Why are there no new classes in Shadowlands?!

[lassner]

The classes have never, and will never be balanced. This argument comes from people who suck at PvP and blame the game instead of their personal skill.

New classes are needed in games like WoW because it benefits the game to have new ways to play through the content.

agree 100%

i will never understand how this was ever an argument against new classes.

was vanilla wow class design balanced, or any other expansion after that?

would there be a balance if blizzard would have never added a single new class but made all the other changes to the game regardless?

no, that would not have been the case either way, remove all the new classes or add 10 new ones, it makes no difference at all in terms of balance.

look at other games that feature multiple classes with very strict rules when it comes to casual and, more importantly, competetive pvp:

they all (or most of them) add new classes over time and there is not a single one with an absolute perfect balance

would you rather have LoL, dota2, rainbow six siege with only like 5 classes?

how fun would that be after 12+ years? (talking about wows life span)

a new class can be very beneficial to all players, if its a hybrid like a paladin for example, the least you would probably get out of it is another possible tank for your 5man dungeon group and shorter queue times (among a ton of other things of course)

so yes, add a new class with each expansion, hell...add 3 new classes each, go all out at this point...

[Wolfrick]

I do have a necromancer concept linked in my sig if you're curious about my idea.

nice, like your ideas, lets hope blizzard see the awesomeness of making a necromancer class and how neede it is for Warcraft, since its a very common class around the world.

[Marrilaife]

The classes have never, and will never be balanced. This argument comes from people who suck at PvP and blame the game instead of their personal skill.

New classes are needed in games like WoW because it benefits the game to have new ways to play through the content.

Some people don't care about pvp.

Some people also don't care to be constantly told to ditch their main since vanilla / tbc / whatever other expansion because new shiny class appeared and made their old one obsolete.

Havoc DH is an egregious example of hoarding melee spots to the point basically half the melee specs are unwanted in m+ and mythic raiding. Rogues and to some extent warriors are doing fine, other classes not so. Just because havoc DH is an overloaded spec with no weaknesses.

[Heladys]

They have plenty of classes that don't work properly already, thanks.

[Watchers]

You can't add a new class, if you are not able to balance all the others classes.

of course you can, they have been doing it for 15 years

[Balir]

Usually Blizz like to have a HUGE relevance to an expac to introduce a new class. Obviously we got DKs for WotLK - clearly an easy choice, Monks for MoP - easy choice (one mistake however, they should've been a hero class) and lastly Demon Hunters for Legion - once again, very easy pick. With Shadowlands (imho) there are currently to many other classes that could dip into what a "necromancer" class could have - DKs, Warlocks, Shadow Priests etc.

Now, I think it would be a better option to give 4th specs to classes. Some are soooooo easy - Rogues = Ranged spec, Shaman = Tank spec, Priests = Melee spec, Warriors - Gladiator spec (done right this time), Monks - Ranged Spec and more.

Blizz has said they want to bring back what makes a Class unique, so that is probably their big work on for SL.

[tangers58]

They cant keep adding classes every expansion, theres just so many ideas of how to make a class work and play. Plus each class added just makes the balancing even more of a nightmare. Its simply not viable.

Its quite viable, FF14 has never added fewer than 2 per expansion, and all but one expansion has had 3. WoW manages 1 every 4 years or so

- - - Updated - - -

As the title says, why are we not getting a new class. The way expansions worked in the past has been quite consistant.

Vanilla - all original classes and races
BC - New races
Wrath - New class
Cata - New races
MoP - Both new class and race
WoD - nothing due to MoP offering both
Legion - New class
End of Legion, Almost all of BFA - New races.

In keeping with tradition, we should be getting either a new class or both a class and race. I wonder what gives. I did see a youtube video where someone alluded to a new class (necromancer) but I think that is doubtful. Does anyone else think there might or might not be a new race for a specific reason. I personally wanted a new class but I know that an overhaul of the current classes and leveling is more important. Let me know what yall think.

Activison has been in cutback mode since late 2018. You aren't getting anything that can't be easily and cheaply adapted from existing systems. Which is why there is really nothing new at all in shadowlands.

[Syegfryed]

Usually Blizz like to have a HUGE relevance to an expac to introduce a new class. Obviously we got DKs for WotLK - clearly an easy choice, Monks for MoP - easy choice (one mistake however, they should've been a hero class) and lastly Demon Hunters for Legion - once again, very easy pick. With Shadowlands (imho) there are currently to many other classes that could dip into what a "necromancer" class could have - DKs, Warlocks, Shadow Priests etc.

Now, I think it would be a better option to give 4th specs to classes. Some are soooooo easy - Rogues = Ranged spec, Shaman = Tank spec, Priests = Melee spec, Warriors - Gladiator spec (done right this time), Monks - Ranged Spec and more.

Blizz has said they want to bring back what makes a Class unique, so that is probably their big work on for SL.

shadowlands should obviously and definitely bring the necromancer, finally a full cloth caster who totally match the expansion and could have the thematic based around the different bad afterlife that we saw there

but, laziness won then this time

[cocomen2]

They have plenty of classes that don't work properly already, thanks.

