In early 2023, Blizzard announced that some races, such as the Lightforged Draenei, Worgen, and Goblin, in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight (WoW Dragonflight) will have the option to become Monks. The Lightforged Draenei, Worgen, and Goblin races have received the Monk class as an option for players. While this comes with its own challenges, it was a welcome addition to the overall lore of WoW. In this article, we’ will look at the evolution of the Monk class from its beginnings in the first WoW to what it is today. We ‘will also cover the impact of this evolution on the character class.
What is a Monk?
In role-playing games, the Monk has been a conventional choice for players who want to have a fine balance between offense and defense. Monks either have a slightly better offensive skillset or are slightly tilted towards a Tank build. However, a majority of Monks fall into the melee user category, making them limited in their effective range as an attacker. But their reliability and all-around playstyle is what makes Monks a standard character class in many role-playing games.
The Monk is a great starting class for beginner WoW players because they can worry little about building the perfect Monk, as they are good with any build that augments their skills. That said, if you want to play the Monk, you may can choose to do some Mythic carry to gain some knowledge on player-specific builds.
Monks in Warcraft Lore
In the lore of the Warcraft universe, the Monk was a class that the Ppandaren were known for. Their history starts with the Ppandarens race being began as slaves to the powerful titan-forged race called the Mmogu who came to the Wandering Isle. Subjugated and exploited by their masters, the Ppandaren had enough and staged a revolt. After their successful insurrection, the Ppandarens race isolated themselves from the world and became one of the most advanced races in Warcraft lore.
Those For those who aren’ not familiar with the development history of or Warcraft, the Ppandaren race was introduced in the third installment of the main game, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, and was a playable character in the highly popular multiplayer map mod, Defense of the Ancients (DOTA), as the Pandaren Brewmaster. The lore was then expanded in the World of Warcraft and its expansions when the Brewmaster was introduced as a Monk sub-class within the Monk class along with the Mistweaver and Windwalker sub-classes.
Monks in Other Races
As for the races that can be Monks, the Ppandaren have been a “default” choice for most players since it is suits the lore. However, there are players who prefer non-Ppandaren races that who can also complement the Monk’s abilities. For example, Eelves and Hhumans are top non-Ppandaren races for Monk builds. These two races are also seen in non-WoW games. The In the popular tabletop role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons, have theHumans and Elves are the top race choices for playing the Monk as a class with Humans and Elves as top choices for race.
Lightforged Draenei wereras introduced in WoW Legion as a variant of the Draenei race. The Lightforged sided with the Nnaaru in battling cosmic demons and forming the Army of Light. Monks in this race have been a big question mark in the WoW player base but some bloggers and content creators like Sunnier have argued that Monks should be available in all races because they are essentially not that different from a warrior: they don’t have Magic powers that require training, and they just “punch things”. Funny as their that point of view is, the Monk class is one of the classes with an easier implementation across all available races.
The introduction of the Worgen and Goblin races in WoW Cataclysm provided players with a new playground to play and ways to buy WoW gold, along with a new storyline to follow. However, their races took some time to receive the Monk class. Some have even theorized that the Monk class was not available for Goblins and Worgens because they were too preoccupied with war and destruction in Cataclysm to be able to find the inner peace and harmony that is “required” of Monks.
These changes in the approach to the Monk class inevitably resulted in how the lore of Warcraft was built to accommodate the new race and class combination.
The Impact of Adding the Monk Class in Lightforged Draenei, Worgen, and Goblin.
There was a time when WoW players were too involved in building their the perfect character. Some have chosen their best race but not the best class. There are those who have mastered a class but are not content with the race they have chosen. Then there are the rare instances where they have found both the perfect race and class for their build. As mentioned above, Sunnier belongs to the “perfect race, but not class” category. Her view about Lightforged Draenei remains one of the most thought-provoking pieces in the WoW community, despite its short argument.
While we can argue that the Worgen and Goblin races feel out of place for a Monk class, they are a welcome addition to the lore. But it’s hard to I can’t imagine races based on traditional monsters to be peace-loving. That said, this is not Cataclysm and I believe in character development. So maybe the impact of adding the Monk class to Worgen and Goblin races is not actually in the game itself but outside of it: how dto we perceive Monks in the first place?
The studious, disciplined, and harmony-seeking Monk runs contrary to how Worgens and Goblins have lived their lives. Being in constant war with each other, the two races certainly don’ not have the mental strength to forge a new path. But, again, that is just me being prejudiced about what Monks are. Case in point: can you imagine a loot-grabbing Goblin Monk?
At the end of the day, the lore will always be the one to canonize the Worgens and Goblins. But the community lore is equally important in analyzing the impact of this class expansion. Without the community, the game will not move forward.