Like I said, in every case there is an aspect of a future class that Blizzard holds back before implementation. Again, if you have an aspect that shows up in every Warcraft medium except WoW, then it stands to reason that it will eventually wind up in WoW as well.
Big difference between a half demon sprouting wings from its back, and launching a volley of missiles from nowhere.
I think it's more important about which aspect was
playable. The Warlock version of meta is what was available to players for 8 years, and that's what they were experiencing in the game. We really didn't run into Demon Hunters of note until Legion, so again what's our experience with Metamorphosis in WoW from WotlK until Legion?
The Warlock version of Metamorphosis of course.
It being inconsequential change is your opinion. The FACT is that switching to melee was a
mechanical change to the ability, not just a graphical change.
And yet another FACT is that it isn't the same ability.
So back to the original point; None of the DK's abilities existed in WoW before the DK implementation in WotLK.
So outside of him never being mentioned to be a Monk, what makes him NOT a Monk? It would appear that he has all the trappings of one.
Gazlowe actually being there is irrelevant, because this isn't a 1:1 comparison. The point is that some aspect of the future class is held back until the class is introduced. Blizzard has never shown the full concept of a future expansion class before it's introduced. There's always some aspect of that class that is held until release.
The lore literally says that he has a
unique fighting style. That is synonymous with having martial art abilities.
You're saying that they never held back important characteristics when we didn't know that Metamorphosis was going to switch from being ranged to melee? We had no idea if the DK's abilities were all going to be brought over from WC3? When we didn't know if the DK was going to be mounted at all times like the DKs in Naxx and WC3? Those are rather important characteristics don't you think?
So you think a DK having 100% increased move speed at all times would be fair and balanced?
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Yet they're not called Tinkers. So in actuality, you would be the one utilizing headcanon.
That's quite a bit of head-canon right there. We have no idea if Vulpera shun tech, or if they've simply never been exposed to it. Again, we have Vulpera gunners, and because of that the latter appears more likely.
From WC3:
http://classic.battle.net/war3/neutr...intinker.shtml
That's canon lore.