Thoughtbot360
2007-10-02, 11:27 AM
*Warning Warcraft-related details inside. Newbies might not make any sense out of this*
I really don't understand the set-up of the Alliance and Horde races in WOW. As a fan that played the whole warcraft series (and recently played Warcraft 3 before WOW came out) I come away with the impression that Blizzard just threw the Undead in with the Horde because every other race is "monstrous" and the reason they had Night Elves join the Alliance is because they were too well showcased in WC3 to leave until an expansion (and they couldn't have them join the Horde because Zombies go with Orcs and Trolls like ..... something that very sterotypical combination. And they had to have those radical -radical I say!- Blood Elves join in with the Zombie's faction in the expansion.) And the Blood Elves have a language barrier raised between their former comrades (Humans, Dwarves, and Gnomes) AND their cousins with whom they share a base civilization (Night Elves) when they do join the Horde:smallannoyed: .
Personally, I would have preferred that Blood Elves be part of the Alliance, and Night Elves be part of the Horde, and have them (the Elves) share a common language (Btw, if we agreed that a language barrier is an annoying, pointless artifice in WOW that actually takes away from the game, and therefore instate some kind of universal language like they had in WC3, that might make the game better by itself, but moving on.) Here are reasons why.
NE matches Horde because:
-Predatory mount, just like other hordes (Kodos swallow units whole in WC3)
-The males are actually big and masculine (However that Ear-bobbing thing they do is just wrong. It doesn't happen with the NE females.)
-So you can rub in the alliances face that you have sluttier dancers than they do because those pansy, prude Paladins wouldn't have it. (Sadly, I've never actually played Burning Crusade and the only BE female dance I know is one kind of tame one they did in a pre-release demo. They might have changed it.)
-Especially when you consider all the different skin tones (including the drow-like ones) they really do seem to fit in the horde
-Shamanism goes hand-in-hand with Druidism, and besides, Tauren are already part of the Cenarian circle, and they were taught druidism by Cenarius AND Malfurion.
-Look, they fought together to stop the demons. True, they fought with the humans too, but they fought with refugees from the ruined nation of Lordaeron, not with the Stormwind guard. They fought with the Dwarves, too, however. Though I doubt very much that the Night Elves would allow King Bronzebeard to defile Mulgore in search of his precious "ancestral secrets." Respect for nature and all that.
-Its not really known how much Diplomacy the Nation of Azeroth (Stormwind) could do with a people who live on the other side of the world. My guess: Very little to none. But then again this problem exists with the horde and the forsaken.
-Do we know whether or not the second troll empire that the Highborne NEs destroyed (the other one was Zul'Aman, populated by Forest Trolls) was populated by Dark or Jungle trolls? Also, the Highborne became Blood Elves eventually, as explored below.
BE Doesn't match Horde because:
-Look, if you think your Obese Rhino/Dinosaur/Giant Dog is lame, do you really want a chicken to shrink your viable options for a cooler mount?
-Do you really want a Paladin on your side that much? Don't do it! He'll put a stop to all your slutty dancers with his prudish prudeness!
-So as not to boil the issue down to a choice between giant chickens and slutty dancers, I will also point out that the Trolls lost their empires to Night Elf MAGES, but those same mages would later be banished from Kalimdor and become High Elves and later on, Blood Elves.
-I personally think they overdid it with the haunched soldiers on every male in the horde, but I must say that the BEs really, really, don't fit in. They are just not weird enough. The NEs may not be ugly, but they fit in several other criteria (Weird skin, Tall-as-hell, Men are MEN, shadowy and potentially misunderstood, Nature-based mysticism, menacing history of mysterious, unstudied culture 'cuz they killed any invaders for ten thousand years, etc.)
BE matches Alliance because:
-Dude, they ride giant chickens, just like the gnomes! XD
-They were in the Alliance, they got mad that the humans let the old horde destroy so much of Quel'thalas in WC2. However, THE HORDE WERE THE ONES WHO INVADED QUEL'THALAS AND DID THE DAMAGE!! Really, they should have just as much to be mad at the Orcs for as the humans or the drenai. Actually, isn't hatred for the orcs (even though they've changed their ways) is supposedly one of the major things that kepts the alliance together (even though they really should worry more about the undead scrouge)
-They worship the light, starting from worshipping the sun, mostly because they turned their back on the moon (which the Night Elves worship). But somewhere along the way they picked up on the humans' beliefs. (Priests in WC3 are High/Blood Elves)
-Mad that FF XI sucked so much and now you'll never see your Hume ride a chocobo again? Well, just make a human and raise your rep with the BEs, and voila! Chocobo-esque mount!
-The expected norm for a Tolkenesque Forgotten Realms collection of "good" races made up entirely of "normal," human-like, white guys. ....on Second thought, this a terrible point, can we scratch this one?
-They taught magery to humans, and I assume, to Gnomes as well. Heck, mage could be an alliance-only class... but I really do hate how Warlocks are a horde class (I even think it should be considered an "evil" NPC class, like the Necromancer. Necromancer=loyal to Lich King, Warlock=loyal to Burning Legion).
-They should be able to speak common, because they were part of the alliance to begin with. This only makes SENSE.
But what about the Forsaken?
