Future race combos for Paladins?

[Shaith86]

I want to be a Orc

be a Orc

a Orc

Well, you're certainly closer than most.

[Deleted]

Blizzard already used all possible races that could potentially use the Light,so none of the current races except The Worgen.We have priests already,though the Alliance has enough Paladins right now. Maaaybe if they do some crazy lore twisting,perhaps Trolls in the future?Doubt it,but hey,if Gnomes can be Warriors why Trolls can't be Paladins?

[Deleted]

Troll Paladins are the only one I could justify, having read Ashbringer and seeing how Zabra Hexx learnt the ways of the light from the paladin tomes within the Scarlet Monastery.

[Jackielope]

The catch with troll paladins is that it would put them at being able to play all 11 classes, which the devs have said they're definitely not keen on. If that were to happen then they might have to give dwarves the ability to be druids (which would put them at 11 classes as well), and thus the horde would need another druid race to balance things out. Undead and goblins are definitely out of the question on that, which leaves belves and orcs. Belves are more likely since they've got more natural affinity for it and have gotten over their magic addiction enough that it might work out. Orcs... Would need a new faction and lore to come in to justify it. It wouldn't be an easy segue, but it might work if they really massaged things.

[Krekko]

Yeah, even if you could write a compelling story for trolls, I feel like everything against it would feel forced, wayyy too forced.

[Ottius]

People who say Undead paladins make no sense and they can't see Undead paladins ever happening are clearly completely ignorant to the fact that it has already happened years ago. http://www.wowwiki.com/Sir_Zeliek

In fact, the Undead make the most sense (in a classical fantasy way) for paladins out of the remaining races. They are humans, some of them were even paladins once. Paladin = knight. And I don't see trolls, orcs or goblins being knights... Would be so stupid. Just as stupid as... taurens.

Also, undead holy priests, tyvm.

[Mormolyce]

Troll Paladins are the only one I could justify, having read Ashbringer and seeing how Zabra Hexx learnt the ways of the light from the paladin tomes within the Scarlet Monastery.

See this is the thing, I think that in the Warcraft universe any one individual COULD become anything with sufficient discipline, but that doesn't mean there would be a big enough population of them or that it's easy enough for that to be playable. I mean, it's not like it's impossible for a Gnome to be a Hunter or a Tauren to be a Rogue. It's just not something sufficiently representative of the race as a whole to be available to players.

[Deleted]

People who say Undead paladins make no sense and they can't see Undead paladins ever happening are clearly completely ignorant to the fact that it has already happened years ago. http://www.wowwiki.com/Sir_Zeliek

In fact, the Undead make the most sense (in a classical fantasy way) for paladins out of the remaining races. They are humans, some of them were even paladins once. Paladin = knight. And I don't see trolls, orcs or goblins being knights... Would be so stupid. Just as stupid as... taurens.

Also, undead holy priests, tyvm.

Damn.Good find.

[Vizardlorde]

WOTLK and Cata were the perfect expansions tointroduce undead paladins. I wish they could have added them through a special questline similar to the deathknight's where the dead scarlet crusaders join the horde after being killed by lich king's forces or where citizens(paladin) of gilneas are made to serve Sylvanas after being resurrected while keeping their holy powers. There was one undead paladin called sir zeliek, and several trash mobs in icecrown called fallen crusaders seem to be paladins so even though they are rare they are not impossible in lore.

[Jackielope]

There is an undead paladin in complete control of himself named Leonid Barthalomew, but as Mormolyce points out just because one or a few members of a race have learned how to be a given class does not mean that the class/race combo should or would be usable by players. In the case of Leonid he is most definitely not aligned with the Forsaken and actually considers his "condition" of being undead to be an illness he wants to be cured of. If that's what it takes to be an undead paladin then it'll never happen for players because player characters are all assumed to actually be part of the Forsaken and have (maybe grudgingly) embraced being undead.

[Skeppio]

I'd say:
Night Elf (some sort of Sentinels of the Moon business could make it work)
Worgen (they were humans before the curse, what's stopping them now?)
Trolls (Zandalari Prelates have several Paladin skills, just replace Loa with Light. No reason they couldn't do this for playable Trolls, they could even make a story about some Zandalari refugees throwing their lot in with the Darkspears).

