Was there ever Alliance Bias at all?

Lore Story Forum
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Not to make a long rant post but I have been hearing people say that the Alliance gets treated well enough or is part of the story and all kinds of that stuff.

Well it’s starting now but back during BFA there wasn’t really much love for the Alliance in terms of CGI Cinematics for each Characters that isn’t Human like Anduin for example, Allied Races, lack of variety mounts, and etc.

Plus the Alliance really didn’t had a Story Choice unlike the Horde where they get a chance to follow Sylvanas or not and help Saurfang. What does the Alliance get? Just be part of the Faction instead of turning around and going rogue like other Alliance Characters did in the past like Genn in Stormhelm or Tyrande going angry at Anduin and taking Darkshore for the Night Elves, and etc.

Was there really Alliance Bias in the past? Not so much. I guess it’s the Customization Options but even then not really whole alot unless if you count Broken, Vrykul, Warcraft 2/3 Human Options, Frost Dwarves, and Etc not being options from past requests.

High Elves and Wildhammer Dwarves are all set. Just the rest not so much.

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Depends on what you want out of the story, I think. BFA made me loathe my own faction characters so much that I actually disliked having all of those cinematics, and the war campaign choice that some people get hung up on are literally two different flavors of “play along with the other side”. There’s no true opt-out to divorce yourself from the bad stuff that you have to support. And if you’re jaded enough with the story, Genn’s and Tyrande’s splits currently seem meaningless unless they actually do something evil because ultimately, unless Blizzard plans on Sylvanasing them out of the story altogether, they’re still part of the alliance no matter what the plot dictates.

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Ugh … lets not start this type of discussion on the story forums. Especially from a MHP, who doesn’t seem invested in the Horde enough look past the barest surface traits to see the true lack of substance under the flare. Both side had it absolute garbage in BfA, in very different ways. The “Honor Horde” truly had no more autonomy or control over this story than the Alliance did. It was a disjointed, train wreck of a tale for all involved … and no one came out ahead.

Can we just admit that and move on without “Bias” being discussed?

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The only “Alliance bias” I’ve seen is a preference for Stormwind, and particular Human NPC’s. As a faction Blizzard seems to not care much for the Alliance, they’ve even gone on record saying they don’t like writing for the faction.

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No it is just Erevien making threads to troll/bait.

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In WoD, we Followed Khadgar and his Warden friend. Even had them in our Horde Garrisons.

In Legion, we followed Khadgar some more.

In BfA, we follow Magni around.

And in Shadowlands, we are going to be running errands for Anduin’s wet nurse, who still remains loyal to his king.

One of the Horde’s few spies of note is the Wrynn family spy. She works for the family who rules Stormwind and the Alliance, and no one questions it or bats an eye.

The Alliance can do the purge of Dalaran or the destruction of Taurajo, and that’s just fine. In fact, Horde Characters who are furious about get lectured. Baine exiles his people if they try to get vengeance, and Jaina gets to help topple the Horde, again.

If Sylvanas becomes a neutral quest giver and leads everyone in the final patch… that feeling Alliance Players would feel is what Horde Players endure when ever they log on. They balk at the notion because they are so used to the bias favoring their side.

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ALLIANCE bias?

roflmao.

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Bias is subjective, and its definition is going to be different depending on who you talk to. Doesn’t really boil down to any one thing either - High Elves and Wildhammers particularly don’t really factor in, given that not everyone really cared for them.

You’re better off just not looking for bias in the first place and doing your best to be objective.

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I always felt it interesting they say there’s an Alliance bias as if the way our faction is handled is somehow superior to the Horde villain batting. There isn’t much fun about being the morally pure good guy either.

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(Query): Unit Exacitor has vague memories of the Saurfang choice (hunt him or help him) having a datamined third option where the player tells both sides to screw off, and then went to the hot springs resort in Feralas. Did that ever play out? It should’ve.

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As far as I know, nope.
Not that it would matter in my opinion, because the character’s still participating in a post-Teldrassil horde.

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There is a bias, but not in the way many people think, and certainly not in a way that really benefits those of us who enjoy the story. This bias, for the bulk of the writing team, excluding Golden, goes as such:

  1. Metal/dark things.

  2. Things that are easy to write.

The writers have a passion for the Horde, but as we’ve increasingly seen, this is not to the Horde’s benefit nor even a passion for what we consider the Horde itself. They like the good guys as bad guys, the GoT ‘moral grey’ themes, the ‘Conan without the nuance’ type of Horde, as we’ve seen with their slow destruction of the Forsaken and Orc themes, reducing what were once very unique races in terms of fantasy to evil zombies and discount Klingons. This results in what we see in BfA, where the Horde runs roughshod over the sissy peaceful races, but then they need to backtrack because the Horde is supposed to be a heroic faction.

