All Races All Classes Planned

[Shadowferal]

This change sucks. It removes a lot of race / class identity and lore, just so everyone can be everything. Some things shouldn't exist. Like Tauren Rogues. Or the removal of the faction war. Simply adding choice isn't always the best answer. Flavour, coherence and uniqueness is sometimes more important. Like Shamans and Paladins being unique to respectively the Horde and Alliance in vanilla, or only a select few races being able to be Demon Hunters. These seem like restrictions but they feel right, they add to the uniqueness of the factions, to the uniqueness of the class, etc. Blizzard today is ignoring all of that just to make a bland grey mess.

Fully agree.
Homogenization seems inevitable. It's easy and cheap. And since lore hasn't been a concern since WoD...if they can bank on a core few hundred thousand paying subs at any one time and keep them happy then it's all about maintenance.

[Nork]

Good decision, avatars should serve player agency, not the lore.

People like this fella are killing the game. I hate the fact that players like this guy could have any kind of influence in Blizzard's decisions.

[Tartys]

At this point, nobody plays WoW for the lore anymore. The devs certainly don't care. The roleplay community is pretty much dead compared to the 2013/2014 era.

We care about lore, but many of us are open mind and part of the community dont care about RP rant, expecially when theyr complain are so "obtuse".

Races living together can learn from each other... exacly how Pandaren have teach to be a Monk, it is the natural course of things and there are many way to endle this storywise. We have a Necromancer spot in maldraxxus, where NPC are recluted to learn Necromancy, if in future Blizzard wanna add this as a class, there is no reason why any race can study that.

Actually there is no reason why we can't tap into all kinds of strengths, natural magic, demonic magic, light or shadow... the Cosmology of WoW is made by all this forces but you have to study them.

Using "lore" as an excuse to prevent the natural evolution of things is obtuse. That's sort of thing that makes the RP community unpopular.
Moreover, if for an RP gamer a race/class combo doesn't make any sense, just dont choose it, it's very very simple.

But pretending the "lore" does not evolve, its like claiming that a mage can be only a men with long beard and pointed hat all the time (or elf cant have a darken skin).

An example about same restriction dont make any sense... are the Eredar, that call themself Draenei after they flee from Argus, but as Eredar they can be rogue or lock. How can be possible that changing a name, make them totally unable to became rogue or lock?

Also shamanism, druidism and monks works under the same Cosmology force: Nature and there are not related only to Azeroth.
There are also the new gereration of Draenei born on Azeroth.

During Legion, Draenei have worked alongside with Broken, have meet the Lost One in the Outland, all of them cames from the same race, how can be possible that a single Draenei dont wanna indulge in studying druidism just like happen on Draenor with Shamanism?

Another point are the mixed races, its leterally not possible that mixed races doesnt exist, even if we dont see them (a side from notorius ones), they exist and in the future that can brings new possibility...

The lore, the races are not stuck, they evolve (sometimes not as we expected).


sorry for my bad english.

[Syegfryed]

What "damage" has been done? None actually.

? are you not seeing the amount of complains about their limiting the new race to only one class?

The limit is to keep everyone and their mother from rolling a Drak'thyr in Dragonflight just like how every Horde person practically rolled a High Elf in Burning Crusade

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Yeah that sure help, like making one class exclusive to then, seems like some serious conflict of interests here.

[Every Pwny]

After they added tauren paladins I thought all race/class combos should have been added at that point.

[Lord Pebbleton]

Not against it, if they explain how

[willtron]

It just means WoW just gets worse. Removing restrictions doesn't make it better. It just means Blizz no longer cares to even make the appearance of fixing the game...and since the lore has been flushed down the shitter because...well, it has become shit, anything that made any sense has become nonsense.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh, you mean story and lore shouldn't matter at all?

How does the implementation of say, Orc Paladins affect your enjoyment of the game?

[Hctaz]

What lore prevents an Orc Paladin, or a Goblin Monk? If a Tauren can be a Shadow Priest why not a Mage? Aside from Forsaken Paladin really what Race/Class combos are lorewise forbidden?

