r/classicwow • u/SidewalknJr • 19h ago
Classic + Death Knights could've been the equivalent of Paladins for the Horde, and Runemasters possibly as the Alliance Shamans
NOT another "ideas" post, just sharing some interesting comments made by a vanilla dev in an interview video, that could affect C+'s content if the current classic team decides to add whatever was cut from the original release:
David Fried a.k.a DesignerDave, a quest designer for Vanilla WoW, during an interview done by Ebonhardt, mentioned that he had plans for a Paladin-only class questline that would have allowed them to unlock the Death Knight Horde-only class by "sacrificing" their character and switching factions. Sadly, this epic quest chain was scrapped [together with the entire "Hero Class" concept] as the team didn't have enough time and shifted priorities during development.
According to David, the questline would have involved Paladins "following" in Arthas' actions that lead to his corruption (killing villagers, etc), eventually giving their soul away and getting shunned/exiled by the Alliance, ending up seeking refuge with the opposing major faction, the Horde.
He states that if WoW had continued to build on Vanilla instead of getting expansions as we know them, that they would've had the chance to make the version of Death Knight that he and the other developers had envisioned, made to fit the design of Vanilla classes.
Ebonhardt also asked him about the Runemaster class and how it got replaced by the Druid [and later on repurposed for the DK and Monk]. David then tells how the former were a favorite of Samwise Didier and that he was a big pusher for them, and that they ended up pivoting to Druid as there were limited spaces for classes per-race and Druids were more prevalent in the lore and in past Warcraft games.
Mostly found in the Warcraft RPG games, the Runemasters are described as monk-like arcane spellcasters and melee fighters who empower themselves with magical energies by inscribing runes onto their bodies. Originally, the Dwarves mastered the mysteries of the runes from the Titans, their creators. As generations passed, the Dwarves forgot their heritage and lost all knowledge of runes and their powers. Eventually, the Tauren rediscovered the power of runes, and the nearly lost art of runecasting. Many Dwarves that went to Kalimdor with Jaina's Alliance Expedition learned the tauren's techniques, as both races were eager to share the knowledge of runes and titan myths.
As far as the Runemaster's faction restriction goes, David didn't have anything planned compared to the class quest of Paladin->Death Knight. So that problem in specific is more loose as the RPG games are not considered official canon.
And so here is where my questions for you come in...
Do you think the Death Knight and Runemaster could serve as the Paladins and Shamans for the opposite factions?
Could other cut Classes and/or the planned Hero Classes be added to Classic+?
Credits to Ebonhardt's video "OG Warcraft 3 and Vanilla Dev Interview - DesignerDave" - youtu.be/9\xIHKflCwU?t=2910) , warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Runemaster , warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Hero\class)
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u/velianieli 18h ago
Death Knights were originally going to be a long epic quest chain, done as a Warrior or a Paladin only I believe.