Breakfast Topic: What class would you bring to WoW?
by Gabriel Torres 
Oct 30th 2011 at 8:00AM
WoW has survived for almost seven years now, and like Darwin predicted, it did so by adapting. I remember my first experience with this; Blizzard integrated the addon DoubleWide into the standard UI in patch 3.2. As someone who'd only ever played console games, the thought that developers would add changes to the main game after the fact was simply mind-boggling. And I began to wonder: What else could WoW add? What else has it added? To Google I went.
As it turned out, WoW had added a lot. What drew my attention was the most recent addition: death knights. The new kid on the block, they were an oddity due to their unique resources and mechanics, like runes, diseases, Death Grip, and Raise Ally. They were just as resilient as paladins, while not as defensively oriented -- a bit like necromancers, but not really like them. Even the Warcraft RPG's runemaster could be seen in them. There was nothing like the death knight.
However, I constantly jump between games. After a while, I went and found other MMOs to play. MapleStory, Guild Wars, DDO -- the one true constant was the class selection. Warrior, wizard, rogue, archer ... WoW had a version of every class, and every game had a version of WoW's classes. And then I remembered death knights and realized I was mistaken.
There are many classes that aren't represented in WoW's ranks. The one that springs most readily to my mind is the mesmer, a class from Guild Wars that specializes in spell interrupting, delaying, and reflecting, punishing their opponents for action or inaction, and directly manipulating their opponents' resources. Or maybe the fan-created chronomancer is more to your taste? Or maybe the bard?
If you could pick any class, which one would you want to bring to WoW, and how would it play?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
razion Oct 30th 2011 8:07AM
Necromancers / Liches (a'la Scourge Cultists and Kel'thuzad).
Yes, we have Death-Knights, but it's like comparing a Priest to a Paladin--I'm just more a fan of spell-casting than I am of melee play. I love the idea of being the caster in the back of the group who is very suceptable to incoming damage, but makes up for it with a wide variety of spells at his disposal. I also like the idea of summoning a small army of various undead to throw at my enemy--particularly Frost Wyrms.
Pauldarian Burns Oct 30th 2011 8:34AM
I think maybe possibly to the developers, the warlocks fill that role.
cmichaelcooper Oct 30th 2011 12:09PM
This was going to be my suggestion as well.
@Pauldarian Burns - Though the Warlock might fit this role in the developer's minds, an actual Necromancer class would deal with the undead and the energies of life and death itself, instead of the demonic.
In lore, the class could work as either leftovers from the Lich King's forces who worked themselves back into mainstream society after his fall. Or, much like warlocks, they could be those working in forbidden disciplines from within mainstream society.
Mechanics would probably allow for 1 healing spec that would facilitate healing self or allies using the stolen life energies of your enemies. The two dps specs could probably be made more interesting, but a pet-based spec using undead and a more traditional caster spec using necrotic dots/drains come to mind.
Edymnion Oct 30th 2011 12:25PM
Agreed, I want true necromancers.
I've been playing Diablo II again here lately trying to calm my jittery nerves until Diablo III launches, and the one thing that I keep being reminded of is how much I love the Diablo II necromancer. The playstyles it offered are so like WoW specs its amazing. You have the Little General that focuses entirely on building their own personal army (my favorite). You have the Poisonmancer that goes in toe to toe with a magically poisoned dagger to strike and retreat, waiting for your poisons to do their work. And you have the Cursemancer, who builds up all manner of curses and uses ranged spells to keep the enemy down.
The Warlock replicates the Curse aspects, but the most defining part of the class, raising an army of undead to help you, is almost completely lacking in WoW. Closest we have is the Death Knight's Undead Army, and those are so pitifully lacking they might as well not even be there.
I want to play a TRUE necromancer in WoW!
Thundrcrackr Oct 31st 2011 11:44AM
I think it would be cool if they just made the existing classes more diverse. I wish every class had at least 1 tank or heal spec. They could give current DPS-only classes the following: (using existing trees or new trees, since they are adding a 4th separate tree to druids)
Rogue - Evasion tanking. (probably combat or subletey tree?) They'd have less armor than other tanks but they'd get hit less often due to higher focus on avoidance. They could even have some kind of "glancing blow" talent that reduces incoming damage for when they do get hit, so they aren't more prone to getting one or two shotted than other tanks. Uses existing gear, like tanking duids.
