The other week I talked about some popular class ideas intrepid players created concepts
for.
To their credit, their popularity is understandable and I did not give these ideas the full attention
they deserve.
This's mostly because there are so many differences in the details that I couldn't
hope to express them all the same way these passionate and talented thinkers could.
It's their ideas, after all.
I can only speak for myself, on my own YouTube soapbox.
So now that you're here, I'm throwing my name in the hat.
Let's design a class.
Should be easy, right?
Hey it's Soul, bringing you the Word of Warcraft.
Today I'm going to have some fun - I'm going to mock up a concept of a new WoW class,
with some ideas for specs, a outline for a backstory and how to implement this class.
Throughout this piece we'll consider some design challenges Blizzard will face and by
the end, I won't have designed the greatest class ever ready for launch tomorrow.
I won't even have a complete idea.
There won't be much in the way of details at all because trying to go as far as create
abilities and rotations is a waste of time for any one individual.
but maybe, just maybe, we'll have a neat idea a designer can run with.
Let me repeat myself here - this is just a concept.
Design is a group process.
I have zero design experience, but if there's one thing I do know about being a designer,
it's that no matter how much passion and thought put in, and you think of your idea
as your own baby, there will be many times you've got to let that baby go.
And no, I don't mean that literally.
In our previous video I talked about how a new class has historically fit the theme of
the expansion it's introduced in.
Death Knights for Lich King, Monks for Mists, Demon Hunters for Legion.
There's an obviously strong connection between expansion and class.
Considering our historical references, two expansions after Legion might bring us a new
class, and maybe a new race.
Let's assume this is true.
What could the next-next expansion be?
Popular ideas include a trip to Argus, the South Seas, another continent in Azeroth,
The Emerald Dream (still), a Void Lord world, and well the list goes on.
This narrows our list of possible classes somewhat, but I want to challenge that restriction.
Does the class absolutely HAVE to fit the expansion's theme?
I'm going to throw a limb out there and say no.
Maybe not.
I'm going to try an approach of introducing a class that doesn't necessarily have to
be a part of the expansion it's launched in.
Now, this immediately brings up the question, "why have the class at all, then?
An expansion sets the stage for this kind of thing, right?"
To that, I'd like to tell a short story, because if an expansion isn't going to help
frame this new class, we need an effective story to explain how this class came to be.
Or if it was always there.
This is the story of one man who's lived throughout WoW's story thus far, but has
been overlooked until now.
We don't know his or her name but let's call him Bill.
Let's make bill Human and let's have the starting experience begin in Westfall.
And did I mention that this experience starts as a flashback, all the way back to the days
of classic WoW?
Well I just did.
Bill works for a group of scavengers.
This is no ordinary group though; it's more like a company that follows the exploits of
the latest happenings in Azeroth.
In fact this company is run by a goblin, who employs anyone looking for a buck.
Doesn't matter if they're Human, Orc, Forsaken, Dwarf, or even a fellow Goblin.
In Westfall, Bill's company is going through what's left in the Defias family's hidden
holding, otherwise known as the Deadmines.
The Defias' entire operation was just recently dismantled by five people!
With most everyone inside dead or scattered, Bill and his crew of bottom feeders move in
to clear the rest of the place out of loot and life.
Bill's good with a gun, even though he's never been in a war.
Bill's boss likes him enough and has him perform special tasks in the Deadmines.
Disarm this.
Deactivate that.
Haul some dangerous cargo.
Knock a few heads.
That sort of thing.
This company moves from place to place following wakes of destruction, looking for riches that
"adventurers" and "champions" leave behind.
It's their livelihood.
It's their job.
Bill's job takes him through the timeline of the World of Warcraft in the aftermath
of major and minor events.
And he has his own adventures.
Most notably during his company's travels, Bill befriends a wandering ogre, lost after
his clan was wiped out by adventurers down in Feralas.
After a born-again ogre experience, he's named Bob by Bill.
At another point his new friend and the company find some incredible contraption that for
plot-based reasons, only Bill's ogre friend can operate.
This is important later.
Bill and Bob have almost whimsical adventures together on the job.
They help break ground in Area 52 over in Outland, and try to loot the tombs of Uldum.
They try to mine a rare form of Saronite right under the new Lich King's nose and get in
lots of trouble for drinking on the job while helping the Stormstouts.
Basically, players will jump forward in time as these two undergo one assignment after
another until they reach our present, or somewhere close to that.
A fateful encounter leaves Bill and Bob, or you and your ogre companion, left to choose
between the Horde and Alliance to further their need to just get by in this crazy world.
Bill and Bob make the new class.
Both of them.
Together.
Obviously I don't have a name for this class, and that's intentional.
Bill is just a guy with a job and a gun.
Bob is just an ogre with an amazing and dangerous weapon.
The name of this class doesn't necessarily have to be based on some iconic theme or ability.
Maybe the name is based on them.
Maybe they're just Buddies.
Well that's an awful name.
Moving on.
