By a simple process of deduction I’m going to attempt to predict the identity of the second WoW hero class. I have no special or inside knowledge but I will put my experience as a game designer to the test and go through all of the potential design considerations that Blizzard will ultimately have to face during their “hero class” strike team meetings. It goes without saying that Blizzard will have many decisions to grapple with in order to come up with the perfect hero class for their upcoming and untitled 3rd expansion.
So what can we already assume about the next hero class?
Let’s look at the precedents that Blizzard has established with the Death Knight and apply it:
- it will be playable by all races
- it will start at level 55 or higher
- it will most likely use an existing plot of unused geography for it’s starting quest hub
- it will be incorporated into the lore and storyline of the 3rd expansion
- it will be overpowered™
Other then those 5 assumptions which we can pretty much take for granted, what are the other considerations that need to be decided?
Consideration 1: Will there be another hero class?
This one is easy. The answer to this will be a resounding “yes”. While I am personally not in favor of how Blizzard implemented the first hero class: the Death Knight, I think Blizzard feels that allowing players to experience a specially prepared storyline and play a very powerful class was a driving force in making their Wrath of the Lich King successful. It was also a great marketing tool tying in the Death Knight class to the arch villain of the expansion: the former Prince Arthas and current Lich King.
Once Blizzard makes one hero class available it naturally follows that more will be forthcoming in future expansions. Players expect it. If Blizzard were to stop creating hero classes it would make the Death Knight seem rather awkward and out of place. Expect Blizzard to continue offering new hero classes with each expansion.
Decision: Yes
Consideration 2: Do we need another Tank class?
The Death Knight was partially created to solve the tank shortage that existed during the release of the Burning Crusade expansion. Back at the time many paladins and warriors had succumbed to the temptation of switching to DPS talent builds and had all but abandoned the role of tanking. The reason for this is that it was far easier to obtain epic gear in Arena PVP then it was in PVE groups and raids. Naturally tanks are plate classes in WoW. So now that we currently have 3 plate classes, 3 cloth classes, 2 mail classes and 2 leather classes I can guaranteed this: the next hero class will not be a plate or tank class.
Decision: it won’t be a tank or plate class
Consideration 3: Primary Class roles – DPS or Healing class?
Given the fact that there are 3 main types of classes in WoW: tank, DPS and healing with hybrids and many possibilities among them, it’s obvious that the next class will either be a DPS class or a healing class due to the fact that the first hero class is a tank capable class. The next shortage of class types that Blizzard has been trying to address is the lack of healers. This almost guarantees that the next hero class will have healing capabilities as a major strength. Since all classes have damage capability it’s almost certain that the next hero class will be a damage dealing healing hybrid.
Decision: DPS-healing hybrid
Consideration 4: Secondary Class Roles – Crowd Control?
Currently in WoW we have 3 solid crowd control classes (rogue, mage, warlock) and we also have 2 classes with situational crowd control abilities (druid, hunter, priest). Therefore given that Blizzard likes classes to have crowd control functionality to make them useful in groups/raids I predict that the new hero class will have at least situational crowd control capabilities.
Decision: situational crowd control
Consideration 5: Mail, Leather or Cloth?
Since a plate class has been eliminated due to tanks being well represented let’s examine the available armor types in the game: mail, leather or cloth. This leaves us with 3 cloth classes (mage, priest, warlock), 2 leather classes (druid, rogue) and 2 mail classes (hunter, shaman). From this we can easily eliminate a cloth class since they are already over represented. The next hero class will either be a leather class or a mail class.
Decision: leather class or mail class
Consideration 6: Melee, Spell or Martial Power?
Given that we have plenty of weapon wielding melee classes and spell casting classes my guess is the new class will be neither and it will be a martial arts class. Martial classes have been very popular in video games for quite a while and WoW does not have one. A martial arts class would be just the thing to generate more interest in WoW which by that time will be 7 years old.
Decision: martial arts combat
Consideration 7: Moral Alignment – Good or Evil?
For the first time in the WoW’s history Blizzard made players do evil deeds in order to progress a class: the death knight. It follows that the next hero class will most likely be a “good” class in contrast to the inherently “evil” and morally questionable nature of the death knight.
