So now that we're a day and a half out from a steady stream of card reveals, I'm curious what everyone's thoughts, hopes and expectations are for Un'Goro.
It seems like there's a lot riding on this expansion heading into the new rotation. Even more so it seems like the majority of classes need some kind of direction.
Paladin and Hunter really need some kind of focus. Blizzard seems to like the idea of small minions overwhelming your opponent for Paladin but that hasn't really taken off. Will Blizzard finally give midrange Paladin some love or at least give control Paladin more tools? It seems like there are a lot of directions for the class to go right now. As for Hunter, I'm really not sure what direction they take. It's a class that seems like it's all about beasts and deathrattle and to be honest I wouldn't be surprised if Blizzard doubled down on that. There's also the potential of more synergy cards for secret Hunter but outside of beast synergy Hunter is a bit of a mess right now.
Priest is losing a lot of their dragons as well as Reno. Control Priest is much less attractive than it used to be and it's losing some core cards on top of that. Maybe Priest can somehow hold on to the Reno archetype with Kazakus and Raza since they're probably the class that leans on Reno's effect the least. Blizzard obviously sees value in deathrattle Priest given the quest so maybe that's where their focus will lie but if that archetype doesn't work out it seems like Priest may find itself struggling a whole lot.
Warrior seems lost in a sea of aggro. Control is pretty much dead right now and it's hard to imagine it coming back given the current landscape. They're losing dragons and taunt hasn't taken off either. I have no idea what they do with this class. Outside of smashing face it seems like there isn't much hope for other Warrior archetypes. Maybe Un'Goro will be the start of something new for the class or maybe we just get more failed attempts at making taunt Warrior work.
Mage is losing some key tools for their biggest archetypes, as is Warlock. It's tough to see either of them sticking with the Reno archetype after the rotation. Blizzard could potentially double down on secret Mage or try to support the aggro archetype that's popped up somewhat recently. Elementals are also a possibility although I'd be surprised if Mage got much in the way of synergy there. As for Warlock, it's tough to say. I'm guessing we're going to start seeing a good bit of demon synergy going forward as it's been a mostly forgotten/half-assed archetype for a while now. Zoo is losing some key cards but if there's anything you can say about that deck it would be that it's resilient so I'd be surprised if Zoo wasn't able to find a way. Personally I'd like to see some cards, especially demons, that support a midrange/control playstyle, especially if Warlock can't lean on Reno anymore.
Rogue is a class that is losing a couple good cards but should mostly stay intact. That said, it's also still a class that still seems to lack focus and is probably a class that has mostly lucked into being successful through the various tools they've been able to take advantage of across a bunch of sets. I just think Rogue needs something new and fresh that will succeed and stick around where deathrattle and burgle failed, though Blizzard seems like they still wants to play around with the burgle effect so maybe that continues to be a theme. Stealth also seems like it's an archetype that Blizzard might be interested in as well. Who knows, Rogue seems like the biggest unknown going forward.
Druid is tough to evaluate as well I think. They have Jade which should stick around as a Druid archetype in Standard for the next year but outside of that it's really questionable. Beast never took off and the archetype is losing a lot of the really nice cards, though I'm guessing Blizzard will still continue to push the archetype anyway and maybe it could take on a new form as a non-aggro deck? I have a hard time seeing them pushing traditional ramp Druid when the Jade archetype can essentially just do it better right now.
Then there's Shaman. The class is losing a fricking ton in the rotation and I think the potential is there for it to suffer quite a bit if they don't see a couple somewhat reasonable replacements. That said, Jade should be able to stick around and be successful even with the loss of cards like Trogg and Golem. The other positive thing for Shaman is that it seems like Blizzard has clear direction for the class. Evolve is still around and it feels like the archetype only needs one final push to become something truly viable. Blizzard has been pushing the control quite a bit recently as well and I wouldn't be surprised to see more of that, especially since the deck seems like it's only a couple powerful late game cards away from being really good. There's also elementals to consider and since Shaman is the de facto elemental class I'm expecting to see a lot of tribe synergy for Shaman to play around with. What form it will take is really up in the air right now though.
So yeah, that ended up being a lot more long winded than I expected but that's essentially me "thinking out loud" when it comes to the new expansion. I think there's a lot of questions and a lot of needs for pretty much all the classes heading into the future. It should be interesting to see what routes Blizzard takes and I'm really hoping Un'Goro is able to give a solid foundation going into the next rotation because if it ends up falling flat I think it's going to be REALLY rough times for the game moving forward.
Also, probably worth noting that pretty much all these thoughts are about Standard going forward and pretty much irrelevant to Wild.
