Blizzard aimed to address the faction imbalance in WoW by removing various boundaries between factions—and it seems to have worked.
At the start of World of Warcraft, the balance between factions was fairly even. In Classic, there were slightly more Alliance players than Horde players. However, with the introduction of Blood Elves in The Burning Crusade (TBC), the faction balance shifted towards the Horde. Many high-end guilds preferred the Horde, largely due to the powerful racial abilities at the time, leading more players to leave Stormwind for Orgrimmar and join the Horde.
In the later years of WoW, the imbalance became even more pronounced in favor of the Horde, prompting the developers to take action. In recent expansions, the boundaries between factions have been increasingly dissolved. Now, it hardly matters whether your character is Horde or Alliance—you can raid, quest, trade, and, starting with The War Within, even play together in the same guild.
Nearly Perfect Faction Balance in WoW
Websites like DataforAzeroth analyze data from the official armory and use it to create clear statistics, including an overview of which faction characters belong to. In recent years, the Horde has consistently dominated, especially in the endgame. However, this is no longer the case.
In the current endgame of The War Within (level 80 characters), the balance between the Alliance and Horde is nearly equal. About 49.3 percent of all level 80 characters are Alliance, while 50.7 percent are Horde.
If we consider all characters, including lower-level ones, the Horde still has a slight lead with 51.7 percent. However, this is a significant change compared to the situation a few years ago.
Many players who had stuck with the Horde due to friends, guilds, or the larger player base switched to Alliance races when The War Within launched. This trend can be seen even in top guilds. In the latest World First Kill by top guild Liquid, nearly half of the raid (9 out of 20 members) consisted of Alliance players, even though the guild remains officially Horde.
