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Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Gnome warriors and class balance
Passing through Tanaris with my troll warrior, I saw a gnome warrior in Gadgetzan. And I have to admit without jealousy: plate armor loots a lot better on a gnome than on a troll. But gnome warriors are relatively rare, a bit of an oddity, and that made me wonder how Blizzard designed the possible class / race combinations.
Every single race in World of Warcraft can be a warrior. Even races which in other games are more likely to be spell casters than warriors, like gnomes. The blood elves from the expansion set, whose lore clearly makes them a magical race, will be able to become warriors. Furthermore in WoW your race has very little influence on how good you can play a certain class. A gnome warrior is pretty much identical in strength and stamina to a tauren warrior of the same level, although the body mass would suggest otherwise. The difference in stats is tiny, and just gets lost in the stat bonuses from equipment. From the racial abilities I would prefer a troll (berzerking, regeneration) to a gnome (escape artist) warrior, but even that just makes a small difference.
The other extreme in classes is the druid, only one race from each faction can become druid, tauren and night elves. Again that seems arbitrary, why should for example a human druid not be possible? In between warriors and druids, the other classes can be played by from 3 to 7 of the 8 races. The distribution between Horde and Alliance isn't always even, for example the Alliance has more classes able to play priests than Horde, but Horde has more hunter-enabled races than Alliance.
Unsurprisingly the number of races that can play a certain class has a big effect on the number of players playing that class. PlayOn shows that warriors are the most played class for both Horde and Alliance, while druids are least played Horde class, and second-least for Alliance. The data are old, and they probably vary a bit from server to server, but if you browse through Warcraftrealms or WoWCensus, you pretty much get the same picture: lots of warriors, few druids.
The expansion will add two more warrior races and no new druid race, so the gap between those two classes will increase. The only good thing is that both new races will be able to play priests, so that hopefully will increase the number of available priests. But frankly, I would have preferred the new races to be not able to become warriors, and to be able to become druids instead. You can justify a blood elf druid as easy as a blood elf warrior, and it would be a lot better for class balance.
- posted by Tobold @ 8:29 AM Permanent Link
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I always liked playing small races. One stupid reason is that while all races move with exactly the same run speed, a small race *seems* to run faster, because the camera is closer to the ground, and the speed in relation to the body height is larger.
In groups I like small races because they don't block your view if you want to click on an enemy. Fighting in a group full of tauren is hard, you don't see much.
And in PvP you could argue that smaller races have an advantage by being less visible. A gnome using a world enlarger is quite difficult to see, although you can overcome that by hitting "V" and displaying a big health bar over the enemies head.
In groups I like small races because they don't block your view if you want to click on an enemy. Fighting in a group full of tauren is hard, you don't see much.
And in PvP you could argue that smaller races have an advantage by being less visible. A gnome using a world enlarger is quite difficult to see, although you can overcome that by hitting "V" and displaying a big health bar over the enemies head.
Winterfall Firewater FTW :)
but i don't understand why people "hate" druids so much. perhaps because you are destined to be a healer in raids (because of the tier 1 & 2-sets) and you have to be pvp'ing to get a good feral-set.
in our "alliance" of guilds, we have the whopping number of 8druids where actually 6 are from just one guild.
strangest thing is, tho, if you know you got the purple-fever, why not go for the least played-class? i mean, u will get epics the easy way, i think
but i don't understand why people "hate" druids so much. perhaps because you are destined to be a healer in raids (because of the tier 1 & 2-sets) and you have to be pvp'ing to get a good feral-set.
in our "alliance" of guilds, we have the whopping number of 8druids where actually 6 are from just one guild.
strangest thing is, tho, if you know you got the purple-fever, why not go for the least played-class? i mean, u will get epics the easy way, i think
# posted by 
: 14/6/06 16:33
: 14/6/06 16:33
I think warriors are there for people new to MMOs. People who will pick a race based on the appearance. A warrior is very easy to understand. You pick up a weapon and hit things.
Warriors are a pretty good class for new person. They're fairly easy to play and fun. They are also somewhat hardy, and tend not to die as easily as some of the other classes. That's why I think they are offered as the default class.
If you are a new player, and a bit unsure of your skills, a warrior is a safe choice.
Warriors are a pretty good class for new person. They're fairly easy to play and fun. They are also somewhat hardy, and tend not to die as easily as some of the other classes. That's why I think they are offered as the default class.
If you are a new player, and a bit unsure of your skills, a warrior is a safe choice.
And druids are one of the hardest classes to play. Sure, you get to switch between semi- warrior, rogue, or priest roles, but it's hard to think fast on your feet with so many options.
One of the guys in my guild played a female, pink-haired gnome warrior. His reasoning was to choose a race/appearance for a character to be the most humiliating thing to be beaten up by. It's positively funny to watch the gnome in action.
One thing to note - humans have some huge racial advantages, namely the extra faction gain and the +5 weapon skill in swords and maces. The importance/significance of the weapon skill cannot be overstated. I'm sure most/many players didn't choose a human melee based on that particular racial bonus but it's a *BIG* plus.
On the other hand, Horde side I've heard many tend to choose undead for their racials, so who knows.
One thing to note - humans have some huge racial advantages, namely the extra faction gain and the +5 weapon skill in swords and maces. The importance/significance of the weapon skill cannot be overstated. I'm sure most/many players didn't choose a human melee based on that particular racial bonus but it's a *BIG* plus.
On the other hand, Horde side I've heard many tend to choose undead for their racials, so who knows.
# posted by : 14/6/06 20:06
: 14/6/06 20:06
I have a Gnome Warrior (currently 34) that I break out and play sometimes. I Roleplay him as a bit of an oddity. "Knuttjob" is a scowling, angry looking, bald headed Gnome (Helmet graphic is off for this guy), with a Snowshow rabbit for a Pet.
Like Brian said, the sight of a Gnome Warrior tanking something ten times, if not a hundred times his own size, is hilarious. This is a game, we're here to have fun, right ;)
Like Brian said, the sight of a Gnome Warrior tanking something ten times, if not a hundred times his own size, is hilarious. This is a game, we're here to have fun, right ;)
Dude seriously you are wrong about bloodelfs getting warriors cause they didnt so there haha
everything else is true except for the fact the druid has come back an druids are almost as popular as the warriors
everything else is true except for the fact the druid has come back an druids are almost as popular as the warriors
# posted by : 16/10/07 10:50
: 16/10/07 10:50
I agree with your blog, and I am going to make a gnome warrior soon. However, blood elves cannot be warriors. I will mention that, also, only horde (prior to the Burning Crusade expansion) could become shamans.
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