Shaman has few race options if you want to play a race with relatively “normal” body proportions. This is especially felt on Alliance side where there are only 5 race options for Shaman while Horde has 9 options. There are several reasons I think Shaman race options should be expanded in TWW, which was recently shut down (as well as other race/class combos) in a dev interview. Not to mention, being a Human is important for many classes in PvP.
#1. From a lore perspective, it makes sense. We’ve already seen Night Elf Warlocks, Tauren Rogues, etc. The fact that Kul’Tiran Humans can be Shamans and regular Humans couldn’t learn those abilities makes little sense. Previously an argument was made that it’s because regular humans are “Stormwind Humans” and that Stormwind culture does not support shamanism, but that’s out of the window with the other added race/class combos like Warlock for all races etc.
#2. The animations are already done, no time or money needs to be spent on Blizzard’s end for them. The Atomic Recalibrator proves this. While some classes such as Evoker have clearly missing animations when they use the toy, any non Shaman playable race that converts on the machine works perfectly and all animations seem to be in order. That leaves the only costly thing being a design for Human Shaman totems, which seems like it would be an incredibly simple and easy reskin of Kul’Tiran totems to look more like Stormwind in origin (as someone who has done meshes and textures for games).
#3. There are many people I know who simply will not play Shaman on Alliance because of the options it has for races. It seems like this would be a very easy move to make to appease a lot of people. The only people who don’t want this are the people who also complained about Night Elf Mage and Tauren Rogue but we’ve already crossed the line.
BONUS IDEA
Frost DK can transmog two handed weapons into dual wield using their legion artifact. I’m not suggesting two handed Enhancement be brought back, as that would complicate loot roles etc, but given that they already can use two handed weapons I think it would be an amazingly cool thing to add at minimal to no effort to be able to transmog dual wield into two hander like the Frost DK can.
Before you flame this post or tell me how stupid I am for wanting this, just know that Human Shaman has been my dream main since TBC and up until now I’ve understood why it can’t happen. But it just doesn’t make sense why anymore. Any support or additional feedback is appreciated as I would personally love to see this happen.
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you are trolling yourself not playing Dawrf or Dark Iron.
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Yeah I know the racials are strong in PvP but I don’t like the proportions of Dwarf. Plus when you play max zoomed it makes it hard to see a tiny avatar’s armor. It’s really just a matter of style preference and Horde shouldn’t have 9 options to Alliance’s 5 nor does it make any sense not to be in the game.
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Also being able to run double DPS trinket is pretty great.
The Skyfury spell icon is a night elf, but night elves can not be shamans.
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Nah were good the only Alliance race that would kinda make sense being shamans that aren’t currently are Night Elves imo, Kul Tiran shamans were already pushing it.
This is the main argument against my suggestion every time. There are so many things in the game that violate previously existing lore including race/class combinations that already exist, why gatekeep Human Shamans and how does that not make sense that the most versatile race in WoW (alongside Orc) couldn’t somehow learn to use the elements? Night Elf Warlock makes no sense, and yet we have it. Tauren Rogues? Really? A presumably 700+ pound avatar can sneak around but Humans can’t learn from their Kul’Tiran cousins how to utilize the elements?
I don’t mean to sound angry about this but I really genuinely don’t get this gatekeeping from the lore perspective given the amount of liberties that have already been taken with the lore. Unless it is your position they should go back and remove certain race and class combos, like Kul’Tiran Shaman?
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Oh and I forgot. Lightforged Draenei Warlock…
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You’ve made the same assumption that everyone else is making on this subject:
A) They can just “flip a switch” and it’ll be done and
B) “There’s no reason not to do it”. Except there is, because certain race/class combos are a little more complicated than others.
Rogues, Priests and Warriors were easy. Those are classes that really any race should have had out of the gate (even Dracthyr, but they said those are coming as well).
Warlocks took a bit of doing because some races were so adverse to using those magics that there had to be SOMETHING (although I’m still waiting on the reasoning being Pandas). Paladins for other races have a similar issue, but I suspect we aren’t far off from those. Druids are a further stretch, because really there are only a few races that made sense up front (Nelves, Worgen, Trolls and KT out of the gate made sense)
I suspect Shaman are on the same level as Paladins and Warlocks but they are likely designing a questline for all of these new combos similar to the Warlock quest.
