Hey guys, what is the Alliance player base like on Icecrown? (several questions)

[Warsapphire]

Hello everyone,

So I am a new player to Warmane entirely, and I decided for the first time ever in my long wow career to roll as a Horde player for once! I was very excited and am still lost to this day as to where things are, it's hilarious! I play an Undead Warlock and I enjoy it very much.... However, some issues have arised that i can no longer ignore, even though I've only been here two weeks, I've played pretty much all day, every day and got a lot of content and gear done.

I can safely say I've explored quite a bit when it comes to the server and it's player base, at least for the Horde. So here goes:

1) It seems impossible to find a guild in the Horde side. Literally every single guild wants some unreachable 6.5k+ score just for admittance and care nothing for your experience as a player... I have been a raider for at least 15 years, but you're telling me, some end game on farm guild won't let new members in unless they are already pretty much done with the game? Do get that gear score they would already be in an eng game on farm guild... so yeah, I don't get it?

2) PUGs demand the same ridiculous scores to enter... how can my lowly 5100 warlock, whom I have genuinely worked my *** off to gear, day after day, ever hope to progress if I need a minimum of 5800 to be allowed into anything? Do these people understand how the game works? People need to do this content to get that gear score before they can get that gear score and do that content, its circular and absurd. Who are you running these PUGs for? Geared endgame players in farming guilds?

3) The PvP is the genuine WORST I've ever seen in my 17 years of playing the game. As an Alliance main, I was extremely used to losing every other game, as the Horde and their busted racials and sweaty player base would just Zug through anything non-premade in an instant, but we did at least win some of the time... This is not the case for the Horde here on Icecrown. All we do is lose, lose lose no matter what hour of the day it is.

Now I get that 99% of the player base here is alliance, trust me, levelling was a nightmare thanks to literally endless nice people camping and farming me since level 30 and every day since when I attempt to make a few coins from dalies... I almost never see a green nameplate anywhere I go, I mean god damn, talk about hilarious, he rolls a Horde for the first time and there's no Horde to play with!

But the point I'm getting to is simple, if we can't do any BG's then there's absolutely zero point in attempting area, right? Like that would be ******ed of me, wouldn't it?

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Which brings me to this: How's life on the Alliance in Icecrown? Aside from winning every BG, are there friendly players, non-*****ic pugs and maybe a guild or two willing to recruit people who haven't bought all their gear? I'm really not having any fun here and I'm ready to come home, sorry for rolling Horde, I won't do it again, I swear!

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This post was not intended as a venting post or a troll post, but I just can't hide my emotions, it's been effing terrible these last two weeks and I actually hate this place, so please tell me how it is on Alliance in visceral detail so I know what to expect.

Thanks!

[dafikJR]

Welcome!

You're right about guilds. On the Horde side, they're practically unavailable for low-level players unless you create one yourself. On the Alliance side, if you're lucky (like I was), you might get invited to a beneficial guild that helps you out. This could include receiving some gold each day (even just 10g, but it's still helpful for lowbies) and being able to pick up gear from the guild vault.

Aside from that, things are pretty similar. The raid requirements here might be a bit higher than on the Horde side, but you can enjoy a higher win rate in battlegrounds—even sometimes the Alliance losing because lower bracket faces off against a full BiS Horde group, which honestly makes me cry sometimes.

[Warsapphire]

Hello, thanks for your answer. How long have you been on Warmane or played Alliance here and how often do you raid/pvp? Are there any aus/usa guilds in Alliance? I'm really looking for someone who is well seasoned and pretty damn clued in on these questions, because making a switch to me would be a big deal, so I'd want to gather as much info as I can humanly attain.

[Icyheart]

Can't relate to most of this... my experience as alliance I absolutely thrived in PVP - shoutout to Old Division, when we farmed BGs till we all got our titles, achievements and more, those were the days. Wintergrasp with the usual boomies/ele shaman multiboxers providing support, can't go wrong either. We won't win all the time, but I dare say alliance really does win more than horde. Our horde brothers and sisters are probably doing speed runs and parsing in ICC anyway with their fancy racials. Hahaha. PvPers love looking good, and those taurens, trolls and orcs have serious neck and back issues that no amount of Tmogs can save. Oh, and human racial + double DPS trinkets? Enough said.

Now PVE is where I can share more about the ups and downs.

After getting 100k+ HKs on my DK, I got a little burnt out from BGing so I got back into the PVE scene. I can understand standing around in global for *hours* trying to get into a decent ICC25 8/12hc PUG, only for it to fall apart before and after Marrowgar/DBS, etc for a variety of reasons - ninja pulls, actual ninja looters, PUG leaders with no clue how to actually lead the runs.

If I could advise you (and my past self) at this stage, the best thing you can do is to try and find your people. Because, PUGing is going the path of most resistance to gearing up, or even to simply enjoy the game. There is too much waiting, too much risk, no community/camaraderie, and it's a bag of mixed nuts what skill level and IRL characters you get stuck with for the next 2-4 hours (yes, 4 hour+ pugs).

So, be kind to yourself, find a community, a discord, a guild asap. You might not get your people the first try, but it's better than swimming in /global PUGs endlessly and drowning on a daily basis.

"I think I found my people, what next?"

Guilds are a funny thing. Back to my story; I've sunk more than a year's time in a badly managed guild where the guildmaster was non-existent in the raids, siphoned guild bank assets to personal banks, and also impeded the guild's progress with mismanagement, detrimental policies, etc.

But despite everything, I stepped up, took ownership of my situation, and started raid leading. Through this, I found my people. I found fellow officers, raid leaders, and core raiders whom we align with, and want to do better, run smooth raids, have fun together. Sometimes, we just have to take the initiative, it's not about the "Alliance" environment or "PVE" scene, we can create the space we are seeking. In conclusion, with these like-minded friends, I took the leap of faith and co-founded my current guild, and we've thrived ever since.

Side note; "the grass is always greener on the other side" - well, not really. I have also raided Horde side of Icecrown. Things are kind of the same when it comes to guild requirements, etc.

There are newbie friendly guilds on both sides now and then, but they might not be your people. Grasp this logic: a more established/skilled guild doesn't necessary mean they are more toxic. In fact, they have more resources and stability for help gear potential talents. It does take two hands to clap. In a newbie friendly guild, true, your mistakes may be more tolerated, but again you're sacrificing precious game time (and your IRL youth+mental health) dealing with any time/resources wastage, being in the an environment where mistakes are enabled, and the lack of growth not having access to proper full raids and being amongst the better players to learn from, etc. Spending too much time in an environment with no growth actually allows the bad habits and players to fester. And thus making it toxic for the people who actually value their's and others' gametime.

If you've read everything, I hope to have motivated you in someway or another to, well, don't be too upset with what you can't control... instead, take control of your gametime, find your people, take initiative, create your own space?

Cheers!!!