The Bard will be the next class in WoW. Here's why...

[Thimagryn]

Yeah, Tinker seems like the most likely choice. Game doesn't need another DW Melee class like a DH, and the Bard just doesn't fit WoW. My money's on the Tinker class being next.

Tinker was also a melee Hero in Warcraft 3.

[Vagician]

Trying to balance the game around the existing classes is bad enough without adding another to the fray, as much as people want to play the class they so badly think should be implemented I do think that monks should stay the last class to be added.

[BedlamBros]

Tinker was also a melee Hero in Warcraft 3.

Yeah, but Blizzard has shown that it is capable of physical ranged abilities. HotS furthers that concept. You could use melee for tanking, physical ranged for DPS, and toss in a healing spec.

Just seems to have more potential for new gameplay mechanics than the DH, and seems more WoW-friendly than the Bard.

[Thimagryn]

Yeah, but Blizzard has shown that it is capable of physical ranged abilities. HotS furthers that concept. You could use melee for tanking, physical ranged for DPS, and toss in a healing spec.

Just seems to have more potential for new gameplay mechanics than the DH, and seems more WoW-friendly than the Bard.

Every class has potential when you consider Blizzard can give them themes that they didn't originally have in Warcraft 3. Just as Death Knights don't only use Necromancy, they also use Frost and Blood; and Monks aren't just Brewmasters, they're Windwalkers and Mistweavers.

Whenever anyone says the Demon Hunter's theme is too narrow, they're only talking about one spec out of a whole new class. The identity of the class will encompass all 3 specs, just as Priests aren't simply Holy Magic users. They also use Shadow Magic and that is a part of their Priest identity. It's not as if Blizzard is tied to the concept that Demon Hunters have to get 3 Demon-based specs. Even the Warlock, who is so heavily themed with Demons, has only 1 demon-based spec.

[minteK917]

I see no reason given on why a bard would exist. This is even more unlikely than Demon hunters/tinker, which wont happen either. Nowhere in the old lore is there ever mention of anything like bards. This thread is called wishful thinking, you arent some detective that found out some ground breaking clues. You know nothing, unlike what the title is trying to say. If you want to speculate about what you would like to see, fine, however stop mentioned it as anything else than wishful thinking.

[hrugner]

Nowhere in the old lore is there ever mention of anything like bards.

This isn't the case. We have naga sirens who use songs to facinate, silence and compel as well as war drummers and war drums that empower others. Then there's a smattering of other characters that either are exactly bards such as hearthsinger foresten or lore focused individuals like the lore walkers.

I agree that there is no reason to think they'd be the next class, but they have an advantage over tinker and demon hunters as being almost completely untapped by any type of player ability.

[Teriz]

This isn't the case. We have naga sirens who use songs to facinate, silence and compel as well as war drummers and war drums that empower others. Then there's a smattering of other characters that either are exactly bards such as hearthsinger foresten or lore focused individuals like the lore walkers.

I agree that there is no reason to think they'd be the next class, but they have an advantage over tinker and demon hunters as being almost completely untapped by any type of player ability.

Warriors have shouts. Priests have Hymns and Prayers. Both sound based abilities, and encompass a big part of what makes a bard a bard.

Which class is housing tinker-style/technology abilities?

[diamondjim]

Warriors have shouts. Priests have Hymns and Prayers. Both sound based abilities, and encompass a big part of what makes a bard a bard.

Which class is housing tinker-style/technology abilities?

Priest and warriors are different from a bard. Also do NOT derail this thread in to another tinker/technology thread IT HAS nothing to do with bards

[Darsithis]

I apologize for not getting into it earlier...

...this thread is not about a Tinker class. Stop.

[Teriz]

Priest and warriors are different from a bard. Also do NOT derail this thread in to another tinker/technology thread IT HAS nothing to do with bards

Priests and Warriors both have sound based abilities. That kind of eliminates the need for a bard class.

I wasn't attempting to derail the thread. I was responding to the quote. Stop being paranoid.

[diamondjim]

Priests and Warriors both have sound based abilities. That kind of eliminates the need for a bard class.

I wasn't attempting to derail the thread. I was responding to the quote. Stop being paranoid.

Priests, Paladins, Druids, Monks have healing based abilities.

X Classes have Melle based abilities.

X Classes have ranged abilities.

Stop Grasping at straws

[Thimagryn]

Priests and Warriors both have sound based abilities. That kind of eliminates the need for a bard class.

I wasn't attempting to derail the thread. I was responding to the quote. Stop being paranoid.

I don't see how that prevents Bards from existing. Priests and Warriors don't sing.

[Teriz]

Priests, Paladins, Druids, Monks have healing based abilities.

X Classes have Melle based abilities.

X Classes have ranged abilities.

Stop Grasping at straws

Healing, melee, and ranged are roles and combat ranges. It has nothing to do with what we're talking about.

We're talking songs, shouts, and other sound abilities already existing in current classes.

So why do we need a class that focuses on sound abilities?

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I don't see how that prevents Bards from existing. Priests and Warriors don't sing.

Hymn is synonymous with song.

[hrugner]

Warriors have shouts. Priests have Hymns and Prayers. Both sound based abilities, and encompass a big part of what makes a bard a bard.

These abilities show how a little bit of this type of magic can help a warrior or priest support themselves and others, but they don't really explore that type of magic as much as they show that it exists. You can't play a shout based warrior or a hymn based priest, that just isn't a thing. The only real place where you see a character entirely based around song and sound is with the NPCs I mentioned.

