The Blademaster as next hero class.
Since this is the first time I go into posting on this forums, I can't post any links. But you can search for all my links on Wowiki. I marked all my deleted links like this example: [Mankrik] Just go to Wowwiki and search for this words.
Please feel free to read this thread on wowwiki about the [Blademaster]:
My idea for the next hero class is the Blademaster. In this thread I show my thoughts about this possible class, what types of armor, weapons and talent trees could be possible and how it could be explained lorewise.
HINTS
I’d like to show some hints that could point to the Blademaster. They are of course subjective but they support my theory.
There actually are Blademaster ingame;
[Mankrik] (making his return in the Barrens, and SPOILER in Hyjal),
-Warrior trainer [Ronakada],
and as a quite famous example from the lore [Grom Hellscream],
- Blizzard started to implement things very unique to the Blademaster from Warcraft 3;
[Thrall] as an example wears these typical orbs around his neck.
Ronakada wears the famous sashimono (the flag) on his back, as Mankrik does.
When you do the quest for the Dragonmaw harbour you can choose between a healer and a fighter, the fighter also wears a flag on his back.
In the same harbour, the orcs wear their shoulder armor only on one side, which is also seen on Blademaster.
So Blizzard has many opportunities to use ingame stuff for the Blademaster, you could say they first want to see the reaction of the player.
LORE
We all know the lore of WoW is evolving and so they totally could write the Blademaster into the next expansion.
As example:
[Lantresor] is known to the Horde and the Alliance which makes him the perfect teacher since he has bonds to both factions. He is a halforc, part orc part draenai. This fact is my argument for the Blademaster also being introduced into the ranks of the Alliance (sad but necessary as hero classes should be playable for both factions.)
Garrosh could reintroduce the Blademaster as his personal body guard, since he wants to bring back some traditions of the old ways of the orcs. What could better fit into this plan than the elitist fighter.
The Draenai Blademaster could swear their oath to King Wrynn as do the orcs to Garrosh.
This is a very important point as already stated, the hero class should be playable for both factions.
And there is my opinion for the races who could become Blademaster. Although the Death Knight is able to be chosen by all races, the Blademaster would lorewise be able to be played as orc or draenai.
To define Blizzard's Meaning of "Hero Class":
“When Blizzard said "Hero Class" they never had any intention of saying a class is more powerful as if you were a hero. It just means a class is more unique in play style. The word hero often seems to confuse players to think the opposite of what Blizzard defined it as.
"It's also important to keep in mind that even though the death knight is a hero class, that doesn't mean it is more powerful than the other classes, just that it will offer a very different playing experience."
Quoted from the official Q&A on Death Knights”
Feel free to look for [hero class]
The starting experience of the DK in TBC started at level 55 with a max level of 70. The max level of the next expansion expect to being 90 we would have a starting level for the BM of 75 (based on a possible pattern in comparison with TBC). Level 75 would be in Outland and right in Nagrand where our half orc Lantresor is sitting atop of a hill completing the circle. Combining all of the above Blizzard could create an interesting starting area for the Blademaster, using phasing or redesigning a part of Nagrand and introduce the Blademaster into the evolved lore for both factions.
PATTERN?
Speaking of patterns I once read a thread about a possible pattern, so let’s take a look at the expansions.
The Burning Crusade New races (Bloodelf/ draenei), new class/ race combination. (Horde Paladin/ Alliance Shaman)
Wrath of the Lich King New hero class Death Knight
Cataclysm New races (Goblins / Worgen). New class/race combinations
Next Xpac? New hero class?
This is not really solid, since we don’t know if this is a pattern and if Blizzard really uses patterns.
