Why is Destruction more popular than Order?

by Shawn Schuster Sep 25th 2008 at 10:00AM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Classes, Culture, PvP, Warhammer Online, Opinion

There exists an interesting theory concerning gamer preference of good vs. evil. It is said that in World of Warcraft, as in many other games, the "good" seems to be the most popular choice. Most people want to be the pretty human character, save the princess and become the hero.

Enter Warhammer Online, where the majority of players have flocked to the Destruction side. This isn't simply the 'darker' side, this is the burn-down-your-house evil side. This is the stuff-a-dwarf-in-a-barrel-and-toss-him-off-a-castle-wall evil side. So why do players relate more to this type of bad guy persona? Relmstein has some theories about this over at his blog, which include the fact that Mythic focused much of their hype on the Destruction side. Check out his post for the rest of his five reasons why Destruction is more popular than Order, and let us know what you think.

Tags: destruction, evil, good, order, popularity, realm, relmstein, war, warhammer-online

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

Heavy Tank said on 10:08AM 9-25-2008

boobs, that's why destro is more popular. dark elf bewbs

Derek said on 10:15AM 9-25-2008

Chances are that most of the players going to WAR are coming the the Alliance side of WoW, thus offering them an even further experience then they've had in WoW.

Barth said on 10:29AM 9-25-2008

This plus many alliance think that by choosing Destruction in WAR, it will be the equivalent of choosing Horde in WoW... and by logic think that it means they will roll in RvR. This pretty much guarantees it will end up being the opposite. There are some similarities though, already it looks like the parallel classes for each side are set up the same way.. destruction are geared more offensively while order are geared more defensively. This was pretty disappointing to see repeated in yet another game.

Not to mention the fact that most of the marketing done for WAR was done from a destruction perspective... all the irritating greenskin-talk "waaaaauugh" stuff and the most outspoken devs seeming to side with destruction from the beginning probably all have a big influence.

John said on 10:21AM 9-25-2008

They'll play destruction until the first rebalancing...then they'll cry like babies and all come over to Order. Destruction is entirely over powered right now and it shouldn't take too long for Mythic to balance their abilities. WAAAGH!!

Buckshot said on 10:32AM 9-25-2008

Yeah give me a call after that bright wizard nerf, you sir are wrong. Order is clearly overpowered, the nerf will do them well.

Nadril said on 10:35AM 9-25-2008

Funny enough a lot of destruction players complain that order has the upper hand currently as far as balance goes, funny how your perspective changes. Personally I think both races are pretty well off balanced currently -- a lot of classes have similar mechanics to that of their counterpart.

I also think that the population may even out in time. On my server I've noticed an influx of order players at lower levels and destruction out numbering order near the higher levels currently (T2/T3).

Nadril said on 10:40AM 9-25-2008

Double post, but didn't see buck's post.

How are Bright wizards OP? They are almost a carbon copy of Sorc's with the exception of a few skills (their armor buff is about the only "OP" thing they get in relation to the sorcs lackluster resist buff) but Bright wizards are some of the easiest targets to take out in the game.

This is all coming from a Black Orc's perspective but also from a Marauder (in beta).

censorman said on 11:14AM 9-25-2008

How is destruction OP?

Haha. Love forum fools. People QQ'd about Rune priests and BWs. Now it's random 'Destruction is OP'.

ScytheNoire said on 12:19PM 9-25-2008

You obviously don't play, as Order has more OP'd classes, and this has been well documented.

Not only that, but Order wins a lot more in RvR than Destruction.

Might want to try again.

Hardy said on 10:27AM 9-25-2008

Could be lots of things. Paul from Mythic praised Destruction throughout development, which was a factor.

Yes, some people came from Alliance on WoW.

Boobs.

Also that Order has for the most part more traditional classes and mechanics where Destruction has some unique ones like the Marauder mutations and the caster classes floating discs, let's not forget the Squig Herder.

I personally wanted to be Order because I thought the Warrior Priest was kick ass, but my guildies wanted to be destruction, so I settled for a Discipline of Khaine.

rihahn said on 10:28AM 9-25-2008

It really is a simple case of perception: WoW is an amusement park / RenFaire full of Warcraft-themed rides ranging from Karazhan to Kil'Jaden and over-priced vendor stuff that comes in many shades of purple. The overall feeling of WoW is players versus a large selection of evil folks who inexplicably live in really crummy homes... So, the typical WoW player goes for the 'good' side to be more like the characters in the movies/books/whatever and rides out to vanquish the evil NPCs.

Now along comes WAR - it's not a theme park / RenFaire, it's South Central on a Friday night - where the stores have bars on the windows and if you want something, you gotta mug someone to get it.

This leads to a more "badass" perception of the game and in turn leads folks to want to play "badass" characters to go along with it... Have you *looked* at a high elf in WAR? I'm still not sure how to sex them to figure out which are the males and which are the females... And the Humans - Order humans are mamby-pamby chess-club types while the Chaos-side humans are all ten foot tall linebackers from hell with horrid eczima...

Hot$auce_Magik said on 11:04AM 9-25-2008

I dunno man, My Squig herder doesn't look very "badass" to me...he's just fun to play

rihahn said on 11:51AM 9-25-2008

True, but compare your Squig Herder to the Elf "White Lion"

'nuff said

Buckshot said on 10:33AM 9-25-2008

Because greenskins frackin' rule! and order are dress wearing religious nutjobs or dwarves. Order are the GOP of Warhammer.

morosemode said on 10:40AM 9-25-2008

If I played WAR I'd go destruction. The choice is simply because greenskins and choas both seem badass, and dark elves are hot. However order seem pretty dull to me, and the only race I'd want to play is Dwarf, because as a child who played warhammer I used to like the dwarves.

I'd wager greenskins are the most popular race. Destruction's popularity all boils down to their races and how intresting/fun they appear. Order just doesn't have much going for it.

Skypp said on 10:41AM 9-25-2008

Yep, pretty easy to tell which side the devs prefer. The classes are more detailed, have cooler twists to their gameplay, and is promoted more. If you don't want to be disadvantaged from a programming standpoint, ALWAYS choose the side the Devs put more attention in.

That's why I hate RVR PVP. Give me open PVP like Shadowband and Warhammer any day.

Skypp said on 10:42AM 9-25-2008

I murded that... Shadowbane and Conan. The PVP style... not the games themselves.

Frank said on 10:51AM 9-25-2008

Order is the new Horde. I have no idea why, but when I play Destruction I have to ignore general chat. Just like Alliance in WoW.

When I play Order I notice that teams get along better in the chat. We might not always work together but the complaining isn't as prevalent. When I play Destruction the instant someone makes a mistake the bitching starts. Order's healers actually heal the group. When I heal on Destruction people always act surprised that they got heals and I always finish with the most healing (as a Disciple no less).

Why is Destro more popular? Less clothing on the female toons and the attitude is more competitive... something younger players will gravitate towards.

Toord said on 10:59AM 9-25-2008

1. The hot bodies of dark elf fem babes.
2. The hot bodies of dark elf fem babes.

And lastly ....
Because, in my opinion, after having tried several order classes, I think the game is unbalanced. Destruction is rather overpowered at the moment.

My two cp.

Syme said on 11:10AM 9-25-2008

The feel of the Destruction side more closely matches the feel of the setting as a whole. Most people who would be interested in Warhammer would have a tendency toward the Destruction side.

Also, players who prefer PvP over most other activities tend to choose the side that seems more bloodthirsty. Even in WoW, most PvP servers had better faction balance than PvE servers.