After looking at most available polls it is clear that Chaos will be the majority in WAR.  Apparently they are not only the majority in numbers, but they also have better teamwork and skill according to beta players.  After the NDA is lifted I think those who don't know what I'm talking about soon will.  My theory on this would be the fact that there are a ton of well organized guilds that seem to roll Chaos for whatever reason.  It's unfortunate for me because I'll play Order.  Seems like Chaos gets more mature, skilled MMO players and Order gets a lot of newbies.  This was seen in WoW as well.  I will enjoy being the underdog sometimes, but it will get old eventually.  What bothers me is that many guilds try saying that Chaos will be the underdog and that's why they choose them, when that is clearly not the case as of yet anyway. 

Anyone have any theories as why this is the case?  Or you think I'm completely wrong and Order will be more dominant eventually?

chaos is evil, chaos looks cool, and even back in the tabletop days chaos was overpowered (1+ armor saves ftl)

but there will be plenty of order, plenty of hardcore PvP leet order guilds and such.  there may be more chaos, but like in every game, there will always be a competent core of players in your faction.

Ever notice how veterans in war movies look gruffy, unshaved and just generally disorganised? They joke around and make a jolly good mess of things, but the moment shit hits the fan, they become a syncronised team of destruction. I think a bit of the same mentality applies to MMO players. New players to the fantasy genre are often drawn to the pictures of glory and beauty presented by humans, elves and dwarves. Older veterans however tend to be drawn to the team of ragtags that just seem like an outright mess, but when the time comes to fight, they work as a unit.

To sum it up: Those who havn't experienced being the superior force tend to try to bring it forth through looks, while those who know they are the superior force care more for the fun factor when they are not fighting.
Mind you this does obviously not count for everyone, but it does explain the general incline towards the green buggers and the other jolly memebers of the chaotic regime

yeah yeah we went through all this back when WoW started.

evil is cooler etc nightelves are sexy whatever.

there will be always more on one side then the other and it will be different on each server.

all thats important is how the game will keep the balance to not affect the experience of everyone on the smaller side.

dont get worried what side will get more cause you cant do anything about it anyway.

I always assumed it was more "I WANT TO BE EVIL!" mentality, as people in real life generally have to be good. And then there is the cool factor. Normally the goblins or orcs or dark elves or whatever look different and more interesting than Humans and dwarves, which is pretty standard. But like I said, that's just what I always assumed. The arguments above make a lot of sense.

Originally posted by Dreamstrider

Ever notice how veterans in war movies look gruffy, unshaved and just generally disorganised? They joke around and make a jolly good mess of things, but the moment shit hits the fan, they become a syncronised team of destruction. I think a bit of the same mentality applies to MMO players. New players to the fantasy genre are often drawn to the pictures of glory and beauty presented by humans, elves and dwarves. Older veterans however tend to be drawn to the team of ragtags that just seem like an outright mess, but when the time comes to fight, they work as a unit.

To sum it up: Those who havn't experienced being the superior force tend to try to bring it forth through looks, while those who know they are the superior force care more for the fun factor when they are not fighting.
Mind you this does obviously not count for everyone, but it does explain the general incline towards the green buggers and the other jolly memebers of the chaotic regime

This is a bit off topic, but I really dig this component of WAR, no matter what realm you play.  The devs have stressed the pride of the realm, meaning that though I may hate "so-and-so's" guts, and he hates mine, when it comes to defending the realm, we will proudly cover each others' backs.  That is so awesome.  To know that we can set aside personal grievances for something greater than ourselves is one of the noblest aspects of humanity.  And having it integrated into a video game is like having your cake and eating it too.

Originally posted by Stellos

After looking at most available polls it is clear that Chaos will be the majority in WAR.  Apparently they are not only the majority in numbers, but they also have better teamwork and skill according to beta players.  After the NDA is lifted I think those who don't know what I'm talking about soon will.  My theory on this would be the fact that there are a ton of well organized guilds that seem to roll Chaos for whatever reason.  It's unfortunate for me because I'll play Order.  Seems like Chaos gets more mature, skilled MMO players and Order gets a lot of newbies.  This was seen in WoW as well.  I will enjoy being the underdog sometimes, but it will get old eventually.  What bothers me is that many guilds try saying that Chaos will be the underdog and that's why they choose them, when that is clearly not the case as of yet anyway. 

Anyone have any theories as why this is the case?  Or you think I'm completely wrong and Order will be more dominant eventually?

First of all you are talking about Destruction not chaos, chaos is a destruction race. 

As is stands right now, Destruction has more players, Order has better (like 10 Xs better) RvR'rs.

   One thing can be said for sure, the Destruction side knows how to die..

    *Points lion at a Dark Elf and laughs heartily!*

   Honestly I haven't seen much of a imbalance at all. Although I need to wait tell NDA is over to spill more beans. One word of advice. Fear my Kitty!

