there was no identity and culture in wow since tbc
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Umm according to create a character screen I identify as body type 1 sir. Im surprised there isn’t people asking why the masculine one has to be body type one now.
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Just like any situation where people of different cultures ,races,beleifs etc start living among one another some will learn/take on the skills ,beliefs etc the other has and vice versa.
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thats how humans learned to be mages, whilst living amongst high elves in dalaran of old
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Where’s the dislike button?
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This was at least 2 dollars
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this is why I got popcorn ready if they do a cata reveal.
rabble rabble…now its “retail” . where is my classic race/class lore.
Umm, in classic. then SOM. both…kind of died when tbcc came out. and I’d see a few rolling human hunter in cata. they’d lack this hang up ofc.
Very well written post but I think it’s ancient to have restrictions.
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I graduated lol. But I like thinking about the different cultures in game. Yeah I was sleepy. It could have been longer if I had a cup of coffee. 
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I dont think they should be returning any restrictions, but I do understand some of the OPs feelings on it. While we are at a point that every race could be every class, there was a certain flavor to limited options.
Back when i started playing in TBC, the first character I made was a tauren! The reason i was drawn to tauren, outside of them being cool minotaurs, was that their culture (at the time) was air tight with their class options. Warrior, hunter, shaman, and druid. You could hop in and make any one of them and the moment you got the view of mulgore you could instantly get what these bulls were about.
Another example was that, until cataclysm, blood elves couldnt be warriors! This was likely the most extreme class restriction blizz ever had, but it played into their lore so well. Blood elves interested in frontline combat of course would use magic, they were juiced up on the sunwell! And it doubled down on how hard of a hit losing the sunwell was. To a blood elf, a warrior was the same as a paladin, and it was a neat distinction.
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Very good point. I still think the restriction should exist, though, because I don’t see Humans in WoW as “literal humans”. Rather, like every other race, they are extensions of their culture, which as we’ve seen in all the Human Kingdoms, tends towards more generic “medieval fantasy”, with Westfall pushing more of “midwestern farming families”.
It’s not saying that Humans are somehow unable to become Hunters. And as you say, there are people in the real world who would obviously be Hunters IRL. But in WoW, I don’t see Humans as being meant to represent every single aspect of real humans, but rather just representing a sort of “Fantasy-setting baseline”. They’re almost meant to be boring and generic.
So as a real-life person, you might identify more with something like an Orc Shaman. Not because “you hate humans”, but because Orcs and their culture represent a certain type of culture, one that some people may really identify with. While some Orcs are villains – cruel, warmongering, primitive – there are also some that are heroes – proud, honorable, resilient.
To me, that’s why races in Warcraft are so cool and interesting. Because they actually represent something.
When you throw those distinctions away, you honestly may as well just have everyone playing humans, because the cultures become insignificant or even completely meaningless.
I think this is one (of many) reasons that WoW resonated with so many people in its hayday. Everyone truly found a race and class that resonated with them, and the world had a super rich history to sink your teeth into. Now, there’s no more depth than “what looks cool, or has the best racials”.
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Nope. Don’t agree in any way. Give us more new race/class combos, Blizz! 
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Nope, more choices are always good for the player base as a whole.
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I’d hard disagree. I would say more options are usually good, but not always.
I’ve used the analogy before, but I compare it to an experience of playing around as kids. A group of us were pretending to be knights and wizards fighting an imaginary dragon, but there was one kid on the block who always wanted to play, but would insist he gets to be Spider-man. Obviously, Spider-man is great, and we would sometimes pretend to all be superheroes. But if we wanted to play a game where Spider-man didn’t fit, he would cry and tell his parents, who obviously would scold us.
It’s obviously more nuance that I would understand as a kid, but ultimately it was a case of breaking immersion, and showing disrespect for everyone else’s time.
Where this is relevant is; I’m playing WoW because I want to immerse myself in the world that Blizzard created. A game, no matter how abstract, has to have rules. Without rules, it stops being immersive, and arguably stops being a game. If every “restriction” is some kind of sin against creativity, then really, there’s no more creative expression than just grabbing a pencil and paper, and just making anything you want.
I love the Warcraft setting because of that rich lore and the rules that make it feel believable. I loved Lord of the Clans, and immediately wanted to play a Shaman, because how it presents the Shaman. It doesn’t refer to it as “a mail-user that does elemental damage”. It speaks to the connection a Shaman has with the Elemental Spirits, which in turn speaks to which cultures embrace those same ideals to become Shamans.