Decision: expect a “good” aligned hero class
Prediction: Next Hero Class will be a Monk/Martial Arts class
The next hero class will probably be a variant of the classic traditional MMO “monk” class. It fits the bill perfectly for almost every major decision that the decision team at Blizzard will have to face.
Here’s why:
- The monk is a leather class — not a plate or tank class
- The monk can heal/meditate which addresses a chronic shortage of healer classes
- The monk has a “good” alignment which will balance out the intrinsic “evil” nature of the first hero class the Death Knight
- The monk uses martial arts combat which would be an exciting and fresh change for WoW (it will probably be able to use staves and fist weapons as well as hand to hand, kicking, etc.)
- The monk can do situational crowd control (the EverQuest monk could split mobs which was considered a an important form of crowd control)
- The monk would appeal directly to Asian cultures where martial arts have a cultural foundation and would provide an alternative to many of the western style RPG classes currently in WoW
- The monk class would be a perfect fit for a future Pandaren race in WoW (note: the Pandaran exist already in Warcraft RTS games and in the Warcaft RPG).
- There are NPC monks already in the game such as the Crimson Monk, Scarlet Monk, Condemned Monk, Auchenai Monk so there would be no problem with the lore
Enter the Runemaster
I expect Blizzard to slightly morph the monk into one of their own creations and use one of the existing classes from their Warcraft RPG or RTS games. The Runemaster is the natural candidate as he incorporates magical runes which should give the archetypal placid monk a injection of pizazz. Martial arts classes are fun to play and quite popular in today’s video game culture. The kids Blizzard’s now and future demographic seem to love kung fu. The only problem I forsee is that Blizzard will have to add some additional animations to every race such as kicks and flips. Currently the human race has a kick animation but I’m not sure about other races.
The challenge will be to cleverly weave the introduction of the next hero class into the lore and storyline of the next expansion. After the polish and resources spent on the totality of the Death Knight experience, players have great expectations from Blizzard.
When I researched this article after my initial analysis, I found some good posts on the official WoW forums that seem to support my prediction. It has come to my attention that Tobold published an article with some expansion predictions which seem to echo my previous article last year. I also found this hint from former Lead WoW Designer Jeff “Tigole” Kaplan who stated this in a recent Blizzcast (emphasis are mine):
Jeffrey Kaplan: Yeah. I think the class choice was super hard and eventually we had it down to three front runners which was pretty cool. We were talking for awhile about a necromancer. He would kind of be a range caster, do a lot of corpse explode, that sort of thing. Things we ended up incorporating into the death knight. We also had a cool idea for a rune master. That was going to be more of a melee type. Think rogue or monk type character, but death knight ultimately fit.
Since the necromancer is inherently “evil” and the Death Knight was also “evil” it seems to me that Blizzard would not choose another dark class therefore the Runemaster is a sure bet for the next hero class. I have a feeling that Blizzard will most certainly unveil their choice at Blizzcon 2009 this summer. Stay tuned!
-Wolfshead
Good analysis. The only minor niggle I have is the “monk is a leather class” part. The monks I played in games in the past have been cloth classes, probably due to the idea that doing fancy martial arts move in stiff leather armor wouldn’t work. While you *are* right that there are already 3 cloth classes, there is currently no class in WoW which would want a cloth item that gives strength, agility, or other melee stats. So I’d say a melee cloth class wouldn’t be out of the question.
I agree that with no cloth items using the str, agi, etc. stats, it would seem OBVIOUS to have a cloth wearing melee/healer type hybrid class BUT the issue is itemization. If cloth is dropping with those stats then NOBODY except the new class would want it. It would basically be tier gear. Leather on the other hand will already have feral druid/rogue gear on it AND spell power gear in the event that a runemaster/monk could heal. It would also give them the option of rolling on cloth spell power gear for healing (similar to how I play my druid as feral vs. balance. I would never wear cloth for DPS or tanking, but I use cloth to cast all the time.)
On the other hand, with the DK being a melee class, I don’t think they would do two in a row, meaning that the NEXT one should be a caster. It would probably have a healing tree, and then maybe ranged dps (which I understand is a little saturated with mages, locks, boomkins, elemental shammy, etc.)
