The science of new WoW classes

[Voldai]

What do you think makes a new class fun and exciting?

[pacotaco]

It used to be WC3 hero units until Dragonflight, with Death Knight, Monk (Brewmaster) and Demon Hunter. Then came your precious Evoker which changed this pattern into RPG classes (Dragonsworn, sort of). Going forward? I dread the thought. It is clear that the Evoker is a tribute to the progressive movement with its rainbow-colored magic and colorful hairstyles. They are definitely going for a winged, horned anime style here since the Demon Hunter and i fear it's going to get worse. They're slowly turning it into FFXIV.

As for your other suggestion, i've analyzed WC3 Hero units to see what's possible and what's not. Tinker is very much possible.
Crypt Lord is an enormous non-humanoid 4-legged creature. Its abilities don't even relate to any grounded fantasy class out there. But, knowing from your alleged connection to Blizzard, they'd probably add the Centaur to make way for four-legged races, like your Nerubian.
Dreadlord is possible as a race since the Dracthyr and its wings. A vampiric class would likely come from the Darkfallen.
A Bard, i hope so, wouldn't be based on a Rock N' Roll joke character but rather on a medieval minstrel. If they do that, for me, the immersion would be completely lost. But, as they like to cater to absurd player requests, i wouldn't be surprised in this day and age.
What exactly is an explorer? That's a dwarven racial related to Archaeology. I do hope they expand on that profession instead of pulling something out of their asses.

If I had to guess, Dracthyr took inspiration on the dragons depictions in Heroes of the Storm (Deathwing, Alexstrasza & Chromie), instead of a WC3 unit.

Now, as everytime this topic gets raised, IMO the theme of the expansion is what determines the class. As far as we know, that's the only thing Bizzard takes into account: if they have one class they want to add and the theme comes up, they decide if they can add that class (depending on tech, design and fun-factor).
If they think they can add it, then they work into fleshing it. If not, they leave it for later. The best example is DH. They wanted to add it in TBC but they didn't have the tech nor an interesting/fun design, so they decided to leave it out and when Legion came they already had it fleshed out.

Knowing this, let's review possible classes that the community use to ask for:

- Tinkers: it's the more fleshed out. We can even see NPCs in the Island Expeditions (Gazlowe's Greasemonkeys and Razak's Roughriders) representing what the class would be. They can even take inspiration from other characters (Gazlowe, D.Va, Ana and Morales from HotS, Baptiste, Brigite, Torbjörn and Zarya from OW)
They have several races in both factions that could fit the class (Gnomes, Mechagnomes, Goblin and Vulpera). I also think it's the easiest to fit in the narrative (war/tech focused narrative) but seen as BFA was the perfect, and not seeing Blizzard going back to that theme so soon, I think it's unlikely.

- Bard: the problem with this class is that there's almost nothing out there to tie it to (what expansion theme/story they would tie to?). There's also the problem that currently there's no clear design of what a Bard could be (no theme, no lore, no abilities). Some people also point to only having ETC from HotS as representation of the class, but Monk was the exact same thing with Chen, so I see no problem in that regard.

- Warden: I could see this being combined with Priestess of the Moon. They have races on both sides they could fit the class. The main problem is fitting them in the narrative (probably if the expansion has ties with the Plane of Life and Elune)

- Blademaster: the main problem is that they need to create a gameplay different enough to not overlap too much with monk and rogue. The fact that they have not included Samuro yet into WoW makes me think that they are reserving him for the moment they can add the class for players.

- Dar Ranger: the best moment could've been last expansion. I'd even say that they had the class in mind, judging by the story in BFA leading to both factions having them on their ranks and some covenant abilities seem to be repurposed from a scrapped prototype. The moment passed, so I don't see them adding them at least until we touch again the death theme.

- Necromancer: same as the previous one, the best moment could've been SL. Another problem is that the gameplay would overlap too much with Warlock's.

- Shadow Hunter: it has several problems. One is that they need to justify them on the Alliance somehow. Another one is that it has too much overlap with Shaman, in theme, abilities and gameplay (the main thing that makes them different is the throwing weapon and the reverse bubble)

- Alchemist: I think the gameplay could be incorporated into the Tinker (they sort of did it with Gazlowe in HotS)


Now, if we want to throw new ideas around:
- Dread Lord: could work something similar to the new Diablo Immortal's Blood Knight. Mid-range melee with vampiric powers. The main problem (and this is a big problem) is that Nathrezim are one of the main villain group in WoW, and they even go a step up in the scale putting them as a cosmic threath. I don't see them being redeemable and joining the Azeroth forces.

