Why Dark Ranger will be the next class added to World of Warcraft.

[Saverem]

This. I totally agree.

Also, if Blizzard wants a hero class, they bring it, if it works for them. THAT is the only thing that makes a Hero Class possible. Blizz wants it. We can argue and everyone has his own personal favorite. We can only hope that we get lucky and get that class. Sure, some are in high demand now (I read a lot about Tinker), since vanilla i want to play a Blademaster. I see signs everywhere, since bc. I still see them. Still wont make them do it, if they dont want to. As stated before, I just hope i get lucky.

Exactly. The class has to tie in with the central theme of the expansion. DKs, Monks, and DHs were all part of the core of their expansions. Unless we get a Tinkertown expansion, we won't be seeing Tinkers... Now that I think about it, a Tinkertown does sound pretty cool...

[Teriz]

Dark rangers are currently seen as exclusive to Sylvanas Forsaken. The the core concept of druids was specifically male Night Elves who can shapeshift into animals. Over time, the Druid races and forms have expanded beyond Night Elves and animals.

You say Wicker druid bears is acceptable because they already have tree form - but this is a concept added in TBC, not originally a part of the animal based lore. New ideas shift our entire perspective of a class. Plantlife works because it fits a broader concept that already exists. The question is how far will it go. Drust forms are technically dead trees, so does that mean druids can turn into skeletons too in the future? Food for thought.

Well not really. Keeper of the Grove had a branch for an arm, could summon trees, and surround himself with thorns. The ancients also were living trees that could perform a myriad of tasks for the night elf faction. Being able to transform into a tree was a pretty logical step. We also shouldn't forget that Druids were based on multiple WC3 units. The Dark Ranger is just one unit, hence its narrow design space.

It's no different than the Demon Hunter. Blizzard didn't stray too far away from the WC3 and HotS iterations.

Dark Rangers using void, voodoo, divine, arcane or whatever magic is expanding the core concept - a Magic using Phys ranged DPS themed around darkness. This archetype has infinite possibilities.

Voodoo and Divine are quite a bit outside what a Dark Ranger would be capable of doing. Combining the Shadow Hunter with a Dark Ranger makes no logical sense.

As for worrying about gameplay... Theme is all that matters. There is no such thing as Death Knight gameplay other than what Blizzard decides to give them. Their original concept had 3 tank 3 dps specs, and look at how that changed. They had ideas for Necromancer and Runemaster and absorbed it all into one package. Take a DK, retheme it with dragons and you get a Dragon Knight.

Yeah, because the original WC3 hero could raise the dead, and used Runic blades.

Who knows, the Dark Ranger might be a culmination of other unused class concepts that never see the light of day. They could take a Bard, remove the instruments and replace it with the dark edginess of the Dark Ranger, replacing songs with banshee wails and group buffs with antimagic and enemy debuffs. They could take a look at a Necromancer and give its unused summoning and shadowy components to the Dark Ranger. Hell, they could make a full caster spec out of a Banshee form ala Metamorphosis. The Dark Ranger can be the class that binds Bard-like concepts and themes it around the death wails of the Banshees. All that's left is filling the gaps with lore.

Highly doubtful. Nothing in the Dark Ranger hero unit, or within the last 14 years of WoW indicates anything like that.

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Exactly. The class has to tie in with the central theme of the expansion. DKs, Monks, and DHs were all part of the core of their expansions. Unless we get a Tinkertown expansion, we won't be seeing Tinkers... Now that I think about it, a Tinkertown does sound pretty cool...

Undermine expansion.

[Thimagryn]

Well not really. Keeper of the Grove had a branch for an arm, could summon trees, and surround himself with thorns. The ancients also were living trees that could perform a myriad of tasks for the night elf faction. Being able to transform into a tree was a pretty logical step. We also shouldn't forget that Druids were based on multiple WC3 units. The Dark Ranger is just one unit, hence its narrow design space.

It's no different than the Demon Hunter. Blizzard didn't stray too far away from the WC3 and HotS iterations.

Brewmaster. You can say that it's a narrow design space too being based on one unit, but it incorporated many lore elements of other classes, namely the use of Shamanism.

Voodoo and Divine are quite a bit outside what a Dark Ranger would be capable of doing. Combining the Shadow Hunter with a Dark Ranger makes no logical sense.

Right now it doesn't. But what would a Monk class be without Pandaria? What we need is a new place or culture to tap into and explain why this new Dark Ranger is something new and not just something old.

Here's an example how it could be handled.