1st off there is the standard player base for every faction.  then toss in the kids because chaos are badass (at my local store and almost every kid that picked up the WAR box said he would play Chaos).  Chaos will be very popular and (unfortunately) Empire does not appear to have such a strong following.  Mythic does have a system in place to balance it so if you like to play underdogs then play Empire

I said it once and will say it again..

Now you see that evil will always triumph, because good is dumb.

Ok, I'm not going to go into details as NDA is still in effect, but no, Destruction does not dominate in this game. My personal opinion is that both sides are actually quite equal in terms of class balance overall. I'm not saying class archetypes are balanced, but overall, each side is pretty equal.

With that being said, it comes down to which side of the battle has veteran RvR players and which side has the lone wolves and noobs. RvRing in this game seriously depends on teamwork and people knowing just what the heck they are doing.

Example: I've seen Order try and beat down a Tank thats being healed simply because he's the closest target. Its definately a TAB trend to just automatically attack the closest enemy near you. Folks, that is horrible RvRing skill right there.

Eliminate the healers = win, win, win. Tanks and DPS classes will not survive without healers against a group that has a healer. Yes, there are heal potions and damage sponge potions, but everyone has access to those so to speak.

So, no, I disagree with Destruction owning in beta. Only thing Destruction owned in beta was a slightly higher population. Did that deter me from playing my Order favorites? NOPE!

Originally posted by Majinash

(destruction) is evil, (destruction) looks cool

That's really all there is to it.

Guilds who PvP often want to portray themselves as dark and badass. Almost like some misplaced "pride" that keeps them from playing a High Elf or something.

We still don't know -- despite the ramblings -- which side will inherit more of the newbies. Beta numbers are about equal, and polls heavily favor destruction, but the majority of people who are going to play this game aren't a part of either. It DOES seem that there are more Destruction guilds advertised than Order guilds, but as most people have said, not only will there be a core of competent people on both sides, but the system is such that you won't be outnumbered *and* outclassed.

In my opinion Its a popular misconception that Horde in WoW and the upcoming Destruction in WAR are actually better and more organized players.

I believe its closer to the truth to say that they consist of players who spend a lot more time in game to get an advantage. From what I have seen of certain guilds in past mmos, the same ones going to destruction are the same ones that have in the past taken two specific time-investment based tactics and pretty much base their entire strategy around it. Those two tactics are outleveling, and out-gearing the competition. In terms of actual teamwork, planning, coordination.. they were actually pretty weak. They simply brute forced everything. Many of the guilds that have this same philosophy seem drawn to destruction.  Zerg guilds, hc powergaming guilds, etc.

Unfortunately WoW's design allowed such tactics to prevail in most cases. The strongest were the ones that spent the most time leveling, raiding, and grinding for gear. This is to say nothing about the fact that they also tended to have the numbers advantage in pvp conflicts. The rare times when the teams were truly balanced in terms of level and equipment, you would find that Alliance actually won pretty often. But due to the rarity, Horde got the reputation for being better players.

In WoW, horde players were always level capped for the battleground bracket, always had twinked out gear compared to alliance.  And if you compared time played of characters across sides, I bet you horde spent way more time logged in on average. But it would be an error to mistake time investment for skill. More dedicated.. I would certainly grant them.  It takes a lot of dedication to spend all that time in game and put yourselves through boring grind to get that advantage. But its the sad reality that because of most mmo design (not just wow), you only need to spend more time than your opponent to win.

WAR I think might level that playing field a bit compared to WoW. Equipment has less of an impact (though not eliminated entirely). High levels turn chicken for fighting lower levels. Lower tiers are just as important to control as higher tiers in the overall war effort. The archetype system and rock paper scissors helps with the balancing. Probably some other things I haven't thought of.

Don't worry Order have Bright Wizard :(

chosen. alliance looked better in wow, destruction looks WAY better in war. there will be a 2:1 ratio destruction:order. book it.

History has shown if there are Elves with dark skin. That side race and side will be the most popular. People love their Drow.

Originally posted by Gumshoo

History has shown if there are Elves with dark skin. That side race and side will be the most popular. People love their Drow.

Well both have Elves and both can have dark or light skin.

Dwarves are dumb, elves are homosexuals, and humans are boring. Destruction races just have a mysterious lure to them, even the dark elves.

Originally posted by JustBe

Originally posted by Gumshoo

History has shown if there are Elves with dark skin. That side race and side will be the most popular. People love their Drow.

 

Well both have Elves and both can have dark or light skin.

But of the two, Dark Elves took all the sex appeal. No doubt High Elves will be popular though. Hopefully enough to make up for the lack of Dwarves.

Two words; Dark Elves.

Just look at WoW. Alliance was overpopulated, because of Night Elves. Once Blood Elves was introduced Horde jumped in population(mainly all blood elves).

I was really looking forward to chaos, but after the cut to Choppa and everyone and their mother wanting to be Chaos I will probably go Order.