All Races, All Classes

The concept of “race-locked classes” was out-dated when Blizzard originally implemented it back in 2007; modern games with a class metric have completely divorced what you are from what you do, and it’s time for WoW to do the same.

Here’s some easy justification for every race / class combination in the game! Some of it uses existing lore, some of it is using new lore, because Warcraft is a LIVING game and should always get new lore when it makes the game more enjoyable mechanically and aesthetically.

  • Demon Hunters: Make a new starting experience for non-blood elf / non-night elf characters like the ones Death Knights get where the current leaders of the Illidari are training new Demon Hunters to be ever-vigilant against the Burning Legion, who are crippled but not eradicated. Maybe have part of the intro experience be a sort of “Why are you sacrificing?” thing where your character gets to tell the Illidari what they’ve lost to the Legion. There’s nothing in-lore that states that only BElf and NElf characters can be Demon Hunters; only that Illidian only recrutied Belves and NElves originally. Times change, and so must the Illidari.

  • Blood Elf (Druid, Shaman): Druid: Arcane magical shapeshifting. There’s also at least one NPC in Botanica that can do this. Shaman: Either they learned from the orcs over the decade they’ve spent in the Horde, or they use whatever magic they used to bind Mu’ru to basically do the same to errant elementals, and are dark shaman.

  • Draenei, Azuremyst (Druid, Rogue, Warlock): Druid: The draenei have lived on Azeroth for over a decade now, and they’re close neighbors to the Night Elves. A draenei druid could be part of a new, fledgling order of druids. Rogue: The "hooves go clap clap clap* argument was never a good one, and we see draenei rogues in Warlords of Draenor. Warlock: Draenei warlocks attempt to use the powers of the Legion against them, same as every other warlock hero in the game. They’re disliked by mainstream society, same as every other warlock in the game.

  • Draenei, Lightforged (Druid, Monk, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock): Lightforged Draenei are basically just Draenei who’ve undergone the Lightforging rites. Now that they’re reunited with the Azuremyst Draenei, there’s no reason that Azuremyst Draenei couldn’t be Lightforged, which means there’s no reason they couldn’t be any class that Azuremyst Draenei can be for the same reasons. For warlocks, we now know that the Light isn’t nice, so Lightforged Warlocks could be using the Light to subjugate demons.

  • Dwarf, Ironforge/Wildhammer (Druid): Druid: Dwarf druidism could stem from the Wildhammer Clan, which we already know very little about other than the fact they’re closer to the elements / nature than the other clans. Wildhammers are basically a blank slate, so add some lore about how their transformations come from ancestor reverence rather than the Emerald Dream.

  • Dwarf, Dark Iron (Druid): Druid: The Dark Irons worked pretty closely with fire elementals / Ragnaros for a very long time. Dark Iron Druidism could draws from the same powers as Ragnaros’s old fire druids from Cataclysm and be an extension of shamanism. Maybe instead of nature damage, Dark Iron Druids have a passive that lets them do fire damage instead of nature damage with spells.

  • Gnome (Druid, Paladin, Shaman): Druid: They use engineering tinkers to transmogrify their forms. Paladin: If they can be priests, they should be able to be paladins. Especially considering how closely they live to dwarves. Shaman: They use technology to manipulate elemental forces, and their totems are all wacky little machines that let them do this.

  • Goblin (Druid, Monk, Paladin): Druid: They use engineering tinkers to transmogrify their forms. Monk: The only reason they didn’t get Monks in MoP was due to them not having good enough character models to handle the new animations. This isn’t true anymore, so add them. Paladin: If they can be priests and use the Light, they can be paladins. There’s nothing that says paladins can’t be money-grubbing after all; it’s all about belief.

  • Human, Kul’tiran (Paladin, Warlock): Paladin: Give them a Tidecaller variant that changes all their holy damage to nature damage / cold damage and call it a day. Armored Tidecallers who use spells not unlike paladin abilities exist in Shrine of the Storms. Warlock: I have no idea why Kul’tirans don’t have warlocks already.

  • Human, Stormwind (Druid, Shaman): Druid: They learned from the Night Elves or the Kul’tirans; doesn’t matter which. Maybe you could pick which order you follow and you get forms based on your choice. Shaman: They learned from the dwarves.

  • Pandaren (Druid, Paladin, Warlock): Druid: The August Celestials are basically loa, so they learned from them. Maybe Xuen is their cat form, Nuizao is their Guardian form, Chi-ji is their Balance form, and Yu-lon is their Restoration’s tree form. Paladin: Whatever canonical force allows them to be priests can also justify Paladin powers. Warlock: There’s no good reason for there to be no pandaren warlocks, especially after the Legion attacked the Peak of Serenity.

  • Night Elf (Paladin, Shaman, Warlock): Paladin: The Paladin Order Hall campaign from Legion heavily features the first Night Elf paladins. Have her found an order dedicated to Elune, Sunwalker style. Shaman: A group of Night Elf druids pledged themselves to watching over the Firelands after Ragnaros’s defeat in Cataclysm. Those druids basically became shaman in order to keep peace with the elements. Done. Warlock: These already exist among the Highborne, who formally rejoined the Night Elves in Cataclysm.

  • Nightborne (Druid, Paladin, Shaman): Druid: Use arcane magic to transform into stuff. It worked for that one boss in Night Hold. Paladin: The nightborne have been working very closely with the blood elves; have some of them become blood nights, using the Night Well as a font of magic instead of the Sunwell. Shaman: Their totems are arcane implements that allow them to manipulate nature. Same idea that let them imbue everything with magic.

