[Suggestion] New Hero Class: The Blademaster

[Deleted]

I like the idea of a meditation healing spec and I admit, you could find nice story plots to bring this class into WoW.

Thank you. You remember our posts about using abilities and core features of the class and combining it with a new features. Thats what I tried to say.

Not so sure how much weight we can put on the "hints" in the game. There's also the secret Demon Hunter achievement, maybe those things are just easter eggs.

Agreed, they could just be easter eggs. Funny you mentioned the Demon Hunter. Yes, there are similar hints/easter eggs ingame. In fact I got the idea of the hints for the Blademaster from a post of a german fanpage, finding hints for a Demon Hunter.
These hints/e-eggs, make these two classes the top candidates for a hero class to me. Yet, the hero class should fit into the theme of an expansion. So Demon Hunter would be in the one themed with the Burning Legion.
Blademaster, having no real theme, could still fit into something like South Seas, Naga, and a small appearance of Demons.

[Deleted]

Lore-wise blademasters are exactly that, melee DPS. I can see some twisting to turn them into a tank for one of their specs, but a ranged DPS or healer? That's really stretching it not matter what sort of lore or excuse shenanigans you pull. That's the main issue I see with this class. But Blizzard has done worse lore-lol in the past so who knows, it just doesn't mesh with me though. I'd prefer an idea that lends itself a lot more to a healer/ranged hybrid. I really liked BMs in Warcraft 3 but to get them to fit a ranged role you'd have to really stray away from the core concept of the class imo.

Also I don't think the game needs more tank classes. There's a lot of reasons why tanks aren't plentiful, none of them have to do with lack of options. If people don't wanna tank they will simply ignore the tanking spec just like they do with the current classes.

[Deleted]

Also I don't think the game needs more tank classes. There's a lot of reasons why tanks aren't plentiful, none of them have to do with lack of options. If people don't wanna tank they will simply ignore the tanking spec just like they do with the current classes.

Totally agree with you, the BM-tank idea would be the first I would cross out. Exactly because of that points you mentioned. Yet I would not hurt the game I think.

but a ranged DPS or healer? That's really stretching it not matter what sort of lore or excuse shenanigans you pull.

Well, the point is, you can't just add another class, that is purely built for melee dps. I think we all agree (me too) THAT would make the BM to a copy or combination of Warrior and Rogue. Nobody wants that.
Yet, a range class fighting with bows and guns without using pets would be totally new to the game. Of course you have to build the lore around it.
The human hunter for example (I know it is not exactly the same topic), what exactly stops a human from shooting with a bow (or using a pet, as typically for the class). Same thinkg for the Blademaster. Just because he did not do that in Warcraft 3, that does not mean, that I could not be implimented with lore and logic. Lore is evolving, static lore would be extremely boring.

They are also skilled, or at least familiar with shamans, their blinding speed is gained from blessings from the spirits

Quote from Wowpedia. So they already have contact to the spirits. (like Priests and Paladins have to the Holy Light) To me that could offer the possibility to make him a healer.

In my opinion the hero classes should all be hybrids. I could only imagine a pure range dps class based on bows and guns to be a pure dps hero class.
Yet hybrids offer more ways of filling roles for raids. And I don't mean spots, but combinations to have a heal/dps, tank/heal, or tank/dps role. In this case it would be the same as for the druid, being able to fill range, melee, tank and heal. So more combinations for the raids.

[Deleted]

good suggestion and very well written

although i think it won't happen, they surely will add a new hero class next xpac, but blademaster.. it´s a warrior. A warrior trainer (i think it was one in Orgrimmar) is called "Blademaster XXX" and thats proofs it (for me ) sure they could change it, but i think it will never happen, sounds like another type of warrior similar to "archmage" and "archdruid", just same with improved skills (or just very powerful for example Antonidas and Malfurion).

And a few years (1-2) ago ghostcrawler said it will most likely be a hero class with healing abilities
in my opinion it will be a hybrid -> tank/heal/dd like paladin, druid, cause we have only two of them.
and ofc mail/leather

[sharpyx]

I hope you put this idea on the wow forums so the class devs can see it! I really enjoyed the read well written and a lot better than most of the other new class suggestions I've read!

