The Heroic Class dilemma, Part I

So when I said the announcement of a hero class was omitted in one of my previous posts, it got me thinking about what I expect from a hero class. The concept of the hero class in WoW comes directly from the hero units in WCIII, e.g. Human Paladin, Night Elf Priestess of the Moon, and the Undead Lich. Hero classes were very powerful units which were limited in quantity, expensive, leveled up with experience and "led" other groups of less powerful/valuable units into combat. The heroes also often granted bonuses to the units under their command. Since the first announcements about WoW (this is hear-say now, i wasn't interested in WoW at this point), the concept of the hero class was planned for the game, but wasn't included in launch. The concept of what they would be remained nebulous until the second expansion.

One of the most anticipated features of the Wrath expansion was addition of the WoW's first hero class, the Death Knight (DK). In my mind, there have been several versions of Death Knights in lore, but our PC class DK is based on the most recent version: the corrupted hero. Our prototypical hero here is Arthas, after his fall from the light in Northrend (If you're curious, the other prototype would be Teron Gorefiend, the soul of a shadow council orc warlock in a decaying human knight's body). A whole spectrum of feelings about DK's as a class exist, so saying "Everyone either loves them or hates them" is an oversimplification. But despite my feelings on them, I feel that Blizzard straight up FAILED when they released these DK's as a hero class.

Oh, if anyone was wondering what MY feelings on the DK are, then I'll state this for transparency: I hate them. I. Fucking. Hate. Death. Knights. But that's not to say I don't think that the class can't be salvaged and that's not what this post is about.

After some thought about what I would expect a hero class to be in WoW, I came up with the following list:

1. Most importantly, their play style and abilities should be unique and they should bring new mechanics to the game.
2. They should be appealing to the players and add new chapters and concepts to lore and improve game immersion.
3. They should be powerful, however the power differential should NOT unbalance the game play for OTHER players who choose not to play hero classes.
4. As with all power, there should be a COST to playing a heroic class. In WCIII, the units were expensive, but you got your first one free.
5. Hero classes should feel like group leaders, or bring buffs and/or abilities to their group, much in the same way the WCIII hero classes did, and THIS should be primary reason they are sought after in a group, instead of raw power.

Meeting all these criteria is a difficult chore. Points 1 and 2 aren't that difficult to accomplish, and not surprising, a good job was done here for the DKs. The rune/runic power system was brand new to the game, and the story line concerning the Ebon Hold is fairly well done (I don't think its Blizz's best story line, but it seems to be popular in the community as a whole).

However, the OTHER 3 points are where Blizzard failed the DK.

Addressing point #3: This is possibly the most difficult point to balance. The WCIII Heroic Units were MUCH more powerful than the non-heroic counterparts they led. This system works very well in an RTS, when one player controls all of these minions, but becomes VERY problematic in an MMO, when every unit is controlled by a player. In WoW, and EVERY MMO for that matter, everyone is playing to feel heroic. Should the original 9 classes now feel NON-heroic, because they're not playing DK's? No, of course not. But I feel this is exactly what happened with the DK: they're so powerful, the question becomes not "Do I want to play this?" but "Why would I want to play anything else?". However, a heroic class SHOULD feel more potent than a base class, because players need to feel that the cost they pay (see addressing point 4 Below) should be worth it. I believe that the solution to this shortcoming is found it point #5.

Addressing point #4: There is virtually no cost or sacrifice required to play a DK, or other heroic class. Currently You must have a toon of one of the base classes to level 55 to unlock the DK, at which point you can create as many DK's as you like on other servers, with a limit of 1 DK per server. This was changed from launch when you could only have a DK on THE SAME SERVER as your 55+ toon. In addition to having as many DK's as you like amongst the servers, you start the DK at level 55, and then are almost GRANTED the next 3 levels to get to Outland, where you level VERY quickly.

Addressing point #5: I think this is where Blizzard really dropped the ball. Based on the hero unit paradigm, the hero classes should be leaders. They should be strong buffing classes and even derive bonuses from being a member of a group or leading a group. Currently, the DK doesn't feel like a leader in the group, nor does it feel like the DK brings substantial buffs to the group (Horn of the North is too short lived, and Path of Frost is a gimmick). Instead, the DK just feels like an overpowered melee Tank/DPS class with a bunch of other tools that it doesn't need.

In my next post, I'll discuss some ideas I have for fixing the DK to make it a truly heroic class, and maybe pave the way for future heroic classes.