Best Moment to Add Moon Priest to World of Warcraft

Community General Discussion
1

Hello everyone! This is my first Topic. There have been many posts on this topic of debate, but most of them have become outdated. I really liked the concept of Hero Talents that WoW introduced, because it allows for more character customization and reinforces their identity, as well as a bunch of transmogs that recreate the appearance of these heroes (like the Blademaster’s necklace). I’ve always been a fan of recreating the heroes from Warcraft III, and as you all know, hero classes are difficult to represent in WoW since many of their abilities are spread across various classes in the game.

My favorite Warcraft III hero has always been the Priestess of the Moon, and WoW never really captured her essence. Of the Warcraft III Priestess, 3 of her abilities made it into WoW with the Hunter class (Fire Arrow, Scout, Trueshot Aura), and 1 with the Druid (Starfall). However, for roleplayers, neither of these two classes truly represents what they’re looking for: a Priestess of the Moon (which is a hero class). Still, creating a hero class is excessive and would take away from the point that night elves have been able to be priests since Vanilla.

Why not Druid? Moon Priestesses are priests. Unlike their human and draenei allies, they do not worship the Light but instead worship Elune. The goddess is not worshiped in the same way by priests as by druids. Priests commune with Elune in a more direct way, through well-structured rituals, and are blessed by her powers, making it more about institutionalized worship and dogma. Druids, on the other hand, worship Elune indirectly, through her creations: the Moon, the Night, the Stars… but they also worship Nature, the Wild Gods, and the Ancestors — a more animistic form of worship. At this point, I argue that a Balance Druid no longer represents a Priestess of the Moon. Instead, a Balance Druid better represents the Druids of the Talon. But let me clarify: Balance Druids and Moon Priests should coexist. It is not a good idea to dismantle one specialization just to create another for a different class.

Why not Hunter? The Hunter is a good choice because it can use the Moon Priestess’s weapon, plus some thematic abilities, especially the Sentinel hero talents that summon owls and stars. However, I believe these powers are more akin to the Night Elves’ units in Warcraft III. The specializations that Sentinel is available from among the hero talents are Marksmanship and Survival. For me, Blizzard was trying to represent the first unit, the Archer, if Marksmanship is chosen, and the Huntress if Survival is chosen. I’m not sure if Survival Hunters can dual-wield, as I haven’t played one since Legion, but I relate Survival to the guerilla strategy of the Night Elf Huntresses. You summon a Sentinel Owl, which stands still in one place, though it didn’t attack in Warcraft III. This feels like a Huntress power. It would be nice if Death Chakram came back, but instead of being for Marksmanship, it could be for Survival or a Sentinel spell to represent this aspect. Maybe the Hunter is better at representing the Combat aspect of a Moon Priest, while the Priest is better suited to represent the spiritual side.

So… Why Priest? All of us who have played Night Elf Priests know how frustrating it is that the gameplay and effects of the character’s abilities feel so far from what they should be. Sunlight, human religious symbols, Naaru, tentacles, and void aberrations don’t really help with immersion. However, if priests aren’t the best option to represent Moon Priests, why are there so many elements from Vanilla that suggest otherwise? I’ll name a few:

  • Night Elf priest racial abilities: Starshards and Elune’s Grace from Vanilla.
  • All the Moon Priestesses from the Temple of the Moon (Darnassus) — except Tyrande — were priest trainers.
  • The starting quests in Teldrassil also imply that you are training to be a Moon Priest.
  • Since Cataclysm, Tyrande has given a special quest for priests once they reach level 20, called “Favored of Elune.” In it, she says: “You are a true servant of Elune, an example to our people, and a stalwart servant of the Alliance. The Temple of the Moon and the court of Stormwind wish to honor your achievements.”

Another argument outside of WoW is in Hearthstone, where Tyrande is a hero of the Priest deck.

