New leaked information that is being removed from the official forums as fast as they can, along with banning those who post it there. So, I thought I would post it on my site as a mirror. I also took the time to format it so it was readable.
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Sources inside Blizz have revealed their plans for hero classes. Blizzard does plan to release hero classes with the expansion, but they haven’t explicitly stated it because they want to announce it close to the release date, insuring a huge amount of hype. I haven’t been told much more than the basics, but I’ll try to explain the system as best as I can:
At any given level there is a certain amount of content; at level 60, the amount of content is very disproportionate with the available content for other levels. The reason is obvious: it is the current endgame, and players need something to enjoy. However, with the level cap raised players would be able to blow through and skip a lot of the content that has been developed over the past year, and allowing players to do so would be a poor use of the developers’ time. This is where hero classes come in.
You will be stuck at level 60, just like you are now, even when the expansion comes out. An epic quest (of REALLY epic proportions) for each hero class will be made available to level 60 players. The only way to break the level 60 barrier will be to go on one of these quests to become a hero class. The quest will require the player to do a lot of solo content as well as a variety of group and raid content. Upon completion of the quest, the player will become a level 61 hero class
Each race/class combination will have 2 hero classes available to them (with several overlapping). This presents a monumental balance job (there are about 50 hero classes), which is probably another reason why Blizzard is delaying the information release. Choosing your hero class will be irreversible, much like the tradeskill masteries. Some hero classes are an extension of the “father†class, some have tweaked mechanics, while others are radically different. The easiest example I can think of is a Night Elf priest, for which the 2 hero classes are a Priest(ess) of the Moon (a continuation of the priest’s current form) and Demon Hunter (an agility-based combat hero with a variety of discipline-esque abilities). So without further ado, here is a brief overview of some of the hero classes:
Druids
Night Elf Druid
Keeper of the Grove: The druid will sacrifice some of his shapeshifting abilities in exchange for improved healing and casting, and will even be able to command treants on occasion.
Tauren Druid
Elder: This is essentially a druid that has lost some shapeshifting abilities and gained some beast-like abilities similar to the hunter. The casting and healing abilities are also amped up, but not nearly as much as the Keeper of the Grove. The Elder also has a bit of the Diablo II druid mixed in for good measure.
Hunters
Night Elf Hunter
Beastmaster: The Beastmaster focuses more on the beast aspect than the ranged aspect of the hunter. He gains new beast abilities, such as switching pets in battle, and is a bit meaner in melee combat in exchange for a lot of his ranged hitting power.
Dwarf Hunter:
Beastmaster: see above
Orc Hunter:
Beastmaster: see above
Tauren Hunter:
Beastmaster: see above
Troll Hunter:
Headhunter: The Headhunter still has the ranged emphasis of the hunter, but it focuses on throwing weapons (a massive revamp for throwing weapons is planned). The Headhunter uses energy, has more combat abilities, and drops the pet.
Mages
Human Mage:
Necromancer: The only similarity between the Necromancer and the mage is the emphasis on magical damage. The necromancer uses shadow damage and has a major focus on pets, similar to the warlock. However, unlike other pet classes, the majority of the Necromancer’s damage will come from the pet instead of the Necromancer. I do not know if the Necromancer will be able to have multiple pets out at once.
Gnome Mage:
Arcanist: The Arcanist is similar to the mage, with a focus on arcane magic. The Arcanist does slightly less damage than the Archmage, but gains added utility and new support spells.
Undead Mage:
Necromancer: see above
Troll Mage:
Shadowcaster: The Shadowcaster is essentially a mage that uses shadow magic instead of fire and frost.
Paladins
Human Paladin:
Cleric: The Cleric is the other side of the paladin spectrum. Instead gaining new combat abilities, the Cleric gains improved healing, more utility and support, and some holy damage spells.
Dwarf Paladin:
Cleric: see above
Priests
Human Priest:
Spellbreaker: The Spellbreaker wears mail, has several combat abilities and diminished healing, and has several anti-caster abilities.
Dwarf Priest:
Runelord: The Runelord is similar to the High Priest, although not as healing heavy.
Night Elf Priest:
Demon Hunter: The Demon Hunter is radically different in playstyle from the priest. The Demon Hunter is a mana-using melee damage hero class. The Demon Hunter has a mix of discipline spells and combat abilities with some shadow spells mixed in.
