How to be Horde

We were talking yesterday about what it means to be Horde (and indeed, if it means anything at all). So in the spirit of the recently announced paid faction changes, here’s a list of things to do in game if you want to feel like a real old school Hordeling.

(Feel free to add more suggestions, I’ll add them to the list with an attribution.)

1. Find Mankrik’s wife.
2. Kill Ragnaros or Onyxia with no paladins in the raid.
3. Kill someone with a pumpkin.
4. Fall off Thunder Bluff.
5. Fall off the lift in the Undercity.
6. Fall off the Great Lift in the Barrens (you’ll notice a running theme here).
7. Visit every Horde settlement. Including the hidden troll one in Stonetalon.
8. Win three battlegrounds in a row, in PUGs. (Linedan notes that this depends on your battlegroup.)
9. Get killed by a Son of Arugal in Silverpine
10. Run from Hammerfall to Kargath
11. Listen to Sylvanas sing (the blues)
12. Defend The Crossroads from Alliance attack
13. Don’t fall off the Aldor tier or the lift in Warsong Hold (by the time you get to those places, you should have enough experience to know better)
14. Do the Mag’har quest chain in Hellfire Peninsula.
15. Do the Greatmother chain in Nagrand.
16. Get the For the Horde! achievement by joining a raid to kill all the alliance leaders.
17. See Wrathgate from the Horde perspective. (Wonder if this will be possible for anyone who does a paid faction change, they’ll have to sort out the phasing.)
18. (or 17a) At the Wrath Gate, realise that the blight that is raining down on people’s heads is the same thing you have been helping the Royal Apothecary Society to make *since you were level five* (Temitope)
19. Rescue lots of foolish tauren princesses (moocows may be cute but they’re always the ones who get themselves kidnapped when there’s an escort quest to do -– I think the alliance equivalent is night elf women)
20. Mock blood elves and/or paladins in trade chat. Bonus marks if you are playing one at the time.
21. If you are Tauren, get stuck in a doorway somewhere. If not, then get stuck behind a Tauren.
22. Get your free fishing rod from the Horde-only quest in the Hinterlands.
23. Noticing that when the quest involves killing humanoids who are not explicitly alliance, they are usually trolls or fel orcs or grimtotem clan tauren, but never “blood gnomes” or “fel elves”. (Gevlon)
24. If you’re a hunter, tame a Horde-only tamable creature like Echeyakee. (Tesh)
25. If you’re orc, troll, or Tauren, being Horde means that you can make it 30 or 40 levels before ever seeing a proper inn, or even a chair. (Linedan)
26. Unleash the Necromancer in Southshore graveyard to go on a rampage of destruction (Stabs)
27. Smugly watch Alliance try to invade Tarren Mill, only to then become overwhelmed by the zerg-like spawn of your deathguards. That’ll teach ‘em! (Jennifer)
28. Let’s not forget falling off the lift in Warsong Hold… or falling off the cliff near Bloodvenom Post (Sharon)
29. Accidentally crossing the Bulwark as a lvl 10 and lower, because you’re curious what’s on the other side. (Tim)
30. Find Rexxar somewhere in Stonetalon Mountains, Desolace and Feralas while doing your Onyxia chain. (Bethryn)

There’s a lot of very good Horde-flavoured quest content in Northrend also, so it’s hard to pick out any specific questlines. The Conquest Hold (in Grizzly Hills) and Vengeance Landing quests are particularly good in this respect.

One thing I  noticed after writing this list out is how strong the faction flavour really is in the new expansion. (I’m quite looking forwards to checking out the Alliance side.) And the other is how much I think that specific quests are important to the storytelling — even though the real core of the experience is having spent time mixing with the rest of the Horde through however many levels and knowing all the familiar names, guilds, and chatter.