- Void/Old God class: from what I've read from other posters, one spec could be a short of melee brute that use mutations (carapace, "Tetsuo arm" like Stukov in HotS, things like that). Another spec could be a healer that works infecting the others, like Stukov in HotS. Maybe a even make the 1st one tank, and a 3rd dps where it uses more void instead of "fleshy" things.

- Berserker: a class that hits harder and faster the more gets hit and /or does damage. One melee like The Butcher from HotS, on ranged throwing weapons like Zul'jin from HotS.

- - - Updated - - -

As far as I’m concerned, I think they’ve missed the boat with adding Necromancer as a class. The time to add them would have been Shadowlands, or even Wrath. The Scourge/Undead threat has been largely resolved now, and if it does crop up again as a major threat, I can’t see it happening so soon after Shadowlands.

The only way I can see Necromancer added as it’s own class anytime soon were if we were to get a world revamp expansion that also added a few extra classes too to show how the world had changed, with new heroes and magic taking up the call. Hypothetically, Necromancer, Tinker, Bard and Runemaster. But we all know adding several classes in one expansion is highly, highly unlikely.

In terms of what new classes we were to get in the future, I’d say it would look a little like this, from most likely to least likely:

- Tinker
- Bard
- Some sort of explorer based class. Funnily enough, I could see Bard as a spec for this.
- Void based class
- Necromancer

Crypt Lord as a class is completely out of the realm of possibility for me. If by very minuscule chance that they are implemented, I will hold my hands up. Nerubians are far more likely as either a playable race or major ally/enemy in an inevitable underground expansion. And even then, I think other playable races are further up the totem pole than Nerubians. I think next playable major race (not allied) will likely be a feline inspired race, similar to the Khajit from the Elder Scrolls universe. It’s the only beast man race not really represented in WoW yet, and you just know a certain number of the fan base will go mad for them.

My wish is an expansion based on Spanish / Mediterranean culture and a new feline race similar to the Saberon. Liek you, I think they're 2 of the major theme holes in WoW. They could even make the new continent tie with Uldum somehow.

[username993720]

If I had to guess, Dracthyr took inspiration on the dragons depictions in Heroes of the Storm (Deathwing, Alexstrasza & Chromie), instead of a WC3 unit.

Obviously. There isn't a WC3 unit for that. Ysera and Malygos aren't in HotS, though.

Now, as everytime this topic gets raised, IMO the theme of the expansion is what determines the class. As far as we know, that's the only thing Bizzard takes into account: if they have one class they want to add and the theme comes up, they decide if they can add that class (depending on tech, design and fun-factor).
If they think they can add it, then they work into fleshing it. If not, they leave it for later. The best example is DH. They wanted to add it in TBC but they didn't have the tech nor an interesting/fun design, so they decided to leave it out and when Legion came they already had it fleshed out.

Obviously. But, if we get an alien expansion all of the sudden, we wouldn't be gettting a Stracraft class. They have to pull it from WoW's established lore classes.

Knowing this, let's review possible classes that the community use to ask for:

Why should we base classes on players' requests? They can turn out to be very bizzare.

- Tinkers: it's the more fleshed out. We can even see NPCs in the Island Expeditions (Gazlowe's Greasemonkeys and Razak's Roughriders) representing what the class would be. They can even take inspiration from other characters (Gazlowe, D.Va, Ana and Morales from HotS, Baptiste, Brigite, Torbjörn and Zarya from OW)
They have several races in both factions that could fit the class (Gnomes, Mechagnomes, Goblin and Vulpera). I also think it's the easiest to fit in the narrative (war/tech focused narrative) but seen as BFA was the perfect, and not seeing Blizzard going back to that theme so soon, I think it's unlikely.

Teriz, is that you? No one else would name these 4 races except for him.

- Bard: the problem with this class is that there's almost nothing out there to tie it to (what expansion theme/story they would tie to?). There's also the problem that currently there's no clear design of what a Bard could be (no theme, no lore, no abilities). Some people also point to only having ETC from HotS as representation of the class, but Monk was the exact same thing with Chen, so I see no problem in that regard.

A standard medieval minstrel in an easy going expansion would do.

- Warden: I could see this being combined with Priestess of the Moon. They have races on both sides they could fit the class. The main problem is fitting them in the narrative (probably if the expansion has ties with the Plane of Life and Elune)

Yes, i suspect that since the Warden moon and sun sets came out. Probably, the Emerald Dream.

- Blademaster: the main problem is that they need to create a gameplay different enough to not overlap too much with monk and rogue. The fact that they have not included Samuro yet into WoW makes me think that they are reserving him for the moment they can add the class for players.