  • Orc, Maghar (Druid, Paladin, Warlock): Druid: The primal magics of Draenor can be used to transform into animals, druid-style (see implications of Rala Wildheart). Paladin: Some Maghar might have learned to become Vindicars before Y’rel went all Tyrant on alternate Draenor. Warlock: Again, warlocks are ALWAYS outcasts and looked down upon in every society (sans maybe Forsaken), so they should always be considered outliers and therefore available to every race.

  • Orc, Orgrimmar (Druid, Paladin, Priest): Druid: The primal magics of Draenor can be used to transform into animals, druid-style (see implications of Rala Wildheart). Paladin: Etrigg becomes a paladin in memory of Tirion and founds an orc paladin order built around upholding honor. Priest: Shadowmoon Orcs.

  • Tauren, Highmountain (Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Warlock): In joining the Horde, the implications are that the Highmountain and Thunder Bluff tribes are mingling a lot; there’s no reason that young Highmountain tauren can’t join the sunwalkers or learn other arts from the Horde.

  • Tauren, Thunder Bluff (Mage, Rogue, Warlock): Mage: If the orcs can become mages, so can tauren. Rogue: The "hooves go clap clap clap* argument was never a good one, and we see tauren rogues among the Grim Totem. Warlock: Warlocks are ALWAYS outcasts and looked down upon in every society (sans maybe Forsaken), so they should always be considered outliers and therefore available to every race.

  • Troll (Paladin): Paladin: Upcoming lore in the Ardenweald storyline DEFINETELY makes troll paladins a very plausible possibility. Plus, contact with the zandalari.

  • Troll, Zandalari (Warlock): Warlock: Warlocks are ALWAYS outcasts and looked down upon in every society (sans maybe Forsaken), so they should always be considered outliers and therefore available to every race.

  • Void Elf (Druid, Paladin, Shaman): Druid: They use the void to twist their appearance, and all their druid forms have Emerald Nightmare qualities. Paladin: If the Light can turn people into undead, then the Void can create a paladin that does Shadow damage instead of Holy damage. Shaman: Void elf shaman are dark shaman, like what Garrosh used to twist and torment the elements.

  • Vulpera (Druid, Paladin): Druid: They have frequent contact with the zandalari and their loa, so give them dinosaur forms. Alternatively, introduce the fox loa that Knack’s book hinted at and use them as a loa of trickery, with part of their domain being shapeshifting. Paladin: They have frequent contact with the zandalari and their loa, so they’re freethinkers using Rezan’s power, same as the zandalari.

  • Worgen (Paladin, Monk, Shaman): Paladin: The Worgen work closely with the Night Elves. They can be part of the new Night Elf paladin order. Monk: The only reason they didn’t get Monks in MoP was due to them not having good enough character models to handle the new animations. This isn’t true anymore, so add them. Shaman: They can be part of the new "watching over the firelands* group with the Night Elves.

67 Likes

https ://i.imgur.com/3R4yYPU.png
Yes please.

6 Likes

I want all vulpera all the time… and on top of that I don’t want to have to play an elf to be a demon hunter… elves are gross.

8 Likes

I severely hope Blizzard never does something this silly.

39 Likes

Some of these are straight up dumb.

17 Likes

No.

16 Likes

No.

17 Likes

Sounds good idc

5 Likes

Nah, I like the way it is

12 Likes

I’d say every race with every class is a good end goal, but it would be a mistake to open them all at once.

Open up the ones that already have a solid foundation like Undead Paladins and Draenei Rogues, and then start laying the foundation for other combinations.

Yes please!!!

9 Likes

I like the idea that only certain races can be certain classes.

8 Likes

Some of what we have now is straight up dumb but the player characters are always exceptional members of their race so should be allowed to be whatever they want. No lore justification needed.

For example most Vulpera aren’t paladins but you, the player character, are a rare Vulpera paladin because you joined the horde and learned it from the Blood Elves, who were happy to train a Vulpera as a fellow horde member.

Let people play what they want. Do I scoff when I see a Tauren priest? Yes. Does that mean people shouldn’t be allowed to play what they want and what fits their story? No.

13 Likes

Every time someone brings this up, I feel the need to point out that spell schools mean something in this game, and reskinning a paladin to do shadow damage would be horrible. Not only would they be disadvantaged against any other paladin because of shadow resist aura, which is very relevant in high end arena, it would also make it so a void elf paladin being spell locked would need to be completely flipped involving coding from other paladins.

This would be a terrible idea.

Regardless, on the topic of the other things, you might think it’s outdated, but I don’t much mind the current situation. I don’t think anything needs to be changed currently.

6 Likes

No. I ain’t even going to read your argument. Just no.

5 Likes

Can’t say I’m a fan of this idea, nor do I believe the justifications to be correct.

Taking DH for example; having defeated the burning legion there are no need to recruit now races into becoming Demon Hunters.

The restrictions add to the race in some occasions. There is no reason why a Lightforged Draenei druid would ever be a thing and their options are already a reflection on the nature of their culture.

8 Likes

That’s adorable.

Except there are numerous restrictions that do the opposite.

The Lightforged Draenei for example don’t have the option to be monks, despite the quest to unlock them revolving around a monk going through the Lightforging process.

In most cases the restrictions are arbitrary at best, and don’t reflect the world we’re shown in game.

2 Likes

Nope. It’s what keeps the races and classes unique and have flavor. Culture and racial differences make this game different and fun.

Take your homogenized boring bland stuff to another MMO that already has it, please.

8 Likes

You’re wrong. Undead paladins will now and always be stupid. There has not been one credible argument in its favour. Certain races should not in any way be allowed access to every class.

3 Likes