If you look at the expansions, in TBC they added 2 new races and one class to each faction (pally for Horde, shammy for Alliance.) In WotLK they added a hero class (DK.)
What about and even crazier idea? Maybe next expansion they introduce Dryads for Alliance, and Pandaren’s for Horde? They could even balance them easily by making them have some of the same classes as current characters AND adding a new class for each of them.
Dryads would be the ideal candidate for a “good” aligned physical ranged dps (like a Hunter.) Instead of a pet though, they would have a healing tree as their off spec (in WC3 and especially Dota style lore, Dryads can call upon a few ways to heal including some HoTs.)
Pandarens would be IDEAL for a “good” aligned type martial arts class for the Horde. I dunno maybe a monk who ALSO can heal and deal dps? Then in the NEXT expansion they could give each side access to the opposite factions unique class (just like they did in TBC). As Pandarens are known as martial artists, that would definitely make sense.
My “niggle” now is that Pandarens fit more with a Maelstrom expansion (which I would guess is 2 expansions away.) More likely the emerald dream would be next. which would definitely point the way to Dryads or something else of an ally relation. I just don’t think Blizz would dare give one side a new class/race, and then wait until a whole new expansion to even it on the other side.
I feel my ideas behind this are a little too “big” and would be hard to implement, I am just saying that they have been known to “wow” us before (pun intended) so who knows where they could take the future.
About the gear noone but the class would want— what about resto shammy mail gear? Thats already out there itd be just the same.
Healing paladins roll on mail resto shammy gear all the time so any smart rogue or feral druid (and even enhance shammy’s) could do well to roll on some really awesome cloth melee dps gear.
“Dryads would be the ideal candidate for a “good” aligned physical ranged dps (like a Hunter.) Instead of a pet though, they would have a healing tree as their off spec (in WC3 and especially Dota style lore, Dryads can call upon a few ways to heal including some HoTs.)”
I have absolutely no idea what you are saying. Instead of a pet, heals as an offspec? Pet isn’t an offspec…?
Great Analysis Wolf.
I am going off of pure conjecture, as I haven’t done much research into the subject but I believe there was mention of an Archdruid healing type back in the day. Would fit in well with a new expansion exploring the whol tree of life debacle (im lolore, so sorry), but the main counterargument I can see to meelee is that so many people are playing DK’s now – that another melee in the mix would just exasperate problems. Most guilds I know (and granted, I don’t know a ton) are having a hard time finding ranged DPS and healers.
I am going to gander the guess the next Hero class will be healer/ranged to help balance out the DK.
Heavy emphasis on the word “guess”.
With absolutely no evidence to back it up, I’d suggest a Bard-type class. Yes, I know they did that whole April Fools Guitar Hero thing, but I think there’s more to that than meets the eye.
The Bard will use mostly channeled Magic (i.e. Songs) rather than instant cast spells, and will be able to:
* heal & buff themselves and their party
* CC multiple targets with either a Fear or Sleep spell/tune
* debuff and damage their target
Heals, buffs, and debuffs will be channeled, but will also be the HOT/DOT variety. Thus a Bard’s primary method of soloing/killing Mobs will be to buff themselves immediately before combat, debuff their opponent, then finish them off in Melee.
They will wear Leather, and will use daggers, swords, & staves (staffs?)
Primary attributes will be Int. and Spell Power, thus will they (sort of) compete with Druids & other casters for end-game gear.
Blizzard will also introduce Bard-specific Trinkets into the game, being different musical instruments, of course. The Bard will also start with a Trinket/Instrument because they will not be able to cast their Spells without one.
Just my 2 coppers 🙂
This is very similar to what myself and a few friends have been speculating. A bard class could fall in line with almost any theme of expansion, after all they sing of the epic stories that any expansion would carry.
Wow is missing a class that is hardcore buff/debuff, squishy melee.
Bard or Monk, either would be a great addition, more interesting on how/if they throw them in.
Squishy melee class that depends on magical imbues and magical shields, Enhancement shaman. I would expect the Monk to have a spec like this.
Nice article, Wolf! I had a tongue in cheek reply, but it sort of mutated into a blog post of my own.
