The Next WoW class in 9.0

[Ielenia]

Uh no. My opinion is that if Blizzard wants to make the Tinker more suitable for an Old Gods expansion, they can add a Titan theme to the class. Your opinion is "I don't like that."

That is such a gross simplification of my stance it basically crosses the threshold into dishonesty. My opinion is not simply "I don't like it". Time and again I explained and gave reasons why I don't think that's a good thing to do, and why the Titans should be left alone, away from playable classes.

But we have Goblin and Gnome titan-powered machines now, so what's the big deal?

I'd hardly call the "Spoils of Pandaria" machine in SoO "titan-powered".

The Xal'atath blade whispering to the Spriest was far more interesting because it was linked to their abilities.

That's rather pointless. Because just like those whispers were tailored to the S-priest, such things could also be tailored for other classes. See: Bwomsandi in Zandalar when you die.

Monks had more meaning in Pandaria because of their links to the 4 celestials that their fighting styles were based on.

This "meaning" you speak of is irrelevant, because, again, the class was not needed for us to see any of the lore within the expansion.

The Green Fire quest wouldn't nearly have as much meaning for a warrior as it does for a Warlock, since the quest actually relates to their class.

For someone who loves to condescendingly call other people's arguments as "opinions", you sure love to give your opinion on a lot of things, don't you? This one of yours: "I don't like that." Sound familiar?

It isn't restricted because if the class wasn't around, that specific lore wouldn't exist in the first place. Again, the class allows the player to delve deeper into specific lore.

Of course it would. Again, you don't need a class for that. A class only serves to restrict lore.

No it really doesn't.

Then there is no point to giving Titan technology to tinkers, is there? Goblin/gnome technology should be more than enough to stand on its own, shouldn't it?

[Fetus Rex]

I have realized something terrible. There is no melee fire spec in the game!

[Al Gorefiend]

It's not that hard, really. Feel free to check my concept in my sig if you're curious.


Conceptually, fits like a 'T'. Bard is a classic RPG class. As for the "April Fools' joke" thing, let me remind you that the Pandaren Brewmaster and, by proxy, the WoW monk class, were based on an April Fool's joke. The tinker class you're excited for? Also derived from an April Fools' joke.

As for any claims about Bards being "too silly", is that really an argument considering the game has a ton of quests where you literally dig around poop, can turn people into sheep or frogs, Maximillian of Northshire, Leeroy Jenkins, fly around in a mechanic chicken that carpet-bombs the ground the entire flight back to base, etc?

Between Bard, Necromancer and Tinker, I’d say Necro has the least amount of wiggle room. Could it be done? No doubt. But it’s not filling any unused territory and isn’t satisfying a niche people may want. Before Demonology’s rework, that’s exactly what I wanted out of a Necromancer class, nowadays I’m not sure how they’d create an entirely new idea with Mage, Warlock, SPriest and Death Knight already in the game.

Bard I’d be so down for. That’s a class sure to be popular, silly and fun to play as. I don’t raise my nose to silly classes, Warcraft is engrained in silliness.

Tinker though... Man, it just feels like in an alternate timeline, Tinker could have been a launch class and this decade long debate over Tinker could have never been a thing. They are such an organic fit for the game, right off the heels of Warcraft 3 where Blizzard really took off with the steampunk and haphazard, cobbled-up technology we get from Gnomes and Goblins. Rockets patched up with 2x4s, explosives strapped to Goblin Sappers’ backs in a kind of absurdity that makes you realize these are two races of people who are way more advanced than the medieval aged humans, but nowhere close to real-life humans. It’s Looney Tunes Coyote and Roadrunner kind of funny.

Blizzard could just make it work and do it so well.

[Teriz]

Sad that so many people think that this is silly. Personally, I think that image is awesome, and would be a blast to play as.

[Triceron]

Tinker though... Man, it just feels like in an alternate timeline, Tinker could have been a launch class and this decade long debate over Tinker could have never been a thing. They are such an organic fit for the game, right off the heels of Warcraft 3 where Blizzard really took off with the steampunk and haphazard, cobbled-up technology we get from Gnomes and Goblins.

TBH that's where I see Tinkers fitting the most. If we could roll it back to Vanilla, Tinkers would fit in right alongside every other class seamlessly.

Classes were defined by being a class, not by specs. The gameplay allowed for each class to have wildly different playstyles and roles, and it wasn't necessary to homogenize everything down to the generate-spend style gameplay we have today.

I'd almost advocate this being a Classic+ addition more than I would a Retail one, because Retail is so focused on dramatic linear storylines rather than the Sandbox story telling we had in Vanilla.

[Buliwyf the Omen]

I think the most likely candidate by this point is really the Tinker. I dont see any other class with that many hints pointed towards them being an possible future Class right now than a Technology Class.

If you sum up all the things we know so far and that there is more than likely a chance that we as usual get a new Class every other Expansion we have ultimately still have the following hints, listed up again for clarification:

1. There has been an increasing amount of focus on Goblins and Gnomes in BfA, especially on Gelbin Mekkatorque and Jastor Gallywix, with both and also other less important gnome/goblin NPCs focusing on Mech Combat, which got increasingly more love from Blizzard since Legions Mekkatorque added Mech.

