Class Concept: Dragonsworn

Community General Discussion
1

I am a huge fan of all things draconic, particularly in WoW. They’ve been an integral part of the lore for since WarCraft II. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been reflected in our actual gameplay choices. Among other options, such as playable draconic races, I would love to see that remedied with a Dragonsworn class. If you will indulge me a moment, here is a “brief” concept:

Lore:

The power of the Dragonflights is waning. Their situation is dire, as they no longer have the numbers required to serve as the guardians of the various facets of Azeroth that they were created to protect. Due to (insert next Azeroth-threatening disaster post-Shadowlands), the dragonflights have turned to mortal beings to assist them in their guardianship. Imparting fragments of their dwindling draconic energies, these empowered mortals act in their stead.

Races:

Everything, save for Void Elf and Lightbou- sorry, Lightforged. They are the only races that are already too attached to a different source of power that may conflict with the interests of the dragonflights.

Armour-class:

Mail. Obvious choice is obvious. Much dragon-scale armour already exists in game, and this simply fits the concept best.

Unique Gear:

Dragon Wings for a Back Attachment. Pretty self-explanatory there.

Playstyle:

Note that a key reason that I support Dragonsworn as a class is because there are no strict definitions that hamstring the class design team. Mechanically, it is a blank slate. They can do literally whatever they want with it.

That being said, I do have a few ideas. Given Blizzard’s recent push for recapturing class fantasy vs. spec fantasy, there are a few things that I believe would very much suit the class:

  1. Passive AoE:

First off, anything draconic needs to demonstrate raw power, and I believe that having a ton of passive AoE damage constantly going out without a specific alternate rotation for AoE damage. You simply choose your primary target, and everyone else is collateral.

  1. Skillshots:

Along with the above, the majority of your damage should be unattached to a target. Cone-based abilities for dragon-breath effects should be quite prevalent, as well as having large ground-targetted AoEs that are still worth casting for single-targets (perhaps by providing a passive buff if you’re standing in “your” terrain, akin to Death & Decay).

  1. Terrain Generation:

Stay with me here - as a part of establishing that draconic presence, every spec should have some degree of terrain alteration. For example, a tanky Dragonsworn might raise a chunk of the ground that pulses a high-threat, low-damage aura, and then stand behind it to force casters to change their angle of attack (ie. LOS pulls wherever you wish). On the other hand, a caster might create an arcane barrier around them that physically prevents melee from getting near, and a healer might grow a tree that can also break LOS and passively heal. A lot of potential here.

  1. Support Role:

Honestly, a huge part of why I rolled Shaman way back when was because it was pitched as the “offensive support” class. That general design has been moved away from, but with Shadowlands we are beginning to see some of that support role re-establishing itself. That being said, you can do a lot more with that support role if you spread those abilities out so certain classes aren’t 100% required. Dragonsworn would be the perfect opportunity for that. Like Shaman and Paladin, thematically it works as something that supports others, both in the lore and potentially mechanically.

5. Long-Phase Gameplay

This might send certain FFXIV vets running, but there’s a Summoner class in there that I quite enjoy. They essentially have a two-three minute long rotation wherein they build and transition to progressively more powerful phases the longer the fight goes on. I know there were issues with Demo when their ramp up time became an issue, but allow Dragonsworn DPS a CD that instantly transitions them to the most powerful phase and it should be a non-issue. All dragonsworn should be incredibly powerful once they’ve built to it, and have them weaker-than-average while recovering and building again (also reflecting their waning energies).

  1. Mixed Melee and Ranged Gameplay

To borrow another example from FFXIV, the Red Mage there has a style of gameplay that isn’t found in WoW - they generally have ranged builders and melee spenders, seeing a good amount of time in both ranges during a fight. That type of gameplay would lend itself well to the dragonsworn, either “building” with ranged spells and “spending” by charging in to physically rend your enemy, or the opposite in engaging with traditional arms in melee combat before backing off to unleash a bevvy of breath attacks.

