For me they made horde less appealing to me when adding BEs, not that i was much into the lore of it all back then but it just felt weird. Just like the undead Joining them in vanilla.
Dont think that all the horde races being hunchbacks did them any favours either. I mean why did ALL of them have to be hunchbacks??
The Horde was never appealing cuz all new players didn’t come from RTS but from Tolkien stories where trolls and Orcs are only evil mongrels the good guys kill. The PR department of Blizzard is horrible when communicating those things. Thrall wasn’t enough to salvage their image. Losing the second war didn’t help either no body wants to be a survivor who almost starves to death in a crappy land no sane person would pick as their home.
Think you give far to much credit into ppl knowing of tolkiens work when coming into wow. WC3 launched in 2002 and WOW in 2004/5. It wasent a decade + gap between the games back then.
Ppl like pretty or cool races… hunchbacks are NOT cool, they look weird. All MALE characters of the original horde races were hunchbacks and the females were nothing to look at tbh. It just didnt do much to sell the faction at all.
final LOTR movie came the same year WOW had release.
Ah, of the scenic walkthrough of new Zealand trilogy?
Those things are connected. There is a reason night elves and humans made more then half of all players back in the day.
And… that ppl dont like to play as a hunchback.
Orcs were Orcs. And there was not enough retcons yet to make them seem like normal people.
Do current Orc players play the hunchback version?
What about trolls? Wait can they choose a non hunchback or is it only the elf killing Zandalari ones?
I hate playing small races of all kinds but big like Tauren are even worse.
Either way, i think the looks of the horde races in vanilla had a far larger negative impact for ppl choosing horde then the landscape movies ever did.
the Zandalari left the elves alone despite them being responsible for the downfall of every empire. If this was about revenge they would have swept away the genociders by now.
The races being ugly and the starting zones being around half of what the alliance got. That was a deciding factor for everyone not to play the Horde.
When googling it
“Thousands of years after the Sundering, 2,800 years before the Dark Portal was opened, the Zandalari traveled to the Eastern Kingdoms to help the forest trolls of Zul’Aman against the high elves of Quel’Thalas.”
“Press X for doubt”
The Horde had Durotar, the Barrens, Mulgore and Tirisfal. Hillsbrad was neutral during vanilla.
The Alliance had Teldrassil, Darkshore, Elwynn, Westfall, Dun Morogh, Wetlands, Loch modan and Redridge.
Those inbalances defined the game start.
If you count places twice then sure, alliance has twice as many. Lets also forget that 5+ Redridges can fit into barrens
Sorry wanted to say Duskwood
And here is the sentinel army the night elves send to the Ghostlands to sabotage the blood elves rebuilding their nation.
Actual starting zones
| Race | Starting Zone | Secondary Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Human | Elwynn Forest (1-10) | Westfall (10-20) |
| Dwarf and Gnome | Dun Morogh (1-10) | Loch Modan (10-20) |
| Night Elf | Teldrassil (1-10) | Darkshore (10-20) |
| Orc and Troll | Durotar (1-10) | The Barrens (10-30) |
| Tauren | Mulgore (1-10) | The Barrens (10-30) |
| Undead | Tirisfal Glades (1-10) | Silverpine Forest (10-20) |
You sure like to scew things to your favour adding mid zones as starting zones for alliance
Mid zones are still alliance controlled. The Horde was forced to Go either hillsbrad or ashenvale.
They ARE the invading force! Did they lack quests in those Zones? Nope!
The alliance had more zones while the Horde stopped having quests at Level 30.
So just outright lie after failing at every point?.. well you did so from the very start and i dont even know what your angle is by doing so.