THE CLASS IN DETAIL
Knowing this we come to my admittedly “interesting” class itself. If you did not read the link about the Blademaster you should go back and do that know. Summarized he is an elite fighting force knowing to fight as a melee. Since the DK is a hybrid, being able to tank and melee the BM is surely going to be a hybrid too. A hybrid you will cry out the question palming your face. Yes, the Blademaster as hybrid. Let me explain:
First take a look at this:
Tanks : Paladin, Warrior, Death Knight, Druid 4
Range: Hunter, Mage, Warlock, Priest, Druid, Shaman 6
Melee: Druid, Rogue, Shaman, Paladin, Warrior, Death Knight 6
Heal: Priest, Druid, Shaman, Paladin 4
You see we have an equal number of range damage dealer, melee damage dealer, tanks and healer.
What do we need the most in World of Warcraft? Right, we need tanks. Their number is small and Blizzard tries from some members of the community called carrot on a stick to bring tanks into the Dungeon Finger. But this is another story. Admittedly there is no specific need of a tanking class by numbers, since we already have 4. We already have 3 classes wearing plate, making a fourth one not really suggestive. What armor type would be suggestive? Well, in my opinion there are only two options after looking at this:
Amor: Classes:
Cloth Mage, Warlock, Priest 3
Leather Druid, Rogue 2
Mail Hunter, Shaman 2
Plate Paladin, Warrior, Death Knight, 3
As stated, there are 3 plate wearers, leather and mail being the least used by class, and cloth is not a tanking armor type in my opinion. So leather being a possible amor type using the same gear druids do. But also mail could be a nice way, even the uniquer way. There is no special tank leather gear as far as I know, so there is no need creating a special mail gear for tanks. The BM could use the same gear as the Enhancementshaman or the Hunter, making his skill tree benefit from the example of the Druid. As you see I am not really sure which one of the armor types should be used, but my tendancy goes to mail. In Rise Of The Horde, the novel, the author states, that Grom Hellscream is dressed in hard leather. Of course the author worked hand in hand with Blizzard, still, not necessarily that this is standart armor of every Blademaster.
Being a BM and showing our skill proud by not wearing too much armor the BM possible uses no shield. Making his way of tanking comparable to the DK, using only one and two hand weapons makes it even possible for Blizzard to finally introduce two handed tanking weapons. But it should not be necessary.
Summarized the BM could be compared to the Druid for his armor (not necessary the type, but the way it works in the skill tree), and the DK for his weapons.
I wont go into details for a melee tree, because, Warcraft 3 and the way the other melee fighter work speaks for itself. But let’s take a look at the range damage dealer way of the BM. I am pretty sure we all agree that there are fairly enough caster in the game (Mage, Warlock, Shadowpriest, Owldruid, Elemental Shaman) but there is only one class that is really using bows, crossbows and guns. Yes, I am speaking of the Hunters. And by writing this I can hear the screams of the Hunters, how I dare to suggest that. But, Hunters share everything with their beloved pets, so they can surely share their weapons with the BM. When I remember my first time playing a Hunter I still remember the moment I lost interest in this class. It was at level 10 when the Hunter started to fight with his companion pet. I don’ t want to say that the way the Hunter is played is a bad one, I just want to say I don’t like that way. So the BM could be the class fighting with bows, xbows and guns like the Hunter, but he does not have a companion. One of my guild mates stated this reminds him of the Amazon from Diablo 2 and after thinking about it, he was right. As before, I don’t want to go into skills and skilltrees, because I just don’t know every class and have no interest in creating new spells, skills and trees. I leave that to the developers and players who like to do so. This is just the collection of ideas.
So I told you the BM could be a tank, a range damage dealer and a melee fighter. That leaves only one last possibility. Right. The BM as a healer.
Since the Blademaster have (lorewise) a lot of respect for the shamans since they also are supported by the Spirits they already have contact with the Spirits making it easy to let them learn how to heal (Since the Shamans are able to heal too). Of course they wont be using totems, but it is possible that they use a deep meditation. Imagine a BM going into this special healing stance, sitting down to meditate and levitating from the ground still sitting. This would be a nice optic effect a little like the shadowform being unique for the Priest it would be unique for the BM. Again they use not a lot of armor so shield would be despised again. Staffs (being a useful weapon) and main / offhand should do fine. The BM should use mana, since all healers use it, only the Paladin having a unique additional source (HolyPower).
