Dark Ranger Customizations (Coming in 9.2.5)!!!

[TheramoreIsTheBomb]

2:1 not in favor. That's probably why. Want for Pandaren Monks was far greater, lik mor than 90% interest. 33% of this tiny sample size is not enough to encourage $100k worth of man hours and production.

lol so putting a texture available for PCs to use at the barbershop costs 100k worth of man hours and production? got it.

[Schwert]

Not sure what you were going for here. We technically already have the equivalent of a Dark Ranger. Void Elf + Rogue or Hunter class. You might want to work on your insults/humor. It's not particularly clever when you are the only one who gets the joke.

But hey, put it on the main forum in 10 years. You might get your wish.

Void Elves lack the typical red eyes that goths want. Which is weird, because red is a void colour, but they likely never got them to prevent that community from complaining the way Night Elves did about Nightborne.

Mess of a situation.

[wowrefugee]

2:1 not in favor. That's probably why. Want for Pandaren Monks was far greater, lik mor than 90% interest. 33% of this tiny sample size is not enough to encourage $100k worth of man hours and production.

lmao again with someone using an mmo-champion poll as empirical evidence

[Ielenia]

Correct. I didn't believe that Blizzard would rip apart an existing class to bring in a new class.

I'd just like to point out that this specific claim is impossible to prove as true. We have the two events happening at the same time, but we have zero concrete evidence that they're connected.

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Want for Pandaren Monks was far greater, lik mor than 90% interest.

What? Are you saying "90% of the player base wanted pandaren monks"?

[arkanon]

2:1 not in favor. That's probably why. Want for Pandaren Monks was far greater, lik mor than 90% interest. 33% of this tiny sample size is not enough to encourage $100k worth of man hours and production.

90% of what? where did that number come from? And where did you come up with $100,000 from?

[username993720]

So do Evokers. And we are clear that Alexstrasza is neither a Dragonsworn or Evoker, right?

Technicalities. They use the same powers.

Yet as Blizzard indicated themselves, the class itself is informed by setting and story.

I wouldn't amuse the idea of Blizzard adding Dark Rangers or Tinkers in Dragonflight just because they have their class concepts readily available.

We got Evokers because they are thematic to Dragonflight.

Then, we'll just have to wait.
If i'm somehow wrong, and the MoP equivalents do add a new class, it might be the Blademaster.

Your argument is all over the place. Kezan got damaged during Cataclysm as well and we saw that first hand with the Goblins evacuating. The expectation for Undermine and Kezan being revisited is as strong as ever.

And we didn't expect to see it again until the MOTHERLODE! dungeon in BfA changed it.

Zandalar was absolutely expected. They were strong enough to appear in full force alongside Mogu in Mists of Pandaria, and we hadn't even seen the formal introduction of Rastakhan yet.

Appearing outside of their sinking homeland was absolutely reasonable, as they sought the piece of land promised to them by the Mogu.

I'd say it would be a realistic expectation of not seeing Zandalar if Rastakhan and Prophet Zul made formal appearances outside of their realm and removed any further purpose from exploring it as an entire zone. Much like how the Emerald Nightmare parts of Legion pretty much diminished any future expectations of a full blown Emerald Dream expansion.

Like Prophet Zul in Cataclysm 4.1?

What? Those tidbits of the Emerald Nightmare never diminished anything about the Emerald Dream. It's as small as Yjomba Isle representing the entirety of Zandalar.

Ion was the lead raid encounter designer for many years before being promoted to Game Director. He prioritizes maintaining raid balance. He could be considered the one responsible for all the borrowed power for the last 2 expansions, and arguably, the one who finalizes decisions like having Covenants. Hard to tell if you would consider that being 'hope' for more classes in the future. I mean, he is responsible for no new class in 9.0.

The reason why Evokers are even playable today is likely part of the owning up they're doing from all blowback they got on Shadowlands. He officially came out to admit that they took the game in the wrong direction and are now trying to correct course. I can see the decision to add a new class being made to placate fans and build back hype for 10.0.

