If they made a new class in the future, what would it be?

[Triceron]

Yeah, I think maybe some Priest abilities could be made to be more 'troll-like'. Hell, they could even bring back racial Priest abilties, and the Zandalari could get a small blessing that has a tiny visual of a chosen Loa everytime it's used, think like how the Human racials are in GW2. Oh and I think that troll characters using Light/Holy spells are just weird.

Why would a troll want to worship the Light? I think it be better if you could choose between a Holy/Shadow visual for some spells if you're a troll

I shared a basic idea of Class Skins variations for existing classes. New themes, same specs and gameplay with changes in Ability names and visuals. I would then categorize this concept into two types, Prestige Class Skin and Alternate Class Skin. From there, the Class Skins could have a Covenant style option of new abilities or a set of new talents to choose from. Of course, the Core classes would all get similar treatment so they're not left out.

- Prestige Class is identified as a completely New Class. Identity and Themes are all brand new and unrelated to the core class Example - Druid to Dragonsworn, Warlock to Necromancer. These are not Druids or Warlocks whatsoever; they are a new class that simply uses the basic gameplay Shapeshifting or Summon style gameplay of the core class.
- Variant Class is a partial change or variation of an existing Class. These are more in the line of racial or cultural changes to certain specs or adding in some specific culture flavour where it makes sense.


For the Priest, I have an idea to have 4 broad Class Skins that will help diversify the class and bring in new concepts.

Priest - Core Class - Your basic Priest as they exist right now. Holy, Discipline, Shadow, using Faith-based magic to heal.
- Talent - Same core abilities, a few more flavoured ones that provide more of what's already here. More Holy abilities, more Old God/Voidy Shadow abilities, etc.

Divine Priest - Variant Class - A Priest variation that replaces all Shadow themes with Holy. This concept would apply to the races that would not normally tap into Shadow powers for offense or support; races like Tauren Seers, Draenei Vindicators and Pandaren. Accessible to most-if-not-all races.
- Talent - New offensive light abilities that would fit with the flavour of Vindicators and Seers. Some can lean more towards Sun-based themes, or Naaru based themes.

Witchdoctor - Variant Class - A Priest with a Voodoo theme for all specs. All Holy abilities are given a Voodoo twist, any divine themes are given connections to Loa. This class is culturally themed for all Trolls, and suprisingly, Gnomes! There are Voodoo 'Sand' Gnomes in Zul Aman that can be represented by this spec. How weird! This is very culturally specific to Trolls, but I think it's iconic enough to warrant its own Class Skin. Just to throw a wrench into the works, it could be made accessible to all races.
- Talent - Totems or Wards and protective/debuff Hexes usable against enemies. Maybe even raise the odd Zombie for effect.

Bard - Prestige Class - A Musical themed class who uses Instruments and Songs to heal, buff and deal damage. Covers archetypes like Pipers, Wardrummers and Minstrels. Applicable to all races, including some non-Priest races like Orcs, who could totally have Wardrummers now.
- Talent - Brand new Support abilities! Give them active utility AoE abilities that makes sense.

Medic/Apothecary - Prestige Class - A completely new variant class that uses Science, Medicine and Alchemy to heal and fight. Healing Sprays, Healing Injectors, Potions, Alchemical Draughts, even forms of Radiation. Instead of Shadowfiends, have alchemical Oozes or Healing Drones. This is the scientific approach that Gnomes, Goblins and Forsaken would take to healing their allies. Accessible to all races.
- Talent - Plenty of potential for Alchemical and Medicinal abilities. Chemical Bombs, Healing Grenade Launchers, etc.


Those are just some examples I had to help diversify the Priest class based on broad archetypes. I didn't want to just have one or two variations, and I didn't want to expand it so every race gets their own type of Priest; just the races that might stand out from the rest. The idea is to have enough variation to bring back the fantasy without making everything race-specific (since there's SO many race options now). The idea of Holy/Shadow themes still works with most races, so I didn't see the need to alter it too much for most of the mainstay Humans, Dwarves and Elves.

[Ielenia]

Black Arrow that summons a minion every time it attacks is superior to Black Arrow that only summons a minion if you kill the target with it.

The hunter's undead beast lasts for only 8 seconds. The one summoned by the dark ranger's Black Arrow lasts 60 seconds. The hunter's undead beast was also much weaker than the hunter's main pet. The one summoned by the dark ranger's Black Arrow at rank 3 was just as strong as a fully upgraded Footman. Black Arrow is also an ability that was "always on" with a toggle, meaning that you could just constantly tag all the mobs as they die to summon a horde of skeletons. The hunter ability is an active ability with a cooldown can only summon one, even with the mechanic of resetting the cooldown if the mob dies within 8 seconds.

