God I hope never
Tinkers and Necromancers are well past due.
DK. Monk. DH. Evoker. Every new class has been strongly rooted thematically in the expansion where it had its debut. What would an expansion that features tinkers look like? Can’t say I would be very enthusiastic of playing whatever expansion that would be.
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I like to imagine Tinkers would have 3 specs.
- Gearmaster: Melee DPS
- Artillery: Pseudo-Ranged + “support” (like Aug)
- Pilot: Exo-suit Tank.
Pilot
- The tank would function by having an exo-suit like what Mekkatorque has. Every race that could be tinker (Dwarf, Dark Iron, Mechagnome, Gnome, Human, Draenei, Undead, Blood Elf, Orc, Goblin, Mag’har) would have a unique exo suit based off of their race’s aesthetic (like Shaman totems and druid forms). But also have a universal customizable system like the upcoming Moonkin customization/Dragonriding customization. Like D.Va, they would have brief moments outside of their exosuits, and would be less tanky (but still pretty tanky), but far less useful outside of being a meat shield. They would leverage heat and fuel like Rumble from LoL almost.
Artillery
- The Ranged “Support” dps spec would function similarly to Torbjorn from Patch 1.0 Overwatch. You would not be doing the damage, so much as your turret(s) would be. Instead, you’d be keeping them alive, repositioning them, and deploying the appropriate turret types (flamethrower, rockets, minigun, glue, nets, regular) when necessary. Alongside that, your gameplay would take inspiration from HotS, and you’d be able to “upgrade” the signature abilities of your allies (based off of spec), but with a mechanical twist. I.e Summon Infernal would become Summon Fel Reaver. Bladestorm > Buzzsaw Storm, Invoke Xuen > Invoke “X-U-3-N”, etc.
- Outside of those enhancements, they would also use a ranged weapon for the moments where they can fight alongside their turret, and it doesn’t need immediate repair. Visually, it would be a themed gun, similar to Outlaw Pistol Shot having a fixed gun, however that default gun could be transmogged to any other gun.
Gearmaster
- Lastly, the Melee DPS spec would play akin to Gazlowe from HotS, and the “Scrapper” from GW2. You’d be up in people’s faces wearing a backpack (also race-specific and customizable like the exo suit) and using the marvels of science and machinery to beat the snot out of someone. Jet boosters, Buzz saw blades, close-range flamethrowers, deploying bombs, and pretty much a WoW-adaptation of the movie “Real Steel”. Except you’re right there with your mech.
Transmog
- Much like how druid weapons are more or less stat sticks that don’t actually visually play a role in combat, this class would share the same trend.
- Gearmaster and Pilot would have weapons hidden, as their “weapon transmog” would be customizing and unlocking new knuckle/sawblade appearances for their backpack mech.
- Pilot would be in a cockpit, so no weapon would be visibly needed, though for the brief moments out of it, they would wield a shield + 1h weapon.
- As mentioned before, Artillery would only be able to transmog Guns, but also have a wrench/hammer (like Torbjorn’s) that they use to repair their turrets. The “default” themed gun/wrench for each race would also be customizable.
- They’d roll on plate, by virtue that this is a class that is very experienced with all Metals.
- Lastly, elaborating on my point about every race’s unique appearance themes; Each race’s Exo suit, Backpack, Hammer + Gun + Turrets, would all be themed after:
- Goblin: Goblin Shredders
- Gnome: Gnomeregan Mechs
- Dwarf: Titan facility golems
- Dark Iron Dwarf: Blackrock Golems
- Mechagnome: Mechagon Robots
- Humans: Skybreaker-like aesthetic. Lots of Wood, Gold trimming, Eagles, and Lions
- Draenei: Draenor Vigilants & Arkonite
- Undead: Gothic/Steampunk aesthetic like their catapults/heritage set
- Blood Elf: Arcane Golems
- Orc: Crude metals, sloppy paint jobs, metal wolf heads, lots of spikes
- Mag’har Orc: Iron Horde Machinery
That’s how I’d imagine the class to be if it ever made it into the game. As far from the “Engineering” profession as Alchemy is from Shamans. Tbh, WoD probably would’ve been the best opportunity, as the presenting villains were using copious amounts of machinery. Would’ve made sense that many Engineers of Azeroth “stepped up” to join the front lines alongside other heroes. But hey, I’m still gonna hold out for them lol.