Hmm.. I mean, it's less so of an issue now that we have had the Horde and Alliance races working together for so long.

I totally understand some of the restrictions at the start of the MMO. I still prefer that they keep the racial identity and cultures intact, but I also don't think literally every single Orc still thinks something like, "Screw that pansy Paladin nonsense" when they've seen firsthand how powerful Paladins can be and are allied with them.

I think the main problem is that they don't represent the racial cities in a way that makes them feel like they're representative of the cultures.
If Orgrimmar was this MASSIVE city like the size of Suramar or larger and you see all of these orc warriors training and fighting with a teeny tiny subsection of paladins, I think the sense of "Oh, this IS rare but it's here!" would kick in more than just running around and seeing Orc paladins everywhere. Sorta like how Blood Elves were supposed to be all but nearly wiped out except... the horde was like mostly filled with them LOL Really made the other races feel more like they were the minority instead of giving a realistic idea of just how few Blood Elves remain.

[cityguy193]

They need to change the orc racials before allowing them to become priests, they already compromise 80% of all pvp activity, and atleast half of all pve activity, and its not higher because at the moment they cannot be priests or paladins, and thats about to change.

[Ogren]

I know it'll happen eventually, but Tauren Rogues happening before Worgen and Goblin Monks is fuckin' funny to me especially when isolationist races like Nightborne and Kul Tirans have the class at this rate.

Also Mag'har Warlock will be weird to me, their race name literally translates to "uncorrupt" as in they don't like Fel.

[Prenderghast]

Also Mag'har Warlock will be weird to me, their race name literally translates to "uncorrupt" as in they don't like Fel.

This is an interesting one. Whereas other races might also be culturally against fel magic - such as the draenei - the mag'har are in a unique situation where if they use it, they seem to just turn into an already existing race (regular orcs). As races, mag'har and regular orcs seem to be defined as the pre-fel and post-fel versions of each other. This would seem to make a Mag'har Warlock redundant, as at that point they would just be a regular green-skinned orc warlock.

That being said, I'm not against them being able to be warlocks, and maybe they could have some of those unique WOD shadow council customizations or red fel orc skins as Khaza-R suggested earlier in the thread, but it's potentially the most unique warlock situation amongst any of the existing races.

EDIT:
Wow, I used the word "seem" a freaking ton in this post. Need to find me some synonyms.

[Ogren]

This is an interesting one. Whereas other races might also be culturally against fel magic - such as the draenei - the mag'har are in a unique situation where if they use it, they seem to just turn into an already existing race (regular orcs). As races, mag'har and regular orcs seem to be defined as the pre-fel and post-fel versions of each other. This would seem to make a Mag'har Warlock redundant, as at that point they would just be a regular green-skinned orc warlock.

That being said, I'm not against them being able to be warlocks, and maybe they could have some of those unique WOD shadow council customizations or red fel orc skins as Khaza-R suggested earlier in the thread, but it's potentially the most unique warlock situation amongst any of the existing races.

My guess is they will just retcon again for this, would not be beneath them which is why I find this talk about "when it fits the lore" to be a bit of a copout excuse because they're hardly consistent with their lore anyway.

[Eosia]

? are you not seeing the amount of complains about their limiting the new race to only one class?

The WoW Community complaining?!?!? No!!! Never!!! Maybe Blizzard really wants us to try out this new race. But would I given that my favorite race might be Tauren or High Elf for Horde and Human or Night Elf on Alliance? Probably not.

Yeah that sure help, like making one class exclusive to then, seems like some serious conflict of interests here.

And where have they stated that Drak'thyr can only be Evokers and Evokers can only be Drak'thyr in perpetuity? I'll give you the answer... NOWHERE. You already have the answer to the question from Holink's interview with MrGM. Go back and read the summary here on MMO-C where it says "The team wants to move towards a world where the race of a character is not an inhibitor to what class you can play." So you already know eventually they will.