And not a regret in storytelling or features like borrowed power? Who said the Evoker was never planned?

Well that's sorta my point. Hunters already have access to her abilities and gameplay from Heroes of the Storm. All they would have to do is formalize a few abilities as either customizations or as permanent Hunter abilities, if they chose to do so. That is a possibility.

You consider two temporary, weapon-related, abilities as the pinnacle of Dark Ranger representation? This is sad...

Method of wielding is the difference between Shamans and Monks, Priests and Paladins and Demon Hunters and Warlocks.

I mean if we're just talking about Bow user that uses Dark powers, then Hunter with Sylvanas' bow and quiver already cover both aspects.

Come on. You play a Dragon using Dragon powers. They just couldn't let you play as a full-sized Dragon on all fours. They let you have a mortal disguise. This is pretty much a re-interpretation of the Dragonsworn and Dragon aspects.

What would Dark Rangers have to do with old Kalimdor?

An elf class, the Ranger.

IMO, it didn't last because they were positioning to make Dark Ranger a playable class. And for whatever reasons, they ultimately cut those plans, so Black Arrow remains absent because of those original plans to make room for a standalone Dark Ranger class.

And as for Rogues, there's no reason for me to assume them to be Dark Rangers since Blizzard hasn't actually tied them to being Dark Rangers in the lore; but I could see them being a multi-class title if Blizzard was inclined to do so.

Like the 9.2.5 Velonara datamine quest specifically refers to Huntsmaster, not any other class. If it also referred specifically to Rogues, then I'd draw that connection too.

Just based on weapons though? Alone, it isn't enough to draw a comparison. My argument is the full package here.

Yet, you use Sylvanas' bow at every point.

Kezan could be featured as early as 12.0. I don't see any reason for them saving it for an expansion 12 years down the line.

Because 12.0 is supposed to be based around MoP themes. But, who knows.

You don't actually know that is the reason though. We have an Evoker class and we don't have a Dark Ranger class. We don't actually know the reasons why one was chosen over the other.

'Because Evoker was being developed' is not something that either of us can see, only something we can baselessly assume through correlation. We have no inside knowledge to any of the actual reasons why Evoker is a new class and why Dark Ranger is not.

For example: Let's swap your argument with Demon Hunters and Death Knights.

"Demon Hunters in TBC were omitted because Death Knights were being developed. How can you not see that?"

Would you agree with the above statement? I wouldn't, at all.

Expansion story and setting come first, then they see what features fit into the story and setting. It doesn't work the other way around where they are actively developing a certain class years ahead of time, before they even figured out the next expansion. We know that their own plans for story and setting shift in concept, like their explanations of the Mongrel Horde and an Azeroth-based 6.0 expansion instead of what eventually became WoD.

Are classes a last minute decision?
Because, as it seems, they are working according to a pattern and, therefore, the Dark Ranger was never meant for Shadowlands, while the Evoker was supposed to appear in a Cataclysm equivalent, which i remind you, had no class.

[Triceron]

Are classes a last minute decision?
Because, as it seems, they are working according to a pattern and, therefore, the Dark Ranger was never meant for Shadowlands, while the Evoker was supposed to appear in a Cataclysm equivalent, which i remind you, had no class.

Expansions are planned first, classes are features within an expansion. We already know this is how things are prioritized.

Wrath of the Lich King wasn't built around the idea that they planned a Death Knight and decided to go with Northrend after. We know this already not being true, since Runemaster was one of the planned classes on the shortlist for Wrath of the Lich King expansion. They weren't going to change up the story and setting to some other location that would have been more central to the Runemaster; it would have been a Runemaster class for a Northrend-centric expansion.

And no, I do not believe any pattern exists other than whatever people are choosing to correlate. As I pointed out, Dragonflight is a mishmash of so many concepts that you can point at it being a literal Mists of Pandaria 2.0 for literally being a time-lost forgotten island shrouded by mists that we are discovering for the first time. It's not even broadening the scope to being floating islands or something more fantastic. It's literally an island shrouded in fog and mist.