Implementation of a Moon Priest in WoW

With the new Hero Talent system, priests could have one of their talent trees thematically aligned with the Moon Priest style. I believe one of the Hero Talent trees should be replaced with one called ‘Elune’s Grace’ (or something similar). Blizzard could rework the Archon talent tree into this new Elune’s Grace tree, as a tree focused solely on halos feels somewhat uninspired. This way, the tree could be shared between Holy and Shadow, offering a much richer and deeper theme than the previous one.

Why Not Discipline? Discipline is about healing through dealing damage, and what we want for damage spells is to support them with passives that buff healing spells. Since Holy Priest’s offensive powers are almost decorative, this would allow for a different build than the classic one, which would remain in Oracle hero talents. At the same time, this would differentiate it from Discipline Priest. Blizzard could take inspiration from Tyrande in Heroes of the Storm. Discipline represents the inquisitorial side of the priests of light, which is not exactly what a moon priest would be.

Shadow, on the other hand, would be inspired by the Night Warrior: a priest who surrenders to the shadows to become an instrument of Elune’s vengeance. Instead of Auspicious Spirits, the Priest could summon Spirits of Vengeance, similar to the Warden in Warcraft III or Maiev and Sira during the Burning of Teldrassil. However, both Holy and Shadow would share the same talent tree, each adapting its abilities to different goals.

Conclusion

I think that incorporating a Moon Priest talent tree into World of Warcraft would honor the rich lore of the Night Elves and the Priestess of the Moon. By offering an alternative to the current priest archetypes, this addition would expand the priests versatility, introducing a thematic power shift between Light and Shadow, mirroring the divine and vengeful nature of Elune herself.

3 Likes
2

I was going to point out how I thought druids were already covering the moon stuff, but I’m pretty sure this is just another Ai post that probably won’t go anywhere.

3

I used Google Translate a lot, but not AI, and I wrote it first in Word. Maybe that’s why it feels quite formal or uses a lot of connectors. It’s not something I improvised.

4

:+1: I would completely appreciate a good Elune/Moon tree for Priests. Would be kind of weird seeing other races using it but Blizz just hands out all the NE lore and archetypes to everyone else like candy anyways, what difference would this make at this point. /shrug

1 Like
5

Well written, but I do disagree on the timing. I think the best time would be right after Drac and Vulpera are removed. And come to think of it, after Tinkers and Necromancers join the game.

That would be perfect.

1 Like
6

I love the concept.

My second priest in hc classic is Night Elf and I like Starshards even tho it’s useless.

1 Like
7

It’s something we have to accept that Blizzard doesn’t care about lore-wise restrictions. Since they made it possible for a male forsaken to wear Warden armor, we should be willing to accept that if someone wants to roleplay a gnome sea witch, they can do so.

I had a beautiful dream in which Blizzard, instead of giving us Dracthyr, gave us Drakonids. While I don’t like Vulpera and would never ever make one, at least they are irrelevant in the Lore and they didn’t get an entire expansion for them unjustifiably.

Both are ideal classes with which one could conclude with adding classes to the game. Necromancer detractors have always said that adding this class means committing a butchery to the Death Knight and the Warlock, but the reality is that this is not necessarily the case. If Priests and Paladins can coexist with equal powers and the same name, or the same case with the Warlock and Demon Hunter and the Shaman with the Evoker, I don’t see why the Death Knight and the Necromancer couldn’t do so. They could easily give him three specs, one dedicated to his summons and diseases, another dedicated to making combos via ice and death spells, and another that could perhaps be a healer with anima control.

The Tinker is simpler and more original. We could take the idea of ​​goblin engineering, which has many elements of alchemy due to explosives, and gnomish engineering, which is more of a robotics concept.

My problem with the Moon Priestess is that it’s much simpler than making an entire class, it’s as simple as reconfiguring some hero talents and maybe adding some way for them to change all their light to moonlight, similar to The Codex of Xerrath for the destruction warlocks that transforms their fire into fel.

Thank you! Previously in WoW, despite any min-maxing, the class felt more unique. Your race choice did carry weight.

2 Likes