I don't think any other races would work. A lot of people say Undead, but you have to remember: Leonid Barthalomew is a rare exception, who LEFT the Forsaken entirely because of his faith in the Light (the Forsaken revere the Forgotten Shadow, they don't pray to the light anymore). The only other ones we've seen are The Risen in Stratholme and Sir Zeliek in Naxxramas. Both of whom are being controlled by another entity against their will, so not good examples. Holy Light burns and harms undead, Barthalomew only survives because he's abnormally (for a Frosaken) devoted to justice, righteousness, and the Light.

[Vizardlorde]

There is an undead paladin in complete control of himself named Leonid Barthalomew, but as Mormolyce points out just because one or a few members of a race have learned how to be a given class does not mean that the class/race combo should or would be usable by players. In the case of Leonid he is most definitely not aligned with the Forsaken and actually considers his "condition" of being undead to be an illness he wants to be cured of. If that's what it takes to be an undead paladin then it'll never happen for players because player characters are all assumed to actually be part of the Forsaken and have (maybe grudgingly) embraced being undead.

If we go by that logic sunwalkers shouldn't be in the game. The tauren population isn't that high and Sunwalkers are basically cult that branched off from the druids, so they are little group of druids that worship the sun. They might as well have kept them as druids since they are no different than a balance druid on solar eclipse spamming sunfire. They added them cause they felt like doing it not because theres abundant lore about holycows.
And those saying that paladins are immune to undeath are wrong they are only immune to disease which was the plague of undeath in WC3 but there are other causes for undeath other than the disease.

[Skeppio]

If we go by that logic sunwalkers shouldn't be in the game. The tauren population isn't that high and Sunwalkers are basically cult that branched off from the druids, so they are little group of druids that worship the sun. They might as well have kept them as druids since they are no different than a balance druid on solar eclipse spamming sunfire. They added them cause they felt like doing it not because theres abundant lore about holycows.

There's a difference between "a small sect" and "one single solitary member who's not a Scourge puppet". By your logic, Warlocks should be removed from the game. In every race that has them, they're a small sect shunned and distrusted by most of their people.
Besides, with Tauren Paladins, it's the same thing as Troll Priests who are technically Witch Doctors. They're not going to add a whole new class that's near enough to a pre-existing one just for one race. That's a rather petty waste of resources.

[Zathrendar]

The only change I'd like is for Night elves if a High elf subrace is introduced under them. Don't really give a toss if races I never intend to play anyway get the Paladin class, and I can't see any compelling lore reasons to expand the selection as it currently stands. Maybe Worgen, since they're humans and worship the Light, or Pandaren, but again, I don't feel very strongly about either race, and there's nothing to suggest this would be a good choice for taking Pandaren lore further.

Orcs*, trolls etc. are possible choices in the sense that any race can be any class, which isn't a very strong reason to expand class choice, or else we might as well go ahead with Draenei Warlocks, just because you can't exclude the possibility of speshul snowflakes existing. Not that I am against expanding class choice in some cases, over time, where there are compelling lore or gameplay reasons for it, but at present I see neither with regard to Paladins. Ultimately, Blizzard for the most part tries to keep the race/class selection based on the race's culture and innate abilities/traits.

Even with the Sunwalkers, I thought the lore was contrived and could be better represented through a Balance druid, whereas if Blizzard wanted to offer a better rationale for Tauren Paladins they could've simply stated some joined the Argent Crusade and picked it up there. No need for contrived lore that is better suited to Druids. To be quite frank, I don't think the Paladin class suits Tauren, and Blizzard would've been better off opening it to the Forsaken, in the vein of Zeliek. In the end, the implementation of the Sunwalkers is nothing like the lore used to justify it, and comes across as nothing more than stereotypical Paladins, making it all the more ridiculous.

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There's a difference between "a small sect" and "one single solitary member who's not a Scourge puppet". By your logic, Warlocks should be removed from the game. In every race that has them, they're a small sect shunned and distrusted by most of their people.

That depends; gnomes, dark irons, Forsaken and blood elves are all races where felcasting isn't taboo. Even with the restored Sunwell, I doubt the BE are going to simply begin shunning practitioners of such a powerful art, in which they excel as a race.

*depending on whether fel-tainted orcs can wield the Light, at all, if the Broken are anything to go by. The similarly fel-tainted BE can only do so due to the Naaru they once drained and now the Sunwell.

[Self Inflicted Wounds]

None of the races would feel right or even make sense.

