I regularly read the WoW Community Council forum, and while it often finds me agreeing with a lot of things, I cannot help but feel baffled and frankly disappointed at a recent take by Letholas regarding Race/ Class combos:
With all due respect to Letholas, with how vulnerable the Alliance is at this moment in time in terms of both popularity and population, saying that equal race/ class combo balance between Horde and Alliance should not matter is concerning and shows no regard for the wishes and opinions of the playerbase.
Just because it does not matter to you because aesthetics and faction allegiance is not really your thing, does not mean that it does not matter to other players. You are better off not commenting on the matter if you’re not interested in seeing more combos, than commenting dismissively.
I for one would love to see more race/ class combos for my Void elf. #noshame. And I’d love to see more race/ class combos for the Nightborne, and the Draenei, and Orcs (especially DHs), and Gnomes.
I would reply to you directly, but not being a member of the CC does not allow me to. But I will not remain silent on the matter because as it stands right now Horde has 6 additional race/ class combos, and it’s just not fair. People would absolutely love to have lots of more race /class combos on the Alliance too.
Yes I want Void elf Paladins too. Personally I would’ve preferred Druids tbh, but I don’t oppose those that want it. There is no shame in wanting more race/ class combos for your Void elf. I definitely support Void elf and Nightborne DHs.
This is not specifically about Void elf Paladins it’s about the imbalance in the race/ class combos and the CC member’s take on that.
I will never ever agree to such ignorance towards lore and the schools of magic in this game, no matter how much people try to justify it.
Unless they make an expansion that has storylines for why some of these races can be SOME of these classes, with racial class spell skins, then I will never condone some of the combos people want.
Some people just want to visually be whatever race they want to be. If lore is such an important factor for others, they don’t have to play those combos.
I didn’t want talent trees back in the game and yet here we are. And now cross-faction play is going to slowly but surely open up to even guilds. At some point game accessibility takes precedence over all the restrictions. It’s been the natural evolution of wow for some time now.
I’m no lore expert but I do agree that CC members have a responsibility to not speak simply from their personal POV only and should always be thinking holistically and globally about what the best solutions are.
Therein lies the issue. This game was one of the last unique that stuck to lore and storyline and culture to make it more immersive, and then people turned races into worthless, useless skins with no story or culture. Because people just don’t care and this game turns into yet another generic trash bin.
But we have to see them and deal with them in lore and RP. That’s not a solution. It’s being dismissive.
While true, those aren’t in any way breaking the lore and culture. This does.
And those “reasons” are what makes this game better than other MMORPGs, with its lore and culture built around the races.
You want to push that we’re the ones being selfish. Yet, that can easily be turned around and be claimed that you’re the ones being selfish for wanting to also destroy others’ reasons for enjoying this game.
But I don’t think either side is being selfish. I think there’s a compromise.
Some can be unlocked to some races, but not all. And those some should be done in a way that includes storyline and racial class spell skins. That gives more options to those that want them and also gives lore and visual aesthetics in a way that makes sense for those that don’t want culture ruined.
That’s cool. I deleted my post before you replied because I don’t care to invest in this particular conversation today. I still feel the same way though.
I understand that many people want more combinations. Some on GD and the CC have vouched for everything to be opened. Personally, I don’t feel that customizations for everything needs to be a thing. Part of a class fantasy is what armor you can and can’t wear and what weapons you can and can’t use.
For me, that’s part of a racial fantasy as well. Certain races simply cannot be certain classes and I have never had a problem with that, because that is part of the MMO fantasy in my eyes. If you want to play a warlock, here are your options of race. If you want to play an Orc, here are your options of class. It’s not hidden behind anything, it’s not malicious in any way, shape or form. It’s part of the game.
I only just learned that it is currently even. I had no idea to be honest. What Maizou pointed out in the thread, and what I am responding to, is that with the new combinations coming in 10.0, they will become uneven.
Not getting into an argument of circular logic, proponents of the every race every class idea will simply shout that the lore is already broken so why not break it further, which in itself reveals they don’t actually care about RPG elements like lore to begin with.
Race identity and class are part of RPG elements, any good game sticks to its founding elements, a LFD Warlock (or any Draenei Warlock for that matter) for example makes not a lot of sense per the race’s origin.
I agree that there ARE race-class combos that make sense to open up given racial lore and cannot understand why certain ones are still unavailable, but at the same time many of the ones asked for DON’T make sense.
My only answer to the combos they are adding is the same one I’ve been adding since people started posting about it:
Warrior, Rogue Mage and Priest are at the core of every fantasy setting.
Allowing free access to them for all races just makes sense.
However, I also agree that there are certain race/class combos that are just antithetical to the lore of certain races. While I understand that Blizzard has the power to make changes as they please, I hope they do some serious considering before they open up other ones that might not make sense.
Honestly, I don’t even care if they add more if they make sense. What I didn’t understand from Maizou’s post was why it matters if one faction has a few more combinations than the other.
I agree 100% with Letholas and the arguement he is pointing out is the same one people use for keeping Evoker range exclusive because there is more melee specs. They don’t seem to understand that the race itself can only be ONE class and can only perform two roles.
That is a dead feature for some players. A Void Elf has access to all roles, however to allow it to be a Paladin without some type of skin change to the class will hurt the game and its lore.
To me it sends a message that they don’t take their creation serious so why should I, just saying.