I am perfectly fine with temporary restrictions like this. Because the precedent is already set before with the original DK starting races in which all races, sans Draenewi (but they were included as a lore aberration because it would have been unfair for Alliance to get one less race than Horde since High Elves were available as DKs while Draenei were not around during the Third War. They fixed that problem by writing a new starting experience for them with the timeline moved forward to where Bolvar is the Lich King rather than Arthas, thus removing the lore restriction of the Third War.

They also write little addons to the lore to make other accommodations like Tauren getting their Light powers for Paladin from the Sun or how a group of Night Elves decided to ignore the blanket ban on Arcane magic and thus became Mages. They also tried to keep the Alliance having more Paladin options and Horde more Shaman options than the other faction since they used to be exclusive and that imbalance preserved that concept. But I do feel for the Alliance as they only have 5 options for Shaman whereas Horde has 9 (I am including Pandaren in both counts).

Let's not forget that Demon Hunters can only be Night Elves for Alliance and High Elves for Horde and that restriction is going on 6 years now this coming August. There was a lot of whining back then. Not so much now. Hell, I see people more excited over Tauren Rogues than mad about Evoker's single race restriction.

They need to change the orc racials before allowing them to become priests, they already compromise 80% of all pvp activity, and atleast half of all pve activity, and its not higher because at the moment they cannot be priests or paladins, and thats about to change.

Combat-effective racial abilities really are the major hurdle because there are some big jumps, relatively speaking, between a lot of race/class combos. Like right now on Hero Damage for Elemental Shaman, Tauren is simming the best at 1.55% for Horde while Vulpera are actually simming a -0.31%. So that's an almost 2% DPS gain simply by being a troll vs being a Vulpera.

My guild back in Wrath forced me to change to Orc because it was better for hunter than Tauren. Finally the tables turned an Tauren was simming higher than Orc so I had justification to switch back. But now Orc is top for BM/Surv again with Tauren second for BM/MM and Troll is second for Surv. Troll is #1 for MM now. Thankfully the differences are not so great in most cases though with the biggest one being ~0.5% difference between Orc #1 overall and Tauren #2 overall.

The odd thing is they already knew this was going to be a problem while Vanilla was in development. At least one of the devs had to have played Star Wars Galaxies where there were a lot of Zabraks (Darth Maul's race) running around pre-NGE because of their ability Equilibrium which equalized damage to the Health Action Mind pools and the Dizzy mechanic wasn't an issue for them. With the NGE came the elimination of racial bonuses and such so people were playing what they wanted. And WoW doesn't suffer from some of the problems that SWG had like Wookies who had to wear special armor like Ithorians and did not wear boots and Trandoshans that didn't wear boots or gloves.

Things like gathering/crafting bonuses do not really play much of role in selection of a main's race. Alts maybe like how Tauren/HM Tauren can pick herbs and mine faster respectively would make them more desirable to really maximize efficiency. But even then people will still go with the race they want to play most.

[Aresk]

I don't think we should have everyone be a druid, they have to be deeply... DEEPLY tuned to nature, the wild gods/loa, with the only possible chance would be Vulpera but the Vulpera's background is left as a mystery. Not to mention there's also the stress of creating new original forms for EVERY single race that. One for Boomkin, Cat Form, and Bear Form. (With only some change to the flight/travel form) [And personally, I'm struggling to imagine how a Mechagnome Druid would play out.]

With Paladins, all they have to do is change up their class mount, the Charger to one closely tied to their race... Players will get upset if Blizz just copy pastes races into being a Paladin or a Druid.

If they wanted to stick to strong lore foundations, night elves should've been the only druid, but they opened it up to other races. As shown in the Gilnean starting scenario and Kul'tiran history, a culture does not need to have strong ties to nature in order for individuals to do so. The Gilnean harvest witches, for instance, were not a large sect of their culture, and Kul'tirans had nothing to do with druidism before studying under the one surviving drust. If Zenkiki can become a druid with all his ineptitude, I don't think anyone's really prohibited if they have a strong enough desire to do such.

