Is blizzard going to do a mage version of a Paladin? I believe it’s called a battle mage, but not sure?
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… so… priests.
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that ain’t a battle mage chief.
A battle mage is the crazy man using a magic sword in melee combat while he flings spells around.
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Just weave in some melees while playing arcane
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A battle mage is, quite obviously, a… Mage.
Caster version of Paladin is either Priest or Mageladin, which we’ll never have (again) because, well, Priest exists, and Paladin is not a hybrid class anymore.
And anyway, how would GD know what Blizzard is gonna do ? I’d rather know the lottery numbers tbh !
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This is a bit of a reach but endgame Priest in Classic you can have a ‘DPS’ side set that actually does OK damage without needing to be Shadow Priest.
Is ranged, is holy is nice. Cast for Holy Fire feels like you absolutely about to smoke someone.
Priests in retail sadly miss out cause Healer Damage is crap at the moment, but they have been making HF stronger and stronger.
Personally, I’ve always loved the idea. I’ve been a big fan of that archetype ever since playing through Morrowind as one. I doubt it will ever happen, but it’s certainly something folks like to conceptualise around here sometimes. I can imagine at least two specs to go with it that have roots in established lore: Spellbreaker, like the old blood elf unit in WC3, and Spellblade, like Aluriel in the Nighthold.
Spellbreakers for tanks and Spellblades for dps. But both using 1 handers and shields in melee, and augmented with magic. Hell yeah.
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Does shaman not fit that enough, with it having a melee and healing spec while also retaining a casting one?
Paladin is battle mage basically
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Not really. Shaman don’t much fit what Spellbreakers were. Shaman are spiritual , relying on elementals to answer their call to imbue them with their gifts.
Spellbreakers and Spellblades are Mages who wield their own power of Arcane with an entirely different mindset and aesthetic.
Fair point on spellbreakers, but I tried looking them up and it seems like there’s hardly any mage to them at all outside of Spellsteal. Maybe it’s unfair for me to discount that because of the limited number of abilities WC3 units have at all, but it seems like part of their fantasy was already divided up among warriors, death knights and demon hunters.
Though the OP was asking about battle mages in general, not specifically spellbreakers. In that sense, I figured shaman would be a fit because of paladins being a spiritual class as well. While they may use lightning instead of arcane, they still share the fire and frost elements as well as wearing sturdier armor and taking some healing ability akin to paladin.
Yeah, pretty much. There’s a lot they could do with them nowadays. Spellblade Aluriel in Nighthold was a combo of melee and Mage conjuring and spells. But still a bit like a rough concept they hadn’t fully fleshed out.
I think they could really do something neat with the concept if they utilized the shield as much as the weapon for DPS. A type of shield slam that explodes with Arcane to do AoE damage, etc.
I don’t remember how Rift’s melee Mage worked. I’d have to go back and look. Not even sure I got a chance to play it. 
I mean we’re just throwing around ideas for fun here so really anything goes. Spellbreakers in WC3 were specifically anti-magic units. They use magic for the purpose of shutting down and disrupting the magic of others. So in my mind I imagine them being a tank with a specialty in fighting spellcasters.
A lot of people do regard shamans as the battlemages of WoW. I get the sentiment but it still doesn’t quite click for me. Maybe it’s just to do with how I perceive the different types of magic in WoW. Like a mage’s relationship with frost and fire isn’t the same as a shaman’s relationship with frost and fire. Mages conjure and control those elements through the arcane whereas shamans essentially borrow that power from elemental spirits. They get it direct from the source! Shamans just aren’t mages. They’re closer to druids with their deep connection to the natural world.
I’m obviously splitting hairs here and talking pure vibes, but that’s how it feels to me 
Did you ever play Kingdoms of Amalur? I never got very far through it, but their whole approach to classes was awesome. You had your three standard combat trees - might (warrior), sorcery (mage), and finesse (rogue). And based on how many points you put in each tree you could unlock a different “Destiny”. Which was a class or spec basically, with various abilities and perks. But the awesome part was they had a full suite of destinies for every single combination of the three trees! You could create a very awesome battlemage with awesome looking abilities. And awesome looking artwork!
Actually Battlemage was the name for one of the might/sorcery destinies. But it always annoyed me that it wasn’t the highest level. For some reason the highest level was just called Champion. Which is so utterly boring!
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I haven’t played it, no. But it sounds cool. 
Paladins are already mages. They throw their mighty shield at people from afar and smite.
Battle mages are close combat.
I hope for this so much. Spell breakers are iconic and rightfully so. I want a melee cloth class or spec in general.
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What if this crazy man was an orc? And he had some wolves or something? That would be so cool.
You said it. After the rework they can do all their damage from range.