If they are called Tinkers and are represented mainly by the short races, annoying whimsical traits won't be avoided. The only way I can picture a Tech class being serious is if it somehow derives from Titans or Ethereals.
Hell if it is Ethereals, I would love a Void Elf...Mechanic? You get what I mean.
Bow spec, Dagger spec, Scythe spec (reaper), caster spec, summoner spec, healer spec like Banshee/Disc priest healing, even a Warden-like tank spec if we have to reach hard.
It may most likely have a Necromancer incorporated into it and the possibilities are endless. Just need a bit of imagination.
The problem here is that you are pitting Dark ranger versus Tinker, a class that people have been asking for since the game came out, which comes prepackaged with specs that have no direct analogue in the game.
Why anyone would choose Dark ranger, an edgy spec with some of teh most narrow lore behind it and playable races to choose from over Tinker which has a clear presence in lore on both Alliance and Horde while playing like nothing else in the game always surprises me.
The world revamp dream will never die!
eh, that's why i'd play goblin tinker instead of gnome.
you might not notice it, but goblins and gnomes, while lighthearted in general, are "lighthearted" in different ways. with gnomes, it's usually just goofy shit. but with goblins, it tends to be mafia stuff, which isn't really that lighthearted if you think about it. yeah, it's played in a joke way, but you're still talking about murder, extortion, general criminal activity that ruins people's lives. you can joke about the stereotypical behavior, but the content of the behavior itself is no laughing matter.
Judging by Sylvanas, they are turning her into a unit that utilizes a higher unknown form of Death magic or something. That alone can turn HER class into anything that may make sense for that "new lore". Then all that's left is her converting or training a bunch of characters into her status.
caster spec, summoner and healers are completely nonsense
Dark rangers are specifically bow spec with dark magic, anything beyond that is a stretch
it make little sense incorparte necromancer into DR, necromancer work better on a stand alone class, and even then make more sense as healer
i am kinda enjoying the mechagnome thing we are treating the race as a object for people to use profession and a class 10/10 do the robot dance
vulpera doing the what does the fox say but y seems like vulpera is a quick learner so may lead to tinker zandalari troll seems to have technology the bazooka thing on the dinosaur etc and dark iron dwarf wuld be cool aswell drill in their robot
but it all comes to how they are doing it but we have to hope for racial difference machine