Nope. This post is demonstrably incorrect. Let’s move on.
EDIT: Fine, I’ll effort-post.
This is wrong on its face, because you’re playing your character, not the entirety of Ironforge or Orgrimmar or such. Part of a character’s evolution is whether they cling to what they’ve been raised in or whether they’ve rejected parts of it.
What are you talking about? Priests wield the powers that worship grants them. ‘Cultural identity’ would literally be different labels, and that’s it. Humans have Footmen, Orcs have Grunts, but they’re both Warriors, and you’re absolutely nuts if you try to dispute that.
Again, a huge part of a character’s identity is in what, if anything, they choose to take from their home culture. If a Tauren decided that magery looked awesome and wanted to explore it, who’s to stop them? The races aren’t hive-minds.
Incorrect. What makes races unique is their theming and their backstory. Otherwise Orcs would be ‘The Warrior Race’ and Tauren would be ‘The Shaman Race.’ Which would be pitiful. This approach removes any depths races might have in their depiction, because at-a-glance you know exactly what you’re getting as soon as you see horns. Which is stupid.
Being powered by a Naaru tends to afford one Light-oriented power, you’re right. That’s true for literally any race a Naaru takes interest in, though, that’s not because ‘Draenei are Draenei’, that’s because ‘they had an angel with them’.
No kidding they have different cultures. This isn’t new, a shocker, or in danger of being ‘invalidated’, whatever that means. Races are also not hive-minds however, individuals can and should be free to engage their own pursuits and legacies.
And homogenizing every member of a race into carbon copies is somehow better?
Boy, I can’t wait to see this.
Just because a Tauren’s parents or even lineage didn’t pursue scholarly endeavors doesn’t mean an individual Tauren wouldn’t. Again, when you’re presented with the awe of Arcane power, it’s entirely reasonable for anyone to look at it and go ‘I want that.’
Expanding race-class combos is a good thing. Ideally everyone should be able to be everything, but I’ll take what I can get.
You’ve got to be trolling. The requirements to be a hunter are: a fondness of animals and nature, skill in self-sufficiency and survival, a quick reflex and steady hand, and the ability to focus. Literally every race in the game is capable of this with some training.
What? They literally conned the elements into doing their bidding via corrupt deals, that’s the entire modus operandi of Goblins.
This makes less than no sense, because every race can be raised into undeath, and if sufficiently strong imbued with these powers.
Ah, yes, because fury and martial wherewithal are somehow exclusive with magical ability. I’m not going to argue in favor of any class restriction based on race, but it is kind of goofy that you’re saying Blood Elves can’t be Warriors when A: They had infantry fighter units in WC3, B: Night Elves CAN be Warriors despite having no real front-line capacity on their own, and C: GNOMES can be Warriors.
This isn’t an argument against Gnome Warriors, mind you, this is an argument against the insipid thing that is race restrictions on classes.
Uh… Have you MET Magatha Grimtotem? Again, Draenei and Tauren are not hive-minds. Ancestors and family are important, yes, but the individual is still capable of doing as they see fit.
Ah, yes. The difference between Gnomes and Goblins would be entirely undetectable if it weren’t for this potential class disparity. There are no other differences, cultural, disciplinary, or physical, that could possibly be used to determine if what I’m looking at is a Gnome or a Goblin, not a one.
Druids aren’t some backwater class that assembles in hovels, they can be members of, and even leaders of, large and militarized communities.
Nothing about race restrictions on classes being lifted is stopping you from having that fantasy however. My Tauren Mage, or Pandaren Death Knight, or Vulpera Demon Hunter does not, at all, invalidate your Silver Hand initiate. Not unless you allow it to, and at that point, the fault isn’t with me.
but if a tauren can be trained to camoflage on a hunter, they can be trained to stealth on a rogue. if they can be trained to wield magics, including arcane, they can train to be mages. remember, originally hunters used mana
Eighteen years ago, I might have supported this. Back when RP was common (no, not Goldshire ERP, real RP) in-game racial and cultural identity was a thing. Now, people just level, run dungeons or raids, pvp, or farm mounts/mogs. What identity?
