Azeroth Choppers Reveals Winning World of Warcraft Motorcycle

[MarlaDesat]

Azeroth Choppers Reveals Winning World of Warcraft Motorcycle


Community voting has decided which faction-specific motorcycle will become an in-game mount in the Warlords of Draenor expansion.

Over the last eight weeks, Blizzard's web series Azeroth Choppers has shown the process of design, fabrication, painting, and assembly for two custom motorcycles. Working with custom motorcycle design teams at Paul Jr Designs, Blizzard had one Alliance-themed bike and one Horde-themed bike created. The completed motorcycles, unveiled last week [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/134893-Azeroth-Choppers-Unveils-Horde-and-Alliance-Bikes-Voting-Begins], were put to a vote from the Blizzard community to determine the winning bike. The votes have now been tallied, and the clear winner is the Horde chopper. The imposing bike, with bone tusks and tractor treads, will be recreated as an in-game mount for the Warlords of Draenor expansion for World of Warcraft. The mount will be free for all Horde players.

"At Blizzard, we all work very hard coming up with cool new things to put into World of Warcraft," says Blizzard President and CEO Mike Morhaime. "Collaborating with Paul Jr. and his team has given us an opportunity to do just that, but it's also given us an opportunity to give our community a chance to decide what goes into the game."

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The two motorcycles were fabricated and assembled by the teams at Paul Jr Designs over five weeks. "I had so much to work with from a creative standpoint. The guys at Blizzard have been great," says Paul Jr. "To do these tandemly, to have Horde and Alliance builds going on at the same time, was absolutely one of the toughest things we've ever had to do, but also one of the most rewarding. At the end of the day, all we wanted to do was bridge the gap between fantasy and reality, and I think we may have done that." Paul Jr. Designs is the motorcycle design company behind the television series American Chopper. The motorcycle teams at Paul Jr. Designs were helped by Blizzard teams led by Chris Metzen, Blizzard Entertainment's Senior Vice President of Story and Franchise Development and Sam Didier, Art Director at Blizzard. Metzen headed the Alliance team while Didier headed the Horde team.

You can watch all eight episodes of the Azeroth Choppers [http://us.battle.net/wow/en/choppers/] online. What do you think about the results? Did the Horde bike deserve to win?

Source: Blizzard [http://us.battle.net/wow/en/choppers/]


Permalink

 

[BoogieManFL]

Of course Horde win. It's no secret that the Horde is the most popular faction in World of Warcraft. Hell, even Blizzard make it strikingly obvious that Orcs are their favorite race.

I much prefer the lesser known competition, Azeroth Herbalists.

Actually most (if not all) census methods have consistently shown that since the beginning that The Alliance has had more members than The Horde.

 

[The Goat Tsar]

Of course Horde win. It's no secret that the Horde is the most popular faction in World of Warcraft. Hell, even Blizzard make it strikingly obvious that Orcs are their favorite race.

I much prefer the lesser known competition, Azeroth Herbalists.

Actually most (if not all) census methods have consistently shown that since the beginning that The Alliance has had more members than The Horde.

http://www.warcraftrealms.com/census.php

Yep, 57% of the player base is Alliance. But the Horde player base is more active and dedicated I think, so they could get more people to vote.

 

[PunkRex]

As a former 'Hordes Angel' I gotta say, good choice.

Because who the fuck plays Alliance.

 

[vallorn]

As a former 'Hordes Angel' I gotta say, good choice.

Because who the fuck plays Alliance.

Also because the tracked front wheel and scimitars on the Alliance bike just looked really really silly.

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

Awesome, I'm glad it won. It was definitely the better looking bike.

 

[Cecilo]

Meh. I hoped after the recent Garrosh reverting the Horde to what it was in the First and Second Wars the Horde would be steering away from the more "Brutal" looking things.

 

[Compatriot Block]

Ha. It's no surprise that the Horde won (seriously, at this point I'm amazed that Alliance players bothered to vote at all), but I think it's poor taste to give half of the player-base absolutely nothing.

 

[BanicRhys]

Alliance player, I voted Horde.

That Alliance bike looks like garbage, I'm going to hate having to see it everywhere when Blizzard inevitably adds it into the game as well.

 

[Attelia]

Everyone knew the Horde bike was going to win. This week's episode was only necessary because it gave people a legit reason to spam the forums with their faction nonsense.

The Horde simply has more faction pride. A vanilla player once mused that the Horde's faction pride developed due to the Horde having "nothing" lore-wise during Vanilla and the WC series.

I thought they both looked stupid and are outclassed by the in-game Mechano-hog and Mekgineers Chopper, but opinions

 

[PunkRex]

As a former 'Hordes Angel' I gotta say, good choice.

Because who the fuck plays Alliance.

Generally the more friendly and less frothing at the mouth arsehole portion of the playerbase.

Anyways, this came as no surprise. There were issues with the voting regardless, even Metzen didn't seem to show much or any "oomph" when he tried shouting "For the Alliance", and the screaming "LOK'TAR OGAR" types would spent every waking moment of their lives smashing their skull against the "Vote" button to ensure Horde victory.

Easy buddy, I was just quote spamming, I played Alliance once... for a little while. Granted Alli's end game community can't be any worse then Hordes, got reeeeeeeeal frustrating.

