To be fair.
They DID add the option to gain green flames for warlocks.
I can not remember if it opened any floodgates to players rightfully asking for a whole slew of other options.
But… sad to say, they already added different visuals to a specific class.
They have also done it for druids, afterall.
I recall. Blue flames for Fire Mages became a request afterwards.
That said, fire spells for Warlocks are not the bulk of their animations. I don’t know how many fire spells they have, but Paladins are nothing but Light visuals really.
Paladins with void visuals is essentially a class skin. I’m not against class skins, but those are expansion features. Maybe if Blizzard holds off on adding Paladins for everyone until the next expansion, and also makes class skins a thing, that’d work. I don’t know the rate at which they’ll be opening classes to all races, but I know Shamans require a slew of custom totems, and Druids require a ton of new forms, whereas with Paladins it’s just race-specific mounts, and they’ve had generic Paladin mounts before that work until racial Paladin mounts could be added.
Mount, rain of fire, incinerate, conflagrate, cataclysm, burning rush, I may have missed some.
If there is fire, it will be green.
Paladins probably do have about 4 more than warlocks, I think, that would need change.
So about… 6+ Warlock skills got green fire, compared to… how many skills do Paladins have?
Like I said, this would be more appropriate with class skins as an expansion feature, which would be pretty awesome. There’s been some really amazing fan concepts about that floating around. Void Paladins was just one.
As said, paladins probably have about 4-5 more abilities that actually have light-motifs.
Some of their buffs do not need to be changed, not even sure if crusader strike even needed it.
I bet the color changes are also quite simple - since it is more a change of color in the same way that you would change color on different hairstyles in game. Most abilities are probably color-coded, so it is not like the abilities have to be redesigned, you just have to change the code.
What could take time, is how you would want to introduce it. Through a quest, a book you can buy, and then it has to be coded onto your character, you should probably be given the option to switch back and forth between it… etc.
That said, I am not a game developer or even that knowledgeable when it comes to code. All I know is, is that I despite not having that knowledge, can easily change the color of something that has already been drawn and designed, even in an animation. It takes about 30 seconds.
I don’t think it would be too much work for a new class option. Spell visuals are very easy to make (I literally speak from experience). Legit very, very easy with minimal resources or time-consumption. Now if it were models on the otherhand (Like unique totems / paladin mounts) etc, that’s another story. That being said, it could be even less time-consumption and resources, since they already have shadow-spell visual assets at their disposal. They’d just have to mock about a switcharoo and apply the visuals attachment on various spells & passive effects.
If it wasn’t, then I don’t see why this hasn’t been more of a thing. Seems like a very simple and easy win among the players, to be honest. Offer class reskins for spells and abilities to live out different fantasies. Maybe offer Blood Elf Mages some gold flames to really show that new Sunwell attribute. Or Void Elf mages some shadowy frost spells, since Shadowfrost is actually a thing.
I’m not saying I don’t believe you when you say it’s easy, mind you. We all know private servers have been able to handle stuff Blizzard wouldn’t, and that with amateur/volunteer coders. My point is, there’s a reason we haven’t had this yet. Making a single exceptional wouldn’t feel very great (and I can already see the smoke in the distance future as the forums are awash in flames at the Void Elves getting, ‘preferential treatment,’ again).
I’m all for class skins, but we need to see this expanded beyond one fringe case.
There’s a lot of stuff that’s not too much work to be put in the game, or changed / written etc that they simply haven’t made a thing.
Sometimes it’s not a matter of whether it’s easy or hard, it’s simply because they either haven’t chose to do so – or they sadly lack the vision to apply it.
There are probably thousands of things that exist in the game’s files that Blizzard has chosen not to share with the playerbase.
An extreme example of this would be the brand new Frostmourne model that they made for Legion. Its only appearance is in the Frost Death Knight artifact quest. Arthas doesn’t use it anywhere else in the game.
Reminder that Forsaken asking for Paladins is a thing, and has been a request for years, far longer than Void Elves have existed, and they’d use “shadow” glyphs as well.
It’s also entirely possible to give the glyph to any race that wants it, and just have it be default for Forsaken / Void Elves.