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People who say Undead paladins make no sense and they can't see Undead paladins ever happening are clearly completely ignorant to the fact that it has already happened years ago. http://www.wowwiki.com/Sir_Zeliek

In fact, the Undead make the most sense (in a classical fantasy way) for paladins out of the remaining races. They are humans, some of them were even paladins once. Paladin = knight. And I don't see trolls, orcs or goblins being knights... Would be so stupid. Just as stupid as... taurens.

Also, undead holy priests, tyvm.

I guess every orc/shaman could become an aspect like thrall... and every saiyan can be as strong as Goku ... yeah... makes sense.

[Vizardlorde]

There's a difference between "a small sect" and "one single solitary member who's not a Scourge puppet". By your logic, Warlocks should be removed from the game. In every race that has them, they're a small sect shunned and distrusted by most of their people.
Besides, with Tauren Paladins, it's the same thing as Troll Priests who are technically Witch Doctors. They're not going to add a whole new class that's near enough to a pre-existing one just for one race. That's a rather petty waste of resources.

They are not even paladins... They are balance druids stuck on solar eclipse. 1 with free will + hundreds of mindless/controlled > 0. Why is being controlled even a limitation since last thing I heard sylvanas was brain washing her "new" undead.

[Zathrendar]

I see very little reason an Draenei could have faith in the shamanistic spirits, what with their Light blessed heritage.

For the most part, they don't; it is the Broken who do. There's a couple of NPC exceptions but the Shaman class represents the Broken more than anything else.

Why remove class restrictions... just because speshul snowflakes? I don't get it.

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They are not even paladins... They are balance druids stuck on solar eclipse.

Yup, exactly, so why the need for the plate armour etc? There's nothing in the concept the existing druid class could not represent.

[Self Inflicted Wounds]

Why remove class restrictions... just because speshul snowflakes? I don't get it.

Thats the only real reason I've heard. 'Cause I want it!' .... it wouldn't add good gameplay mechanics.

[Deleted]

I think that after the Sunwalkers, it is quite clear classes are templates for character building and nothing more.

Paladin=Defesive support melee magic user that in this MMORPG setting happens to be called paladin, as it could be called "Warrior of faith" and that is that. The Race/class combo is the thing that defines the character.

Human paladin= The Cavalier, the foot knight, the templar.
Dwarf paladin=The Cleric, the Temple Guard
Draenei paladin= The Vindicator, The Legion Hunter
Tauren Paladin= The Sunwalkers, Armored Druids of the Sun
Blood elf paladins=The Bloodknights, The Benders of Light, The Jailers of the Naaru

You should work from here to see if a race class combo makes sense me thinks and then say, if anything makes sense.

The "holy light" a forsaken paladin could wield, could be the light of the Valkyr, the Light of the souls of Old Lordaeron WHO knows?

But dont go to "the holy light will kill you, you are undead" deal because it is like saying to a kamikazee pilot "you do know that the crash will kill you right?"

Also, Paladins are a force of good. In order to use their Light-given powers, they must act in good faith and truly believe that their cause is just and righteous and keep a good conscience. (I doubt that many people count the Scarlet Crusade "good", but they themselves believe they are doing the right thing.) Orcs and Trolls are, even at their best, too primitive and violent to do so; and Tauren "paladins" aren't really paladins at all - it's just a gameplay mechanic.

And that's why there can never be Forsaken paladins: the Forsaken are evil. Their main agenda is to wipe out all living things with their plague and raise them as new undead slaves of Sylvanas. A world-wide genocide for selfish purposes can't possibly count as a "good" act, no matter how twisted your views are. But the Forsaken just accept that they are evil, and move on.

The only remote chance for an undead to become a paladin would be if he would completely abandon Sylvanas, the Forsaken and their genocidial agenda and start defending life and love with a pure soul. Maybe the Light would then accept them, maybe not.

[Hattai]

There is an undead paladin in complete control of himself named Leonid Barthalomew, but as Mormolyce points out just because one or a few members of a race have learned how to be a given class does not mean that the class/race combo should or would be usable by players. In the case of Leonid he is most definitely not aligned with the Forsaken and actually considers his "condition" of being undead to be an illness he wants to be cured of. If that's what it takes to be an undead paladin then it'll never happen for players because player characters are all assumed to actually be part of the Forsaken and have (maybe grudgingly) embraced being undead.

WoWWiki is a bad and outdated source, there's no evidence Leonid is anything but a warrior fighting along side the Crusade.