WoW to Allow Horde Paladin and Alliance Shaman in Expansion

[direwolf]

According to Gamespot, Blizzard has announced WOW faction-class crossovers (http://www.gamespot.com/news/6154421.html).

Simply put: In The Burning Crusade, Alliance players can play as Draenei shamans, while Horde players can play as Blood Elf paladins. Previously, players on either side weren't able to access those character classes: paladins were exclusive to the Alliance, while shamans were exclusive to the Horde. According to Blizzard, Horde paladins and Alliance shamans will have many of the same talents of their traditional counterparts, though they "will also enjoy some unique abilities to themselves, similar to the priest class' racial specialties." Since this new feature will fundamentally change the asymmetry between the game's two factions, it will presumably have a significant impact on the way the game is played, especially in competitive player-versus-player combat.
The ultimate game balancing move between factions, or simply lazy developers, you decide.

[balamoor]

The ultimate game balancing move between factions, or simply lazy developers, you decide.

I'll take lazy development for 500.00 Alex.

[gzsfrk]

Bull pie.... I'll believe this when it actually happens.

Not saying it's impossible, but if this is true, it's a MAJOR cop-out on the part of Blizzard. Not that I'll ever go back to playing WoW again, but it holds some fond memories in my mind and it saddens me to see the utter raiding crapfest its become.

Furor and Tigole can burn in hell.

(/me = former Paladin on Doomhammer)

[Ernst_Jager]

maybe this will help keep so many Alliance players from bitching about the Shaman class in the forums.

[Kagger]

How doe MMO expansions work. If I didn't buy the expansion and just kept normal WoW...would I still see Blood Elves running around doing their thing...just not be able to play them? That makes sense...they just patch it in. And...obviously I wouldn't be able to go to the new areas...but with new races I mean.

[direwolf]

BTW, this has been confirmed multiple times by Blizzard in their forums, so it looks like this is indeed true.

[direwolf]

If you didn't get the expansion you would still see everybody running around, you just couldn't re-roll a new class and/or go to Outland from what I understand.

[Heretic Machine]

Whelp... that is dumb as hell. I mean, I can buy that the Draeni would have shamans. That sounds fine to me. But WTF are the Blood Elves doing with paladins? It didn't make sense for the Dwarves to be pallies, it really, really doesn't make sense for Blood Elves...

[Nesta]

I just don't see the problem with this. Was faction based class exclusivness really all that important? I see this more as a balancing move than any laziness on the part of the devs.

[balamoor]

Bull pie.... I'll believe this when it actually happens.

Not saying it's impossible, but if this is true, it's a MAJOR cop-out on the part of Blizzard. Not that I'll ever go back to playing WoW again, but it holds some fond memories in my mind and it saddens me to see the utter raiding crapfest its become.

Furor and Tigole can burn in hell.

(/me = former Paladin on Doomhammer)

No one would like to see Jeff Kaplan burn in hell more than I, but I think this may not have been his baby mainly because he said at e-3 (Should be on one of the Gamespot interviews) that they had no plans to do that, so either he lied (Which he is more than capable of doing.) or someone else is steering WoW. I did notice that the last couple interviews with Kaplan Collin Murray was there with him, and tag team interviews usually spells a vote of non-confidence from the big guy.

Any way it's a dumb move on Blizzards part. Scrap Hero Classes and pull this, what are they begging for there fans to quit?

[direwolf]

Official Burning Crusade Site mentioning this change (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/burningcrusade/townhall/classcombo.html)

As we draw closer to the release of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, more of the secrets shrouding the draenei and blood elves are being revealed. In the upcoming expansion, players will finally be able to play classes that were previously unavailable to their faction: the blood elves have harnessed the power of the Light for their own needs, supporting the Horde with renegade blood elf paladins. Meanwhile, the draenei have been granted the wisdom and strength of the elements, and some among the newest members of the Alliance now follow the path of the shaman. Read on to learn more about the new class combinations available to players of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade.

[Deathbane27]

Having wide differences in which sides get which abilities (or, heck, just re-arrange them on different classes) is just a huge unsolvable eternally broken balance issue. Just look at Dark Age of Camelot. 3 or more minor or major balance adjustments every patch.

This lets them put more focus on content, new features, and fixing bugs instead of slapping infected band-aids on poor design choices. Kudos to them I say.

