Would be so cool if they went into the inner lore of races and each race had some sort of natural power stemming from their roots and classes like warriors are masters of that, enabling them to do powerful feats while magic users master cosmic powers.
Off course, only the most exceptional and talented heroes are able to tap into this inner power and utilise it in explosive ways ie the player character hero and legends - wry few people reach this stage
Here are inner powers
Humans/Kuk’tirans - titanic might (from their Titan origins
Orcs - fel lust
Mag’har - Legacy of the ancestors
Dwarves/ Dark Iron/Earthen - Khaz’goroth’s earthen might
Blood elves - Sunwell
Void elves - Sunwell or void essence
Night elves/Nightborne - Well of Eternity which is what all night elf kind is linked to (not nature - which only Druids do) Elune is priests only
Haranir - roots of Azeroth
Trolls/Zandalari - Loa divinity
Forsaken - domination
Worgen - the moon
Draenei - Aramark crystal Light
Tauren - Earthmother
Sure they do use enchanted items, so do magic user too to enhance their power.
But it just can’t explain all of their feats.
It doesn’t sound right that giving those magical items to some footmen would make them just as powerful.
Varian is incredibly strong for a human and was even chosen as a champion of Goldrinn.
Dwarven kings would tap into their heritage, gaining stone-like skin and summon lightning.
Trolls are blessed by loas and their warriors have several enhancements through that.
The whole universe is full of magic, just like how some mages have the natural affinity for the arcane, I imagine some warriors have a closer connection to primal magic that enhance their physical nature.
But as I said, this is just the way I view it, the warcraft universe just does not make sense otherwise. It would be nice if Blizzard would have focused more on building up their fantasy universe so we wouldn’t have to ask these questions or make up our own headcanon around it.
But just like a TV show that should have ended long ago keep releasing new seasons with poorly written stories, blizzard just does not care about the fantasy universe they created and are now just trying to milk it as much as possible.
I agree, It would have been nice if they actually deepened the lore of races and explored their nature a bit more.
I would also love if they fixed this in game, so that classes visually and thematically matched the race you were playing.
Tauren, Orc and Troll are all shamanic and spiritual but it manifests differently in their cultures. The shaman class is just a combination of their shamanism, which I think dilutes what it means to be a shaman for example.
But yes, they should explore the races more and show their cultures and unique strengths.
Because my point was that warriors(the class) are not simple soldiers(barebones regular footmen).
Shamans and Paladins for example use magic, but their magic is not something they inherently have, it’s granted to them by the elements or the light.
They can lose that magic when the elements/light don’t deem them worthy anymore, as with Thrall and Anduin.
Even druids can lose their connection to nature.
Players are all oddities in respect to regular npcs of their class.
Most mage mobs we encounter can only cast one or two of the most simple spells for example and can only manage to cast a couple of those spells before running out of mana.
Most great mages have enhanced their power through founts of magic, mystical artifact or gifts of greater beings.
Just look at what happens to magic focused societies like the elves when you take away their wells of power.
All classes rely of tapping into an external source of power.
This is why I don’t view warriors, hunters or rogues etc as non-magical.
I’m not saying someone like Varian is as powerful as someone like Malfurion, but warriors aren’t just some angry dudes that swing sticks around, they are clearly unnaturally strong and resilient compared to regular soldiers like footmen and grunts.
We have abilities and talents that are just impossible without magic, not just us players, but lore characters as well.
Truth is that they CAN wield magical power or at least achieve some “superhuman” feats (atleast for us).
Do not make the mistake of thinking about real life warriors and comparing them to spell casters from wow.
Rogues, warriors, hunters, etc in lore, are capable of superhuman feats that sometimes seem magical in nature (and sometime are). Examples are warriors increasing in size (avatar), becoming invisible (wind walk), creating images of themselves (mirror imagine), moving so fast that they attack multiple times together (omnislash from blademaster), smashing the ground hard enough to cause thunder damage (thunderclap).
Those are feats that seasoned warriors in the level of archdruid and archmages can do, WITHOUT the help of enchanted gear or items.
From what I can tell is that you are trying to compare the “stoic warrior” from the lord of the rings universe, to an archdruid or archmage from wow.