Specializations

I’m not going to reinvent the wheel here - the choices are pretty obvious. That being said, there is always the potential for non-conventional choices, such as the Netherwing, Twilight, Storm, or completely new Dragonflights. They could even completely detached the specializations from dragonflights entirely, although that seems like a missed opportunity.

Surprising no one, I’d like to see the core five each with their own specialization: Red, Black, Blue, Green, and Bronze. Before you freak out about adding a whole five specializations, however, I’d also like to remind you of the current refocus on the class rather than the spec. Ideally, most of these would be rotationally very similiar. However, where a black dragon’s breath might taunt, it would heal for a green dragon. Generally the same abilities, repurposed based on role. So without further ado:

  1. Red: Balanced DPS with Healing Support
    Weapons: Staves, Wands, 1H-Swords, Daggers, 2H-Swords, Polearms, Shields.

I view the Red to fill the opposite niche as Discipline, with a focus on damage with a good amount of passive healing to boot. While the focus is on reducing enemies to ashes, that same fire will actively heal any friendlies caught in the crossfire. The Red also has a good balance of ranged and melee abilities. There may be potential here to talent into a healer role entirely.

  1. Black: Tank Focusing on Area “Ownership,” AoE Mitigation Support
    Weapons: Talent choice to focus on: 1H weapons and shield, 2H weapon, or dual shields.

The Black Dragonflights is our tank representative. They use the very earth under their feet to hinder their enemies and support their allies with a number of long-cooldown, long-duration area-targetted buffs and debuffs. Not for twitchy bunny-hopping tanks. Potential for a talent to get some of that terrain to follow you for those go-go-go Mythic tanks. Like the Red, they also have a good balance of melee and ranged abilities.

  1. Blue: Ranged Caster, Supports Magic Damage
    Weapons: Staves, Wands, Swords, Daggers, Bows. Cannot use offands: they dual wield.

I see the Blue Dragonflights as something closest to Fire Mages with an Arcane bend. They have a lot of persistent AoE and, as the most intellectually-inclined of the flights, have various tricks up their sleeve to counter those who try to move out of it (like a reverse Ring-of-Peace that keeps enemies contained), or relocating their area AoE without having to recast it. Their weapon selection also determines the form their “generator” ability takes, with various pros and cons to each.

  1. Green: Pure Healer, Supports by Increasing ALL Healing in Area
    Weapons: Staves, Wands, 1H-Maces, 2H-Maces, Polearms.

Green are the obvious choice for a pure healer. Again, like all Dragonsworn, what really sets them apart is a focus on AoE abilities. Should you spread your healing among the raid, or place that heal with the tanks to give them a good health boost? Placement is going to determine the utility of various CDs, and open up a number of different uses for the same spells.

  1. Bronze: Melee DPS, Supports Physical Damage
    Weapons: 2H Sword, Polearms, 1H-Swords, Daggers, Warglaives.

Pretty standard melee fighter, but the majority of their movement-based abilities are based on time manipulation. Whether they are returning themselves to a former position, or an enemy, or jumping forward in time to spare themselves the waddle to a new target, keeping track or where (or when) these Dragonsworn are is paramount. Forcing them to stay still will drastically limit their mobility. An idea for a cooldown would be taking a snapshot of your next five seconds, including all existing buffs, and repeating your actions with a time-duplicated clone.

12 Likes
2

In concept it seems like a rather neat idea, and would create a mail based tank class which would be very nice to have. I guess in terms of factions they could go to either similar to pandaren. Where you do an intro and choose what faction you want to join and go from there. That way both sides get them similar to DH’s, and its all fair and balanced. Then in terms of when they could be added with the dragon isles, seeing as that’s been a zone shrouded in mystery. Which could be the whole they want to join us for resources to find and reach them for whatever reason. Similar to how the DH’s and pandaren were initially.

