Thats really the issue isn't it. If we get a class it will relate to the expansion. If they redesign Outland, add in new content based on the Legion the odds are it will be Demon Hunter with all the lore breaks that will entail. If they do a south seas Expansion Tinker would be on the list. If we revisit undead we will see a Necromancer.
Now the question then becomes what is the more likely expansion?
---------- Post added 2013-05-09 at 08:02 PM ----------
That's a good way to look at it if you are building a Raid, however when building a game you have to calculate in different game play styles. Which is why pet classes really do count as different. Yes, in a raid when nothing matters but what a meter says it might be hard to see the different in play styles, but when solo or PVP becomes the test they become very distinct. And have to be measured by how a class/spec feels to the player and in the world.
Honestly You could say there are only three types of players and be right, Tanks, healers, DPS. But for game design you have to categorize every distinction.
---------- Post added 2013-05-09 at 08:05 PM ----------
As a game designer who once developed a game system like this, I can tell you it is a headache of unbelievable magnitude trying to balance more than a few specs per class.
My idea was for a RPG game which never went far, basically each Class was based on an Element and could be almost any flavor. yah we ended up with a list of over 1000 class possibilities. it was too much.