Or straight up playable dragons.
they cant balance these decently why add more heh
It would have to be the player being a playable race disguised as a dragon, like Wrathion or Chromie.
Mechanically, it could operate like Alexstraza and Chromie operate in HotS, with various abilities transforming them into dragons for a short amount of time.
As much as I’d like a new class, for some reason, I’m not expecting more to show up.
I feel like Blizzard has added all the classes they want accessible to players. There are plenty more that exist, but they aren’t combat capable. Call it class fantasy. shrug
I was enjoying the rate of a new class every other expansion, and sad we stepped away from that.
There still isn’t a technology class. So that (Tinker) will probably the final WoW class. Anything beyond that begins a redundancy of themes.
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This could hypothetically be a cool idea, but the dragon aspects aren’t much more than powerful dragons at this point. The aspects gave up all their power in Cata, so it makes little sense for them to be the basis of how a class has powers unless they decide to retcon it.
Interesting idea. Another possibility would be to add a 4th spec to all the classes that don’t have one. DKs could get a dark ranger spec, rogues could get an avoidance tank or bard spec, hunters could get a tinker spec, shamans could get a chanter spec, etc. These specs might be something you have to unlock so that druids aren’t completely shafted in this scenario.
Hunter using only melle weapons and no range weapon isn’t out of there theme??
Nope. Remember Rexxar?
Yet Beast Mastery is a ranged spec? 
Yeah it’s screwed up, but melee Hunter is based on Rexxar.
How about they dont release any new class because they cant even get the current classes to function properly. I would much rather see DH get a new spec rather then bliz waste time on a new class + 2 or more specs for it only for them to forget how to balance it next expansion.
This is exactly what Demon Hunter did to Monk though, so I don’t see too much of an issue creating a cloth wearing equivalent of DK. (Which, I think you recognize when you mention Demon Hunter and talk about doing it “again”.)
I really think Blizzard is admirable for trying to deliver the Necromancer appeal via Death Knight though. But also feel it reduces the reward of playing a Plate-wearing melee class (when people are asking for the Cloth-wearing RDPS equivalents).
I agree that Tinkers should be left out of the game and Engineering (and all professions for that matter) fleshed out better into the combat-based systems of the game.
Bard can be added simply as a specialization for Rogue, and I feel would be a nice addition since the core theme of Rogue can still exist for Bard, while the buffing/healing components of a support-theme can uplift the damage-only class. As a standalone class however, I feel it is a mistake. As you point out, support does not exist as a role in the current game, and that is why the focus would be healing, not extra damage.
In addendum to the Bard comments, I feel the other damage-only classes should be fleshed out with secondary roles. Warlock healing by siphoning life from enemies and funneling it to allies (their own health as the primary resource), Mage tanking through arcane constructs and defensive wards, and Hunter tanking through her pet intervening and absorbing some blows (or possibly through building a defensive engineering set - Tinker as a hunter specialization).
The dragon idea for a class is something I don’t think I would enjoy (or I’d probably enjoy ESO more). That said, someone might, and I’d be curious to see what would happen to existing abilities like Dragon’s Roar or Dragon’s Breath in that universe. I’ve always been disappointed that players couldn’t make, for example, a fire mage, a fury warrior, or even a druid that meets the draconic demands. That is, I wish some way of subclassing themes was more available, rather than relying on new content to inject additional themes to existing classes (the unarmed appeal of Monk should’ve just been a playstyle option for Warriors, Rogues, and Shamans).
This is precisely why I’ve come to detest the “Alternate Advancement” systems that the current developers have chosen to embrace. The artifact power system was great… during Legion. Azerite powers were a rocky start, but I came to enjoy that system as well. Yet both were rendered irrelevant with the coming of the next expansion. And this is why I cannot get invested in the Covenant system at all - what is the point of progressing my character when the reset button is hit on a regular basis?
I long for a system, whether it be subclasses or just an “AP” system that persists beyond the expansion in which it was implemented, that allows us to actually progress our character. The term “borrowed power” is completely apt - I feel no ownership over something I know is inherently temporary.
My greatest fear is that the dragonflights will be used for the next AP system in, say, a Dragon Isles expansion… then we leave our powers and affiliation in the past as soon as the next expansion arises and we hit that reset button again.
Yet the best expansions class wise were the expansions where they introduced a new class (WotLK, MoP, Legion), so clearly introducing a new class doesn’t effect the class balance much.
Also let’s be real, people will complain about class balance/function regardless, so Blizzard might as well release new classes.
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Lets add another class with 3 specs, and only 1 of them will be viable in the endgame!
That’s dumb. No new classes until all specs are viable no matter what the content.
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Yeah, that’s never going to happen, so in essence you’re saying no new classes ever.
