Folks, at this point there’s a lot of crossover between most of the classes. They’ve walked back homogenization a bit, and that’s a good thing, but some forms of it just ought to be. And Mage portals? Both Warlocks and Evokers have ample justification in lore to be able to utilize portals and teleports as such.
The days of paying Mages (in modern WoW, at least) for portals are largely behind us now. We’ve got portals to pretty much anywhere we’d need to go sitting right in our capital cities, and engineers these days have quick access to move between zones. All this in mind, isn’t it about time portal and teleport access was opened up to Warlocks and Evokers?
You could probably add Shadow Priests to this list.
I know Xalatath is an old god type, but she opened a portal for Iridikron to escape, and we’ve seen Xanesh teleport away too, and both use void magic. I don’t see why Shadow priests can’t use something similar.
But I’m assuming this will never happen due to gameplay reasons.
Not really. They are basically sorcerers and have access to magic stuffs through the Blue Dragonflight. If someone taught em the spell, they could learn. Just like you see other Blue dragonkin casting them.
Not that I am advocating that they get Mage portals, mind, just saying it makes sense.
What I would love to see is other classes get forms of portals. Like how the Druid can go through the Dream, it would be neat if the other magic classes could do something like that. Evokers could travel the leylines (or use the Dream) to a few specific hotspots, and Warlocks could pop into places of Fel corruption. Heck, throw Shamans some areas of high elemental power too since I have seen em casting portals in lore. None of these have to have as many options as Mage portals, but some for the flavour.
Edit: I keep forgetting portals and teleports are separate. I am advocating that other magic classes get some unique teleports. Fewer than Mages, with a few more stipulations. I would also say for Mages to keep the opening of portals for others to themselves.
More of an opening statement really. No arguments. But lets put mine for no.
Warlocks: I SUMMON demons of the twisting nether from the very safe location of wherever the me I am. Why should I go anywhere? Summoning others to join me so that they can die in my place is no great leap.
Lizards: I got WINGS!! Why do I trouble myself with the woes of the soft skin races??? Flying is perfect! Let them fly in.
Because it’s not a very compelling case for further homogenizing the classes, which you claim to see as a bad thing but fail to illustrate how removing mages as the one portal class wouldn’t contribute to that.
For most other classes, portals are less accessible and less versatile than they are for mages. Every magic type can open portals, but that doesn’t mean they can do so as freely as mages. As much as the lore has trivialized travel over the years, there is a reason why the Illidari had to sacrifice souls for their portals, why hearthstones are immensely rare in-universe, and why Wenren as a mage was the only one in Hallowfall capable of opening a portal. The Light can also teleport, after all, but paladins cannot. These are more restricted versions of what mages do.
Evokers could and likely can in lore, but in gameplay terms really shouldn’t. They’re already a better version of mages.
Aight. While your points… strike me as running contrary to the classes both in terms of mechanics and lore, counterpoints:
1.) Warlocks utilize portals as part of their kit already. They’re short range, yes, but portals none the less. Mage portals function by using the Nether as an intermediary. Warlocks, already being well versed in accessing and moving through the Twisting Nether, are kind of obvious candidates for advancing that particular skill into something a little more utilitarian. Moreover, we do have Warlock NPCs in-game which display the ability to open portals to various places, not the least of which being capital cities.
2.) Evokers possess the full magical capabilities of the Blue Dragonflight. While not reflected in game mechanics, their lore states they are in fact capable of wielding magic in the same way as their purebred Blue contemporaries and world’s many Mages. Similar to Warlocks, we have seen Evoker NPCs display the ability to open portals to various locations, again including capital cities.
Frankly, you could almost call Evokers Mary/Gary Sue/Stus simply because of their ability to step on all of the toes. They have an amount of overlap with the other classes that borders on the ridiculousness, speaking in terms of lore. They can manipulate and commune with the world like the Black Dragonflight (and Shamans), wield magic like the Azure Dragonflight (and Mages), manipulate time like the Bronze Dragonflight (granted, the Azure Dragonflight can do this too, as time manipulation is an extension of the arcane), call upon life and intense flame like the Red Dragonflight (kinda overlaps with a bunch of stuff), and both go to and interact with the Emerald Dream like the Green Dragonflight (like Druids).
Something to consider is what the player characters are supposed to be. While they aren’t what you would term “hero units” in the sense of major lore figures, they are exemplars of their respective crafts. They represent the pinnacle to which an above average but otherwise not unreasonably extraordinary individual can aspire. They’re basically walking WMDs compared to the normal folk, even if someone like Varian could turn their insides into outsides in about .02 seconds. This is especially true where Mages, Evokers, Warlocks, DKs, and DHs are concerned. Literal monsters just walking around.
Their ability to excel is as much a part of the lore as it is mechanics. The “adventurers” won’t ever be the most powerful or skilled in the setting, but they far outstrip virtually every NPC in the game, even many responsible for teaching others of their respective classes.
It can also raise someone into undeath. There’s a good deal of overlap between the various cosmic forces and their related types of magic.
Are they though? Certainly not mechanically, but I’d agree in terms of lore. When it comes to the lore, a properly trained Evoker would be able to do everything Mages can, likely better than they can, and with a lot less strain put on them.
In any case, I actually far prefer Mage as a class. The gameplay loop is more enjoyable, and time has shown Blizzard to be a lot less likely to cripple it than most of the other classes.
Yeah, I couldn’t raise any objections in terms of class fantasy or lore if Evokers could open portals. Theoretically, nothing should be off-limits to them, and if Blizzard decided to throw all semblance of class-specific utilities out the window, Evokers have every possible convenience rolled into one.
That’s partly why I’m not a fan of their whole concept, admittedly.
This is something like my 8th high level mage, so they’re definitely a class that I enjoy despite the occasional burnout. It’s difficult to put into words (especially on a phone), but I’ve always wanted magic to be represented as more versatile and whimsical than it is in-game. I love seeing mages juggle different schools of magic from EU material and lore characters, and by contrast the player mage feels overly restricted.
With Evokers, they really captured the influence of all the Flights in their abilities. I suppose when I said “gameplay”, I was referring to something more aesthetic, the vibe and class fantasy.
It’s weird, but things like Arcane Linguistics, portals, and conjured food are what keep me tied to mage. Portals are integral to the identity of the class, IMHO; the range and scope of what arcane magic can accomplish should be front and center for the class. When we see other classes create portals, they’re generally tied to specific locations saturated with their magic type, or opened at great expense.
I suppose I’m pretty defensive about the topic because we’ve already lost our water elemental outside of burst phases, rather than giving us the option to simply summon it as a non-combat pet for roleplay outside of Icy Veins. I’d like this class to feel like a bit more than a mana bun factory.
Edit: I saw your responses after I posted this, will come back to them when I get a moment later.