Entries in tinker (1)
The Next Expansion: New Playable Classes?
iTZKooPA on Thursday, July 23, 2009 - 52 Comments Tags: alchemist, cataclysm, dark ranger, demon hunter, dread lord, goblins, mountain king, new classes, new wow classes, speculation, the next expansion, tinker, warden, wow classes, wow: cataclysm
That's A Lot Of Classes!
To date, our series of speculative creativity has relied upon some inkling of a rumor as the basis of most of the pieces. I am going to pull a hard 180 and go completely off the cuff with this one. No backroom discussion, drunken rant or friend of a friend who knows a guy that dated some girl who roomed with Chris Metzen sparked my neurons. As such, the class details below are entirely fake!
Currently we only know one thing about World of Warcraft's third expansion, that it exists. Beyond that it's all been conjecture, speculation and well wishes, and yet none of these have touched upon any major gameplay feature. Masks aside (and I consider that rumor a huge leap of faith) we lack the faintest idea of what could be announced as part of the official declaration of expansion the third.
What you thought Sams would walk to the podium, whisper "World of Warcraft: Cataclysm" and walk away? Fólkvangr no. There will be a ridiculous amount of information given that faithful day, whenever it may be. What I am trying to figure out is what the big gun is going to be? Another new class? A pair of new races? An incredible amount of dungeons and raids spread across all levels? A working Wintergrasp?
I found the idea of new classes to be the most interesting despite the fact that Wrath just brought us one. That and guessing classes is a shot in the dark.
Alliance:
- Mountain King (Dwarf only) - The mighty Mountain King will be a tank of a different nature. These steadfast warriors will be capable of absorbing obtuse amounts of damage no matter their specialty. Their stocky stature enables them to create earth shattering Thunder Claps to frighten, disorient and slow foes in the immediate vicinity, and a well-timed Storm Bolt stops almost anything in its tracks. Unfortunately the bulk is a defensive mechanism, causing overall DPS to be lower than other melee classes.
- Warden - Popularized by Maiev Shadowsong, the Warden makes a return to reclaim Fan of Knives from rogues hunt those who have done injustices to Night Elves, and the rest of the Alliance. The nimble class' focus will be close-ranged AoE combat. Single target DPS suffers when compared to the class' ability to handle two or more mobs via close range AoE attacks and spells. Shadowstrike, a non-channeled, multi target Mind Flay can be used to lay waste to fugitives.
- Dark Ranger (Undead only) - At the basic level Dark Rangers are to be compared to their bow-loving buddies, the Hunters, but DRs have a completely new set of spells and abilities. The most notable difference would be the lack of a pet. Instead of fuzzy companions these former Scourge officers have the ability to resurrect fallen corpses to fight for them. However, these beings act more as fodder than DPS. The devastation instead comes from the DR's Silencing abilities, Life Drain and an overall more powerful, yet slower, standard shot that is charged with dark energy.
- Dread Lord - The Nathrezim have played a large role in the Warcraft universe, but haven't received much press in WoW (at least as far as the Alliance can tell). It's unlikely that they could be added as a class without the addition of the race itself, but the Dread Lord makes for an interesting class. These dastardly beings are quick attacking, weaponless fighters that use a mix of instant or fast spells (one second or less) and strong claw-based attacks to drop foes. A revamp of the Sleep spell that allows units to be damaged would be their stun and the Vampiric Aura adds fantastic group appeal.
- Goblin Tinker - Another class that can only be applicable as part of a new race, the Goblin Tinker specializes in machine-based battle. The short race makes up for its strength inadequacies by placing themselves in crazy battle mechs. The new class will feature mindless, summonable minions which detonate on aggressive mobs if they are not killed quickly. Attacks include a targetable rocket AoE stun, a slow swinging wrecking ball for white damage (also another weaponless class) and a personal buff along the lines of Inner Fire, but with damage attributes too, call Mechanical Mayhem.
- Goblin Alchemist - In an effort to once keep a solid number of healers being played at all times comes the Goblin Alchemist. Instead of mechanical ingenuity, this diminutive class relies on its ability to create chemical and biological agents for offense and defense. Alchemists specialize in short to mid-range AoE combat, with nearly all of their spells, healing or damaging, being targetable AoE abilities (think bombs). Instead of mana, the class is reliant upon how fast the brews can be concocted, causing the cooldowns to be the only limiting factor.
- Demon Hunter - The DH would have made a more logical addition in The Burning Crusade, but one could argue that the amount of demons in the world then caused an vast increase in these heroes, on both sides of the fence. With the threat largely neutralized the dedicated hunters have begun looking for other work. Following the outcast class' lore, the melee (fist, swords and dagger) machines would subsidize their strikes with powers from the dark taint they hunger to banish from Azeroth, such as Immolation. Spectral Sight allows Scourge and Demon tracking. A fantastic chance for Blizzard to show our characters changing over the course of time (leveling) thanks to the demonic energies corrupting one's body.