Just finished watching the interview with Morgan Day and MrGM.
A lot of stuff I was happy with in that interview, for sure.
But there’s just one thing that really bothered me, and that was about the last question, asking about the potential for new Class/Race combinations.
They said there are no plans for Shadowlands, but it’s something they’re willing to explore.
So I’ll just go ahead and give my argument advocating for Blizzard to take another look at this.
I really don’t understand no new race/class combo’s in an expansion where one of the main features is greatly expanding Character Customization.
Especially when there are tons of examples of NPC’s that have combos that players do not.
As for examples of said NPC’s
- Goblin Monk (Gakkiz Blusterblast)
- Worgen Shaman (Raul the Tenacious)
- Night Elf Paladin (Delas Moonfang)
- Gnome Paladin (Commander Rhyssa - Hearthstone) *
- Undead Paladin (Dragonrider Talritha - Hearthstone) *, (Sir Zeliek), (Scarlet Commander Marjhan)
- Worgen Paladin (Lightfang Enforcer - Hearthstone) *
- Draenei Rogue (The Rangari & Mishka of the SI:7)
- Blood Elf Shaman (Elementalist Starion)
- Blood Elf Druid (High Botanist Freywinn)
- Draenei Druid (Feralfen Druid) **
Spoilers for Exiles Reach
There’s even currently an Orc Priest in the new starting zone for Horde side players.
New players who may want to dig deeper into these options would see this and realize that Orc Priests aren’t actually playable. That option is limited only to Mag’har Orcs. (Which new players won’t have available to them immediately)
Which may just bring up confusion as to why there’s only one Orc Priest
I’ll admit that out of all of these, I’m super biased/more interested towards the inclusion of Goblin Monks. But anyone else interested (or not interested even!) in making more inclusions for these combinations should also have some sort of platform to voice their opinions!
I’ll go ahead and paste an excerpt I posted to another thread recently.
EDIT: It’s been brought to my attention Orc Priests were also common with the Scarshield Orcs. The Scarshield Acoltyes have Priest based spells. They do appear more or less to be blackrock, which are integated with the Mag’har. But it is interesting how long they’ve been around.
Even way back into Warlords of Draenor, there was a Pandaren Deathknight named “Gravewalker Gie”
And now with the Advent of Shadowlands, Pandaren, along with the other Allied Races were granted access to Death Knights as playable choices.
It feels Blizzard will put these characters in to show that they exist and are possible, but then never expand on anything beyond that, and it feels a bit like a tease to be completely frank.
One of the main reasons for the introduction of a greatly expanded customization feature is to enable more expression through player interaction with your lens of the world. And there are people who would love to be able to express themselves with their favorite class along with their favorite race!
These combinations are proven to be possible, so what is the reason why they can’t be accessed by players?
Blizzard was pretty Adamant initially about Zandalari Trolls not being Paladins when they were announced as a playable race, but eventually they understood why people wanted them because they existed back in Mists in the forms of Prelates.
With this in mind, I would greatly implore Blizzard to reevaluate their stance, especially if they’re willing to be open about the concept.
Footnotes
*Hearthstone cards can at times not be considered canon. With stuff like Undead Anduin. But for stuff like NPC’s I think expanding on their lore to be canon could be interesting
**The reason Draenei have Shamanism is because of their Broken forms being heavily interested in it, and the Feralfen Druids are also ancestors of the Draenei
Some oddball suggestions like Draenei Druids and Blood Elf Shamans I don’t exactly see happening unless there’s like, a lot of work doing retcons or making new lore. But there are more simple ones that can be done more easily
Tl:Dr
More race/class combos would be an excellent addition to tack onto the addition of a greatly expanded player customization feature, AND taking advantage of the revamped leveling experience, so that older players may have more opportunities to experience it.
I think taking a second look at the NPC’s that have combinations that aren’t available to players would be a good idea if they’re willing to listen to feedback regarding this.