Your standard samurai archetype, japanese influenced. Curently, the Monk and Rogue do not fulfill this role.

- Dar Ranger: the best moment could've been last expansion. I'd even say that they had the class in mind, judging by the story in BFA leading to both factions having them on their ranks and some covenant abilities seem to be repurposed from a scrapped prototype. The moment passed, so I don't see them adding them at least until we touch again the death theme.

I think they will be trying to rebrand them as vampiric. They are also a good option as a vampire\monster slayers archetype, van helsing style.

- Necromancer: same as the previous one, the best moment could've been SL. Another problem is that the gameplay would overlap too much with Warlock's.

We'd have too much given to the theme of death. The Death Knight and the Affliction Warlock.

- Shadow Hunter: it has several problems. One is that they need to justify them on the Alliance somehow. Another one is that it has too much overlap with Shaman, in theme, abilities and gameplay (the main thing that makes them different is the throwing weapon and the reverse bubble)

Absolutely not. On the Alliance, they can be represented as witches, meaning Drust. That means Kul Tirans and possibly Gilneans. Second of all, Shadow Hunters have nothing to do with the Elements. They should balance Spirit and Decay, which the Shaman is lacking.

- Alchemist: I think the gameplay could be incorporated into the Tinker (they sort of did it with Gazlowe in HotS)

Maybe and maybe not (not all alchemists are tech savy)

Now, if we want to throw new ideas around:
- Dread Lord: could work something similar to the new Diablo Immortal's Blood Knight. Mid-range melee with vampiric powers. The main problem (and this is a big problem) is that Nathrezim are one of the main villain group in WoW, and they even go a step up in the scale putting them as a cosmic threath. I don't see them being redeemable and joining the Azeroth forces.

We already have Blood Death Knights. Save the vampiric theme to Dark Rangers.

- Void/Old God class: from what I've read from other posters, one spec could be a short of melee brute that use mutations (carapace, "Tetsuo arm" like Stukov in HotS, things like that). Another spec could be a healer that works infecting the others, like Stukov in HotS. Maybe a even make the 1st one tank, and a 3rd dps where it uses more void instead of "fleshy" things.

I don't think we need one. A Warlock Void spec, maybe.

- Berserker: a class that hits harder and faster the more gets hit and /or does damage. One melee like The Butcher from HotS, on ranged throwing weapons like Zul'jin from HotS.

Already the Fury Warrior.

[Le Conceptuel]

- Dread Lord: could work something similar to the new Diablo Immortal's Blood Knight. Mid-range melee with vampiric powers. The main problem (and this is a big problem) is that Nathrezim are one of the main villain group in WoW, and they even go a step up in the scale putting them as a cosmic threath. I don't see them being redeemable and joining the Azeroth forces.

What about Light-flavored redeemed Nathrezim like Lothraxion? Theoretically, the Army of the Light could be continuing their campaign of capturing and converting demons, and Dreadlords ought to be especially rampant in the aftermath of Shadowlands.

[pacotaco]

What about Light-flavored redeemed Nathrezim like Lothraxion? Theoretically, the Army of the Light could be continuing their campaign of capturing and converting demons, and Dreadlords ought to be especially rampant in the aftermath of Shadowlands.

Dreadlords are still loyal to Denathrius. It's implied they always have been to him, and only him. By a book in SL, nathrezim have infiltrated all the forces, so Lothraxion is probably a spy (like the ones in the Legion, and Il'gynoth was probably another nathrezim too).
Also, if they're Light redeemed, it defeats the purpose, as they then will have light powers instead of the iconic vampiric ones that they're asking for the class.

[Le Conceptuel]

Dreadlords are still loyal to Denathrius. It's implied they always have been to him, and only him. By a book in SL, nathrezim have infiltrated all the forces, so Lothraxion is probably a spy (like the ones in the Legion, and Il'gynoth is probably another nathrezim too).

Light infusion is shown fairly strongly from the example of the Lightbound to have an effect on the subject's personality, and it's probable that any Light-infused Dreadlords were only sent as a spy, but converted after being infused with the Light. Keep in mind the Light isn't like the Fel: its mutative properties seem to bind one more strongly to the objectives of the Light. It is also worth noting that Lothraxion wasn't directly sent to infiltrate the Lightforged because A Thousand Years of War clarified him as previously being an agent of the Legion, so it's also likely that his Lightforging in particular was unplanned unless it was part of a complicated infiltration process.

I actually maintain that the original set of infiltrators (likely long preceding Lothraxion) were precisely the cause of the Ember Ward attack: a number tried to infiltrate some faction of agents of the Light and were Lightforged, then subsequently revealed everything to the Naaru, which is why the Light specifically chose to manifest over the former home of the Nathrezim and destroy it.

