How I would have done Evokers.

[Zodiark]

You know there has been a lot of heated debate about Evokers since they were announced and it hasn't really slowed down much even after the launch. I have been playing one so far myself and came up with a few thoughts.

I like the concept of Evokers and such but think that Blizzard could have gone a different direction. For instance I would have went the route of games like the Breath of Fire games. I would have made it so that ANY race could have chosen the Evoker class and once you do they could have had their own starting area which would include a temple where you become an Evoker and fuse your soul to that of the Dragons thus empowering you and granting you a portion of their powers. The ability to Transform into a scaled down version of a full Dragon during certain cooldowns, etc. Like using Flame Breath or such.

Otherwise you basically look normal. Maybe you could have Dragon eyes as part of a skin package similar to Death Knights with their undead skins. So the class would be more or less the same as it is now. I would have made the Evoker and therefore dragon theme all part of the class itself.

I would have made the Drakonid race which was already known and established in game more fleshed out. Blizzard is all aboard on the diversity train and showing that women can be just as strong and burly as men in the game. So there you go the Drakonids have that built in already because they don't really show any Dimorphism within their race. Eg men and women are more or less the same builds.

As a Drakonid you could chose to BE an Evoker but you could also be any other class.

[kenn9530]

You know there has been a lot of heated debate about Evokers since they were announced and it hasn't really slowed down much even after the launch. I have been playing one so far myself and came up with a few thoughts.

I like the concept of Evokers and such but think that Blizzard could have gone a different direction. For instance I would have went the route of games like the Breath of Fire games. I would have made it so that ANY race could have chosen the Evoker class and once you do they could have had their own starting area which would include a temple where you become an Evoker and fuse your soul to that of the Dragons thus empowering you and granting you a portion of their powers. The ability to Transform into a scaled down version of a full Dragon during certain cooldowns, etc. Like using Flame Breath or such.

Otherwise you basically look normal. Maybe you could have Dragon eyes as part of a skin package similar to Death Knights with their undead skins. So the class would be more or less the same as it is now. I would have made the Evoker and therefore dragon theme all part of the class itself.

I would have made the Drakonid race which was already known and established in game more fleshed out. Blizzard is all aboard on the diversity train and showing that women can be just as strong and burly as men in the game. So there you go the Drakonids have that built in already because they don't really show any Dimorphism within their race. Eg men and women are more or less the same builds.

As a Drakonid you could chose to BE an Evoker but you could also be any other class.

That deafeats the purpose of the whole race and class to begin with, the race was purely designed to be an evoker, drakonoids are not related to dragons so they couldnt be an evoker, the players were never going to get the ability to be a larger dragon its just not suited for WoW gameplay.

They could make draconoid a race and open it to other classes but the race is purely designed to serve the dragonflights so thats what they generally do and have been granted some powers of those dragonflight they serve.

The only thing that really matters is how they play, currently they play pretty good for players who like ranged specs or healing.

[Zodiark]

That deafeats the purpose of the whole race and class to begin with, the race was purely designed to be an evoker, drakonoids are not related to dragons so they couldnt be an evoker, the players were never going to get the ability to be a larger dragon its just not suited for WoW gameplay.

They could make draconoid a race and open it to other classes but the race is purely designed to serve the dragonflights so thats what they generally do and have been granted some powers of those dragonflight they serve.

The only thing that really matters is how they play, currently they play pretty good for players who like ranged specs or healing.

Which is exactly why the Drakonids could use some of the power the dragons have to help sever them. Drakonids are very much related to Dragons Idk where you get that idea from. They are literally all over this expansion. Meanwhile Dracthyrs are more or less strangers in a strange land. The whole lore about them was never mentioned prior to the expansion. So everything was just cooked up within the last few years behind closed doors and then only spoken about for the first time during the enouncement trailer. Meanwhile Drakonids were around since forever in WoW.

This following excerpt is taken from WoWpedia.

Drakonid

Faction/Affiliation Dragonflights, Old Gods' forces, Illidari, Primalists
Character classes Warrior, Warlock[1]
Racial capital Various
Racial leader(s) Various
Racial mount None
Homeworld Azeroth
Language(s) Draconic, Common
Drakonid[2][3] (sometimes pluralized as drakonids[4][5][6] and also spelled draconid)[7] or drakonaar[8][9][10] are humanoid dragon-like creatures typically used as guards[3] and soldiers for their dragonflight.

