WoW Forever: weak classes got stronger but kept their weaknesses

Blizzard has explained how it reworked the classes for WoW Forever, and the guiding rule is simple: if a class has a weakness, it keeps it. Principal game designer Kris Zierhut described the approach in an interview published on 9 November.

Zierhut said that in Classic as it really was in 2006, some classes were a lot weaker than others. He named Druid, Paladin and Shaman as having lots of problems, and Warlocks and Shadow Priests too. Those classes needed mechanical changes, but the team chose to make them stronger overall rather than take their weaknesses away.

Retribution Paladins are his main example. Players asked for an interrupt, a snare and their own version of Thunder Clap, and the team deliberately said no. Instead, talents lean further into what Paladins already do well: Blessings, healing and the utility of their seals and judgements.

Holy Paladins were a harder case. Healing damage that hits the whole group at once was so big a weakness that the team had to give them an answer, but one that takes extra work and is not their strength. In a raid they will probably still leave group healing to the Priest and focus on the tank, while in a dungeon they will have something to fall back on.

The team also moved away from bringing weaker classes along for a unique buff alone, as it tried in 2006 to 2008. Zierhut said the focus this time is on raising their performance, so hybrid classes can do nearly as much damage as classes that cannot tank or heal. How that holds up at level 60 is still open, and the next round of changes is the class tuning planned for 10 November.