Class Skins

Lore Story Forum
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I’m far from the first person to mention it, I just wanted to pitch my ideas out there.

I’m sure Blizzard doesn’t want to balance even more classes in the game, and there’s plenty of themes left unexplored because we kinda have the classes occupying all the “big niches” already. i.e. Every holy warrior is a Paladin, every elementalist is a Shaman, etc.

But what if a class were mechanically identical to another but had new visual effects pertaining to its theme? It would function akin to glyphs but spanning the whole class, and (depending on the skin in question) be locked to a particular race. This could also allow for previously unfeasible class/race combinations to be available specifically under these new class skins. (i.e. You can’t be a Night Elf Paladin, but you can be a Night Elf War-Priest, and you can’t be a Mechagnome Shaman but you can be a Mechagnome Tinker.)

Some examples.

Warrior: Spellblade

Spellblade

Potential races: Human, Void Elf, Draenei/Lightforged Draenei, Undead, Blood Elf, Nightborne
Rather than relying on pure brute force, the Spellblade is a martial spellcaster who devotes their arcane prowess to honing their deadliness on the battlefield.
Unique Cosmetic: Alternate combat animations. (i.e. More elegant movements, less brute force smashing and crashing.)
Example Abilities:

  • Charge replaced with Phase Dash. Become ethereal to phase near-instantly to your enemy, colliding with them when you become corporeal on arrival. (i.e. the way Nightborne guards charge in Suramar.)
  • Berserker Rage replaced with Absolute Focus.
  • Heroic Leap replaced with Phase Leap. Vanish and then reappear at the target location, displacing enemies with concussive force and dealing X physical damage.
  • Battle Shout replaced with Arcane Intuition. Share your preternatural knowledge of the flow of battle with your comrades. Cannot stack with Battle Shout.
Hunter: Dark Ranger

Dark Ranger

Potential races: Night Elf, Blood Elf. (+ Void Elf / Nightborne?)
Once disembodied souls, these rangers are brought back to serve again as they did in life, now infusing their abilities with shadowy power and necrotic energies.
Unique Cosmetic: Undead skin. Can use the Death Knight-only skin options but with red eyes instead of blue.
Example Abilities:

  • Undead Pet Taming by default.
  • Aimed Shot (or Barbed Shot?) replaced by Black Arrow. Wreathe your arrow in dark energy before firing, impacting the target with deadly force.
  • Arcane Shot replaced by Shadow Shot.
  • Freezing Trap replaced by Paralyzing Rune. Conjure a shadowy rune at the target location, incapacitating the first enemy to step on it for 1 minute.
  • Aspect of the Cheetah replaced with Ghostly Stride. Take on a ghostly form and move unimpeded by the weight of your mortal body, shifting gradually back to normal.
Mage: Purifier / Arcanital

Purifier

Potential races: Draenei, Lightforged Draenei
Commanding the power of the Holy Light to cleanse is not always gentle, as proven by the Purifiers, a subset of zealous Anchorites who use their power to purge the wicked.
Unique Cosmetic: Holy abilities. That’s really it. All their spells have golden Light visuals. Fire is golden/white, arcane is gold/white energy, and frost is golden holy crystals.
Example Abilities:

  • Summon Water Elemental replaced with Summon Lightspawn.

Arcanital

Potential races: Troll, Zandalari Troll
Though users of arcane secrets, Arcanitals are blessed by the Loa and call upon their wisdom and might rather than relying entirely on the Arcane.
Unique Cosmetic: Loa abilities. Some abilities are tinged with golden/holy energies while others are teal/spiritual.
Example Abilities:

  • Dragon’s Breath replaced with Rezan’s Roar. Conjure an effigy of a furious devilsaur to blast your foes with its rage.
  • Summon Water Elemental replaced with Summon Spirit.
Rogue: Revenant