No concept should be restricted because it’d only go to one race, and it especially does not need to be because so many of these potential options can actually apply to everybody. The Twilight Hammer had “paladins” as well.
Going off Void Elves, because 90% of the complaints are because of them for reasons, shamans and druids have the same thing.
Dark Shamans already existed with Kor’kron. Nothing is stopping any race into shamanism from going down a dark park and bending elements to their will instead.
Nightmare druids are unlikely to be the thing for Void Elves based off aesthetics. We’re working off scraps, but the cosmic void theme is there, and it’s likely that’ll play for Void Elves and Druids with their forms. Astromancers exist. Balance druids exist. Star aesthetics. Blah blah. Nightborne something something.
Sometimes, it’s not that deep. And sometimes, people are happy to share their toys with others because it does make sense, and it’s not a big deal.
In a sense we had them since Taunkas. Though the last word on that was from Dave Kosak, who was asked if taunka were Dark Shamans and his response to that was: “taunka are taunka”
I believe the difference between the Dark Shamans and the Taunka, is that the Taunka are a little less brutal.
Why? Most requests for Forsaken Paladins use examples like Sir Zeliek as their prime point of support. Players who want Forsaken Paladins want light-wielding zombies (which is far less of a problem since Lightforged Draenei Death Knights and Calia Menethil anyways. To an extent, Draenei Death Knights too).
If there would be a Glyph, the default for all races would be, ‘Light,’ I would imagine.
Yeah, Light-wielding Paladins.
And their practice nearly caused a Second Cataclysm.
In truth, I think it’s evident that most players support opening all classes to all races. Those whom balk at it for, ‘lore reasons,’ have other reasons, obviously, but as, ‘lore,’ is the only reason that has a foot to stand on, that’s the one they make their issue.
Still, it’s fun to discuss the lore (sometimes, when Blizzard doesn’t destroy it). If not Nightmare Druid forms for Void Elves, what then? It’d be kind of cool to see something like Displacer Beasts for their Catform. WoW’s version of that are lizards in Outland, though, so not sure I want to step on Zandalari toes.
I do love me some dark shaman. However I feel they would be closer to warlocks than actual shaman.
On an even more off-topic note I think warlocks are the best suited for class skins such as dark shaman and a warlocky take on each of the cosmic forces.
Maybe I should make a thread about it somewhere.
Ironically, I find that what are supposed to be the reasons against forsaken paladins are exactly why they can work, and be interesting without having to reskin them as shadow or void stuff.
Paladin is ultimately a religious class, and part of the forsaken theme is them feeling, well, forsaken by the light for what happened to them. Instead of saying “no, it’s not possible” (because we know it is), I think the forsaken has the unique opportunity to take paladins in a “suffering for your faith” angle that none of WoW’s other races can do.
We also know that paladin power fades with loss of faith (see Tirion Fordring once losing it just because he believed he deserved to) so if other paladins are holy beacons, a forsaken would be a flickering lightbulb that in-lore can’t “hold it” for long before dejection takes over, and in moments of extreme willpower they’ll put up with any suffering for whatever it is they need to do.
Like a zombie-themed version of a self-flagellating monk, intentionally bathing himself in the light from time to time to purify himself of his sins, etc.
Officially Blood elves had no religion before Liadrin brought in the Blood knights.
Seeing as the High Elves and the Blood Elves are the exact same people. That way of looking at it is… both true and false.
Officially the High Elves were light worshippers.
Liadrin was a priest of the light.
But at the same time, the Blood Elves lost faith in the light, and in a sense then lost their “religion”
Considering the first point, that the Blood Elves and the High Elves are the same people (literally), then yes, they officially did have a religion before the Blood Knights.
Their religion was symbolism of the Sun. Just like Nightborne they are actually atheists.
No. They had light worship, it is quite obvious.
Liadrin was a former priestess of the light before arthas sacked Quel’thalas. They were quite the opposite of atheists
New here? Erevien is… well known.
This was a part of the retcons the Alliance Dev-Player meetings agreed upon. We decided the Blood Elves should’ve always practiced the human’s version of the Light. There was never any reason to explore anything more unique, since they’re just a human side-kick race, even in the Horde.