Horde Paladins and Alliance Shaman in WoW Expansion

Gamespot has the news that Blizzard will be allowing 'crossover' classes with the new races promised for the Burning Crusade expansion. The Paladin class, up until now an Alliance class, will be allowed for the Horde race of Blood Elves. Likewise, the Alliance Draenei will be able to choose the Horde Shaman class. From the article: "According to Blizzard, Horde paladins and Alliance shamans will have many of the same talents of their traditional counterparts, though they "will also enjoy some unique abilities to themselves, similar to the priest class' racial specialties." Since this new feature will fundamentally change the asymmetry between the game's two factions, it will presumably have a significant impact on the way the game is played, especially in competitive player-versus-player combat." It's also likely to somewhat balance the preference between the two factions. A pretty race for the Horde, and what is considered (by some) a very powerful class for the Alliance.

Comments

I don't even play WoW

[GundamFan]

and I saw this comming... this is a sad day for creativity in gaming. Just making everyone identical is not a good way to balance a game. If WoW ever had a soul it has officaly lost it.

Re:I don't even play WoW

[RsG]

Actually, as an ex-WoW player, I disagree.

Everybody could see this coming a mile off. The alliance whines that shamans are overpowered and the horde whines that paladins are as well. There is a clear case of "the grass is always greener" going on, and it's pervasive.

The easiest way to fix this is to give each side the so-called "overpowered" class that the other side gets, thereby completely eliminating the complaints that the developers are favouring one faction over the other.

It does make the two sides even more similar, but let's be honest, they were never that different to begin with. WoW hasn't had radically different factions since it was in beta; making the faction specific classes available to both sides at this late stage won't make the slightest bit of difference in terms of faction identity.

I should clarify that I played both sides, and both classes (among others). The claim that either side is over/under powered is complete bunk. About the only concern that I see as valid is the complaint that paladins are completely boring and passive to play ("Paladins are to gameplay as porn is to sex" sums that up nicely), and that doesn't impact their performance, so it isn't a balance issue.

*sigh*

[Krater76]

I frankly don't really care who gets what, I'm just disappointed in Blizzard.

I've played a Shaman to 60 and enjoyed it. It was the uniqueness of the class that made Horde stand out. The dungeon 1 shoulders are unmistakable, you know it's a shaman. In PvP a shaman is really fun to play due to the high survivability and DPS, although melee was nerfed somewhat in the last patch.

On the other hand, I found it unique to also fight against a class I couldn't group with. Paladins are a special challenge, especially against my rogue. Their gear is mostly gold, so you can really see them coming as well.

This just seems like a cop-out by a company that used to do innovation very well. They supposedly class-reviewed the shaman and for some reason gave them PvP buffs (especially with their offensive spell tree) when shaman were asking for more PvE utility. Horde in the end game is tougher than Alliance and the pally/shaman issue is the reason. So instead of coming up with a good idea or listening to the customers who had some great ideas to help shaman out, they just ignore the whole thing and give the Horde paladins, and Alliance shaman.

It'll take months after the expansion for either to make their presences truly felt but I guess Blizzard is just trying to scape a couple extra months of playtime out of an increasingly boring game.

Re:Doesn't Fit..

[lgw]

Does the Horde consider themselves Evil, or is that just Alliance propaganda? I thought that one of the fundamentals of the Warcraft world was that both Horde and Alliance see themselves as the good guys, with only the undead being objectively evil. But then, I don't play WoW, so maybe the lore has changed?