I can't "get into" the Alliance

[Keyblader]

I main a gnome but every BfA cinematic so far has made me want to faction change more. I can't stand Anduin.

I actually like him after the cinematic haha

[DarkAmbient]

Problem for me is I find very few of the major Alliance figures particularly interesting or compelling. When Windrunner yelled "For the Horde!" I got goosebumps and thought "FUCK YES". When Anduin yelled "For the Alliance!" I was like, "Meh..."

[Kithelle]

The BFA cinematic was a great start to giving them actual character. But it didn't fix any lingering concerns.

Human prince gives a speech to a crowd that is majority human, with his grizzled human mentor onlooking, only for a human spymaster to interrupt and give the human prince distressing news. Then the human organization of spies from the human kingdom investigates on behalf of the human prince, all to protect the interests of the faction bearing a human flag.

Gave a speech in a Human city, what the fuck you expect? People coming from all over the world to hear his short and unremarkable speech?

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Infinite retcons? You mean the first one that they werent the demons that corrupted Sargeras? Cuz thats the only retcon they have.

I get the feeling he just made this thread to bitch about the Alliance under the guise of something else...

[Deleted]

Problem for me is I find very few of the major Alliance figures particularly interesting or compelling. When Windrunner yelled "For the Horde!" I got goosebumps and thought "FUCK YES". When Anduin yelled "For the Alliance!" I was like, "Meh..."

I don't know and maybe it's just me... But For the Horde! fits the Horde... I don't know why the Alliance didn't do their own slogan. "For Peace and Unity" or whatever. I am not very creative but I bet someone could come up with something better than "For the Alliance!"

[lunethzero]

I'd say try to pick a race that has decent animations to your liking. It all feels the same to me as I've played both for so long, also having a lot of costumes like orb of deception and the krastinov toy etc etc it barely feels like youre the opposite faction lol

[Isadora]

(Let me preface this by saying: the WoW lore is way overrated and except for the mildly interesting Arthas storyline it's always been a pretty basic good vs. bad fantasy shit.)

Dear OP,
I get what you're saying, but it basically boils down to this: You're argueing from a perspective where the "flaws" of the Alliance are obvious to you. In order to be able to be invested in a faction/race, you need to be able to overlook some of those glaring flaws or you'll hardly "get into" them. If you don't like it as it is, I'm not sure I really understand why you feel the need to play it. You either are intrigued by it and want to play it or you're annoyed at the flaws and therefore you don't find it interesting. I really don't see how you'd manage to feel both those sentiments.

Either way, all the things you say are somewhat true. Because you'll be able to find similar flaws for all the races present. Blood elves? Thinly veiled fan service to the teenares we all were when this came out or are now. The lore is pracitally non existent and they are walking tits on a stick. There's nothing really interesting about them. Trolls are ugly mofos that only appeal to stoneres/wannabe reggae fans (who are probably as white as they come irl). If they wouldn't have an insanely good racial, nobody would play them. The orcs are as basic as they come, I'd say they're even more boring than the humans. Beefy guys with anger issues and a sort of tribal culture, that's about it. Tauren are somewhat cool, simply because they're pipesmoking natives turned into cows. Then again, they are so big you always feel like they move slow as fuck, their lore is also boring as fuck (honestly, tell me something more about Tauren's then Cairne's story) and they never look badass. The undead are cool imo, but in general, they seem to be designed for the edgy teenager who likes to play rogues, sheathing and unsheathing his daggers while listening to Linkin Park in his T2 set. Their lore is also a jumbled mess of bullshit, even worse than the Draenei at this point. Not to mention that Sylvannas has gone through more redesigns and character shifts than there have been expansions.

In my mind, I'd rather play Alliance with people who aren't constantly feeling the need to shout "For the Horde!" and who aren't obssessed with proving that they are indeed very badass. I'll never "get into" the horde mindset again, prolly. And that's fine. Because objectively, neither Horde nor Alliance are really any worse or better than the other when it comes to lore and retcons and designs etc. It's a matter of personal taste. If you find yourself in a spot where you have so much stuff that you don't like about one of the factions, why not just stick to the other?

