With the announcement of expansion six one week away, there's been a ton of speculation not just on where we're going and who we're fighting, but there seems to be a kind of consensus among fans that we'd be getting a new class. I, for one, would be very happy to see a new class thrown into the mix, despite the difficulties in balancing. My take on it is that basically, Blizzard is good at balancing classes. Sure, you'll get a spec that's severely overpowered or underpowered, but they're generally good about buffing and nerfing accordingly. And ultimately, my philosophy is that you should always play the classes and specs that you actually like - the ones whose rotation you find pleasing and whose aesthetic you enjoy, and not worry too much about what is doing the best in the metagame. My Rogue is Assassination, despite the fact that I think the spec has been performing worst of the three this expansion, because I just like the way it plays.
Since I usually approach this from the mechanical side first, let's talk lore. And I'm going to focus less on specifics than archetypes.
You can kind of break down the various classes into different thematic categories. Using D&D alignment as a kind of starting point, you can arrange them along various axes - magic/hybrid/physical and light/neutral/dark.
Warriors: Physical/Neutral
Paladins: Hybrid/Light
Death Knights: Hybrid/Dark
Shaman: Hybrid/Neutral (though they lean more toward Magic.)
Hunter: Physical/Neutral
Rogue: Physical/Dark
Druid: Hybrid/Light
Monk: Physical/Light (yes, they use magic, but even the healers melee.)
Warlocks: Magic/Dark
Mage: Magic/Neutral
Priest: Magic/Light (Shadow Priests being Magic/Dark.)
So what does that leave us with?
It's actually a pretty good spread. Hm... now that this is written out it's perhaps not a great predictor for a new class. Granted, there are certain categorizations that you could argue are stretches. Monks definitely use some magic, pushing them more into the hybrid status, leaving us without a Physical/Light option. Likewise, you could argue that Shaman should really be considered magic, which leaves us without a morally neutral hybrid (and I know that I'm using that word in a different sense than how it's typically used in WoW.
So it might be better to break things down into sources of power in the Warcraft universe. Pretty much all magic, except Arcane magic, is drawn from some kind of intelligent force (well, admittedly the Light is kind of ineffable, though at least some Light-wielders do so through the blessing of intelligent beings like the Naaru.)
We have classes that draw or drew power from demons, the elements, nature/the ancients or the Celestials (which I believe are Pandaria's local Ancients,) the Light, the Shadow, the Lich King, and for the physical classes, simply their own strength and skill.
We don't seem to have anyone whose power comes from the Old Gods. Of course, that might not be entirely true. It seems that Shadow magic, like that used by Shadow Priests, could be linked to the Old Gods, due to abilities like Void Tendrils and also just the psychic nature of their attacks. We don't really know how the Old Gods fit into the cosmology alongside Demons and the Void. It looks like the Void, and the walkers thereof, are actually separate entities from Demons, given what we saw of the Shadowmoon Clan on Draenor. The question then is whether the Old Gods are tied to the Void or if they are a third source of evil in the universe.
On the other side of things, no class seems to draw its power directly from the Titans. Of all the important figures in Warcraft lore, the Titans remain the most mysterious, but are also potentially the most powerful. I've theorized in a lightweight way that doesn't even warrant a tin-foil hat article (yet) that the Light is actually related to the Titans, but there's no hard evidence for that.
There are myriad possibilities for future classes there, but nothing terribly specific that leaps out at you. I think the reason Demon Hunters always come back as a possibility is that there's precedent. Demon Hunters aren't really satisfactorily represented by any existing class, given their demonic power, but their clear emphasis on physical attacks in contrast to Warlocks.
Of course, flavor-wise, there's a bit of a gap in that we don't have a really dark healing class. Though I'm far happier we got Death Knights, a Necromancer would have been a good option for a dark healer (of course, that would have left us without a dark tank.)
Mechanically, things are somewhat easier.
It seems likely that a future class would wear mail armor. There have always been three cloth classes, and with Death Knights and Monks each joining as the third class within their armor class, it seems like it's Hunters and Shamans' turn to share their loot with someone else.
Ideally, this could also apply to certain weapon types as well. Currently, only two Rogue specs use agility daggers, and all three kinds of ranged weapon (well, not counting wands as the fourth) are the exclusive purview of Hunters. A new class ought to use these types of weapons. Of course, that would mean that said class should be a melee/ranged hybrid.
In terms of roles, it would be best, mechanically, to be able to do all three, but given that that's tough to justify in flavor, I'd suggest that it be at least a hybrid. Pure DPS classes have always been tricky for the game, and in retrospect probably should have been given non-DPS roles when the game began. But this problem is also compounded given the excitement over a new class. When Death Knights were introduced, it was rather hard to find a healer to run those level-up Outland dungeons.
That said, in this era of LFG, it might not be such a problem.
I've said before that I think that a new class will most likely be a Hero Class, mirroring the level 90 boost that came with Warlords. I personally love taking new characters up through the Old World, but I think they'll want to get the new guy into the mix sooner rather than later - I remember how shocking it was to see a Monk in Pandaria in the first couple weeks of the expansion. Also, if we get a new class but no new race, we'd probably want some unique new experience to introduce the class rather than just going back and doing the same quests that have been around since Cataclysm.
I think Blizzard was wise to make the new classes they introduced available to as many races as possible. It probably would have been good to make Monks available to Worgen and Goblins, but I sort of understand how tricky that would be in-lore (they had already had to stretch things a bit to allow Worgen and Goblin Death Knights.) But giving players options in character creation is always a good idea.
Actually, to dip back into lore, should they do a Hero Class, I'd hope they come up with a scenario that isn't so inextricably tied to the expansion at hand. As it stands, it doesn't seem like any new races will be able to be Death Knights, unless they're clearly-established pre-existing ones like High Elves (actually, isn't a Blood Elf Death Knight already a High Elf Death Knight? You could certainly roleplay that your elf had been dead long enough for that to be the case.)
So to wrap things up:
I don't really expect so much as hope that a new class would:
Wear Mail
Fight using ranged weapons or daggers.
Be a Hybrid (personally prefer tank/dps.)
Be a Hero Class
Available to All Existing Races
Now, that could describe many things, though it certainly doesn't rule out Demon Hunters. As much as I'd like to be able to wave this article in the future as a sign that I knew that Demon Hunters were going to be announced on the 6th, the fact is that I'm not even certain we'll be getting a new class at all. So I'll forfeit bragging rights to avoid looking foolish if it turns out to be wrong.
No comments:
Post a Comment