It's Official...

Digo · 07/21/06, 12:18 PM

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6154421.html

Blizzard announces WOW faction-class crossovers Expansion to wildly popular MMORPG will add Horde Blood Elf paladins and Alliance Draenei shamans to mix--with potentially revolutionary results.

Phara · 07/21/06, 12:23 PM

This got to be a bad joke.

If it isn't, Blizzard chose the easy way out of balancing <_<

Hanny · 07/21/06, 12:24 PM

Wow this is insane.

Moridin · 07/21/06, 12:26 PM

http://forums-en.wow-europe.com/thre...=1#post1141585

EU CM (not the most informed, but I doubt he'd post it unless he got word from up high)

And yes, this does strike me as a lazy/easy way to solve PvE imbalance.

Malan · 07/21/06, 12:26 PM

Pure insanity. This will absolutely trivialize pre-expansion encounters.

Hamoshin · 07/21/06, 12:27 PM

Originally Posted by Malan

Pure insanity. This will absolutely trivialize pre-expansion encounters.

Yeah, but so will the level 70 cap.

• Wodin · 07/21/06, 12:28 PM

Oh my. That should make life interesting.

Darkchani · 07/21/06, 12:29 PM

its not like lvl 70 raid encounters wont be balanced with that

horde the now true easy-mode faction ? tauren tanks with BoK !... would make sense to make the totaly underpopulated faction imbalanced tho, shift of powers a bit over time

• Navaash · 07/21/06, 12:32 PM

What the fuuuuuuuuuuuck? This doesn't make any thematic sense, let alone balance.

Originally Posted by Eyonix

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.

Like hell it does! The Eredar^H^H^H^H^H^HDraenei have the fucking Naaru, the emobdiment of Light, at their backs. Blood Elves are magic sucking reverse vampires. This is bullshit.

(on the other hand, Tauren Paladin and Gnome Shaman would have been pretty funny)

Brick · 07/21/06, 12:32 PM

As "cheesy" of a balancing fix this seems to present, I guess if it really is true, I can't blame them. I myself would like to see some true diversity between the factions by having the same classes available as they are now, but you have to agree that this is the least resource-intensive way Blizzard has to resolve the majority of faction balance issues.

Nereid · 07/21/06, 12:34 PM

This is like worst possible solution to raiding imbalance, EVER. Might aswell reroll straight away from this shitty shaman class.

Copernicus · 07/21/06, 12:37 PM

I've always wanted to be a Gnome Shaman. :(

Eyonix sucks at lore.

Prague · 07/21/06, 12:39 PM

On Day 1 of the expansion, I look forward to DEing all the Paladin loot that drops for my Horde raiding guild. And all subsequent raids until we get some paladins to 60.

Edit: I guess this isn't as much as an issue anymore with epic multiclass drops (AQ, Naxx)

• Wodin · 07/21/06, 12:41 PM

Eh, gearing isn't really a problem. Like Gurgthock said, go to Naxx for a couple of weeks and you've got the guy geared up.

wbackes · 07/21/06, 12:42 PM

You mean 70

Fellwraith · 07/21/06, 12:42 PM

Well, they just created a huge incentive to re-roll as one of the new races. I was wondering if we'd ever see a lot of blood elves and dranei mains...

Darkchani · 07/21/06, 12:42 PM

Originally Posted by Prague

On Day 1 of the expansion, I look forward to DEing all the Paladin loot that drops for my Horde raiding guild. And all subsequent raids until we get some paladins to 60.

Edit: I guess this isn't as much as an issue anymore with epic multiclass drops (AQ, Naxx)

your gonna be raiding on day 1 of the expansion ? weird, ill be leveling, and once i hit 70 way ahead the rest of my guild im sure ill be powerleveling the paladins

Prague · 07/21/06, 12:45 PM

Originally Posted by Darkchani

Originally Posted by Prague

On Day 1 of the expansion, I look forward to DEing all the Paladin loot that drops for my Horde raiding guild. And all subsequent raids until we get some paladins to 60.