Then, we'll just have to wait.
If i'm somehow wrong, and the MoP equivalents do add a new class, it might be the Blademaster.

I doubt they would revisit MoP themes (or other Asian equivalents) considering the tepid reception surrounding its themes. The expansion itself was great, but the themes were very poorly received overall and if you remember anything about MoP, people were praising WoD for bringing the series 'back to its roots' and couldn't wait to get out of Pandaria. You see the same kind of thing happening in Shadowlands where people are feeling the expansion being too disconnected from what they consider the roots of Warcraft's high fantasy setting and taking a step too close to cosmic scale sci-fantasy. As much as I want them to take risks and explore new and different cultures, I acknowledge it being a risk they don't want to take. I mean look at Dragon Isles; they have an opportunity to explore vastly rich new races and cultures and instead we have mostly retreads of existing races like new types of Centaur or Gnolls or Tuskarr. Way more familiarity than anything really new, and that's mostly because they know that most WoW players are actually quite conservative when it comes to new concepts.

I mean even look at the Kul Tirans they added and spent so much time and effort creating for BFA. Kul Tiran remain one of the least played Allied Races, and one of the lowest played Races overall in the game. As much as it makes sense to have Kul Tiran playable, it's kinda sad when a simple reskin of Blood Elves with Void magic ends up completely overshadowing all the time and effort put into a brand spanking new Kul Tiran option.

Most of the fanbase just wants more of the same. That's why we're seeing so many repeats of themes. This is the primary reason why people are lead to believe that there must be some pattern repeating different expansion themes. There isn't actually any pattern, it's more the case that Blizzard is taking less and less risks to explore completely new concepts because the existing playerbase isn't very open to change and new settings. Sad truth is, WoW's success is primarily drawn from retreading all of WC3's tropes, and they tend to gain more traction when presenting a new setting that is familiar (like old Draenor), rather than something that is completely new (like Pandaria).

Who said the Evoker was never planned?

Considering it's a class that is exclusive to one Race and only has 2 specs, I doubt there was any real long-term planning involved here. If they spent multiple expansions worth of time planning this out, then a 2-spec class that can only be playable by 1 race and does not even have weapons or armor visible in its combat form doesn't lead me to believe it was planned very well. I really do see this class being a reaction to recent player feedback rather than something they intentionally planned since BFA.

[username993720]

Expansions are planned first, classes are features within an expansion. We already know this is how things are prioritized.

Wrath of the Lich King wasn't built around the idea that they planned a Death Knight and decided to go with Northrend after. We know this already not being true, since Runemaster was one of the planned classes on the shortlist for Wrath of the Lich King expansion. They weren't going to change up the story and setting to some other location that would have been more central to the Runemaster; it would have been a Runemaster class for a Northrend-centric expansion.

And no, I do not believe any pattern exists other than whatever people are choosing to correlate. As I pointed out, Dragonflight is a mishmash of so many concepts that you can point at it being a literal Mists of Pandaria 2.0 for literally being a time-lost forgotten island shrouded by mists that we are discovering for the first time. It's not even broadening the scope to being floating islands or something more fantastic. It's literally an island shrouded in fog and mist.

Well, you're right. It has some Pandaria vibes. But, its focus on Dragons make it unmistakenably a Cataclysm equivalent.

How long before an expansion is annouced do they work on a class?

I doubt they would revisit MoP themes (or other Asian equivalents) considering the tepid reception surrounding its themes. The expansion itself was great, but the themes were very poorly received overall and if you remember anything about MoP, people were praising WoD for bringing the series 'back to its roots' and couldn't wait to get out of Pandaria. You see the same kind of thing happening in Shadowlands where people are feeling the expansion being too disconnected from what they consider the roots of Warcraft's high fantasy setting and taking a step too close to cosmic scale sci-fantasy. As much as I want them to take risks and explore new and different cultures, I acknowledge it being a risk they don't want to take. I mean look at Dragon Isles; they have an opportunity to explore vastly rich new races and cultures and instead we have mostly retreads of existing races like new types of Centaur or Gnolls or Tuskarr. Way more familiarity than anything really new, and that's mostly because they know that most WoW players are actually quite conservative when it comes to new concepts.

