I have chosen my side for World of Warcraft’s Battle for Azeroth

For many years I didn’t really care which one World of Warcraft faction I played. Horde? Alliance? Whatever. But now that the… Battle for Azeroth As expansion approaches and significant parts of the world are set ablaze and rendered uninhabitable, the time has come to take a stand.

Since Horde and Alliance no longer have to work together after defending the world against a demonic invasion, the two factions can finally devote themselves to what started all this nonsense – planning and starting a great war. We are of course talking about the Battle for Azeroth with its dramatic and polarizing “pre-launch” events, which are already increasing tensions between the factions. The World Tree is burning, the siege of Lordaeron, the triumphant musical number by Alliance heroine Jaina Proudmore (seen just below) – these events push the antagonism to the extreme.

Blizzards has already promised a major resurgence of hostilities. World of Warcrafts fourth expansion, Mists of Pandaria, started with a lot of Horde/Alliance violence, but soon degenerated into a race to see which side’s bloodlust could disrupt and devastate the pristine Panda Lands faster. The undertone of Pandaria was “War is bad,” which didn’t really fit a game that Warcraft is called.

But so far all the events that start on Monday are awakening Battle for Azeroth lead to the impression that a very big war is imminent. The mood in Europe must have been similar at the beginning of July 1914. And calling what is coming a war is actually not enough, it has to be called WAR. Cities burn, even if they are cities that I have never visited with my Gnome Warlock. Thousands of Alliance citizens have been slaughtered, even if they are only night elves. During the quest line that ended with the world tree being torched, my character was mercilessly murdered by Horde fighters.

I usually play when World of Warcraft presents a dramatic series of quests from the perspective of the Horde and the Alliance, going through both to give me the full picture. This is the main reason I’ve been switching factions since 2007 The Burning Crusade the Horde Paladins and the Alliance Shamans. I figured that if I really wanted to experience everything the game had to offer, I should play both factions and complete all the quests.

But Battle for Azeroth makes a different impression on me. This time, I’m not interested in hearing how the whole thing plays out from the Horde’s point of view. Warchief Sylvanas Windrunner tried to kill Hope. Why? Because someone told her she couldn’t do this.Sure, there are extenuating circumstances, and she may have had her soul ripped out at one point by an Alliance icon, but that’s no excuse.

No, this time I’m all for the Alliance, home of the brave little dwarves and a lot of knees (dwarves are small, yo). I will Battle for Azeroth play as Alliance only. Any progression I describe will be from the Alliance’s point of view. I will play PVP as Alliance. I will level up as an Alliance. I will most likely die as Alliance over and over again.

In no way do I mean to condemn the horde of players or the bad decisions they make. All players have the right to play however they want, whether that means living pure and decent or removing the shoulder armor to appear pure and decent. To each his own.