Revenant

Potential races: Any?
Like the Dark Rangers, the Revenant is a spirit, tainted by their own hatred and thirst for justice, returned from the dead to possess its former body in an unceasing hunt for vengeance.
Unique Cosmetic: Undead skin. Can use the Death Knight-only skin options but with ghostly pale/teal eyes instead of blue.
Example Abilities:

  • Pistol Shot replaced with Necrotic Touch. Blast your target with a quick burst of necrotic energy, dealing damage and slowing their movement.
  • Between the Eyes replaced with Toll the Bell. Summon a ghostly bell that shatters against your target, increasing your critical strike chance against the target by 20%. Critical strikes with this ability deal four times normal damage. (Deals X damage and stuns for Y seconds)
Priest: Anchorite / Voidbound / Priest(ess) of Elune / Loa Priest / Tidesage

Anchorite

Potential races: Draenei, Lightforged Draenei
Unique Cosmetic: Entirely holy-themed abilities.

Voidbound

Potential races: Void Elf, Undead
Unique Cosmetic: Entirely shadowy abilities.

Priest(ess) of Elune

Potential races: Night Elf, Nightborne
Unique Cosmetic: Holy/Discipline (i.e. gold) abilities replaced with silvery white abilities. Black/purple shadowy abilities replaced with midnight, blue-black abilities.
Example Abilities:

  • Shadowfiend replaced with Spirit of Vengeance, a spectral warden that attacks the target.

Loa Priest

Potential races: Troll, Zandalari Troll
Unique Cosmetic: Voodoo/Loa-themed abilities, i.e. pterrodax/bat wings instead of feathery golden ones, teal spiritual energy or green nature energy.
Example Abilities:

  • Shadowfiend replaced with Servant of Bwonsamdi, a ghostly tribal warrior that attacks the target.

Tidesage

Potential races: Kul Tiran, Undead
Unique Cosmetic: Watery abilities, akin to Restoration Shaman.
Example Abilities:

  • Shadowfiend replaced with Tidesurger, a wild water elemental.
Warlock: Necromancer

Necromancer

Potential races: Any Warlock-available race (+ Mag’har?)
Summoners of the living dead and user of dark magic. These don’t need an explanation.
Unique Cosmetic: Undead skin. Can use the Death Knight-only skin options. All demons are replaced with Undead equivalents. Fiery abilities visually replaced with Frost, Fel abilities visually replaced with Necrotic.
Example Abilities:

  • Summon Imp replaced with Summon Skeletal Mage.
  • Summon Voidwalker replaced with Summon Abomination.
  • Summon Succubus replaced with Summon Banshee.
Shaman: Tinker

Tinker

Potential races: Dwarf, Dark Iron, Gnome, Mechagnome, Draenei, Lightforged Draenei, Undead, Goblin, Blood Elf, Nightborne, Orc, Mag’har
Utilizing high-tech gadgetry and tools, full-time Tinkers are a step above the casual Engineer profession.
Unique Cosmetic: Each Tinker race has unique visuals for turrets/machines. i.e. Akin to unique shaman totems for each race. Orc/Mag’har have Iron Horde style machines, Draenei/Belves have more Magic-Tech style stuff, etc.
Example Abilities:

  • Windfury Totem replaced with Acceleration Matrix. Plant a device at your feet, causing all allies within X yards to have a Y% chance of gaining a bonus auto-attack.
  • Earthbind Totem replaced with Deceleration Matrix. Plant a device at the target location, causing enemies within X yards to be have their movement speed reduced by Y%.
  • Fire Elemental replaced with Overloaded Construct. Activate a golem with an overloaded power core, dealing fire damage and using various abilities.

And that’s about where I run out of steam on coming up with these. Additionally, Monk could have Brawler that uses more standard rough boxing/fisticuffs over martial artistry.

Edit: Taking another crack at adding more ideas.

