Yesterday I began a post about the QQ going on over the new Class/Race combos coming up in WoW next expansion. With complaints about breaking Lore or screwing Draenei. So i began giving lore-based reasoning behind the new classes, covering Orc Mages, Human and Undead Hunters, Tauren Priest and Pallies, and Troll Druids. Today I will cover the remaining Classes.
Blood Elf Warrior - The only reason they don't exist is because originally things only allow for each race to have six classes, which also could explain the lack of human hunters. We all know they exist. Everyone has seen the Silvermoon Guardians and most people know of Spell Breakers from Warcraft III. A protection warrior using spell reflect and shattering throw, plus arcane torrent sounds like mage-bane to me.
Dwarf Mage - First of from what I've read Dwarf Mages existed during the intial beta period of WoW, now mind you that I was not playing during the beta or much of vanilla WoW at all I will say that it's not surprising. Dwarf Mages exist in game already most being affiliated with the Kirin Tor or Dark Iron dwarves. Furthermore they have a close relationship with Gnomes who are well established mages and humans. If you take into account Rune Magic, which is titan created so obviously made for dwarves then Dwarf mages are a given.
Dwarf Shaman - They exist, and have existed since so one created the Lore for dwarves, specifically the War of the Three Hammers. This essential bit of lore explains the origins of the three dwarf clans: Bronzebeard/Ironforge, Wildhammer, and Dark Iron. The Wildhammer are a particularly interesting case. Settling on Aerie Peak you could call them Hill Dwarves. They strayed away from the industrial style of other dwarves becoming closer to nature. They are the reason the Alliance Have Griffons and they are the original Dwarf Shamans. What's to stop them from teaching their Ironforge Brethren. Add to that the very nature of dwarves, being creatures carved from the earth, and the plethora of iron dwarf shaman blanketing Northrend anyone who says dwarf shamans don't make sense is an idiot, and its surprising the number of people who don't know about Wildhammer Dwarves, and if your alliance, they want their griffons back.
Night Elf Mages - Another class that lorewise already exists, or existed. The big reasoning behind night elves not having mages is they blame arcane magic for the sundering, and the first invasion of the burning legion. In truth though it was not the magic itself but its users that posed the problem, not taking into account the possible old god living in the well of eternity angle from War of the Ancients, which brings use to the reason for them being reintroduced. Highborne were night elf nobles and gifted in the arcane arts. Majority of the highborne either fallowed Queen Azshara and became Naga or followed Dath'Remar Sunstrider and became High Elves (later Blood Elves) but it would seem that some just went into hiding. With the new, alliance version of an injured colleague revealing a Highborne Mage seeking an audience with Tyrande Whisperwind. With their entry into the alliance they have been met by responsible spellcasters such as the Kirin Tor and thus may be more open to the return of mages of their own, besides druids already use arcane spell, i.ei moonfire.
Gnome Priest - This one is sort of like troll druids with there being not a lot of lore behind it. Gnomes are described as practical and things like religion were a bit to abstract for them. though they did have healers they were more like doctors than priests. However there have been lots of developements with gnome lore in WotLK, and with them living in ironforge it wouldn't be much of a stretch for them to follow the holy light or develope a religion of there own to tap into its power, though that doesn't mean we'll be getting gnome paladins, just be happy with your warriors and death knights.
and will stop there. Finishing up tomorrow with a look at worgen and goblin classes from a lore perspective.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Senseless QQ
So i was reading the forums and there's a massive thread full of complaints about new class/race combos in the upcoming WoW expansion, Cataclysm. A big beef is with Blizzard breaking Lore, which in itself in impossible. To be Honest the closest you come is a retcon and this isn't even close to that. What does happen is lore evolves just like history, and with new discoveries things change. So lets get started with my personal lore breakdown for new classes, based on current lore and personal opinion.
Orc Mage - Not a big jump. To be fair the orcs when from shaman to warlock in a sense they skipped the stage where they learned arcane magic in the first place, Mage. Warlocks are described as be extreme. Taking that final step over to the darkside. As orcs are in a period of healing and growing as a race, why is it surprising that some warlocks would shrink back from the darker arts essential becoming mages? Furthermore there are ample teachers around to guide them, Trolls, Undead, Blood Elves, Kirin Tor, even Jaina Proudmore so what's stopping them? Nothing.
Undead Hunter - OK for anyone who forgot, the Banshee Queen of the Forsaken Sylvanas Windrunner is the former Ranger-General of Silvermoon, i.e. a hunter. Add to that the dark rangers added during WotLK, plus Nathanos Blightcaller undead hunters are even more likely than human ones.
Human Hunters - This one doesn't quite make sense to have not existed in the first place. My guess is that it occurred for the same reason Blood Elves didn't have warriors, Humans already had 6 classes. Hunter was at the bottom of the Human lore latter so it got the ax. Lore reasoning was the last human ranger lord Nathanos Marris disappeared (becoming Forsaken along with his mentor Sylvanas) so how do you reintroduce them? Well there's plenty of ways. You could have some really old human ranger resurface to revive the art, or a hidden student of Nathanos could emerge, or you could have someone teach them. Alleria Windrunner, Shandris Feathermoon, Hemet Nesingwary any of them could reintoduce humans to Hunterdom.