[kurr]

Hell yeah. Motherfuckin' space shamans of death! FRAWST SHAWK FROM SPACE, BITCHES! :D

[The Continental]

Homogenization for the sake of a whiny player base. The factions are purely cosmetic at this point. How long before Alliance and Horde can group I wonder...

[aileron]

My 2 cents...

The issue of unique class balance has been around for ages, mainly in RTS games... which is why RTS is one of my favorite genres. Usually they'll employ a rock-paper-scissors type of thing, and give each faction a plethora of different units to combat each little thing. And there it is... multiple unique units. WoW has a single unique class. In order to balance the factions, Paladins and Shamans would have to be directly balanced, as everything else is the same. That obviously can't happen without completely obliterating one of the classes... so they did the next best thing, IMHO.

[balamoor]

Homogenization for the sake of a whiny player base. The factions are purely cosmetic at this point. How long before Alliance and Horde can group I wonder...

Exactly if they are so hot on lore why couldn't they let Blood Elves have the Ranger Class there's a precedent for Rangers (High Elf Ranger character in Day of the Dragon.) They could have actually made Draenei a race someone wanted to play by introducing a new class or two... now there just the Ugly Alliance Race.

It totally boggles the mind, WoW dosen't even come close to resembling the MMO that was announced back in 2001.

[Savok]

As if they hadn't already raped lore in the ass. Blood Elf Paladins, are you fucking kidding me? Under current design they can now be almost every single class in the game, though by release they'll have Shaman as well to complete the set I'll bet. Hey, fuck it, lets have Gnome Hunters, new racial ability to be swallowed by their pets.

I mean shit, they just rewrote the Draenei stuff to make them Space Paladins, now they're rewriting them AGAIN.

What in god's name happened to Blizzard?

[aileron]

The factions have always been cosmetic. A single unique class doesn't count.

[balamoor]

What in god's name happened to Blizzard?

Two Words:

Tigole Furor

[kurr]

Do you monkeys have any idea of how difficult it is to add an entire new class, and still keep it balanced in line with the other existing classes? Seriously, until you've tried something that complex, don't bitch. You're coming off as whining children.

[Savok]

Two Words:

Tigole Furor
Well they can pat each other on the arse, they've succeeded in destroying MMORPGs for me.

[Savok]

Do you monkeys have any idea of how difficult it is to add an entire new class, and still keep it balanced in line with the other existing classes? Seriously, until you've tried something that complex, don't bitch. You're coming off as whining children.
What? text

[captainstrombosis]

Oh well, I quit a long time ago. The game is mostly PvE now anyway. So I don't see a problem with this choice.

[lockwoodx]

Deffinatly Lazy developers who do not want to have to create new and unique character classes instead of the old cut and paste routine.

We can all thank DAOC for making a great deal of gamers apathetic over the years with this shady technique.

[balamoor]

Do you monkeys have any idea of how difficult it is to add an entire new class, and still keep it balanced in line with the other existing classes? Seriously, until you've tried something that complex, don't bitch. You're coming off as whining children.


Especially if you are a developer that Nerfs to balance. :rolleyes:

It isn't any more complex than designing a combat system, a quest system or a Raid system Kurr, and Blizzard does have the captiol and manpower to accomplish this besides if it's worth doing it's worth doing correctly right?

And I never Starred in a Big Budget release either but I still can tell Keanu Reeves acting ability sucks.

[Stormwatcher]

bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch.

[Wyrm]

I'm really not sure how I feel about this now. Part of me is thinking that this is what I've always wanted. To level in the Alliance zones with a Shaman character. Another part of me is going, why the fuck would you ever load up a horde character again if you had shaman on alliance? Yet another part is thinking "come on blizz, this is such a cop-out".

The lore is so conveluted and fucked now, I'm actually kind of pissed.

[balamoor]

bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch.


That reminds me I can't wait till Gabe and Tycho get a hold of this one. :D

[Captain Awesome]

haha, definitely lazy developing. So all the work they did in making this variated gameplay and clashes of unique classes gets nothing but a "modern little league" adjustment?

So what was it that caused it? mass community whining? balancing was too difficult after all these years? They might as well stop calling either side Alliance and Horde too.

