Is Horde more running around than Alliance in WoW Forever?

By George In The Meta · 7 Nov 2026

Short answer: for our group, yes, and it was down to the races we picked. My brother, Gaspode, and Zac normally play Alliance, Gnome and Human, and both of those start on the same continent with the tram between Stormwind and Ironforge. This time they went Horde, and both said it was a lot more running around and faffing about. Zac was a Troll, starting in Durotar on Kalimdor, and Gaspode was Undead, starting in Tirisfal Glades on the Eastern Kingdoms. That's a zeppelin between you before you've done anything together. We've now all swapped to Dwarf and Gnome.

Why does Horde feel like more running around in WoW Forever?

Because the Horde races don't all start on the same side. For Horde, everything is in the same spot, the Barrens and Orgrimmar, but the Undead are on the other side. Zac was on this side because he's a Troll, and Gaspode was on the other side because he's Undead.

On Alliance, they don't have that problem. Gaspode normally plays a Gnome and Zac a Human. A Gnome starts in Dun Morogh and a Human starts in Elwynn Forest, and both of those are on the Eastern Kingdoms, with the Deeprun Tram between Ironforge and Stormwind.

Which races start on the same continent?

These are the starting zones as they were in the original game. I haven't checked every one in Forever.

Horde

Orc and Troll: Durotar, Kalimdor
Tauren: Mulgore, Kalimdor
Undead: Tirisfal Glades, Eastern Kingdoms

Alliance

Dwarf and Gnome: Dun Morogh, Eastern Kingdoms
Human: Elwynn Forest, Eastern Kingdoms
Night Elf: Teldrassil, Kalimdor

So if you want to play with friends from level 1, Undead is the odd one out on Horde, and Night Elf is the odd one out on Alliance. Dwarf and Gnome on Alliance, or Orc and Troll on Horde, start in the same zone.

Is the Horde map just bigger?

That was my first thought: that everything is further apart, and there's just more dead space between walking to things. I haven't measured it, so I can't tell you that's true. What I can tell you is that the start split is real.

What did we do about it?

We all swapped to Dwarf and Gnome. Does Alliance feel better? I don't know. Maybe just a little bit at the moment, but that could be the group bonus. We've got three of us in the party now instead of two, and the bonus XP I was getting on each kill went up. So that might be what's making it feel faster, not the faction.