In terms of the second favoured bias, we see this with how much Stormwind humans are focused on. Let’s be blunt, Stormwind humans are very, very, very easy to write. They have no real unique cultural traits, no correlation with any real world cultures beyond generic Eurocentric fantasy, and have an absolute monarchy and thus zero political intrigue. In addition, as we’ve seen, non-human races have slowly had their more complex themes whittled down, and are often used as fodder for the story because there’s no passion for them. This includes Draenei, Night Elves, Tauren, and so forth. Many of these races have very unique aspects to them and plenty of story potential, but are reduced to tragedy generators or sidekicks.

Golden has bias towards specific characters, these being Anduin, Jaina, Thrall, Baine, and maybe Genn, so it applies differently.

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I mean, it’s certainly not a Night Elf statue that’s parked in front of Blizzard HQ.

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The community latches onto every little obscure detail as “proof” of bias towards the other faction, and as Grandblade pointed out, it’s all very subjective. People on both sides have often even pointed to the same story event and used it to claim bias towards the other side.

Unless you’re actively involved in writing the story/quests for WoW, you’ll probably never know if there was really bias in one way or another.

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Depends what the bias is.

Blizzard does give individual Horde characters plenty of spotlight. Thrall, Garrosh, Sylvanas, Saurfang. Alliance has had Tyrande and Anduin lately and from what I’ve gathered they aren’t the most popular characters for Ally’s so some may feel the spotlight could be better spent on others.

In terms of winning though I don’t think the Horde can claim any real “win” at anything, unless of course they’re teaming with the Alliance which cancels it out. Alliance can actually claim wins.

In terms of environment I’d say it’s fairly even until expansions with no shared city hubs. Alliance had it way better in WoD with their garrison, even you if preferred the Horde aesthetic the Horde buildings are laughably small compared to the Alliances much bigger buildings (compare the town halls). In BfA though I’d say Horde got it better, Dazar’alor is massive and such a unique and flavourful city compared to Boralus that just looks bland and a bigger version of smaller Kul’Tiran towns elsewhere.

In terms of superhero Avenger characters. Alliance wins hands down. Jaina, Malfurion, Turalyon, Alleria, Varian (not anymore), Velen & Anduin now.

Horde has… had… Thrall (not anymore), Sylvanas (not anymore), Garrosh (not anymore), Cairne (not anymore), Vol’jin (not anymore). Currently I dunno? Thalyssra? Lor’themar would be cool as a spellbreaker but he’s not, so he doesn’t count. Gazlowe would be cool if Blizz shows him more tech’d up like a Goblin Ironman. Baine is Baine. Thalyssra?

So yeah, I’d say the bias depends on what it is. I think the one thing that distinctly separates the Horde and Alliance is the Alliance has been smooth sailing, steady as she goes, hardly any change throughout the years. While the Horde has been volatile and always changing.

Blizzard definitely has a lot of love for the Horde as a faction, the way they’re treated in game though, I don’t believe there is Horde bias. I also don’t believe there is Alliance bias in game either besides Ally having the Avengers on their side and Horde has… Thalyssra?

The books is where I’d say the bias’ are, many Horde characters are written as if they were Alliance. The way they talk, act, behave. They’re just humans in costume.

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When it comes to being a Horde player who so consistently is forced to work with/or under Alliance/Alliance-“Neutral” reps … its hard to say I’m thrilled. There was a time I was all for the novelty of it, but these days it just leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. Largely because I’ve come to realize that us being forced to do so so often has become synonymous with the DEEP neglect Blizzard has shown towards my Faction’s characters over the last decade.

Unless a Horde character is being built up to villain bat, or built up to die, Blizz just does not show any indication of wanting to repair or rebuild the immense damage they have done to the Horde faction and it’s roster. Our Horde council alone is so oversaturated with Underused, Underdeveloped, and Underpowered characters it dilutes what little potential that concept might have. That doesn’t even get into what they’ve done to the Faction Identity. Its depressing…

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I think Cata and MoP are the only times there was an overt bias towards a faction.

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This bias crap gets really old. You will see Alliance leaning players constantly claim Horde Bias and Horde leaning players constantly claim Alliance bias. At the end of the day what is generally happening is people are picking the things that they feel the other faction has over theirs and claiming it is bias while ignoring where the other side gets shafted. This is why you end up with people arguing about which factions is more hard done by.

There are things I don’t like about how the Horde is handled and personally I would be more than willing to trade off things like ‘choice’ or ‘victories like Teldressil’ or CGI, for a faction story that didn’t involve the Horde constantly screwing up or being hypocrites, actual involvement of the Horde in any content which didn’t actually involve the Horde imploding or doing something sinister/evil, and more characters who aren’t underdeveloped, shoehorned in or only being developed so they can be villains.

But that is just me. It also doesn’t make the issues Alliance leaning players any less important or significant but generally most people rank other peoples concerns less important than their own.

And let me guess, you felt it was Horde bias thus proving my earlier point.

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Exchange ‘felt’ for ‘recognised’.

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I guess only people trolling as Horde characters can make topics like this.

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