[direwolf]

That reminds me I can't wait till Gabe and Tycho get a hold of this one. :D

Hah, I was thinking the same thing :)

[kurr]

Fair enough, but what do you think is going to cause more bitching in the long run? Letting players play an existing class (that's already been tried and tested, etc) on the other faction, or developing entirely new classes, with their own balance issues? There are only three basic roles in the game. Tanking, Healing, and DPSing. (crowd controlling counts as a distant fourth, and isn't truly required, enough tanks/healing/dps will negate the need for CC). There's already nine classes in the game, and their roles already overlap somewhat. What would a Ranger do that a hunter doesn't already do? What does a Necromancer do that a 'lock can't do? Undead minions? Demonic minions. Same thing, basically. They give cross faction classes, and boom. There's some bitching and moaning, but in the end, it'll be forgotten by the time the next patch rolls through. They add a new class or two? And that'll just add to the neverending shitstorm of whining, quitting, and general bitching about nerf this, and buff that.

This also addresses the concerns that players had about the viability of certain classes in certain situations. Think shamans in PVE, and Pallies in PVP. Now there's no reason to bitch, you want to PVP? Roll a goddamn shaman. Tired of being useless in raids? Roll a pally. This also adds a whole new level of cooperation. Ret pallies with windfury toties and strength of earth? Enhancement shamans windfury critting on something with Judgement of Light? Now shamans don't have to worry about being gimped healbots, and they can focus on DPS in raids. Shamans can kick out some serious damage, so it'll be nice to see them do something other than cast lesser healing wave until they're blue in the face. Now they can spend that precious mana on buffs and shocks.

Besides, I wouldn't trust blizzard to implement a new class or two properly in the first place. They can't even make their servers run well, can they? Sometimes, I think people just bitch because they like to bitch.

[SymetriX]

NERF SHAMANS!

"--What? They're in the alliance now too? Hmm.... shit..."

NERF BLOOD ELVES!

[Savok]

I forgot about raids.... another class, another set of loot, even less room for everyone else then before, yay.

And Shamans make perfectly good healers/buffers when played properly, I used to have a Restro Shaman, carried entire teams of shitty players through hell.

[balamoor]

Fair enough, but what do you think is going to cause more bitching in the long run? Letting players play an existing class (that's already been tried and tested, etc) on the other faction, or developing entirely new classes, with their own balance issues? There are only three basic roles in the game. Tanking, Healing, and DPSing. (crowd controlling counts as a distant fourth, and isn't truly required, enough tanks/healing/dps will negate the need for CC). There's already nine classes in the game, and their roles already overlap somewhat. What would a Ranger do that a hunter doesn't already do? What does a Necromancer do that a 'lock can't do? Undead minions? Demonic minions. Same thing, basically. They give cross faction classes, and boom. There's some bitching and moaning, but in the end, it'll be forgotten by the time the next patch rolls through. They add a new class or two? And that'll just add to the neverending shitstorm of whining, quitting, and general bitching about nerf this, and buff that.

Oh I agree with you on this. I understand why they did it, I just keep expecting the old Blizzard to show back up, but they are all scattered making GW Expansions, Hellgate London, WAR, and the upcoming Bioware MMO

This also addresses the concerns that players had about the viability of certain classes in certain situations. Think shamans in PVE, and Pallies in PVP. Now there's no reason to bitch, you want to PVP? Roll a goddamn shaman. Tired of being useless in raids? Roll a pally. This also adds a whole new level of cooperation. Ret pallies with windfury toties and strength of earth? Enhancement shamans windfury critting on something with Judgement of Light? Now shamans don't have to worry about being gimped healbots, and they can focus on DPS in raids. Shamans can kick out some serious damage, so it'll be nice to see them do something other than cast lesser healing wave until they're blue in the face. Now they can spend that precious mana on buffs and shocks.

Yep but it will also pretty much kill Horde, or at the very least the Horde Shaman class.

Besides, I wouldn't trust blizzard to implement a new class or two properly in the first place. They can't even make their servers run well, can they? Sometimes, I think people just bitch because they like to bitch.

Currently I don't see Blizzard doing much of anyting right, not my issue as I wrote WoW off ages ago, still a shame to see a great concept continue to spiral out of control.

[Sloth]

So much hate in this thread yet WoW is dominating financially and subscriber wise. If Blizzard is making "bad" decisions then just about every company needs to stop making good ones if they want to make a profit.

[Pinku!]

