Race/Faction choice. (new player)

If you don't like the starting aesthetic of Horde, I don't think it gets all that much better. But honestly, WoW is so much better played with friends, so if you're close with your retail friends, you might want to go with them.

Keep in mind that in Classic WoW

1) Shaman are Horde only
2) Paladins are Alliance only

That's a very big difference. For example you're not getting Blessing of Salvation in raids as a Hordie. As Alliance you're not getting WF totem.

You said that you like the lore of the Horde better, but is the lore something that you really get into when playing the game? Are you going to stop and read all of the quest text, or are you going to skim through it looking for just the important bits? How important is it to you compared to gameplay?

To your point about the starting zones, I watched a video recently where an ex-Dev said that they had put a lot more work into the Human starting zone and that it was probably one of the more polished starting areas. I can definitely agree with this that Elwynn Forest is a fantastic zone, especially when compared to Durotar. However, the starting zones are a very small part of the overall game experience. If you are an average player, I would guess that you could make it out of Durotar and into The Barrens in 4 or 5 hours.

And The Barrens is a zone like no other. There is a reason why it is the namesake for this website. If you enjoy the social aspect of the game, The Barrens has got you covered.

I guess my overall point is that I feel the same way about the starting zones. Durotar is my least favorite starting zone of them all, but I can suck it up for a few hours before I move to the next zone, because I enjoy all of the other aspects of playing with The Horde. Also, you can always take a run to one of the other starting zones.

I'm a horde player since I started and I will be till the end of this game. But I may go ally this time too, I met some people that was playing ally, and turns out we became friends. So at least I will have ally and horde characters this time in different servers. Playing with friends is way better in any game, doesn't matter the faction or whatever.

I’ve played Alliance since I started playing WoW at the release of TBC. I’ve tried numerous times to switch over to horde (at times influenced by the notion that that’s where all of the skilled players reside) and I’ve never been able to do it. Personally, I think of the horde as the natural enemy (probably due to the spikes and ferocity) so it made for some super confusing PvP. I don’t read every quest I stumble across, but in my head, I’m a priest of the light serving the people of Azeroth. I can’t exactly picture the majesty of all of this in an orc body, for example. I like the aesthetic of white linen robes on a human priest, and the idea of the ‘light’, in my head, doesn’t fit with a forsaken character or a troll. I ALWAYS think back to LOTR and how much I WISH Saruman’s robes were attainable in some similar form in-game, lol. Or even Gandalf’s white robes... for my personal priestly aesthetic, this all matters and makes a huge difference. I also detest the horde zones. I love the bright and cheerful colours of Elwynn Forest and Redridge, for example. It’s the little things.

I'm in the same boat as @Alnir. Have been ally since December 2004, and have tried horde a few times, but it would take a lot to make me go horde full time. The aesthetic of the Alliance resonates with me, and I can't get used to being on the red team.

Alliance.
Why you might ask? Kings Honor, friend!

Also because they are more visually appealing, also Paladins. Paladins are great.
Paladin was my first, and I’ve had many paladins since. Horde paladins even, but Alliance at the start.
This time I’m not playing Paladin, but I’ll stay true to the Alliance until best elf 🧝‍♀️

Both! You aren't bound to either faction, you get to experience both and Classic will be around for the foreseeable future! Play both factions! One first, then the other or both simultaneously! Go nuts! I think Blizz confirmed you have 50 characters reserves in Classic, so you could do both 25 times each if you wanted to!

Both!

When I first got into wow in 2005 and reading up on it, I was obsessed with the horde side, undeads, orcs, taurens, trolls! Amazing!! so much better than stupid gnomes, dwarfs, icky humans, and night elves.....eeewww!

But my friends have been playing horde and wanted to go alliance this time around when I started. So I picked a dwarf priest!
And I have to tell you, Alliance is such an amazing faction! I am not saying I like the alliance more than horde but I have love for both I guess! They are both different and have their own things that the other faction dont have that make them appealing!

I fell in love with the Alliance aesthetics, the sounds, visual styles, colors, lore, and so on!
Ironforge is the best city in the game period!

So like stfupper said you can play both and I encourage you do some point in classic wow lifetime! I played both during vanilla but mostly alliance side!

You defiantly need to take them both in and enjoy what they both offer! You may enjoy one more than the other but both are enjoyable in every aspect of the game! I noticed something in vanilla when i was doing Strat on both Alliance and Horde. It was odd seeing Alliance take one path to victory and the Horde side would take another path to finish the dungeon. I found that odd but refreshing. Its not always about the races looks, sounds, and feels. Even things like running dungeons, both sides have their way of doing things and those factions know their sides. Its like a whole new world!!

There are a lot of things that aren't foreseeable without trying characters out, and many people don't fully check characters. Not that that's a huge problem when they pick one on instinct, but I've tried many class combinations and as a byproduct many races and factions. Here are some things I noticed:

Emotes and Character warning sounds. Unless you play with the sound off, this could really put you off sometimes if it doesn't go with how you imagine your character. You can easily skip /silly, /funny, or /dance if you dislike them, but some of the characters have weird sounding /laugh, /cry, or "I can't cast that yet" type stuff that just puts me off. This is all personal taste, but something to definitely check! (/laugh activates when you type things like "lol" or "rofl" and /cry is just a nice thing to have).

If you read the Quest text once, you'll never forget it. At least, if the text is offputting to you, you certainly won't. I hadn't played an UD until recently and when I read the quest text in their starting zone I started to feel so put off and disconnected from my character. People who, now dead, somehow had the urge to be sinister and hate everything they once loved in life. Apparently caused by the Undeath itself, which I can understand, but that certainly wasn't the character I had intended to roll! Anyway, ignoring it is going against the grain and rather difficult to accomplish unless you somehow isolate it. Some can, but I can't!

Capital Cities This can be a make-or-break scenario. Orgrimmar looks a lot like the Valley of Trials and you'd better like orange because you'll be spending a lot of time here if you roll Horde. Same goes for the Alliance cities. Also, check the layouts.

PvP Specific: Do you feel loyal to this faction? Does it feel wrong to fight the opposite faction in a BG? If so, you're probably on the wrong faction. Perhaps it could make a good PvE alt.

As such, I highly encourage you to roll both and just see which one you end up enjoying more. I've certainly surprised myself by doing the same.

Thank you all for responding and voting!

I will make a Orc Warrior on the 27th on a PvP server.
I will also make a chillout PvE character in Alliance as I think this is going to be a character I play more to unwind and relax.

Cya all in Azeroth in a month and a half!

FORASAKEN would be the best start for a warrior