because cool, great opportunity for lore, unique class fantasy, undead mains getting another (very desirable) class.
also this:
“I don’t want to make any huge promises, but we feel like we want to move towards a world where the race of a character is not a limiter on what they do or what they can become in World of Warcraft. We’re working towards that, but not all of the classes have the same content requirements.” -Brian Holinka
also because we literally already have undead paladins in-game (Scarlet Warder, Scarlet Praetorian).
it’s not inconceivable that we, the mary sue savior of azeroth, could also become the exception as we have done time and time and time again. just sounds like reverse cope lol.
i was reading the wiki, so i guess it’s wrong. but you’re right there are characters such as the Scarlet Warders, which are literally undead paladins (they use Crusader Strike and other pally abilities)
of course they don’t. but they still gave us lightforged warlocks, tauren rogues, orc mages, etc. why stop there? they’ve already proven they don’t care about what “makes sense” lol.
not all paladins that became undead become death nights. Leonid Barthalomew was a paladin that did not become a death knight upon resurrection by the Lich King.
look up Scarlet Warder or Scarlet Praetorian. they are canonically undead paladins.
Strangely enough, I see Nightborn Elves getting Paladin before undead.
Mostly because it’s easier and more logical to slot them into the class with the current storyline than undead.
Nightborn are fully united with the Blood Elves both politically in the Horde and literally through the marriage of their respective chosen leaders to one another (I’m still mad we didn’t get to see and attend Lor’themar and Thalyssra’s wedding). Currently, they are the only elven factions we have of of all the groups that are truly unified in more than words. There’s no reason to think there couldn’t just be Nightborne interested in joining the ranks of the Blood Knights. People forget that order was originally formed to serve as the Royal Guard. Makes perfect sense for the Guard to now be made up of both Blood and Nightborne elves since the Royal family is now both Blood and Nightborne elves.
They could even create a new order of paladins from both groups specifically for this purpose and call them The Order of the Sun and Moon (symbolically referring to the Blood Elves and the Nightborne). That’s the kind of poetically diplomatic thing that we’d kind of expect to be one of Lor’themar’s bright ideas. Bonus points for romantic undertones of the gesture to his wife since she does so love his poetry . Did I mention I’m absolutely livid we didn’t get to see or attend their wedding?
As far as I know, this is the last word on the on the subject of all races/paladins (dated April 29, 2024):
Michael Bybee: Yeah, I hear you. I think a Vulpera Paladin would be really cool. You say race restrictions, we say a bunch of extra animation and artwork that we have to do to make that work for a Vulpera Paladin. Unfortunately, especially Paladins and classes that have a lot of extra abilities, it does require work from the team to be able to make that work. Every time we talk about it we feel super passionately about making that. But at this time, we are actually not ready to announce any additional Paladins or other class extensions beyond what you’ve currently seen.
Whenever Blizzard gets around to making Paladin universal. I expect Shaman to get that treatment next though (or maybe monk but I won’t hold my breath).
. Did I mention I’m absolutely livid we didn’t get to see or attend their wedding?