Main thread: No Zandalari Paladins?

[KrakHed]

I didn't actually play WoW in Vanilla so I wanted to couch my statements pretty heavily. >.>

Still. The point is that he might be Corrupted rather than Naturally Evil. By dealing with that Void Crystal, we could restore him to goodness, somehow. Which would be a big act on behalf of the Zandalari and could lead to their decision to join the Horde. Particularly if we use the Essence of Rezan to cleanse the gem, and provide the Zandalari Prelates with a new source of Paladinly abilities after Rezan's death.

Yeah, but this is off-topic. It'd be fun, but rather unlikely to happen. If Hakkar suddenly appears in the game files with a new model, then we can start talking.

[T33]

I think that would be great if we could help sway the Zandalari by helping to ressurect Rezan. After all, Rezan is not just important to the paladins, but the Lords of Zandalar as well (Rastakhan and the Princess)

[KrakHed]

I think that would be great if we could help sway the Zandalari by helping to ressurect Rezan. After all, Rezan is not just important to the paladins, but the Lords of Zandalar as well (Rastakhan and the Princess)

Yeah, he's their King God. Zandalar royalty serves Rezan.

[Venziir]

Yeah, he's their King God. Zandalar royalty serves Rezan.

No. He's the Loa of Kings, not an actual king himself.

[KrakHed]

No. He's the Loa of Kings, not an actual king himself.

He has multiple titles. Rezan the Hunter, Rezan the Conqueror, and Rezan the King. Rastakhan is his servant, and even Bwonsamdi backs down from challenging him.

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It was much more vague before Chronicles 1, and the Void wasn't "The supreme, ultimate EBUL, the root of everything nasteh!"-which it is now. It was, before Chronicles, just "another" source of magic.

Actually, it kind of was. As the equal opposite of the Light, which it was from the very beginning, it would have been an omnipresent force present throughout all reality. From which reality itself was formed. That part is very old lore. The idea that the universe itself was formed from Light and Shadow has been present in the story for awhile, though never given much focus.

Now, the Void Lords are some new shit we didn't necessarily need, but now we have it.

[Sett]

Well the grass is always greener on the other side of the street. Why do people always complain the alliance gets these the horde gets that. It really stupid.

And just to inform you. ALL ALLIED RACES use the animation from their MAIN RACES.

PCing and just saw this.

Thank Blizzard on fostering the faction BS. I guarantee you if sides were flipped with Alliance having two extra druid races with new art added and wanting a race that can be literally almost any class people would be up in arms. That's just how it works bud.

As for the second part, is your reading comprehension that shitty? I'm saying the Horde would get access to a COMPLETELY NEW SET OF ANIMATIONS if they got Zandalari paladins while Alliance haven't gotten shit since BC for paladin. I know the base stuff ffs.

[Deleted]

Think its pretty weak to just kill Rezan to just tell everybody that this is the reason why there are no Zandalari Paladins.

But fine by me if they want to go this way then i guess they will make new flying forms for Darkspear druids aswell? since they also put Hir'eek down in BfA.

[therealbowser]

Oh that's fine I also really dislike whining attitude and I restrain myself from making dramatic claims. You can call me a feedback veteran as I started to request for stuff since WotLK and I knew that having proper attitude is key to get things done.

But as you noticed Blizzard did acknowledged them while they could ignore it ever happened and basically act like rosso is. But I believe since MoP they already had a vision on what Zandalari are meant to be and if they didn't want for them to have Paladin-like equivalent they wouldn't add prelates to begin with. As I would normally agree that Freethinker doesn't exactly sound like a class.

So yeah I like many others fail to understand this decision especially now that Blizzard shown them, (and I really loved that High Prelate custom animation on how she is pointing at her subordinates, made you really feel that this strict and disciplined order) and how this new story doesn't really add up, as it should affect priest class as well and new big lore fire that Talanji is and who should lose her powers with disappearance of Rezan (and we saw in Nazmir how Rezan's holy powers are activating, and gotta say it really did look impressive and great).

Hopefully this thread will stay constructive even if Original post does sound whiney :P But the community here is rather doing well overall.

I want to add that what convinced me that Zandalari paladins could work is not the 'freethinkers' thing, and not even really the vague prelate thing in ToT. What got me to like them is simply the lore behind the Zandalari themselves. Paladins would work for Zandalari, ironically, for a similar reason they work for humans; they have a priesthood and a fanatical devotion to their loa -- whom I can assume can also be holy in terms of the power they wield -- and a society that prides itself on being learned and superior to others.

