The Smurfs may not be the only brand-new original content in World of Warcraft: Infinite. Blizzard has launched a survey among players regarding a batch of new classes, some of which have been requested by players for years.
Last week, the Battle.net client popped up a survey aimed at gauging player interest in future updates for World of Warcraft: Infinite. Officials required participants not to publicly leak the survey content, but as you know, confidentiality warnings on the internet rarely hold much weight.
Some players have posted the full survey online, which lists several candidate classes: Monk, Demon Hunter, Artificer, Illusionist, Salarin, Necromancer, Rune Knight, Bard, Watcher, Witch, and Death Knight. Each class includes a brief introduction, team role, armor type, and detailed descriptions of some sample skills.
Taking the Witch class as an example, this is a cloth-wearing ranged DPS and support class. Sample skills include the "Magic Cauldron," which provides buffs to those who drink from it, and "Void Arrow," a ranged attack skill that consumes the caster's own health.
Whenever potential new classes are discussed, the Bard and Artificer are frequently mentioned options. Blizzard's designs for these two classes sound highly compatible with the existing class system. The Artificer is designed to pilot exclusive mechs for combat, while the Bard provides healing and buffs to teammates by playing music.
The design of returning classes such as the Demon Hunter and Monk is very similar to their counterparts in other versions of World of Warcraft. The survey explicitly states that some skills familiar to players will not be implemented in World of Warcraft: Infinite; it also clarifies that Demon Hunters will start at level 1, rather than the level 8 starting point seen in the World of Warcraft "Midnight" expansion.
Although the outlines for these classes are quite brief, the overall consideration is quite thorough. I believe Blizzard will almost certainly implement these classes in the future, possibly as soon as shortly after this MMO launches in November.
Judging by the large number of new Elf characters I see every time I log in, many players have paid to experience the new race on the test server. I wouldn't be surprised if Blizzard starts selling classes later on. Ideally, players could unlock these classes for free through in-game gameplay, but given that profitability is key, I'm skeptical about whether Blizzard will release such content for free. Some players are already worried that the power level of new classes might significantly surpass existing ones, ruining the nostalgic experience. Their concerns are valid, but it remains unclear how much World of Warcraft: Infinite will deviate from the original World of Warcraft. The game officially launches on November 4, and we may then get a glimpse into the future direction of this Blizzard nostalgia spin-off.