[Deleted]

And a few years (1-2) ago ghostcrawler said it will most likely be a hero class with healing abilities
in my opinion it will be a hybrid -> tank/heal/dd like paladin, druid, cause we have only two of them.
and ofc mail/leather

I did not know, that GC said something like that, but please take a look, I suggested to make the BM able to be a healer, tank and a range class. Exactly because the druid is able to melee, tank, heal and range dps and we only have only one class to do so.

---------- Post added 2011-05-31 at 11:58 AM ----------

I hope you put this idea on the wow forums so the class devs can see it! I really enjoyed the read well written and a lot better than most of the other new class suggestions I've read!

Thank you very much, glad you like it. Also thanks for reminding me to post it on the official forums...^^

[Nzo]

Ya let's add yet another class into a game that still suffer from balance issues in pve and pvp.

Deathtards all over again nothx

[Deleted]

Since Bladestorm was given to Arms, there wouldnt be any unique ability for blademaster and blademaster doesnt rly suit for The Alliance. If they added different hero class for Ally it would be weird just like in Vanilla.

So no

[Deleted]

Ya let's add yet another class into a game that still suffer from balance issues in pve and pvp.

Deathtards all over again nothx

I feel you there. But don't you agree that the balancing issue is not just a problem of the hero class Death Knight? Mages are equally overpowered imo.
Also, as long as Blizz wont separete pve and pvp, we will have to get used to those extreme balancing issues.

---------- Post added 2011-05-31 at 12:05 PM ----------

Since Bladestorm was given to Arms, there wouldnt be any unique ability for blademaster and blademaster doesnt rly suit for The Alliance. If they added different hero class for Ally it would be weird just like in Vanilla.

So no

Please read my post completely and not just the topic. I refered to your argument.

[Nzo]

I feel you there. But don't you agree that the balancing issue is not just a problem of the hero class Death Knight? Mages are equally overpowered imo.
Also, as long as Blizz wont separete pve and pvp, we will have to get used to those extreme balancing issues.

No, imbalance is not exclusive to DK's, i think most of the classes has something that really needs to get checked out.
The question comes down to, how much more time will blizzard be willing to invest into WoW's outdated game engine, when they got this new monster MMO (Project Titan) that they are working on? (and i also think we will see the first movies/ingame footage from titan at this years BlizzCon)

[Deleted]

No, imbalance is not exclusive to DK's, i think most of the classes has something that really needs to get checked out.
The question comes down to, how much more time will blizzard be willing to invest into WoW's outdated game engine, when they got this new monster MMO (Project Titan) that they are working on? (and i also think we will see the first movies/ingame footage from titan at this years BlizzCon)

Blizzard admitted, they didn't realize how much balancing issues a new class would create, but that doesn't mean there won't ever be a new one. It just means, they probably won't pump one out every expansion, because of the amount of time they need to put into making sure a new class doesn't disturb balance between classes (too much) - cause let's face it, there won't ever be a perfect balancing situation - not if there's a major overhaul of every class with every expansion.

To your question, how much more time Blizzard will be willing to invest into WoW in the future - I think the only reasonable answer is: a lot.

[Deleted]

Since I wrote the following while thinking of the Blademaster and implementing the class in the game, I think it would fit in here as well.

The next expansion theme could be the South Seas. There are a lot of Islands, different beings to fight and ally with (Naga, pirates, makura?, murlocs, even stuff from old gods and demons.)
The arch enemy would be Queen Azshara and her army of naga.
So how to connect the Blademaster with the Naga? Let me try to explain.
Queen Azshara, the leader of the highborn, was seduced by Sargeras himself, to open a portal to Azeroth. To that time there where no orcs on Azeroth but one, and that was Broxigar. Since the corruption of the orcs on Nagrand through Kil'Jaeden, and the following war against the draenai, later the war against the humans, there were Blademaster in the lines of the horde. Some where felorcs, but after the redemption through Grom Hellscream (a Blademaster) the orc Blademaster swore an oath to fight demons, where ever they will meet them (my words, but similar written on wowiki). The Naga/Highborn worked together with the demons, and they still might. So there is the connection, why the Blademaster rise again.
Now to the master. In my post I related to Lantresor of the blade, who is in fact, half orc and half draenai. There is the connection for the Blademaster to the Alliance, and the Horde. If you so encouraging my to create some lore (which I normaly don't like that much) I give it a try. Do you remember Samuro, the Blademaster of Warcraft 3, I think Frozen Throne? He fought together with Rexxar against the father of Jaina. After that mission, Samuro disappeared, and has yet not returned. What if the orc traveled the south seas, and found evidence for the presence of demons of the Burning Legion in the south seas, and the naga, using or allying with them? Let's not forget that the Tomb of Sargeras is situated near these islands. So Samura foresees this threat and travels back to Nagrand to convince Lantresor to establish a new clan/guild/school of the Blademaster. Samuro and Lantresor being not that strongly bonded to the wars of the races of Azeroth, know, that only the combined force of all races can stop the Burning Legion, and the Naga with the mightiest creature on Azeroth besides the Dragonaspects. Azshara. So they start to recruit scholars. After the completion of their training the Blademaster are send to their faction leader (Garrosh and Wrynn), those of the Blademaster who wanted to stay neutral join the ranks of the new faction.
Garrosh, his father being a Blademaster, would be happy to reinstate that elite force to the Horde, (to crush the Alliance of course) Varian would be happy to have his own Blademaster, just to see the rage on Garrosh's face and of course the Blademaster are respected by his advisers and veterans.