As an extension of the RTS games, not every faction can build every unit. And while physical differences do exist, the main differences are in the beliefs and cultures of those factions. Orcs, Tauren, and Trolls have very similar cultures, but because they accessed different classes, it helped to inform some of the more subtle differences between them.
Orcs and Tauren both revere the Elements to become Shamans, but only the Tauren have the connection to nature to really justify them becoming Druids (Trolls always seemed on the fence, I’m fine with them getting Druids). Conversely, while Night Elves do hold great reverence towards nature, they don’t possess the qualities to call upon the Elements to become Shamans, unlike the Tauren.
Like I said, by all means re-evaluate those distinctions periodically. I think Dwarf Shamans were a great fit (even if we hadn’t seen them worship the Elements, it seems a natural fit for their culture), and like I said, I actually think there are compelling reasons to consider adding Nightborne Paladins.
But I think restrictions should remain in place (or potentially even re-added), not because I’m trying to rain on anyone’s parade, but that I believe having a sense of structure and rules are what help create such a compelling Fantasy world.
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Sun and Moon worship were well known concept in Tauren Culture and Religeon.
The manifestation of seers (Tauren paladins) existed since Vanilla.
Paladins are basically militarized priests. Worship of An’she is well founded in Tauren society. To say paladins and priests don’t belong with Tauren is silly. Thematically yes they are called Seers and Sunwalkers instead of Priests and Paladins.
But I mean… the priest / paladin name is a catch all term… I highly doubt every race that has priests and paladins calls them specifically priests and paladins the names change across cultures all the time.
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Not really a valid concern.
Say you’re Canadian, Canada has a very strong hockey culture. Canada however is not known for its Rugby. Now imagine somebody saying you can’t learn to play Rugby because you’re Canadian and it would water down Canadian hockey culture. See how ridiculous that sounds?
There is no class that cannot be learned, just because it’s uncommon doesn’t mean it can’t be done, especially considering how long these races have been side by side.
Also, if you don’t like the idea of certain race:class combos, don’t play them. Keep your rigid neckbeard ideals to yourself.
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There’s absolutely nothing in Vanilla that correlates to Paladins. Even the “in-game explanation” even says they aren’t Paladins, they’re essentially “sun druids”, which is a pretty harsh bastardization of the class.
That’s not to say there isn’t room for expanding things. Draenei Paladins obviously don’t hail from the teachings of Uther the Lightbringer, but they fit. Even Zandalari Paladins, I was initially skeptical of, but I think they did a great job of establishing a presence in their culture that supports Paladin class.
For Tauren Priest… I might be more open to that idea. Priests are a class I kind of grapple with really understanding what exactly their “themes” are, so Tauren might actually fit; I’m just not sure.
Again, I use my earlier example; a lot of people fell in love with the world Blizzard created, and its rules are part of what establish that setting and make each race and class unique. That’s the game we all signed up to play. If those restrictions are so appalling, then maybe you’re the one who should find a game that better fits what you want, rather than change the game people already playing love?
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No, like I said.
In vanilla. Tauren SEERS are Priests, and have been well established.
The paladins were added later as a militarized version of Seers apparently, with a new generation of Tauren Sunworshippers approaching their faith in a different way.
It’s called Story-telling development.
Sure I think Tauren Rogues and Mages are absolutely stupid, and do not belong.
However Priests and by extension after nearly 7 years of time passing, and the Tauren being exposed to many different cultures, it’s not that surprising they would try something new. Especially when it worked. 
Sunwalkers are literally just martially trained fighters whom follow the teachings an An’she.
Priests and Sunwalkers being added to the game was done at a time when Blizzard still was explaining such things and not just handwaving things.
Given enough time mingling cultures will always cause changes in other cultures. By the time sunwalkers came into existance, they’d run into the Blood elves, whom didn’t get their paladins like HUmans or Draenai, but through siphoning off a Naaru.
While the Tauren would likely never do such a thing, the concept, especially redeemed blood knights looking for additional paths, could easily have collaborated with someone over a multi-year period for a Tauren to try experimentation and then behold. Sunwalkers.
Tauren are known to be very traditional, but they also have plenty of people whom are very forward minded. It’s a diverse culture, because Tauren are not a monolith, they are an almagamation of multitudes of different tribes customs and beliefs that all got united by one large tribe. THey all still are a little different in their own ways, despite many of them having a fair baseline.
Not necessarily. Some people came in and signed up to play Dragonflight. You know, the modern iteration of the WoW universe with Tauren Rogues, Night Elf Mages, and Human Hunters.
If the changes Blizzard has made make you upset, and you want to be back in a time when such class restrictions were still a thing…there is a place for you. It’s called WoW Classic. There’s also WoW WotLK Classic.