Bill and Bob's story will let players revisit parts of WoW's iconic adventures from a
very different perspective.
They'll lean away from the pressures of world ending threats like Deathwing and the
Lich King and see the aftermath of what Azeroth's champions left behind.
What happened to the Underhold, that huge labyrinth under Orgrimmar?
And did anything happen in Azeroth while our champions were in an unshattered Draenor?
Introducing a class in this way, where it involves elements of WoW that were already
experienced by players is bound to result in some retroactive continuity, or retcons.
We've seen this as recently as with Demon Hunters where the details behind Illidan's
demise were changed somewhat.
Part of the premise of this class isn't just to bring in something new, but to give
additional narrative and nuance to the WoW that was left behind.
An approach like this is basically immune to the concern that a new class should fit
the design of the expansion it's introduced in.
In this case, Bill and Bob were always just a step behind or in the background, picking
up after the adventurers who laid waste to the enemies of the world.
Because of that, they can be introduced at any time.
12 years of WoW allows for this kind of idea.
So both Bill and Bob make up this new class.
Essentially it's a race of the player's choosing with an ogre companion.
Under the context of the narrative I built, we're restricted to a handful of the races
that were available in classic WoW.
And Goblins.
This class will have three specs with obvious differences but I'm going to leave the flavor
and theme out of it.
This class has no name so we can keep things open; the only hard requirement is that Bill
and Bob work together.
In terms of gear, Bill will wear mail gear.
Bob will unfortunately not wear a matching set, but that's what glyphs are for.
The first spec is what players will first experience when starting out as this class.
Bob uses a ranged weapon and regardless of the active spec, a ranged weapon will be the
only weapon of this class.
As players progress through an abridged, almost episodic leveling experience, Bob will join
him and almost act like a hunter pet, but not quite.
For the most part Bob, or your ogre, will stand closely at the player's side and also
perform ranged attacks using a special weapon designed for it that was picked up during
the introductory experience.
As for what that could be, use your imagination.
It could be a titan artifact, some goblin rocket launcher, whatever suits your fantasy.
What these weapons and abilities end up being will define the name of the class, so yes,
a Tinker-like class is possible.
To fit the fantasy and illusion of controlling two characters, maybe abilities can be split
among man and ogre, and each could have their own separate global cooldown.
The second spec will be a healer, but I never said Bill was a good healer.
Maybe Bill can perform first aid techniques while Bob uses his magical technological mary
sue weapon to heal.
It'd be neat if players could assign their ogre companion to follow an assigned ally
around and throw heals at other nearby allies while the other character used, I don't
know, long range bandage technology or a healing spray cannon.
I don't know.
The third spec will be a melee spec, and it wouldn't be right if Bill was clubbing enemies
with his ranged weapon while Bob played cheerleader.
Instead Bob - that is, your ogre - will be the controllable character and Bill is now
a sort of companion that follows him.
Bob will inherit the same stats as Bill even though Bill is wearing all the gear, including
whatever weapon he uses unless an artifact-like weapon system will be used in the future.
Imagine finally playing as an ogre in a power suit or Titan-made pneumatic fists, letting
you wail on enemies with phenomenal cosmic power.
Meanwhile Bill supports you with suppression fire to slow enemies, tosses you a bandage
or paints a target for additional damage.
Or is a cheerleader
There's a question I still haven't quite answered.
Why make a new class anyway?
There're some valid arguments to counter the idea, such as the expected bloat when
it comes to balancing the additional specs that this class will bring.
There's the expected opinion that this or any new class just wouldn't be very attractive
for a lot of players.
But let's assume that Blizzard would be happy with the specs that this class would
bring.
It behooves them to deal with balance challenges.
It's not for fans like you and I to feel sorry for Blizzard and be like "there there
it's okay, you don't have to do it if it's too hard."
In conversations about class balance Blizzard has repeatedly reminded us that there are
over 30 specs to juggle around, but I don't think that the purpose behind that statement
is for us to sympathize with how difficult their work is, but just to have a bit of empathy
for the work they do regardless of the difficulty.
If Blizzard wants to give us a new class and it feels right to deliver it, they'll do
it with full understanding of their newfound burdens.
Anyway, this class will answer a few concerns for players:
We'll get the first added ranged spec into the game, significant now that Survival Hunters
are now a melee spec.
We'll get the second healing spec after Mistweaver Monks.
Players can play as Ogres.
A certain desire for a technology-based class can be fulfilled, depending on the theme.
A new class as opposed to adding specs to existing classes allows for wild interpretations
of class fantasy as well as a chance for designers to stretch their imaginations, create new
tech and not feel limited by the already existing class.
The idea of say, a Shadow Hunter or a Dark Ranger sounds neat as a spec for Hunters,
Rogues or even Demon Hunters.
But how much of a departure would that spec be from the inner core of those classes?
This is just an example, of course, but my point is that a new class, especially one
unencumbered by expansion themes, is a blank slate designers can use to think up all sorts
of crazy ideas.
Share your thoughts, and Stay Breezy.
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