Who would you say is the main faction of the story?

[Syegfryed]

some rly shallow comparison: horde is like vegeta, Alliance is Goku

Vegeta/horde start as enemy and the villain(wc1), then anti-hero/deuteragonist(wc2) then redeem himself, became an ally still as deuteragonist(wc3), and now and then go fight with the protagonist for some reason(mop/bfa)

basically the alliance are the Main protagonists and the horde the deuteragonist, but people tend to like more the "vegeta" kind of guy

[TheramoreIsTheBomb]

Anyone who doesn't say Horde hasn't played BfA. Or MoP. Or WoD. Or cata. Or honestly any expansion in recent memory besides Legion.

The Horde is the poster child of WoW at this point and any story involving either of the factions usually revolves around what the Horde is doing, and the Alliance might react to it a bit.

Never forget the robot cat in MoP. I wasn't even playing Alliance and I was still pissed about that.

vol'jin led a rebellion with thrall, chen, and baine against garrosh
while the alliance united themselves in 5.3 - actual words from the devs

[Nathasil]

vol'jin led a rebellion with thrall, chen, and baine against garrosh
while the alliance united themselves in 5.3 - actual words from the devs

United itself to go to Vol'jin and ask him if it would be ok to hide in the bushes, pretend they are not there and watch how the Horde-content plays out....

Pretty much the same way the BFA faction conflict ended. Yes, the Alliance showed more tropps in Durotar this time - but Blizzard still could not be bothered to give us our own story+ending...we were just allowed to watch the main Horde story arc play out while the Horde also got an alternate ending in addition to that.

[bmjclark]

The horde gets a lot of focus. I'd also say that the alliance should have thankful for that because the only story focus blizzard seems to know is making the focused character a raid boss and/or killing them.

[TheramoreIsTheBomb]

United itself to go to Vol'jin and ask him if it would be ok to hide in the bushes, pretend they are not there and watch how the Horde-content plays out....

Pretty much the same way the BFA faction conflict ended. Yes, the Alliance showed more tropps in Durotar this time - but Blizzard still could not be bothered to give us our own story+ending...we were just allowed to watch the main Horde story arc play out while the Horde also got an alternate ending in addition to that.

even one of the allied races of the alliance are a horde race and the alliance dedicated themselves in legion to save a faction only for them to later join the horde

[iamthedevil]

The armies of Azeroth.

[Arrashi]

United itself to go to Vol'jin and ask him if it would be ok to hide in the bushes, pretend they are not there and watch how the Horde-content plays out....

Pretty much the same way the BFA faction conflict ended. Yes, the Alliance showed more tropps in Durotar this time - but Blizzard still could not be bothered to give us our own story+ending...we were just allowed to watch the main Horde story arc play out while the Horde also got an alternate ending in addition to that.

"Alternate ending" is a bit generous here.

[Keyblader]

I don't think a faction is the main character, but I would definitely, say that Orcs probably thread most of the plot together, their background, and history weaves a lot of consequences, and future interactions that we've dealt with.

[Darkeon]

Writters definitely mainly play Alliance.

This wasn't always the case though and it definitely was apparent back in the day.

[PaladinBash]

For the first half of the game's history, the Alliance was the main driving force with the Horde being there as an antagonist. The second half of the game has been the Horde's story with the Alliance being either completely irrelevant or a punching bag depending on patch/expansion. Shadowlands making both completely irrelevant is a step in the right direction and a brief respite from the inevitable "Tyrande is now evil for wanting to actually stop the Horde" plotline alongside the "we dindu nuffin: episode #3484" plot where the Horde, for once, actually isn't going to immediately backstab the Alliance first chance they get so naturally that just so happens when the Alliance (or at least a member of it) has gotten sick of their shit. It's going to be Horde acting like victims and Alliance being told off for stopping the poor innocent Horde. We all know it's coming, along with some "the Light is just as badddddddddd or probably even worrrrrrrrse" shit thrown in as well because Blizzard is in love with the idea that you can be as bad, murderous, evil, crooked etc as you want and cry 'redemption' and 'muh honour' but that stopping/killing them is always wrong 100% of the time. Taking in Void Elves and Death Knights and Demon Hunters (to say nothing of Warlocks) is all well and good but the Scarlet Crusade and Lightbound are a bridge too far.

