The Dark Ranger: Does it have enough material to become a class?

[Valcrist09]

i want a freaking caster. sick and tired of stupid physical classes, we havnt gotten a new caster this whole freaking game. and i swear if it ends up being the stupid freaking tinker i am done with this game, easily the worst move blizzard could make at this moment for the game.

[IAMANIKOLAS]

I never said anything about whether or not they will be added. What I'm pointing out is just the issues with it being added itself, that being the fact it's restricted to a single race. That prevents it from being either class or a spec. But if they circumvent that for a class, I see no issue with it being added as a Hunter spec since they have such a strong baseline in hunter abilities from being hunters themselves. Why would they create an entirely new class that fits the same niche if they could just add it in as a spec?

Why does the dark ranger have to be restricted to a singular race? Why can't the ritual of being raised as a banshee and possess your former body being carried out by other races? Why is it only former high elven farstriders? - because it isnt.

You are creating a limitation that is not necesarily there. The Lore is open-ended enough to include other races possible willingly going through the ritual to fight a greater evil. Blizzard can do WHATEVER they want in order to create this class if they wanted to. Given the newly raised night elven dark Rangers and wardens could be an indicator towards this.

On a side note. I have read through most pages of this thread, and I have read your argumentation against the dark ranger class. In my opinion it is based on a lacking sense of creativity. Who says the class has to be based entirely around a WC3 unit? Who says it has to be limited around a HotS character? Who says it has to be a fallen farstrider? Why can't we take what we already have, and expand upon it?

We could give it some life altering abilities like a wither-effect, fastening the aging process on their targets. Maybe illusion magic and mind trickery to create clones and illusions, making their enemies chase ghosts. Perhabs a melee / ranged hybrid switching back and fourth melee and medium range. There is so much potential to make this it's own class if you just put your mind to it.

Please, feel free to read my highly unfinished take on the Dark Ranger class, you can find the link in my signature. I hope that I can prove to you, although my take may not be the best that, the dark ranger can be so much for than a hunter specialization.

[Directionalk9]

When Sylvanas Windrunner, Banshee Queen of the Forsaken, regained her physical body, she realized that the natural world would never respond to her wishes again. Angered by this development, she turned to the arts that were becoming more and more natural to her: Necromancy. She altered her elven ranger teachings into a new form. Thus, the dark rangers were born

Does that little blurb not kind of scream Hunter “Class Skin”?

[DotEleven]

True, it is a Ranger firing an arrow with her bow. But you cannot exclude the magic, as without that magic, all you would have is someone firing an arrow.
You cannot get that version of Black Arrow without the necromantic magic.

I would also argue that Black Arrow as when it was brought into WoW from WC3, despite it's name, was no longer meant to be about necromancy. It was meant to be about applying a toxin onto your ammunition/arrows that weakened your target. Which is also what the original Black Arrow-ability that we got in WotLK did.

Besides, there's nothing "precise" about Black Arrow.

Aimed Shot, is a precise shot.
Steady Shot, is a precise shot.
Black Arrow, is not.




Not really.

If you go back to when they first gave this ability to MM, the animation was an actual rocket.

And as can be seen on live, the icon itself is still an arrowhead with a piece of dynamite attached to it.
Nothing magical about that…

Explosive Shot has never been about using magic to conjure fire. It has always been about attaching explosives to your ammunition/arrows. OR in the case of MM, firing a rocket/piece of firework into your target…

You still don't seem to be getting it. The whole thing is that Dark Rangers are using their Farstrider abilities/skills, but with necromatic powers in lieu of more nature oriented ones due to the fact that being raised has made them go against nature but the basics of their skillset still lie in what they learned as Farstriders, it's just slightly altered.

A Death Knight isn't using what they learned as a warrior or a paladin but imbuing it with necromatic power. A Dark Ranger is. I'm not just spouting out my ass, that's just what their currently is.

Why does the dark ranger have to be restricted to a singular race? Why can't the ritual of being raised as a banshee and possess your former body being carried out by other races? Why is it only former high elven farstriders? - because it isnt.

You are creating a limitation that is not necesarily there. The Lore is open-ended enough to include other races possible willingly going through the ritual to fight a greater evil. Blizzard can do WHATEVER they want in order to create this class if they wanted to. Given the newly raised night elven dark Rangers and wardens could be an indicator towards this.