Holy crap I'm happy, since my guy said the only way he'd ever want to play WoW again would be if the Alliance could be Shamans. And here we go! I don't care about game balancing since aside from RPing we only played together casually and we will NEVER raid. I liked WoW (up to 60) significantly more than City of Villains, so it looks like it's time for me to grab our preorders again.

...course we wanted Night Elf shamans, or better yet, a neutral race and the ability to comminicate across factions like in CoV/COH, but you can't have everything...like Blizzard sticking to their lore. *grumble* The story is what got me into Warcraft in the first place! :mad:

[Discobob73]

So I can make a blood elf paladin with AoE silence AND heal myself? SUH-WEET!!

[GunnyMo]

If it does happen, and they give Alliance shamans the exact same talents as Horde, then I would be all for it. Shamans are a ridiculously over powered class Horde has enjoyed way too long.

[balamoor]

So I can make a blood elf paladin with AoE silence AND heal myself? SUH-WEET!!


Yeah think I'll pop a bag of corn and check out the flames once PVP starts happening. :D

[balamoor]

If it does happen, and they give Alliance shamans the exact same talents as Horde, then I would be all for it. Shamans are a ridiculously over powered class Horde has enjoyed way too long.


Okay you’re right, Shamans are overpowered but seriously Gunny what else does Horde have?

[captainstrombosis]

Rugged good looks, obviously!

[randir14]

Next month will be the one year anniversary since I quit this game and I couldn't be happier.

[Orosco]

Wow, so the horde not only gets a color changed Night Elf as a "new" race, they now can have Pallys?
Lazytown, next stop!

[Hemalin]

I have to say my favorite line is:
At the prince's signal the elves stormed the dimensional fortress, quickly defeating its automated defenses and claiming its satellite structures.
Why don't we just take some battlecruisers and use their yamato guns on Kel'Thuzad's necropolis?

[roboninja]

I for one, like this. More choices, more opportunity; I am for all races being any class anyway. Lore?? I could care less about that, I want to have fun in the game. Never played much of the Warcraft series (never liked any RTS), so I am uncaring/oblivous to changes in lore.

Can anyone say Draeni Shaman Jewelcrafter on launch day? I can :)

[OrangePulp]

If it does happen, and they give Alliance shamans the exact same talents as Horde, then I would be all for it. Shamans are a ridiculously over powered class Horde has enjoyed way too long.

Are you playing the same game I am? Paladins have been better than shaman for a long time. Sure, shaman have more dps in pvp, but paladins are almost unkillable healers in pvp, so I'd say they're about even on that fact. When it comes to PvE, shamans are just shitty paladins (realize this is coming from a horde player). I've heard from a few people that have raided endgame in both alliance and horde, that alliance is much easier due to the paladin raid buffs.

The problem with this is that it basically forces raiding shaman to reroll as paladins. No one is going to take more than one or two shaman when they can have paladins instead.

Now shamans don't have to worry about being gimped healbots, and they can focus on DPS in raids. Shamans can kick out some serious damage, so it'll be nice to see them do something other than cast lesser healing wave until they're blue in the face.

What a joke. If a shaman is putting out a lot of dps, it means that he's draining his mana dry very fast. From what my brother says (he plays a 60 shaman), you last about a minute. Works well in pvp situations, but not in endgame raiding.

[Achilles]

The ultimate game balancing move between factions, or simply lazy developers, you decide.Frankly I'm glad they're letting me play a shaman without ditching my guild.

[Hemalin]

Why balance factions for end game raiding when you be shaman or paladin? Does this mean Draenei can no longer be paladins?

[RMan]

Well, one thing to consider is that with unique classes, you will never, and I mean NEVER, be able to keep people from bitching. Even if 100% mathematically balanced, many players would call them horribly imbalanced, simply because the perception of balance is very subjective. Even in this thread there seem to be competing opinions, and seemingly pretty firm ones. With a game it’s enjoyment level is a purely emotional thing, and if the balance problems (real or imagined) are causing people to have less fun, then balance is a problem, even if Blizzard has made no mistakes balancing the classes. In short, as long as there are unique classes, Blizzard can’t possibly fix balance issues.

[gzsfrk]

Lore?? I could care less about that, I want to have fun in the game. Never played much of the Warcraft series (never liked any RTS), so I am uncaring/oblivous to changes in lore.

That's certainly your prerogative. However, many players (such as myself) enjoyed WoW largely BECAUSE it has (had) an excellently written, rich backstory that the MMO let us explore in much greater detail than prior. So any nonsensical, outrageous changes to the lore are rightly considered blasphemous. I mean, just release an expansion titled "ZERG Invasion" while you're at it.