Undead Priest:
Shadow Priest: The name is pretty self-explanatory. The Shadow Priest does not have all the healing abilities of the High Priest, but makes several gains in the damage, utility, and crowd control departments.
Troll Priest:
?:
Rogues
Gnome Rogue:
Scout: The Scout has slightly less damage than the Assassin, but is tougher in combat, and has the ability to use traps among other new utilities.
Human Rogue:
Scout: see above
Dwarf Rogue:
Pitfighter: The Pitfighter is a rogue without stealth, but with improved combat and defensive abilities.
Night Elf Rogue:
Scout: see above
Orc Rogue:
Pitfighter: see above
Undead Rogue:
Scout: see above
Troll Rogue:
Scout: see above
Shamans
Orc Shaman:
Spirit Walker: The Spirit Walker is a more direct extension of the shaman than the Farseer, maintaining a rough balance of combat, casting, and healing ability.
Tauren Shaman:
Spirit Walker: see above
Troll Shaman:
Spirit Walker: see above
Warlocks
Human Warlock:
Shadowguard: The Shadowguard has more melee emphasis than the warlock, and loses the demonic pet. The Shadowguard on his own is weaker than other melee classes, but is aided by demonic-type abilities (such as burning blood and fiery breath) to power himself up.
Gnome Warlock:
Shadowguard: see above
Orc Warlock:
Shadowguard: see above
Undead Warlock:
Shadowguard: see above
Warriors
Blizz hasn’t fleshed out warrior hero classes as much as the others, so I wasn’t able to get much on them. However, it has been confirmed that Orc warriors do have the option to become a Blademaster!
Question marks (?) denote a hero class that hasn’t been decided on by the developers yet. I don’t know the Blood Elf hero classes. I don’t know the new Alliance race (although I hear they’re going to reveal it soon). I have no idea how talent/abilities are going to work, I don’t know what will happen to armor requirements and class specific sets, etc. Everything I know I’ve posted here, and it is subject to change as it is still in fairly early development stages.
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Original link as I saw it posted on the forums in one of the latter threads:
Link Appears to be Dead
Demon hunter is there. look under NE priest
For all those complaining that this is not legit based on the redundant Warlock lists and lackof a Warrior list, the OP said it’s still in early development, meaning it’s not all there!
For a rumor this is pretty well done, and it actually makes sense. Blizz does this a lot, they release a lot of ‘fake’ information to stir up some discussion between fans and see their reactions to what they’ve got so far. The only people who would know about it are the hardcore fanatics, not the casual joe-schmo. They avoid pissing anyone off too, people who don’t like it can simply dismiss this as a rumor.
This isn’t something new that Blizzard does. They did this numerous times for Warcraft 3, like officially saying the 4th race wasn’t going to be elves (Night Elves), or announcing 6 heroes per race (cut to 3) and tons of skills and spells have been changed around in the process.
If this list is even remotely true, then most of what you see here is subject to change. At least we get to see what they might have planned for the next 10 levels after 60. Extending all the base classes past 60 wouldn’t work. Talents would break and people would get 2 lvl 31 talents! Having a hero class would prevent base-class redundancy and open up more diversity. Problem is balance and stereotyping; but we’ll have to wait and see how it all works in the end.
And dude… YES it existed Necromances in warcraft3….
they guy with a skull looking thing on his heaD?… undeads had them YES!
Okay. This sounds like a good idea and a bad idea at the same time. I’m a night elf priest. Strictly holy. To me becoming the hero class that I naturally would become would majorly kick, but as stated by previous posts, this would totally screw the balance of the game. It makes players choose a more definate style in class. Losing some abilities and gaining others. It would make more sense if you didn’t HAVE to choose a hero class, but as far as I could see, you have to choose one. This, in it’s self, is not right. What if I decided to change my spec to shadow for sh*ts and giggles? (bad example I know) I couldn’t do that according to my “hero class”. It gives you bonuses but severly hinders your abilites to make decisions for your character. Also, the fact that you can’t get to lvl 70 without choosing a hero class makes me not really want to work my ass off for end-game and high lvl content. I don’t want to have to seal my toons abilites in stone at any time in this game. To me this all sounds like a bunch of BS. If blizzard seriously does this, I may have to find a different game to play…
Hero class – probably gonna happen
Are these the actual classes – probably not
Are there too many little kids flaming on this forum – most definitely
Oh, and btw…
“The way this will work is you get to level 60, complete the epic quest (which requires you to swim around an entire continent in less than 3 hours without surfacing), and then select your hero type. The options are Carebears, Smurfs, and Cabbage Patch Kids. For an additional 90 gold to the quest giver, you can choose your color as well.”