On a side note. I have read through most pages of this thread, and I have read your argumentation against the dark ranger class. In my opinion it is based on a lacking sense of creativity. Who says the class has to be based entirely around a WC3 unit? Who says it has to be limited around a HotS character? Who says it has to be a fallen farstrider? Why can't we take what we already have, and expand upon it?

We could give it some life altering abilities like a wither-effect, fastening the aging process on their targets. Maybe illusion magic and mind trickery to create clones and illusions, making their enemies chase ghosts. Perhabs a melee / ranged hybrid switching back and fourth melee and medium range. There is so much potential to make this it's own class if you just put your mind to it.

Please, feel free to read my highly unfinished take on the Dark Ranger class, you can find the link in my signature. I hope that I can prove to you, although my take may not be the best that, the dark ranger can be so much for than a hunter specialization.

Because the only race that has access to raising the dead with their bodies is the forsaken. To be honest it's actually even more specific than that. Like, the steps to becoming a dark ranger are as follows.

1) Be a High Elf.
2) Be a part of the elite group known as Farstriders.
3) Die.
4) Be resurrected.
5) Use your newly found undead state to empower the abilities and skills you learned as a Farstrider.

It's not about what they can do, but about what they are. And this is what Dark Rangers are. That is their lore. They could change it certainly, but we have what we have in lore to go by.

Like, we can make speculations and everything regarding what they can and can't do, but we have to use a basis of what they currently have not what they could. If Blizzard wanted they could give Dark Rangers Frost or Fire or Arcane powers, but that's not part of their CURRENT lore. If that changes, that's on Blizzard, but we can't base speculation on things that aren't in current lore.

For example we do a lot of talking about Tinkers. There are tinkers in current lore. They are in pretty much every facet both canon and non-canon. They've got tinkers with those arm-backpacks everywhere. They've got Siegecrafters, they've got warframes they've made tons of items, and if we use some engineering stuff too we've got bandage guns and injectors for healing specs. That's why we can speculate those things because they have been seen somewhere in the universe. Right now, Dark Rangers have been seen under one (well actually more recently two) conditions. Dead Farstriders raised as forsaken, and Nathanos is actually training a contingent of undead humans in the Farstrider ways so they can be Dark Rangers. Nathanos previously being pretty much the only non-high elf Farstrider in existence (which actually drew him a lot of hate from other Farstriders)

- - - Updated - - -

When Sylvanas Windrunner, Banshee Queen of the Forsaken, regained her physical body, she realized that the natural world would never respond to her wishes again. Angered by this development, she turned to the arts that were becoming more and more natural to her: Necromancy. She altered her elven ranger teachings into a new form. Thus, the dark rangers were born

Does that little blurb not kind of scream Hunter “Class Skin”?

Read the bold underlined part of the blurb you just used. She literally took her ranger (hunter) training and added some necromatic powers.

[Directionalk9]

@DotEleven I don’t see how that changes the situation of a Class Skin... it’s exactly why I think it should be a class skin and not a new class.

[DotEleven]

@DotEleven I don’t see how that changes the situation of a Class Skin... it’s exactly why I think it should be a class skin and not a new class.

Sorry, so many people disagreeing with that I somehow read it wrong. Like "what part of that little blurb screams hunter class skin?"

[F Rm]

You still don't seem to be getting it. The whole thing is that Dark Rangers are using their Farstrider abilities/skills, but with necromatic powers in lieu of more nature oriented ones due to the fact that being raised has made them go against nature but the basics of their skillset still lie in what they learned as Farstriders, it's just slightly altered.

A Death Knight isn't using what they learned as a warrior or a paladin but imbuing it with necromatic power. A Dark Ranger is. I'm not just spouting out my ass, that's just what their currently is.

And how do you explain away the "being undead" part?

How do you explain away the fact that Hunters are about nature and the wild? Not about undeath and Necromancy.

Anyone can learn to shoot a bow. Not everyone can learn to master the manipulation of life and death magic.

You said it perfectly in your own post just here.

1) Be a High Elf.
2) Be a part of the elite group known as Farstriders.
3) Die.
4) Be resurrected.
5) Use your newly found undead state to empower the abilities and skills you learned as a Farstrider.

For point 5, I guess you specifically talk about the use of bows when referencing Farstriders? And how good they were at archery.

The Archery-part is the only thing applicable to the Hunter class. None of the other stuff is.

[DotEleven]

And how do you explain away the "being undead" part?