I mean even look at the Kul Tirans they added and spent so much time and effort creating for BFA. Kul Tiran remain one of the least played Allied Races, and one of the lowest played Races overall in the game. As much as it makes sense to have Kul Tiran playable, it's kinda sad when a simple reskin of Blood Elves with Void magic ends up completely overshadowing all the time and effort put into a brand spanking new Kul Tiran option.

Most of the fanbase just wants more of the same. That's why we're seeing so many repeats of themes. This is the primary reason why people are lead to believe that there must be some pattern repeating different expansion themes. There isn't actually any pattern, it's more the case that Blizzard is taking less and less risks to explore completely new concepts because the existing playerbase isn't very open to change and new settings. Sad truth is, WoW's success is primarily drawn from retreading all of WC3's tropes, and they tend to gain more traction when presenting a new setting that is familiar (like old Draenor), rather than something that is completely new (like Pandaria).

You are aware that WoW's decline started in Cataclysm and that it was considered one of the worst expansions, considering the small amount of content at launch due to the revamp, the anti climatic fight with Deathwing, underwater zone and green jesus Thrall. They chose to retread this with Dragonflight.

There's nothing unfamiliar about Orcish culture. Or, since we've already got WoD, Ankoan one.

Considering it's a class that is exclusive to one Race and only has 2 specs, I doubt there was any real long-term planning involved here. If they spent multiple expansions worth of time planning this out, then a 2-spec class that can only be playable by 1 race and does not even have weapons or armor visible in its combat form doesn't lead me to believe it was planned very well. I really do see this class being a reaction to recent player feedback rather than something they intentionally planned since BFA.

Blizzard's new lazy approach?
Demon Hunters - 2 specs, 2 races, existing skeletons (so armor is not an issue).
You forget it began long ago.

[Triceron]

Well, you're right. It has some Pandaria vibes. But, its focus on Dragons make it unmistakenably a Cataclysm equivalent.

How long before an expansion is annouced do they work on a class?

It doesn't matter when their development starts, it matters when they actually plan a class to be made. And from what we know from their own post-mortem discussions, it's always after the expansion's story and setting are known.

That is why I gauge predictions based on what potential expansions come next and what classes would fit what we can feasibly predict in the near future. That is the most surefire way to predict a future upcoming class. And so far it's been able to predict Demon Hunters and a Dragon themed class in succession to what we knew on the shortlist of future expansions.

You are aware that WoW's decline started in Cataclysm and that it was considered one of the worst expansions, considering the small amount of content at launch due to the revamp, the anti climatic fight with Deathwing, underwater zone and green jesus Thrall. They chose to retread this with Dragonflight.

There's nothing unfamiliar about Orcish culture. Or, since we've already got WoD, Ankoan one.

I'm well aware since Cata was the last time I subbed to WoW.

Player sub decline after Cataclysm was an inevitable thing for any game lasting over certain number of years and simply 'getting old'. WoW being relevant at all today with a sub fee intact is well beyond the normal standard for MMO's.

Dragons are a rich theme to explore and Dragon Isles was even planned as far back as Vanilla. Cataclysm having dragon lore doesn't mean Dragonflight is a retread of Cataclysm. Dragon Isles was already built and in the lore and cut from the original WoW Vanilla beta.

And again, we could even consider TBC, Wrath, Legion and BFA to be drsgon expansions because they all featured Dragons prominently in parts of the story too. It's all a matter of perspective. If I look at Cataclysm, I actually consider it an Old God/Twilight's Hammer expansion since every boss is related to being an agent of the Old Gods. Deathwing was merely a giant Draconic agent of Old Gods, which could only be defeated by the powers he locked away in the demon soul.

Blizzard's new lazy approach?
Demon Hunters - 2 specs, 2 races, existing skeletons (so armor is not an issue).
You forget it began long ago.

