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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: What do you think of new race and class combos?
by Lesley Smith 
Aug 24th 2009 at 8:00AM
One of the big things announced at BlizzCon were the new class and race combinations. These were originally datamined from patch 3.2.2 and include everything from Gnome Priests and Goblin Rogues to Worgen Druids. I'm especially excited about the last one.For years, the race you played has been indelibly linked with the class and defined how you play the game. Say, for example, you like playing Night Elves, you're limited class-wise to rolling Druid, Priests, Hunters, Rogues and Warriors. On the other hand, if it's a specific class then you are sometimes limited to a particular race. So Draenei are the only Alliance race which can current become Shamans while the same is true, Horde-side, for Blood Elves becoming Paladins.
From a lore perspective, there is little preventing any of these combos. This is especially true as Azeroth expands and the game evolves. But readers, this is new territory for us, as WoW becomes more open. What do you think of the possibility of lore-centric or even playable class and race combinations?
Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Shaman, Patches, Blizzard, Breakfast Topics, Expansions, Draenei, Blood Elves, Lore, Classes, Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 12)
ash Aug 24th 2009 7:28PM
I also hope they elaborate greatly on some of these new combos, specifically Tauren pallys, cause like you said, some bored Tauren's conversation is not doing it for me. The idea of more class specific quest is also cool. I can't wait to see what lore they will cook up for Dwarven shaman, even though they are already sort of in the game, I think their lore could be awesome. Same thing for Troll druids. We have fought so many shape changing Trolls over time I wonder how we will relate to that power now being on the players side.
themightysven Aug 24th 2009 8:37AM
I wish there had been love for Draenei. I don't buy the "there are too many goats" line, as they're massively under-rep'd. I would have bought Warlock, Rogue, and Druid don't work for them.
Falcon6 Aug 24th 2009 8:50AM
They don't work.
A Draenei working with demons? No way.
Rogues won't work because of the same reason as Tauren Rogues won't work...hooves are too...hard.
Druids...well, that's possible. However, they aren't exactly local. They did crash on Azeroth. Yes, there are Shamans, but the fact is that the powers you get from Shamanistic magic is different from Druidic magic. Another problem is that if Draenei had Druids, then there'd be another race-class imbalance. Plus, if I recall, these new classes evened out the race-to-faction amount. So until they make another druid class for Horde, Druids for Draenei probably won't happen.
So yeah, the first two have lore reasons and the third sounds more like balance issues.
Elmo Aug 24th 2009 8:59AM
but now the Horde has 1 class option more than the Alliance
Falcon6 Aug 24th 2009 9:31AM
Ah, that is true. Well, who knows...they might add or take away a class from the new races.
When it comes to class balance, they can end up being even more imbalanced as you try to straighten them out, too. Add a Druid class and they have a 3-2 ratio, which might be fine if you consider the fact that Horde have yet another Shaman race.
Of course, the more likely solution to fix all disproportions would probably end up with them taking away the Goblin's ability to be a Shaman.
Jamison Aug 24th 2009 8:38AM
Love the new options. I've been clamoring for Dwarf Shaman forever.
So from what it sounds like, Blizzard is going to implement a paid racial change service soon too, so that way those of us who want to switch our spacegoats can, without another 1-85 level grind.
herb Aug 24th 2009 8:45AM
"We know we never got the hang of making the lore progressive and retconing everything was such a pita so we decided it would be easier to just wipe the existing one and now we can do whatever we want, however we want to, QQ moar lore-nerds"
Sirg Aug 24th 2009 8:43AM
Each restriction made races and classes ore unique. By broadening the range of choices, there will be more odd combinations and the races will lose part of their uniquenes. What's so cool about a race that can have everything?
I play alliance but I always liked taurens because they are focused on nature. Their race is outlined quite well by their ways. I didn't like the idea of giving paladins to the Horde and shamans to the Alliance for that matter. It's cool to have very different factions rather than the same thing with different skins.
My impression is that Blizz is making things up without looking back to the limits they set when they designed this world. NPCs and playable classes are 2 different things. So what if a boss in Zul Aman acts like a druid? What about troll's savagery? Druids should be peaceful characters, not blood drinkers and canibals.
OK, most people don't care about the lore but Blizz should care because WoW is their creation. Tauren paladins are just LOL.. holy cows ftw.. I don't care about that sun worshiping stuff, it's all sketchy and nonsense. Goblin shaman with rockets is also a weird combo, but hey... it's the wacky world of worldcraft that we play.. :)
Damon Aug 24th 2009 10:13AM
Your stereotyping the races and classes too much. Just because they're tied to balance doesn't mean druids are tied to peace: Druids take on plenty of predatory aspects on both a spiritual and physical level when they use their magic. It makes perfect sense that some druids can be pretty brutal, not that all trolls are.
