Tomorrow, we're going to be getting the announcement of the next World of Warcraft expansion. All signs point to its being "Dragonflight" (or is it "Dragonflights?") but we technically don't know that yet.
Only three times over WoW's 18 years have they added new classes to the game, but I'd contend that, whether by coincidence or not, the expansions that brought new classes have been the best to come out.
Two of these have been "hero classes," which required you to have played long enough to "unlock" them, which simply meant hitting a particular level. The Monk is the only class to be introduced as a normal, "non-hero" class that starts at 1 like anyone else.
Obviously, the way that leveling works has changed significantly, and hero classes don't get the massive level boost they once did (in fact, I think they might just get spat out at level 10 just like new characters doing Exile's Reach).
The thing is, classes are a big thing to add. Given the effort and complexity of adding a class to the game, it's one thing that I think the developers are, appropriately, hesitant to do.
There's also the danger of stepping on another class' toes. The Demon Hunter, infamously, stole the Metamorphosis ability from Demonology Warlocks. This ability was the core of the Demo rotation, and what had been a very enjoyable spec required a huge redesign in Legion, totally changing the emphasis of how it worked (once they got rid of Demonic Empowerment in BFA, I think the spec became just as fun as its Mists/Warlords incarnation).
The thing is, Death Knights and Demon Hunters were already represented by very iconic characters in Warcraft's canon. Monks, meanwhile, were distinct enough from previously-existing classes that they didn't really have to steal much. (Indeed, Death Knights, while they fill a similar niche to Warriors and to an extent Paladins, were also the only "necromancy" class in the game).
So, this brings us to a new question: what does WoW have room for?
The obvious thing to start with is armor type. There are four Leather-wearing classes, three in Cloth, three in Plate, and only two in Mail. These days, with personal loot, the balance of these armor types isn't quite as important, but I'd argue with the return of tier sets, adding a new Mail class would actually increase the visual diversity of armor for Shamans and Hunters, so it would be a real positive.
Another interesting thing these days is that there are certain weapon types only a single class can use. Warglaives are exclusive to Demon Hunters, and while Warriors and Rogues can equip ranged weapons, in practice, Guns, Bows, and Crossbows are really only used by two specs, both of the Hunter class.
Shields are also only usable by Paladins, Warriors, and Shamans - yes, even among the six tank classes, less than half use shields.
So, on these mechanical levels, some mix of letting a new class wear Mail, be able to use ranged weapons, and wear a shield (though obviously not with those two-handed weapons) would make sense.
Next, the game has only ever added one healing spec, with the Mistweaver Monk, and we've never gotten any new ranged specs (indeed, the once-ranged Survival Hunter is now a melee spec). So I think a ranged DPS/healer would be a good thing to add.
The next question is one of flavor.
The magical cosmos of Warcraft is laid out in a fairly orderly manner. If we look at the six primordial forces, we have classes that represent each: Light has Paladins and Priests, Disorder has Warlocks and Demon Hunters, Death has Death Knights, Shadow/Void has Priests, Order has Mages, and Life has Druids and sort of Hunters... and also sort of Shamans and maybe Monks.
Now, there's a strong chance that the next expansion will be dragon-themed. Dragons occupy a kind of odd place in WoW mythology - kind of affiliated with the Titans, sort of a major force in and of themselves, though also kind of separate from the whole Titanforged lineage. I'm sure we'll see that role fleshed out if the expansion focuses on the dragons. But if draconic magic or power becomes something we explore in Dragonflight, a dragon-themed class would make a ton of sense. Hell, even the fact that they have mail armor would work in that sort of "dragonscale armor" vibe.
Given the multiple dragonflights, theming specs around said flights would be fairly simple. The only problem is that there are five main flights, and a class like this would probably only want two or three. Interestingly, there's precedent for dragons filling the tank, healing, and dps roles in the infamous Oculus dungeon from Wrath of the Lich King. This was also at a time when the Blue dragons were antagonistic and the Black dragons were still the "evil, corrupt" ones, so that made for a nice narrowing down of just Red, Green, and Bronze, playing Tank, Healer, and DPS respectively. But the Blues were only bad guys for a very brief time, and of the three canonically still alive black dragons, two are good guys (or at least not corrupted). So it would be hard to just cut out two or three of the flights.
So, overall, I'm kind of iffy on any new class - I'd love it, but I also can see how it would mean taking on a lot of extra work permanently. But I also think that new classes are a really exciting shot of adrenaline to a game that kind of needs it.
We'll find out soon!
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