WoW Wednesday – Horde Versus Alliance

By Meredith Watson, OnRPG’s Azeroth Reporter

 

 

We all know there are two factions in the World of Warcraft – the Horde and the Alliance. At first glance an outsider could think that the WoW is nothing more than a race war. Given that each side is made up of several distinct races this would be an easy assumption to make. However, it would be wrong. At character creation you choose your faction but do you know why the Horde is considered the enemy and the Alliance the good guys?  In this case, it isn’t a matter of perception depending on which side you are on. The horde really are the bad guys and the Alliance their unwitting victims.

 

 

The Horde

Long, long ago on the peaceful world of Draenor the Orcs lived in relative harmony with their neighbours the Draenei. However, this peace wasn’t to last. The Burning Legion, an army of demons and a multitude of other corrupted creatures, had very different plans for the idyllic world of Draenor. The Burning Legion would, and at this point already had, destroyed many worlds across the universe in their lust for arcane power. The Orcs who were an intelligent shamanistic society would be, through the efforts of an Orc leader called Gul’dan, corrupted. Gul’dan wanted power and so made a terrible pact with Mannroth who was a general of the Burning Legion. The Orc’s shamanistic ways would be abandoned for those of the dark magic of the warlock. Enslaved and demonically corrupted the Orcs took to destroying Draenor under the command of the dreadlord Kil’jadeen. The horde was born and Gul’dan its de facto leader.

 

 

Eventually Gul’dan with the help of the crazed mage Medhiv would open the dark portal allowing the horde into Azeroth resulting in the first war.  The horde’s only goal was conquest and destruction.  Soon after coming through the dark portal the trolls would join in the fray on the side of the horde.  It wouldn’t be until the third war that the Tauren under command of Cairne Bloodhoof would join forces with Thrall and his new horde.  The Tauren with their shamanistic ways had much in common with the Orcs. Thrall had been bringing back the Orc’s old ways of shamanism and the new horde is no longer the mindless juggernaut it once was. The Forsaken would join as a matter of convenience after the third war under the leadership of Sylvanas Windrunner.

 

 

The Alliance

The Alliance also known as the Grand Alliance included the seven human kingdoms of Arathor, Alterac, Azeroth, Dalaran, Gilneas, Kul Tiras and Lordaeron.  The seven human kingdoms were formed some 1200 years before the first war. Also included in this alliance were the Khaz Modan and Aerie Peak Dwarves, the Gnomes of Gnomergen, and the High Elves of Quel’Thalas. After the destruction of the Kingdom of Azeroth during the first war by the horde, the survivors fled to Lordaeron. They would make their home in Southshore.  The refugee leader Anduin Lothar was able to convince the Dwarves and Gnomes whose homes were under attack by the horde to join the humans against the Orcs. After the seven human kingdoms banded together and with the help of the Dwarves, Elves and Gnomes the Alliance would be victorious in the second war. Before this banding together the human kingdoms worked autonomously and would often squabble amongst themselves.  After the third war, Night Elves, Draenei and Ironforge Dwarves would join the Alliance.

 

 

There is much more to the story than what is here but to write it all would be to write a novel. Blizzard has given a depth to the Warcraft series that is rarely matched.  While lore is all well and good, how does it play out in the game world with real players?  Many players are staunchly horde or Alliance. If you were to ask people why they play horde, for instance, they might say because horde is the more “mature” faction.  What is meant is that the horde is seen as the faction with fewer kids and more adults playing it. While this may or may not be true, it certainly did seem this was the case during vanilla and to a lesser degree The Burning Crusade. When Blood Elves were introduced as the “pretty” race for the horde, the quality of new horde player did seem to be somewhat lacking.

 

 

Others will say they play horde because they are the underdog. Huld of Shadowsong says, “I wanted to play Horde as everyone has the misconception about them being the “bad guys”. After playing them, you find it is more of a misunderstanding.” Maybe later in the storyline it could be said that the horde were, in a way, the underdogs and somehow misunderstood but initially that was far from the case.  The horde was very much the bad guys. Other players seem to know this and aren’t bothered by it as Ian on Twitter explains when asked why he chose Horde, “It had to be Horde – the villains and the server population underdogs, both appealing propositions”.

 

 

 It seems also that more players prefer the horde’s lore to the Alliance though there has always been contention that the Horde quest lines are harder than Alliance or that Alliance didn’t have to grind, or Alliance had better rewards. When asked why he plays Alliance, Petter on Twitter controversially replied, “Gnomes are the only way to go”. Others seemingly play Alliance because they don’t like the “ugly” races of the Horde.  This forum poster, in response to the Horde versus Alliance question stated, “Because I hate the Horde’s wishy-washy cry-baby persecution complex. Wah wah, we’re savage yet noble. Why don’t you understand me?”

 

 

No doubt your decision to play Horde or Alliance will be a personal one be it aesthetics, lore or some other reason. I play both factions and always have. I love the haughty and proud Night Elves, the strength and fierceness of the Orcs, the story of Sylvanas Windrunner as well as the haunting quality of the Forsaken areas. As for maturity, over the years, it seems the balance has shifted. There are as many immature players on Horde as there are on Alliance.

 

 

Which faction do you prefer and why?

GunDogs – Furry Combat Action!

By Jordan Hall(ApocaRUFF), OnRPG Journalist

 

 

GunDogs is a dog-themed third-person shooter brought to us by OGPlanet. It’s far more than a simple shooter, though. To mix things up, there are also collectible card game elements thrown in. You could say that “it’s all gone to the dogs” now that the Union and the Empire have entered into open warfare and the dog-soldiers have begun slaughtering each other. If you have a thing for dogs, or just third-person shooters, this may be a game that you want to check out.