I’d play a Runemaster. Especially if it would allow me a lot of control over my runes. (That’s an Inscription hook, by the way; Glyphs aren’t going to fuel that profession forever.)
Thanks for your comments Tobold. I wonder if Blizzard would start out their “monk” (Runemaster) with cloth and then have them learn the leather wearing ability at level 40 the same way tank classes graduate to plate at 40 and hunters upgrade to mail at 40? That might be a good comprimise 🙂
Great idea! I’d love to see a bard class implemented.Nothing would make me happier. Being a musician myself. Take a look at the masterful way Turbine has introduced the concept of characters making music in the Lord of the Rings Online. It’s been a boon to the community as well as role-players. It’s nice knowing that you there are MMOs out there that have activities you can do that don’t involve killing stuff.
I loved your article today Tesh. It’s good to poke fun at the whole class mechanic in MMOs. 🙂
A bard class would also open Pandora’s box in the world of Enchanting. Trinket/relic enchants, and composed ballads that add AOE buffs to party members?
Funny … the one class I always thought they should add was a monk type character. I love the weaponless and free-flowing feel of a monk, though I don’t know they’d fit in properly in WoW. I’d love to see them, if only see the fist weapons be put to better use than enhancement shamans / rogues. 😛
I just wanted to add to this discussion an article I found over at Tobold’s blog regarding the next hero class published December 16, 2008. It’s a good read.
Wolfshead: I wonder if Blizzard would start out their “monk” (Runemaster) with cloth and then have them learn the leather wearing ability at level 40 the same way tank classes graduate to plate at 40 and hunters upgrade to mail at 40? That might be a good
Don’t forget they’re starting hero classes at 55+
(And EverQuest is where I saw monks first. They COULD wear leather, but it was often too heavy (they had to stay under 14 units of weight or else they would sufferer penalties) so most monks used special “monk” gear that was cloth-like but with monk stats and extremely low-weight. EQ2 also uses monks wearing leather armor even though with a special monk-only chest piece equipped they look as if they are wearing cloth. Maybe it’s just that game’s conditioning, but now leather armor doesn’t seem so strange to me for a monk.)
Also, you said you thought Blizzard would “use one of the existing classes from their Warcraft RPG or RTS games” and I was confused about where the Runemaster came from until I clicked the link. I don’t play WoW anymore and am firmly against the corruption of the RTS lore by progressing the storylines in WoW (You can read my comment on Muckbeast’s latest article if you want to understand my rationale.) but still going along with all of your other reasons I figure that the Priest(ess) of the Moon (or the same idea with a different, more neutral sounding name) is just as good a guess. They proved they don’t mind morphing the lore by making deathknights playable by every race, and so I see no reason why this night elf hero class might not make it in. I agree with Tobold though, good analysis of what’s going on in the game and how they’ll deal with it with the new hero class.
Doh! It’s been a long week, there I was shifting gears and thinking of a standard new class. Thanks for pointing that error our for me Jedi!
Good read! I would be very excited for monk type or bard. Given choice of one or the other…….BARD BABY!!!!!…..ALL DAY. That would rock! Holla on Sentinels server.
I love the idea, if Blizz doesn’t like it they can also do Panderan to satisfy me.
Panderan’s are martial arts, they’ll be able to make brews which will be able to buff people. They can have Geomancer spec, which is a caster like a shaman, Wardancer spec which is similar to enhancement shaman(except with neato martial arts skills) and then a balance spec, main difference from shaman would be that they gain power from their brew and that they use their dps as a heal(group?) of somesort whether it be a HoT, direct heal or otherwise. Panderan’s are more smart and wiser than human’s. They would act also as a singular class & race.
http://www.wowwiki.com/Geomancer
http://www.wowwiki.com/Wardancer
Fixed a mistake.
Not too burst any bubbles, but I remember Blizz saying that the DK was actually a combination of 3 class ideas, them being the necromancer, death knight, and runemaster. These three were put together to make the DK we know today. Though I definately would enjoy playing a Runemaster, and just because it was used to make the modern DK might not mean the idea of a Runemaster can be outed as a class. Overall I enjoyed the read though.