How do you explain away the fact that Hunters are about nature and the wild? Not about undeath and Necromancy.

Anyone can learn to shoot a bow. Not everyone can learn to master the manipulation of life and death magic.

You said it perfectly in your own post just here.

1) Be a High Elf.
2) Be a part of the elite group known as Farstriders.
3) Die.
4) Be resurrected.
5) Use your newly found undead state to empower the abilities and skills you learned as a Farstrider.

For point 5, I guess you specifically talk about the use of bows when referencing Farstriders? And how good they were at archery.

The Archery-part is the only thing applicable to the Hunter class. None of the other stuff is.

The use of bows. Tracking experience. Trapping Experience. Scouting. Skirmishing. You know, because they use their farstrider training because that's what dark rangers are. Undead Farstriders.

[F Rm]

The use of bows. Tracking experience. Trapping Experience. Scouting. Skirmishing. You know, because they use their farstrider training because that's what dark rangers are. Undead Farstriders.

Undead Farstriders

Which most races and Hunters are not/have never been. Nor could ever become.

[DotEleven]

Undead Farstriders

Which most races and Hunters are not/have never been. Nor could ever become.

Farstriders are a subset of hunters.

Undead Farstriders a further subset of that.

Most races not being able to be undead Farstriders is the reason it has trouble being a playable thing at all. But if they ignore that to make it a playable Class there's no reason they couldn't make it a playable spec instead with how closely in line with hunter it is.

[IAMANIKOLAS]

1) Be a High Elf.
2) Be a part of the elite group known as Farstriders.
3) Die.
4) Be resurrected.
5) Use your newly found undead state to empower the abilities and skills you learned as a Farstrider.

I am sorry, but this is just not true. The risen Dark Rangers from Darkshore are Night elven sentinels, Rangers, huntress etc. Not Farstriders.

And even if that was so, new races could easily be introduced to the secrets, given the teachings from a willing teacher. This could be introduced easily.

[DotEleven]

I am sorry, but this is just not true. The risen Dark Rangers from Darkshore are Night elven sentinels, Rangers, huntress etc. Not Farstriders.

And even if that was so, new races could easily be introduced to the secrets, given the teachings from a willing teacher. This could be introduced easily.

Yeah, new races that get revived by the forsaken. Which means they're still forsaken. Also, those new "dark rangers" have only just been recently brought up and still have ancestry in the high elf/blood elf/night elf roots. Really, the new ones you should be talking about are the human version of the forsaken being trained by Nathanos who himself was also a Farstrider despite being a human. So really it is part of the origin but has expanded a bit, but it's still only in FORSAKEN people.

Although it's funny because you mention them as risen night elves with other quite similar ranger training, once again as trackers, scouts, trappers.

[IAMANIKOLAS]

Yeah, new races that get revived by the forsaken. Which means they're still forsaken. Also, those new "dark rangers" have only just been recently brought up and still have ancestry in the high elf/blood elf/night elf roots. Really, the new ones you should be talking about are the human version of the forsaken being trained by Nathanos who himself was also a Farstrider despite being a human. So really it is part of the origin but has expanded a bit, but it's still only in FORSAKEN people.

Although it's funny because you mention them as risen night elves with other quite similar ranger training, once again as trackers, scouts, trappers.

Okay i agree that experiences with bows are a preference to be a dark ranger. But not necesarily.. We could still have a melee spec.

But sure lets say that every dark ranger is a former elite ranger of sorts. Sure.. We have the Farstriders, the sentinels, the SI:7 probably have a few elite Rangers aswell. Several groups of elite Rangers spread between the races capable with bows, melee, traps and scouting.

So far, we have only seen night elves and former high elves, why can't new races be raised? I could see several races going through a sort of ritual to become a dark ranger.

And even IF and that's a big if, only elven Rangers gets raised as dark Rangers,why would that stop Blizzard? They pulled the 2-race demon hunter. Sure it would seem unlikely they would introducer another Elf exclusive class but they have done so before.

But as you say, nathanos is already the exception.. More exceptions can be trained in the dark arts

[Evangeliste]

I see a lot of to-and-fro over restrictions and imagined roundabouts to the lore. The fact is, as a class they don't follow the strict laws of their own lore to the letter.
For example, Night Elf priests should be using Arcane spells as they worship Elune but they don't, they use Light.
Another example, Forsaken are bound by Shadow magic so using Light or even Fire magic should completely screw them, but neither do and are Priests and Mages.
And that's what will happen. Gameplay will supersede lore when it suits it.