As for whether blizzard will add them or not, I am doubtful they will honestly. Seems like a lot of work on their end to implement them honest given the fact that they would have to make a ton of new animations and models for them . However it would be nice to have a new class eventually, although I think in terms of classes we’re somewhat bloated with too many.

1 Like
3

To me, it seems reasonable (save my opinions and preferences, which I do not consider relevant) to suggest a new class.

It would be nice, everyone could have their favorite race as a “special agent” for a certain dragonflight and they could choose between various types of functions, as if they were druids.

:ok_hand:

1 Like
4

so 2 alliance races dont get it but every other race does, seems fair

5

That or even a pure Draconian (ish) race would be cool, that could be Warrior, Warlock, mage, druid, shaman etc. Interesting concept though, I like it.

2 Likes
6

Shall we pretend that the alliance is important to something in warcraft?

7

Needlessly complex, self-serving workaround:

Also implement playable dragons. They select any race to serve as their mortal form, Void Elf and Lightforged included. :wink:

1 Like
8

Not as good as Tinker.

Besides, Tinkers are already here.

We’ve got Tinker raid bosses, Tinker Hero characters, Tinker Island expedition teams, We even have Tinkers in the new starting zone.

And not to mention, There was a Tinker hero unit in Warcraft 3.
Just like every other class.

I Don’t recall any “Dragonsworn” Hero unit. The Idea is awesome though, and i LOVE the Idea of dragons as a race.

9

I know Tinkers, Bards and Necromancers are all the rage right now, but I doubt we’ll ever seen any of them.

Firstly, a new class needs to be thematic. Bard nor Tinker will ever be such - there will never be a “music”-themed expansion, and sorry but Goblins and Gnomes are never going to take the spotlight. Necromancer might have a chance by this parameter in a Void/Death-based expansion, but this leads to the next requirement.

A unique niche in the lore. Necromancer steps on the toes of Death Knights, and they certainly don’t have the intrinsic, uniquely WarCraft value of a class like the Demon Hunter that might see the developers tread on another classes’ theme again. Tinker is covered by Engineering, whether or not you find any particular value in it currently. Bard might get a pass in this regard if they went the ETC-route with it, but it also fails the next category.

A unique gameplay niche. As demonstrated by ongoing changes to the Shaman and Paladin, there is no place for support classes in WoW. Unfortunate, but a reality. Necromancer has the minion fantasy fulfilled in Warlock. Tinker might have something unique to offer here (a D.Va-like tank might be interesting), but they offer nothing in the former two categories.

In short:

  • Necromancers might be thematic to an expansion, but they offer nothing truly unique as far as class fantasy or gameplay goes.
  • Tinkers might offer some unique gameplay avenues, but they’ll never be thematic or have a fully unique class fantasy.
  • Bards might have that unique class fantasy, but they’ll never have an expansion backing them, and their gameplay niche is unsupported.

And yes, while the Dragonsworn concept is borrowed from the WarCraft RPG manual, it has quite a few precedents in game. But that’s neither here nor there - the main point is that dragons have been playable in some form since WarCraft II. Playing as Deathwing as a young one sold me. And the Dragonsworn class is as close as we’re ever going to get to that.

1 Like
10

How is Tinker at all covered by engineering.

The Engineering profession doesn’t give you a single ability that belonged to the Tinker hero unit from Warcraft 3.

This point is moot, and always has been. I will only concede that Engineering is equivalent to Tinkers when Engineering can provide a single Tinker ability.

In what way do Tinkers NOT have a unique fantasy?
What other class provides the Tinker fantasy? I’d quite like to hear how something like Warlock or Hunter or Mage is anything like a Tinker…

I disagree. I think Tinkers are significantly more likely than any other class, considering Tinkers already have work done on them.

Was there a team of Dragonsworn you could encounter on Island expiditions?
Are there Dragonsworn in the new starting zone? Which has a representative for every class including tinkers?