For me at least, if you take away the incredible storyline, WoW is little more than a polished, fairly well-executed, yet generic, fantasy MMO. Why would I choose WoW over, say, Warhammer if the story is meaningless? Answer: Not much reason why anyone would. The Warcraft lore has been Blizzard's primary competitive advantage over its peers thus far; that may well be in the process of changing. (LAAAASEEEER SHAAAWWKK FROM SPAAAAAACE... PEW PEW)

[OrangePulp]

For me at least, if you take away the incredible storyline, WoW is little more than a polished, fairly well-executed, yet generic, fantasy MMO. Why would I choose WoW over, say, Warhammer if the story is meaningless? Answer: Not much reason why anyone would. The Warcraft lore has been Blizzard's primary competitive advantage over its peers thus far; that may well be in the process of changing. (LAAAASEEEER SHAAAWWKK FROM SPAAAAAACE... PEW PEW)

I can think of one reason why people would still choose WoW over other MMOs: It plays better. Seriously, out of every MMO I've played, WoW is the best, gameplay wise. Realize that although you care about the lore, most players probably don't.

[Ernst_Jager]

The problem with this is that it basically forces raiding shaman to reroll as paladins. No one is going to take more than one or two shaman when they can have paladins instead.

Having played a shaman to 60 (end game) you sir are exactly correct in this statement. But I also think that the Paladin/Shaman combo in pvp groups will be brutal.

[Goronmon]

I can think of one reason why people would still choose WoW over other MMOs: It plays better. Seriously, out of every MMO I've played, WoW is the best, gameplay wise. Realize that although you care about the lore, most players probably don't.Well, I don't necessarily agree with you lore-wise, I think your comments about the gameplay are spot on.

Edit: Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that many of the people complaining about this change are people that don't even play the game anymore?

[TheWookieeHasNoPants]

Having just gotten the WoW monkey off my back, the thought of playing a gay-ass pally will not have me playing again.

/FOR THE HORDE!
//one day at a time

[PixelSamurai]

Edit: Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that many of the people complaining about this change are people that don't even play the game anymore?

I've noticed that too. I currently do play, and cannot wait for the expansion. I don't care about this Shaman/Paladin thing at all. I actually thought Draeni would make stupid looking paladins, so let's hope this is a swap instead of a "pick any class, go nuts!" race.

As for lore... well, I play WoW for the gameplay and the setting. The setting still looks great, the gameplay is still fun. I don't really care if some website or some book somewhere states that the Draeni came from space and the Blood elves helped George Washington cross the Delaware, I'm here for the game. As long as they don't send me on any quests in space, lore is not affecting my enjoyment.

[ddbrown30]

Hell yeah. Motherfuckin' space shamans of death! FRAWST SHAWK FROM SPACE, BITCHES! :D

Maybe I missed something, but WTF are you talking about?

[Hemalin]

Pfft, the Draenei are going to be so overpowered once they get their interdimensional ship (http://www.bestqualitywallpapers.com/Games/Starcraft.jpg) up and running.

Not like it matters much, World of Starcraft (http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y219/kayjack88/starcraft.jpg) will own you all.

[endrom]

warhammer.... yea, I'm diggin it.

[xcalibur]

Do you monkeys have any idea of how difficult it is to add an entire new class, and still keep it balanced in line with the other existing classes? Seriously, until you've tried something that complex, don't bitch. You're coming off as whining children.

Yet somehow, magically, every other MMO dev has done it in a major expansion like this.


-X

[niakori]

Stupid stupid stupid stupid, another move to make pvp even more meaningless in wow, and this coming from a froobie carebear. But hey, I have like 10,000 and counting upcoming mmos to rely on. :p

[Shifteh]

Welcome.. to the world of elfcraft.

[XenonCJ]

Well... It's gonna be nice have Pally auras AND Shamen totems going at the same time... So I for one welcome our new Dranei overlords...

[Camel]

Reading threads like this one (and ESPECIALLY checking out the wow forums) makes me happy I got out alive.

[Draft]

I was expecting this.

A lot of people are calling this a cop out, and to an extent they are correct. One of the original selling points on WoW was that players would join a distinct faction, that warred and /spit and all sorts of nasty stuff to the other faction. There were going to be real differences between the factions, aside from the city you conduct business in, and clearly the best example of that was each side's unique class.

