For years World of Warcraft gamers have needed a non-healer class that may assist allies from afar, a mixture of help and DPS. Latest datamining from the sport’s upcoming patch 10.1 (opens in new tab) means that the wait may nearly be over.
Admittedly, the proof for a ranged help class specialization is slim, however it could match with the latest path of the MMO. All the Dragonflight growth was pitched as a return to the sport’s excessive fantasy roots, and Blizzard retains including options (opens in new tab) that gamers have needed for years.
The Dragonflight growth’s new race and sophistication, the Dracthyr Evoker, solely has two specializations to select from: healer and DPS. Most of WoW’s lessons have three. Paladins may be healers, DPS, or tanks, for instance. Whereas having solely two specializations is not unparalleled (poor Demon Hunters), the Dracthyr have a powerful narrative purpose for having a 3rd.
Patch 10.1 will dig into the origins of the Dracthyr, a race of dragon-human hybrids created by one of many authentic Warcraft villains, Deathwing (aka Neltharion). You may keep in mind him because the dragon that burned Azeroth to a crisp within the 2010 Cataclysm growth. The Dracthyr have the distinctive capability to mix the powers of the varied dragonflights (helpfully color-coded) in WoW’s lore, however they’re notably lacking a specialization that revolves round Deathwing’s black dragonflight.
Yesterday Wowhead (opens in new tab) datamined a quest in 10.1 that makes it seem to be the Dracthyr are about to get a brand new specialization. The work-in-progress quest textual content actually says Dracthyr gamers will get a pop-up window that reads: “New specialization remembered.” WoW would not use the phrase “specialization” for anything, so until this can be a mistake, it nearly must be pointing towards a brand new position for Evokers.
The ultimate a part of the hunt features a boss struggle and the textual content says you may “enhance/heal” your ally. Dracthyr cannot presently buff or enhance allies, even of their therapeutic specialization. “Increase/heal” might be a novel mechanic for this particular quest, or it may merely be a typo. But when the “specialization remembered” textual content pop-up is true, it might be a quest that introduces you to a brand new specialization.
In a latest interview (opens in new tab) with affiliate sport director Morgan Day, WoW streamer Towelliee requested a couple of potential tank specialization for Evokers. “We have by no means actually added a spec, so I am unable to actually converse to that,” Day mentioned. “Tanks had been mentioned within the early days when Evokers had been a glimmer in our eye.”
Day’s response is simply obscure sufficient that it would not rule out the potential for a ranged help class. It is a position that WoW has by no means had and is often requested for within the type of a bard class (opens in new tab), much like the one in Closing Fantasy 14 (opens in new tab). The concept is that you’ll solid useful buffs to your allies that feed again into your individual DPS rotation. This theoretical class/specialization would in all probability not high the injury meters or something, but it surely might be helpful for the sport’s robust endgame content material. It is the sort of specialization that may make sense as a post-launch addition due to its supplementary position—I doubt it could seize the eye of all of the gamers who wish to be as self-sufficient as doable.
That is all of the proof there may be for the second. Though these quests had been datamined from patch 10.1, which additionally features a raid concerning the Dracthyr, Day’s feedback might be interpreted as a affirmation that it isn’t occurring fairly but. The hunt textual content might be a placeholder for a specialization that is not prepared for the patch’s supposed late-spring launch. WoW’s 2023 roadmap (opens in new tab) would not have any clear indications of it both. My guess is that if we do not see it in 10.1, it’s going to are available in patch 10.2 close to the top of the yr or in early 2024.
Morgan Day was proper: WoW has by no means added a model new specialization to a category (Druids’ fourth spec (opens in new tab) barely counts) in its nearly 19-year historical past. However WoW retains making unprecedented strikes; sufficient that it has gamers discussing what different long-requested function (opens in new tab) will arrive subsequent. A ranged help class could be a really welcome shock.