Drakonid have been described as half-man, half-dragon.[11] Drakonid are mortals empowered by the dragons they serve, via intentional alteration or via "unintended side effect of hanging out with dragons".[12] The process does not have to be willing.[13] The original drakonid were transformed from tarasek, a reptilian species native to the Dragon Isles. The Dragon Aspects uplifted them in the same manner that the titans uplifted proto-dragons into dragons. In the millennia to follow, new methods with varying degrees of success were devised to create drakonid.[14] While some drakonid are transformed mortals, the species can lay eggs and it is possible to be born as a drakonid.[15] Old drakonid are allowed to retire.[16]

The ascendants and Zuluhed of the Dragonmaw on Outland can turn into drakonid.[17] Corla of the Twilight's Hammer in the Blackrock Caverns blessed fellow zealots by harnessing nether dragon essence to transform the believers into menacing twilight drakonid.[18]

Drakonid are abundant on the Dragon Isles. When dragons left the Dragon Isles after the Sundering, drakonid were among those left to care over the isles.[19] Drakonid of all five dragonflights guard the Wyrmrest Temple in Northrend.[20] Bronze drakonid patrol the Caverns of Time.[21] The infinite dragonflight tempted many drakonid with promises of power, but most found only servitude and despair. One of the few exceptions is Chrono Lord Deja, who gained influence within the flight through his raw power and cunning.[22] Nether drakonid can be found in Shadowmoon Valley, in the service of Illidan Stormrage.

In Blackwing Lair, each drakonid seems to have a fatal weakness to one magic type, making it suffer enormous damage from that particular school. This weakness can be used to the advantage of any mortal army daring to step into the halls of Blackwing Lair in order to challenge the sinister Nefarian.

Drakonid are soldiers, educated and trained to serve. They begin as cadets and eventually graduate out of that rank. One of their topmost missions is to protect the eggs of their flight, and they are to give their life for that mission if necessary.[23]

Notable

So tell me why again couldn't they have been made as a playable race since they are already Warriors and Magic users, eg Warlocks.
Evoker could have just been the name of the class of job that they are when serving the dragons, like a warrior becomes a Paldin when he/she chooses a faith.

[kenn9530]

snip

Drakonids are not related to dragons they are not born from dragons, they origionally started as humans or humanoid worshippers that were granted powers of the dragonflights they serve and were transformed, they have never been born from dragons. You basically just answered your own post that they have no blood relation at all to dragons and are not decendants of them.

Dracthyr were made for the purpose of using the 5 main dragonflights magic all at the same time, evoker is a user of the five dragonflights, the dracthyr are the race created to wield those powers, in WoW you would lose all your powers if you wanted to be a paladin or warrior you would erase all the races natural abilities for the option to be another class. Drakonids have more leeway to be other classes since they only posses some powers of 1 dragonflight. Blizz are not going to rework every class to combine dragon powers with everything else are they.

[Calfredd]

Drakonids are not related to dragons they are not born from dragons, they origionally started as humans or humanoid worshippers that were granted powers of the dragonflights they serve and were transformed, they have never been born from dragons. You basically just answered your own post that they have no blood relation at all to dragons and are not decendants of them.

Dracthyr were made for the purpose of using the 5 main dragonflights magic all at the same time, evoker is a user of the five dragonflights, the dracthyr are the race created to wield those powers, in WoW you would lose all your powers if you wanted to be a paladin or warrior you would erase all the races natural abilities for the option to be another class. Drakonids have more leeway to be other classes since they only posses some powers of 1 dragonflight. Blizz are not going to rework every class to combine dragon powers with everything else are they.

Which is why not all dracthyr are evokers, right?

[Linkedblade]

You know there has been a lot of heated debate about Evokers since they were announced and it hasn't really slowed down much even after the launch. I have been playing one so far myself and came up with a few thoughts.

I like the concept of Evokers and such but think that Blizzard could have gone a different direction. For instance I would have went the route of games like the Breath of Fire games. I would have made it so that ANY race could have chosen the Evoker class and once you do they could have had their own starting area which would include a temple where you become an Evoker and fuse your soul to that of the Dragons thus empowering you and granting you a portion of their powers. The ability to Transform into a scaled down version of a full Dragon during certain cooldowns, etc. Like using Flame Breath or such.

Otherwise you basically look normal. Maybe you could have Dragon eyes as part of a skin package similar to Death Knights with their undead skins. So the class would be more or less the same as it is now. I would have made the Evoker and therefore dragon theme all part of the class itself.

I would have made the Drakonid race which was already known and established in game more fleshed out. Blizzard is all aboard on the diversity train and showing that women can be just as strong and burly as men in the game. So there you go the Drakonids have that built in already because they don't really show any Dimorphism within their race. Eg men and women are more or less the same builds.

As a Drakonid you could chose to BE an Evoker but you could also be any other class.

To start from scratch: They could have added Dragonkin as the playable race, however they aren't known to have a visage. So, they could also add Dragon as a race to satisfy the visage. And you would be in visage form for combat. Both could be open to any class. Then take connecting with the dragonflights as a way to implement additional specializations. Time mage, Earthwarden Shaman, etc. Or something like that.

