Blizzcon 2007 Wrapup - Page 2

Beladona · 08-12-07, 02:34 PM

Thank you Mental. I had trouble getting back to this thread this week. But everything Mental said mirrors my own assumptions / understandings.

From what I can understand the Death Knight will be sort of a hybrid warrior/warlock with their talent trees centering around tanking and damage. I don't think they will be a threat to warrior tank superiority nor will they outshine classes like the rogue for melee dps, or mage/warlock for casting dps. I do however think they will provide a much different style of play for each of those roles.

If there was any class I could say might be threatened by this new hero class, it might be ret pallies. They are hurting already, and Death Knights may end up being what ret pallies should have been. But then by the time this expansion comes out you may see a lot of changes in what Ret Pallies can do, not to mention what Death Knights are at that point.

I am sorry this thread didn't go into more detail about what we did outside of Blizzcon. I enjoyed myself immensely but I have a hard time writing about stuff like that. I guess I am just an analytical thinker when it comes to writing. Cairenn has thankfully posted a much more lighthearted thread covering the fun we had and who was there. Visit her thread here so see more of that kind of stuff. I already miss everyone from Blizzcon and can't wait to go again...

Mazzlefizz · 08-12-07, 04:30 PM

It sounds to me that they're simply adding another class. The only thing that makes it more unique than other classes is that you have to unlock it and you don't have to level it as much. Nothing I've heard seems to indicate that it will be radically stronger or more powerful than another level 80. It sounds like this "hero" business is more a marketing term than a functional one.

Beladona · 08-13-07, 06:52 AM

They are only calling a hero class to differentiate it from the normal ones. To just call it another class would be a misnomer as well. When you hear the original design for the class you also begin to see why it was slated as a "hero class" because they had actually thrown the idea around that this would be an "upgrade" to your existing class. In fact the original wow concept was to include hero classes in which your existing class would reach a point where they would morph into these specialized heroes. That was scrapped in favor of simplicity.

One of the major overriding reasons they called it a hero class was also because many of the classes that will get added from here on out will be based on hero characters in WC3 that never made it into the game. Think Blade Masters, Demon Hunters, etc... These are classes we would all love to see, but never made it into retail due to it being too complicated and too watered down at the time to have so many classes.

I welcome this mechanic. It gives us more choices while still making it easier to handle levelling up a brand new character. I encourage Blizzard to use some kind of mechanic for existing classes in which we can unlock the right to start new characters of that class at a higher level as well. It isn't hard to level a new druid to 60, but it is a pain I am sure most of us would enjoy losing.

The only issue I see with introducing hero classes in this game is the same problem that originally prevented them from adding them. We have all these classes that already that fill pretty much all the roles I can think of in groups and raids. I don't see how they can add a new class without taking away from some of the other classes that already have to share roles with others. Do we need a 4th tank? I don't honestly think so, but you may disagree. Do we need another melee dpser? Seems like we have a lot already. The only saving grace I can see with the Death Knight is in the rune carving system. Ideally the same death knight might be able to carve runes for a specific run that gives them a slightly different role than if they aarved different runes. It would be like another re-speccing mechanic, but without actually re-speccing. Example: Runes carved to enhance personal protection and tanking, versus runes carved that allow them to use more utility and aura based damage. This could potentially make them one of the most versatile classes without actually making them better at any one thing than another class...