Hunter/Warlock - Pet tanking. Convert the current pet specialization trees into tanking trees. (or create new trees.) Uses existing gear since its technically the pet who is taking the damage, and they don't wear gear. Talents/abilities would do the rest.
Mage - Spell tanking - (probably arcane tree? or new tree.) It would be all about spell shields and wards and resistance spells. Uses existing gear since all the abilities would be spell based.
I know these are all ended up being tank specs, but tanks seem to be more in demand than healers, at least on the servers I play on. You could argue for mages to have a magic healing tree, i suppose, but that would be too similar to existing healers. Spell tanking, on the other hand, would be totally unique.
I also thought it would be cool to possibly convert survival hunters into a "field medic" type (non-magic) healing spec. But the only abilities i can think of (things like wound dressing, suturing, bandaging) only make sense while out of combat, not while in the middle of a fight. I don't see how Blizz could ever make a non-magic healing class make sense in the world of WoW, i guess.
Stabaa Oct 30th 2011 8:08AM
I know it's been brought up countless times before but I genuinely think the Demonhunter class would be a great and unique addition. Perhaps a hero class in the expansion where we finally face down Sargeras?
The concept of using demonic power and fel energy without actually succumbing to evil sounds pretty badass and perhaps an aspect of the 'hero class' could be creating a customised demon meta-form for your toon?
Michael Martine Oct 30th 2011 9:28AM
People keep bringing this up but there's one huge flaw with the idea: they're demon hunters. They hunt... demons. Not only are all the baddies NOT demons, MOST of them in WoW are not. Only a very few of them are.
In Diablo it makes sense because a huge majority of the bad guys are demons. It makes NO sense for WoW. Maybe there's an expac that's demon-focused... big whoop, that's just one expac. What the hell is a demon hunter going to do with the rest of his or her time?
If a demon hunter is good to have even when you're not fighting demons, then why bother to call it a demon hunter?
Finally, any class that has an advantage over one group of mobs (and what good would a demon hunter be if it didn't kick ass specifically against demons) totally flies in the face of Blizzard's adopted mantra of "bring the player, not the class."
You can like the idea and wish for it all you want, but it just... does... not... fit with WoW lore without some serious rewriting and revamping of existing areas.
Luotian Oct 30th 2011 9:45AM
@Michael:
I think you're ignoring the fact that, for game play purposes, we spend a lot of time doing stuff that our characters would never do. I see no reason at all for my Shaman to spend the time hunting and killing all the things she does except for one thing-- the gold. Why couldn't a demon hunter spend his/her time hunting and killing stuff to finance their goal of hunting and killing demons?
Even a demon hunter has to have money for his/her basic necessities.
splodesondeath Oct 30th 2011 9:48AM
Michael makes a good point, but think of Death Knights. What's their motivation? What WAS their motivation?
These are breakaway Scourge who went back for revenge on The Lich King. With Bolvar in charge now instead of Arthas, their job is basically done. The Horde and Alliance have a bunch of rotting corpses hanging around their capital of former heroes. Sure, those heroes reclaimed their glory in the Northrend campaign, but eventually, you're going to start getting tension points. Remember how when you get sent to Wrynn/Thrall at the end of the Death Knight quest chain? The townspeople are PISSED that you've showed up.
Death Knights have some very interesting story to explore after Wrath, and you could easily find ways to explore a Demon Hunter's story after their respective expansion. What did they sacrifice to become a Demon Hunter? Do they all wear those eye-band thingies? Are they motivated purely to hunt demons, or is there something else behind it all? How do they feel about allying with the Horde or Alliance, who are currently all in each other's shit? If you give a little push, you can get a lot more out of a character than you might have thought.
Michael Martine Oct 30th 2011 9:58AM
@Luotian: Fair point, but enough of a reason for Demon Hunters to exist? Some of the ideas that are cool about Demon Hunters would be awesome to see in a new class. I just can't ever see Blizzard having a class in WoW that's based around a category of mob. But something like a hybrid between Rogue and Hunter (no pets) could be totally sweet. Ranged weapons, dual-wield pistols, bombs perhaps, arcane magic for mobility and CC.