With that said:

2. Gelbin Mekkatorque has survived the Battle of Dazar'alor in a frozen device/state which absolutely no one so far has any clue about, which will undoubtably lead us to Mechagnomes being an Allied Race and them potentially starting in Mechagon.

3. As mentioned by a lot, the Island Expeditions all have a team of three with recognizable playable classes, be it the Nightborne Mages or the (outlaw) orc Pirates. The only exception here are the three Trolls which are all Units from WC3 aswell and one of the Raider Orcs using a barrel and a cannon as fist weapons. Then, of course, you have on each side a set of 3 Engineers/Tinkers/Mechanics, whatever you would like to call them, with all three focused on a different role: Ranged DPS, (Mech)Melee Tanking and Healing. Of course, it does not have to mean anything but considering all the other stuff it adds up alltogether.

4. While long overdue, the finally updated new Models of Worgen and Goblins have arrived with 8.2.5. What better reason is there that it took them so long to just update two Races because they were already internally testing out the new Goblin rig for the new Tinker Class Animations? Might be a little bit stretched, but we got our new Models for all but Worgen and Goblin since WoD, which is now pretty much two Expansions old. Took them quite a while to update two Races, one might think.

What if it took them so long because they couldnt get Tinker to work in a Legion Expansion (where they rightfully added DH and was their only way of doing so) so that they waited a little while longer so the Goblin Animations would be perfectly made inline and adjusted for their new Class in 9.0?

And imo one of the biggest points:

5. A Tinker/Mechanic/Scrapper/Siegecrafter, whatever you would like to call it, has more than enough existing Content for all three roles. Not only that, considering our latest Class only got two Specs, what if the next upcoming Tinker Class is gonna be our second Class with four specs, being able to do both DPS roles aswell as healing and tanking? I know Blizzard said that they would remove a few specs if they could, but that is because of those Classes playing more or less equally despite different specs, an issue this Class wouldnt have.

It would be fairly easy to implement as a Tinker in comparance to other potential future Class ideas like Necromancer, which more or less heavily ties into with a DK already or Dark Ranger which straight up doesnt even have two explainable specs right now. A (dark) Warden has absolutely nothing to do with a Dark Ranger and it wouldnt make sense for them to be one class combined either.

Coming back to the Tinker Specs, I see the following:


Tank: Riding a beefy Mech just like Mekkatorque, Gallywix, Blackfuse, Thermaplugg, etc. etc. with energy shields, mech plating or even short-lived summoned Bots taking some damage/taunting away, quite like Brewmasters Statue.

Healer: Using a wide array of different healing Bots providing AoE burst healing, temporary AoE healing, Healing Sprays/Guns/Elixiers and added ranged weaponry.

Now this is where it gets interesting. In my eyes they easily can make both a melee and a ranged spec without harming the other.

Melee DPS: Riding a Mech aswell, but this time focused more on combat than defense, including Flamethrowers, Saw Blades, using their modified Mechs Arms as Guns/Cannons/Weaponry, Rockets, the list goes on.
Ranged DPS: As speculated by others already, a ranged non-mech damage dealer with a focus on different gadgets, damage and CC bots, turrets, grenades, maybe even pocket factory and their gun.

How people think that this has anything to do with Engineering tossing a bomb all two minutes is beyond me. Feel free to dislike the idea of this Class, I for one dislike big Tauren Monks doing flips and hurting people with hoofkicks, but that doesnt mean that they have no reason to be there.

To keep the Class identity in check (which Blizzard apparently wants to get back to instead of Spec Identity) all of them would have some stealth gadget one way or another (potentially even leading to another Stealth AoE like Rogues have it), and some bots and gagdets for CC and healing.

My last point would be that there is no better time to add Tinker than it is now. Either they come with 9.0 or they unfortunately wont come at all.

We have people getting used to seeing Goblins and Gnomes running around in Mechs, and even have an extremely cool Bossfight with Mekkatorque in his own mech.

Adding onto my second point, with Mechagon in place for a starter area for a (hero) Tinker Class and Mechagnomes and Vulpera the most likely candidates for 8.3/9.0 Allied Races, they're opening up two more small Raceslots for Mech Combat while also adding a rather popular race into the Game. Mechagon could also serve as the future starting hub for the Tinker Class, quite like Acherus does for DKs and Mardum does for DHs, so the pre-purchase of the new Expansion would be perfectly fine then aswell for them to be playable in 8.3.

If we really get a Shadowlands/Old Gods Expansion, technology would be a pretty powerful tool to combat them. Things like that Shadowlands Leak with Tinkers creating a device to slip in and out of the Shadowlands? It doesnt seem too farfetched considering they are brilliant geniuses, or them using their advanced technology to avoid getting mind controlled by the Old Gods Whispers.

I really hope we get the Tinker finally, but everything can happen. Would I be mad about a undead Human Dark Ranger like Nathanos if the Class is cool? Nah, not at all.

They also potentially can pull out a completly new Class which no one or very few have expected, quite like the Dragonsworn or Aspects, which also would be able to three role and even offer up to five Specs with each Dragonflight.