The next expansion takes us into the Shadowlands. Like the Demon Hunters of Legion, the Dark Rangers would be a link for our factions to cross over into new territory; Argus and Demon worlds for the Demon Hunters, the Shadowlands for the Dark Rangers. As BFA comes to a conclusion, an epic battle takes the lives of numerous champions on both sides. In the aftermath, the Void Lord threat arises, and the conflict between Horde and Alliance was all a part of their plan to thin our ranks and to steal away our champions into the Shadowlands. The factions wasted their greatest warriors fighting each other and are left to lick their wounds.

As the spirits of the dead warriors are heading to the shadowlands, they are greeted by a familiar face - Vol'jin, ascended as the Loa of Shadows. Vol'jin is impressed by the champion's will and informs them of visions of the upcoming conflict against the Void Lords. He can't bring them back to life, but he can let them return to Azeroth if they follow his path to becoming a 'Shadowstalker'. Like the Demon Hunters, this path is a dark and torturous one, but the Champions are given a choice. The player is not living, but they are not necessarily Forsaken either as they were not raised by necromancy unwillingly. This allow the player to retain their culture and former life awareness. As for training, Vol'jin has also contacted famous Rangers who have all died and crossed into the Shadowlands during the BFA conflict, such as Nathanos Blightcaller and Alleria Windrunner. From there, we train and we prepare for the oncoming conflict in the next expo

With this kind of backstory, we'd all look back in 4 years and be like 'oh yeah, Dark Rangers totally make sense since Nathanos and Alleria both died in BFA' and never think twice about implementing them. Just look at DH, no one even questions how they would become playable any more once it was all explained, despite loopholes (why keep Illidan's dead body) and obvious plot devices (Gul'dan) present.

[Bas Prime]

Exactly. The class has to tie in with the central theme of the expansion. DKs, Monks, and DHs were all part of the core of their expansions. Unless we get a Tinkertown expansion, we won't be seeing Tinkers... Now that I think about it, a Tinkertown does sound pretty cool...

Here I have to disagree. This was like this up till now. But this "rule" stops the creativity and possibility of new classes. See, some classes would never be possible, as you said, the Tinker, Blademaster, Warden, and mostly every other class.
I think there could be a patch, and the class could be introduced with it. This could work. There could also just be an event, a scenario, or just some combination of all this, and maybe comics. I think a Dark Ranger is totally uninteresting to me. At the same time, you, and OP have probably no interest for a Blademaster. And there they should stray from this "rule" and just add the class when it works best.

[Teriz]

Brewmaster. You can say that it's a narrow design space too being based on one unit, but it incorporated many lore elements of other classes, namely the use of Shamanism.

Nah, the Brewmaster was pretty wide open since you could incorporate the Monk concept and general martial arts into it. Once that happened, you could dump every martial art RPG trope into a Brewmaster concept with little trouble. You don't have that level of openness with the Dark Ranger.

Right now it doesn't. But what would a Monk class be without Pandaria? What we need is a new place or culture to tap into and explain why this new Dark Ranger is something new and not just something old.

Again, the Brewmaster WC3 unit had ties to martial arts and Pandaria from the beginning. Blizzard reinforced those ties throughout the life of WoW (the Pandarian Monk companion from WotLK for example). It's not something they just come up with, it's something that has been integral to the concept from the beginning.

Your idea is interesting, but Blizzard has demonstrated time and time again that they don't stray far off the original concepts that create the expansion classes. The developers being incapable of creating a 3rd specialization for Demon Hunters (because they wanted to adhere so close to the original DH concept from WC3, TBC, and HotS) is a prime example of the same issues that are going to come to bore with Dark Rangers.

[McFuu]

We already have marksmanship hunters... Dark Rangers are just former Elven rangers, who are now undead.
I don't think it will happen just because of similarities to hunter and we already have too many elf only classes.

[Thimagryn]

Nah, the Brewmaster was pretty wide open since you could incorporate the Monk concept and general martial arts into it. Once that happened, you could dump every martial art RPG trope into a Brewmaster concept with little trouble. You don't have that level of openness with the Dark Ranger.

Sure we do. If Dark Ranger were a spec of Shadowstalker, then we're still playing Dark Rangers formally, but under a wider branch of class. Do you feel like you're not playing a Brewmaster just because its core class is called a Monk?

Again, the Brewmaster WC3 unit had ties to martial arts and Pandaria from the beginning. Blizzard reinforced those ties throughout the life of WoW (the Pandarian Monk companion from WotLK for example). It's not something they just come up with, it's something that has been integral to the concept from the beginning.

Your idea is interesting, but Blizzard has demonstrated time and time again that they don't stray far off the original concepts that create the expansion classes. The developers being incapable of creating a 3rd specialization for Demon Hunters (because they wanted to adhere so close to the original DH concept from WC3, TBC, and HotS) is a prime example of the same issues that are going to come to bore with Dark Rangers.