[kary]

I agree with the OP. The Alliance doesn't have much of a personality in the current game, except for Humans and Draenei (with Argus, but I suspect this won't continue on).

Gnomes & Dwarves are SORELY lacking and I really wish they'd do something interesting with them.

Night Elves have been suffering ever since Tyrande took the stage. She's become a terrible, unlikeable and unrealistic character since Legion.

Worgen only have any stories through Genn who is MOSTLY in human form and links more to Stormwind culture than Gilnean (I mean, where's his accent!?).

Although, the Horde hasn't become much better, since in the past it has been the Orc show (with a Troll sidekick) over here; they've turned it into the Sylvanas show in Legion which has disappointed me.

Blood Elves had some good stuff going in MoP, but they've been stagnant since.

Trolls are basically linked to Orcs, but with WAY less being shown. I do expect this to change with the Zandalar.

Tauren have just chilled for the most part. Baine seems to want to get things done, but as of now, meh.

Forsaken are sort of linked to Sylvanas, but also have not been getting any development. I suppose you can argue that lore for one is lore for the other, but I would disagree so this is a bit disappointing as well.

I just prefer Horde simply because I don't like 'typical' heroes and predictability. I also like combination between high class magocracy and a nature/element/earthy sort of tribalism.

Tyrande has always been a cunt, fwiw

[Lulbalance]

In my mind, I'd rather play Alliance with people who aren't constantly feeling the need to shout "For the Horde!" and who aren't obssessed with proving that they are indeed very badass.

How long has it been since you played Horde again? More common that people afk during raids to check on their kids than doing anything 'badass'. Also I don't think I've heard anyone not at blizzcon shout 'for the Horde' in years.

[Totle]

They are too stereotypical "good guys" in a "good ole boys club" for me. I can't get into them either.

You don't have to play them. Many of the warlocks, criminals, and death knights were humans. The Alliance humans may be depicted as "good guys" but that's because we're fighting planetary threats. You could play as a pirate, a warlock posing as a priest, an Aragorn style hunter that walked away from civilization and military, etc. You aren't tied down to your faction because of your race, you're free to wander around as whoever.

[Deleted]

That's because the Alliance are boring.

Humans
Dwarfs - shorter humans
Gnomes - even shorter humans
Nelves - tall purple humans
Worgen - humans half the time

zzzzz

Draenei have been the only half-interesting looking Alliance race. Alliance is a snooze-fest visually.

I guess that includes you, because you are human too.

It's such a dumb logic.

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I am actually trying to get into horde, but everything is worse. The view in Orgrimmar, the hive of scum and villany music, the voice of my belf, wich i honestly want to murder. I can understand people who got used to it enjoying it. But It is so boring. How can people enjoy the game having that light brown scenery all the time? Can you imagine the smell with all those races around? I really struggle with it.
But, i muted my character and will be heading to pandaria, so it can only get better.

[Linkynl]

As a long time Ally player, and dwarf from start... I get what you mean. Because i look at the horde...and i see the same. Not saying that horde is bad. boring or whatever... But if you are really into a faction, you can always easily spot the flaws on the other side. I dont see Dwarfs as the Alliance Sidekick. (even though i agree gnome and dwarfes deserve a bit more lore love..Especialy Gnomes..Put them in the cinematic Blizz....) But i look at horde..and all the cliches i read here..well..they usuall pop in my head too (Personally i find most horde races ugly) But thats okay..Thats why we choose factions in the first place..Personal Preferences.

So i suggest, if you really want to see the Alliance side of WoW, Just pick one... I personally suggest the Dwarf. They have an interesting lore. Are the most (Again personal preference) Manliest race of the Alliance. You can pick almost all classes on them. And they dont have bad racials.. And try it out..if you like it..go to 110 and see the story of the other side..if you dont.. Go back and play horde. You favor your faction..i favor mine. And we both have fun playing And in the end..that's all that matters

[lockybalboa]

I enjoy being a good guy fighting against troublemakers who are always starting conflicts and shit, so it's not a problem for me.