 

 

Customization

There really isn’t much customization in GunDogs, but that is what I expect from a third-person shooter. The customization comes from building your deck of cards, which gives you access to more characters to play, which have a variety of different abilities, weapons, and looks. Past that, however, you won’t get much choice in terms of customization. Don’t get me wrong, customizing your deck can be pretty fun, especially when you consider you are only allowed to bring three cards, or classes, into a game. But then again, there are only a few cards you really want to go for, as the others don’t feel worth it.

 

Two cards I got from opening two random packs

 

 

Graphics

The graphics in GunDogs are just “OK.” They are what you would expect from a shooter… from 2005. While I have no complaints with the way that the quality, I couldn’t help but think, “Is this the best they could do? It’s 2013, right?” while I was playing. I played the game on the highest possible settings and was far from impressed. Of course, I could assume the lack of quality was intentional due to their choice of a “comic book” art style. I just felt that something a bit more impressive shouldn’t be difficult with today’s tech.

 

 “Do these textures really need to be this bad?”

 

Despite my gripe about the graphics quality, I enjoyed the art style the game used. It fit perfectly with the already comical idea of dogs fighting a World War II-type war. The “blam” will pop up when shooting, rather than numbers that might pop up in other shooters. One thing I liked quite a bit was the sprinting effect. I would frequently sprint just for the sake of seeing my dog get on all fours and feel like I was going very fast.

 

“Something about “Blam!” is just so satisfying.”

 

 

Controls

Thankfully GunDogs uses a familiar control scheme, so it’s easy to jump into the game and play. WASD keys to move, left mouse button to shoot, right mouse button to zoom, G for grenade – that sort of stuff. You can quickly and easily cycle between your weapons by using the Q key, which is nice. Another helpful feature is the on-the-fly mouse sensitivity feature which can be done with the bracket keys. Overall, the controls were smooth and I had no problem with them.

 

 

 

Community

The community in GunDogs is that of your typical shooter. You won’t find much love in it, but little bits of camaraderie can be found. Prepare yourself to receive lots of insults and hack accusations. But please, do your part not to perpetuate the hate. I’ll probably be giving the community here three stars.

 

 

Gameplay

GunDogs is a lot like what you would assume a third-person shooter to be. You spawn, you run around, and you hope that you get to kill people before they kill you. There’s machine guns, rifles, rocket launchers, shotguns and grenades, among other possible weapons in your arsenal. Unfortunately, to me, the gameplay doesn’t feel innovative enough to be too interesting.

 

 

The one thing that GunDogs has going for it is the dog theme. Those people that truly enjoy animal-themed games will probably appreciate GunDogs a lot more than I ever could. Other than that theme, everything is pretty generic. The collectible card game is kind of neat, but didn’t stick out too much for me. If you haven’t guessed by now, I was not as happy with the game as I hoped I would be.

 

 

The combat is fast-paced and can be intense. There are a variety of weapons to choose from and each has its pluses and bonuses. My personal favorite was the rifle, as I could snipe with it if I wanted, or I could spit out an entire clip fairly quickly. It felt great getting headshot after headshot. After the rifle my favorite was the shotgun, simply because I enjoyed that I had to get up in someone’s face for it to be effective. Sometimes, a melee battle would break out, which is always exciting.

 

 

One major problem I had when trying to snipe someone was that my shots would often hit the side of a building or a fence, even if I thought my shot would be in the clear. This was partially because of the over-the-shoulder angle, but also because everything seemed to have a tiny bit of an invisible barrier around it. It could be extremely frustrating when you line up the perfect headshot, only to have your shot be stopped by a balcony and then have your target turn around and take you out.

 

“As you can see, my cross-hair is quite a distance from the lamppost, yet I still hit it.”

 

Like most shooters, GunDogs seem to suffer a case of the Over-Powered Explosives. Every game I played seemed to be non-stop rocket and grenade spam. And if it’s not rockets, it’s shotguns. People would often blindly shoot into buildings in the hopes that they would land a kill. More often than not, they would. Which brings up another gripe – the death sound. I had to mute the sound in the game because the constant generic death sounds were starting to give me a headache.

 

“A grenade to the face always does the job.”

 

On the topic of collectible cards, it’s an interesting way to do progression. Like most collectible card games, you will buy packs, open them, and get cards. It’s luck of the draw which card you get from the pack, and you may not be able to use the card right away. To use a card, you have to be of the required level of the class the card is in. It is to be expected that the better the card, the higher level you will need to be in that class. A rough idea of the classes you will encounter: Rifle, Shotgun, Medic, Rocket launcher, and machine gun.

 

 

 

Conclusion

The one thing GunDogs really has going for it is the dog theme. People who enjoy animal-themed games, or just like the fact that you sprint on all fours, will find the most satisfaction from the game. Those that are looking for a new and exciting experience will most likely be disappointed. The collectible card part of the game is a way to spice things up a bit, but I wonder how much money you’ll have to pour into the game to get the really good cards? Overall, GunDogs is free to play and it can hold its own in this genre so I would say give it a try if you’re looking for a new third-person shooter.

 

 

Features: 3.5/5 – Nothing really new, but I enjoyed the features that were included into the game.

Customization: 2/5 – Basically non-existent. Used to be that this was expected from the genre, but with games like Loadout coming into the market, you have to give us something to keep up with the competition.

Graphics: 3/5 – I understand that the game has comic-style graphics, but I feel that they could have been better.

Controls: 5/5 – Not a complaint by me in this department. Smooth and functional all the way.

Community: 3/5 – Your typical shooter community.

 

 

Overall: 3.5/5 – Not mind-blowing amazing, but definitely worth a try if you’re looking for a new game.