And they aren't afraid to lay out bait to get into the swing of things. Since Legion, they've made an effort to include Dark Ranger into the fold as they're present in the Hunter Halls. Considering these places are meant to be the central operation of every single, important and noteworthy member of their particular class... Blizzard have certainly acknowledged them and enough to be a separate identity.
They've gone further along and added a questline involving those representatives in 8.1.5 which also includes an apprentice. Whom we have no idea who or what race they are. Velonara certainly wanted to train them. Perhaps they're actually Alliance and why the identity was so closely guarded. It's not unimaginable since the Hunter halls ignored your faction.

Either way, Dark Rangers can be stretched to meet any lengths they need.
They already have Blood Elven Rangers in the fray (and the most prominent) with both male and female as we have seen during the rescue of Baine.
With Nathanos, he's a dual sword being both Human and Undead. It seems obvious in Undeath he can use his Hunter skills but there's bigger lore to support this than the recent stuff.
Potentially Orc and Troll could be trained by Nathanos since by the use of magics they've dappled in before or by the very cultural relevance the dark arts is ingrained (woo Shadow Hunters!)

Comfortably for Horde, Undead, Troll and Blood Elves could be herded into the fold. With Allied Races like Zandalari.

Alliance is somewhat more difficult but I wouldn't say it's impossible when for example you have some races already inclined to use similar magics.
Humans have utilised similar magics before, that being said, don't forget that Nathanos himself was a Hunter prior and trained by Farstriders themselves. The very people whom are the Dark Rangers that Sylvanas raised.
Which with the Farstriders being High Elven, you can easily drag the Void Elves into this and further supported by what they are.
Speaking of being in darkness, the Night Elves and their Night Warrior army could be wrestled into that.
The harder candidates would be individuals like Dark Iron, Worgens, Kul Tirans (and I am simply ignoring Draenei, Gnome, etc as they seem the most unlikely due to their very nature) but with Worgens and Kul Tirans they can play on their human heritage, their personal afflictions or their locale like being near Drustvar or Shadowfang Keep to spin that.

Comfortably for Alliance, Humans and Night Elves. With Allied Races being Void Elves.

I've just utilised what's already there with in-game and book lore. I'm not even in the position to simply retcon the living shit out of the lore, to butcher things into existence.

We have evidence from Blizzard wilfully manipulating lore to create a race/class combo like Night Elf Mages (with previous lore outlawing it and restricting the class) or they magically create new lore entirely to create a new race/class like Tauren Paladins being Sunwalkers (who glean their power from the Sun through religious belief.) Heck Blizzard lerft nothing sacred when they gutted the Warlock class to make Demon Hunter exist.

The fact is in the end, for now, there is no correct or incorrect reason for Blizzard to implement a Dark Ranger class or even spec.

[DotEleven]

Okay i agree that experiences with bows are a preference to be a dark ranger. But not necesarily.. We could still have a melee spec.

But sure lets say that every dark ranger is a former elite ranger of sorts. Sure.. We have the Farstriders, the sentinels, the SI:7 probably have a few elite Rangers aswell. Several groups of elite Rangers spread between the races capable with bows, melee, traps and scouting.

So far, we have only seen night elves and former high elves, why can't new races be raised? I could see several races going through a sort of ritual to become a dark ranger.

And even IF and that's a big if, only elven Rangers gets raised as dark Rangers,why would that stop Blizzard? They pulled the 2-race demon hunter. Sure it would seem unlikely they would introducer another Elf exclusive class but they have done so before.

But as you say, nathanos is already the exception.. More exceptions can be trained in the dark arts

I'm not saying other races can't be raised. But they're still forsaken. I mean, they've had 2 race exclusive classes before, Druids originally and Demon Hunters now, but (with the acception of literally vanilla which they immediately changed) every class has been available to BOTH factions.

Like, it's not about it being an elf. You don't get to be a dark ranger by being an elf. You get to be a dark ranger by being a ranger who was resurrected. The only race of which is doing so is the Forsaken. The necromatic part of Dark ranger wasn't learned, it was obtained from their undead state.

- - - Updated - - -

I see a lot of to-and-fro over restrictions and imagined roundabouts to the lore. The fact is, as a class they don't follow the strict laws of their own lore to the letter.
For example, Night Elf priests should be using Arcane spells as they worship Elune but they don't, they use Light.
Another example, Forsaken are bound by Shadow magic so using Light or even Fire magic should completely screw them, but neither do and are Priests and Mages.
And that's what will happen. Gameplay will supersede lore when it suits it.