I would like to propose the Witch Doctor or the Necromancer as possible candidates for WoW’s next hero class. While another DPS caster (i.e. the Necromancer) is definitely not needed, a Witch Doctor class, like that soon to be introduced in Diablo 3, could present some interesting possibilities, like a DPS caster/healer hybrid class with some really cool possibilities for some really interesting, attractive, playable and most importantly fun mechanics.
The Witch Doctor class also fits well with Warcraft lore (http://www.wowwiki.com/Witch_doctor), whereas, in my opinion, the monk/martial arts class doesn’t fit very well. I can see the Blademaster fitting as far as lore, but do we really need another melee dps class when we already have Retribution Paladins, Fury/Arms Warriors, Death Knights, Enhancement Shamans, Rogues, and Feral Druids?
If you haven’t considered the Witch Doctor class, and some of the “concentrated coolness” it could bring to WoW, you should watch this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGhqwjzi7hE)
One of the few issues I can see is allowing it for all playable races (on lore grounds). But, I must submit, do Draenei and Tauren Death Knights fit with lore (or even make sense)? No, but (1.) it doesn’t have to, and (2.) Blizzard has shown little problem with wedging in things that don’t fit with lore, albeit uncomfortably. 😉
I’d say that a witch doctor would end up being a warlock with runes instead of mana, and wearing leather.
I think the Bard has some potential to bring new game mechanics. He has mighty buffs/debuffs, but a bard is no melee fighter. I think it would be more interesting to make it the first mainly crowd control class.
A soloing bard needs someone who fights for him. He charms mobs to fight for him. He can appease mobs if he doesn’t want to fight. He can enrage mobs to fight each other and finish off the one remaining.
With no mobs to charm around he could on higher levels summon helpers, just like the story of Orpheus, who would summon lions by singing in the woods.
He would have to keep all the charms and buffs running and handle if one breaks out of his charm.
I think a bard would be an awesome addition to wow. I played EverQuest for a few years and i loved playing my bard alt. As far as having to summon creatures that doesn’t sound too bad of an idea for them, but i would like to see bards not being mainly a cc class but a support class in general. In EverQuest good bards were able to weave their songs so that their group would be able to receive up to 2 buffs and dmg the enemy at the same time. If a single bard could sit back and play 1 song to help with mp5 another with health regain and another with either sp or atk or haste they would be bringing a lot to the table.
Also songs that could so the enemy casting time or atk speed of the enemy would be nice to see. Their pet should be just like the warlock’s in that it can be summoned and will remain with the bard untill death of the player or pet. If the class was given the ability to play up to 2 songs at one time the class would be a good ranged dps who can add a great deal to his party or raid. I dont think that his healing song should be enough to consider the class a healing class but just enough to help out with over all party/raid health regeneration just like the shaman health totem. If his 1 of his damaging songs was slightly less dps then a melee class then his pet should equal him out.
Also one thing that can be done to his song so that the class doesn’t become over powered is either only allowing one type of dps song to be played at a time or when 2 songs of the same type (dps specifically) then the effects of the 2 songs will be cut in half by 50% ending up in about the same amount of dps. Of course not all songs should cause the same amount of dmg, so 50% of one song would be better then 50% of another song so it would be on the player to find the best combination. Well thats some of my thoughts on this class. I have more but its very hard to do this on my phone and my wife keeps txting me so i lose my train of thought lol.
I was thinking about the new class, and i made my own little research. Lets see, there are 4 types of armor:
Cloth, Leather, Mail and Plate. So what each of them can do?
Cloth: Heal, ranged dps and have pet class
Leather: anything, but does not have pet class
Mail: anything exept tanking, have pet class
Plate: With DK unholy spec have pet, anything exept ranged damage.
With this point of view, i think that next hero class should be leather healer pet class. And when i say healer, in terms of wow it means also strong ranged damage caster (and maybye melee, dunno).
What should this class do?
Dunno about the third talent tree, but i think that it could be like this:
First: Character is healing, pet is ranged (why not magic ranged pets?) dps
Second: Character is dpsing and pet is healing (i guess this is great idea, but its my idea so no surprise i think about it that way >>)
Also there could be buffing, melee dps… i dunno, but i think anything from this should be done by pet.