Definitely the coolest idea ever. Smurfs. ‘Nuff said.
Clearics hmm? Didn’t Uther seek paladin as a better life as a clearic? Why would he go back? If no Whatever; Clearic’s are support. If they were to add clearic’s to the game it would be false advertizing. They said there would be no support class’s. Further more; Death Knights! They will be added along with Templars prolly, have you even seen the the new Ashbringer that drops in Naxx?
It says things like
“The Line Is NO LONGER PURE”
“KILL THEM ALL”
“I FOUGHT FOR RIGHTIOUS”
“The Crusade shall FALL”
As you fight with it.
Perhaps a hint… Yes?
um yeah typeos
Yeh its a nice idea – maybe the hero classes would work as a “template” over the existing class?
So you end up with a character L60Druid L1-10 Archmage allowing people to keep their original talent trees etc..?
But this is too shakey to be real. 7 Priest classes, hunters with energy bar, druids with no shapeshift? If they did release some sort of plausible hero class system before the release of the expansion I might actually start playing again.
If only
Holy shit, this fails, on so many levels, so hard.
Ok, I’ve got to say something(a bit drunk so please excuse spelling) Anyone who says “yeah mix it up a bit”, “it’ll be fun” has obvoiusly never grinded an entire guild into mc. I’ve been with 2 guilds and a raiding community in mc and it is hard work. The hero class concept is good as long as it supports what my guild has been working so long and hard for. My idea would be that after lvl 60 you get a new talent tree that you can further customize you playstyle with. This alleviates balance issues while still allowing for diversity amongst the classes. And as far as new classes the one thing that must be said is that with the current class distribution blizz has pretty much covered what is needed in a raid situation, healing, tanking, dps. So lets try not to reinvent the wheel here. And btw whoever up there mentioned lag and log in problems has been the only one thinking on a practical level, I mean you guys know that patch day is always a clusterfuck as it is, imagine expansion day. So that is my diatribe, hero classes, fine as long as they support and not undermine what we have all been working towards.
and after all it is just a game… right?
this is absolutely fake, the BS will change heavy with honor systems pvp and pve raids but blizzard would never ever choose to destroy the existing classes so much, tho it would be very nice to be a ranger ( me myself being NE hunter )
priests in mail? omfg thats not gonna work, they cant be killed now already, they heal against anything and then give them 35% damage reduction too?!
Kudos for tryiing but nooo way.
Something more simple maybe?
Hows this:
Extra button next to talents “Hero Tree.”
You pick one and it gives you a few extra spells to play around with, And maybe a cool glow.
Example: 1. Archmage – High damage spec frost and fire with a water elemental.
2. Lich (Ressurected Mage) – High damage spec arcane spells with an undead minion similar to the elemental.
Speculation, obv. But it cuts down balance to a minimum.
Sounds kind of lame but they aint gonna mess around with a game that is still attracting users.
Maybe when the popularity starts to really fall they’ll mess around with it, or maybe just release a sequel.
It’d probably be damn easier.
I for one, believe that the Heros classes are good in this. In Wow you cnat make many of your choices besides race, class, gear, and talents. The Hero classes would allow a more free-spirited game. I like every last one of these Hero Classes.
P.S.
The Warlock needs one more Hero class.
This might be true….but I can’t get it why alot of peoples post without reading…
For example, the priest in mail…it isn’t a priest it’s spellbreaker or thane, no one reads that. It means that the “priest” get more armor and are worse at healing and so on, so it’s not a priest anymore.
But about the part that the NE priest can become Demon Hunter i don’t believe….I believe that the NE hunter will become that, cause that’s why hunter got the mana bar from the first place. Blizzard thought about giving them a energy bar, but now they got the mana bar, cause demon hunter will use mana 🙂
And about the druid losing their shapeshifting abilities can be true too. All druids in wc3 can’t use shapeshift, atleast some of them. In wc3 there is druid of the claw that can only become bear and talon can be bird….so I think they will only have one shapeshift in the hero class 🙂
I think that they won’t take all these hero classes in the game, they see us complain alot of some and want some others so they will be changed. But I think that every class will get 1 hero class that every race can become, then maybe one/two extra that only that race can be…NE for example maybe could become priestess of the moon (priest) demon hunter (hunter) warden (rogue) and others like that 😛
That’s all I can come up with now 😛
Orc Warriors could become blademasters. Blademasters are in warcraft lore, but are only orcs.
