How strong was really the Iron Horde ?

[Terrorthatflapsinthenight]

How much of a power and threat was really the Iron Horde to Azeroth, and rather to the Alliance and the Horde ?

Was it truly the apocalyptic threat described by WoW site and the developpers ? How would have it fared against the other major threats that Azeroth had known previously such as the Burning Legion, the Scourge, Old Gods' forces or the Mogu Empire under Lei Shen ?

[Combatbutler]

How much of a power and threat was really the Iron Horde to Azeroth, and rather to the Alliance and the Horde ?

Was it truly the apocalyptic threat described by WoW site and the developpers ? How would have it fared against the other major threats that Azeroth had known previously such as the Burning Legion, the Scourge, Old Gods' forces or the Mogu Empire under Lei Shen ?

They were as much a threat as the original horde, so they were a threat to one of the factions, but the entire world? Doubtful

[DingDongKing]

The Iron Horde should've been super strong and a legitimate threat to the Alliance/Horde forces, BUT they rushed it all.

That said, the Warlords of Draenor lore seems like a golden era compared to what's happening right now.

[chrisisvacant]

Highly-trained and tactical force that is both naturally bloodthirsty and gifted with refined weaponry? They would have torn a brutal and merciless path through the world had they been a bit more methodical.

[Shadowferal]

I didn't think much of this "Iron Horde." But then the writing to justify the timey-wimey shit was...well, shit.

....paid full price for a 1/3 of an expansion...just another kick in the nuts...

[Myradin]

They were as much a threat as the original horde, so they were a threat to one of the factions, but the entire world? Doubtful

I would say they were slightly stronger than the original horde. They had acccess to weapons and technology the old one didn't. They were also utilizing gron and their superiors unlike the original.

While their technology wasn't necessarily good for the environment, draenor seems like its in a much healthier state than it was when the old horde attacked.

[Combatbutler]

I would say they were slightly stronger than the original horde. They had acccess to weapons and technology the old one didn't. They were also utilizing gron and their superiors unlike the original.

While their technology wasn't necessarily good for the environment, draenor seems like its in a much healthier state than it was when the old horde attacked.

Yet they lacked Warlock magic in its entirety and still had all their enemies on draenor to contend with, the old horde had wiped out any resistance, before pushing on.

[guisadop]

They were initally portrayed as pretty powerful, but the circumstances with WoD didn't allow them to realize their full potential.

I'm still salty about it, WoD was a cool concept.

[Romanthony]

They was meant to be a powerhouse, Orcs in there prime without Fel corruption and the advance tech the Goblins of Garrosh horde brought with them, but they was rushed like most of WOD and we ended up them taking the Demon brew anyway which was a late down it self.

[AeneasBK]

Highly-trained and tactical force that is both naturally bloodthirsty and gifted with refined weaponry? They would have torn a brutal and merciless path through the world had they been a bit more methodical.

Would the clans have fallen to infighting when Ner'zhul and Gul'dan went after the Tomb of Sargeras, as they did first time around though?

[Ivarr]

They nearly flattened Stormwind already.

[Thage]

How much of a power and threat was really the Iron Horde to Azeroth, and rather to the Alliance and the Horde ?

Was it truly the apocalyptic threat described by WoW site and the developpers ? How would have it fared against the other major threats that Azeroth had known previously such as the Burning Legion, the Scourge, Old Gods' forces or the Mogu Empire under Lei Shen ?

Considering their hopelessly-inept leadership and strategies that amounted to "overwhelm them with numerical superiority and explosives," the Iron Horde ranks somewhere between 'the kobolds of Jasperlode' and 'the Dark Iron dwarves in Searing Gorge' on the threat meter for Azeroth, and don't fare much better once Azeroth's forces begin rawdogging them on Draenor.