Or the trees could be:
Magic ranged dps (jep, i really like ranged magic), Healing and Buffing, and each one of theere would have two or four subtrees (depends if it would be cutted in half), one for character, one for pet, and you cannot pick any talent, because you need to get there all the way. I hope this idea doesnt sound too stupid.
Have a nice raid!
Barradic, leather has a pet class, it’s called hunter ^^
2 words…
Eramas Brightblaze
How about the new class being instead of the Runemaster, something similar taken directly from wc3 lore and in tune with the possibility that the next exp after cataclysm including the emerald dream so therefor it could be the Spirit Walker.
Ties in with the healing class but also has some other abilities like moving out of dimensions becoming invisable and invulnerable unable to cast but able to move for fun in pvp giving a force to be reckoned with as they could pop up at any time- great marketing ability. Every healing class in cataclysm is expected to have a meditative ability and this ties in with the spirit walker.
They could be the first mail wearer to use casting staves but also be able to use weapon and shield giving a leeway as the current 4 healing classes atm priests+druids use predom staves, shamans+paladins use wep + shield.
Usuable weapons could be maces, daggers,staves, shields
Possibility of summoning pets from the emerald dream are available too in the forms of faerie dragons – giving your caster pet and the life elementals for your melee pet only for short term obviously tho long term is a possibility too.
Their new starting zone could be within some barrow den on stonetalon peak or any recluse mountain zone much like alterac valley that blizz could put anywhere on the map. As far as lore goes Spirit Walkers can be of any race and the power that makes them follow that particular path of destiny activates at any time in their lives giving rise to old or very young versions. Screams for help from the spirit world from the green dragonflight and the druids that reside in the emerald dream would be the primary cause for the awakening – a good name for the emerald dream expansion btw 😛
Anyway that’s my idea for the new class
If the y ever do another hero class it will not be a monk, since monks are cloth wearers, it will most likely be something like sylvanas a hunter/druid hybrid with healing capabilities range and melee as well
My guess up to now has been Arch Druid, although I agree with your analysis all the way up to play style where I’m not sure if it will be melee.
I also think the other big influence would be the film (if it ever gets made, I have suspicions of WoW being in heavy decline by the time it hits the box office!). But if things do hum along nicely until then and the film offers a story including the world tree, night elves and druids heavily then I think an arch Druid would be the obvious choice.
One other thing to add, you mention that the hero class must be overpowered. Now I am still split here:
1) On one hand they appear to indicate that they were surprised death knights were overpowered, this seems to be backed up by their decision not to release another hero class Cataclysm (even though they initially said there would be one per an expansion).
2) Surely no one designs a game that badly though, the numbers simply were way too good to ever be balanced. So that makes me think they were deliberately designed and released overpowered as deathknights, and then nerfed down as the expansion aged which makes good commercial sense.
So they’ve made me unsure there, either they are incompetent, or devious …
Thanks for the comment!
I can’t help but believe that by the time that WoW movie gets released WoW will be in decline and it will really be pointless. Blizzard has been talking about this movie for the past 3 years at each of the Blizzcon’s. I’m not sure why it’s taking them so long to get this movie produced.
Hero classes are just a bad idea and given the tremendous amount of resources that goes into balancing classes for PVP and itemization of PVE it seems suicidal to bring another class into the mix.
If Blizzard were smart they’d make sure that there are no more hero classes.
I agree with the dryads and pandaren options posted above, but a good hero class could be a dark ranger. They could have a marksman type talent tree, focusing on ranged attacks. They could also have a shadow(or dark arts or something) in which they have stronger casting. The third talent tree could be like either healing or maybe a summoning talent, where they take place as a necromancer type, and they have spells like black arrow in wc3, where when someone dies they can summon a new ally. I don’t know much about how this could fit into the storyline, but it could be a possibility
i reall dont think that its gonna be a monk but i like the spirit walkeerr thing thats cool!!!, i think that maybe they will mak like something very weird like a enimey force come to the factions cause of the cataclysm and and fight with them as an ally rather then an enemy but i must say i think that it will be a caster and a healer it makes alot of sence
I’m not sure why the pandaren class is so wanted by everyone. In my opinion only, i feel as if they are not aggresive enough as a class. While the gnome may be a silly class somewhat, the pandaren almost seems to cute to be really into it. Maybe im wrong but to me I am not a particular fan of the kung-fu Panda.
