WoW Forever News · classes · talents
No shaman tanks in WoW Forever for now, but Blizzard says 'never say never'
Senior game designer Josh Greenfield told GameSpot that Season of Discovery's experimental roles, such as shaman and warlock tanks, are not coming to WoW Forever at launch. SoD was meant to be temporary; Forever starts closer to original class identity, though Blizzard does not rule these ideas out later.
By the WoW Forever Builds News Desk ·
If you hoped to tank as a shaman or heal as a mage in World of Warcraft: Forever, you will have to wait. Blizzard has confirmed that the most experimental class roles from Season of Discovery are not part of Forever at launch.
Why Blizzard held back
Senior game designer Josh Greenfield explained the decision in a GameSpot interview. Season of Discovery was built as a temporary season, which let the team take risks it would not take in a version of the game meant to last for years.
According to Greenfield:
- Many lessons from Season of Discovery carry over in spirit.
- The wildest changes that were never part of original WoW have been toned down.
- Forever starts from the original identity of each class.
What does change
Classes are still being updated. Talent trees are redesigned, and several changes borrow ideas from modern WoW. One example: combat rogues get something close to the outlaw rogue mechanic, where finishing moves shave a few seconds off their cooldowns.
You can see how the new talents fit together in our talent calculator and builds. They are based on beta data shown around BlizzCon, so expect changes once the beta goes live.
Never say never
Greenfield did not close the door. Because Forever is meant to run for many years, he said Blizzard can still try bigger ideas later, and called warlock and shaman tanks “not quite yet”.
Picking a beta character? Check our class and race combos first.
Sources
How this article was made: drafted with AI from the sources listed above, then checked and edited by the WoW Forever Builds team before publishing. WoW Forever Builds is a fan site and not affiliated with Blizzard Entertainment.