And they aren't afraid to lay out bait to get into the swing of things. Since Legion, they've made an effort to include Dark Ranger into the fold as they're present in the Hunter Halls. Considering these places are meant to be the central operation of every single, important and noteworthy member of their particular class... Blizzard have certainly acknowledged them and enough to be a separate identity.
They've gone further along and added a questline involving those representatives in 8.1.5 which also includes an apprentice. Whom we have no idea who or what race they are. Velonara certainly wanted to train them. Perhaps they're actually Alliance and why the identity was so closely guarded. It's not unimaginable since the Hunter halls ignored your faction.

Either way, Dark Rangers can be stretched to meet any lengths they need.
They already have Blood Elven Rangers in the fray (and the most prominent) with both male and female as we have seen during the rescue of Baine.
With Nathanos, he's a dual sword being both Human and Undead. It seems obvious in Undeath he can use his Hunter skills but there's bigger lore to support this than the recent stuff.
Potentially Orc and Troll could be trained by Nathanos since by the use of magics they've dappled in before or by the very cultural relevance the dark arts is ingrained (woo Shadow Hunters!)

Comfortably for Horde, Undead, Troll and Blood Elves could be herded into the fold. With Allied Races like Zandalari.

Alliance is somewhat more difficult but I wouldn't say it's impossible when for example you have some races already inclined to use similar magics.
Humans have utilised similar magics before, that being said, don't forget that Nathanos himself was a Hunter prior and trained by Farstriders themselves. The very people whom are the Dark Rangers that Sylvanas raised.
Which with the Farstriders being High Elven, you can easily drag the Void Elves into this and further supported by what they are.
Speaking of being in darkness, the Night Elves and their Night Warrior army could be wrestled into that.
The harder candidates would be individuals like Dark Iron, Worgens, Kul Tirans (and I am simply ignoring Draenei, Gnome, etc as they seem the most unlikely due to their very nature) but with Worgens and Kul Tirans they can play on their human heritage, their personal afflictions or their locale like being near Drustvar or Shadowfang Keep to spin that.

Comfortably for Alliance, Humans and Night Elves. With Allied Races being Void Elves.

I've just utilised what's already there with in-game and book lore. I'm not even in the position to simply retcon the living shit out of the lore, to butcher things into existence.

We have evidence from Blizzard wilfully manipulating lore to create a race/class combo like Night Elf Mages (with previous lore outlawing it and restricting the class) or they magically create new lore entirely to create a new race/class like Tauren Paladins being Sunwalkers (who glean their power from the Sun through religious belief.) Heck Blizzard lerft nothing sacred when they gutted the Warlock class to make Demon Hunter exist.

The fact is in the end, for now, there is no correct or incorrect reason for Blizzard to implement a Dark Ranger class or even spec.

Now hold on. At the start there, there's a couple issues.

A Being that Elune IS their light. To Night Elves when they pray to the Light it's to Elune. Much like When Tauren's pray to the Light it's to the Sun. Now if you want a part of gameplay superseding lore you should use the Gnome Priests. Gnomes don't worship the light at all. Their priests lore-wise are actual combat medics but gameplay obviously play as the other priests do. But the thing here is that's kinda the opposite issue, a race's fantasy restricting a class's premise. The issue here is the lore of a Dark ranger is restricting the other races from being one.

B being the Forsaken priests. It's actually been mentioned a couple of time. Forsaken can use the holy light but it does in fact cause them great pain. Apparently this also goes into Death Knights as well when you're healing them. You heal them, but also cause them hurt. Apparently lore-wise Forsaken Priests are actually the most willful priests of all for keeping their faith in the light while it literally hurts them. That's not just speculation or anything, that's straight from an Dev Q&A.

Like I said, it's not about what Blizzard will or won't do, but speculation should follow lorewise. And lorwise the only Dark Rangers are Forsaken.

[Evangeliste]

Now hold on. At the start there, there's a couple issues.

A Being that Elune IS their light. To Night Elves when they pray to the Light it's to Elune. Much like When Tauren's pray to the Light it's to the Sun. Now if you want a part of gameplay superseding lore you should use the Gnome Priests. Gnomes don't worship the light at all. Their priests lore-wise are actual combat medics but gameplay obviously play as the other priests do. But the thing here is that's kinda the opposite issue, a race's fantasy restricting a class's premise. The issue here is the lore of a Dark ranger is restricting the other races from being one.

