Undead Paladins, Dwarf Shamans, and the Other New Race and Class Combos
Blizzard has named six new WoW Forever race and class combos, led by Undead Paladin with its own leveling experience and epic mount quest.
The launch cinematic showed it before anyone said it: a Forsaken in plate, "wielding the fiery power of the light." Undead Paladins are in World of Warcraft: Forever, and by the end of BlizzCon's second day Blizzard had named five more combinations to go with them.
The six
Blizzard's recap of the September 13 design panel lists Gnome Priest, Human Hunter, Dwarf Shaman, Orc Mage, Troll Warlock, and Undead Paladin. On stage, designer Kris Zierhut said there are more new combos "including" the ones he named, and the word matters. The list is not closed. A combination missing from it has not been ruled out.
Dwarf Shaman is the one that moved. It was playable on the show floor on September 12 but absent from the five named on stage, and the recap added it the next day. It is now Blizzard's word, no caveat needed.
The Forsaken Paladin is a campaign, not a checkbox
This is the detail that separates Forever's approach from a character-creation toggle. Per Blizzard's Found Photos panel recap, the Forsaken Paladin experience "rolls directly out of the new Warcraft III campaign Forsaken Kingdom, beginning at a time when these former paladins are deeply mistrusted by other Forsaken and still learning what it means to channel the Light in undeath." The starting location is Bandarion Keep in the Whispering Wood of Tirisfal Glades.
At 60 they get their own epic mount quest. Blizzard's framing: "Whereas Alliance paladins claim their epic charger in the name of Redemption, the paladins of the Forsaken ride in the name of Retribution." Wowhead published a first look at the Forsaken Charger model from the same panel: black and gold plate barding with skulls and a white caparison.
The lore setup is the neutral Forsaken Paladin hero from the Forsaken Kingdom campaign, which is why the Warcraft Forever Collection bundles that campaign with the game.
Why this is the day-one story
Forever is set in year one of vanilla, between Forsaken Kingdom and Molten Core, in a world with three new zones and nine new dungeons. Every one of these combinations is a lore statement about that year. Gnome Priests and Human Hunters are quiet ones. A Forsaken who channels the Light is not, and Blizzard built a leveling experience around the friction rather than around the novelty.
What I could not confirm
Whether the other five combinations get any bespoke content, or only the Forsaken Paladin does. Blizzard has described one leveling experience and one mount quest. Nothing for the rest. And whether the "including" list grows before November 4. I would bet it does, and I would not put money on which one.
