Bring on the Battlemage.

[Kurrelurre]

So, the idea is to introduce the Battlemage in 9.0.

Let mages use magic armour, magic sword & shield and be able to tank. It could be a specialization, or a new class. I’m pretty sure it would be a popular class...

I have seen some good suggestions on this design on the forum but can’t seem to find them now.

Anyways, the idea is not new, but in my mind it probably would solve the lack of tanks so the question is; will we ever see the Battlemage?

[ceall]

Short answer: no.

Long answer: why didn't you post this in one of the many existing class idea / "why is there no new class in SL" threads?

[Vintersol]

will we ever see the Battlemage?

Yes, it's called Enh-Shaman.

[ercarp]

They're not adding new specs in 9.0, and the class changes they're making are going to be relatively small compared to the massive overhaul we saw in Legion.

So no, it's not happening in Shadowlands.

[Eurhetemec]

So, the idea is to introduce the Battlemage in 9.0.

Let mages use magic armour, magic sword & shield and be able to tank. It could be a specialization, or a new class. I’m pretty sure it would be a popular class...

I have seen some good suggestions on this design on the forum but can’t seem to find them now.

Anyways, the idea is not new, but in my mind it probably would solve the lack of tanks so the question is; will we ever see the Battlemage?

You have my sword.

I would kill for a Mage tank spec. Won't happen in foreseeable SL but who knows for whatever comes next.

[Eurhetemec]

Considering every new class Blizzard has added has a tank spec the problem isn't that we need more tank specs but that most people just don't care to tank. Your battle mage wouldn't solve much of anything.

I do agree here. Adding tanks won't solve the shortage of tanks. That's a long term structural issue with WoW caused by three things:

1) Tanking is a job that requires more knowledge of the dungeons and mobs than DPS or healing do, and puts more responsibility on you.

2) Only two tanks per raid group means discourages people from focusing on tanking if they want to raid. This is less of an issue than it was pre-Mythic+

3) Tanking is the role where you suffer the most from shitty play and GOGOGOGO idiocy from the DOS, and where people can quickly ruin a good run for you. Healers get a lot of blame from total morons (yeah blame the healer for "not healing" when you dragged a bunch of AOE silence mobs on top of him) but most runs you just heal what there is to heal. Whereas tanking, holy shit, a couple of moron DPS and it's virtually impossible to do your job and massively unfun.

Adding new tank specs won't fix this. I'd still kill for a Mage tank spec.

[ArkantosChampion]

Add Battle-Master-Sword-Semi-Expert Spec to Priest PLS