The WoW Report: Playing Both Sides

While there's a lot of good-natured (and not so good-natured) competition between Alliance and Horde in World of Warcraft, what many players may not realize is that there are advantages to knowing thy enemy. There are even more to being thy enemy.

I play two characters. One is a level 38 Night Elf Priest. The other is a level 26 Forsaken Warlock. Translation: Elf "good guy" and Undead "bad guy" for the non-WoW among us. Both are growing steadily and I'm having a good time exploring the vast world of Azeroth. I've also noticed, depending on what side of the fence you're on, "enemy" is a relative term. There's a gray area when it comes to each side's goals. Both want to expand and grow, and those who don't follow such goals or threaten peaceful existance become "the enemy". Throw in various storyline political intrigue and the Alliance isn't as pure and noble, nor is the Horde as brutal and sinister. As Sean Connery once said in Rising Sun, "Deep, isn't it?"

By playing both, sides, you know the other group's culture, it's resources, it's landscape, it's strengths, and it's weaknessess. For example, my Priest recently put an Elven toe into the Barrens for the first time the other day. Since I'd spent much time questing in that area with my Forsaken Warlock, I knew where to go and what to avoid and accomplished my quest faster. On the flip side, when I started the Warlock, because I was familiar with how Stormwind (major Alliance city) was set up, it help me learn Ogrimmar (major Horde city) much faster. It also helped me set up and level faster through the lessons learned and mistakes made with the Priest. Be careful, however. It's very easy to stroll into the opposite faction's village out of habit and suddenly remember you're playing the wrong character. Oops.

There's also no end of awkward comedy that results from seeing players from the other major faction. Chances are, you're both thinking the same thing, "Oh crap! Are they about to give me the beat down?" Thankfully, most of the time it's no. In fact, one time while I was playing a Night Elf Druid (Alliance) in Cat Form, I wound up on a ship with a mounted and highly experienced Troll Warrior (Horde)...who reached down and petted me on the head. We both had a good laugh of it, but I didn't doddle getting off the ship either. On another occasion in the Barrens, my low-level Forsaken Warlock (Horde) was sitting, recovering from a fight. Off to the right appeared a high level Human Warrior (Alliance) who timidly waved, stood still for a moment, then went on his way. He was gone before I could wave back.

Another advantage to duality is that it's a break and different perspective from your main character. If you're stuck on a quest or just tired of an area, switching to the other side for a night can be refreshing, whether you accomplish anything or not. It also gives you a chance to quest and raid with a different set of brother and sister players. Yep, see the world, meet new people, rip some Trolls a new one.

Suffice to say, playing a character on each side of World of Warcraft can have great advantages and help one further appreciate the game. If you play, explore this option. I think you'll agree.