I chose to disregard any statements you had involving Bards or Necromancers, considering they either already exist, (in the case of necromancer) or they have no grounding in the WoW universe (in the case of bard)

As I said, I don’t think Dragonsworn are a bad idea. In fact it’s pretty cool.
But looking at the factual evidence at hand and concluding that dragonsworn are more likely is completely absurd.

11

Your entire premise is a case of mixing correlation with causation.

I wouldn’t mind Tinkers, either, but that ship truly sailed with 8.2 and Mechagon. When can you conceive of a more appropriate time to introduce them?

2 Likes
12

Tinker abilities, for a Tinker class, with Level requirements, cooldowns, and resource costs is no longer correlation. It is a pretty obvious piece of evidence. It is objective fact that Blizzard put some degree of effort into a class that does not yet exist. Which to me is telling, as blizzard isn’t known for doing extraneous work.

I will agree that my argument has a leap in logic involving the new starting zone.

But, I would say I find it quite odd that a starting zone that has a representative for every single class also has a representation for Tinkers.
While I admit this is a logical jump to make, It would seem likely that those NPC’s would give a Tinker class their class specific quest. Similar to how the existing representatives give their class a class specific quest.

There were also Tinkers in Draenor and Legion.

They have anywhere from minor to major significance in most patches of the past 3 expansions.

I can guarantee with some degree of surety that this will continue, if only for the simple reason that Blizzard likes their little rival battle between the goblins and gnomes.

Any example, either now or at some point in the future would serve as justification for a Tinker class.

That doesn’t mean I’m expecting an entire expansion about goblins and gnomes. But I absolutely expect more Tinkers in the coming expansion, and expansions.

13

Precisely. They’re a sideshow. When has an implemented class ever been something on the periphery, even if constantly?

14

So were demon hunters up until legion.

The were a hero unit in Warcraft 3. And up until the events of legion they had many appearances as NPCs, sometimes fan favorite NPCs.
But they were, nonetheless, a sideshow. Until of course Legion. Where they were a mainstay for the opening, but became progressively less significant as the expansion continued.

Chen Stormstout, the archetypal monk representative was a side character in Warcraft 3.
The Monks of Pandaria in fact took a backseat to the overwhelming presence of the faction war.

Tinkers, in the same vein. Had a Hero unit representative in Warcraft 3, and since then have been a bunch of npc’s. Sometimes very beloved NPC’s.

15

The only thing I would change is which races that would get the class and honestly your horde bias is showing as you only list 2 alliance races, which I somewhat agree with. However to avoid another druid and monk fiasco we are seeing lately, I would place Blood Elves and Nighbourne on that list of races who can’t.

Reason why Blood Elves, they use the Sun Well as a source of their powers. For the Nightbourne, they never had connection with the flights. They use a source of Arcane power after the night well was shut down.

1 Like
16

Well to make it far, then neither should Forsaken or Orcs. As the forsaken would be tainted with death magic and the lingering fel magic that the Orcs embowed is a problem as well. This way both facts have equal access and used the same justification to disqualify each group.

1 Like
17

yes. though… for some reason, i assumed bronze would be a caster, shooting sand-blasts and making time-clones like chromie in Hots. but still, to the whole idea… just yes. :+1:

18

Don’t waste your time with Lianas.
In the head of this eyeless creature, if you don’t suggest what it thinks should be the right thing, you’re wrong.

It is regrettable that she does not dedicate all this bitterness to creating a Thread where she promotes her class, but I think she prefers only to enter where there is already an audience for other races and classes and to talk about her thinkers, because somewhere in her brain, other races and classes make the creation of thinkers unfeasible so she needs to overcome this threat.

19

It would be fair in my eyes. blooe purple elves and LFD can’t? OK.
The same for orcs and forsakens. They also have different energies within them and an unfavorable track record.

20

Ooh, someone doesn’t like dissenting opinions. :eyes: