Conquest of the Horde

Okay, so there was a debate some people had in chat the other day about Tauren classes, and though some understood why Tauren could be Paladins and Priests in Cataclysm, some just don't understand. And I've heard the question asked, "If the Tauren can be Paladins and Priests, why can't they be Rogues?"

Well, I'm here to shed some light (no pun intended) about the topic.

Paladins and Priests get their power from a "faith" system. The Tauren believe in a Goddess known as the Earth Mother. They have a strong faith in the works of the Earth Mother, and because they have a faith system pertaining to "nature" in some form or fashion, they have the powers to become Shaman and Druids.

So where do Paladins and Priests come in? This is how: Once more, I elaborate the word "faith." The Tauren believe that their ways are right, and so long as they do not do anything against their own personal faith, they have the potential to become Paladins and/or Priests. See, Paladins are warriors that are able to wield the Light. If a Tauren is trained correctly, they too can wield this power.

But the Priests? Their powers are not completely controlled by the Light or Darkness. As stated in a Class guide here, Priests have their own personal faiths different from others. Their faith allows them to either be good, neutral, or evil (hence the Holy/Discipline/Shadow trees respectively).

Now, about Rogues...

Tauren beliefs show that they have a sense of honor. Rogues are cut-throats, spies, bandits, and just generally all around back-stabbers (no pun intended). Tauren do NOT believe in doing things in private. If they do something, it is openly known. And going this route is just one way for a Tauren to be disowned by their own family and worse, removed from Tauren lands.

If anyone has anything to add to this, please do. But these are my own reasons to supporting why Tauren can be Paladins and Priests, and not Rogues.

KarstAvenger Wrote:But the Priests? Their powers are not completely controlled by the Light or Darkness. As stated in a Class guide here, Priests have their own personal faiths different from others. Their faith allows them to either be good, neutral, or evil (hence the Holy/Discipline/Shadow trees respectively).

This doesn't really show you agree with them being a priest... I think it's all bullocks by the way. Also, you double posted this.

http://www.wowpedia.org/An%27she
An'she, Tauren sun deity. Possible source of lighty type power.

c0rzilla Wrote:http://www.wowpedia.org/An%27she
An'she, Tauren sun deity. Possible source of lighty type power.

That's not what paladins mean by the light. "The Light" is not the power of the sun or visual light.

http://www.wowpedia.org/The_Light

Grimtotem spies, assassins, bandits etc.

"In An Injured Colleague, Aponi Brightmane and Tahu Sagewind discuss if the Tauren have overlooked a key aspect of balance, noting the night elves' near exclusive worship of Elune. Their conversation is possibly a reference to the lack of reverence to An'she, or else the absence of Tauren priests and paladins (or both). Sagewind notes that the tauren are above all else beings of balance, and muses on the enduring nature of the sun. This conversation appears to act as an introduction to the Sunwalkers, the new faction of tauren paladins. This could mean one of a few things:

An'she and the sun are the tauren interpretations of the Light.
An'she is a solar god whose nature is similar to that of Elune, and thus tauren priests and paladins will channel his powers.
Note that An'she is not actually mentioned by name in the above conversation."

Quoted from the Speculation part of the article I linked.

Also: Wow, 100 posts for me already? Woot!

That doesn't really say anything new, does it?

There have been several cases of bad, "dishonorable" tauren in WoW lore. The example that comes to mind first for me is Mr. Smite in Deadmines. He could TECHNICALLY be considered a rogue, if we're talking more about lore and not about in-game mechanics. Otherwise it would definitely be hard for tauren to be any sort of sneaky. They're huge, their hooves would make it hard for them to be quiet and as stated, they -are- a very honorable race.

New classes in general for some of the races though, I think should be taken with a grain of salt. A lot of them don't fit lore, and Blizz had to make up new junk just so that it would work.

What, my post? I think it provides a nice possibility for tauren priests and paladins. This may be veering off course but...I can't help but think about this. MMOs like WoW promise us a "living" and "changing" world in which to play. Cultures grow and change all the time. I don't see how this is such an unbelieveable stretch.

As far as I have understood it, tauren paladins won't be paladins in the "light champion" kind of way, but will be a class of their own, but due to game balance and Blizzard wanting to make it easier to transfer characters from one faction to the other they will use the class already in game. Kind of like Blood Knights but more defined, the tauren "paladins" (or Sunwalkers as I believe they are called) will draw their power from An'she, the sun godess in their mythology, if this godess is a manifestation of the light or an entity in it's own right is unknown, but it's safe to say that ICly the classes will be different.

So, tauren's will not have paladins, they will have sunwalkers, champions of An'she (since the introduction to the idea comes from druids, it might be that druids pick up that mantle and learn to harness the sun godess' powers, they already fight with maces and such so it's not a far stretch) who will stand as balance to the druids worshipping the Earth Mother.

They will OOCly use the same abilities as a paladin, Blizzard won't make a new class for this, besides the real force behind this is because they want to make it easier for people to transfer a character from one faction to the other, that is a human paladin might want to go to the horde, now he can either become a tauren sunwalker or a belf blood knight where before the only option would be the belf.

It does make sense from an IC perspective though, and I can honestly say that I worry more about the night elves suddenly accepting the remaining Highborne back, I know there has been some background given on that too, but so far it hasn't been enough to satisfy my hatemongering self. Hopefully we'll be given some better explanations by the Cataclysm comes out.