Meh. Pandaren are a joke race. Now they're WoW's Sanjaya.
Well, I just got back from a runthru of Scarlet Monastery, where the shadow preist did all the work and some friends and I traded rumors and wishlists.
Aparrently, goblins ARE in the works for development as a new race. Word is you play them to level 20, and then are asked to choose which faction to play for. Those familiar with the Scryer/Aldor faction choice can see how that's the obvious extrapolation of character creation. This leads me to believe that the next expansion will, at least include the Undermine -island home of the goblin race, and a little more information on the goblin prince wars of acquisition.
All goblin cities thus far are sanctioned by the goblin prince of the Steamwheedle Cartel, and we're at least familiar with the forces of a rival prince, the Venture Company. Whether the "new playable race" belong to the Steamwheedle tribe or that of another prince reamins to be seen. Personally, I hope for a new prince's faction. Where the Steamers choose economic neutrality and the Ventures offer jobs to turncoats of all races, perhaps there's another rival prince who seeks to dominate thruogh infiltration of the 2 major factions of Azeroth.
With the release of the choose-your-own-faction race of goblins, Blizzard will be cracking out a new class: Tinker. This sounds apropriate to the nature of the race, as the tradeskill Jewelcrafting went hand in hand with Draenei. However, as Engineering is already a viable, if underdeveloped, profession, then Tinker seems redundant and seems not substantial enough to have enough skills/spells to make it to 40, much less the indefinite leveling system of the game in theory.
Other classes have been thrown around, including "Necromancer", "Barbarian", "Brewmaster" and "Monk". Let me cut to the chase by suggesting that the list above sounds even MORE limiting than Tinker. However, with HERO classes being picked up and put down for the time being, the aforementioned list is probably a list of suggested HERO classes for Affliction Warlock, Fury Warrior, Subtlety Rogue, and Discipline Priest respectively.
Instead of the above list, there's been discussion of what the game might actually benefit from, as opposed to what Leroy Jenkins thinks would be cool for his Mary Sue. That's crowd control. And if Blizzard wants to implement a new class that involves an entirely new playstyle with the game, they should consider the class that's tossed around on WoWinsider... Bard.
As an intermediate, I'd suggest opening known classes to new races, so that Alliance can play Night Elf shamans, and Horde get Undead Paladins. Makes some easy enough sense with the lore, and the exchange of ideas post-BC.
As for new territories, Northrend Invasion is the word on the street. So we may have a new landmass entirely populated with Ice Trolls, the Tuskarr, the Nerubians, and teeming with Undead of all kinds. But if there isn't some differentiation in the areas, it will get bor-ing. And another desert zone is not the answer.
I'm not thrilled with Northrend as the next expansion. Save Arthas and the Lich King for later, if you ask me. Instead, I'd like to open up a bit more explorability to the midrealms, and like those before me have suggested, see the Maelstrom. The Great Sea offers a LOT to the developers creatively. Lovecraftian fissure in the center of it all, Old God/High Elven city of Naztajar completely underwater, the potential for an Atlantis dome for Gnomish settlers, a set of islands to be conquered by the Darkspear tribe, the Tomb of Sargeras, the Island home of the Troll Emperor Rastakhan, a Sandbar Waste, Numerous unnamed islands, volcanic archipelagos, coral reefs, Murloc headquarters, Glacial expanses.
Now in the interest of discussing the other tradeskill in rumors, Malestrom offers the end-all product of the expansion, as Jewelcrating fills in sockets for the new gear of the Burning Crusade. Woodworking would be able to make ships.
While you could use flying mounts in certain areas of the Maelstrom, other areas would be off-limits, as flight would trigger a "Storm" yellow bar like "Fatigue" is for swimmers too far from the coast. What left to travel throughout the Great Sea is along the surface, in ships.
What I'd like a playstyle for grouping that involves less reliance on the tank/healer/DPS, and more on teamwork for manueverability and sequence. If three people were needed to "drive" -rudder, mainsail, jib, and two for cannon defense, then you'd have tro rely on your crew's survability skills alone. Now add Venture Co ships, Bloodsail Buccaneers, Naga Sea Turtles, water elementals, etc, and you got adventure on the high seas for five.
The catch would be that only Woodworkers can make and repair the ships, and that requires an INCREDIBLE amount of materials, including iron, linen, various rare items, and wood, gleaned from the second tradeskill, Lumbering. Blizzard would have to implement new trees all over Azeroth, but that's not that bad, they added new elves through the game and completely redesigned the Harborage.
Fire Mages and Destruction Warlocks could use Kindling to augment their fire spells. Enchanters could use Paper to make make scrolls. Engineers could make Stilts, Rafts, Ladders, etc. And Woodworkers could make bank bags in the form of woven baskets.
That's it for now, I'll be back. |