[Syegfryed]

Writters definitely mainly play Alliance.

This wasn't always the case though and it definitely was apparent back in the day.

even metzen main alliance...

i think the only one who prob played horde was Sam didier(?) the one who draw

[Feanoro]

Exactly. And the Horde was not only handed the Lordaeron lore, they were also given the Quel'thalas lore as well. So basically everything Alliance was shoved into the Horde. Remember, Stormwind did not exist in WC2, which was the last game before WoW to feature factions (WC3 did not have them at all). So what makes the Alliance today is the short races of WC2 that nobody ever liked, the WC1 Humans that nobody ever gave a fuck about and the Night Elves, who never belonged into the Alliance to begin with. And even with the Night Elves, everything that happened before the WotA is now lore that also Horde races will claim for them.

If you give everything of your franchise that players have any remote interest in to one of your two factions while using the other as your NPC-Background and trash-can for ideas that you (the developers) did not like yourself and don't want to bother with in the future....you get exactly where WoW is today.

I would not say that "The Horde" faired a lot better though, and by Horde i meant he faction that actually earned that name and stood for something....what is called "The Horde" in WoW today is a strange conglomeration of pacifist Tauren, funny Fox people, Undead Humans and lots and lots of Sissy Elves afraid to get dirty. That is not "The Horde"...it's not even a faction, It's just a strage something that stands for nothing and will (obviously!) follow an undead warlord that hates life and hope into a genocidal war without any questions.

Blizzard has managed to destroy both factions. The Horde simply has not realised it yet, because they get showered with goodies a lot.

As for the question in the OP: WoW is not a game about the factions. It's a game about the world. About Azeroth. The factions are completely meaningless to her....and also to our own characters if you care to read quest-texts. The main protagonist of WoW is Azeroth herself. The factions are just there for the sake of making the game worse for everybody.

/StandingOvation


Now for my not entirely serious commentary of the expansions:

BC - Story focus on the Horde, but not badly so. It made sense, with the modern Horde returning to Outland, Thrall meeting his family.

Wrath - Fairly even. Some faction retardation, mercifully dropped in Ulduar onward.

Cata - Hi Alliance, welcome to your new NPC status! Play as Metzen's... sorry, Thrall's... sorry, Go'el's... shrink and marriage counselor, then attend his wedding which somehow deserves the blessings of the Aspects! Then, canonize Knaak's shitty books and destroy all previous lore about the Well of Eternity to empower Super Saiyan Metzen... dammit, sorry, Go'el. Also, enjoy the revamp! Iconic zones trashed never to be repaired, a resource war that somehow involves a resource heavy Orgrimmar makeover, Alliance losing zones in the most hamfisted ways possible (loved the "sorry hero, while you were gathering bear asses, we got bombed to dust. Well, fuck off to the next zone!'), Malfurion returning to do jack shit for his people, and incredibly one sided treatment by the devs (special mention for the two different intros to Twilight Highlands). All previous lore like oh say Grom Hellscream needing demon juice to stand a chance against the Night Elves is out the window! The Horde effortlessly slaps them around. Haven't you guys paid to transfer to Horde yet? No? The racials will be imbalanced until we've made enough cash, long term game health be damned.

MoP - "What does it mean to be Horde?" 1, where the devs heard your concerns and responded by making even less Alliance content. There, now you don't have to attend Go'el's paternity classes, you get to do nothing! That's what you meant, right? Whatever, we're busy having Garrosh go increasingly apeshit for the WC1 and 2 fans, while Vol'jin half asses for the WC3 fans, because dividing a faction's fanbase is a GREAT idea. Oh, you Alliance guys are still here? Um... you can tag along with Vol'jin to stop Garrosh Stalin and have High King Dipshit I wag a finger at the Horde leaders telling them to be nice or else he'll wag his finger again! Also, let's further humiliate the Night Elves by having Dipshit I teach Tyrande tactics.

WoD - Visit an alternate Draenor and enjoy learning that demon juice was always a bullshit excuse, that the orcs are just gullible fools only too happy to kill everything on the flimsiest evidence. Suffer through Yrel's incredibly bad voice acting and glory hogging! Be shocked as a Night Elf Warden named Twirly McMustache joins the Legion! Listen to the endless bitching about killing classic Horde "heroes" who we condemn for their MU history... but we don't... but we do... because Blizz has decided to widen the gap between the LolEvil Horde fans and NobleSavage Horde fans! GENIUS, I tell you. If you're new to the franchise, be amazed that "DRAENOR IS FREEEEEE" gets AU Grom off without so much as a "it hurt our feelings when you genocided the Draenei"! But hey, selfie camera!