I will take a moment here to address some QQ that is common. Why can't so-and-so be so-and-so? The short answer because Blizzard says so. Of course theres more to it than that. The big one are Undead Paladins and the ignorance of Draenei in the expansion. Undead Paladins can't occur plain and simple. Paladins are immune to the plague, and if you want to call Arthas you lose because he was never infected. He besame undead through the power of Frostmourne and Ner'zhul. For the Draenei not recieving a new class the remaining classes Warlock, Rogue, and Druid don't really fit. Warlock especially because it would make them no better than there demonic cousins. Rogues I could see for Broken as could i see Druids, druids would be the most likely by far, however blizzard tries to maintain a balance with hybrids keeping them realatively equal though shamans historically have had one more option than paladins, which continues into wrath. So for draenei to get druids either worgen druids get the ax or horde get a new druid. (Blood Elves have druids in game already, but they already have 8 classes so i'd go for orcs, which would make a good opposite for Draenei lorewise) As for Worgen Druids, i don't see them going anywhere. Blizzard has hinted than Worgen may originate on azeroth, not some far off world, but in the distant past and are connected to Druids this way, furthermore the trailer says and old ally resurfaces to bring worgen into the alliance and shows a Night Elves, not Humans, approaching. If i had any guess I'd say the one leading them is the long missing Velinde Starsong, Former wielder of the Scythe of Elune which had the power to summon worgen. She is may or may not predate Arugal in summon Worgen. Now back to the original topic.
Tauren Priest and Paladins - OK, before I begin I must make one point clear. Being a priest or paladin does NOT mean you follow the holy light, only that you use it's power. This applies to Humans, Dwarves, Blood Elves, to a lesser extent Forsaken who follow a more twisted version in the Forgotten Shadow, and possibly Gnomes. Night Elves Priests are members of the Sisters of Elune (Yes even the guys) and elune using Elunes power. While Trolls, heal with power from Loa Gods (Zabra Hexx represents an exception which will and should always exist). This means that the religion of the holy light itself is not what gives power to priest or paladins. An'she is the right eye of the Earthmother and sister of Mu'sha, or the sun to the us non-tauren. So then who is this Mu'sha, why the moon or as the Night Elves call her Elune. For anyone who cares about lore the quest and Injured Colleague would have been awesome, Here a druid discusses the lack of balance in night elf styled druidism. If tauren had been druids since the beginning of time why would they, a diurnal race, place so much in the moon and not the sun? Which leads into the introduction of the Sunwalkers tauren priestly order. Now as a side know An'she and the holy light may very well be one and the same, just as Mu'sha and Elune represent the same being, however it is the power of light that tauren are wielding and not the power of the Holy Light, that's for the "pretty" races.
Troll Druids - This one came out of left field, but for me a Troll fan is a dream come true. As you can see by the name of the blog i'm a fan of leather classes and high agility races so of course i like druids and i like trolls, but tauren druids aren't my cup of tea. I always felt Tauren were perfect for Bears, while Night Elves were more for cats. With the introduction of Troll and Worgen Druids, Worgen could have higher strength good for bears, and trolls already have high agility perfect for cats. Lorewise i don't really see where their getting it. True shapeshifting has been a part of troll lore for forever with pretty much every troll raid boss turning into something, but this comes from channeling Loa spirits. On the other hand i can't wait to see how Blizzard introduces them and with Malfurion's possible return I wouldn't be shocked to see Draenei and other druids show up later in WoW history.
And will stop here for today. As you can see i'm a complete lore nerd who spends his days reading WoWwiki and reading sourcebooks. Since the post is pretty long i'll save the rest for tomorrow, which will cover Blood Elf Warriors, Dwarf Shamans and Mages, Night Elf Mages, and Gnome priest as well as a look at why Worgen and Goblins get the classes they do.
Orc Mage - Not a big jump. To be fair the orcs when from shaman to warlock in a sense they skipped the stage where they learned arcane magic in the first place, Mage. Warlocks are described as be extreme. Taking that final step over to the darkside. As orcs are in a period of healing and growing as a race, why is it surprising that some warlocks would shrink back from the darker arts essential becoming mages? Furthermore there are ample teachers around to guide them, Trolls, Undead, Blood Elves, Kirin Tor, even Jaina Proudmore so what's stopping them? Nothing.
Undead Hunter - OK for anyone who forgot, the Banshee Queen of the Forsaken Sylvanas Windrunner is the former Ranger-General of Silvermoon, i.e. a hunter. Add to that the dark rangers added during WotLK, plus Nathanos Blightcaller undead hunters are even more likely than human ones.