Demon Hunter I give more leeway because it was a niche concept to begin with. Evoker has no excuse, really, but is understandable having less because Blizzard simply doesn't have the same budget as they used to for developing WoW today.

Hell, lack of resources could literally have been the reason Dark Rangers weren't playable and content got cut. And yes, I imply content was cut considering 8.1 was when we first saw the Velonara quest, and only now have we seen any indication of it continuing. I double down on my tinfoil hat theory that they were initially planned to be playable and got cut. Too many things point at this, many of which you have pointed out yourself like the prominence of Sylvanas or the creation of the Night Elf Dark Rangers and all the banshee abilities Sylvanas had in recent years.

[OMGTwitchTV]

lol so putting a texture available for PCs to use at the barbershop costs 100k worth of man hours and production? got it.

Betting it takes more than $50 to flesh out, design, and make customizable to say nothing of the animations, gear (if they even wear any), heritage armor, a rep system that makes sense for earning Exalted with them, potentially new mounts, and at the very least the original artwork to give us a pinch of their history, not to mention the opening cinematics for race creation with voice over actors, music, etc.

If you don't understand game design concept and business expense, then it is better to remain silent and thought a fool than to type it all out and remove all doubt.

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Void Elves lack the typical red eyes that goths want. Which is weird, because red is a void colour, but they likely never got them to prevent that community from complaining the way Night Elves did about Nightborne.

Mess of a situation.

This is another SOLID response. Thank you.

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lmao again with someone using an mmo-champion poll as empirical evidence

Hardly Empirical. I even notated the "SMALL SAMPLE SIZE" and recommended taking it to the main forums where it would STILL get a low level of responses. Sethrak was last expac. No one wants more of the same. None of us. Also, we just delt with sethrak. Personally, I am uninterested.

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I'd just like to point out that this specific claim is impossible to prove as true. We have the two events happening at the same time, but we have zero concrete evidence that they're connected.

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What? Are you saying "90% of the player base wanted pandaren monks"?

Depends... did you read what I wrote?

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90% of what? where did that number come from? And where did you come up with $100,000 from?

It's called approximation. It is what happens when the exact number is unavailable. Personally, I never wanted Pandas or Pandaland, I am likely the minority.

[username993720]

It doesn't matter when their development starts, it matters when they actually plan a class to be made. And from what we know from their own post-mortem discussions, it's always after the expansion's story and setting are known.

That is why I gauge predictions based on what potential expansions come next and what classes would fit what we can feasibly predict in the near future. That is the most surefire way to predict a future upcoming class. And so far it's been able to predict Demon Hunters and a Dragon themed class in succession to what we knew on the shortlist of future expansions.

I don't disagree. The theme of the expansion determines the class. Yet, you can't predict all of the expansion themes to come and, therefore, eliminate classes by it.

I'm well aware since Cata was the last time I subbed to WoW.

Player sub decline after Cataclysm was an inevitable thing for any game lasting over certain number of years and simply 'getting old'. WoW being relevant at all today with a sub fee intact is well beyond the normal standard for MMO's.

Dragons are a rich theme to explore and Dragon Isles was even planned as far back as Vanilla. Cataclysm having dragon lore doesn't mean Dragonflight is a retread of Cataclysm. Dragon Isles was already built and in the lore and cut from the original WoW Vanilla beta.

And again, we could even consider TBC, Wrath, Legion and BFA to be drsgon expansions because they all featured Dragons prominently in parts of the story too. It's all a matter of perspective. If I look at Cataclysm, I actually consider it an Old God/Twilight's Hammer expansion since every boss is related to being an agent of the Old Gods. Deathwing was merely a giant Draconic agent of Old Gods, which could only be defeated by the powers he locked away in the demon soul.

Come on... that's like calling Shadowlands a non-death expansion or Legion a non-legion expansion.

Demon Hunter I give more leeway because it was a niche concept to begin with. Evoker has no excuse, really, but is understandable having less because Blizzard simply doesn't have the same budget as they used to for developing WoW today.