[Deleted]

The BFA cinematic was a great start to giving them actual character. But it didn't fix any lingering concerns.

Human prince gives a speech to a crowd that is majority human, with his grizzled human mentor onlooking, only for a human spymaster to interrupt and give the human prince distressing news. Then the human organization of spies from the human kingdom investigates on behalf of the human prince, all to protect the interests of the faction bearing a human flag.

Can we stop with this?

If we only form our opinion about a faction based on the Silithus videos, then the Horde consists only of its leaders. No random Horde dude in a shop, no Grunt #763, no nothing.

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The Alliance is an actual Alliance, look into the raw meaning of the word. It's a bunch of factions completely and utterly separate from each other all united.

Exactly. Yet the Nightborne intro quest goes on and on how in the Horde the races can keep their identity and customs. What's the first thing Sylvanas says to Thalyssra? She demands her obedience. Same with Highmountain.

On the other hand Anduin is like "cool, nice to have you, no go have fun"

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Glad we finally get to kick their butts again in BfA, it was about time.

I mean if losing Lordareaon is winning then sure.

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I'm fine with other people enjoying the draenei story. But if I compare them to other races ... they have simply received too much rewriting for me to feel their overall lore has any firm foundation.
...
Even orcs, probably Warcraft's most "added to" race, have received only supplementary writing, not writing that didn't totally scribble over their prior lore.

No that's just a lie and shows your bias. The only retcon with Draenei was that Sarg corrupted them not the other was around.

Meanwhile the orcs turned out to be a shamanistic race of Titan origins, who got corrupted by Sargeras/Kil'Jaeden. Their skin turned green, but it turns out they were originally brown.

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That's because the Alliance are boring.

Humans
Dwarfs - shorter humans
Gnomes - even shorter humans
Nelves - tall purple humans
Worgen - humans half the time

Orcs - green humans
Undead - undead humans
Tauren - cow humans
Belf - gay humans
Troll - blue long legged humans

[Spiffums]

Play Human so you get rep a little bit faster.

[Deleted]

I want to have a 110 Alliance character to do their side of the BFA questing story (since, for once, it looks like it will be a genuinely different and cool experience.) Problem is I can't get myself interested in anything Alliance-side, not just gameplay wise but from an RP perspective. I'd really like to but my list of gripes is preventing me from getting hyped. Can an enthusiastic member of the Alliance motivate me to give team blue a try?

Just for reference, I have played (and roleplayed): an orc warlock, an undead warrior, a blood elf rogue, a goblin shaman and soon a nightborne mage.

• Humans are clearly the front and center race of Warcraft alongside orcs. They have an immense presence in just about everything and have a dense, rich lore. My problems with them are multi-pronged: everybody plays one, every lore character is one, every part of the story concerns them somehow and I suspect everyone has a stigma for "those normies who roll human." It's hard to get excited over white bread with nothing on it.
• Dwarves and gnomes are cool, but they have this thing where they feel like sidekicks to the humans. Very few people seem to roll them or take them seriously. Armor is also very compact and (from what I've seen) simply doesn't fit their build, essentially giving you half a transmog. I would give dark irons a try but I won't be able to play one for a very long time.
• Night elves feel superfluous since I have a nightborne. Worgen feel like humans but with really dated player models (ones I don't even like, since even the vanilla versions look more "vicious" and natural than the playable ones we received.) And draenei have the worst lore I've ever seen, to put it lightly.
• Obviously I have no way of playing any allied races (not that I like any of them, except maybe dark irons.)

This is kinda my problem. I have started playing Alliance back in Classic and stayed Alliance until mid-TBC, then rerolled Horde with some friends which is still my main faction.

It's not that I don't like the Alliance, they just have some super annoying things.