Legion - High King Dipshit I dies, dooming us to High King Dipshit II who never met a Hordie he didn't want to bend over for, especially if it fucks over his own people. After three expansions on Orcs, endure the Horde players sobbing that two zones dare to feature Night Elves, ignoring that they're shown as incompetent fools. Surely though a people who dedicated their entire society to defending against and defeating the Legion with several orders taking different approaches to that task will lead the final push? Nah, it's time for Draenei fans to regret asking for lore as Velen suddenly does something after it's made VERY clear that he always ran away before. Unfortunately, it's sobbing about his family and not remotely acting in what little character he had. Enjoy the return of legendary Turalyon and Alleria... aka Draenei weeaboo magically neutral to the Horde and Void Naaru money shot target who gets tears of rage that she doesn't instantly abandon her friends, family, and loyalties to join the Horde. Don't worry though, she does exactly nothing for the Alliance.

BfA - "What does it mean to be Horde?" 2, Incompetence Boogaloo. Alliance is here as a plot device. Any hint of a win WILL be crushed hard. Night Elves are now genocided to appease the Horde for the absolute insult of Legion not being another Orc expansion. Saurfang is sad in a movie. Dungeons like Waycrest and Boralus in Alliance zones are canonically Horde, while the troll dungeons have you helping the Zandalari against Zul, so no equivalent Alliance dungeons in Horde zones. Saurfang is sad. Alliance doesn't even know the first raid exists. Alliance is winning the war... according to a Horde only event. Second raid ends with Gnome fans learning not to ask for story as Mekkatorque is frozen, as well as cementing the Zandalari Horde membership. Saurfang is sad. Further Night Elf humiliation with "human potential" and a cinematic saying it would take Malfurion to deal with four no name Horde peons. What tiny bit of victory came from BoD, a superior fleet, is crushed for Azshara to make Magni (yet another Alliance leader gone neutral) look like a fool. Bonus points, Night Elves are completely missing from dealing with their villain in favor of the Horde's elves. Saurfang is so sad, he has his own Deadjournal and Tumblr. Scourge lore is thrown out the fucking window so Alliance can take the blame for it, courtesy of High King Dipshit II. The Alliance tags along with Saurfang (who is sad) and got enough of an ass beating from Azshara that they can't possibly to defeat Sylvanas who's just so hot and can fly and is a genius and has any power she needs at the moment, by means of her most potent power, an otaku writer. Saurfang is sad. And dead. And honored as a hero by Dipshit II, who never misses a chance to fuck over his faction for the Horde, honoring the commander who led the rampage through Ashenvale, massacre of Astranaar, destruction of Darkshore, and made Teldrassil possible. Not even a finger wag this time, that's not Dipshit II's way. No sir, he'll teach them by walking away and leaving them to grieve over Saurfang, who was sad.

- - - Updated - - -

Writters definitely mainly play Alliance.

Oh yeah, Danuser and Afrasiabi are DEFINITELY Alliance.

[Thetruth1400]

On an individual character story level: About a tie. TBC had Illidan, WotLK had Arthas, Cata - WoD all had Orc focuses, Legion had Illidan again, and BfA had Sylvanas.

As a faction: Horde by far have the story focused on them too often. Horde has had internal conflict after conflict playing out in game as either the A story or B story of entire expansions. The closest the Alliance has gotten is former members who had nothing to do with the actual Alliance (Illidan and Arthas) or an Allied race story that was drawn out way too long and frankly unfulfilling (Jaina and Dazar'Alor)

The Alliance is usually just along for the ride, but not a major influence in the story.

[Steelcryo]

This seems like a bit of a silly thread, both factions have their own stories and places in the overall narrative.

Horde tend to have flashier and more aggressive story lines while the Alliance seems more consistent. Basically none of the stories that actually involve the factions works without the other faction being involved.

So I don't think either. I think the one thing Blizzard do well is involve both factions in the story, just in different ways. Whether those stories are actually any good or not is a different question, but I don't think either faction carries more of the narrative than the other.