Hell, lack of resources could literally have been the reason Dark Rangers weren't playable and content got cut. And yes, I imply content was cut considering 8.1 was when we first saw the Velonara quest, and only now have we seen any indication of it continuing. I double down on my tinfoil hat theory that they were initially planned to be playable and got cut. Too many things point at this, many of which you have pointed out yourself like the prominence of Sylvanas or the creation of the Night Elf Dark Rangers and all the banshee abilities Sylvanas had in recent years.

Where does it say that their budget went down?
I see it as being lazy for the purpose of creating more profit for less work.

[Triceron]

I don't disagree. The theme of the expansion determines the class. Yet, you can't predict all of the expansion themes to come and, therefore, eliminate classes by it.

It's better than blindly assuming that X Y Z classes will all be playable sometime in the far future.

Come on... that's like calling Shadowlands a non-death expansion or Legion a non-legion expansion.

Deathwing was literally the only connection to Dragons, and he was the only reason the Aspects were involved at all. The entire theme of the expansion was Old God agents, which is why the major raids included Cho'gall and the Twilights Hammer cultists and the Elemental Lords.

Like most expansions, they aren't really just containers of one theme. They contain many themes, from which people choose to interpret what is and is not relevant.

As an argument I made before, Legion at the outset is very Demon themed, but if you actually do all the questing on Broken Isles then you'd realize that the entire Pillars of Creation storyline and all of the villains you meet on the Broken Isles are actually Old God related, not demonic. Xavius, Azshara, the Drogbar King and Deathwing's lair are all Old God themed, not Legion. The only main things demon themed are Broken Shore, the Invasions, and the mid tier and end tier raids. The actual leveling content had relatively little to do with Demons at all.

Where does it say that their budget went down?
I see it as being lazy for the purpose of creating more profit for less work.

We've known this since the first major budget cuts back in 2019. They cut out a significant percent of the WoW workforce. 800 layoffs, which included a lot of community managers, GM's and Quality Assurance people.

https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/st...06632235921408

This has been an ongoing thing that has not only affected WoW, but plenty of other games as well like Heroes of the Storm and most recently, the whole WC3 Reforged fiasco.

https://www.ign.com/articles/special...t-a-crossroads

Some feel Blizzard has been on the decline over the past three or four years amid layoffs, budget cuts, and a lack of major releases.


https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wo...tment/947369/3

This thread, while admittedly full of speculation, pretty much captures the overall 'big picture' of what's going on. There is no concrete proof for Blizzard officially saying 'Hey we cut our budget!', nothing like this exists. Yet based on their answers to interview questions like 'We hear you and we're doing our best to get to it' and the lowered amount of content or high amount of corner-cutting in recent expansions, it's pretty clear that they don't have the 'creative freedom' that they once used to have.

[wowrefugee]

.

His post was about red eyes/undead skin already in the files that could be used for Dark Ranger barbershop customization. The fact you misunderstood his post and then was pretentious enough to post this:

If you don't understand game design concept and business expense, then it is better to remain silent and thought a fool than to type it all out and remove all doubt.

Is hilarious and embarrassing.

To your other points:
Allied races no longer require reputation to unlock.

Darkfallen wouldn't require new animations or new armor mapping.

No, 90% of people did not like Pandas. You must be new and missed the hate MoP got.

[OMGTwitchTV]

Snipped

I've been with WoW since Jan 19, 2006. The only hate for MoP was the extensive Golden Pagoda Dailies that were hated so much, they destroyed the entire Vale and made it an entrance into SoO. Let's say for argument sake, they can easily add barber shop options and Mail gear. Call it a wash, a zero cost factor. They would still need:

- An intro story
- An opening cinematic
- new skills added to the game to make them unique
- A few new animations to provide for the unique skills
- Potential new weapons and their own animations

If nothing else comes to pass, or cost, there is still the investment and man hours of the afore mentioned. If you cannot acknowledge that these things are "likely" possible, then it is evident you are simply digging in your heels as to remain right in your mind and that no one else's opinion mattered.

