Originally Posted by
Triceron
Which is part of your problem. You're taking a very narrow view of what potential new classes can be without considering how classes have been approached overall. You're deciding that what was okay for Vanilla is not okay for modern WoW based on arbitrary patterns. Again, as I've pointed out, you're employing logic of the same people who argued against Demon Hunters being playable because of arbitrary patterns.
Be it 'Theme' or 'Gameplay' or 'It wasn't a Warcraft 3 Hero', all of these talking points are completely bogus.
Classes aren't added to the game because we need more gameplay options. Classes are added to the game as a shiny big new feature to draw the crowd in. That's their only purpose, and you can see by the way Blizzard has designed expansions and classes that the class is meant to hype up the expansion.
When it comes down to the question of whether we need any new class in the game, we're coming up to the point where the answer is No, we don't. We get a new class every 2 expansions, and Shadowlands should have given us a new class, be it something themed to SL like Necromancer or Dark Ranger, or hell even give us a Tinker and bypass the Shadowlands theme entirely in favour of Undermine. We see now that Covenants is a perfectly viable option in lieu of a new class, and Shadowlands has had considerable hype around its release without a class.
When we consider any new class, popularity and demand is a big part of that conversation. Why? Because there's no reason why a Demon Hunter should have been made playable if we consider the merits of Themes and Gameplay. What new Themes does the Demon Hunter provide that aren't covered in the game? None. Warlocks, Rogues and Monks already provide all the theme needed. What new gameplay did they provide? Practically none, since it absorbed a slew of mechanics taken from Monks and Warlocks. It is the only class designed with 2 specs as well, which shows how limited their design is. Did we have other less popular options that would have had better gameplay or design, with a unique theme? Yes, we had plenty of other concepts like a Bard or a Tinker or even a Dragonsworn. Why choose a 4th Leather-wearing Dual Wielding Melee class instead of a Tinker who could easily be Mail-wearing and provide a completely new Tech theme that isn't in the game?
Popularity and demand.
One *must* consider the popularity and demand as a significant factor when addressing class concepts. We can't just blindly talk about Apothecaries as though they'll ever be made without considering their actual value to Blizzard themselves. Are Apothecaries highly identifiable? No, not really. That alone takes this option out of the picture. A significant value to understanding what class could be added is understanding whether Blizzard would value it as a marketable feature. There are some classes that are simply more marketable than others, and part of that is using the feature to hype up the expansion.
So in order to evaluate what new class we get, we also have to frame it under what potential new expansions we get. As Blizzard devs have stated in Shadowlands, a big reason why they *didn't* add a new class is because nothing jumped out at them that fit Shadowlands' setting and story the way the Demon Hunter did for Legion. So we know there is a significant merit to tying in classes that are thematic to an expansion.
This is why I personally value the Dragonsworn higher than the Tinker, since we know Dragon Isles are an upcoming place to explore. I think the Tinker has more merit of becoming playable because it has more general demand surrounding it, but I find it difficult to see Blizzard working them into any particular expansion theme. And of course, my 'exception to the rule' for all of this would be Class Skins, since I personally think they could insert a half-dozen class concepts together regardless of any expansion theme the same way Allied Races aren't tied to any specific BFA theme; they're just there to participate in the Horde/Alliance war for 'reasons'.