Also, you missed the DK horn of winter.

[Thimagryn]

Hymn is synonymous with song.

And plainsong or Gregorian chants. Which are about as melodic as belching the alphabet.

Hymns are a Priest thing. Bards wouldn't be using Hymns or Shouts, they would be using Songs.

[Teriz]

And plainsong or Gregorian chants. Which are about as melodic as belching the alphabet.

Hymns are a Priest thing. Bards wouldn't be using Hymns or Shouts, they would be using Songs.

What's the difference? Wouldn't shouting (war cries), hymns, and other sound-based abilities be all part of this bard class?

Why do we need this class if we already have two classes that shout and sing? Just give Priests more hymns.

All of this wasted on a concept that is already present in the current class lineup. Meanwhile, we have other concepts completely absent from the class lineup.

[Thimagryn]

No they wouldn't, because Warcries are Warrior abilities and Hymns are Priest abilities. We're already shown that Warriors using sound are different from Priests using sound. And by that right, why couldn't Bards? We don't use Ghost Wolf to define Druids, and we don't use Water Elementals to define Shamans. I don't see why you're saying Bards would have anything other than their own spells and mechanics.

If Priests had a full spec dedicated to Hymns, then maybe you'd have something to work on. But as you say, we're not talking about individual abilities, we're talking about themes and design space.

[hrugner]

What's the difference? Wouldn't shouting (war cries), hymns, and other sound-based abilities be all part of this bard class?

Why do we need this class if we already have two classes that shout and sing? Just give Priests more hymns.

All of this wasted on a concept that is already present in the current class lineup. Meanwhile, we have other concepts completely absent from the class lineup.

We don't need any new classes. If I were redesigning wow from the ground up, I'd cut down the amount of classes and leave the current class distinction up to customization options. What is "needed" isn't a very fruitful direction of inquiry.

You could add more songs to priests, but that would come at the risk of diluting the class and over crowding their tool bar. Making songs a part of a genuine skill base would probably require longer channeled abilities as well, and there simply isn't room in the priest classes active ability set to include longer channeled abilities without turning off all their other healing abilities. You could come up with something similar to the shadow spec and cram that into the class, but priests aren't currently suffering from the lack of spec diversity on the same level that other classes do.

What exactly is the purpose of adding more song spells to priests other than to make a type of ability prevalent enough in their tool set to cover that ability type?

Honestly, the question is pretty absurd.

[Teriz]

No they wouldn't, because Warcries are Warrior abilities and Hymns are Priest abilities. We're already shown that Warriors using sound are different from Priests using sound. And by that right, why couldn't Bards? We don't use Ghost Wolf to define Druids, and we don't use Water Elementals to define Shamans. I don't see why you're saying Bards would have anything other than their own spells and mechanics.

Because their spells and mechanics already exist in current classes.

The ONLY thing that worked in the bard's favor for class inclusion was that no class uses sound-based abilities. Now that that has been squashed, why bring this class into the game? We've already established that it doesn't fit in WoW. We've already established that its purpose as a support class has no place in the game. Now we've established that Warriors and Priests already possess their theme.

If Priests had a full spec dedicated to Hymns, then maybe you'd have something to work on. But as you say, we're not talking about individual abilities, we're talking about themes and design space.

But they have hymns. They also have prayers, words, pleas, chastising, etc. So if Blizzard wants to introduce more singing-based gameplay, they'll just slap it into the priest class.

Warriors already have several shout abilities too. Further making an entire class using shouts, singing, hymns, etc. pointless.

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We don't need any new classes. If I were redesigning wow from the ground up, I'd cut down the amount of classes and leave the current class distinction up to customization options. What is "needed" isn't a very fruitful direction of inquiry.

A pointless argument since that isn't the case, and that the game will receive at least one more class. So since we will get at least one more class, a better argument is what new class would be unique thematically, and provide new gameplay? Bards don't provide that, since their theme and gameplay is already present in existing classes.

You could add more songs to priests, but that would come at the risk of diluting the class and over crowding their tool bar. Making songs a part of a genuine skill base would probably require longer channeled abilities as well, and there simply isn't room in the priest classes active ability set to include longer channeled abilities without turning off all their other healing abilities. You could come up with something similar to the shadow spec and cram that into the class, but priests aren't currently suffering from the lack of spec diversity on the same level that other classes do.

What exactly is the purpose of adding more song spells to priests other than to make a type of ability prevalent enough in their tool set to cover that ability type?

Honestly, the question is pretty absurd.

The purpose would be blizzard's need and desire to have a song-based gameplay in WoW. If that is Blozzard's desire, they'll just add more songs to the Priest class. Why add an entirely "new" class when you can simply restructure Holy Priests to be singers that can heal?

[Ielenia]

A pointless argument since that isn't the case, and that the game will receive at least one more class.

Stop posting opinions as facts. The only way it would be a 'fact' if there were an empty slot in the class selection screen with a '?' on it with a 'To Be Announced' tooltip.

If that is Blozzard's desire, they'll just add more songs to the Priest class.

Or create a new class for it, if they think it's the way to go?

Why add an entirely "new" class when you can simply restructure Holy Priests to be singers that can heal?

Why not add a new class instead of completely changing Holy Priests? Holy Priests aren't singers. They have two 'hymns', that doesn't make them spellsong-themed. Warriors don't have 3 'shout' specs because all 3 specs have shouts.