no more class trainers

With the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King release, Blizzard has been talking about making the game feel more epic, more heroic (at least for Death Knights). One of the least heroic things I found about levelling my character in outland was that every once in a while I had to haul ass back to some old world capital city to get my training done by the same guys who have been training me since level 10.

If those guys are that good why aren't THEY killing Illidan? Or conquering Alterac Valley? Or dominating the Arena? It certainly won't be epic if theres a few Death Knight trainers just milling about somewhere in Stormwind. (...Undercity on the other hand they'd fit right in...) I say they have served their purpose. I put on my big boy pants at level 70 and they have nothing more to teach me.

Instead spell ranks should be learned through class questing.

One of my faveorite things about levelling up my warlock was that there were plenty of quests that forced me to prove my worth to some master of warlockery in order to receive a particular new spell. They often required me to gather materials from powerful demons or participate in some profane rite.

On the opposite hand I have my rogue and priest alt. My priest had an interesting quest at around lvl 10 to do something for a spell, but nothing new since then. My rogue did the reputation building quest with Ravenholdt, only to discover there was nothing more to do there. In comparison my Warlock had, by level 40, done 4 class quests for learning how to summon pets, and 3 class quests for obtaining useful equipment.

The dreadsteed questline takes the tops: I had to sneak into a demonic lair and trick it's denizens into giving me information on how to summon my mount. Then I assembled a few powerful magical artifacts with rare consumables from around the world. You then wander into some highborne ruins and deactivate a barrier surrounding a powerful demon. After killing said demon I had to enact a ritual that would over time draw more glyphs on the ground as demons warped into existance, ending with a very angry demon and his horse for my group to help me take down.

In Outland, however, they forgot about class quests almost entirely. Only the druids got one, and they already have moonglade. What gives? There aren't even class quests for epic items to help patch up itemization gaps in raiding.

Back on point: for an epic hero who has laid waste to many dangerous foes and magical beasts, training should no longer be about handing over some gold and saluting. Instead it should be about searching out new sources of power and taking them from their owners. Proving your worth through a challenge of power. Discovering a tome of ancient and arcane lore written in an indecipherable language, so you must seek aid in translating it. Sneaking into a heavily fortified fortres, stealing important documents and sabotaging its inner workings before leaving undetected. Competing with a master of arms in sparring, and as a reward for your cunning he teaches you a new trick with your sword. These are heroic ways to unlock new abilities.

I know Blizzard wants to keep people going back to the old Azeroth capitals, but keeping the only source of class training there will just be a repeat of TBC: After the initial rush to 80, there will be little need for 90% of the high level population to step inside old world capitals again. There needs to be a better incentive to hang out there.

There are some downsides to this system, where people can level faster and higher than new ranks would be given to them. It would also unfairly punish PvPers that have no interest in playing the PvE game and just want to reach level 80 ASAP. Theres some definite balance issues. It may seem like a good idea to have a lvl 80 spell rank as a reward for clearing a lvl 80 dungeon instance, or completing a lvl 80 group quest -- but then you run into problems where people need to run that quest and no longer receive the necessary help, as they joined too late or a new expansion dropped.