Separate faction from class

[zachary]

I've only been here a few months and I'm tired of all the class-balance whinging. I can't imagine how the devs must feel.

So, a potential solution: Is it possible to separate faction from class? How much of a change would it be to allow an Order Black Orc or a Destro White Lion? Because once both factions have access to the same pools of classes, whinging about faction favoritism or class balance can be ignored, as both factions have equal opportunity. I suspect the server side would be the easy part with the difficult bit being the character creator, but that might be fixable with gameworld temples to pray at in order to switch sides or something. Limit switching to once per month, and only possible while in T1. Maybe work on palette-shifts for Destro versions of current Order characters and vice versa.

Loot pools might make this difficult, but I think unifying the Auction Houses would help with that. I believe that most of the RvR and end-game gear is essentially cross-realm already, though it'd mean stocking all the vendors with all the class-specific sets to make them accessible.

Yes, this would be a major gameplay change. But it would let the devs deprioritize the tricky political business of class and faction balance and focus on making the server robust and adding new features for everyone to enjoy.

Anyway, I estimate maybe a .1% chance of this being implemented, but I thought I'd toss it out there.

[Noiree]

What a lore-breaking idea!

[zachary]

I'm sure there's plenty of corrupted Knights in Lore. And maybe a few redeemed Druchii. Tell me, in lore, if a Witch Hunter goes to the dark side, do they turn into a Witch Elf? Seems unlikely.

One of the most popular tropes in Fantasy is the 'Bad Guy Gone Good' - From Drizz't to Shreck, they're all over the place. Why should Warhammer be any different?

[Tesq]

Yes tell me of ork fighting with dwarf and viceversa, this is not your everyday standard mmorpg where you can simply swap stuff around, what make the game cool are also lore aspects; With out it the magic die.

[TenTonHammer]

. Tell me, in lore, if a Witch Hunter goes to the dark side, do they turn into a Witch Elf? Seems unlikely.

They become a marauder or chaos warrior/chosen

[kmark101]

One of the most popular tropes in Fantasy is the 'Bad Guy Gone Good' - From Drizz't to Shreck, they're all over the place. Why should Warhammer be any different?

Dude you did not grasp or understand those stories did you... the whole point of Drizzt was that under any circumstance he never was the bad guy and because of that he could never turn...

[adamthelc]

It doesnt work. Someone of a faction or race fighting someone of the same faction or race isnt that crazy and would happen. But an ork fighting alongside a dwarf or chaos/DE fighting with high elves is crazy.

[Luuca]

You're looking for WoW. We like our whining and balance proposals from hell. Go sell mirrored classes somewhere else, we're all crazy here.

[toffikx]

Nah

[Ramasee]

Lore isn't and never has been truly followed by warhammer online; so in general saying something is lore breaking is a poor counter argument.

As for making order black orcs, you have swordmaster. Your idea would more likely be codified into just making everything be actual mirrors rather than different careers with shared mechanics. And you would still hear whining about class balance because there are several types.

You have the internal balance a career has with its own mastery tress and abilities; the 12 careers for 6 group spots that I label as external balance; and the issue of what is available to each faction called realm balance.

Your solution only addresses realm balance which when you do an ability matrix for all the careers isn't that skewed. Not only that it is a fair amount of work for almost zero reward to the overall problem, it also makes the game more boring.