Hunter with stealth – now THAT is IMBA
asdf
ok i think this will be cool, yet you need to figure out the hero class 4 Draenei (the new Alliance class)
Rofl. It’s funny to look back and see all these people saying it would never happen, and yet it is.
lol altho i think this is totall bull……i wish it were true i would love for this to happen mainly cuz i would luv to be a demon hunter 😛
Screw stealth.. Hunters should be able to climb trees.
so is the hero a class like a rog or a race like the undead
and if it is a class like a rog then wats so speshel about it duss it heal or tank or wat???????????????
You know Lineage 2?
Now… THIS hero class system is most likely to be “inspired” by the proficiencies of Lineage2. The classes above remind me much of (for ex.) the fighter-to-scout developing in L2. Said with 2 words: total BS!
PS: Someone have played too many RPG-s 😉
Ok if you read some of the info from those hero classes it will become obvious that 1) this was a REAL leak at the time 2) the proof is the inclusion of some of those ideas into a. what we have seen with level 60-70 character abilities and b. the announcement of the Death Knight hero class in “wrath of the Lichking”. Just look at the two elf druid ‘hero classes” the storm crow DID get included and the treant ability is a level 70 Boomkin spec talent ability. The death Knight sounds a bit like the Shadowguard mentioned in thsi 2006 leak.
KEY WORD….interracial, as in half mage/lock/hunter
or Hunter/rogue/warriorish
I sorta dig a few of the names that are given for the hero
class names.
Anyway….they need to make some sorta arena where you can use your flying/ground mounts to fight or do something!!!!! I see that picture of the dang dwarf in the air about ready to beat the meat out of someone with that mace or w/e it was…im jealous!
i do think that the hero class is based upon warcraft 3 …. where you can chose death knight as a hero …. other heroes are mountain king, paladin, lich ( frost mage ) ,blademaster, seer , ranger ( bansheed high elves), warden ( the one that’s after illidan) …. i think that you’ll have a better view on the hero class if you download warcraft 3 and the expension
was hoping for keeper of the grove but seeing that arch druid is here as well im starting to doubt..:P
cant find the death knight think it’ll be warrior tough
if u went past lvl 60 can u still get hero class? if not they should definatly rethink it!
WHAT YOU GUYS THINK ABOUT THE EXPANTION FOR WOW IF ANYONE KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT THE NEW MOUNTS AND CLASS ANSWER AS SOON AS YOU CAN
what about Blood Elf
i think this is bull crap…blizzard isnt that stupid….
…i hope…
but if they make a new class such as “mage, warrior, death knight”
90% of server will be rolling the death knights, theres gonna be about 11 million level 4 death knights questing…
i like the idea, but i wish gnome mages could become “hydromancers” because they sound like my favorite and i dont want to have to roll a troll to become one
Some of these sub-classes seem to make it sound overpowerd…I mean if your a beastmaster hunter you can pull out multiple pets??? (seen this bit of info on Wowwiki)
yeah………………………doubt if its real…………………GO 29 BALANCE DRUID TWINKS THEY ROCK!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!………………………………………………………………………..ppl, just wait for them to tell u wats happening instead of guesssing what will happen……………jeez……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………woot
Some of these are great ideas while some are not too good.
I personally think that the whole changing from a caster to a melee would be a great idea. Just imagine…u buff yourself up would provide great potential. It would almost be like a semi druid cause you would be able to transform into your demon counter parts…such as the “infernal” counterpart…..i think it would be very cool. The whole range to a rogue thing doesn’t excite me as much but it still adds a little fun to the game. The one thing i know is not true is the whole priest class that jus gives you mail armor.
Sounds like a very interesting concept! Are you playing with my incredible appraisal I have read a good joke in internet 😉 What do you get when you cross a rabbit and a spider? A HAREnet!
LOL, I think you missed a Hero class. (Clown) – lvl 60 ability to be a jackass, lvl 70 ability to act a fool and lvl 80 Epic Retard…