[Ielenia]

Depends... did you read what I wrote?

You said that "want for pandaren monks was over 90% interest." That means 90% of the player base wanted pandaren monks.

[arkanon]

It's called approximation. It is what happens when the exact number is unavailable. Personally, I never wanted Pandas or Pandaland, I am likely the minority.

No, an approximation is nearly but not exactly correct. I ask again, what is the 90% based on? where did that number come from? Even an approximation is based on something, otherwise its just a complete guess with nothing to back it up. 90% of who?

[OMGTwitchTV]

No, an approximation is nearly but not exactly correct. I ask again, what is the 90% based on? where did that number come from? Even an approximation is based on something, otherwise its just a complete guess with nothing to back it up. 90% of who?

Was likely a poll from this very site 11 years ago. Hard to say. I do recall a poll, and when offered a variety of options, Pandaren were the front runners. It was a long time again, and to be fair, it was likely a bit more hyperbolic and too small a sample size to even consider being a majority. So, since you are like a pitbull on a bone, I will simply state that I was mistaken and own up to my error of opinion. Have a great day and feel free to respond as much as you like. As this topic has zero bearing on my enjoyment of the game, and the Dark Ranger is more suited to D&D, there's very little productive discussion left that does not involved being told anyone who disagrees with you is wrong. Take care.

[username993720]

It's better than blindly assuming that X Y Z classes will all be playable sometime in the far future.

Why is it better?

Deathwing was literally the only connection to Dragons, and he was the only reason the Aspects were involved at all. The entire theme of the expansion was Old God agents, which is why the major raids included Cho'gall and the Twilights Hammer cultists and the Elemental Lords.

Like most expansions, they aren't really just containers of one theme. They contain many themes, from which people choose to interpret what is and is not relevant.

As an argument I made before, Legion at the outset is very Demon themed, but if you actually do all the questing on Broken Isles then you'd realize that the entire Pillars of Creation storyline and all of the villains you meet on the Broken Isles are actually Old God related, not demonic. Xavius, Azshara, the Drogbar King and Deathwing's lair are all Old God themed, not Legion. The only main things demon themed are Broken Shore, the Invasions, and the mid tier and end tier raids. The actual leveling content had relatively little to do with Demons at all.

You have to distinguish between the main theme and the secondary ones.

We've known this since the first major budget cuts back in 2019. They cut out a significant percent of the WoW workforce. 800 layoffs, which included a lot of community managers, GM's and Quality Assurance people.

https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/st...06632235921408

This has been an ongoing thing that has not only affected WoW, but plenty of other games as well like Heroes of the Storm and most recently, the whole WC3 Reforged fiasco.

https://www.ign.com/articles/special...t-a-crossroads

Some feel Blizzard has been on the decline over the past three or four years amid layoffs, budget cuts, and a lack of major releases.


https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wo...tment/947369/3

This thread, while admittedly full of speculation, pretty much captures the overall 'big picture' of what's going on. There is no concrete proof for Blizzard officially saying 'Hey we cut our budget!', nothing like this exists. Yet based on their answers to interview questions like 'We hear you and we're doing our best to get to it' and the lowered amount of content or high amount of corner-cutting in recent expansions, it's pretty clear that they don't have the 'creative freedom' that they once used to have.

I thought they were trying to maximize profits with those layoffs.

[Teriz]

Yeah, right.

I meant what I said.

Hunters can cover Dark Rangers and Tinkers.

Death Knights and Warlocks cover Necromancers.

Bards aren't necessary, since there are no Bard heroes of record in Warcraft.

In my view, new classes in WoW are done. I would be surprised if we get another one.

[Triceron]

Why is it better?

Because baseless speculation wouldn't become baseless expectation if we keep speculative discussion grounded in reality.

You have to distinguish between the main theme and the secondary ones.

No such thing matters. It's all about the story snd setting.

BFA's main theme wasn't technology but I'd argue a Tinker would have fit the story and setting nonetheless.

I thought they were trying to maximize profits with those layoffs.

What do you think a budget cut does? Minimize profits?