Yeah, Blizzard is really dumping the baby out with the bathwater.
They’re basically saying “race doesn’t matter, class doesn’t matter, absolutely nothing in this universe matters”. It feels like the kind of stance you would see right before they decide to pull the plug on a dying game.
A lot of people fell in love with Warcraft BECAUSE of the unique setting and lore it had. WoW’s setting may have leaned on a lot of traditional elements, but it was a best-in-class showing of how to make each race and each class feel super distinct. Each new race and class felt like a real celebrating of their respective themes.
Now, though, they’re tearing down that foundation. They’re giving players “options” at the direct expense of having a meaningful, established world. It’s why so many Eastern MMO’s look like garbage, because there is no visual consistency, no thematic consistency, it’s all just “players can do whatever they want”.
Think of it like this; we’ve all been running a D&D campaign similar to what Warcraft III laid out to us over twenty years ago. It had really intricate themes and lore, a distinct visual design language, and everything felt like one cohesive vision. Now, the devs are basically changing everything to do with the setting, the visual design language, and they’re rendering that lore completely meaningless.
We may have seen Eredar in the past, but the Draenei still felt incredibly fresh and distinct in TBC. While I think Eredar would’ve made an excellent allied race, simply shoehorning their cosmetics into the Draenei has essentially robbed both Draenei and Eredar of any weight or meaning. And then you’ve got Lightforged Draenei Warlocks… don’t even get me started.
It honestly speaks to a fundamental misunderstanding of what made World of Warcraft resonate with so many people. It resonated with people because all of its elements were spins on traditional fantasy, but exceptionally well done. Paladins aren’t some particularly unique concept, but they were always handled exceedingly well.
Now I’ll go on record and say, I do feel the Nightborne should get Paladins; it totally fits their culture (the word itself, paladin, is a french word), which a slight broadening of what makes a Paladin, like the Silver Hand sending an envoy to convert some of the militia of Suramar, who accept their beliefs but find more solace in starlight that the traditional “golden light” themes.
But what Blizzard has been doing lately isn’t “broadening” the established lore; it’s simply disregarding it wholesale. It undermines the setting, and by extension the game itself.
This whole “every class for every race” is a poor design choice that undermines all of what makes Warcraft unique, and I think the game is so much worse for it.