Would you be ok with the return of classes split by Faction?

[nnelson54]

The general consensus of the Vanilla crowd is they preferred it when Pallies were Alliance exclusive and Shaman was Horde exclusive

I've never heard anyone who actually played and raided with any seriousness in Vanilla ever say that. Paladins were so ridiculously better for your raid than Shaman that with the exception of Vodka and Nihilism(and I'm fairly certain if faction changes were allowed back then guilds like those would have faction changed) there were no serious Horde raiding guilds in the world first race. It was a nice idea in theory to give the factions something exclusive, but in practice it was a complete and utter disaster. It is literally impossible to 100% balance two different classes without making them exactly the same. Just look at the current state of the racial bonuses. Horde bonuses are 1-2% better for PvE and there was such a massive influx of progression raiding guilds feeling like they had to faction swap to keep up that Blizzard said they considered revamping all of the Alliance racials to make them more attractive for raiders.

At best you could get away with how the Old Republic handles it. A Sith Juggernaut and a Jedi Guardian or a Sith Assassin and a Jedi Shadow are exactly the same class with exactly the same abilities, just with different names and animations to make them feel more dark or light side. But even that is a waste of developer time.

- - - Updated - - -

The main reason for opening Shaman and Paladins to both factions no longer applies, which is/was their buffs. But since all of those unique buffs are no longer unique or even in the game it doesn't matter any more.

(Did you know that Heroism was originally going to be a Paladin spell? That was Blizzard's initial solution to the Bloodlust problem)


I always thought it was good to have some classes unique to certain factions.

There was no "bloodlust problem". Bloodlust and Heroism were added to the game at the same time.

[Dazzy]

I would like it, but I've always been against homogenization. I'd rather bring the class than bring the player.

The problem would be blizzard is pro-homogenization so even if they did split races with new classes, they would be identical play-wise, just with different names.

[Shamanberry]

The reason it didn't work the first time is because it severely hindered Paladin and Shaman development. To a large extent, the question wasn't just "what's best for shamans", but "What can we do to give Shamans something equal to the capability of Paladins without just copying the ability..." (and vice versa). It also prevented them from implementing some abilities because it would given one faction or another a distinct advantage - for example Thunderstorm would have likely never been implemented because it would give the Horde a distinct advantage on fights that involve knockbacks.

Also remember that when they had separate classes, hybrids were strictly healers for max-level content. It was easy enough to balance the two when both were always healers/buffbots... but would have been much worse moving into a concept where hybrid classes could play other specs besides healing (Alliance would have had an extra tank, Horde would have had an extra ranged DPS, for example).

The end result of diversity between factions was more homogenization, not less. Doing it again would create the same problems.

[rebecca191]

No, it would make PvE tuning too obnoxious.

[Eucep]

I personally still think all classes should be there for all races. However, they would only fit if they allowed for 'variations'. Like Forsaken Paladins would be Forsaken Dreadguards, same skills and abilities, just different names.

[Melorandor]

I wouldn't mind cosmetics to certain Race/class combos.

[Deleted]

I liked it in Vanilla and I'd like it now, except that the level of whining that would come with it would be apocalyptic.

[Hilde]

Even though I clearly play both factions, no. Having them separated lorewise is nice though, such as humans vs tauren etc. Maybe some visual or cosmetic things could be different though such as heroism/bloodlust.

[TheWindWalker]

The main issue is balancing it. Horde racials already make it so that the major guilds aiming for world firsts are overwhelmingly Horde. If it turned out that being an Orc Warrior instead made you a Blademaster and Blademasters just happened to be slightly unbalanced so that when pared with the right burst trinkets and Orc racial they could out DPS any other race's warriors, that would effectively ruin the Warrior class for anyone not an Orc.

[Aurabolt]

...Don't fact-check my obviously dated info.

Especially when it's obviously dated >.>;

[Flaks]

ANYTHING to add flavor back into the game. This game is way WAY too streamlined.

[Xalzel]

I think it would be cool if they changed the names of classes along with some visuals to be unique per race ie. Belf pallies become blood knights with blood magic visuals. But as far as mechanical difference? No, the shammy pally split in vanilla was horrible, faction balance was impossible with only 1 or 2 specs being good. Basically, imagine not being able to run a pally tank in your raid. ALL the top guilds in PvE would be alliance (racials cause this aswell but pally tanks > any racial in terms of power)

[Rilas13]

Yes, I think its a great idea and have put a lot of thought into this lately actually.
There are a lot of positive variables out of this, by and large getting rid of every single hybrid in the game.
I.e. Druids(known as jack of all trades, master of none) originally couldn't do anything the best. People didn't like that their class wasn't as good so they balanced their specs up. Before Wow, in lore we saw druids on able to form into one thing. Not everything. Warcraft 3 there were druids of the Talon. Druids of the Claw. And this is something that could have been made for wow. Each class would be based off of the classes already in the game but everything have a much more specific roll. So if you rolled a Druid of the claw, you are playing a bear tank. You can't decide to be a healer one day.

Dwarf Mountain kings! Blood Elf Blood Knights, Undead Dark Ranger, Orc Blademaster, Human Knight, Human Crusader, Troll Witch Doctor, Orc Farseer, Tauren Warrior. This list can keep going on and on. Blizzard has already made all of these classes in previous games. They simply streamlined classes in wow for simplicity.

[cityguy193]

No. No. No. No.

Adding them back in does not create flavor, it creates an imbalance.

[Bad Ashe]

no, because i'm OCD about having one of everything. and i really hate playing horde.

[Aurabolt]

Dwarf Mountain kings! Blood Elf Blood Knights, Undead Dark Ranger, Orc Blademaster, Human Knight, Human Crusader, Troll Witch Doctor, Orc Farseer, Tauren Warrior. This list can keep going on and on.

I agree. The changes would mostly be text after all. Blood Elf Arcanist and Night Elf Priestess/Steward (Female/Male NELF Priest) are two more I just thought of =D

[Wazooty]

Nah, but I would like for classes of different races to have unique visuals/names.

[Sj]

It added flavor to the factions, but I think the game has evolved past the point where something like this would work again. If they did the whole Sunwalker/Blood Knight thing but more prominently (like actually showing that as the class name and maybe changing the names of a few spells) I wouldn't mind that.

[Punisher069]

I've been wanting them to do this for a while. Mostly with the tauren priests and paladins. Call them Seers and Sunwalkers like lore says they are. And troll priests should probably be Witch Doctors or some such. Draenei paladins should be Vindicators and Blood Elf paladins should be Blood Knights.

I would beyond love that.

[Mormolyce]

Eh, balancing nightmare. More so now than in Vanilla (at least back then each class had a lot less uniqueness and utility).

- - - Updated - - -

I've been wanting them to do this for a while. Mostly with the tauren priests and paladins. Call them Seers and Sunwalkers like lore says they are. And troll priests should probably be Witch Doctors or some such. Draenei paladins should be Vindicators and Blood Elf paladins should be Blood Knights.

And Night Elf Warlocks get to be Demon Hunters?