B being the Forsaken priests. It's actually been mentioned a couple of time. Forsaken can use the holy light but it does in fact cause them great pain. Apparently this also goes into Death Knights as well when you're healing them. You heal them, but also cause them hurt. Apparently lore-wise Forsaken Priests are actually the most willful priests of all for keeping their faith in the light while it literally hurts them. That's not just speculation or anything, that's straight from an Dev Q&A.

Like I said, it's not about what Blizzard will or won't do, but speculation should follow lorewise. And lorwise the only Dark Rangers are Forsaken.

Elune, is actually Arcane prominent, The Priesthood of Night Elves specifically are aligned with Arcane, who are the Priests we play in-game. It's also heavily Arcane and Astral themed in her Champions the Moonkin, which is the Balance spec, wielding the Scythe of Elune which is based in Arcane. Yes there are other elements present, like Nature and Light... But as said their lore is mainly Arcane as she.
Demonstrated in things like claiming Ysera. Empowering Tyrande and so on.

Just to say to you, Light force of magic isn't needed to actually use it or realistically access it to wield it. The lore to use the Light is a strong will to access it. It's why individuals like Undead or Arthas could still use it without the necessity of doing "good" and other maligned stuff with it. That willpower can come from many things like religion, beliefs, etc, but there are cases where that's not applied because, it's forced... Like some Paladins... Which brings me to my next point with...

You are very ignorant of the existing class and race combos that are already in game.

Aside that, Dark Rangers do not have to be Forsaken raced. I mean, I'd like to think, you're forgetful of the actual lore. Dark Rangers are mainly raised High/Blood Elven. NPC's for now, so Forsaken won't even be the sole focus because gameplay wise, they don't fit the lore, which is still considered for these race/class combos. They will churn something out to suit class balance.
They need to have a bigger surplus than just Nathanos to wave the Forsaken and Dark Ranger banner.
With Nathanos being elevated to his current Legion-plus status in training other Dark Rangers that because he was trained by Farstrsiders. To be a Hunter, and those that trained him were those raised as Dark Rangers. Including his lover, Sylvanas.
That said, it clearly shows that existing combinations don't cite all their power from the same sources. The best example I can give you is Paladins.

All the Paladins don't use the same source of power. Taurens differ to Humans and Dwarves, who all differ from Zandalari too who never got their Paladin-y powers like Blood Elves, who certainly differ from Dark Iron Dwarves way.
Taurens - Religion through Light of the Sun and Earthmother
Humans/Dwarves - Religion on the sense of the Holy, devout and the Light being epitome to Divinity
Draenei - Following the Naaru
Lightforged Draenei - Following the Naaru and enduring a trail to eradicate any doubt and base their being solely on conviction.
Zandalari - Servitude to the Loa of Kings, Rezan and Holy warriorship.
Blood Elves - Tortoring the shit out of a Naaru.
Dark Iron - Not really resolved, theorised simply because Muh Vanilla, open to be things like Ragnaros, willpower over something.

By that, then Blood Elves, Dark Irons and Zandalari shouldn't really be Paladins indefinitely. You can actually bend it round so only certain groups exist through one set of sources.

In the end, they will never restrict it simply on one source of power. It would destroy the entire universe worth of lore that they've delivered for 15 years now. Because ya know... A Troll is wildly different to a Draenei.

[DotEleven]

Elune, is actually Arcane prominent, The Priesthood of Night Elves specifically are aligned with Arcane, who are the Priests we play in-game. It's also heavily Arcane and Astral themed in her Champions the Moonkin, which is the Balance spec, wielding the Scythe of Elune which is based in Arcane. Yes there are other elements present, like Nature and Light... But as said their lore is mainly Arcane as she.
Demonstrated in things like claiming Ysera. Empowering Tyrande and so on.

Just to say to you, Light force of magic isn't needed to actually use it or realistically access it to wield it. The lore to use the Light is a strong will to access it. It's why individuals like Undead or Arthas could still use it without the necessity of doing "good" and other maligned stuff with it. That willpower can come from many things like religion, beliefs, etc, but there are cases where that's not applied because, it's forced... Like some Paladins... Which brings me to my next point with...

