Just always interested in hearing different thoughts! Particularly if you can manage minimal overlap (Demon Hunter pretty much making it impossible to fully avoid that, though).
Also, this is NOT Spec-specific. Rather, taking the class “as a whole”. A Priest, for example, needs to be a Race that’s “fitting”, whether it be Holy, Discipline, or Shadow.
What would you pick, and why? Which do you consider the best picks for each Class, or which the most trouble to decide?
Warrior: Orc
Paladin: Human
Hunter: Night Elf
Rogue: Goblin
Priest: Human/Troll
Shaman: Tauren/Orc
Mage: the Highborne (i.e. Blood/High Elf, Nightborne, and remaining Night Elves) and Draenei
Warlock: Orc
Monk: Pandaren
Druid: Night Elf (However, considering the infusion of more solar/sun imagery Tauren?)
Death Knight: Human/Forsaken (they’re both undead!)
Some clarifications because I feel like people might wonder why I picked one. Blood elves I specifically put with warlock because of the age old verdant spheres glyph and because in my mind, blood elves make the most sense as casters. Warlocks pretty much fit their social dynamic well I think.
Warrior = Orc
Paladin = Human
Hunter = BE or DS Troll only with axes instead of bow
Rogue = Orc maybe because of Garona
Priest = Human or Draenei
Shaman = Orc
Mage = Human
Warlock = Orc
Monk = Pandaren
Druid = NE
Demon Hunter = NE
Death Knight = Human
Evoker = Dracthyr
Warrior: Orc
Rogue: Undead
Mage: Blood Elf
Warlock: Orc or Undead
Shaman: Orc or Troll
Hunter: Dwarf or Blood Elf
Paladin: Draenei
Priest: Human
Demon Hunter: Night Elf
Druid: Night Elf
Death Knight: Human or Orc.
Monk: Pandaren
Evoker: Dead.
Warrior panda
Warlock panda
Demon hunter panda
Evoker panda
Druid panda
Monk panda
Hunter panda
Priest panda
Paladin panda
Rogue panda
Shaman panda
Death knight panda
Mage panda
Goblins and Gnomes are distinctly lacking a class that fits them.
Both Races are built entirely around Technology, but we don’t have a Technology class.
So Goblin / Gnome. = Tinker.
I say this, but I have more Goblins than any other race, lol.
I agree but Goblins fit all three Rogue aspects well. We see them as rogues for Shadow and Assassin and they’re prominently shown as Pirates. Especially with a few engineering abilities thrown in. Gnomes/Goblins work well with the Hunter but Survival just doesn’t link up well.
I think people are forgetting one spec for Rogue is pirate like. I would have put Human/Kul Tiran up there too but just felt Humans really are represented well in all classes or at least certain specs.
If I had to come up with solutions for Classes that Fit Goblin and Gnome that aren’t Tinker…
So Goblin Rogue makes sense, assuming you’re a sneak-thief or an enforcer for a Cartel. Subtley Rogue in particular works really good because they use Shadow, and Goblins are some of the most prevalent Twilights Hammer cultist / Old god Enthusiasts. (It was the Goblins who stamped the Elemental Plates into Deathwing’s body after all)
On this same vein, Goblin Shadow Priest would also work.
Gnome I really Struggle with. Most significant gnome characters are inventors, Tinkers, or Geniuses of their own design. The Significant Outliers like Millhouse Manastorm or Wilfred Fizzlebang are really just meme characters and don’t represent gnomish culture as a whole.
So While you could make a Gnome Mage or a Gnome Warlock and pantomime that meme, You can’t really make a Gnome of a class that represents Gnomes, in the same way you can make an Orc Shaman or a Night elf Druid. You follow? Gnomes are Great Tinkers and Inventors.