 

[RanceJustice]

Sadly, it doesn't surprise me that the Horde bike won. The Horde tends to have more of the "dedicated" playerbase, which ranges from "True Horde Pride" types that we all remember raising such a stink when the Blood Elves came to join, and the "Horde = Hardcore" trollish types who migrate especially to PVP servers; the proverbial t-bagging Forsaken Rogue named KORPESKILLZU.

From a more technical perspective, I think the Alliance bike as more ornate and well build. For instance, being a two-wheeled (or two-tracked) bike seemed more to my liking than the trike setup of the Horde one. The armor plating was a nice look as well. While both bikes were clearly well-crafted, the one thing that perhaps bothered me the most is that both of them were more "Human Bike" and "Orc Bike" aesthetic, rather than encompassing a significant aesthetic from every race in each faction. It is in this element that I feel the Alliance bike was clearly the winner, in that it included the "Night Elf Arrows", purple trim and more to take it just beyond a single race aesthetic. The Horde bike was the standard "Orcish Horde" through and through. I think it should have been a stipulation of the contest that both bikes had to take into account significant design elements from every racial member of the Alliance and Horde, which I think would have led to more interesting designs.

As far as the ramifications of the players are concerned, I honestly expected them to put both bikes into the game no matter which won, so it is a bit disappointing if this doesn't occur.

 

[VanQ]

I love how the Alliance bike loses and all the Alliance players come in and start smugly trash talking Horde and claiming that all Hordies are some group of elitist and unfriendly asswipes. I've met more friendly and dedicated players in my years playing Horde than I ever did on Alliance.

I raid with a Heroic guild on Horde and also on Alliance on two separate toons and I'll be honest, the raiding is better on Horde. The players are just more skilled and passionate. Meanwhile the Alliance is full of smug teenagers ond old folks that think they're better than Horde.

Either way, the better bike won. Excuse me while I cheese the belts on Heroic Siegecrafter on my Orc Warlock.

 

[Vareoth]

Grats to the winners. Personally didn't bother to vote because I thought the whole thing was a bit silly (scimitars and tusks, really). Doesn't matter because I'm one of those weird people that rather rides on dragons than motorcycles ^^

I love how the Alliance bike loses and all the Alliance players come in and start smugly trash talking Horde and claiming that all Hordies are some group of elitist and unfriendly asswipes. I've met more friendly and dedicated players in my years playing Horde than I ever did on Alliance.

I raid with a Heroic guild on Horde and also on Alliance on two separate toons and I'll be honest, the raiding is better on Horde. The players are just more skilled and passionate. Meanwhile the Alliance is full of smug teenagers ond old folks that think they're better than Horde.

Either way, the better bike won. Excuse me while I cheese the belts on Heroic Siegecrafter on my Orc Warlock.

Pot kettle black.

 

[Ninmecu]

Either way, the better bike won. Excuse me while I cheese the belts on Heroic Siegecrafter on my Orc Warlock.

This is the only part of your post I take umbridge with-but I stopped playing back in January, so for all I know the warlock got changed up enough to make optimal belt runners. Back when I was running I couldn't do the belt to save my life on normal, never mind heroic. Guild I was raiding with was having all sorts of issues and it was meh at best.


As for the Alliance v. Horde debate, having played both I can honestly say I had a better time on the Horde side, the times I enjoyed the Alliance side was usually with people who, like me, were curious about the alliance side. So, frankly, I find it hard to say which side is the better one. I just know I've met some really cool people and some real fucking pieces of shit on both sides.

On topic however, I find them both to be ugly bikes. But I like simplistic and minimalistic approaches to aesthetics. So, my opinion is a bit tainted.

Meh. I hoped after the recent Garrosh reverting the Horde to what it was in the First and Second Wars the Horde would be steering away from the more "Brutal" looking things.

Looking at it purely from the perspective of Lore, the orcs are still warriors at heart. The Trolls and the Taurahe are native-esque tribes, though of vastly different (real world) origins. And the Goblins are, well, dude their Goblins, I'm pretty sure that says it all. I'm not surprised the more "Rough and Gritty" side of the design continued. Granted Garrosh started a heavily warmongering side of the horde again, but lets not forget, we found him being a coward in Nagrand, living in his fathers shadow. It wasn't until Saurfang took him under his wing that he started to show true leadership skills and a moral sense of Honor. As opposed to what he's become, a hollow shell of an orc trying desperately to relive his fathers past glories and failures.

 

[VanQ]

Pot kettle black.

Did you miss the part where I said I play both factions with dedicated toons? I've played both factions since launch and it's my honest opinion that Alliance has this smug attitude towards the Horde.

Either way, the better bike won. Excuse me while I cheese the belts on Heroic Siegecrafter on my Orc Warlock.

This is the only part of your post I take umbridge with-but I stopped playing back in January, so for all I know the warlock got changed up enough to make optimal belt runners. Back when I was running I couldn't do the belt to save my life on normal, never mind heroic. Guild I was raiding with was having all sorts of issues and it was meh at best.

The changes to Warlocks haven't been huge but Destruction is a more than viable spec for belts now. You can use your Glyphed Eye of Gul'Dan to drop your personal portal on the belt and get up there for every single one. With clever use of cooldowns I can do more damage to the Deconstructed Machinery than the Hunters in my group can. It's a hell of a lot of fun, though from what I've noticed, most people tend to do the belts grudgingly.