So, no. No, the hunter's version of Black Arrow is not superior. Not by a long shot.

The difference being that Black Arrow is the actual Necromantic ability from the Dark Ranger class, while the Hunter class contains none of the Tinker’s abilities from WC3 or HotS.

An ability that was removed from the class. And the hunter class also has abilities based on technology, as well as being able to tame robotic minions.

Specs are irrelevant. I’m talking about mechanics.

It's a mechanic unavailable to the MM spec'ed hunter, so saying Dire Beast "fills the niche" is irrelevant because MM hunters (who previously had access to Black Arrow) do not have access to Dire Beast.

Except we know how spells like Drain Life, Silence, and Mind Control work. These are not novel abilities.

I'll repeat: so what?

See above.

I'll repeat what I said because you did not address my argument:

Have you played with an actual dark ranger class to know how the ability can influence the class' gameplay? Do you have special insight into Blizzard's internal development builds that no one else outside the company has?

No. No, you don't. You're just making an unfounded, baseless assertion.

In other words: if a dark ranger class does not currently exist in playable form, how do you know it would be a "mechanical mirror" of the hunter class? That's like saying the warlock is a "mechanical mirror" of the mage class because both are spellcasters that can deal fire damage before vanilla WoW went live.

It doesn't matter that you know how those abilities work. Because those abilities would not be the entirety of the class' ability repertoire. And using your own argument: "We know how mana burn works. We know how metamorphosis work. We know how evasion works. Therefore we know the demon hunter gameplay and it would be a carbon-copy of the rogue."

They couldn’t tame undead beasts. Now they can.

That's not my argument. You argued that Black Arrow is not needed because hunters can now tame undead beasts. That argument falls flat when we look at the rest of the hunter's ability kit, and they have the ability to tame beasts permanently, and have the ability to summon extra temporary beasts.

I have no idea.

Then why do you act like you do?

Just like I have no idea why an expansion that prominently features Sylvanas (probably for the last time) didn’t introduce a Dark Ranger class.

And yet "having no idea" did not stop you from using Shadowlands' lack of new class against the dark ranger and necromancer.

Perhaps Blizzard no longer needed to have Black Arrow in the Hunter spell book for people to recognize that both Hunters and Dark Rangers are one in the same?

Or perhaps they removed the ability because both concepts are not one and the same.

[LemonDemonGirl]

Witchdoctor - Alternate Class - A Priest with a Voodoo theme for all specs. All Holy abilities are given a Voodoo twist, any divine themes are given connections to Loa. This class is culturally themed for all Trolls, and suprisingly, Gnomes! There are Voodoo 'Sand' Gnomes in Zul Aman that can be represented by this spec. How weird! This is very culturally specific to Trolls, but I think it's iconic enough to warrant its own Class Skin. Just to throw a wrench into the works, itcould be made accessible to all races.

Can I have a Bwonsamdi priest though? Like, just recolor everything light teal/green and have some skull effects instead of void stuff?

[Triceron]

Can I have a Bwonsamdi priest though? Like, just recolor everything light teal/green and have some skull effects instead of void stuff?

That's the basic idea of the Witchdoctor. Anything Shadow spec would now be Loa related, and Bwonsamedi makes the most sense. Shadowfiends to some variant of Zombie or lesser Loa; Hexes instead of Afflictions. An 'Avatar of Bwonsamedi' shadowform could work too!

- - - Updated - - -

Except we weren’t talking about the difference between Sylvanas and Nathanos. We were talking about the difference between Nathanos and Delaryn.

Differences between Delaryn and Nathanos aside from racial difference?


Doesn't train or tame animals
Doesn't have animal companions
Doesn't train (Forsaken) Hunters
Doesn't dual wield Axes
Was not an archetypical 'Woodsman' style Hunter
Does not have typical Hunter abilities that Nathanos had such as:
- Disengage
- Blinding Shot
- Mutilate
- Rain of Arrows
Wasn't a Ranger Lord trained by High Elves
Didn't body swap with her family member
Wasn't a World Boss
Did not choose to serve under Sylvanas, was forced into servitude
Didn't remain loyal to Sylvanas after her betrayal
Wasn't friendzoned by Sylvanas
Wasn't beheaded by Tyrande

I think there's quite a difference there.

