Blizzard’s official announcement about new Allies – Dark Irons and Mag’har Orcs – is up! Most importantly, the list of classes and racial abilities is published too. And it is high time to think about our new alts.
Dark Iron Dwarves
The Dark Irons can boast this set of classes:
- Hunter
- Mage
- Monk
- Paladin
- Priest
- Rogue
- Shaman
- Warlock
- Warrior
The variety of classes is really stunning. Of course you could expect the darker and brutal options like Hunters (with bombastic guns), Mages (notably Fire), scheming Warlocks, Shaman (no race is THAT bound to Earth and Fire element), of course Warriors and Rogues. It is surprising to see Paladins… and Priests!
It’ll be really hard to choose the one class and spec from all.
Hunter – no option, it’s Marksmanship with my Gnome Baisa, and I’m not currently happy with the other specs.
Mage – I have toons for every mage spec: Frost – Gnome main, Arcane – Void Elf and Fire – lol, a Dwarf girl. Fire fits so well – but I prefer my Fire Mage to be a cheerful and adventurous ginger girl. Her lighter skin tone contrasts with the coal singed colors.
Monk – sorry, but I still think the idea of giving away monks to every next race is quite silly. Frankly I’d cut the class from most of them, dwarfs and dark irons too.
Paladin and Priest – mmm… nope. The Light thing doesn’t ring a bell with Dark Irons, although it could be justified with them joining Ironforge and learning these paths. Well, it just doesn’t. And as I’ve renounced shadow priesthood with my Gnome priest, shadow is not an option too.
Rogue – is just what we’ve seen the Dark Irons throughout questing in Khaz Modan lands. It fits so well, but I have two Rogues already which cover both specs I like – a highly competent elite criminal human Berringer currently in service of SI:7 (assassination), and a shadow blade political assassin nightborne Arkeona.
Shaman – both Elemental and Enhancement fit so good. As long as my Schlitzchen the Goblin drifts now into restoration, I would consider giving it a try. Most probably it will be Agility’s Enhancement, as Schlitzchen will share Intellect in Restoration/Elemental.
Warlock – probably no chance for me, spawning more pet classes :) I just don’t like pets. Although all the three specs are perfect options for a Drak Iron in my opinion.
Finally, Warrior. This is an awesome and solid option equal to Shaman. My warrior today is Oulu the Draenei girl, which I roleplay as a swift-blade rangari from alternate Draenor. She dual-wields twin axes, so Arms and Protection are opened options for my brand new Dark Iron Dwarf.
To sum it up, a Dark Iron toon is:
- A must for me, I want this alt for roleplay sakes
- It will be a brutal melee girl, just what it says on the picture above
- I will choose between an Enhancement Shaman or Arms/Protection Warrior
- If other class/specs weren’t already covered, my second best choice would be all kinds of rogues, all kinds of warlocks, or a fire mage.
Mag’har Orcs
Them, and Zandalari are not what I’m excited to play. Still let’s see what Blizzard offers us:
- Hunter
- Mage
- Monk
- Priest
- Rogue
- Shaman
- Warrior
In short, Mag’har orcs are alternate timeline orcs which come under Grommash Hellscream’s command, and they obviously lack the hated fel option: Warlocks. The list of classes is as pure and close to nature as possible.
Every option has a strong bond with elements and/or is about good honest steel. Priest option is highly surprising though… I really need a lore explanation for this. Holy Light and Orcs are like… strawberry and fish. You can eat them together, but it’s not natural or tasty.
I’m not planning to roll a mag’har toon yet, but if I were, I would go for the honest Shaman, Warrior or Hunter. The basics.
What are your thoughts?
Gnomecore 
I’d like to take them for a test drive, so to speak. Part is the story, part is the look and part is the racial. My current alliance void elf does the blood elf dance: I wish we got new dances too.
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Priest for Mag’har Orcs? That’s a bit surprising. Orcs are the only one of the pre-Allied Races races that don’t have Priests, which I always thought was because of their nature thing — that uncorrupted Orcs had Shaman *instead of* Priests. But I guess I can kind of see alt-Ner’zhul’s Shadowmoon clan as being kind of priest-like. Like you, though, I’d like a little bit of official lore fill-in for that race/class combination.
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I think the decision to give them priests was that some Mag’har Orcs learned the ways of the Light after WoD, due to peace with the Draenei
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Yes, Shadowmoons are ok with Shadow path.
An Alliance player would remember how a purified naaru exterminated the whole Iron Horde fleet in one go, so this could show the few survivor orcs the power of the Light :) Still, it doesn’t work for me.
It’s the same as with Tauren rogues. Yes, we have plenty of Tauren pirates in game, and even if they totally can be outlaw spec, it doesn’t justify assassination and subtlety. Orcs can be shadow, but they can’t be holy and discipline.
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Tauren and Draenei are a bit too large for stealth and the hooves do not help either.
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Agreed — Tauren Outlaw Rogues would be awesome, but it’s harder to imagine/justify Tauren assassination or subtlety rogues. And all these years after Cataclysm gave priests and paladins to Tauren, it still feels wrong to me when I see a Tauren priest in Shadowform. It would feel just as wrong to see a Orc priest with Tu’ure doing Holy spells!
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Great overview of the class/spec choice :D
My Dark Iron will be an elemental shaman, and my Mag’har Orc will be an assassination rogue (from the insidious Bleeding Hollow Clan, who do a sneaky guerrilla type fighting using hallucinogenic poisons)
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It’s a whole new world when you start thinking about clan fantasy :) My favorites would be Laughing Skulls ofc.
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Indeed. I’ll try to make a post about matching ideas for Clans and classes/specs.
The Bleeding Hollow and the Laughing Skull have such and rich interesting concepts :D
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If you revisit the Blackrock Depths you’ll meet all the classes reserved for Dark Irons except Paladins and Monks (however I can remember some barehand brawlers). There certainly were some priests that you had to deal with. Moira herself is a priest.
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Moira’s technically a Bronzebeard :) But yes, there were priests, now I recall. Still, priesting is not my option for a Dark Iron.
As for monks, hitting faces in the bar is not exactly Pandaren martial philosophy :)
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There are many dark iron paladins in the brd instance. Some of them are in a group of 3-4 mobs. I remember them because they wear orange plate, have a 2h and have bubble and heal before they die
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