Paladin: War-Priest of Elune, Tideguard, Sunwalker, Prelate

War-Priest of Elune

Potential races: Night Elves
Infused with the power of the aspects of Mother Moon and the Night Warrior, these soldiers of the Kaldorei can call upon both the Goddess’ healing light or her terrible wrath.
Unique Cosmetic: All abilities themed towards moonlight/eclipses/etc. Healing/shields would be silvery white moonlight, while attacks would be infused with starry black energy a la the Night Warrior.
Example Abilities:

  • Crusader Strike replaced with Crescent Strike.
  • Consecration replaced with Rays of Moonlight. Cast the light of Elune down upon the area around you, causing holy damage over 12 seconds to enemies who enter the area.
  • Templar’s Verdict replaced with Midnight Verdict.

Tideguard

Potential races: Kul Tiran (Undead?)
Calling upon the power of the Tidemother to protect their allies and crash against their foes, the Tideguard are the martial branch of the Stormsong Tidesages.
Unique Cosmetic: All abilities themed towards ocean/water/etc, akin to Tidesages.
Example Abilities:

  • Hammer of Justice replaced with Stunning Bolt. Call down a sudden bolt of lightning to stun the target for X seconds.
  • Consecration replaced with Shocking Waters. Conjure electrified waves to churn through the area around you, causing holy damage over 12 seconds to enemies who enter the area.
  • Divine Steed replaced with Tidesurge. Summon a wave of surging water to carry you swiftly, increasing movement speed by 100% for 3 seconds.

Prelate

Potential races: Zandalari
Acting as the vanguard to the Zandalari Empire, the prelates faced a crisis when the great Loa of Kings was slain. Now, like the Zandalari Kings and Queens, they call upon the blessings of all Loa to serve their people.
Unique Cosmetic: Abilities infused with a more nature/spiritual appearance in addition to having Loa-themed attacks.
Example Abilities:

  • Avenging Wrath replaced with Rezan’s Wrath. Though the great Devilsaur Loa is gone, you still call upon an echo of his unending might to infuse you with power, enlarging your size and summoning a glowing visage of a devilsaur around you.
  • Divine Steed replaced with Packstrider. Take upon the form of a golden ravasaur as you lunge swiftly through the battlefield, granting 100% increased movement speed for 3 seconds.
  • Wake of Ashes replaced with Tiger Slash. Lash out with Kimbul’s claws, shredding foes in front of you and infusing you with his holy power.
  • Divine Shield replaced with Torcali’s Guard.
  • Blessing of Freedom replaced with Blessing of Pa’ku.
9 Likes
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I like the idea. We could make Vindicator, Blood Knight, Sunwalker, and Prelate skins for Paladin. I’d also throw in Shadow Hunter for Troll hunters and rename Loa Priest to Witch Doctor (both work, but Witch Doctor is just my preference). Tidesage should also be moved to Shaman since that’s what Kul’tiran shaman canonically are.

2 Likes
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Witch Doctor for Shaman, Loa Priest for… well, Priest.
Vindicator/Blood Knight/Sunwalker/Prelate for Paladin of the appropriate races. Though not much would change for Vindicator or Blood Knight. Maybe more fiery visuals for Sunwalker.

3 Likes
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Yeah, that works. I always saw Witch Doctor as a cloth class, but they do use wards, which are what totems are based on.

Troll Warlock could also have some kind of Hexmaster (thanks Benedikt for the name) skin that uses tiki masks and voodoo constructs in place of demons.

And Gnome Priests could be the Medics they were always meant to be.

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I’ve wanted something like heritage glyphs for a long time. It’d be neat if for example Darkspear Affliction Locks could replace the Darkglare with a Voodoo Mask to get that proper Hexmaster feel. Likewise Sin’Dorei destro locks could get a phoenix instead of an infernal for that proper Blood Mage feel.

And in particular I love the spellblade idea. I’ve had an idea for a Nightborne Warrior with that theme going but it’s on hold as there’s not too many good looking etheral blade type weapons. Especially for two handed weapons. Sort of begins and ends with the Kirkland brand Darth Maul Lightsaber staff.