Blizzard will never do that, so let’s stop wasting our time with this train of thought.
By no means do I want to derail the OP, though Dragon Isles wouldn’t be enough content for an expansion. If that ends up being stuck to, it will be waffled around Blizzard like Emerald Dream was for almost a decade before we get a paltry incarnation of a raid (EN- Legion) and a teaser of what could’ve been (Dreamwalk).
As far as expansion goes, the next is probably going to explore the Great Beyond in a “Beyond the Veil” pun… Maybe Khadgar can deliver that dad joke. I really believe Tyrande’s death or immediate peril will be the trigger for that expansion, and the pull will be some incarnation of Illidan’s return and Elune’s dark side, combining in some corruption of Eonar by being in contact with Sargeras (almost like a repulsion effect, destabilizing Eonar - and making Anduin’s “balance” themes ever more important).
Alternate advancement, as a system, is inherently good. Though, you really have to look at what World of Warcraft did wrong if you want to know how AA ends up being right. Power creep and power resets are good for the longevity of the game, though I think suffers from two problems. First is the nature of borrowed power itself, and the second is the timeframe for resets.
In a true AA system, players get maybe a 10% power gain from 100 hard-grind points that they work up over months of playing. Many other AA are secondary benefits like mobility or survival skills that just don’t have the same impact on combat as many of Blizzard’s auxiliary systems. The key points here are:
- multi-point systems
- emphasis away from combat
The first item is why Legion worked with its many-point traits, and fine tune control over the contribution per point, where the second is why it may never actually work better in this game. The problem in World of Warcraft is that the game economy (not the “gold market” but the exchange of player time for player enjoyment) has driven further and further into its combat, which has arguably been very good for the “competitive” drives of the game but very unhealthy for virtually every other aspect.
Would players continue playing or would new players want to pick up the game, if they had to relive BFA to get a 10% power gain in Shadowlands? That, I couldn’t say. Though with some classes being out of balance by roughly 30-40% in combat-based performance by sheer result of dev/design, I don’t see why it would be a wild idea to retain some “purpose” of playing through the prior expansion (and adding marginal replay value to old content).
The timeframe is really catered toward players who are die-hard to the game and crash through content as quick as they can. It’s a good cadence for those players, and those players make up the hardcore (oft confused with loyal) base. Though, I really believe that by slowing down the game pacing, like we’ve seen in early Shadowlands, the 2-year cadence for a new expansion might be a bit quick. Personally, I’d rather see expansions be meaningful additions to the game, not something that’s done on a cadence. If that means sub fee goes up slightly to compensate, that would be fine with me, though again, I know that hardcore base would see that as a recipe to riot (or go to Riot - not so loyal after all).
Further, if the AA system is marginally kept (the 10% above), players would feel less upset with the loss of power gained by progress from earlier content. It makes the earlier incarnations of the game feel less disposable, and actually makes the current incarnation of the game feel more important to do “for tomorrow” too.
TLDR; don’t write off AA as borrowed power, as AA is a strong system. Blizzard just hasn’t been able to work through how it does well and how they can make the most of it.
I see your opinion, and I respectfully disagree.
Of those 4 possible classes (bard, tinker, necro, and dragonsworn), Thinker is BY FAR the most thematic. They have a long history since WC1, that only Necros share, but Necros were always on the enemy side.
Also, goblins and gnomes do NOT have to take the spotlight to make the class. Draenei have artificers (tinkers), and undead have apothecaries (also tinkers). Other races have also shown their own versions of tinkers.
No, tinker is NOT covered by engineer, nor alchemy for that matter. Neither of those professions can ride a mech like Mekkatorque, or wear a mech on their back and lay down turrets like Gazlowe, nor create freaky sciency Frankenstein monsters and throw alchemical concoctions like Putricide. That’s a very unique gameplay concept that no profession comes even close to fulfilling.
Let’s get classes (and races) that have history. Classes (and races) that people have been yearning for years. Not make up stuff out of thin air.
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EQ did AA using their system in SoL. It was for the most part good. What they did was kept their leveling system, and that was a brutal grind, and allowed you to earn AA points to unlock added buff bonuses and what not.
This was good because it did not allow for players to bum-rush to the end game so easily like we see with SL. Literally it took me 2 days to go from 50-60 then a week and half to go from 150-190 ilvl where I’m parked now permanently.
They’re correct that leveling was a drag on the game but it also creates a valuable time sink so you don’t have a cadence of causal players rushing to end game and then realizing that the end game really isn’t designed for them in mind. AA provides a useful way around this and you could structure it so that you have purely group AA abilities that provide massive AA buffs if you’re grouped or in a raid, or provide good buffs so that you’re strong for a more solo mindset. You also don’t have to eliminate this next expansion either you can continue to add to it.
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