There's been some talk about what, if any a new hero class should be. There won't be one added in Cataclysm. But, I am feeling the new class vibe for whatever the next expansion will be. I have a theory or two on what the story of that expansion will actually be. I'll get into that later.
I think Blizzard does a reasonably good job of propping the classes up with a good amount of lore. The introductory Death Knight experience as part of the Scourge and all the way to the Battle for Light's Hope was fucking awesome. (What is that artifact under Light's Hope, anyway?) I didn't even really enjoy the death knight class all that much, because I started off as unholy, and at that time there were just too many damn buttons to press for unholy. But I figured that was the most magic-based and my character was supposed to be a high-elf, the sister of Luqa, while she was alive. So I abandoned it and later returned to spec frost, which is a lot of fun. But I digress.
Whatever hero class Blizzard adds, there will be some strong narrative focus on them to support their addition to the game. In the current 3 expansion, our antagonists represent pretty much all the major threats to Azeroth there are. The Burning Legion invading, we dealth with some aftermath on Draenor, prevented. The Scourge we thwarted after they attacked. Cataclysm, we will have to survive a radically world-changing event, which is so grand in scale, the consequences will never be the same. But notice that each time an expansion drops, they've had to up the ante. First it was on some other world, with the possibility of spreading to ours. Then we had to excise the evil from the world that threatened to cause trouble. Now the trouble is happening whether we like it or not, shit is going down and we have to deal with it. You could conceivably imagine that some people would not have even noticed that Kil'Jaeden's summoning in BC or even the war with the Scourge were even happening. Cataclysm affects everybody.
The best bet for the next hero class will be the one which is most equipped from a lore standpoint. How can we best equip players to handle a ridiculously epicly awesome world shattering threat? Guardian.
Since we already have a tanking and physical (mostly) DPS class, we should get a magical and healing class that uses purely arcane magic to heal and shield (as opposed to nature or holy magic). But what is a Guardian?
Guardians of Tirisfal were a succession of immensely powerful mortal champions who were imbued with the power of the world's greatest mages, The Council of Tirisfal, to secretly combat the Burning Legion's incursions into Azeroth. Worked for about 1000 years, but then it turned out that the last, and greatest one, sort of was part of the Burning Legion. So they disbanded. But now that [insanely powerful evil] is threatening to [do something to terrible], its up to the players yet again to put in some work and stop [whoever].
My guess is that the Burning Legion is going to make a return as the next major enemy. I think this for a lot of reasons I won't go into now, but Sargeras himself, or an avatar, might show up. The specific purpose of the Guardians were to defeat the Legion. Aegwynn herself actually killed an avatar of Sargeras in battle, although he ended up having the last laugh. But even if the Legion doesn't return, they're still powerful and cool stronly lore-based class.
Who will train them? Aegwynn is dead, but as we have seen many times in the Warcraft universe, that should hardly present a problem for her to return. In fact, Medivh, her son and successor as Guardian, was killed, and then she resurrected him. He hasn't been seen in his human form since the end of the Second War in Warcraft III. But he can and does morph into a raven from time to time. Outside of his former home at the tower of Karazhan in Deadwind pass, it is said that a raven can be seen sometimes, endlessly circling the tower's upper reaches. There is also Medivh's son with Garona, Med'an, who has been made into a Guardian by the New Council of Tirisfal, about which I know very little. I'll be getting on that soon. All of these people are possibilities.
What would be really cool is if Medivh himself were involved in the training. The same pep talk that you get from Arthas at the opening of the Death Knight intro, we could get one from Medivh. The introduction could involve, like the Battle of Light's Hope, a massive event with a bunch of Guardians saving Azeroth from something. I'm envisioning a massive number of Guardian players in Dalaran or Crystalsong, perhaps defending Azeroth from a slew of portals being opened up into the Nether, and through them flowing hordes of demons that are in dire need of some slaying, and finally another Avatar of Sargeras. Or perhaps some great battle higher up over the planet itself.
And this expansion's final boss will culminate in a raid instance where the heroes of Azeroth, some of whom will be badass Guardians enter the Twisting Nether to defeat not just another avatar, but Sargeras himself, with the help of the Titans.
You could also have the option to convert one of your characters into a Guardian, and take abilities as a Guardian based on your previous class, since the New Order of Tirisfal, or Medivh, or whoever, wants an army with very diverse strengths.
See? The game stuff is flowing straight out the story (off the top of my head) :). But the possibilities are endless.
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