It's a stretch, without a doubt, but a good stretch. A very interesting twist on the paladin class, and one that would well suit them, I think. In addition to this, it would give Horde a third paladin class which, again, is a big deal given that we nearly have as many races as classes per faction now. If there were, in theory, 12 races available and you wanted to have a unique race for every class, you would literally have to have a blood elf demon hunter and tauren paladin, since only blood elves can be demon hunters and the only other alternative paladin would be tauren. Adding Zandalari gives a lot of leeway to this, IMO. (Ironically, Alliance suffer from a similar problem with druids, their night elf would have to be a demon hunter, and their druid would have to be a worgen. We need a third druid race for them as well, but that's off topic.)

However, I don't expect them to get paladins. I just hope for it. Because it would fit the race and the faction extraordinarily well.

And for the record, I believe it was actually you who helped me see in a sense that this could work. Once I gave it another thought, I saw how it could work and, honestly... I like it. So yeah, thanks for that! And keep fighting the good fight. I know that you are respectful and know how to correctly provide feedback because I have seen your posts thus far. So nothing I've posted about 'whining' has applied even remotely to you.

[Gurmech]

Rezan does become undead, which might explain why he is not able to return. Maybe thats why Bwonsamdi hates them?

[KrakHed]

Rezan does become undead, which might explain why he is not able to return. Maybe thats why Bwonsamdi hates them?

The body is without a soul. The soul was probably used to raise Dazar.

So we just got to free his spirit and kill the old King.

[zammin]

I don't think Blizzard will pass up the sheer $ from race-changes and boosts to Zandalari paladin. Prelates have existed in some form since Vanilla, and the addition of the prelates in Zulzadar (with paladin seals!) seems to only indicate that they know there's high demand. Alpha is alpha. We don't even know how Zandalari trolls are unlocked in the first place, yet.

[protip]

We know already that the Zandalari story line deals heavily with the Loa, and with Zul the Prophet. Unlocking the Zandalari will almost certainly involve seeing the conclusion of that story line. The fact that these issues will have been resolved by the time Zandalari are playable leaves the option of Zandalari paladins completely open from a story perspective.

Given their position in Zuldazar, it is also clear that prelates embody Zandalari ideals. They are the chosen holy warriors of the Zandalari empire, who passed tests for both physical ability and a connection to the Loa, and they serve in a highly disciplined and prestigious military unit. The Zandalari story in BfA being focused on the Loa and the prelate's apparent loss of power only increases their profile and visibility to players.

The reason I have no doubt that they will be added is that they distinguish the Zandalari from all other races. The type of paladin trained by the Zandalari is something completely unique, and demonstrative of their cultural differences from the Darkspear. If Blizzard just wanted a compelling story, they could have written it easily without making such clear connections to paladins. I guarantee that they just want to give players a better feel for Zandalari culture so that people aren't confused like the posters, and no doubt lurkers, who didn't even accept the existence of prelates throughout the first 70 pages of this thread.

I'm not even concerned that Blizzard is on the fence about this. Quote me when we get the confirmation.

[Stormykitten]

It just depends on what you want out of this class. Is the theme 100% set as a knight in shining plate armour? Or is it just a champion of a cause in that culture? Personally i greatly prefer cultural class takes.

[ello]

I just don't understand why Blizzard would do this.

Prelates were one of the best parts of Zandalari Trolls. It was one of the things that set them apart from the other Troll tribes. Why kill the appeal to reinforce some stupid "muh spirits" vs "deus vult" meme that was played out 10 years ago?

[Deleted]

prelates in Zulzadar (with paladin seals!)

Who the majority of gets slaughtered, with the remainder loosing their powers after their Loa is killed...

[T33]

Who the majority of gets slaughtered, with the remainder loosing their powers after their Loa is killed...

Where did you hear that the majority get slaughtered?

[Deleted]

Where did you hear that the majority get slaughtered?

Pardon me; they get broken.

But it is pretty safe to assume they tried to defend their entity and failed doing so... i mean what kind of a paladin wouldn't?
They got no power left whatsoever, with those still having some being dealt with suspicion. So i doubt they will be doing anything important any time soon.

