I'm just going to come out and say it: I know it treads on the toes of Death Knights and Warlocks, but I want a Necromancer class in WoW. I won't even say that it'd be my favorite class (lorewise that's pretty much always going to be the Death Knight) but I think that it would be cool.
So let's talk about what I'd want to see from a Necromancer.
First off, would it be a hero class or a regular, start-at-1 class? Story-wise, I think the latter makes more sense. Necromancers are, in other games, typically just people - usually wizards but sometimes warlocks or clerics - who have studied the magic of death and come to wield it (in Diablo, they're definitely more of a cleric-like class.) The only reason I'd like them to be a hero class is that it might afford them some of the cosmetic coolness that you get with Death Knights and Demon Hunters, and because it would be easier to level them up. But it would make more sense as a regular class, like the Monk.
Next, what armor would they wear?
Admittedly, again, lorewise, it would make sense for them to wear cloth armor. But I don't think it would be that much of a stretch to just throw them in mail armor - and you could make some cool bone-based armor options for them - imagine chainmail of various bones woven together.
One of the most exciting aspects for this class would be that they could finally add a new ranged DPS spec to the game - something they haven't done in their 15 years since Vanilla. Naturally, Necromancers would have a ranged spec.
How it would actually play, though, is trickier. It seems a Necromancer has to have some kind of undead-summoning ability, but you would need to design it in a way that feels distinct from the other pet-based classes. A swarm of skeletons (like the unit in WCIII) might feel too similar to Demonology Warlocks, and quick bursts of undead might be too much like an Unholy DK.
Given that Warlocks who aren't Affliction are less bound to damage-over-time effects, I think you could have some focus on plagues that could then bring forth minions. Maybe you infect a target with some plague that then causes something like blood worms to erupt from them.
I also think focusing more on incorporeal undead could be a good niche for the Necromancer to go for - rather than zombies like the Unholy DK, you could have ghostly minions and banshees that attack your target - or perhaps weaken them to other attacks.
Given their mastery over life force, Necromancers would also be a fantastic option for a dark-themed healer. You could go super-gross with this, or perhaps create some sort of healing-for-damage theme where the target heals the more damage they deal (or perhaps healing they do so you can cover other healers.) Like a Disc priest, but rather than healing through your own damage, you reward targets for their own damage output.
I'm sure opinions vary, but I think the two-spec Demon Hunter actually wound up working pretty well, and so I wouldn't be shocked if Necromancers also just got one spec per role. I don't imagine Necromancers being tanks - that really overlaps far too much with the Blood Death Knight.
Because it's a learned discipline, you could also be very liberal with what races get access to it. At the very least I'd want to see the various "darker" races be able to play Necromancers, which means Undead, Worgen, Void Elves, and Nightborne. But frankly, I'd just make it available to everyone.
We're just a little ways from Blizzcon. What seems to be the most popular theory for the next expansion (and one that this writer holds) is that the next expansion is going to be heavily about Death, Necromancy, and the Undead, and likely the Shadowlands. Necromancers would fit perfectly into such an expansion.
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