So how should the BM heal? Of course Blizzard should come up with a unique way, but since we have only one healer really using shields, I would ask for some kind of discipline priest like way of healing. No not the same, but kind of. Blizzard tried to start the “bring the player not the class” theme. This would play hand in hand with this idea, since some fights benefit strongly from a discipline Priest. (I never played a Priest in a raid, so I can’t go into detail and my assumptions could be wrong)
Now you know my idea for the BM, and though I said I wont create a skill tree I could imagine it to be like this
Healtree, Melee/Tank tree and ranger tree.
You may ask yourself, why should the BM become a hybrid being able to fill every way of playing? Well, the BM consider themselfs as elite force, as specialists. They want to master every way to be the most powerful unit in the WoW universe. So to me it is logical that they have BM who can heal or tank, or even kill their enemies with an arrow into the eye.
A little summary:
Races: Orcs, Draenai
Amortype: Leather or mail
Weapons: One and two hand swords and axes, staffs, offhand items (no shield) possibly polearms.
Resources; Mana as a Healer, plus a new, unique one.
APPEARANCE
When you played Warcraft 3 and know what a Blademaster is, you have a special picture of these fighters. I said that before, but let me describe it again.
A Blademaster is an elite fighter, who wears a sashimono (if you like a better explanation than “flag” look it up on Wikipedia), shows his fighting skill in not wearing a lot of armor, and having a chain of big orbs around his neck. They have a samurai like touch, and are the elitist fighter of the horde (yet).
So let’s talk about the appearance of them.
Chest and orb-necklace
It is uncommon, not to say impossible, to play World of Warcraft without wearing a chest armor piece (in raiding and pvping, if you want to do it successfully.) I am a big fan of the Appearance Tap, which could solve this problem, and I am positive it is going to be one of the features of the next expansion, but this is of course not sure. I don’t want to go into detail, but this feature would allows players to put an optic piece of armor, let’s say the Paladin T2 on your normal gear, let’s say the Paladin T11. When Players look at you, you would look like a Paladin in T2. But your stats would come from the T11, enabling you to raid looking like a T2 Pally with the stats of the T11.
With this feature, you could make it possible for the Blademaster. But this wouldn’t be unique for the Blademaster, since every class could fight, let’s say, shirtless. That said the option to hide your chestpiece like the helmet or the cape wouldn’t be unique either. And here comes the necklace of orbs into play. When a Blademaster equips a chest piece, he wears this orbs. Since female armor and male armor look the same, their skin can be different. So this should be a possible way, and other games already used this way to create unique armor.
Shoulder
Most of you will remember the shoulders of Herod, but since Cataclysm we find more and more shouldergear only covering on side of the shoulder. Not on every picture you see the shoulder on one side, but when you take a look at the Grom Hellscream from Warcraft 3 he does wear his shoulderpiece that way. Long story short it is not a problem to implement this special skin or an option to hide one side. Setpieces are very easy and nothing speaks agains other classes wearing the shoulder in this way. Though I would like the BM to be the only class.
Sashimono
“Their sashimono allow their troops to identify them on the battlefield and move to where the action is thickest” This is a quote from Wowwiki explaining the purpose of this flag on the back. Like the orbs this flag distinguishes a Blademaster from other classes. It could be given to the BM with level 77 (the level which I could imagine as the final stage of the starting area), it even could show how the BM is skilled in the way it is coloured. I would prefer the possibility to show your guild logo or the Horde logo on it.
These four things make the appearance of the BM very unique and should be part of the class, when it will really be implemented into the game. There might be better ways of adding them to the class, but some of them would went that far, that I hesitated to write them down.
So, you may or may not have read to the end and have made your opinion. I know not everybody will like this idea. But I hope you can discuss it reasonable and in a normal grown up way. Criticism is welcome but please be fair.
I also would like to point out, that English is not my national langue so please keep that in mind when you find spelling mistakes or odd ways of phrasing something.
Thank you for reading and please discuss.