We don't know anything about the Shadowlands and/or the power that allowed the Forsaken to retain their will after breaking connection from the Lich King. All that is just assumed and we run with it. All of that can be explored through the Shadowlands and Void Lords, and that's the direction we're going. Chronicles has been setting it up to be the next big thing, and the Dark Ranger can easily be a part of that given that we're given a connection. I mean for all we know, the Forsaken's autonomy could be a direct result of the Void Lords messing with the Scourge (who were commanded by the Legion and opposed the Nameless One old god) otherwise they just turn back into empty, soulless corpses. Just look at what happened after the Lich King was defeated - the undead became feral. Why were the Forsaken an exception?

Dark Rangers and Banshees are something left unexplored. The new Dark Rangers can be themed similarly to Guild Wars 2's Revenants, where they tap into the powers of past heroes (due to ties to the Shadowlands). In all honesty, the realm of shadows is a source of untapped potential, for all racial cultures.

[Psykho]

True, and Black Arrow has been removed from the Hunter class, so who knows.

Blizz should try to stay away from gutting a spec of the most played spec statistically, it'd be like that scene from 300, an example of why in real life it's a bad idea to make fun of people with bows

[Saverem]

Here I have to disagree. This was like this up till now. But this "rule" stops the creativity and possibility of new classes. See, some classes would never be possible, as you said, the Tinker, Blademaster, Warden, and mostly every other class.
I think there could be a patch, and the class could be introduced with it. This could work. There could also just be an event, a scenario, or just some combination of all this, and maybe comics. I think a Dark Ranger is totally uninteresting to me. At the same time, you, and OP have probably no interest for a Blademaster. And there they should stray from this "rule" and just add the class when it works best.

I wouldn't mind getting a Blademaster, they'll just have to differentiate from Arms Warriors who pretty much took all of the original Blademaster's abilities. They'll probably have to do something like they did with Demo Locks when DHs came out.

With that said, I want the next class to have ranged DPS and healing specs to off set the current crazy high amount of melee specs and lack of heals.

Something like a Bard with ranged/melee/heal specs or Runemaster with 2 ranged and a heal spec would be ideal.

[Teriz]

Sure we do. If Dark Ranger were a spec of Shadowstalker, then we're still playing Dark Rangers formally, but under a wider branch of class. Do you feel like you're not playing a Brewmaster just because its core class is called a Monk?

People are asking for Dark Rangers, not "Shadowstalkers".

Dark Rangers and Banshees are something left unexplored. The new Dark Rangers can be themed similarly to Guild Wars 2's Revenants, where they tap into the powers of past heroes (due to ties to the Shadowlands). In all honesty, the realm of shadows is a source of untapped potential, for all racial cultures.

Except there's no indication that other Forsaken (or Dark Rangers in general) can utilize Banshee abilities, or that you can teach others to turn into a Banshee. Sylvannas can access those abilities because those are her personal abilities.

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Blizz should try to stay away from gutting a spec of the most played spec statistically, it'd be like that scene from 300, an example of why in real life it's a bad idea to make fun of people with bows

Unfortunately it wouldn't be the first time that Blizzard has gutted a spec to create a "new" class.

[Thimagryn]

People are asking for Dark Rangers, not "Shadowstalkers".

What's the difference?

Except there's no indication that other Forsaken (or Dark Rangers in general) can utilize Banshee abilities, or that you can teach others to turn into a Banshee. Sylvannas can access those abilities because those are her personal abilities.

No Demon Hunter other than Illidan had horns and wings either; yet here we are in Legion. Besides, if Forsaken were the only ones to utilize a banshee technique that we knew about, then this isn't a class feature, but a racial one. The explanation would be simple - Dark Rangers would be fallen champions who are given the option to come back to life to fight for their respective factions.

[Teriz]

What's the difference?

They're not Dark Rangers, they're something else entirely.

There IS the Forsaken Shadowstalkers, but those are all Rogues.

No Demon Hunter other than Illidan had horns and wings either; yet here we are in Legion. Besides, if Forsaken were the only ones to utilize a banshee technique that we knew about, then this isn't a class feature, but a racial one. The explanation would be simple - Dark Rangers would be fallen champions who are given the option to come back to life to fight for their respective factions.

Several Demon Hunters could utilize metamorphosis which gave them horns and wings. It doesn't take a huge leap in lore or logic to believe that Demon Hunters would be at varying stages of demonic appearance once they started using that ability.

Also I didn't say that the ability to utilize Banshee powers was a Forsaken ability, I said that it's an ability that only Sylvannas has used thus far. She is called the Banshee Queen after all.

[Thimagryn]

Also I didn't say that the ability to utilize Banshee powers was a Forsaken ability, I said that it's an ability that only Sylvannas has used thus far. She is called the Banshee Queen after all.