It's just that if you call it "Demon Hunter" you're bringing up notions and expectations that don't fit in WoW. Let it do most of the same things and call it something else and Blizzard might see their way to it. It certainly sounds like something I'd love to play.
Michael Martine Oct 30th 2011 10:03AM
@splodesondeath:
Great points. It probably could be made to work. Personally, I don't have a hardon for the name "Demon Hunter" but I like the abilities and play style a class like that would bring.
joyull Oct 30th 2011 10:20AM
@Michael:
Demon hunters in WoW are very different than the demon hunters in Diablo. WoW demon hunters are very Illidan-esque, a mix of demonic and martial skills. They don't go around slinging bows and pistols, and they aren't even specifically ranged (save for some spells, perhaps). The key to demon hunters in WoW lies in their ability to fight demons because they've taken on some of their powers. I'm not very familiar with Diablo lore, all I know is that demon hunters in Warcraft and in Diablo are quite different in role and feel.
Noyou Oct 30th 2011 11:17AM
I was actually thinking about this yesterday. I have no knowledge of a demon hunter but I was thinking he could somehow siphon the demonic energy and that would be his resource. He would have to have someway of storing it for when he doesn't actually fight a demon. Perhaps they can work it into their lore that demonic or fel energy is present in all living things, in different amounts. Like I said, I am not sure what the lore supports or not. The only one I was familiar with was the one in Azshara. He wielded a bow and hand a fel hunter as his pet.
Schadenfreude Oct 30th 2011 11:40AM
The Demon Hunter will almost certainly be the hero class for the next next expansion (which was hinted at Blizzcon to be the 2nd Burning Legion expansion).
Infamado Oct 30th 2011 3:32PM
Honestly, I don't think the idea of a 'demon hunter' class makes any less sense than the current hunter. How much of WoW actually consists of anything that a hunter would do? Killing ten boars, fine. But when you're routinely charging in to attack Ragnaros in epic combat with twenty-four other adventurers, you're past the point where you can really refer to what you do as 'hunting'.
Still, it's called a hunter, which (to me at least) suggests a special proficiency in killing animals as much as 'demon hunter' suggests the same for demons. To my mind the problems raised have already been addressed with another class.
dkhar Oct 30th 2011 3:49PM
I've said this before, but I don't ever see us getting a demon hunter hero class in WoW now. Almost(if not all) of their abilities went to the demo warlock(demon form and all their abilities). I was saying it on the forums at the time ( when a lock was my main) when people were asking for locks to get a demon form, I was afraid they would do exactly what they did. I would LOVE to see the demon hunter playable class in game, but as far as I can see it, unless they take away the demon form and his/hers abilities from the lock, I don't see it happening unfortunately. /sadface
Meatball Oct 30th 2011 8:08AM
The Mastermind from City of Villains
Particularly, the Necromancer/Dark Miasma build. Controlling a small army of zombies and keeping them "alive" by sucking the energy out of my enemies was pretty great.
TonyMcS Oct 30th 2011 7:36PM
Speaking of villains, I'd like a Boss class. Specifically players get to fill-in for the Boss and adds in dungeons and face off against raids. Various mechanics can be used such as only being able to directly damage the player generating the most threat and maybe fixed scheduling on AoEs and combat abilities, but it would provide an entirely different experience and still use all the existing dungeons. A little real intelligence, instead of the usual raid dance studio response to AI, wuld make everything a lot more challenging.
EaterOfBirds Oct 30th 2011 8:15AM
some sort of psy-ish class with mind shizzle, tho priests have taken that area a bit Psychomancer?. the thing id most like to see is a techy Engineer or Alchemist class, alas these are both profs ^ ^ Mechanist? with bombs etc.
Aticus Oct 30th 2011 8:20AM
The Bard! I think of them as having a Healing Spec and DPS spec, and a DPS to Heal/Enhanced Buffs Spec. You heal through "songs" to buff your ally's spirits and DPS thru debuffs. The third spec maybe adds special buffs to allies for short time, like trinkets CDs and adds a Weakened Soul type of debuff so you can't spam your buffs.
LOTRO did the class right and I would hope they would come to WOW someday.