[Teriz]

As far as I’m concerned, I think they’ve missed the boat with adding Necromancer as a class. The time to add them would have been Shadowlands, or even Wrath. The Scourge/Undead threat has been largely resolved now, and if it does crop up again as a major threat, I can’t see it happening so soon after Shadowlands.

The only way I can see Necromancer added as it’s own class anytime soon were if we were to get a world revamp expansion that also added a few extra classes too to show how the world had changed, with new heroes and magic taking up the call. Hypothetically, Necromancer, Tinker, Bard and Runemaster. But we all know adding several classes in one expansion is highly, highly unlikely.

In terms of what new classes we were to get in the future, I’d say it would look a little like this, from most likely to least likely:

- Tinker
- Bard
- Some sort of explorer based class. Funnily enough, I could see Bard as a spec for this.
- Void based class
- Necromancer

Crypt Lord as a class is completely out of the realm of possibility for me. If by very minuscule chance that they are implemented, I will hold my hands up. Nerubians are far more likely as either a playable race or major ally/enemy in an inevitable underground expansion. And even then, I think other playable races are further up the totem pole than Nerubians. I think next playable major race (not allied) will likely be a feline inspired race, similar to the Khajit from the Elder Scrolls universe. It’s the only beast man race not really represented in WoW yet, and you just know a certain number of the fan base will go mad for them.

In the end, we're probably looking at the end of new classes entering WoW. Ion did say we're getting another new class in the future, but if I had to guess, there's probably 1-2 new classes left on the horizon, and if you had a gun to my head, I would actually say there's really only one.

Definitely feel that Tinker is the most likely upcoming class. Not really anything left from HotS/WC3 base, Undermine has the same pedigree as the Dragon isles, Blizzard stated that they wanted to do more underground locations after Zaralek Caverns, and Blizzard devs said they wanted Goblin players to experience Undermine.

I do agree that an Explorer class has a strong chance to be WoW's "Bard" class given that the concept includes Brann Bronzebeard who is well known as the archeologist telling us about the titans lore as we venture through catacombs and dungeons. After some consideration, I would place the Explorer class as the second most likely upcoming class behind Tinkers. However, that is a very distant second.

Crypt Lord class exists only as a Tinker alternative if for whatever reason Blizzard decides not to do an Undermine expansion and does an Azjol Nerub expansion instead. That said, I feel that the likely scenario is Undermine expansion with Azjol Nerub being a raid that we do during that expansion.

Beyond that, you're probably looking at some concepts just becoming 4th specs.

[Triceron]

With so many new interviews about Augmentation and Support specs in the future, can't help but think Bard has a very strong chance of being a new class.


Some people think Bard might be a Rogue spec instead, since there is a Bard in the Rogue Order Hall. Problem is, Rogue's talent tree is not really built to accomodate a Bard identity. It's still heavily based on stabby-stabby fantasy, not someone who plays instruments and sings songs. The core abilities and core talents all revolve around using Daggers or 1h weapons. Most of the talents wouldn't work for a Bard fantasy. It would make most sense as its own class.

[Teriz]

With so many new interviews about Augmentation and Support specs in the future, can't help but think Bard has a very strong chance of being a new class.


Some people think Bard might be a Rogue spec instead, since there is a Bard in the Rogue Order Hall. Problem is, Rogue's talent tree is not really built to accomodate a Bard identity. It's still heavily based on stabby-stabby fantasy, not someone who plays instruments and sings songs. The core abilities and core talents all revolve around using Daggers or 1h weapons. Most of the talents wouldn't work for a Bard fantasy. It would make most sense as its own class.

There are several iterations of Bard that is also stabby-stabby.

Nothing stops Blizzard from simply incorporating instruments or songs into combo spenders. For example, your Bard Rogue has dagger attacks and ranged attacks that deal 1 combo point, and then you have a song that uses those combo points. The number of points determine the length and power of the song. Those songs provide support to your allies.

Simple.

[Triceron]

There are several iterations of Bard that is also stabby-stabby.

Nothing stops Blizzard from simply incorporating instruments or songs into combo spenders. For example, your Bard Rogue has dagger attacks and ranged attacks that deal 1 combo point, and then you have a song that uses those combo points. The number of points determine the length and power of the song. Those songs provide support to your allies.

Simple.

Why would your Rogue sing in combat? Aren't they supposed to be stealthy?

[Teriz]

Why would your Rogue sing in combat? Aren't they supposed to be stealthy?

Not at all times.