansion, which was, in turn, likely easier than the Original World of Warcraft game, often called WoW Vanilla or something similar. I went from level 70 to level 80 on my warrior in a week or so of infrequent playing. I felt as if I was relearning a game that I had formerly mastered to at least some degree of the word, and quite frankly I was. I still am. It is a learning experience, and it should be. It's likely part of what keeps people coming back for more.

What better to lead off with discussion with than the age-old question that has plagued every World of Warcraft newcomer: Horde or Alliance?

Perhaps Alliance is a privileged term but according to WoWCensus data (an AddOn that polls population status and posts it collectively), 51 percent of characters above level 10 are Alliance, while 49 percent are Horde. In Burning Crusade this margin was larger as I recall, but I do not remember precisely how large the gap was back then. Quite frankly, the difference between both sides is rather extreme.

I, personally, find the Alliance races lacking flavor. I do not wish to immerse myself in a fantasy game as a human; I see no point in portraying myself as what I already am in terms of species, especially the meaty incarnation in World of Warcraft. The humans of World of Warcraft also have a strange gait that hopefully no human of this world possesses.

While Dwarves may seem interesting their figures are rather repulsive to me, as diminutive as they are. Night Elves are sort of in a similar boat; their figures are fairly exaggerated. The bouncing ears do nothing for me, nor does the frequent forward flip jumping.

Gnomes are also far too tiny and seem too insignificant in the grand scale of things to really be worthwhile, although some people do find a certain palatable irony in a gnome warrior tanking raid instances, easily soaking blows from creatures ten times their own size.

Finally we come to the Draenei, who are lovingly called "squidfaces" by both Alliance and Horde alike. These creatures certainly do not look like they warrant the glorious Russian accent which Blizzard bestowed upon them. As the only Alliance race which can choose the Shaman class, it may be appealing to those who wish to play a Shaman with some Alliance-playing friends. But then, I would have to ask, are those really the kinds of friends you want?

I have always played Horde. When I say this, I mean that I have rolled an alternate character for some Alliance races which have all been promptly deleted before level 10.

My first character was an Undead Warlock, followed closely by an Undead Warrior. I have a fairly short attention span, so I only have one level eighty character. However I have played every race Horde-side and I have found the Undead to be my favorite. They are strangely aesthetically pleasing to me, and they are endorsed by Ozzy Osbourne on the WoW celebrity commercials.

Orcs are also quite impressive in terms of physique as are Trolls, who strike me as lanky, agile combatants that are also clever. Tauren are neutral to me. As a race they are great targets for cow jokes, but that is about it.

Blood Elves are … well, they look as if they belong on Alliance, and yet act like they belong on the Horde. Let us just say my feelings regarding them are mixed.

Ultimately, the choice is yours regarding sides. Picking a side is really useless unless you want a misplaced sense of pride in a fictional faction, or if you are playing on a Player versus Player, or PvP, server where having characters on opposing factions is forbidden.

However, I will say this: Horde tends to have offensive-based racial abilities, whereas Alliance tends to have defensive-based racial abilities. Still, I have yet to see any sort of racial be a game-breaker, save for in PvP where certain abilities, like Will of the Forsaken (Undead) or Escape Artist (Gnome), may save your life.

Above all, if you're like me, the choice you make will be based mainly on aesthetics, or perhaps the excitement the race provides. If you must, experiment. Play around in the character creator. It takes little more than a few hours to reach level 10 anymore, so testing a character through play is a viable option to determine if you enjoy it. Starting zones are also a factor. Alliance starting zones tend to be dull, in my opinion, whereas starting areas for Horde races, such as Deathknell for the Undead, are fairly bleak and intriguing.
You are welcome send questions or comments to me via email at rtg2@hood.edu or you could contact me in-game on Bloodhoof as Deghar.

I would like to simply say that, those of you who do not play WoW, if you are interested, now is one of the best times to pick it up. To those of you who do play WoW, fight hard, fight strong, be you Alliance or Horde. And, as the Orcs say in farewell, "may your blades never dull."

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