Since day one of their announced classes, I have been absolutely disappointed and angry about the fact these beautiful characters cannot be paladins. I’m writing this post today to explain why I whole heartedly believe Kul Tiran humans should be paladins. I’ll be branching off into multiple sections to really explain my reasoning.
Lore. By all means, the human races should have the ability to be paladins. It’s been a huge part of their aesthetic since Warcraft 2 and the Warcraft books. This also means I believe that the worgen should be able to be paladins too, but you could argue that Genn Greymane was against it (among many, many other things). While Daelin Proudmoore was not only in fully support of the Alliance but also Lothar and Turalyon. The nation of Kul Tiras was in constant contact and involved in every major aspect of the Alliance back then.
Meaning? They could’ve EASILY been involved with the Silver Hand. They weren’t just Lordaeron knights. We also know a good many of them survived Arthas’ slaughter. The Argent Dawn and Scarlet Crusade were prime examples of this.
While Kul Tiras itself broke off from the Alliance along with everyone else, it was still involved with Booty Bay and (later) Ratchet. I’d like to also add they still have ties to the light (just like Gilneas, but we won’t talk about that now).
Then the final thing is more of just an observation than a hard lore fact as an explanation. But Kul Tirans are jacks of all trades, they are hard-headed and for good reason. If anyone were to stick their beliefs, to be righteous in their cause, it’s Kul Tiras.
Transmog. This is something that bugs me quite a bit. Big bellied races (Pandaren and Kul Tirans) cannot be paladins. Even though the Paladin tier sets look absolutely stunning on them. The robes curve perfectly around them and create an almost devastating appearance. The more top heavy sets look fantastic on races that otherwise would look horrible in them (Draenei male, Night Elf Male, Worgen Male, as examples). I have seen all over, people in paladin looking transmog as Kul Tiran humans. It looks fantastic and I am deeply saddened by the fact that we won’t see say, Judgement or the Lightbringer set on them.
Animations. I’ve gotten to play around with animations a lot through playing the game and doing graphic design to fiddle with them. With how sturdy and strong the Paladin animations feel, they would be absolutely perfect for the Kul Tiran humans. These large, battle scarred, and strong humans full of conviction of their decisions and causes, it would look fantastic.
Overall, my reasons aren’t because I want things to be even. I’ve been pretty on board with imbalances between the Alliance and Horde side. Classes, even. I enjoy the idea of each race, class, and spec having their own identity. All I am bringing up is the idea that there’s so much potential with this and it feels incredibly wrong to me to not have gone this route.
I love the human aesthetic, I’ve been reading the Warcraft books and playing Warcraft 3 for awhile now. I want to see the human aesthetic returned to it’s roots.
(Legitimately not an April Fool’s joke.)