[Revamp Man]

we really have reverted to whether the races tall enough to ride a rollercoaster can be tinkers again????

what is that like the 6th time for this thread??

first it was "oh they arent techy enough"
then it was "no they dont use their own tech"
then it was "those are constructs not mechs"
then it was "thats magic not science"
now it is "the mechs would be too big"

ITS A VIDEO GAME WITH MAGIC

proof of the bigger races being able to do it isnt enough because it must match the exact same style as the midgets even though shamans all have different totems and druids all have different forms but yeah sure gundams are where everything must be the same

[Imperator4321]

For the Priest, I have an idea to have 4 broad Class Skins that will help diversify the class and bring in new concepts.

Priest - Core Class - Your basic Priest as they exist right now. Holy, Discipline, Shadow, using Faith-based magic to heal.
- Talent - Same core abilities, a few more flavoured ones that provide more of what's already here. More Holy abilities, more Old God/Voidy Shadow abilities, etc.

Divine Priest - Variant Class - A Priest variation that replaces all Shadow themes with Holy. This concept would apply to the races that would not normally tap into Shadow powers for offense or support; races like Tauren Seers, Draenei Vindicators and Pandaren. Accessible to most-if-not-all races.
- Talent - New offensive light abilities that would fit with the flavour of Vindicators and Seers. Some can lean more towards Sun-based themes, or Naaru based themes.

Witchdoctor - Variant Class - A Priest with a Voodoo theme for all specs. All Holy abilities are given a Voodoo twist, any divine themes are given connections to Loa. This class is culturally themed for all Trolls, and suprisingly, Gnomes! There are Voodoo 'Sand' Gnomes in Zul Aman that can be represented by this spec. How weird! This is very culturally specific to Trolls, but I think it's iconic enough to warrant its own Class Skin. Just to throw a wrench into the works, it could be made accessible to all races.
- Talent - Totems or Wards and protective/debuff Hexes usable against enemies. Maybe even raise the odd Zombie for effect.

Bard - Prestige Class - A Musical themed class who uses Instruments and Songs to heal, buff and deal damage. Covers archetypes like Pipers, Wardrummers and Minstrels. Applicable to all races, including some non-Priest races like Orcs, who could totally have Wardrummers now.
- Talent - Brand new Support abilities! Give them active utility AoE abilities that makes sense.

Medic/Apothecary - Prestige Class - A completely new variant class that uses Science, Medicine and Alchemy to heal and fight. Healing Sprays, Healing Injectors, Potions, Alchemical Draughts, even forms of Radiation. Instead of Shadowfiends, have alchemical Oozes or Healing Drones. This is the scientific approach that Gnomes, Goblins and Forsaken would take to healing their allies. Accessible to all races.
- Talent - Plenty of potential for Alchemical and Medicinal abilities. Chemical Bombs, Healing Grenade Launchers, etc.


Those are just some examples I had to help diversify the Priest class based on broad archetypes. I didn't want to just have one or two variations, and I didn't want to expand it so every race gets their own type of Priest; just the races that might stand out from the rest. The idea is to have enough variation to bring back the fantasy without making everything race-specific (since there's SO many race options now). The idea of Holy/Shadow themes still works with most races, so I didn't see the need to alter it too much for most of the mainstay Humans, Dwarves and Elves.

There could also be a Priest of Elune skin, Holy changed to a pale/silvery blue light & shadow changed to the "black moon" visuals we see related to the Night Warrior, would probably be NElf exlcusive although maybe Worgen as well? since we've seen them join other parts of Night Elf society like the sentinels & druids and they have a connection to Elune through the Scythe of Elune, or maybe even Nightborne since I don't think it's ever clarified what exactly Nightborne priests worship.

[Teriz]

The hunter's undead beast lasts for only 8 seconds. The one summoned by the dark ranger's Black Arrow lasts 60 seconds. The hunter's undead beast was also much weaker than the hunter's main pet. The one summoned by the dark ranger's Black Arrow at rank 3 was just as strong as a fully upgraded Footman. Black Arrow is also an ability that was "always on" with a toggle, meaning that you could just constantly tag all the mobs as they die to summon a horde of skeletons. The hunter ability is an active ability with a cooldown can only summon one, even with the mechanic of resetting the cooldown if the mob dies within 8 seconds.

So, no. No, the hunter's version of Black Arrow is not superior. Not by a long shot.