-What about the Naga? They are still hostile NPCs, despite how important they were to the story of TFT. A newb who never played WC3 never understands their significance. And OMG how I'd like to have an amphibious character who never drowns over some boring old zombie. *Is mauled by every goth kid in the horde* I REGRET NOTHI-umgfhhzhle *face is melted by undead shadow priests*
I really don't understand the set-up of the Alliance and Horde races in WOW. As a fan that played the whole warcraft series (and recently played Warcraft 3 before WOW came out) I come away with the impression that Blizzard just threw the Undead in with the Horde because every other race is "monstrous" and the reason they had Night Elves join the Alliance is because they were too well showcased in WC3 to leave until an expansion (and they couldn't have them join the Horde because Zombies go with Orcs and Trolls like ..... something that very sterotypical combination. And they had to have those radical -radical I say!- Blood Elves join in with the Zombie's faction in the expansion.) And the Blood Elves have a language barrier raised between their former comrades (Humans, Dwarves, and Gnomes) AND their cousins with whom they share a base civilization (Night Elves) when they do join the Horde:smallannoyed: .
Personally, I would have preferred that Blood Elves be part of the Alliance, and Night Elves be part of the Horde, and have them (the Elves) share a common language (Btw, if we agreed that a language barrier is an annoying, pointless artifice in WOW that actually takes away from the game, and therefore instate some kind of universal language like they had in WC3, that might make the game better by itself, but moving on.) Here are reasons why.
NE matches Horde because:
-Predatory mount, just like other hordes (Kodos swallow units whole in WC3)
-The males are actually big and masculine (However that Ear-bobbing thing they do is just wrong. It doesn't happen with the NE females.)
-So you can rub in the alliances face that you have sluttier dancers than they do because those pansy, prude Paladins wouldn't have it. (Sadly, I've never actually played Burning Crusade and the only BE female dance I know is one kind of tame one they did in a pre-release demo. They might have changed it.)
-Especially when you consider all the different skin tones (including the drow-like ones) they really do seem to fit in the horde
-Shamanism goes hand-in-hand with Druidism, and besides, Tauren are already part of the Cenarian circle, and they were taught druidism by Cenarius AND Malfurion.
-Look, they fought together to stop the demons. True, they fought with the humans too, but they fought with refugees from the ruined nation of Lordaeron, not with the Stormwind guard. They fought with the Dwarves, too, however. Though I doubt very much that the Night Elves would allow King Bronzebeard to defile Mulgore in search of his precious "ancestral secrets." Respect for nature and all that.
-Its not really known how much Diplomacy the Nation of Azeroth (Stormwind) could do with a people who live on the other side of the world. My guess: Very little to none. But then again this problem exists with the horde and the forsaken.
-Do we know whether or not the second troll empire that the Highborne NEs destroyed (the other one was Zul'Aman, populated by Forest Trolls) was populated by Dark or Jungle trolls? Also, the Highborne became Blood Elves eventually, as explored below.
BE Doesn't match Horde because:
-Look, if you think your Obese Rhino/Dinosaur/Giant Dog is lame, do you really want a chicken to shrink your viable options for a cooler mount?
-Do you really want a Paladin on your side that much? Don't do it! He'll put a stop to all your slutty dancers with his prudish prudeness!
-So as not to boil the issue down to a choice between giant chickens and slutty dancers, I will also point out that the Trolls lost their empires to Night Elf MAGES, but those same mages would later be banished from Kalimdor and become High Elves and later on, Blood Elves.
-I personally think they overdid it with the haunched soldiers on every male in the horde, but I must say that the BEs really, really, don't fit in. They are just not weird enough. The NEs may not be ugly, but they fit in several other criteria (Weird skin, Tall-as-hell, Men are MEN, shadowy and potentially misunderstood, Nature-based mysticism, menacing history of mysterious, unstudied culture 'cuz they killed any invaders for ten thousand years, etc.)
BE matches Alliance because:
-Dude, they ride giant chickens, just like the gnomes! XD
-They were in the Alliance, they got mad that the humans let the old horde destroy so much of Quel'thalas in WC2. However, THE HORDE WERE THE ONES WHO INVADED QUEL'THALAS AND DID THE DAMAGE!! Really, they should have just as much to be mad at the Orcs for as the humans or the drenai. Actually, isn't hatred for the orcs (even though they've changed their ways) is supposedly one of the major things that kepts the alliance together (even though they really should worry more about the undead scrouge)
-They worship the light, starting from worshipping the sun, mostly because they turned their back on the moon (which the Night Elves worship). But somewhere along the way they picked up on the humans' beliefs. (Priests in WC3 are High/Blood Elves)
-Mad that FF XI sucked so much and now you'll never see your Hume ride a chocobo again? Well, just make a human and raise your rep with the BEs, and voila! Chocobo-esque mount!
-The expected norm for a Tolkenesque Forgotten Realms collection of "good" races made up entirely of "normal," human-like, white guys. ....on Second thought, this a terrible point, can we scratch this one?
-They taught magery to humans, and I assume, to Gnomes as well. Heck, mage could be an alliance-only class... but I really do hate how Warlocks are a horde class (I even think it should be considered an "evil" NPC class, like the Necromancer. Necromancer=loyal to Lich King, Warlock=loyal to Burning Legion).
-They should be able to speak common, because they were part of the alliance to begin with. This only makes SENSE.
But what about the Forsaken?
-What about the Naga? They are still hostile NPCs, despite how important they were to the story of TFT. A newb who never played WC3 never understands their significance. And OMG how I'd like to have an amphibious character who never drowns over some boring old zombie. *Is mauled by every goth kid in the horde* I REGRET NOTHI-umgfhhzhle *face is melted by undead shadow priests*