Mostly symmetrical balance only really means that the few differences end up having a big impact. This is particularly obvious in Warcraft 2, where Orcs are just so much stronger than Humans. It may actually be the most imbalanced RTS game I've played. Warcraft 1 isn't quite as obvious - probably in part due to the lack of a competitive scene, so unless you have a friend who really likes WC1 and modems, you're mostly playing against the AI.

There are five areas where the two races differ: Archer/Spearmen, two Cleric/Necrolyte spells, and two Conjurer/Warlock spells.

1. Archer vs Spearman. The Archer has 5 range and 4 damage; the Spearman 4 range and 5 damage. Sometimes I wonder if this was even intended or was initially a typo.

Edge: Humans. Range trumps damage son that's RTS 101. It's particularly true in a game like this where the rate of fire is so much faster than the movement speed. It's also helpful on defense - Spearmen will almost always have to break formation to hit Archers, while Archers can just sit back and fire away. This is particularly important because Archers are your bread and butter unit - it's an edge you'll be making use of almost every mission.

2. Healing vs Raise Dead.

Edge: Humans. Skeletons are actually pretty great. They're good meat shields and allow the Orcs to launch more effective counterassaults - park at the bridge outside their base, kill their attack force, reanimate a bunch of skeletons, and send in your army with the skeletons slightly ahead. AI will prioritize them, leaving your troops unharmed (for the like five seconds that the skeletons will survive). I went a long time underestimating their usefulness. But Healing is just so good. Because production and movement speed is slow and because you can't build structures far from your town hall, reinforcing is a real problem With Healing, you don't need to reinforce. You can just keep everyone alive.

3. Invisibility vs Unholy Armor.

Edge: Orcs. Invisibility is a very fun spell. You can sneak around, launch surprise attacks, and of course nothing is quite as entertaining as an invisible Conjurer walking past the enemy defenses only to unleash hot magical death in the enemy's base. And if you play the Orc campaign, you'll soon come to curse this spell - the AI really likes to send in Invisible Knights to attack your peons. But at the end of the day, it just can't match the raw power that Unholy Armor gives. Invisibility gives you an element of surprise that can turn the tide of battle, but Unholy Armor will allow you to completely smash the enemy in one fell swoop.

4. Rain of Fire vs Poison Cloud.

Edge: Humans. This is a tough one to evaluate because I haven't managed to find any hard data on the actual mechanics of the spells. However, Rain of Fire has a wider AoE and is much easier to control. Poison Cloud seems like it might do more damage based on completely subjective observation, but it's a smaller area and it blows all around. You can use this to your advantage, especially in the Temple of the Damned mission. You can bait their Warlocks into blanketing you with Poison Clouds and eventually at least one of them will blow back and do some major damage to the Orc army.

5. Water Elemental vs Daemon.

Edge: Orcs. This is maybe the most well-known one: Water Elementals benefit from having very slight range, but Daemons have a whopping 50 HP and 25 damage advantage. 300 HP means that they're the most durable unit in the game - the only unit, in fact, capable of surviving a direct hit from a Catapult - and even post Unholy Armor they'll still be at 150 HP. The strongest unit in the game.

There are actually three other differences: Necrolytes have one more attack range than Clerics, Conjurers have one more attack range than Warlocks, and Scorpions have more consistent damage output than Spiders (Scorpions deal 3, Spiders deal 1-3). But when was the last time you summoned Scorpions or Spiders, or wanted your casters to use their attack?

Final Verdict: It depends. Orcs and Humans is a better balanced game than its sequel would be and neither side feels overwhelmingly more powerful. Humans tend to thrive more in the early-mid game, where extra range on Archers and the ability to Heal units makes a huge difference. Orcs, however, have a big late game advantage with Unholy Armor and Daemons. When everything is unlocked, Orcs are much stronger. But since that's only two out of the twelve campaign missions, you may find Humans have a smoother ride overall.

I suspect Humans would be stronger in a competitive scene. Unholy Armor'd Daemons are like using firing lines of Battlecruisers to Yamato Cannon the enemy in Starcraft - incredibly powerful in the campaign, but in competitive play no opponent is going to let you build up to that. But it's WC1 so there is no scene.

Dont know\remember too much for Wc1. In Wc2 Alliance stronger with Paladins healing (but Death Knight's have more ranged\deathly spells attacks). All other units and ability are equal.

Nah, Orcs are so much stronger in WC2 it's not even funny. Humans just don't have anything that can compete with the overpowered cheese that is Bloodlust. They feel kind of balanced in the campaign but that illusion will be shattered very quickly if you poke your head into the competitive scene. I can't remember what the stats are or where I found them but the winrate for Orcs is substantially higher. Like, Humans can defeat Orcs. But it's not common.

I've finished both campaigns some time ago, and if I remember correctly (there was like a year gap between human and orc one) I find humans to be much easier. Skeletons are completely useless, mostly because their micro cost (it takes seven clicks to move 4 units across the map, plus there is no a-click, so if you will want to attack someone on the way, be prepared to do the same this time with moving units and as quickly as possible), when heal deals with one of the main problems in the game - attrition. Range units form your main line of defense, when melee ones are mostly useless in this role - mostly because lack of sensible AI will leave them staring gormlessly at their companions being slaughtered two fields away. Even if you go through shift-click-click-a-target-a-click carousel to form some defense, enemy can - and most probably will - go after your peons, leading your forces around the base like in some comedy routine (and you will have to pick up and reorder harvesting for every peon who have been elbowed by enemy unit - clicktastic). So yes, range units are your best bet and humans have clear advantage in those.

Additionally, more problems are created by what your enemy have at it's disposal, and when it is possible I've forgot
some atrocities committed by the orc side of the conflict, I don't remember having quite so much problems with Unholy Armor as with bloody invisible knights in my peon lines (thank gods of the underworld they always attack in the same place), and Rain of Fire is clearly stronger than Poison Cloud. For additional entertainment, AI can spams heal ceaselessly, making what looked like a simple fight into prolonged bloody conflict.

Some of it may be effect of playing on the fastest speed and obviously game with a living opponent would look completely different.

Edit: I've just learned that you can form selection box by holding ctrl. Kill me.

For me, the advantage goes to the side who has the ability to heal its units.

When I cannot heal, I build a huge army of cannon fodder and there are many casualties.

When I can heal, I send troops in waves and micromanage to let the wounded retreat and be healed. With the power to heal, units are virtually immortal, except against instant death caused a catapult hit, for instance. I finished many missions without a single loss.

In terms of military expenses, healing makes a tremendous difference!

I wish mechanical units could be repaired like buildings.

In Warcraft 1 Horde is stronger. In Wc2 - with perfect micro-controlling (both player equal) - Alliance little stronger with heal. Mostly times Bloodlust more powerful.

Ин Варкрафт 1 Хорде ис стронгер. Ин Wc2 - витф перфект микро-сонтроллинг (ботф плаиер екуал) - Аллиансе литтле стропгер витф хеал. Мостли тимес Блоодласт море повершулл.

W1 human cause heal is op, w2 orc cause lust is op

Correct. I am shocked anyone even thought to say orcs for WC1, its not even worth discussing. WC2 is a bit more debatable due to heal, but bottom line, due to simple UI mechanics, its easier to spam bloodlust than heal. If heal were autocast, that would be different.