World of Warcraft: Forever gave the Horde a Paladin, and a chunk of the Classic crowd did not clap. The BlizzCon reveal locked Undead Paladin as a launch combo. Human Hunter, Dwarf Shaman, Gnome Priest, Orc Mage, and Troll Warlock came with it. The Forsaken holy knight is the one lighting up arguments.
In original Warcraft lore, the Holy Light is not a comfortable tool for the undead. It burns. The undead are also seen as generally evil, dark and not very clean. Vanilla used that as a wall. Alliance got Paladins. Horde got Shamans. The split was flavor and identity, not just a talent tree. Forever takes that wall down on day one.
The exception people keep throwing back to the lore is Sir Zeliek, the Four Horseman who could still call the Light while dead. That is one raid boss in Naxxramas. Forever turns the exception into a character-create checkbox. That is the fight.
Purist arguments are clear and they are not subtle about it or how they feel. Classic's factions felt different because the class lists were different. A Forsaken in plate, swinging holy, reads to them like a slice of retail dropped into Classic. They also do not buy the "it's an alternate timeline" shield. Warcraft Forever branches after Warcraft III: Reforged Forsaken Kingdom and before Molten Core. The new story is the point. They still want the old rules about who can hold which power.
The other camp is just as loud. They have asked for Horde Paladins for many years. They will take Undead over waiting another decade. They point at Dwarf Shaman as the Alliance twin and call the whole package even. They want a 60-cap game that keeps growing in Azeroth, not a museum of 2004 restrictions. For them, Zeliek already proved the Light can sit in a dead body. Warcraft Forever is just letting players do it finally.
Blizzard did not stage a lore seminar with the combo list. Wowhead and the demo reports simply marked Paladin on Undead. Racials still include Will of the Forsaken, Cannibalize, and Touch of the Grave. The holy kit sits on top of that undead kit. How the game explains a Forsaken walking into a cathedral and not catching fire is still missing from the public sheet.
The class matrix is not the only rewrite from the original game. Warcraft Forever stays at level 60 cap and fills the old map instead of shipping Outland. Zephras Isle starts the new Skyborne. The Riverglades, Shen'Dralas, and a rebuilt Mount Hyjal take outdoor space that Vanilla left thin. Nine new dungeons cover the climb. Barrow Deeps is 10-player. Hyjal Summit is 20. Onyxia still opens in the 40-player size on December 9. Classic milestones like the original Ahn'Qiraj and Naxxramas gates are not on that first raid card.
Modern systems sit next to that. Transmog is opt-in. Graphics flip between SD and HD. Camping is in. Gamepad support is official, still alpha on the show floor. There are no realm names. You pick Normal, PvP, Roleplay, or later Hardcore. Names are unique per region. Collections skip Hardcore. Grouping stays inside a ruleset and inside a faction.
None of that calms the purists in many threads. Convenience fights and lore fights are different rooms. You can like realmless queues and still hate a Forsaken blessing your raid. You can want Hyjal at 60 and still want Paladins locked to Alliance.
The tight part for Blizzard is launch week, not the forums. November 4 puts Undead Paladins in the hands of the masses. The Beta from September 17 only goes to level 30, so the holy Forsaken debate will run on tooltips and starter zones before anyone sees a 60-rated seal and how strong they are in the end game.
Faction identity in Classic was never only cosmetics. It was who got Rebirth, who got Fear Ward, who got Blessing of Kings, who got Bloodlust later. Forever already redrew that map. Skyborne split between getting different classes of either Mage and Shaman based on what faction they choose.
Sir Zeliek will keep getting cited. So will the people who rolled Horde in 2004 and never wanted a bubble. Both groups are the Classic audience Warcraft Forever says it is building a permanent home for. The game cannot make both of them feel like they won the character-create screen, but does it all really matter? We will have to find out what people think in November after playing the game for a while.
Do Undead Paladins make sense to you, or did Warcraft Forever give away the faction line Vanilla was built on? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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