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WoW Archivist: When Blizzard "hated" the Horde
WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? Which faction does Blizzard love more? For several years it's been all the rage to claim that Blizzard loves the Horde and hates the Alliance. Players trot out the "green Jesus" theory. They show how the past two expansions have focused far more on Horde characters and storylines than on Alliance intrigues. It's true that Blizzard placed Thrall and now Garrosh and Vol'jin in the spotlight over the past few years. Players also look at the shiny new Orgrimmar that the Horde got when the old one burned down, and how Stormwind also took a beating and still hasn't recovered. You can make the case that Blizzard has somewhat favored the Horde in WoW's recent history. But this is so very, very strange to vanilla players like me. Back then, players were convinced of the exact opposite. Players were so convinced, in fact, that some actually wanted a CM to die. In vanilla, Blizzard "loved" the Alliance and "hated" the Horde. Don't believe me? This quote is from a 2005 editorial called "Why the Horde is worse, and how Blizzard could fix it": In the end, I am just a jealous Horde player... It is up to Blizzard to fix this game; I have done all that I can. Either World of Warcraft can be remembered as a great MMORPG, or it can go down as a horribly imbalanced one, like many before it. That's for Blizzard to decide. Let's take a trip back to 2005. On a bus, perhaps. A bus made out of elemental electrical energy.
Aiding the Alliance: The idle Varian Wrynn
I'll admit up front, I'm one of those players who has cried Horde favoritism! from time to time when it comes to the World of Warcraft. I discuss the topic with both the WoW Insider staffers and the WoW community at large frequently. Everybody's thoughts on the subject are a little different, but it always seems to come back to faction leaders and the point of contention isn't always Thrall's rise to greatness. The Alliance faction leaders are simply ... boring. They don't do anything. They are tight springs of potential that are never given the opportunity to leap forth and act. What I've decided to do today is begin a series wherein I lay out what I as an Alliance player feel is lacking in my faction's heroes. There will be no faction fairness here, only what your average Alliance player sees, perceives and experiences and how I feel that can be improved. Today we look at Varian Wrynn, King of Stormwind.
The Queue: You can't take Spell Power away from me
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky will be your host today. There's a great question about the mechanics of spell casting when a proc / buff is or is not active. It's a very fine point that most people don't consider, and it's a mechanic that has been reiterated by Ghostcrawler and company recently. Take a few minutes to read it, you'll be glad you did.Today's reading music is Frank Sinatra and Natalie Cole singing They Can't Take That Away From Me.I love the way we dance 'till three.Mortur asked... "Now that the Battle.net conversion has been released for a while and bugs have been being dealt with, do you feel that there is much reason anymore for holding off on converting your account to Battle.net? Have the authentication issues after a patch been going away?"
[1.Local]: A look at WoW Insider comments this week
WoW Insider serves up a smattering of reader comments from the past week, from the sublime to the ridiculous.Readers picked some fairly off-beat topics to wax loquacious about this week. Join [1.Local] as we chew the fat over those conspiratorial, Horde-centric folks at Blizzard ... the controversy (or non-controversy?) of Arena point selling ... the virtues of dedicated banker characters ... and what we thought was a really interesting idea for PvP-oriented crafting.As always, be sure to dive into the comments area and add your own thoughts – unlike your mama, we like us some hot, fresh backtalk. Employee-only bronze orc and wolf statue on eBayWe thought we were the only ones constantly accused of being Horde-centric – but it looks like Blizzard gets their fair share of finger-pointing, too, from readers like Gror: "Anyone else think that this is more proof that Blizz favours the Horde? They got a 12-foot statue made of an Orc and give all their employees Orc statues. Sickens me! This game for a long time has been Horde-biased! So hordeinsider.com, your mission will soon be completed." Bwahahaha.