This argument could be made against any evolution of classes in general. ‘This selection was fine in Classic, why change it now? You’re violating the game’s ~CULTURE.~’
its particularly frustrating to say other races cant be druids, shaman or paladins, when half their other classes use some form of light, nature or elemental abilities. a mage can control water elementals, clearly evidence of the race playing said mage, having the capacity to summon the elements
Part of that is that the game’s story stopped leaving room for roleplayers.
Outside of seasonal events, before dragonflight, how often has something major happened in game that any character could reasonably be a part of? Ie: I can just decide that my character canonically participated in something that happened in game and not have that step on anyone else’s toes or violate the lore?
Seems to be about once an expansion we get some form of military action like the Isle of Thunder or the Battle for Hillsbrad, and maybe one raid, like Siege of Orgrimmar or Battle for Draz’alor where logically there were or should have been so many people there that most or all players in a given scene could both claim to be there and reasonably not know other players claiming to be there.
On the other hand, outside of the Ebon Blade practically nobody should have been in the Shadowlands until the last couple of patches, and anyone who was would have been notable to anyone else there for sheer rarity if nothing else, so unless you have a clever workaround your faction’s leaders got kidnapped and you spent 15 months gardening or something while the Maw Walker and the Ebon Blade dealt with it.
Hmmm. Interesting take to express. Goblins are shamanic in nature and in lore. Majority of them broke away from tradition for more clear cut ways to power. It is explained in WC3, as well in Cataclysm. As well in legion a few class hall npcs talk about goblin shamans and what are they truly up to.
Dadghar even had to chime in about it mentioning them as well.
the concept is the same - the tauren disappears and sneaks around steathily.
arcane shot? what form of magic were other hunter races using to heal their pets? nature based perhaps? so a race that can use arcane spellpower to do damage with a bow and arrow, or nature magic to heal their pets, have no propensity for arcane or nature
You can have quiet movement on surfaces with hooves. It’s all about being careful and deliberate with your movements, which is kind of a Rogue’s bag. As far as arcane power, yes, you’re right. Thunder Bluff isn’t the most keen on magical practice. They don’t disallow the practice however, evidenced by the presence of mage portals in their midst and the lack of harassment other mages get. So there’s no reason there couldn’t be a starry-eyed Tauren amazed by the power of arcane magic to decide to sneak off to Dalaran college to become a mage.
Not really you can still sort of see someone in Camouflage, stealth is basically nearly straight pure invisiblity in comparison. You can camo just about anything long as your camo is fitting.
But Camo is more for stationary ambush not traveling around stabbing people.
So, you acquiesce that a Rogue’s Stealth is basically sensory-inhibiting magic. Great! Tauren hooves would have literally no bearing then because they, too, would be compensated for by the Rogue’s stealth.
Logic is the weak in that attempted justification. Even without a Rogue’s innate magic, it’s entirely possible to be quiet with hooves on hard surfaces. Sure, WE don’t notice it all the time because bovine creatures in reality aren’t known for their stealth, but in fantasy that doesn’t preclude them from it.
Thanks for such a detailed and well thought out OP.
I think it’s perfectly normal that not all races have an affinity for all classes. However, that shouldn’t make it impossible for any race to become any class. It should just be more challenging. Taking longer to initially build rep and prove themselves to others in that class would be realistic, just as easier rep gain in classes that the races have an affinity with would be a reflection of real life.
In life there’s a lot of cultural barriers to attaining respect in different fields. Sometimes it’s your own people putting these barriers up, sometimes it’s others. I think the game loses flavour when all those challenges are removed. These challenges often tell a lot about the story behind different WoW races. Some, like the seeming absurdity of Forsaken Paladins make sense, others like no Human Hunters pre-Cata did not.
Then what IS Stealth? It’s not the act of hiding behind things or using distractions, because I can stand, in the complete open, right in front of a target after hitting my Stealth button and they’re none the wiser.
That’s either magic that dulls the senses of potential observers, which Tauren can learn, or it’s a gameplay disconnect from the reality of being able to just look at a Stealthing Rogue, which again, would permit Tauren the same thing.