But what's the point in saying she can do it an no one else? Is it meant to be a point against Dark Rangers having that ability? Stretch of imagination says it'd make logical sense for a Dark Ranger class, or practically any character who's gone through similar ordeals as Sylvanas. Sylvanas was special in that she was a lost soul who returned to her body.

I used that exact backstory in my example. Your champion dies, goes to Shadowlands, meets loa Vol'jin, and is guided back to their bodies to become Revenants.

[Brocksley]

It would be neat if the reason they got rid of ranged survival and then never implemented it in marks, like they said they would, and got rid of marks black arrow because they are saving it all for a dot based dark ranger spec for hunters. Maybe next expansion we will have a bunch of new specs added, they can be called allied specs!

[Thimagryn]

Maybe next expansion we will have a bunch of new specs added, they can be called allied specs!

Allied Classes I can see. Race and class features are all incentives to get people rolling new toons and playing through old content they dont have to spend effort on.

[Fight4Fun]

next class for sure will be ranged, no way they gonna add 4th melee in row

[Teriz]

But what's the point in saying she can do it an no one else? Is it meant to be a point against Dark Rangers having that ability?

Exactly. It's limitation to Forsaken and Undead is another limitation.

Stretch of imagination says it'd make logical sense for a Dark Ranger class, or practically any character who's gone through similar ordeals as Sylvanas. Sylvanas was special in that she was a lost soul who returned to her body.

I used that exact backstory in my example. Your champion dies, goes to Shadowlands, meets loa Vol'jin, and is guided back to their bodies to become Revenants.

Yeah, that's the other issue: Vol'Jin has next to nothing to do with Dark Rangers ala Sylvannas. Keep in mind, every expansion class has had a direct connection to the original character representing that class. Death Knights are connected to Arthas. Monks are connected to Chen. Demon Hunters are connected to Illidan.

A Dark Ranger class would almost assuredly have a heavy connection to Sylvannas above anyone else. Not to mention the expansion itself would have Sylvannas on the cover. Given that Sylvannas is on the cover of BfA, that's another indicator that Dark Rangers are probably not the next class.

[Directionalk9]

Allied Classes I can see. Race and class features are all incentives to get people rolling new toons and playing through old content they dont have to spend effort on.

Allied classes is what I believe they should do next. I don’t know if we’re on the same page, but I envision them as mirror classes.
Warlock- Necromancers; Paladin-Shadow Knight; Demon Hunter-Spellblade.
I don’t think every class has one, but oh well.
Incorporating racial beliefs into classes on a high level would be nice too, Tauren priest and Paladins, actually being addressed as Sunwalkers having orange fiery spell effects...Nelves getting Paladins, silvery lunar spells.

[Thimagryn]

Exactly. It's limitation to Forsaken and Undead is another limitation.

Any race can die and be raised as an undead. What is the limitation on?

Yeah, that's the other issue: Vol'Jin has next to nothing to do with Dark Rangers ala Sylvannas. Keep in mind, every expansion class has had a direct connection to the original character representing that class. Death Knights are connected to Arthas. Monks are connected to Chen. Demon Hunters are connected to Illidan.

A Dark Ranger class would almost assuredly have a heavy connection to Sylvannas above anyone else. Not to mention the expansion itself would have Sylvannas on the cover. Given that Sylvannas is on the cover of BfA, that's another indicator that Dark Rangers are probably not the next class.

So Blizzard cant break their own rules or something? Every class has broken rules. DKs had hybrid tank dps options for each spec. Monks were released alongside a new race. Demon Huntersvhave 2 specs. Whatever rule you think is in play is not actually a rule, but a rough set of guidelines. Theres no reason why a class cant have more than one source.

Even Hunters cover multiple identities in one. People already consider them to be repped by Beastmasters and now would extend that to Dark Rangers on the sole basis of Black Arrow. Rexxar has no connection to Sylvanas, wouldnt you agree?

[Shadowater]

Alleria and Sylvanas isn't really getting along if you haven't read the comic Three sisters. And If dark ranger would be a class it would be forsaken only, alliance would get a mirror class based on Allerias void powers. Basicly the same class but name, ability theme and animation would be different but play exactly the same, like how ally shaman have heroism and horde shaman have bloodlust. But they wouldn't make a dps only class, and dark rangers doesn't really have anything that could be a healer or tank. They are more like a mix between a MM hunter, rogue and affliction warlock. They are rangers, sure they can fight in melee too, but more like a combat rogue. And I can see potential for a ranger healing specc(like a cupid sort of, firing healing arrows etc), but it doesnt work at all in the dark ranger or void theme unless you throw every bit of logic out the window.