Human Hunters - This one doesn't quite make sense to have not existed in the first place. My guess is that it occurred for the same reason Blood Elves didn't have warriors, Humans already had 6 classes. Hunter was at the bottom of the Human lore latter so it got the ax. Lore reasoning was the last human ranger lord Nathanos Marris disappeared (becoming Forsaken along with his mentor Sylvanas) so how do you reintroduce them? Well there's plenty of ways. You could have some really old human ranger resurface to revive the art, or a hidden student of Nathanos could emerge, or you could have someone teach them. Alleria Windrunner, Shandris Feathermoon, Hemet Nesingwary any of them could reintoduce humans to Hunterdom.
I will take a moment here to address some QQ that is common. Why can't so-and-so be so-and-so? The short answer because Blizzard says so. Of course theres more to it than that. The big one are Undead Paladins and the ignorance of Draenei in the expansion. Undead Paladins can't occur plain and simple. Paladins are immune to the plague, and if you want to call Arthas you lose because he was never infected. He besame undead through the power of Frostmourne and Ner'zhul. For the Draenei not recieving a new class the remaining classes Warlock, Rogue, and Druid don't really fit. Warlock especially because it would make them no better than there demonic cousins. Rogues I could see for Broken as could i see Druids, druids would be the most likely by far, however blizzard tries to maintain a balance with hybrids keeping them realatively equal though shamans historically have had one more option than paladins, which continues into wrath. So for draenei to get druids either worgen druids get the ax or horde get a new druid. (Blood Elves have druids in game already, but they already have 8 classes so i'd go for orcs, which would make a good opposite for Draenei lorewise) As for Worgen Druids, i don't see them going anywhere. Blizzard has hinted than Worgen may originate on azeroth, not some far off world, but in the distant past and are connected to Druids this way, furthermore the trailer says and old ally resurfaces to bring worgen into the alliance and shows a Night Elves, not Humans, approaching. If i had any guess I'd say the one leading them is the long missing Velinde Starsong, Former wielder of the Scythe of Elune which had the power to summon worgen. She is may or may not predate Arugal in summon Worgen. Now back to the original topic.
Tauren Priest and Paladins - OK, before I begin I must make one point clear. Being a priest or paladin does NOT mean you follow the holy light, only that you use it's power. This applies to Humans, Dwarves, Blood Elves, to a lesser extent Forsaken who follow a more twisted version in the Forgotten Shadow, and possibly Gnomes. Night Elves Priests are members of the Sisters of Elune (Yes even the guys) and elune using Elunes power. While Trolls, heal with power from Loa Gods (Zabra Hexx represents an exception which will and should always exist). This means that the religion of the holy light itself is not what gives power to priest or paladins. An'she is the right eye of the Earthmother and sister of Mu'sha, or the sun to the us non-tauren. So then who is this Mu'sha, why the moon or as the Night Elves call her Elune. For anyone who cares about lore the quest and Injured Colleague would have been awesome, Here a druid discusses the lack of balance in night elf styled druidism. If tauren had been druids since the beginning of time why would they, a diurnal race, place so much in the moon and not the sun? Which leads into the introduction of the Sunwalkers tauren priestly order. Now as a side know An'she and the holy light may very well be one and the same, just as Mu'sha and Elune represent the same being, however it is the power of light that tauren are wielding and not the power of the Holy Light, that's for the "pretty" races.
Troll Druids - This one came out of left field, but for me a Troll fan is a dream come true. As you can see by the name of the blog i'm a fan of leather classes and high agility races so of course i like druids and i like trolls, but tauren druids aren't my cup of tea. I always felt Tauren were perfect for Bears, while Night Elves were more for cats. With the introduction of Troll and Worgen Druids, Worgen could have higher strength good for bears, and trolls already have high agility perfect for cats. Lorewise i don't really see where their getting it. True shapeshifting has been a part of troll lore for forever with pretty much every troll raid boss turning into something, but this comes from channeling Loa spirits. On the other hand i can't wait to see how Blizzard introduces them and with Malfurion's possible return I wouldn't be shocked to see Draenei and other druids show up later in WoW history.
And will stop here for today. As you can see i'm a complete lore nerd who spends his days reading WoWwiki and reading sourcebooks. Since the post is pretty long i'll save the rest for tomorrow, which will cover Blood Elf Warriors, Dwarf Shamans and Mages, Night Elf Mages, and Gnome priest as well as a look at why Worgen and Goblins get the classes they do.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Aerie Peak down 2AM - 4PM!
Shame, my first real post is a big QQ but what the hell, that's more than 12 hours of downtime. For that much time I should have goblins and worgen Live and playable. OK so Blizzard is fixing server stuff for instances or what have you fine, but 12 hours! Of course this just be because Winterhoof (my alternate server) was also down, ie WoW withdrawal
The Beginning
So this could mean I've finally snapped, or that my life his hit a all time boredom low, but I'm creating a blog. Why? Your guess is as good as mine but I'm gonna see how things go. There'll be WoW, D&D, and any other games that tickle my fancy, plus books (the kinds with words and the kinds with pictures) and everyday life stuff, and occasionally some of my own writing.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)