No, Tide Sages were already a thing, and the path for “regular” Humans exists there. They are likely still coming up with a story line for Shaman like they did with Warlocks.
While I understand your argument.
They basically -can- flip a switch and it will be done. The Atomic Recalibrator shows the animations are complete. That is the most work to be done in terms of Blizzard needing to devote resources to this. The second most work intensive aspect would be the design of the totems, but again as someone who has done meshes and textures for mods I’ve made in games, this is a small task and could easily be a re-skinned Kul’Tiran totem with Stormwind chroma. As far as the quest. “Go talk to this Kul’Tiran Tidesage that wants you to show you something”. Done.
I really don’t think most of the player base cares if there is an extensive quest chain to explain why new races can suddenly be a new class. I don’t recall this being the case for Warlock, I don’t recall it for Rogue, not sure why Shaman would be any different. Logically, I can understand how races would decide “Well we need to learn how to contact demons to improve our ability to fight this war against -x- bad guy.” Fair enough. Not sure why harnessing the elements of Azeroth, a planet Humans are native to in the lore, would be any different.
Blizzard has already abandoned the idea that each race’s class options are defined by the corresponding race’s capitol city and it’s culture. Therefor, Humans should be able to be Shamans and so should Night Elfs.
As a matter of fact, at this point in WoW’s timeline, it really doesn’t make sense that any race can’t be any class especially as it pertains to the original classes that existed before Death Knight. I do understand the work involved but I believe this to be a very crowd pleasing move that would appease far more players than it would upset. More diversity in an MMO is -almost- always a good thing and WoW has long since crossed the line on sticking to it’s original lore design.
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Humans should be the last race to be shaman.
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What is your reasoning for that? There are already Human Shamans in the game. Outside of Kul’Tiran, Twilight Cultists can harness the elements. The lore has shown before that races are capable of learning magics they normally wouldn’t as we progress to greater and greater threats in WoW. For example, Lightforge Draenei, who can be Warlocks.
If there are literally already Human Shamans in the game, why should base Human be the last to be Shaman?
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To further note, there are more examples of Human Shaman than there are Night Elf Shamans by a mile, which is a frequently requested combo.
I am against giving more incentives to play the most used races, making every other race useless. Same reason I would be against Blood Elves having more classes. If there are openings, it should be for the lesser used races.
I think opening up class/race combos is an absolutely horrible idea that takes away from the lore and story of the game.
Unless.
Extremely strong racials are created that push people to certain race/class set ups.
Class/race combos in a rigid structure are there to give an idea of the culture of a race. Humans are not shamanistic, despite there being the occasional and rare human shaman.
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While I agree with you, restricting race/class combos doesn’t prevent the problem you are describing. Racial design and balance does. Human racial has been and remains one of the strongest racial abilities in the game for a long time because it’s a free trinket for stuns, which is powerful in both PvE and PvP content. The solution is not to restrict Humans from playing a class they should already be able to play, but rather by redesigning racials to be more balanced so people don’t feel forced to play what they feel they have to for certain content.
That being said, having the optimal racial is hardly a concern for 99% of the player base, as you can do nearly all but the hardest content available in the game without being optimal (rank 1 M+, rank 1 PvP, Mythic Raid).
Also, you are playing Goblin, when the clear choice on Horde as Shaman is Orc for nearly all content. So you are a walking example of someone who chose a race based on preference, and that’s what this is all about.
If Alliance players want to be Shaman, they simply have to choose between 5 races who literally all have “weird” proportions. Some people don’t want to be a space goat. Some people don’t want to be 4ft tall. Some people don’t want to look like a Human Panda (Kul’Tiran). Human remains one of the best avatars in the game for the proportional display of transmog, and it’s unfair to restrict them from Shaman when the lore permits it and it literally exists in the game already.
I do agree with you about racials dictating what people play, but gatekeeping isn’t the solution. Balancing races is.
Side note: Even if Human Shaman were added, the optimal race choice on Alliance would still be Dark Iron Dwarf / Dwarf for most content.
This has always seemed wrong with all the n elves talk about nature and balance you would think they would be all about shamans.
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Actually its troll for their racial of mini blood lust. And its the og troll not Zandalari Troll
Maybe you’re right but I think because of Haste capping the Orc racial wins out on meters overall.