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World Of Warcraft: More on Alliance Shamans and Horde Paladins
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Something we have always held to as a core design philosophy is developing classes which are distinct from each other. This means developing a class with it's own abilities that clearly separate it from other classes in terms of how the class plays and operates, both for the player and from a design stand-point.
Early on in the inception of this game, it was a hot debate as to whether factions should have a specific class, which they alone have access to. Some wanted all classes to be distinct from each other, but accessible by all. Others thought that more flavor could be generated by keeping a class unique to a faction. Obviously, if you have one side with a unique class, you should probably give the other faction a unique class as well. Thus, Shaman and Paladins became those unique classes.
However, by linking them in a relationship as unique counter-points, options are closed for our main design goal, which is to keep classes distinct. We want factions to be balanced, but don't want to cut and paste abilities from one to the other and homogenize the classes. If we went that road, there would be little difference or need for a distinct class. We want classes to be different in more than just name-only or superficial appearances.
So, in our desire to keep the classes distinct and open up new possibilities for development of each class, shaman and paladins shall now be a playable class for both factions. This decision comes at a time when we have an opportunity to blend this decision into future development. Namely, with the new races in the upcoming expansion. Prior to the new races, the Paladin and Shaman lent themselves easily to their own factions and not that well to the opposite faction (Tauren Paladin? Gnome Shaman?) With the advent of the two additional races, the choice was made more clear in game design and lore.
In terms of game design, one of the options it opens up is for specific classes in dungeon encounters. We already have several encounters that highlight the abilities of a single class or make use of a classes specific abilities. Shaman and Paladins in the previous design could not participate in such encounters. If killing a creature required a Shaman, the Alliance could never beat the encounter and vice versa. This change allows the two classes to bring their own abilities into a situation which may highlight their class as an integral part of the encounter.
The discussion surrounding the decision to move forward with this change started long before World of Warcraft was even released, Waricelm. Making this change allows us an opportunity to blend all that's associated with this decision into future development.
The fact is, by allowing for this particular change we will be afforded the opportunity to open up many more options for both the Shaman and Paladin -- while preseverving the distinction between the two. We feel strongly that there is much more to gain by this route than there is from the flavor generated by keeping a class unique to a faction.
Stacking abilities/class availability
First of all, we plan to allow most of the Shaman and Paladin buff effects to stack, with a few exceptions of course. This means that both will be extremely useful in regards to improving the potential power level of those around them. Beyond this, you're only thinking in current "WoW" terms and seem to only be digesting current end-game. When the Burning Crusade releases all classes will have access to new spells, talents and abilities, which will be taken advantage of (and play a large part in) grouping/raiding in the expansion's end-game.
It's also important to note that moving forward, we'll be able to design our raid and dungeon encounters to specifically draw out the strengths of each of these classes, whereas now we actually take measures to prevent an encounter from being too beneficial to only one of the classes.
I'd also like to mention that beyond raiding, we think it will be exciting for players that feel strong allegiance to one specific faction to have access to a class that has seemed unavailable to them.
Blood Elf Paladins == Blood Knights
Blood Elves will be referred to as Paladins, and considered Paladins from all angles with the exception of in-game quest text, which will refer to them as Blood Knights. We plan to add flavor differences to both the Draenei Shaman and Blood Elf Paladin where we're able, but essentially they will be identical (or near identical) to their cross-faction counterparts in terms of mechanics.
This was decided some time ago, wasn't it?
You speak truth. We decided upon this quite some time ago, and even before the game's launch it was under heavy discussion.
Those abilities are completely and utterly useless if we don't place fear on a mob. We've yet to unveil what our end-game content will be like at level 70. You just need to be patient, and try not to allow your own speculation to concern you.
"Blizzard, I see the majority saying no to this change"
I'm seeing a great deal of positive feedback given the controversial nature of this change. A majority of the negative feedback that I'm seeing is derived from fear and speculation -- which is a normal human reaction to change. The fact of the matter is, the change affords us many more options in terms of overall game design, and equally as important allows us to preserve the distinction of the two classes without having to consider each faction as a whole every step of the way.
Don't forget that we've been building the future of this game to support this decision, and that the concerns we're seeing presented on these boards were thought of long ago.
Whether or not stating the obvious is considered speculation is irrelevant when it's definite and obvious speculation. You don't know anything about end-game in the Burning Crusade, or what we're doing in regards to ensure that this change interacts well with the entirety of the game's design.
Why?
Because we haven't told you yet. Be patient, watch the website for additional information and enjoy the ride. There is a wealth of great content in-store for everyone, and we're fully aware of the concerns brought about by this change.
We do plan to stick with our current design model for both the Shaman and Paladin in terms of what they bring to the table, only now we will really be able to flesh out and make their differences truly special. The reaction to the Shaman review had nothing to do with this change, other than we made decisions for the review based upon the fact that we were moving forward with this change.
I can't emphasize a few key points enough. Lets not apply this change to current World of Warcraft. The day Horde has access to the Paladin and the Alliance has access to the Shaman, ten new levels of spells, abilities and talents will be available for all classes. The Shaman will have extremely unique and special abilities that they will bring to an encounter, as will the Paladin. You will want both classes present in both group PvE and group PvP. Players that are fearful that Shaman won't be needed simply aren't seeing the larger picture.
In addition to this, we've been designing the future content of the game to support this change, which means we can create specific encounters where one class really excels and in certain cases, is pretty much required.
We're going to be making multiple announcements over the next several weeks. I can't give you an ETA, other than to say "soon", which I realize is a frustrating word to hear. Bottom line, we want to announce all the new class talents and abilities at once, so we're waiting until we've plugged in the 60-70 additions for all classes. It's looking really good, just hang in there a little longer.
Of past interviews with Jeff Kaplan
It's important to not take things out of context. The main point Jeff was touching upon was the difference between the Shaman and Paladin as a whole, one being more of a support class while the other centered around being more an offensive caster who wears heavier armor. What he expressed concerning his feelings of the Paladin when playing Horde holds true currently because at this time those classes are unique to each faction. While that will no longer be the case in the Burning Crusade, players of each faction will still be able to associate that special hatred with many other exclusive cross-factional elements. For example, when playing Alliance it's only going to be natural to feel some animosity when warstomped by a Tuaren and similarly, you'll likely upset as a Horde player when a little Gnome escapes an ensnarement through the use of his escape artist ability.
As more information is posted, I will update this thread and bump it to the top of the news so keep checking back with us!
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