Except that wasn’t the ability as it was translated into WoW;

https://www.wowhead.com/spell=225289/black-Arrow

Black Arrow
30 yd range
2 sec cast
Requires Ranged Weapon
Curses an enemy, inflicting periodic Shadow damage over 8 sec. If the target dies while afflicted by Black Arrow, a Skeleton will be summoned from the target's corpse.

That is.

An ability that was removed from the class. And the hunter class also has abilities based on technology, as well as being able to tame robotic minions.

So where’s the Tinker abilities within the Hunter class?

It's a mechanic unavailable to the MM spec'ed hunter, so saying Dire Beast "fills the niche" is irrelevant because MM hunters (who previously had access to Black Arrow) do not have access to Dire Beast.

I never said it filled the niche. I said it had the same mechanic.

I'll repeat: so what?

So it means we have a gist of what Dark Rangers operate like.

I'll repeat what I said because you did not address my argument:

It doesn't matter that you know how those abilities work. Because those abilities would not be the entirety of the class' ability repertoire. And using your own argument: "We know how mana burn works. We know how metamorphosis work. We know how evasion works. Therefore we know the demon hunter gameplay and it would be a carbon-copy of the rogue."

A Rogue mixed with Warlock. Get it right.

That's not my argument. You argued that Black Arrow is not needed because hunters can now tame undead beasts. That argument falls flat when we look at the rest of the hunter's ability kit, and they have the ability to tame beasts permanently, and have the ability to summon extra temporary beasts.

The rest of the Hunters ability kit looks like a Dark Rangers ability kit, sans the Shadow damage.

And yet "having no idea" did not stop you from using Shadowlands' lack of new class against the dark ranger and necromancer.

Sylvanas in the opener and hogging up multiple cinematics, everyone having access to Necromancer abilities, the return of Kelthuzad, etc...

It’s fairly obvious that this would have been the perfect expansion for either of those classes.

Or perhaps they removed the ability because both concepts are not one and the same.

Well even newer Dark Rangers, such as Nathanos in 9.0 and the Night Elf Dark Rangers like Damelaryn Summermoon don’t have Black Arrow either.

Meanwhile Vareesa Windrunner has Black Arrow and she’s not a Dark Ranger, she’s a Hunter.

[Triceron]

There could also be a Priest of Elune skin, Holy changed to a pale/silvery blue light & shadow changed to the "black moon" visuals we see related to the Night Warrior, would probably be NElf exlcusive although maybe Worgen as well? since we've seen them join other parts of Night Elf society like the sentinels & druids and they have a connection to Elune through the Scythe of Elune, or maybe even Nightborne since I don't think it's ever clarified what exactly Nightborne priests worship.

I think that could work simply enough as a Glyph for Divine Priest, since it mostly covers the use of light offensively. That's the beauty of this concept, it's broad enough that it could be expanded further to be very Race-specific just be adding a few glyphs; if you want more Techy Medics or more Alchemical Apothecaries, just glyph and transmog for the visuals. The new gameplay variations would be designed broad enough to cover both aspects.


I had the same sort of idea apply for Warriors. You could have a 'Berserker' Variant that wears less armor and lets you attack with dual wield short weapons. You could glyph and transmog it to be more of a claw-based 'Frenzy Worgen' or a classic Troll Berserker using axes.

[Teriz]

we really have reverted to whether the races tall enough to ride a rollercoaster can be tinkers again????

what is that like the 6th time for this thread??

first it was "oh they arent techy enough"
then it was "no they dont use their own tech"
then it was "those are constructs not mechs"
then it was "thats magic not science"
now it is "the mechs would be too big"

ITS A VIDEO GAME WITH MAGIC

proof of the bigger races being able to do it isnt enough because it must match the exact same style as the midgets even though shamans all have different totems and druids all have different forms but yeah sure gundams are where everything must be the same

So you’d have no problem if the Draenei mech was the same size as a Draenei?

[Ielenia]

Except that wasn’t the ability as it was translated into WoW;

https://www.wowhead.com/spell=225289/black-Arrow

That is.

I'm talking about relative strength of the ability versus the latest iteration of it. The WoW's ability got bastardized and is a weaker version of the original

So where’s the Tinker abilities within the Hunter class?

Re-read what I wrote. Carefully.

I never said it filled the niche. I said it had the same mechanic.

So what? So what if it had the same mechanic?

So it means we have a gist of what Dark Rangers operate like.

No, it does not. We have three abilities.

A Rogue mixed with Warlock. Get it right.

No warlock since the demon hunter does not summon minions.