2 Likes
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As much as i would like some of those skin, the problem with this concept is that most of them are race specific.

So no only some class clearly have more alternative, but some race would have like 10 skin while other race would have nothing.

It would just be unfair for some race to see once again elf getting so much thing.

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Warden for Night Elf Monk (being optional of course)

SEF and Celestial summons can be Avatar of Vengeance.

Roll can become a blink.

So on.

3 Likes
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I fully support this idea. You left out druids though. We need Cenarion, drust, and loa druid skins and spells. I’d want want a revamp of the class to get rid of the astral crap in balance and bring back the nature spells. But then again I’m greedy lol.

Oh and for the moon priestess instead of turning into a graveyard angel upon death, they could transform into a moon surrounded by stars or something.

How so? Elves are not the only ones who would be getting a lot. And the only class thing that looks exclusive to elves are the 2 priests skins.

1 Like
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Dark ranger ( except maybe forsaken) Spellblade is mostly elf, moon priest, warden, void knight would surely be something asked, void bound.

And while not all of them would be elf restricted, at the end elf still have access to most of them.

And elf was only a example of race getting a lot more than other.

What would vulpera have? Tauren? We could find a few for them but it would still be miles away from what the elf would got.

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I don’t think getting super specific class skins to match racial identity would happen. This would require quite a bit of resources so it would have to hit as many players as possible.

Warlocks are the easiest class to think of skins. Take an evil cultist from any antagonistic force, change up spell appearance/minions, and there you go.

Death Knights are a bit trickier so I would go with some sort of Dragon Knight. This would of course add to the Death Knight race customization.

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I don’t think Elves will end up with the most. They will exclusives but that didn’t mean other races won’t get there own exclusives either, and the elves are all different races. It’s not as though they will collectively share the new skins. Night Elves may get only 2 or 3. A priests with silver spells and a moon priests skin for paladin, and that’s if that would ever happen.

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I’m probably a stick in the mud about it but I wouldn’t want to see race-limited class skins. It kinda gives me the same vibes as seeing the gajillionth water elemental recolor glyph and always thinking “well that doesn’t apply to me at all” because I hate using the damn thing.

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Well, it’s been mentioned already, but some races would literally get nothing at all, while the elven races would get the most. It would be jarring and anger more people than it would make happy.

1 Like
14

I was just pitching ideas for what I thought would have strong concepts. Of course if it were actually implemented, other races would get their own things in the void that the elves leave. My list is by no means definitive.

Tauren Spiritwalkers are an option, though unsure what class analogue that would be. They’re presented as shamans in game, so maybe shaman with less “Earth, Fire, Water, Wind” and more “Ancestors and Spirits of the Land”.

Off-hand, there’s troll Primals (could apply to worgen), who use animalistic aspects rather than shapeshifting into an entire creature. i.e. A worgen would use their own claws/teeth and a troll would shapeshift their arms, etc.

Digging up the old P&P RPG classes, there’s Runemaster for dwarves/dark irons/tauren/HM tauren in lieu of monk, or Spirit Champion for orcs/tauren/etc. Maybe Jed’hin Master for Draenei/Lightforged Monks.

And I realize the premise of reskinning all these classes is a lot of work, though it’s all a pipe dream, isn’t it? Just fun ideas to have as a “what if”.

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It’s always fun to post What if posts. I always thought they should’ve given each class a Hero spec instead of new skins. Could give the specs a few rows of all passive abilities that change how certain spells work. :gift_heart:

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Yeah, I don’t want to sound like I’m crapping on the idea of posting a hypothetical. I was just trying to treat the discussion as if it was possible. I’m the type that would rather see options freer instead of limited.

It’s honestly the same reason why I personally dislike the concept of heritage sets. It’s no fun to me to have a set that only goes on a specific race, because I think it’s fun to play dress-up in off-theme pieces.