well if they are going to go with a plate wearing healer it will have to be a cleric. now i know what you’re thinking, “cleric? have u ever heard of a paladin?” but there are a few things they could do to seperate the classes such as the talent tree. Heals, obviously, with a focus on dispels and buffs. CC, because let’s face it, there really isn’t a dedicated CC class.. this could be a great asset. And finally… Ranged DPS! With more of a focus on holy spell damage and less on actualy melee it would resemble a holy pally but without the healing power… just a thought.
I think a good comprimise from the monk idea would be a Celestial, maybe for a storyline something like the Naaru pick a champion to become a celestial, each race having a different wing style. Maybe wearing leather armor and being a healing/DPS class??
They probably wouldnt make a monk class just because theres no fist weapons right now and if they had high unarmed dps that just doesnt seem logical. No it would have to be something possibly from the other games which is why i think theyd have a Ranger class. They had the Dark Ranger in WC3 but if they made it another undead it just doesnt seem logical so if they made it just Ranger they could make it Light/Dark/Arcane Ranger. Besides the only class skilled in bows and guns is Hunter and they rely on their pets for a lot of their damage and they dont have many bow skills that are useful. This one makes the most sense at least to me. The idea of a runemaster is also very unlikely as the Death Knight is pretty much a rune master just sayin. -Flarewolf, Worgen Hunter of Arathor
Edit: they do have fist weapons sorry. But still monk would be the stupidest class for them to choose in my opinion
Looking over all this, I’d say that if they wanted intersting/new concepts/mechanics they could add the bard, take what the affliction lock has now only change the curses and banes into songs, dirges, ballads, symphonys etc, and the damage that those cause to mobs could heal the party via AOE. In addition, since it would presumably be a huge buff class, allow it to have 3 auras up at a time…one to increase heals, one to increase some sort of damage, and one to have a select debuff on the boss. each aura would change depending on the groups needs
I don’t know if any of you have thought of this or not, so please forgive any repeat information. I feel like the deathknight significantly contributed to the Lore of WoW. It is with that in mind that I would suggest a Dragonmage class. At the most basic point it would be like an arcane based druid. with the ability for a dragon travel form. I would also think of maybe a tank spec like druids. using one of the models already available. Then you could have a humanoid form for an arcane spells, rough equivalent of a balance druid. I’m not sure about a dragon equivalent to cat druids, but you could also give them a healing spec because of Dragonkinds affinity to magic. This class would be usable by all races because we know Dragonmagi like Krasus/Chromi/ and many others in and around Dragonblight can change shape at will. I feel it would be a rewarding questline/starting zone. It would also make for one hell of a class. Finally, it would come down to blizzard to choose which dragonflight, but given blizzard’s tendencies I would guess the red. Still, I believe this would a great improvement to the game. roleplayers would especially enjoy this new hero class. I would appreciate your thoughts and comments.
Great analysis. Although, I really do wish they would introduce an Archmage hero class…
I think there would be a few good ideas for races and classes
-Bard
-Pyromance
-Dryads
-A Monk
-Some sort of a Warlock/hunter hybrid (Sylvanis)??
-and possibly a animal rider i.e. Gryphon rider
Races
-Trent
-Naga
-Ogers
-Sethekk
-High Elfs
I loved the article!
But I’m still hoping Blizz will bring a Archmage or Battlemage hero class on Expansion4
Well… this was spot on.
Not a hero class, but… “Called it”?
🙂
Omg xD this is almost 100% accurate
Good deduction. Though they have crossed the line for some this time, too “kiddie” is Pandaria. Sad trend, but also happens with young adult novels a lot. After a while they are either just young or just adult.
What do you know, your guess was dead on. Monk is the new class with the panderan panda lawl
Nice work, Wolf!
The only thing i have to say about the whole new “Hero” class is why not make it a vampire? i know that vampires and werewolves have always fought but i would love to see the whole thing move over into wow. maybe implement two new races like the horde get vamps and the alli gets something else?