Edit: I guess this isn't as much as an issue anymore with epic multiclass drops (AQ, Naxx)

your gonna be raiding on day 1 of the expansion ? weird, ill be leveling, and once i hit 70 way ahead the rest of my guild im sure ill be powerleveling the paladins

Eh, even if I wanted to, probably not. Going to lose countless people to the "zomg pallies" rerolling craze so yeah, a leveling I will go (after I respec shadow).

arch · 07/21/06, 12:46 PM

Heh this upsets me quite a bit. Not because Horde finally is "balanced" but because they chose the easy way out and because they make the factions exactly the same except for racials. All this because they failed utterly and completly at balancing the two classes in the first place.
All these lore changes are also quite ridiculous, sure it's their lore and they can change it however they want, but this is just getting quite silly, releasing this info to justify it.

Chris Metzen was upset when the devs wanted Taurens to be druids, what about this? I bet Chris is no longer among us, he's probably buried beneath Blizzard headquarters.

I'm very disappointed.

♦ Praetorian · 07/21/06, 12:47 PM

Originally Posted by arch

Heh this upsets me quite a bit. Not because Horde finally is "balanced" but because they chose the easy way out and because they make the factions exactly the same except for racials. All this because they failed utterly and completly at balancing the two classes in the first place. Terribly weak.

I'm very disappointed.

Here's a post I just made on R&D that is on point:

Regarding the comparison to Starcraft balance, that was asymmetrical balance in PvP. I'd argue that Horde vs. Alliance are pretty balanced in PvP. The fact that Alliance says shamans are overpowered (omg 2k Chain Lightning, shocks, etc.) and Horde says paladins are overpowered (omg bubble, cleanse, blessing of freedom, etc.) is a good sign of that. But Starcraft is PvP, basically. Balancing in PvE is a different story, because when you have a variety of encounters, some are inevitably going to play more to the strengths of one faction or the other. But every encounter needs to be balanced to be doable by both factions. And that hamstrings the design teams to an extent. If you want PvE balance there are two solutions:
1) Make shamans and paladins virtually identical (or shared between factions, as they did).
2) Make every PvE encounter sufficiently one-dimensional that it does not overly play into the strengths/weaknesses of one faction or the other.

I prefer #1.

Robespierre · 07/21/06, 12:52 PM

Originally Posted by Digo

Even better, it will finally quell the idiotic whinethreads about PVP imbalance and dick-waving.

People will still whine about orc stun resist, will of the forsaken, war stomp, diplomacy, and stoneform.

I'm looking forward to making someone my mana tide bitch though.

Jedah · 07/21/06, 12:53 PM

I'm not gonna lie, as a horde player on a pve server I'm excited as hell. It's not nuanced, or pretty, but it is a problem unquestionably resolved, at least as far as the faction balance problem goes. I know at least one of our ex-shaman who's ready to roll one the day the expansion comes out.

• frmorrison · 07/21/06, 12:54 PM

Originally Posted by Robespierre

I'm looking forward to making someone my mana tide bitch though.

With BoW (40 MP5, it will get upgraded by level 70) on the whole raid, would you need MTT anymore?

Sure people will complain about racials, but people need something to complain about.

TheRealJon · 07/21/06, 12:55 PM

Actually this is going to be great with people rerolling Pally's I could get my alt's powerlevelled with the them and we all profit!

But I just wonder if in the expansion they are going to possibly put the raid cap to 45 people or something, just cause it seems right now we can evenly put 5 of each class in a raid, now throw pally's in, would it be better suited to keep the same raid size or up it to accomidate fitting in a new class? I like making it bigger personally.

Copernicus · 07/21/06, 12:55 PM

It will also allow them to make raid encounters based around Shaman and Paladins. Stuff where specific totems or bubbling/BoPing at the right moments are required.