[Kwento]

Alliance.
Hasn’t always been like that, but lately it’s just a story about Alliance fighting villains of all kinds. The Horde is just stuck watching Alliance focused cinematics, their heroes dying or just a general downer videos of Baine.

[Feanoro]

Alliance.
Hasn’t always been like that, but lately it’s just a story about Alliance fighting villains of all kinds. The Horde is just stuck watching Alliance focused cinematics, their heroes dying or just a general downer videos of Baine.

This is a joke, right? Listing by description if I don't know an official name. Nothing omitted purposefully.

Warbringers - Azshara, Jaina, Sylvanas. Neutral, Alliance, Horde.

Azerite discovery - One for each side.

BfA main title - Sylvanas narrates, blows up a siege tower, ganks soldiers. Anduin cries and mass rezzes. Ostensibly equal, awarding this to Horde as I doubt anyone here is going to claim Anduin's crying is better.

Old Soldier - Saurfang and Memetroll on "what is the Horde?" +1 to Horde. Expensive CGI.

Jaina's on a boat/Sylvanas' trap: Alliance falls for the blight like idiots, Jaina makes us all roll eyes, Alliance walks into yet another trap. +1 to Horde

Welcome to KT/Zandalar: Jaina arrested, Talanji blows up ships. Faction specific, even.

Jaina dreams of Dad while writing: Alliance specific.

Rasta talks to Bwon: Horde specific.

Jaina in Thros: Alliance specific.

Zul attacks Dazar'alor: Horde specific.

Lost Honor - Alliance is losing and forced to call up farmers, Saurfang talks about his ideal of the Horde. Definitely better light on the Horde.

Night Elves warfront - Nice moments for Tyrande and Malfurion, wrecked by "no Night Elf could take out four mooks!" Final words are "FER DA HERD". Even, if annoying.

BoD opener - Alliance shown attacking

Rasta's death - Horde story

Baine, Jaina, and the Bomb - Both sides' story. Even.

Nazjatar opener - Alliance fleet wrecked. Don't recall if Horde ships were. Even until I know otherwise.

Azshara defeat - Jaina and Bob the Belf.

Safe Haven -Saurfang seeks out Thrall. Expensive CGI. +1 to Horde.

Breaking the cycle - Saurfang and High King Dipshit II. Evenly stupid.

Baine rescue - Even.

Mak'gora - Saurfang vs Lich Queen. Expensive CGI. +1 to Horde.


Barring miscounts from cold medicine:
Horde favored 17
Alliance favored 12
Expensive CGI 4, all Horde centered

[LostSinclair]

honestly I feel like this questions "correct" answer trades off between expansions, while there's always a main storyline that plays from the character's view point along with their own faction during blizzard cinematics there are several that obvious sides with the characters in them.

[Zora-Prime]

The Alliance for sure. However, what Blizzard did to "Balance" this is make the Alliance a boring, reactionary faction with little to no personality to their characters.

So both factions suffer as a consequence.

Balance in storytelling will always result in a horrible story.

[NuLogic]

WTF did people all ready forget about world of orccraft and green jesus? They have a statue of an orc in front of their hq and the company band is horde. Power of the horde song hello? cata, mop and wod

Now it's world of undead elfcraft with legion, bfa and shadowlands

[sam86]

blizz flat out stated that alliance is the only superpower on Azeroth, i lost that bet ages ago and i still keep the link of that video even if youtube deleted it
Horde do get more 'action' but is the type of action of getting f8cked in more than 1502 way that it is painful to be horde, we get more action of backstab, betray, evil dictators and so on, the type of action that f8ck ur own faction without the need of anyone else
Alliance lead the story as heroes, with horde being retarded is best description since they fit both hero and villain but in both cases retarded

Horde create retarded events but don't lead, and they aren't the only event creators either

- - - Updated - - -

honestly I feel like this questions "correct" answer trades off between expansions, while there's always a main storyline that plays from the character's view point along with their own faction during blizzard cinematics there are several that obvious sides with the characters in them.

TBC focus on horde, Wrath focus on alliance, MoP focus on horde
but rest of exps ? cata has no clear focus, vanilla has more fleshed out alliance but i can't say they lead the main story since there was no main story, WoD sh8t lead the story, Legion was class based not real faction, BFA is ping pong back and forth with horde as usual drawing the retarded stick of evil warchief