The rest of the Hunters ability kit looks like a Dark Rangers ability kit, sans the Shadow damage.

I'll repeat:

Have you played with an actual dark ranger class to know how the ability can influence the class' gameplay? Do you have special insight into Blizzard's internal development builds that no one else outside the company has?

No. No, you don't. You're just making an unfounded, baseless assertion.

In other words: if a dark ranger class does not currently exist in playable form, how do you know it would be a "mechanical mirror" of the hunter class? That's like saying the warlock is a "mechanical mirror" of the mage class because both are spellcasters that can deal fire damage before vanilla WoW went live.

You have no way of saying what "looks like a dark ranger ability kit" because the dark ranger playable class does not exist yet, therefore we don't have a "dark ranger ability kit" to compare it to.

Sylvanas in the opener and hogging up multiple cinematics,

And? Are you claiming that you do know, then?

everyone having access to Necromancer abilities,

So you admit that the paladin class is capable of not only casting shadow spells... but also necromancy spells, too?

It’s fairly obvious that this would have been the perfect expansion for either of those classes.

"Fairly obvious" is not an argument to make when we have no insight at all regarding what goes on in Blizzard's developer meetings. Do you have any idea how many "fairly obvious" guilty parties were actually found not guilty in the court of law thanks to the evidence showing that the "fairly obviously" guilty parties actually did not commit the crimes they were accused of?

Well even newer Dark Rangers, such as Nathanos in 9.0 and the Night Elf Dark Rangers like Damelaryn Summermoon don’t have Black Arrow either.

How many hunter NPCs have Serpent Sting? How many paladin NPCs have Lay on Hands? How many mage NPCs have Fire Blast? How many warrior NPCs have Recklessness? How many demon hunter NPCs had Eye Beam, or Chaos Strike, or Blade Dance, or Fel Devastation?

The answer? None. The point? NPCs do not have a playable class' entire toolkit. And again, Nathanos does not behave like a Dark Ranger despite his title. He has pets, whereas a dark ranger would have none. He has no shadow/necromantic abilities, whereas the dark ranger class would have.

Meanwhile Vareesa Windrunner has Black Arrow and she’s not a Dark Ranger, she’s a Hunter.

Wrong. She has "Black Shot". Not the same thing.

[Teriz]

I'm talking about relative strength of the ability versus the latest iteration of it. The WoW's ability got bastardized and is a weaker version of the original

You believing it was bastardized is completely your opinion. It could very well be exactly how Blizzard intended the ability to be in WoW.

So what? So what if it had the same mechanic?

Scroll back through my responses, I explain why.

No, it does not. We have three abilities.

Black Arrow (WC3), Black Arrows, Drain Life, Silence, Charm, Withering Fire, Haunting Wave, Shadow Dagger, Wailing Arrow, Mind Control, Will of the Forsaken

That's Eleven abilities.

No warlock since the demon hunter does not summon minions.

Yeah Warlock because Demon Hunters took Meta from Warlocks.

I'll repeat:

You have no way of saying what "looks like a dark ranger ability kit" because the dark ranger playable class does not exist yet, therefore we don't have a "dark ranger ability kit" to compare it to.

See above.

Wrong. She has "Black Shot". Not the same thing.

Nope, Black Arrow.

https://www.wowhead.com/npc=121417/vereesa-windrunner

[Revamp Man]

So you’d have no problem if the Draenei mech was the same size as a Draenei?

why would i???
the mount is the same size and its a mech

[Teriz]

why would i???
the mount is the same size and its a mech

Some folks feel differently. Some feel that a mech should be proportionate to the pilot.

[Revamp Man]

Some folks feel differently. Some feel that a mech should be proportionate to the pilot.

some folks are wrong

the mechs are already in the game

they are mounts
the size doesnt really change based on the race using it so suggesting it has to happen if they become a class is unnecessary BS to try and argue against certain races getting the class and as silly as the reason gnomes cant be paladins being because they cant reach the light

[Teriz]

some folks are wrong

the mechs are already in the game

they are mounts
the size doesnt really change based on the race using it so suggesting it has to happen if they become a class is unnecessary BS to try and argue against certain races getting the class and as silly as the reason gnomes cant be paladins being because they cant reach the light

Blizzard isn’t going to use the mount models for class mechs though. In other words, even if Blizzard implemented Draenei Tinkers, they wouldn’t be piloting lightforged warframes.

[Ielenia]

You believing it was bastardized is completely your opinion.

