I like everything you suggest but the act of not adding new race/class options even within the currently existing ones even if you would’nt play them would really hurt in the long run to make it stand out as a true classic + for most people.
If you got literally every other thing on your list as you liked it, would you be willing to bypass Tauren Paladins or Dwarf Shamans etc? Other people like them and I think we should allow others to play what they want, while also adding replay ability.
(Sorry for the essay)
When it comes to new classes, it’s a couple of things. For one, a big appeal for me, personally, is how relatively grounded the classes in Ye Olde WoW are. Sure, most of them are magic-based, but they make sense within the context of the world and don’t have a major power scale tied to them. Compare with the first class added to WoW post-launch, Death Knight, and the lore had to bend over backwards to justify them being playable.
Another case is what additional classes do for existing classes from a lore perspective. In Classic WoW, the non-magic classes are Warrior, Rogue, and Hunter. In Retail, Rogue and Hunter have been pushed more in the magic direction within lore, and Warrior flip-flops between sometimes being kinda magic and, “yeah, that guy can summon an army of demons, but I’m, like, really, REALLY buff.” And now there are 13 classes, all of whom being magic to some extent or another, leaving Warriors as the sole “mortal” (I know there is an ability or two that is magic-leaning for Warriors, but it’s not really core to them, as opposed to, say, Rogues, whose stealth abilities are now tied to shadow magic).
My thing about new races is that it can kinda get out of hand as time goes on. If you use Retail for a reference, I personally feel as though the Alliance and Horde have had their identities watered-down over time. There are 11 faction-specific races, 3 neutral, for a total of 25. And, sure, some of them are basically reskins of existing races, but they’re still treated as separate. There’s also the issue where the Alliance and Horde feel so homogenous now, so most of the races within them rarely get a spotlight. The factions feel less like pacts of diverse nations working towards a common goal and more like single-identity monoliths where night elves wear Stormwind lion tabards. Overall, I think faction identity is a big importance to Ye Olde WoW, and I think continuously adding races would diminish that.
All that said, I’m definitely open to new class/race combos. Not just Tauren Paladin and Dwarf Shaman, but maybe Dwarf Mage and Orc Mage, Dwarf Warlock and Troll Warlock. As long as they work well within the lore. New specs for existing classes could also be interesting to explore (Bard Rogue, for example; maybe Necromancer Mage/Warlock/Priest?). And when it comes to new races in general, I’m not totally against the idea, but I feel as though it needs to be a slow and careful process so that the visions of the Alliance and Horde are maintained.
Also Shamans already Tank pretty well (not touch enough for Raid progression granted)
Oh yeah, it’s there by default, but it definitely has some notable flaws. The biggest being that they can’t really grab the aggro of more than a two or three targets at a time, which Molten Blast helped with heavily.