I am aware that Samuro is also the lead singer of the Tauren Chieftains (aka Samwise Didier) who uses Samuro as one of his nicknames (another is panda I believe). Can't solve that problem, tbh.

I hope I could give you a good impression of how I imagine the story.

[Shanush]

Basically, Orc Warriors specced into Arms are Blademasters and the closest thing you can get to a blademaster in game.

Also, since Blademaster is an orc-exclusive unit, it would be kind of hard to explain a gnome blademaster or a goblin blademaster.

I think it's a cool idea, but if you want to play or roleplay as a Blademaster, roll a orc warrior and spec as Arms.

[bohapjut]

wat nice necro

[tehhuntard]

a very good read. +1 internets to you, good sir! but sadly, i think it will not be melee, as the first hero class was melee =(

[Geckomayhem]

The reason people don't want another hero class is because Blizzard talked about how much of a nightmare it was to balance other classes around the first: the death knight. But since then, all classes have been fully redesigned, and Blizzard have learned a heck of a lot about designing a class from the ground up and balancing around them (the biggest issue being, of course, PvP, which many would argue is neither the highlight, nor the focus of WoW).

I can imagine that by the end of the game there will actually be 12 classes to choose from: the original 8 per side, the change where both factions got the class they were lacking (9), the death knight (10), and two more hero classes between next expansion and the last instalment (11-12).

But a Blademaster? The idea is cool and the whole Lantresor chain in Nagrand was really cool; the references that exist mean that a Blademaster hero class could potentially be slotted in.

However, we don't need more melee or tanks. Ranged, probably; casters, no problem; healers, probably more than tanks now, even though there are an even number of both. But having already introduced a melee/tank hero class, Blizzard must - if they are to create a new one next expansion - think about that; as I'm sure they already have.

A ranged monk, like a dark ranger or something that can both heal, do ranged damage, and one other role (maybe another ranged tree, but one that works differently - one more physical, one more shadow magic). There are just so many possibilities for a future hero class that every time a thread like this pops up - even though a lot of work has gone into it (and well done for writing something so extensive in your non-native language! You did a great job, OP) - there is just so much speculation surrounding it that all we know for sure is Blizzard haven't released anything for us yet. And so all we can do is imagine things and dream about our own individual desires to have our ideal hero class.

I made a hero class thread a while ago that differed from this and all the others like it: it was simply an outline of what hero classes exist according to WC3 and which ones are an absolute no-go because of logistical, lore or gameplay reasons (such as a pitlord or the nathrezim, haha). Blademaster is just one among half a dozen or more that are potentials and aren't immediately scratched off.

But every hero class could have weaknesses pointed out and reasons why Blizzard won't implement them; just as every one has supporters and people can point out hints in the game and ways that they could possibly be implemented. See, the pendulum swings every which way in a gyroscopic motion that leaves players both mesmerised and in anticipation of what could, might, should and will come (or not come).

[Magivante]

Death Knights were the last "hero class" to be implemented. They have always remained overpowered against hunters, mages, warlocks and basically anyone who is a caster/ranged. Why on earth would we want ANOTHER melee "hero class"? So the ranged and casters can get screwed over again? I think not. Besides, the Blademaster is a Warrior and vice versa. The only difference is the name. Oh and definitely no more healer classes. It's bad enough trying to take one pseudo-healer down but to go after a fully specialized and geared healer is like trying to run up a ninety degree wall.