[Ramz]

I want to add that what convinced me that Zandalari paladins could work is not the 'freethinkers' thing, and not even really the vague prelate thing in ToT. What got me to like them is simply the lore behind the Zandalari themselves. Paladins would work for Zandalari, ironically, for a similar reason they work for humans; they have a priesthood and a fanatical devotion to their loa -- whom I can assume can also be holy in terms of the power they wield -- and a society that prides itself on being learned and superior to others.

[...]

However, I don't expect them to get paladins. I just hope for it. Because it would fit the race and the faction extraordinarily well.

And for the record, I believe it was actually you who helped me see in a sense that this could work. Once I gave it another thought, I saw how it could work and, honestly... I like it. So yeah, thanks for that! And keep fighting the good fight. I know that you are respectful and know how to correctly provide feedback because I have seen your posts thus far. So nothing I've posted about 'whining' has applied even remotely to you.

Yeah we were chatting before on some other thread. I remember how you said that this combo is silly and farfetched. And I'd agree but only in case if Trolls would pretend to be humans "Praise de light mon" kinda way would indeed sound mocking. But in consideration that they have absolutely different setting and theme going for them is what makes them very interesting and unique. Hence a new term - "Loadin" xD

I also feel very attracted to the idea of playing loa infused holy warrior with Aztec theme going around, and I believe it can be the best paladin combo Horde could ever imagine.
I believe the expectation for them skyrocketed after seeing them again in Zuldazar with High Prelate confirming on how they work. In one way I am very happy that Blizzard pulled them again, shown that they're in fact paladins and they hold important role within Zandalar society. I think it would be a huge waste to not include them as playable combo, when I don't think that the story of losing them completely is convincing. And also:

We know already that the Zandalari story line deals heavily with the Loa, and with Zul the Prophet. Unlocking the Zandalari will almost certainly involve seeing the conclusion of that story line. The fact that these issues will have been resolved by the time Zandalari are playable leaves the option of Zandalari paladins completely open from a story perspective.

Given their position in Zuldazar, it is also clear that prelates embody Zandalari ideals. They are the chosen holy warriors of the Zandalari empire, who passed tests for both physical ability and a connection to the Loa, and they serve in a highly disciplined and prestigious military unit. The Zandalari story in BfA being focused on the Loa and the prelate's apparent loss of power only increases their profile and visibility to players.

The reason I have no doubt that they will be added is that they distinguish the Zandalari from all other races. The type of paladin trained by the Zandalari is something completely unique, and demonstrative of their cultural differences from the Darkspear. If Blizzard just wanted a compelling story, they could have written it easily without making such clear connections to paladins. I guarantee that they just want to give players a better feel for Zandalari culture so that people aren't confused like the posters, and no doubt lurkers, who didn't even accept the existence of prelates throughout the first 70 pages of this thread.

I'm not even concerned that Blizzard is on the fence about this. Quote me when we get the confirmation.

Beautifully written. I believe posts like that increase a value of this thread

I don't think Blizzard will pass up the sheer $ from race-changes and boosts to Zandalari paladin. Prelates have existed in some form since Vanilla, and the addition of the prelates in Zulzadar (with paladin seals!) seems to only indicate that they know there's high demand. Alpha is alpha. We don't even know how Zandalari trolls are unlocked in the first place, yet.

Yeah I also believe that in the end the possibility of gaining lots of money by giving this combination will convince devs to include them.

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Think its pretty weak to just kill Rezan to just tell everybody that this is the reason why there are no Zandalari Paladins.

But fine by me if they want to go this way then i guess they will make new flying forms for Darkspear druids aswell? since they also put Hir'eek down in BfA.

A very good point, but I suppose they could come up with "They're in Cenarion Circle they learned how to do it without the loa, enjoy your outdated model".

[Alanar]

Pardon me; they get broken.

But it is pretty safe to assume they tried to defend their entity and failed doing so... i mean what kind of a paladin wouldn't?
They got no power left whatsoever, with those still having some being dealt with suspicion. So i doubt they will be doing anything important any time soon.

What about rasta and hes daughter? They both are part of that holy power.. i can see it happening that they regain power .
I hope rasta stays alive hes interesting.. finnaly a cool troll character and we are about to lose him it seems..

[Ramz]

What about rasta and hes daughter? They both are part of that holy power.. i can see it happening that they regain power .
I hope rasta stays alive hes interesting.. finnaly a cool troll character and we are about to lose him it seems..

Same for other Zandalar priests, and as Tromage mentioned Darkspear druids and Hir'eek connection. If they won't be affected there will be a huge inconsistency again.