Variety is the spice of life, and while cultural barriers are often difficult to overcome the entire continent being shattered and the emergence of a completely psychotic dragon aspect of godlike power will kinda hurry along those societal reforms.
Danel Aug 24th 2009 10:29AM
The constant complaints about lore from people who seem to barely understand it are just silly.
Druids turn into bears to remove people's faces with a single swipe of their massive paws, which isn't "peaceful" by any definition of the term. Nor are Horde trolls cannibals - they agreed to give that up, though there may be a few who haven't.
Gossamer Aug 24th 2009 10:55AM
I don't see how Tauren Worshiping the sun is "Nonsense". The moon worship of the Druid class always struck me as odd on a Tauren, after all the moon is just one eye of the Earth Mother. I think it's about time the Tauren find an outlet for this neglected portion of their worship.
mccacioppo Aug 24th 2009 9:03AM
I think it's a great thing they're doing, allowing more flexibility for character creation and getting rid of cookie cutter class combinations(say that quickly a few times in a row :P)
We've seen nearly every class/race combination NPC-wise, which makes the lore issue nearly non-existant. Though there are some class combos that just wouldn't work, like Draenei Warlocks for example. While this is sorta the same deal that Night Elves have with arcane magic, I think it goes even deeper with the Draenei. They had their entire world destroyed by demonic magicks, and have been getting chased through the twisting nether ever since. Night Elves did have a good chunk of their homeland destroyed, but were still able to make do with the rest of it, and many of the highborne that did keep using arcane magic didn't turn into giant demonic overlords bent on destroying worlds. :)
I'm really looking forward to Dwarf Shamans and Worgen Druids though, as the former really feels like it should have been there all along, and the latter is a new flavor of shapeshifting to try out!
Valt Aug 24th 2009 8:51AM
I think its great for people that might not want to be "just tauren or nelf to be druid" now that trolls can be druids. Same with other classes. I would roll dwarf shaman or Troll druid.
But.. Im too lazy to reroll. I just use deviate fish and noggenfogger to get undead hunter/human look. Ironboot flask to be dwarf.
duskhawk Aug 24th 2009 8:53AM
I'm actually kind of interested in playing a Dwarf shaman. Not on my main server, of course, since that one's full, but maybe on the server where I had transferred my human pally (abandoned at 36).
Gerik Aug 24th 2009 8:54AM
As an alliance player, I find Worgen Druids far more interesting than any of the new race-class combos for the classic races. Worgen could not be any more the opposite of the wimpy Night Elves, and I'm excited to see how they will fit into Druid culture. I'm very excited for the day when they unveil all their new Druid forms, as I'd imagine they're going to look downright mean (and therefore awesome).
jealouspirate Aug 24th 2009 9:01AM
It really bothers me when people call the Night Elves wimpy. They're very strong. Malfurion is one of the most powerful beings in Azeroth, Ilidan was a very powerful mage and then demon hunter, and there are tons of other powerful Night Elves. The Orcs even recognize how strong they are in quests in Ashenvale, calling them something like "thin, but formidable opponents".
In Silithus you see tons of cool Night Elf warriors dual-wielding blades similar to Illidan's.
They may talk softly and look thin, but they are anything but wimpy and weak. They're strong and they've proven that they will go to war when they feel threatened.
jealouspirate Aug 24th 2009 9:06AM
Just to reinforce what I said, here is a quote from the WoWWiki on Night Elves:
"Their warriors are not to be taken lightly either. The night elves are among the most deadly adversaries to be found anywhere, due to a combination of their proficient skill with a bow, their druidic magic, and the ability to melt away into the shadows of the night. Few use common weapons such as swords, most preferring the mighty glaives (triple-bladed swords) they have grown accustomed to. War panthers, hippogryphs and even the mighty chimaeras and mountain giants have all been known to aid the night elves in battle. "
http://www.wowwiki.com/Night_elf
Gerik Aug 24th 2009 10:22AM
I don't care how strong the lore says Night Elves are. The males have skinny hourglass figures, long hair and dance like Michael Jackson. Worgen are ()@*$)#$() WEREWOLVES. Sorry, this isn't even close. The macho award goes to Worgen.
Draman Aug 24th 2009 8:57AM
Am I the only one that thinks of Little Red Riding Hood when I see a Worgen in a dress? Oo
Deadlock Aug 24th 2009 9:10AM
Yeah. They all look pretty ridiculous wearing clothing to be honest. I can just see people trying to RP them wearing tuxedos and shit. I think they'd be better off without it, even if we did have to live with only 6 different models for transformed worgen.