Humans everywhere: Though my first main was a human mage with a Lordaeron refugee background story, I am sick and tired of this bunch lately, which is still an aftermath of WoD, but not only that. On the other hand, the other Alliance races' NPCs are often written badly, like Tyrande and Malfurion in Val'Sharah. Urgh.
Self-righteousness galore: Alliance might be the "good" guys, but they behave like jerks. If you're good, you don't need to rub it into other people's faces. Especially since all HvA writing seems so incredibly forced by the writers to keep the faction war going.
Anduin: I liked the boy in MoP. In fact, he was one of my favorite characters overall at that time. Now, I would love to see him die in a fire. His character development might be grounded in the story, but man, I feel it's even worse than with Jaina (where I started to hate the character, but even more the writers who did this to her). Yes, it's 100% subjective and feelings, still I would rather have Varian be back, and Genn dying at broken shore to save him. The boy king is not a good replacement, and him leading the Alliance is insulting. What did they have in mind, a male version of Jeanne d'Arc? Will we get to burn him at the stake in the near future, then?

tl;dr: They have plenty of sources for stories and many NPCs with other races than Humans, but they almost never use them, and if they do, then badly. This is why Alliance is a boring faction.

Beside that, when I started playing WoW I found it cool that both factions had their share of good and evil sides. That was the appeal. If I would want a black-and-white world, there is LOTRO or SW:TOR. But they seem inclined to destroy this balance and to turn Horde into an evil faction, and Alliance into a good faction, which would totally destroy the appeal of the setting for me. Yes, in the RTS games, the Horde was the evil faction in the beginning, but it stopped with WC3.

[Deleted]

You obviously dont like them, same as me. Forget about them.

[hachidori]

Blood elves? Thinly veiled fan service to the teenares we all were when this came out or are now. The lore is pracitally non existent and they are walking tits on a stick. There's nothing really interesting about them.

I was with you until this point. Blood elves have a pretty solid story compared to your average modern fantasy elf.

Now any story can be interesting. What really cements it, though, is how the Burning Crusade-era blood elf starting zone really gives you a solid grasp of the earliest stages of blood elf lore. It walks you through the dire straits the race is in, the individual troubles they are facing, what motivates them to keep trying, what finally caused them to settle in an unlikely allegiance. Other than draenei (who I simply don't like) there isn't anything like it left in the game. Cataclysm rendered every leveling zone a weak, narrative-deprived theme park ride that simply assumes you were around for vanilla and know all this shit already.

[Isadora]

I was with you until this point. Blood elves have a pretty solid story compared to your average modern fantasy elf.

Now any story can be interesting. What really cements it, though, is how the Burning Crusade-era blood elf starting zone really gives you a solid grasp of the earliest stages of blood elf lore. It walks you through the dire straits the race is in, the individual troubles they are facing, what motivates them to keep trying, what finally caused them to settle in an unlikely allegiance. Other than draenei (who I simply don't like) there isn't anything like it left in the game. Cataclysm rendered every leveling zone a weak, narrative-deprived theme park ride that simply assumes you were around for vanilla and know all this shit already.

Don't get me wrong, I completely get your problems with the Alliance. And I was exaggerating a bit too. I simply tried to explain that you have to give either side some credit for the shortcomings in their stories, lore and motivations if you want to "get into" them. For you, it seems to be easier for the Horde races, for me it's the other way around. Either way, if you're bothered by it, I don't think you're gonna have a good time by forcing yourself to try enjoying the alliance storyline. It simply won't click.

[hachidori]

I have to agree. This entire thread is ridiculous and sad.

You could replace "Alliance" with "Horde" in the title and it would be the exact same sort of thread.

[Christhammer]

I have the same feeling about the Horde.
I was horde from the start but really HATED their cities and races in the end. Could not stand playing a faction where i have to see Tauren, Trolls and Orcs everywhere. But most of all male blood elves. Sadly Alliance got the same models now with Void Elves so i have to see them anyway, but atleast i don't see Taurens. Worst looking race in the game.