[shammypie]

i'm cool with how things played out

[Lolites]

ok... so first of all yes, the debate really slowed down, to the point of almost dying out... at least on MMO-C, i dont frequent other forums so hard to say for me

as for your ideas: im not completely against the idea, but a lot of abilities (including racials) are based on being dracthyr, having tail, wings, "spiting" firte etc, so it wouldnt make sense, for DH it make sense to just transform as CD, bcs most abilities dont really change, for dracthyr it wouldnt make much sense, unless the class would work A LOT different, could that work? maybe, maybe not, really hard to say
as for drakonids NO THANKS, for evokers who use wings/tails a lot it would makes absolutely no sense, and for other classes... meh, no thanks, dracthyr look a lot better imo

[SausageBiscuits]

You know there has been a lot of heated debate about Evokers since they were announced and it hasn't really slowed down much even after the launch. I have been playing one so far myself and came up with a few thoughts.

I like the concept of Evokers and such but think that Blizzard could have gone a different direction. For instance I would have went the route of games like the Breath of Fire games. I would have made it so that ANY race could have chosen the Evoker class and once you do they could have had their own starting area which would include a temple where you become an Evoker and fuse your soul to that of the Dragons thus empowering you and granting you a portion of their powers. The ability to Transform into a scaled down version of a full Dragon during certain cooldowns, etc. Like using Flame Breath or such.

Otherwise you basically look normal. Maybe you could have Dragon eyes as part of a skin package similar to Death Knights with their undead skins. So the class would be more or less the same as it is now. I would have made the Evoker and therefore dragon theme all part of the class itself.

I would have made the Drakonid race which was already known and established in game more fleshed out. Blizzard is all aboard on the diversity train and showing that women can be just as strong and burly as men in the game. So there you go the Drakonids have that built in already because they don't really show any Dimorphism within their race. Eg men and women are more or less the same builds.

As a Drakonid you could chose to BE an Evoker but you could also be any other class.

I prefer what we got, to what you're proposing.

[Teriz]

I would have preferred my dragonborne class concept in my signature. However, what we ended up getting is an excellent alternative.

[bloodmoth13]

I'm mixed. If t were me I'd never had made evoker and would have gone dragonsworn instead which would be any race.
My idea would have been agile melee mail wearer with polearms that uses magic of the aspects but the more I think about it the more I realise how much it overlaps with enhance and survival and I genuinely wonder if it would be worth it.
As a caster it would be very close with elemental in many ways.
I like the idea of a caster that transforms into a full dragon but constant transformation might be distracting in raids. I think what we got was the logical conclusion of solving all the problems with a dragon class. It's a full dragon scaled down to a level that isn't distracting, it's a new caster instead of melee and provides a new healing spec.

[Arikara]

You know there has been a lot of heated debate about Evokers since they were announced and it hasn't really slowed down much even after the launch. I have been playing one so far myself and came up with a few thoughts.

I like the concept of Evokers and such but think that Blizzard could have gone a different direction. For instance I would have went the route of games like the Breath of Fire games. I would have made it so that ANY race could have chosen the Evoker class and once you do they could have had their own starting area which would include a temple where you become an Evoker and fuse your soul to that of the Dragons thus empowering you and granting you a portion of their powers. The ability to Transform into a scaled down version of a full Dragon during certain cooldowns, etc. Like using Flame Breath or such.

Otherwise you basically look normal. Maybe you could have Dragon eyes as part of a skin package similar to Death Knights with their undead skins. So the class would be more or less the same as it is now. I would have made the Evoker and therefore dragon theme all part of the class itself.

I would have made the Drakonid race which was already known and established in game more fleshed out. Blizzard is all aboard on the diversity train and showing that women can be just as strong and burly as men in the game. So there you go the Drakonids have that built in already because they don't really show any Dimorphism within their race. Eg men and women are more or less the same builds.

As a Drakonid you could chose to BE an Evoker but you could also be any other class.

Blizzard have handled things poorly—the disgusting visage must be destroyed—but what you are describing is a downgrade on all fronts.

To fix evokers and dracthyr, you simply

- Give full transmog support
- Remove the visage
- Grant full Soar dragonriding functionality by default
- Tank spec
- Devastation slightly more interesting
- Fix missing animations and various bugs

[chrisisvacant]

Drakonids are not related to dragons they are not born from dragons, they origionally started as humans or humanoid worshippers that were granted powers of the dragonflights they serve and were transformed, they have never been born from dragons. You basically just answered your own post that they have no blood relation at all to dragons and are not decendants of them.

