When creating a character in WoW, there are three main things to consider. Those are its name, class, and faction. Well, since we’re talking about WoW Classic specifically, appearance is a consideration too. After all, there aren’t any barbershops in Classic. Once you’ve rolled your character, you’re stuck with them, so make sure everything’s to your liking. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck farming WoW Classic gold and leveling with an embarrassing name or something.
The only way to rectify it is to reroll your character. That means leveling them up again from scratch (or using the boost, though that’s more for TBC Classic than OG Classic). Anyway, one of the biggest decisions to make is what faction your character will belong in. Aside from some cosmetic differences, there are faction-specific items and content. How are you going to choose between these two?
Horde Advantages
The first Horde-exclusive content to think about is the Shaman class. A versatile and powerful class, for some situations they perform better than some Alliance-only classes. Though that mainly relies on Bloodlust, an ability that only appears in the Burning Crusade expansion. Alliance gets a chance to play as one with the Draenei race, though.
They have two major hubs, Orgrimmar and Undercity. Anyone who likes a more gloomy or macabre atmosphere will appreciate these areas. As Horde-only areas, Alliance players can only infiltrate these hubs. There are a few Horde-only quests as well, which leads to some quest rewards being for Horde players only.
Alliance Advantages
The Alliance’s exclusive class is Paladin. A holy knight that can heal, tank, and even deal damage. While also versatile, it’s different than Shamans. Paladins also enjoy bonus damage against undead. They don’t get any special abilities in the Burning Crusade, but Horde players get to enjoy this class with the new Blood Elf Race.
Their hubs are in Stormwind and Ironforge, where Horde players can’t go unless they want to cause chaos. These cities have a more industrial and modern feel, like a true human settlement. If you don’t like the tribal and more rustic imagery of the Horde, playing Alliance would be for you.
All Up to Player Preference
Of course, there could be other considerations to factor in. What class would you want to play? What race? Do you want to go for a meta race and class combination? Are you choosing just for the aesthetic of the race?
These are all valid questions and they all point to one thing: player preferences. In the end, that’s all that really matters. Play a Horde character or an Alliance character, it doesn’t matter as long as you enjoy the game. The real problem is finding a server that fits your preference.
In a PvP server, it’ll be good to join one without too much of a faction imbalance. Joining one would mean longer waits for battlegrounds and fewer targets to attack. For PvE servers, it doesn’t really matter. Of course, balance gives more variety to the players to see, but sometimes a faction-dominated server can feel comforting.
So really, it doesn’t matter. Just find a server that suits your needs. Some people are just good at nitpicking. There are only a handful of faction-dominated servers anyway. The rest keep a healthy enough balance between the two.
What’s the Real Problem Then?
Well, there isn’t one. Some people just like making mountains out of molehills. Maybe the problem gets magnified because some overly populated servers are beginning to tilt to one side in the faction war. Because they’re being noisy, Blizzard thinks it’s a real problem when it’s not. Sure, there might be many players in those servers, but across the whole player base, they’re in the minority. It wouldn’t be fair to fix things for the minority at the cost of the majority, wouldn’t it?
At any rate, for this type of question, just go with whatever you want. The real important thing is to enjoy the game. Those WoW Classic bags aren’t going to fill themselves, so have fun farming, grinding, questing, or leveling in WoW Classic!