I doubt Blizzard ever expected raiding in WoW to become as popular as it has. If they did, many of the game's classes would be much different than they are today. Most class abilities and talents are clearly geared towards 5 and 10 man content, and a few of them either break or become completely over powered in a raid environment. For 7 of the game's 9 classes, this wasn't too big a problem. All things being equal between factions, it's no big whoop to shoe horn a rogue or druid's functionality into a raid setting. This does not apply to shaman and paladins.

The shaman totem system is great for the 5 man parties and largely cramped and stationary fights that make up WoW from level one to the raid game. Once inside a raid their per group limitation becomes painfully apparent, and in the large dungeons and mobile encounters that make up the recent end game, their immobility and range often make them all but useless.

Paladins, on the other hand, have access to a number of buffs that are perfectly balanced in 5 man groups, but become very powerful in a raid invironment. Blessing of Salvation was originally created so the less threat capable paladin could hold aggro off a rogue or other DPS character in his group, thus allowing him to tank. When Blizzard introduced BWL, with its myriad aggro sensitive fights, it became a godsend for Alliance DPS classes. Judgement of Wisdom is a neat little ability that allows priests to gain a little mana back during a tough 5 man boss fight. During a raid boss encounter, 5 priests will be casting for a very long time, sometimes 10 to 15 minutes, and now JoW is a huge mana boost. And of course there's good old Blessing of Kings, which is a terrifically powerful buff due to its scalability.

It became evident pretty quickly that paladin buffs afforded Alliance raid groups quite a bit of functionality and power over their horde counterparts. While shaman provide exceptional buff abilities of their own, they have nothing that can match aggro control of BoS, the mana regen of JoW, and the overall uber buffiness of BoK.

So Blizzard was faced with a fairly difficult decision- either buff shaman to the point where they give Horde raids as much functionality as paladins, or allow the once unique classes to jump factions. So now we have space ogre shaman and sexy red paladins. What did the player lose with this decision? Obviously, some of the unique "flavor" each side enjoys is now gone. But what did the player gain? IMO, quite a lot.

First, this can only spell good things for both the shaman and paladin class. In their current faction specific state, each class had to offer similar functionality to the other, while still retaining their own unique characteristics. What that means is that while they're both hybrids, with their own plusses and minues, each class was prevented from exceling at anything in particular. Paladins can't be good tanks, because that gives Alliance an extra tanking class. Shaman can't be as good a nuker as a mage, because that gives the Horde an extra DPS class. The result of that thinking is both shaman and paladins were regulated to the same role: back up healer and buff bot.

Now that both classes are available to each faction, Blizzard is free to differentiate them more. Paladins no longer need to be prevented from tanking, or doing DPS, or whatever. Shaman no longer need to be prevented from doing raid DPS via magic of melee attacks. Blizzard has the oppurtunity now to tune each class into something truly unique and interesting, a prospect that I look forward to with trepidacious anticipation.

Those of you who think that shaman are now useless in a raid invironment really need to actually play the game a bit before talking about it. Shaman will still offer the best melee buffs in the game, arguably the best hunter buff, a completely unique healing spell, and a whole set of exclusive totem based buffs not available to paladins (tremor, grounding, earthbind, etc.)

Nevermind the fact that level 60-70 is going to be almost a whole new game. We have no idea what the new spells or talents will be. We have no idea how the classes will change before those new spells and talents. To just decide at this point that shaman have had their role supplanted in the raid game is premature.

It would not be inaccurate to call WoW my favorite game of all time. I've gotten more enjoyment out of this stupid piece of software than any other title that springs to mind. IMO, Blizzard has done a great job creating a title that has something for the casual and hardcore alike. The direction they seem to be taking with the expansion, away from 40 man encounters, towards encounters that stress more skills than the classic tank and spank, and an inelegant but effective move towards faction balance, has me excited.

But then again, I'm just a fanboy. What do I know?

[reimomo]

1 bazillion dollars and they can't be bothered to make hero classes for the existing 9 classes, or implement any new classes with the expansion. Gonna vote lazy.

