No, I haven’t. Not echoing your opinion, and using facts to prove you wrong is not an insult. I have not come remotely close to insulting you.
Telling me I have a problem is an unwarranted personal insult.
You are, once again, taking something that is not an insult and blowing it out of proportion. let me break this down for you.
I have not violated the forums code of conduct, because I have not insulted you, you thinking it’s an insult is “a you problem”. I did not say “you have a problem”, I said, “this is a you problem”, what “a you problem” means is you taking issue with it is on you, not me, because I have done nothing wrong, even by Blizzard’s rules.
You taking issue with being proven wrong is on you, it is “a you problem” because you are the only person who considers it a problem.
Even if you did say that, it’s still not an insult. Community understanding of what’s cannon is important to understanding the story up to the current point in time is important. If someone who’s new looks at this forum and get’s only a small section of lore around the class, they might not want to role a Tauren paladin/Troll paladin despite really liking the races because they dont think the class combo makes sense. This is important for anyone who wants or enjoys any level of RP. Being obstinate about established cannon is a problem that the individuals who deny it have. Being honest isn’t the same as being insulting.
It’s fine to have your own opinion on it, it’s fine if you don’t like the other race, but don’t present it as cannon.
I disagree, Zandalari Paladins don’t need to derive their understanding of light from Humans. They are an older and have a much deeper understanding of the natural world and would’ve (and apparently were given BFA) able to derive it before humans.
Not everything has to adhere to what your idea of a Paladin is, or the Human concept of a Paladin, especially when it’s just a gameplay label… Blood Elves and Draenei already don’t adhere to the Human definition of a Paladin and haven’t for 12 years, why is it just a problem now?
The Zandalari get their powers from Loa, among which are several Wild Gods (like Rezan). Wild Gods embody the primal forces of the universe and The Light is one of those primal forces, therefore, if a Loa embodies The Light, it can empower it’s followers with The Light (which Rezan does, as do some others like Shirvallah), which makes those followers functionally Priests and Paladins, depending on how they choose to fight.
They are not actually Paladins, they are just functionally similar enough that they are called Paladins, and share spells, for gameplay purposes. In lore, they are not Paladins, they are Prelates, just like Blood Elf Paladins aren’t Paladins in lore, they are Blood Knights, just like Draenei Paladins aren’t Paladins in lore, they are Hand of Argus, just like Tauren Paladins aren’t Paladins in lore, they are Sunwalkers. They are Paladins for gameplay purposes only.
I will say it again, they are Paladins for gameplay purposes only, calling Zandalari Paladins an abomination is a fallacy because they aren’t Paladins and never were.
The biggest issue, it seems, is simply the word “paladin”. This is what is causing the problem. If Blizzard had originally had the foresight that paladins and shamans would be shared across both factions, they could have simply named the class template “holy warriors” and every racial holy warrior would have fit under that nicely without causing a lot of whining. Humans and Dwarves could have been paladins, Draenei as vindiators, Blood Elves as blood knights, Tauren as sunwalkers, Zandalari as prelates. This is literally the entire hangup and the source of all the rage: Trolls having the word “paladin” attached despite it being mechanically only, and not a lore title.
Paladin’s have been in WoW’s lore since WC2 and in many ways they are the first hero class in the game. In WC3 the only paladins you could play as was a heroic until, same goes for Death Knights and Demon Hunters (though paladins and DK’s weren’t a hero class in WC2). I think you nailed the issue on the head, what does the word “paladin” mean to you and that’s a person by person basis. For me Paladin just means, as you put it, a holy warrior. A warrior priest that uses the light on the battle field to both smite their foes and heal their allies. To me that’s what a paladin is. We now know the primal powers of the universe and Holy is one of them. Everything seems to draw their powers from one of these sources, so it doesn’t matter if you get the light naturally, from a Naruu, a Sunwell or a Loa it’s all the same power just how you choose to use it.
I think that opens up the flood gates and that’s what many people don’t want to see. In many ways Shamans are the same as paladins, many fight like warriors but fight with the elements. What would happen if they used the Necrotic powers? Oh wait we have those they are called Death Knights. I believe for some people the idea of “Take this weapon type and this power and smash them together and BOOM you have a new class,” take away a bit of a wonder and mystery of the class and world as a whole. Personally it expands it for me and gives us just an idea of what classes we might see in the future.
When Sargeras came to the world of Argusand began convincing the eredar to join the Burning Legion, Velen, one of the three eredar leader, prayed for help. The naaru appeared to him in visions, offering to take Velen and any other like-minded eredar to safety. Velen and his faction accepted, and the naaru came to rescue Velen and his followers with a dimensional ship named the Genedar. They thus began to call themselves draenei, meaning “the Exiled Ones” in eredun.[9]
During the draenei’s journey, the enigmatic naaru race taught them the ways of the Light, though they already had a certain experience with it through Velen and T’uure. The naaru explained that there were other forces in the cosmos that would stand against the Burning Legion. One day the naaru would forge them into a single unstoppable Army of the Light.[9]The naaru also bestowed a blessing, the [Gift of the Naaru], upon the draenei to signify their new connection the Light.[10] Deeply affected by the naaru’s words, the draenei vowed to honor the Light and uphold the naaru’s altruistic ideals.
Communing with humans
Following the Troll Wars, a number of humanpriests began having faint dreams and visions of angelic forms thrumming with living light. They did not know it, but they had actually managed to commune with the naaru in the Great Dark Beyond, and through this connection, the Holy Light was introduced to the early humans for the first time.[11]
Mereldar was the first of these prophets, receiving visions of holiness, protection, justice, retribution, and compassion. With others who had also reported seeing the visions, they codified and wrote down the wisdom of this higher power. The movement sparked widespread faith in the Light and became the predominant human religion, and centuries later the different Light-based traditions and belief systems were codified by Lordaeron’s leaders into the Church of the Holy Light.[12]
I did like their introduction story either, I really think they could have done better by use Uther’s pupil and Turalyon son. I don’t know if it were you that had mentioned dwarf Shamans or not but I would like it to be know I thought that thier story was weak and poorly written also and could have been done considerably better.
They are still drastically different. The Draenei get their Light by directly worshiping and communing with the Naaru, the Humans just get it from generic “faith in the Light”, regardless of how their introduction to it started (faint visions of Naaru), they receive their powers through faith in the power itself.
Uhh, no, fundamentally different things are fundamentally different, this is not a " tomato tomahto" scenario. The Draenei are directly empowered by Naaru, the Humans are not.
The Draenei get their power in The Light through a proxy, they are empowered by the Naaru.
The Humans were simply introduced to The Light by visions of the Naaru, but they do not receive their power through the Naaru like Draenei do, they do not worship, commune with, or revere the Naaru, the overwhelming majority of Humans don’t even know the Naaru exist, they receive their power directly from the source through faith in The Light itself.
Draenei Paladins are not the same as Human Paladins.