It's not my opinion that the original WC3 ability is much more powerful than any of the versions we got in WoW.

It could very well be exactly how Blizzard intended the ability to be in WoW.

Funny how you see no problem using that argument, but then you flip a table every time that argument is used against you. "The engineering profession could very well be exactly how Blizzard intended the tinker to be in WoW", for example.

Scroll back through my responses, I explain why.

Humor me, please, and answer the question, or link to your post in which you did answer it.

Black Arrow (WC3), Black Arrows, Drain Life, Silence, Charm, Withering Fire, Haunting Wave, Shadow Dagger, Wailing Arrow, Mind Control, Will of the Forsaken

That's Eleven abilities.

All the HotS Sylvanas abilities that you linked are not canon, and should not be considered canon until Sylvanas in WoW uses it. Will of the Forsaken is a racial, not a class ability.

Yeah Warlock because Demon Hunters took Meta from Warlocks.

But the demon hunter is a melee class, so rogue, not warlock.

See above.

How about you actually answer the argument instead of saying "see above" that does not address my argument whatsoever?

Nope, Black Arrow.

https://www.wowhead.com/npc=121417/vereesa-windrunner

Ah. Well, in MoP she had "Black Shot". But that version of "Black Arrow" is nothing but a bastardized version of the original ability, since it doesn't summon an undead minion. I wonder why.

- - - Updated - - -

Blizzard isn’t going to use the mount models for class mechs though.

But they could use the mount's scale.

[Teriz]

It's not my opinion that the original WC3 ability is much more powerful than any of the versions we got in WoW.

It's your opinion that it's "bastardized".

Funny how you see no problem using that argument, but then you flip a table every time that argument is used against you. "The engineering profession could very well be exactly how Blizzard intended the tinker to be in WoW", for example.

Except none of the Tinker's abilities appear in the engineering profession, so how can you use that argument against the Tinker?

Humor me, please, and answer the question, or link to your post in which you did answer it.

Post #2823.

All the HotS Sylvanas abilities that you linked are not canon, and should not be considered canon until Sylvanas in WoW uses it. Will of the Forsaken is a racial, not a class ability.

Wailing Arrow is currently in WoW and is used by Dark Ranger NPCs.

How about you actually answer the argument instead of saying "see above" that does not address my argument whatsoever?

I would say that 11 abilities gives us a pretty good idea of what the Dark Ranger kit would look like.

Ah. Well, in MoP she had "Black Shot". But that version of "Black Arrow" is nothing but a bastardized version of the original ability, since it doesn't summon an undead minion. I wonder why.

The point is that there's multiple versions of Black Arrow. There's the classic WC3 version, the Hunter version before Legion, the Legion version of the spell, the HotS version, etc. The other point is that it isn't always linked to Dark Rangers. Sometimes it's linked to Hunters and Rangers.

But they could use the mount's scale.

The Mount's scale might be too large.

[Triceron]

The Mount's scale might be too large.

Why worry about it when hitboxes can be scaled down?

Raidbosses hitboxes are artificially huge so that melee can crowd around comfortably in gameplay. You can swing away at thin air and still be hitting the boss because the game isn't built around 1:1 visuals.

For instance, you mention how Highmountain antlers add extra height to a Tauren, but that's purely visual and the antlers completely clip through ceilings because they have no hitbox of their own. It's purely visual, and it may even be possible to hide completely with certain helm transmogs.

[Teriz]

Why worry about it when hitboxes can be scaled down?

Raidbosses hitboxes are artificially huge so that melee can crowd around comfortably in gameplay. You can swing away at thin air and still be hitting the boss because the game isn't built around 1:1 visuals.

For instance, you mention how Highmountain antlers add extra height to a Tauren, but that's purely visual and the antlers completely clip through ceilings because they have no hitbox of their own. It's purely visual, and it may even be possible to hide completely with certain helm transmogs.

Wouldn’t screen clutter also be an issue with large mech models?

As I’ve said, the mech size limits are completely up to Blizzard. However if they view size as a problem, I could see a situation where the class is limited to smaller races. A smaller race wouldn’t require a huge model to give the effect of a big mech. Also they would have a more impactful size difference with their non-piloting brethren.

[KrayZ33]

Perhaps Blizzard no longer needed to have Black Arrow in the Hunter spell book for people to recognize that both Hunters and Dark Rangers are one in the same?

Perhaps Blizzard didn't include Tinker yet, because people are supposed to realize that Tinker and Engineering are one and the same