I dont know what Draft is talking about with the "completely unique healing spell" (the set bonus from the MC set? giggle), but I've spent many a hour raiding as a shaman (and have raid experience as a pally) and while the shaman buffs are individually worse than pally buffs, in a 5-man instance they seemp to make up for it by being able to give 3 at a time to the group. thats until you realize that you're giving 3 buffs for hte party, not 3 buffs to each person. so the mage gets +melee damage, or the warrior gets +spell regen. and if you try to use aggro totem, the tank can't hold aggro
anymore. In a raid, its rediculous how much better pallys are. You want to use aggro reduction and +melee damage? too bad, same totem. Mana regen + poison cure? too bad, same totem.

The entire totem mechanic is just plain stupid, and instead of knuckling down and spending cycles developing a new one, Blizz just took the easy road.

[CannibalKid]

As much as i like balance, this solution comes off similar to similar to Alterac Valley changes. Get frustrated with the balancing results, then just take the "see what happens" approach by applying signficant changes that don't really address the underlying problems to a live version time and time again.

I personally don't really care about the class additions, but i'm more interested in their side effects:

If every instance can be designed to accept shamans and palladins in the same raid, that seems like they'll continue on their current dungeon design practice where classes not the most successful at a "trifecta" role will be given a very small role at filling what ever side role they were given (ex. raids have a few AoE events require mages to prevent them from being obsoleted by another player that does more single target dps).

What happens to very established guilds that have 40 consistant raiders and would have to ask a raider to either sit out for more shamans/pallys, or re-roll a shaman/pally enduring a rediculous amount of re-raiding to get them back up to the newest lvl 70 raid content.

This change could also be an artificial motivator for players to re-roll a character in the new expansion's low level content.

Also could be to hide an over crowding problem when many old players return to WoW and continue sitting around complaining because their main character cannot participate in the new raids do to RL scheduling.

[Draft]

I was talking about Chain Heal.

[saneman]

Kudos Blizzard. I was stunned when I first heard this, but now (10 minutes later) I think I like the idea. Sure, it would have been nice if they could achieve satisfactory balance amongst the classes and factions without abandoning the unique classes for each faction. Seriously though, if you actually think that it is possible to balance the classes to the satisfaction of "the playerbase" I invite you to visit the community forums.

You might want to hide all your sharp objects and firearms beforehand.

Kudos Blizzard.

[Savok]

If Blizzard is making "bad" decisions then just about every company needs to stop making good ones if they want to make a profit.
I don't think you've quite grasped the horrifying truth of what you've just said.

[bstiff]

Do you monkeys have any idea of how difficult it is to add an entire new class, and still keep it balanced in line with the other existing classes? Seriously, until you've tried something that complex, don't bitch. You're coming off as whining children.

yeah too difficult for blizzard to accomplish in what 2 fucking years? Coming soon in 2030 ... hero classes (weren't those supposed to be added in like 6 months after release?)

[HeisinDC]

means high level expansion dungeons will be geared towards having every class, so those starting blood elf pallys will have to hurry the f* up if they want to help their guild.

this is more grinding, etc. before playing ally or horde was kinda 2 different games, now its one big clusterf*.

i'm quitting, naxx is annoying, i dont think the expansion will be anything special

[theguido]

Haha, people are whining about the lore implications of this? I mean, we've got PALADINS FROM SPACE (http://lorelol.ytmnd.com/) already, it's not as if it can get any worse at this point.

And this is the sort of thing that actually makes me consider going back to WoW....except for the small issue that ultimately I've played the 1-30 innumerable times and don't want to do it again, and at the same time I hatehatehate the way the game becomes after around level 45 and don't even care about trying endgame. Advancement = good, grinding = bad.

[easi]

It's fine, really it is.

[Savok]

Oh yes, as for the Horde and no one playing, Warstomp, the Forsaken, the Orc stun resist, then Blood Elves with fucking AOE Silence.

[SexualChoc]

Excellent. Now I can beat down Horde Paladins with my Paladin. Prepare to feel the wrath of Uther!

[51|RandoM]

Do you monkeys have any idea of how difficult it is to add an entire new class, and still keep it balanced in line with the other existing classes? Seriously, until you've tried something that complex, don't bitch. You're coming off as whining children.

Uh, if it is too hard, maybe they should stick to easier games.

it is like nasa saying spaceflight is too diffiicult, we're going to stick to biplanes, and then somebody like you giving people crap for giving nasa crap that they're only doing biplanes.

Doesn't matter to me, I read the writing on the wall about 3 months after released. It said "PvE raids". I said "bye".