By all accounts, the only reason they were so successful against the draenei is because they blindsided them and attacked civilian targets with the intent of wiping out every man, woman, and child. The Iron Horde was fighting a war on multiple fronts and Draenor was far from secured territory when they invaded Azeroth, making yet another front to stretch their forces thin. When Azeroth's incursion force destroyed the Dark Portal, instead of rain artillery down on the fleeing invaders, Grom decided instead to pose on a cliff and talk shit, then proceed to hole up somewhere while his forces and lieutenants were systematically dismantled one by one by those same invaders, because he was too stupid to make sure he was finished wiping out the draenei, Frostwolves, arakkoa, and ogres before he started picking another fight.

Having a lower-tier villain wouldn't have been an issue, excepting that Azeroth's best and brightest went up against tactical retards who relied on WAAAAAGH and bombs to do the hard work for them.

[uuuhname]

the start where we see a bunch of heroes from both sides getting killed set the stage for some serious threats but it just completely petered out after that. gutting entire zones worth of stories was to this day one of the worst choices Blizz has ever made. they kind of ran with that idea of being constantly under attack from the Iron Horde with the garrison invasions but they never had any sort of satisfaction with beating back a giant army that's at your gates.

[sighy]

If they got some of the huge tanks through, as well as a proper foothold it could have been quite nasty for Stormwind, Dwarves and Gnomes. But to be honest once you got past Shadowmoon/Frostfire it kinda hit a brick wall undermining all the buildup, until basically Nagrand save a few highlights.

[chrisisvacant]

Would the clans have fallen to infighting when Ner'zhul and Gul'dan went after the Tomb of Sargeras, as they did first time around though?

Eventually? Probably. The Horde seems to have to be kept busy ripping stuff up or they turn their gazes inward and want to rip stuff up there instead.

Of course, Ner'zhul and Gul'dan had Grommash and Garrosh to contend with and, in the end, The Iron Horde became Fel anyway. In my mind, Garrosh should've probably not left out the fact that Gul'dan was a real persistent bastard and probably should've beheaded him at the first chance he got. He was left alive way too long and is probably the most ambitious orc of all.

[AeneasBK]

... and probably should've beheaded him at the first chance he got...

Yes for someone determined to change the course of history he didn't really seem to have looked into Gul'dans much.

[Ivarr]

the start where we see a bunch of heroes from both sides getting killed set the stage for some serious threats but it just completely petered out after that. gutting entire zones worth of stories was to this day one of the worst choices Blizz has ever made.

And they replaced it with developing new systems. The earliest form of a world quest. The mission table. LFR. And probably the biggest development sink, the Garrison.

I don't believe people appreciate how much resources these type of systems costs. This requires system architecture and UI design whereas actual new zones is just more of the same, built through the same workflow. UI is a bottleneck in many games, this is because the people who make good UI are also wanted all over tech, not just software development, hardware as well.

Blizzard was basically building a new game within WoW and though the managed to salvage some of it, it was the first step towards the decline.

It indicates the crossroads Blizzard was at. WoD was set up to be bigger than MoP, but that temptation of layering meta-gameplay on top of the game was too good to pass up for the executives.

[Rend Blackhand]

The Iron Horde. Man what a cool concept.

A united Horde with no warlocks, modern and industrialised where every clan retains it's identity while working towards common goals.

Totally fucked by blizzard. Are you telling me a horde with less technology all but wiped out the draenei but the iron horde couldn't take shattrath or karabor? I think only like 2 draenei settlements on the entire planet were destroyed by the iron horde what a joke. The same amount of settlements destroeyd by a much smaller version of the shadow council and also the arrakkoa with a solar beam.

On paper they should have been the strongest version of the horde, in game they caused less damage to anyone than every big bad from any expansion

[Shadowferal]

I don't believe people appreciate how much resources these type of systems costs.

I for one appreciate what a colossal piece of shit garrison tables were.

[phattsao]

They made it like 20 feet into the Blasted Lands before getting pushed back. I remember being pretty unimpressed with them right away.