The truth is that seasoned warriors in lore view novice spellcasters more or less like regular archers, and can withstand magic with relative ease. The power balance breaks only in especially powerful individuals, since the more “heroic” characters get, the more power scaling goes out of control.
Yeah, there are no simple classes in WoW. The alliance footman is a simple soldier. The player warrior is a literal superman that can wield massive weapons, jump over mountains, move at lightning speed and blast enemies with thunder all while going into berserker rage.
And it’s same with other “simple” classes like hunter and rogue. Hunters can commune with beasts, they can heal with nature magic and invoke different shamanistic like blessings. And then there is rogue that can vanish from sight and use shadow magic.
None of the player characters is just a basic footman.
I think depends on the character. Sargeras can slice the planet you standing on in half and he does that as a warrior.
Also depends on the rules of the fight. A hunter could headshot anyone from miles away and we all know warcraft characters hate to wear helmets lol.
A rogue wont announce their arrival either. They will kill you before you know what happened.
A mage or a warlock can open a portal under you and yank you to space or in an ocean.
If the engagement is arena like and both party is aware of eachother then it probably boils down to DK and DH altough it really depends on the individuals I guess.
Having the right equipment can change the battle as well. If a warrior is in full saronite armor I think he will be immune to most magic attacks.
No they can’t and now I’m certain you make stuff up.
I don’t use “real” warriors as a reference whatsoever since there are no real casters to compare with. In pure Warcraft lore, no matter what you tell yourself, a mundane warrior can’t cast spells or wield magical abilities nor square up to a caster of, or of lesser, equal skill level. Please, by all means; back up your claim with official work in form of links if I’m wrong.
And about your so-called “key note warriors”: Warcraft stories often exaggerate warriors to sound larger than life, but that does not make them have innate magical prowess. Grommash cleaving through his enemies, Lothar being remembered as if he bent reality, and Varian gaining “mythic” strength after his spirit merge are just legendary storytelling. None of them ever cast a spell and none of them ever wielded actual magic. They were warriors, plain and simple, and trying to twist that into evidence of magical ability is reaching.
The casters with same plot armor are even more amazing. Jaina and Medivh for instance, or why not Velen.
Take away your own bias and head canon from the discussion.
Varian Wrynn, in the novel Wolfblood, was blessed by Goldrinn. While this is not his own feat, it is not something that is “exaggerated” or “legendary storytelling” it is lore accurate.
For Grommash, he is lore acurate that he killed Manorth, which apart from a demon, he is a commander of the burning legion, and a very powerful spellcaster (with war of the ancients stating only Azshara being his superior).
If you are familiar with the lore then you know that everything in the world has been influenced/created/shaped by the 6 forces (order, chaos, life, death, arcane, fel). All of the races have some connection to those forces, giving almost any of them the potential of superhuman/magical feats.
Examples of those ties:
Trolls worshiping the loa
Dwarves, gnomes, humans being created by the titans
Night elves worshipping elune and the wild gods
Orcs being corrupted by fel
Worgens being cursed with permanent worgen form (a more potent/ferocious druid cat-like form)
Taurens being actual behemoths
Draenei worshiping the light
Forsaken being undead
…
In all the above, there is potential for warriors/hunters/rogues/etc (non spellcasters) to use supernatural abilities (that comes from those connections), without having any training or “changing their class”.
You understand that “plot armor” goes both ways right?
In lore, spellcasters are not demigods. Casters take their time and cast single spells that have specific effects. Most of them are regular mortals without any particular power. Let’s say, while a regular mage can cast haste or fireball, they are pretty vulnerable to any attack coming their way. Druids of the claw, while using most of their magic to turn into beasts, hardly overcome a regular tauren in strength for example.
In lore, even the most powerful spellcasters rarely go alone into a scenario where they might be vulnerable. Examples of that being Khadgar, Jaina, Guldan, that actually try to coordinate with others and be protected by armies. Notable exceptions of that are characters that have combat training and experience as actual fighters (warriors, rogues, hunters, paladins, etc).
ingame warriors are the oddities, not the norm.