I’ve always felt a resentment for the people who sit off to the side when something happens and announce how they had ‘told you so” about things. And yet, I slip into hypocrisy as I sit here watching the Alliance crying about the diminishment and eroding of our population here. Months ago when Blizzard announced the plans for Faction Transfers I told some friends that this would kill the Alliance.
It was doubted and I did not press the issue to much. I do believe in loyalty. But I also know that people play this game to get things done and seen. And I knew the personalities of many people here. In a previous post I discussed other guilds on the Alliance a bit and how they are run. I’ll touch upon this again shortly.
But one of the things I knew would draw away alliance from my server to the horde:
The illusion of better players.
For some reason people think that all horde are good players here. But I would actually argue that it is simply a matter of ratio. There are far more horde on the server than alliance. Thus appearing to show a larger amount of good players. A larger player base gives chance for a seeming larger and better player pool. The ratio up till Faction Transfers was likely fairly even.
The illusion of more raiding guilds.
Again, this is a population factor I think. Because there are more people wishing to raid on Horde, there are more guilds created to compliment this. As with alliance, the population determines the number of guilds. The level of progression of these guilds is also evened by the player skills and generally is also very even.
There would also be players who would transfer to hang with the group they felt was ‘cooler.’ When your trade chat is dominated by seeming immature or stupid conversation, overflowing with trolls who can’t contribute humor better than the ripping down of others, and just seeming younger people you will allow yourself to believe the other side has to be better. Funny, but both sides actually think the other side has less “12 year olds.” But really both sides contain just about as much stupidity as the other.
Another thing that acting negatively on the Alliance mindset was the coming and going of the transfer guild “Six to Midnight.” Having been competing against then number 1 guild, Valiant. They became a favorite of many Alliance. A lot of people had hoped they would drop a guild that was appearing cocky and arrogant from their throne and take up the crown. However, their GM had to step away and the person the GM was given to was a baaaad choice. Known for ‘sniping’ members from other guilds, they destroyed a guild, picked off members from others and then proceeded to implode. The new GM took everything and transferred and many of the good players either transferred or stopped playing.
I don’t know why, but the number one guild stopped progression. The leader or the officers or maybe the members themselves just seemed to stop caring about pushing forward. Especially with the announcement of Trial of the Crusade coming soon. So rather than push the content they grew lazy and complacent. The Alliance ‘progression’ appeared to stall while the horde continued to move forward and see content and grow.
Some alliance even began to roll horde characters, they were so disgusted by the languishing of the Alliance. The appearance of the faction falling apart and being worthless began to set in. This resentment would lead to members of many different guilds transferring as soon as Faction Transfers were opened up.
So now I sit here watching and listening as my fellow Alliance who remain stand stunned in the face of another guild leaving. Valiant is moving away to another server, having lost about 5-10 people from their guild to the Faction Transfers. They have given up on the server and joined the crowd who feels the Alliance are unredeemable here. As most alliance guilds who have left, I doubt they will survive a rebuilding elsewhere. Many might even return at some point.
Another rumor is Eleventh Hour will be experiencing a transfer as well. They had been second for alliance before Six to Midnight. Many of their ‘better’ raiders had been taken in by Valiant (And unsurprisingly, those were some to Faction Transfer and Transfer off) and they’ve been trying to rebuild for a while. I’m not sure how they’re doing now and since we took in a warlock from their guild their former GM hasn’t really talked to me. It’s a bit depressing since she and I had been friends and talked frequently not that long ago.
With these top three guilds no longer here, it made it all the more possible for my own guild to move into the first position. Our competition has been IOD – another guild like ours that had been somewhat in the middle and has found ourselves somehow at the top. Near us and upcoming is Unknown who has regained its members.
It is a new set of guilds for the top three of the Alliance. And just from my opinion, we’re all guilds that at points had been thought little of. No one expected much of us. No one respects us. I’m sure we all grouch about one another too and I’m sure we trade comments back and forth. But I for one respect both guilds for sticking with it as well.
Because the voice of the nay-sayers is growing louder. “ALLIANCE IS DEAD” etc. The more these people cry out, the more likely people will continue to transfer or faction change. Because if they allow themselves to listen – to consider those words as even slightly true - then this side of the server will die for sure.
I predicted the Alliance would die from Faction Transfers. But I'm not ready to give up on it just yet. So I sit here watching and waiting. My guild shall remain for a while. At least until we’ve seen the Lich King defeated and this expansion completed.
Flaming Bunnies was started in 2007 by three friends from another MMO. It has continued to slowly inch forward and see what content it can. But the Alliance is dying slowly and I can’t expect my officers to want to play this forever.
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