Avene, a guildy of mine, recently dug up an article about Runemaster being a good candidate for the new Hero-class, complete with talent-tree suggestions, class mechanics and some background info. I’ll be doing a small break-down and commentary on this summary since there are some things I don’t completely agree with. Oeverall tho, the Runemaster sounds like a great addition to the game
New Hero Class: Runemaster
- – - – - – - General Information – - – - – - – -
Background Info – Runemasters are monk-like arcane spellcaster and melee fighters who empower themselves with magical energies by inscribing runes onto their bodies. The runemaster is a mystic who sees the power of ley lines. Moreover, those who study runes understand that these are not simply symbols of power – they are the power. The runemaster seeks to become one with the land, but not in the fashion of druids. Rather, the runemaster desires to become a microcosm of the land, seeking to overlay his body with runes.
Not much to agree or disagree with here, but the inscribing of runes on the body makes me think that the inscription profession comes natural for these guys, probably giving them a +5 class-bonus to inscription or something along that line.
Affiliation and Races – The Runemasters ally with both the Horde and Alliance, since the Tauren are thought to have began the arts, and the Dwarves probably learned it from the Titans. So, Lore-wise, the following races have been known to practice this art: Tauren, Orcs, Dwarves and Night Elves. Though, knowing Blizz they just do it like DKs and make it all available for all races.
I don’t think Blizzard would make it available to all races, I see no reason why they’d do that if it doesn’t fit with the lore of the existing playable races. However, I do think they would add it as a class for the new playable races. And in my humble opinion, it would kick some rather nice ass to play a Worgen Runemaster.
- – - – - – - – Gear, Weapons, and Armor – - – - – - – - – -
Note: Runemasters require a high intellect in order to conjure up Runes, this being the case, the Runemaster should have armor and weapons that compliments such stats.
Weapons – Fist Weapons mainly. Runemasters like to be unarmed, using pure brute force to deal damage. Staves, Daggers, and 1H maces/offhand relic are likely for the Caster/Healing Runemasters.
Armor – Leather or Mail are up for grabs. Caster Leather is only used by Balance and Resto Druids (and the occasional shaman), and DPS Leather is only used by Rogues and Feral Druids. Caster mail is also only used by two others, Resto and Elemental Shamans (and the occasional PuG Hunter..), and lastly, Mail DPS is used by Shamans and Hunters.
Runemasters don’t really strike me as a Mail wearing class, and maybe not even leather. No, I think with Runemasters we’ll see the addition of melee-stats cloth armor. Think cloth with agility, strength and attack power boosts.
Fist Weapons are indeed a very likely candidate for some buffing. I’ve always loved fist-weapons and I’ve also always been disappointed with them being underrepresented in the game, therefor I hope they’ll bring some nice fist weapons in-game with some jaw-dropping graphics and stats.
- – - – - – - – - – - Spells and Combat – - – - – - – - – - – -
Runic Power and Glyphs – Lore-wise, these would be the Runemaster’srage/energy/mana generator, and by Glyphs, I mean a system much like the Death Knight’s current one with Runes, only altered to work with certain elements, such as Fire, Water, etc.
Spells and Abilities – The Runemaster has the power to conjure up Runes at will, with great ease at that. Runes should be split into three main categories: Fire (DPS), Water (Healing), and Earth (Support). Some examples of Runes are as followed:
Fire Runes
- Rune of Heated Coals: Increases damage done by Fire based spells by % for 5min.
- Rune of the Fiery Spark: Allows the caster to jump higher. (Cosmetic?)
- Rune of Flames: Increases the Runecaster’s movement speed by 70% for 15 sec.Water Runes
- Rune of Swift River: Increases swim speed by 50% and allows the caster to breath under water.
- Rune of Cleansing Rain: Increases healing done by the Runemaster by % for 5min.
- Rune of Glistening Water: Increases critical strike chance of spells by % for 5min.Earth Runes
- Rune of Mangrove: Grants the Runemaster immunity to Poisons and Disease for 10 sec.
- Rune of Oak: Grants x additional armor to the Runemaster for 5min.
- Rune of Starlight: Decreases the target’s melee and ranged attack speed by 15% for 30 sec.Talents – As stated above, the Runemaster is a monk/arcane caster class, and also uses the powers of Fire, Water, and Earth, which help define the talent trees:
Runic Flames – This talent tree will focus on increasing Melee DPS for the Runemaster.
Water Glyphs – This talent tree will aid the Runemaster in being a caster-healer.
Earth Force – This talent tree supports both DPS and Healing, caster style.
Not much to say about this, it just makes me sad to see one of the elements (air) being left out.
To round it up, so far I have speculated about 3 possible hero classes for the expansion; Tinker, Arch-Druid and Runemaster. What Hero-Class do you think we’ll see swimming around the Maelstrom?
Chances are higher that there will be yet another crafting profession, this time one using mainly enchanting or leatherworking mats, since there are already three professions which use ore, two that use herbs, and one that uses leather, and one that uses disenchanted stuffs. As you can see, disenchanting and skinning are a bit underrepresented.
