Would You Play A Shadow Stalker?

I normally do not put a great deal of stock in leaks but being there was a recent leak about what the next expansion would be and it was by the same guy that leaked warlords originally, and was right, I will play with the idea a little bit.  Even if everyone laughed at his warlords leak, he was right.  So he has earned some trust points from me.  And some of the things he mentioned do line up nicely with some of the things I already know, or believe I know, based on some information I have received.

Admittedly this post could just end up meaning nothing, but it is fun to think about the possibilities.  As the new class, which I believe he mentioned, is called a Shadow Stalker and it uses ranged weapons which puts it in direct competition with hunters for weapons, I consider this sort of a sister class to the hunter.

When I first read about it the two things that popped into mind are as follows...

1) I do not want anyone else competing for my weapon.

I have not seen hunter weapons drop thus far all expansion.  I have not seen any hunters in my group coin a weapon.  So no drops of weapons, no coined weapons, and if it were not for crafted gear, no weapons at all this expansion for hunters makes me really dislike the idea of adding another class that would use the same weapon as mine.

It is already damn near impossible to get a weapon as is, the last thing the hunter class needs is someone else competing for its weapon.  No thank you.

However, maybe with a new class they will increase the drop rate of these weapons, which is entirely possible too.  This would be a good thing, but even if you double 0 drops this expansion, it is still 0 drops this expansion.  So given the option, I would rather not have someone else compete for my weapon thank you very much.  Guns, bows and crossbows are hunter loot, no pun intended.  We do not need to share them.

2) Why not just add a 4th spec for hunters.

The shadow stalkers are basically caster hunters.  It will have 2 DPS specs and a healing spec.  Is this really needed?  No, not at all.  Two of the three hunter specs already have the option to use no pet.  So they are basically like casters.  Also we do not need more ranged classes, there are enough as is.

However, adding a 4h spec to allow hunters to heal could be interesting.  Not exactly the choice I would have went with as I could see a hunter being a tank way before I could see hunters healing.  I think it would be much more reasonable to add a 4th spec, call it a shadow stalker if you wish, and make it a hunter healing class.  There is absolutely no need for a new class.

This idea would be much more preferable to adding another class to the game in my opinion.

With all that said, would I play a shadow stalker?

Absolutely I would.  I could dig the wildstar gunslinger healing model.  Would like to see how blizzard manages it.  I've always played any new class they added, always made any new race they added, so why would this time be any different.

I just question the reasoning behind this class being added if it does indeed turn out to be true.  Why add a new class no one wanted, no one asked for and there is no need for in game?

If they wanted to test out the wildstar gunslinger model they could very easily, as I mentioned, add a 4th spec for hunters to do so.  Just look at people that are in game that are already hunters and healers, people like Vol'Jin whom this will be based on and Tyrande.  Both hunters, both with healing capabilities.  And they are not alone.

There is precedent for adding a 4th spec already, there is reasonable lore behind a hunter having healing capabilities, and there really is no need to clutter the classes even more with more of the same. 

I'd think blizzard should spend more time trying to fix what they already have before adding more.  Just look at hunters right now, they have one completely broken spec.  Wouldn't their resources be better spent fixing a class that is already in the game than trying to create a new class that is basically the same thing and using the same weapons and the broken class that they are completely ignoring as is.

I actually trust this rumor that was released.  I think the leak has some validity to it.  The sad part is, I do not like what I see knowing they are adding a new class when there are so many broken specs being completely ignored already in the game.

If this does turn out to be true, it is not looking good for me staying around for another expansion.  If blizzard has the balls to thrust a new, unwanted, unwelcome and not required class on us while other specs remain broken, they do not deserve my money any more.  But... if I did stay around, sure, I would play it.  I am a fool that way.