You are very ignorant of the existing class and race combos that are already in game.

Aside that, Dark Rangers do not have to be Forsaken raced. I mean, I'd like to think, you're forgetful of the actual lore. Dark Rangers are mainly raised High/Blood Elven. NPC's for now, so Forsaken won't even be the sole focus because gameplay wise, they don't fit the lore, which is still considered for these race/class combos. They will churn something out to suit class balance.
They need to have a bigger surplus than just Nathanos to wave the Forsaken and Dark Ranger banner.
With Nathanos being elevated to his current Legion-plus status in training other Dark Rangers that because he was trained by Farstrsiders. To be a Hunter, and those that trained him were those raised as Dark Rangers. Including his lover, Sylvanas.
That said, it clearly shows that existing combinations don't cite all their power from the same sources. The best example I can give you is Paladins.

All the Paladins don't use the same source of power. Taurens differ to Humans and Dwarves, who all differ from Zandalari too who never got their Paladin-y powers like Blood Elves, who certainly differ from Dark Iron Dwarves way.
Taurens - Religion through Light of the Sun and Earthmother
Humans/Dwarves - Religion on the sense of the Holy, devout and the Light being epitome to Divinity
Draenei - Following the Naaru
Lightforged Draenei - Following the Naaru and enduring a trail to eradicate any doubt and base their being solely on conviction.
Zandalari - Servitude to the Loa of Kings, Rezan and Holy warriorship.
Blood Elves - Tortoring the shit out of a Naaru.
Dark Iron - Not really resolved, theorised simply because Muh Vanilla, open to be things like Ragnaros, willpower over something.

By that, then Blood Elves, Dark Irons and Zandalari shouldn't really be Paladins indefinitely. You can actually bend it round so only certain groups exist through one set of sources.

In the end, they will never restrict it simply on one source of power. It would destroy the entire universe worth of lore that they've delivered for 15 years now. Because ya know... A Troll is wildly different to a Draenei.

Rangers do not have to be forsaken. You're right, I've never said they do. DARK rangers on the other hand are. That's the distinction. Dark Rangers specifically are Rangers (originally farstrider, but currently they've been adding others, most notably the Night Elves slaughtered on Darkshore) raised as Forsaken.

Like, you have two parts to a Dark Ranger. The skills they get are their ranger base, their tracking, trapping, scouting, etc. Lies in their ranger and therefore hunter origins. The Necromatic part of the dark ranger is the second part, which they get purely from having been raised as Forsaken. Pretty much that's where the "Dark" part of the Dark Ranger comes from. they didn't train, they didn't practice necromatic mastery, they didn't make a deal with a demon to trade their soul for their power. They were raised as Forsaken and just implemented what they gained from being raised into their ranger training.

[Nephys]

I never said anything about whether or not they will be added. What I'm pointing out is just the issues with it being added itself, that being the fact it's restricted to a single race. That prevents it from being either class or a spec. But if they circumvent that for a class, I see no issue with it being added as a Hunter spec since they have such a strong baseline in hunter abilities from being hunters themselves. Why would they create an entirely new class that fits the same niche if they could just add it in as a spec?

So basically as I have said before its a degree of similarity, with the question being: is it "different enough" to warrant a different class? For years people used that argument for Demon Hunters, which at the time had reason, but since they released the class the argument is no longer valid.

The only problem that I see is which races would have the class, because currently Dark Rangers are neither Forsaken nor Blood Elf, and the Alliance has no version of it. In order to solve this problem new lore needs to be created, but such was the case for Demon Hunters, and Death Knights, and there are ways to solve all this problems if they indeed choose to go for this class.

[DotEleven]

So basically as I have said before its a degree of similarity, with the question being: is it "different enough" to warrant a different class? For years people used that argument for Demon Hunters, which at the time had reason, but since they released the class the argument is no longer valid.

The only problem that I see is which races would have the class, because currently Dark Rangers are neither Forsaken nor Blood Elf, and the Alliance has no version of it. In order to solve this problem new lore needs to be created, but such was the case for Demon Hunters, and Death Knights, and there are ways to solve all this problems if they indeed choose to go for this class.

The only people that were arguing Demon Hunters weren't "different enough" were insane and upset that Demon Hunters took Metamorphosis from Warlocks. But Warlocks and Demon Hunters are NOTHING alike.