This is from last "Class Balance Changes" , and i hope that you can see a pattern just by using yours brain - "NO new classes" not means they willing to fix existing ones.

These 3% feels like biggest BS in face of shaman players since "shaman skill got new Icon" in 2.4.3 (LIKE what a hell , why others can have free 5% ... but shaman is ..... )

Upcoming Class Balance Changes - February 25, 2020

We’re working on a series of hotfixes to adjust class balance. We currently plan to implement the following changes with weekly maintenance (the morning of February 25 in this region):

Classes

• Druid
• Restoration
  
  • Rejuvenation now costs 10% base mana (from 10.5%).
  • Efflorescence now costs 17% base mana (from 21.6%).
  • Tranquility direct healing increased 11%.
    
    • Developers’ notes: These changes should improve Restoration Druid’s raid healing output, without much impact to their already strong capabilities in dungeons and Arenas.
• Hunter
• Marksmanship
  
  • Damage of all abilities increased by 5%.
• Monk
• Windwalker
  
  • Damage of all abilities increased by 5%.
• Mage
• Frost
  
  • Damage of all abilities increased by 5%.
• Shaman
• Enhancement
  
  • Damage of all abilities increased by 3%.
• Warlock
• Demonology
  
  • Damage of all abilities increased by 5%.

[Gyrotex]

As the title says, why are we not getting a new class. The way expansions worked in the past has been quite consistant.

Vanilla - all original classes and races
BC - New races
Wrath - New class
Cata - New races
MoP - Both new class and race
WoD - nothing due to MoP offering both
Legion - New class
End of Legion, Almost all of BFA - New races.

In keeping with tradition, we should be getting either a new class or both a class and race. I wonder what gives. I did see a youtube video where someone alluded to a new class (necromancer) but I think that is doubtful. Does anyone else think there might or might not be a new race for a specific reason. I personally wanted a new class but I know that an overhaul of the current classes and leveling is more important. Let me know what yall think.

Do you really wonder (then you're quite naive), or just wanted a nice discussion (which I don't mind)?

Because adding a new class is the most expensive feature of any expansion, and they are running low budget now.

[Zyky]

I wonder what gives.

What gives is they already can't balance what they have in the game, adding new classes only makes that worse.

[cparle87]

Why are people mad that there's no new class? You want to open a whole new can of worms by introducing yet another class that is sure to be OP at the start, meanwhile everyone is crying that the game needs a lot of fixing (most of it is true, let's not kid ourselves).

No new class. -> Why?
New class. -> WTF, FIX THE GAME FIRST!

No winning. Let's hope they fix the game, worry about additional classes later on.

Considering almost a full expansion later demon hunters are still in their "OP as they were in the xpac they were released in" stage I'll be glad we get no new classes. Last thing we need is 2 OP classes roflstomping everyone else.

[Puthred]

WoD had no new race because it fixed the current races, updating them all
shadowlands is the same, no new class cause they are instead focusing on fixing the current classes.

"Fixing classes"

oof.

[bryroo]

I would guess budget cuts for both time and money.

"Fixing classes"

oof.

If Covenant abilities dont turn out to be a balancing nightmare I'll eat my hat

[ArkantosChampion]

of course you can, they have been doing it for 15 years

Yes, but the last couple years between classes in PVP and PVE - are an incredible disbalance

[Penegal]

Considering almost a full expansion later demon hunters are still in their "OP as they were in the xpac they were released in" stage I'll be glad we get no new classes. Last thing we need is 2 OP classes roflstomping everyone else.

Of course. Fix what you have, then add new stuff.

[Fetus Rex]

They are cutting specialisation flavour and you expect them to put money in new classes? We are going to get patch worth addition of new customisation options and that's it.

[KainneAbsolute]

I think SW was rushed and they focus more on systems and world. In addition, they will change leveling. Maybe thats why they wont focus on a new class

[Fullmetal89]

Why the hell do people still give a shit about balance in this game? Especially when we live in the era of metas and cookie cutter builds. At this point, the only thing keeping Blizzard from dumping a new class every new expansion is entirely based on the cost to develop one. The company is no longer run by people who care about what is 'healthy for the game' rather by people who only care about maintaining a steady cash flow. They will only start adding classes to the game when they feel like the bare minimum, see WoD/BfA/Shadowlands, is no longer sufficient to maintain a tidy profit margin. It's pretty basic cost allocation. Why bother putting more money into a dying game that at this point has a fixed number of subscribers that will never quit because they have sunk too much time/money into the game. Forget about the days when we got a new class or race per expansion. They have no reason to advertise the game outside of the community that already support it. Especially when you have so many people that unironically think "it's fine this way, they don't have to add anything new." At this point, I am so jaded and cynical about Blizzard that I wouldn't put it past them to add 'hero' classes to the game store. Something like skins for existing classes that use a handful of new art assets and are repackaged as something 'new.'

[Xeenith]

I don't understand why people talk about necromancer for shadowlands...
necromancer= deal with dead bodies
shadowlands = afterlife with only souls
can't be more different than holy priest and fury warrior ^^