What Is the Difference Between the Horde and the Alliance in the World of Warcraft Game?

Races

• Horde and Alliance have different races available for character creation. Characters belonging to the human, night elf, dwarf, draenei, gnome and worgen races are members of the Alliance faction, while characters belonging to the orc, troll, tauren, blood elf, undead and goblin races are members of the Horde faction. The faction each race belongs to is clearly shown on the character creation screen. Many of the Horde races are more bestial or monstrous-looking than the Alliance ones, which tend to lean more toward the look of traditional fantasy races, such as elves or dwarves. However, this distinction, while present in earlier versions of the game, has since been blurred with the introduction of blood elves to the Horde and the worgen to the Alliance.

Factions

• Certain sub-factions within the game are exclusive to either the Horde or the Alliance. However, these factions always have a counterpart. For example, the Horde equivalent to the Silver Covenant Alliance faction is the Sunreavers, while the Alliance equivalent to the Hellscream's Reach Horde faction is the Wildhammer Clan. This helps keep the game balanced by ensuring both Horde and Alliance players have access to an equivalent set of rewards.

Zones

• Both the Horde and the Alliance factions have their own capital cities and zones that they have absolute control over, such as the starting zones for each race. Additionally, certain zones, while still contested, may offer quests only to players of one faction. For example, quests in the Hillsbrad Foothills zone are only available to Horde players, while quests in the Wetlands zone are only available to Alliance players.

Cosmetic Differences

• Purely cosmetic differences also exist between the Alliance and Horde factions. The basic land and flying mounts for Alliance and Horde players look very different, and it is impossible for Alliance players to obtain Horde mounts and vice versa. For example, human characters ride horses and night elf characters ride saber cats, while orc characters ride wolves and troll characters ride raptors. The basic flying mount for Alliance characters is a gryphon, while the Horde one is a wyvern. Other mounts, such as mammoths, may look mostly the same but differ in the color of some details. Additionally, some sets of armor, while offering the same stats, may have a different name and look for Alliance and Horde players. For example, the Tier 9 set for Alliance mages is called Khadgar's Regalia, while the same set for Horde mages is called Sunstrider's Regalia.

Considerations

• Although some players might insist that one faction is superior to the other, this is not the case. Both Alliance and Horde factions have their share of pleasant and unpleasant players. On the other hand, different servers have different percentages of Alliance and Horde players; some servers might be balanced, while others may have either Alliance or Horde as the predominant faction. Playing a character belonging to the under-populated faction can be unpleasant, especially on player-versus-player servers. However, you are not restricted to playing only one faction -- you can create characters belonging to both factions on the same server, to try both sides out and decide which you like best.