Once again, Dark Ranger on the other hand literally has it's origins in the hunter niche. They come from hunters. Their baseline abilities are hunter abilities. Their skills are hunter skills. They are trappers, they are scouts, they are trackers. Like it's not even just about "Oh could they make a class" its "Would they even make a class if they could easily implement it as a spec"?

Like you said there are problems currently with the fact that it's locked to a single race. The Necromantic side for the Dark Ranger is obtained by being raised as Forsaken. If they just open that up to give Alliance it as a class, I don't see why they wouldn't just pull some BS like "You don't need to actually die, we're retconning it and having the Dark Rangers just study the necromantic arts now"

Of course then we also have to deal with the stupidity of Blizzard giving a single class 4 DPS specs.

[Evangeliste]

Rangers do not have to be forsaken. You're right, I've never said they do. DARK rangers on the other hand are. That's the distinction. Dark Rangers specifically are Rangers (originally farstrider, but currently they've been adding others, most notably the Night Elves slaughtered on Darkshore) raised as Forsaken.

Like, you have two parts to a Dark Ranger. The skills they get are their ranger base, their tracking, trapping, scouting, etc. Lies in their ranger and therefore hunter origins. The Necromatic part of the dark ranger is the second part, which they get purely from having been raised as Forsaken. Pretty much that's where the "Dark" part of the Dark Ranger comes from. they didn't train, they didn't practice necromatic mastery, they didn't make a deal with a demon to trade their soul for their power. They were raised as Forsaken and just implemented what they gained from being raised into their ranger training.

The issue is you're using Forsaken as an Umbrella term for anyone who is raised into Undeath which disjoints itself from the current Forsaken in terms of as the PC race.
And this is where it all falls down for you. Nathanos is training Undead Humans which you've overlooked one thing. You've failed to notice that, as stated in Legion, these Forsaken Dark Rangers don't favour the traditional effort of bow therefore, you can't use the same spells as the Elven Dark Rangers when the Forsaken Dark Rangers won't be using them.

"These Forsaken hunters appear to favor the woodsman axe and the crossbow in contrast to the bow and arrow typically employed by their undead high elf counterparts."
https://wow.gamepedia.com/Dark_ranger

So all your objective ideals of "the spells transmute to necrotic" is now redundant. While you can say but I said Forsaken!
You can't have Forsaken *only* as you've been trying to dictate. In fact, that opens it up to pretty much other individuals training others in whatever way - they don't need skills prior to transmute into the necrotic end, as well as they can learn different ones to assert the identiy of a Dark Ranger. And one Dark Ranger has taken her own apprentice to do her own training. Which again can defame the sudden deformity of existing spells to from Ranger to Dark Ranger simply because I'm Undead! Whatever race they are, whatever they knew originally and know in Undeath (of they are) and what skills she teaches them expands the identity of capabilities of what a Dark Ranger is.

If I was to run with it further... With Undeath, it's not a sudden gateway to being a master over necrotic abilities or indefinitely change their set of skills forever simply because they are raised into Undeath. It's rather absurd to simply tact on they're "Dark" because they're Undead and it changed them entirely! You don't need to be Undead to learn Necromancy. While Arthas wants a word with you, he will say I used the Light even as I was alive and Undead. I didn't simply change because of dying! I learnt to use these abilities and continued to while changing from a Prince, to a complete bastard.

Yes, it's thematic to say the least, but there is lore that I will use lightly.

This lore shows they must essentially "train" and learn to transmute their abilities into that of their necrotic reflection.
"An elven ranger who dies and returns as a Forsaken undergoes a great shock. She can no longer cast elven ranger spells, and loses her woodland stride ability. While some may choose to let things be, most immediately seek out a dark ranger to relearn their arts.

An elven ranger seeking to convert to a dark ranger must, of course, have died, returned as a Forsaken, and seek to learn the arts of the shadow rather than the wild. This ordeal is difficult, as the dark ranger must twist everything she was taught about nature to start learning her darker trade. Then comes the hard part. A dark ranger-to-be must undergo a lengthy trial, where she unlearns everything she was taught as an elf and learns the new arts of a Forsaken."
https://wowwiki.fandom.com/wiki/Dark_ranger

It will come to no surprise if this lore is galvanised and used since there's not a lot for this particular set of people.

I think you're too focused on the theme of Dark Rangers to the point that you're wilfully cutting out everyone else that can happen. To the point you've not noticed the huge fundamental difference with the possible PC Forsaken Rangers... They don't use bows like Dark Rangers.