About some of the new Race/Class combo's...

Quite frankly, some of these new Race/Class combinations just feel forced. Night Elf Mages? Tauren Paladins? I'm sorry, but this is clearly breaking the themes of what these classes and races are. We all know the deal with Night Elves and Magi, what with an *entire book trilogy* detailing why they don't exist in the Night Elf culture anymore. Paladins represent a very specific aspect of religion, Catholic beliefs specifically (ie. Scarlet Crusade). Tauren may be spiritual, but they definitely don't fit the bill for a Paladin.

Sure, explanations can be written. But they'd be nothing more than glue to hold a very stretched image together. I know my opinion isn't going to get very far here, but I'm sick of seeing Races and Classes being destroyed, all for the sake of "balance" or "I think this race looks cooler". I've always loved Blizzard's sense of humor, but WoW is also a fantasy game. But with some (not all, but some) of these proposed Race/Class combinations are simply breaking the aspect of fantasy, and exposing a game that's just trying to squeeze out more subscriptions.

Yes, it was the Tauren Paladin that really pushed me over the edge on this one. But I'll tell you exactly what's going to happen if they're added; we're never going to see armor referencing "The Lightbringer" again, nor will we likely ever see another Ankh adorning our armor. How do I know? Simple; look at Shaman gear. Gone are Horde symbols, the obviously references to the primitive beliefs of Orcs, such as wolves. And just look at the Death Knight sets; are there *any* references to a "Fallen Knight" theme? Or is it just "spikes and skulls"? And let's just look at the "New Order of Tirisfal"; an explicitly Mage order is now not only accepting other applications, but is actually making a *Shaman* their newly appointed leader?

What I'm really trying to get at here, is that homogenization kills diversity. Races aren't going to be defined by the classes they are, but the classes they *aren't*. Classes themselves will cease to feel "special" or "inspired". I don't want to play a game that consists of "Melee DPS, Ranged DPS, Healer, and Tank", nor one that consists of "Alliance and Horde". You have ten Classes, and soon to be Twelve races; homogenization is the *WORST* thing you could do to keep people interested in this world... of Warcraft.