Dracthyr were made for the purpose of using the 5 main dragonflights magic all at the same time, evoker is a user of the five dragonflights, the dracthyr are the race created to wield those powers, in WoW you would lose all your powers if you wanted to be a paladin or warrior you would erase all the races natural abilities for the option to be another class. Drakonids have more leeway to be other classes since they only posses some powers of 1 dragonflight. Blizz are not going to rework every class to combine dragon powers with everything else are they.

This is not true. Original drakonids are from taraseks and they are descendants of dragons. Stop the lie that drakonids are not related to dragons. They lay eggs and bear little drakonid whelps. Tf are you on about, m8

[kenn9530]

This is not true. Original drakonids are from taraseks and they are descendants of dragons. Stop the lie that drakonids are not related to dragons. They lay eggs and bear little drakonid whelps. Tf are you on about, m8

Seems you lack the basic knowledge, the drakonids are not decendants of dragons neither are the taraseks, they are from completely different races, drakonids have been made from humans, they are completely changed with magic and given some powers of the dragonflights they serve, laying eggs doesnt make them related to dragons.

- - - Updated - - -

Blizzard have handled things poorly—the disgusting visage must be destroyed—but what you are describing is a downgrade on all fronts.

To fix evokers and dracthyr, you simply

- Give full transmog support
- Remove the visage
- Grant full Soar dragonriding functionality by default
- Tank spec
- Devastation slightly more interesting
- Fix missing animations and various bugs

Transmog is irrelevant they have thier own stuff they can use, soar will become available as dragonriding at some point they probably dont want to invalidate the dragonriding system with dracthyr, no tank spec will ever happen its a mage class deal with it, already too many tank classes and melee options as it is.

[Gaidax]

To fix evokers and dracthyr, you simply

- Give full transmog support
- Remove the visage
...

Why?

Visage is excellent and also completely optional. Don't like it - don't use it, pretty simple.

More transmog options in Drakthyr form would be nice, at the very least they could make season sets be fully custom for Drakthyr form.

[chrisisvacant]

Seems you lack the basic knowledge, the drakonids are not decendants of dragons neither are the taraseks, they are from completely different races, drakonids have been made from humans, they are completely changed with magic and given some powers of the dragonflights they serve, laying eggs doesnt make them related to dragons.

- - - Updated - - -



Transmog is irrelevant they have thier own stuff they can use, soar will become available as dragonriding at some point they probably dont want to invalidate the dragonriding system with dracthyr, no tank spec will ever happen its a mage class deal with it, already too many tank classes and melee options as it is.

No, the original drakonids were bolstered taraseks. Both races are descendants of dragons, considered dragonkin. Seems you lack publicly available knowledge on a topic being fleshed out in the game today. Maybe you should resubscribe to WoW.

[Arikara]

Why?

Visage is excellent and also completely optional. Don't like it - don't use it, pretty simple.

No. It is the pinnacle of Blizzard's failure. The visage exists only for two purposes: to be a cheap excuse to be able to claim that they actually have transmog—a "solution" that solves nothing—and to market a dragon-themed class at elf fanatics, a fundamental mistake. It is a non-committal guarantee that ensures that nobody will be satisfied.

The only "excellent" thing about the visage it how excellent of an utter failure to execute fully on the dracthyr it is. It must be destroyed.

[AwkwardSquirtle]

It must be destroyed.

Please touch some grass.

ensures that nobody will be satisfied.

I'm satisfied.

[Gaidax]

No. It is the pinnacle of Blizzard's failure. The visage exists only for two purposes: to be a cheap excuse to be able to claim that they actually have transmog—a "solution" that solves nothing—and to market a dragon-themed class at elf fanatics, a fundamental mistake. It is a non-committal guarantee that ensures that nobody will be satisfied.

The only "excellent" thing about the visage it how excellent of an utter failure to execute fully on the dracthyr it is. It must be destroyed.

Oookay... first of all weird take.

Secondly, Visage is cool both context, given that's what dragons do and appearance-like.

Don't blame Visage for lack of transmog options on the Drakthyr form itself. And most certainly, removing it won't solve anything.

[kenn9530]

No, the original drakonids were bolstered taraseks. Both races are descendants of dragons, considered dragonkin. Seems you lack publicly available knowledge on a topic being fleshed out in the game today. Maybe you should resubscribe to WoW.

No they are not decendants of dragons they are a completely different race, you have just proven you lack basic information you can get in 2 seconds, nowhere does it say anywhere taraseks or drakonids are decendants of dragons, they were uplifted by dragons to serve so keep talking complete nonsense.

Dragonkin doesnt mean they are actual decendants of dragons, no dragon has ever given birth to anything other that a dragon, taraseks and drakonids were created into dragonkin, they have no blood relation at all to dragons so cant be considered as such.