With respect to mechagnomes, I could see several routes for a mechagnome druid. One could have been forced into mechanization by their king and wish to return to a more natural state, and in seeking some harmony through nature, come across druidism. The other avenue could be through some body dysphoria, where the mechagnome feels they should be something in nature that they are not, and the mechanical alterations to their form is an attempt to bring them more in line with their mental image, but given the sensitive nature of the topic, I'd rather not see Blizzard attempt to tackle that route.

[Ersula]

This change sucks. It removes a lot of race / class identity and lore, just so everyone can be everything.

Some things shouldn't exist. Like Tauren Rogues. Or the removal of the faction war. Simply adding choice isn't always the best answer. Flavour, coherence and uniqueness is sometimes more important. Like Shamans and Paladins being unique to respectively the Horde and Alliance in vanilla, or only a select few races being able to be Demon Hunters. These seem like restrictions but they feel right, they add to the uniqueness of the factions, to the uniqueness of the class, etc.

Blizzard today is ignoring all of that just to make a bland grey mess.

D&D doesn't have race/class restrictions & they're pretty much the definitive RPG experience.

[Aucald]

D&D doesn't have race/class restrictions & they're pretty much the definitive RPG experience.

D&D used to, though; back in the 2nd and 3rd editions. Some classes were explicitly restricted to certain races, but most classes had a top-end level they could reach instead of open progression, depending on your character's race. For example, in the 2nd edition dwarves, elves, and gnomes couldn't be Bards at all, and could only be a max of level 10, 12, and 9 respectively as Priests. Only humans had unlimited potential for all the basic classes. This changed later on, with the current system having no real limitations and only thematic (DM's preference) limitations left in place.

[shoc]

I know it'll happen eventually, but Tauren Rogues happening before Worgen and Goblin Monks is fuckin' funny to me especially when isolationist races like Nightborne and Kul Tirans have the class at this rate.

Also Mag'har Warlock will be weird to me, their race name literally translates to "uncorrupt" as in they don't like Fel.

Wait, why are the Mag'har Orcs called Mag'har if they are from the alternate universe Draenor that never fell to the Legion in the first place?

Uncorrupted Orcs in the MU being called 'uncorrupted' makes sense given the whole race was basically corrupted save a few but the Alt. Draenor Orcs never suffered the same fate, they are just Orcs.

[Ersula]

D&D used to, though; back in the 2nd and 3rd editions. Some classes were explicitly restricted to certain races, but most classes had a top-end level they could reach instead of open progression, depending on your character's race. For example, in the 2nd edition dwarves, elves, and gnomes couldn't be Bards at all, and could only be a max of level 10, 12, and 9 respectively as Priests. Only humans had unlimited potential for all the basic classes. This changed later on, with the current system having no real limitations and only thematic (DM's preference) limitations left in place.

I think you're thinking of first & the earliest drafts of the 2nd editions: Definitely wasn't in the 3rd edition. Those were about 40 years ago my dude. They got rid of it because it was a bad idea.

[Aucald]

I think you're thinking of first & the earliest drafts of the 2nd editions: Definitely wasn't in the 3rd edition. Those were about 40 years ago my dude. They got rid of it because it was a bad idea.

I can't rightly recall if it was in 3rd edition, never actually played it myself. Played 1st and 2nd when I was a teenager, and now 5th edition some 30 years later on. I do remember the old restrictions, though, and the above ones are straight from the 2nd edition Player's Handbook tables (at least the one I own). But I agree, it was a bad idea, and opening up class/race choices is for the net good of both D&D and WoW.

[doodle90]

Pretty much :|

Can't wait for Void Elf Paladins...because that will make sense. Lightforged Warlocks...because why not? Goblin Demon Hunters...because nothing says sacrifice like a selfish greedy race? Mechagnome Druids...because when you think nature you think of someone so cut off from nature they make their body artificial

Uh Goblin DH crave for power? Void elf paladin, Disc priest ring a bell? Lightforge warlock, Illidan in Legion ? Was a warlock before becoming light forged?