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I always liked the idea of Tinker, but I don’t like them being their own class, I think that’s dumb and over stretched like a pizza dough gone wrong.
Honestly they should just delete Survival and make it Tinkerer. So many hunters in pop culture use technology to hunt, it just makes too much sense. Predator, um all sci fi mercenaries ever, Boba Fett, ummm steam punk westerns have them using tech with guns, Wild Wild West (bad example, I know) you could just go on and on with the tech hunter themes. They already throw down bombs and crap. Plus it just makes sense that Hunters would use tech in Azeroth, we utilize Goblins and Gnomes and they use bombs in like every cinematic, the WoD cinematics have bombs and cannons, the BFA ones have them, it’s all over the damn place.
You can make a huge case for Tinkerer being a hunter spec and I think people would like the idea of pulling out multiple different guns and cannons and you could limit how much tech they actually use since it’s just 1 spec. You could make it to where they can only use Mechanical pets, that’d be cute.
bard > tinker
just sayin’
Idk about that, but it’s more plausible since it would be a support.
Bard is cool now that we’re apparently diving head first into support roles. Also I’ve been seeing ads for that game that has a Bard and it looks completely like what people want lol. Just shredding on a lute the entire time while doing sick animations and songs.
I could see tinker being a support as well - or having a support spec.
maybe they could place buff pylons or something. Similar to shaman totems except with more emphasis on them. Shamans should really be the class that gets something like this, but they’ve focused less and less on their totems as the years have gone on.
I’ve finally come around to team-tinker but honestly letting mechagnomes wear a full set of clothes is 100x more important.
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As long as it’s available to all races who does engineer more than just gnomes and goblins than yes.
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I’m almost certain that this train of thought crossed their mind. Their spec has had a heavy emphasis on bomb/trap/tool use, even though all that currently remains is the Wildfire Bomb. They had “Deploy Sentry Turret” as a level 110 talent in the Legion Alpha, and they used to have steel traps, caltrops, and grenades on top of their bombs. That was also when taming Mechanical pets became available too. Very suspicious timing on all those elements.
Though, personally I think I still wouldn’t want to see Survival Hunter reworked fully into the Tinker for 4 major reasons:
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It really would be like Reworking Demonology Warlock into Havoc Demon Hunters instead of just giving us the Demon Hunter class. The Tinker concept can easily stand on its own (as I wrote) with multiple specs, and “Tinker” really doesn’t even fit with Hunter thematically.
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It’s almost too drastic of a tonal shift to even ‘fit’ the 20-year history of the Hunter class. All 30 class tier sets + PvP + challenge sets so far hardly lean towards the mechanic fantasy. All but maybe the Blackrock Foundry Hunter set. It’s just too jarring IMO
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Survival Hunter’s gameplay, even if a bit of a mess with far too many actives, has had enough time to be it’s own thing. There are people that enjoy it as it is, and in order to properly “turn it” into Tinker, it would absolutely require removing some of that. Once again like my Demonology to Havoc comparison, sometimes similar thematics don’t always translate to similar gameplay.
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Post-Legion, Survival’s lore is deeply rooted in a history of hunters, namely Huln Highmountain. Should the Tinker class become a thing eventually, I would love to see enriched lore for that class revolve around Mechagon, the Iron Horde, the Goblins and Gnomes, Draenic technology, and even Mimiron. If we were to ever get Order Halls again, and Tinkers were around for it, I’d expect Mimiron’s Halls of Ingenuity to become the Tinker Class Order Hall.
TL;DR I see your points but I think at the end of the day it’s a concept that would have to be its own thing to truly thrive.
It’s funny you say that actually, because I used to play a Shaman back when Searing Flame Totem functioned like a traditional MMO turret! And now that market is definitely open again for a Tinker to step in and seize.
Opening multiple class race combos was a mistake.
Please, for the love of Azeroth I hope so!
A Tinker class would be a perfect addition to the class roster, covering an untouched thematic niche and adding unique flavor to the game.
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Preach it brother!
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