Inconsistent Spell Schools

Submitted 3 years ago by

So out of curiosity I was looking through all the old expansion to see which spells got updated with spell schools to figure out what the standards are.


Unsurprisingly I stumbled over a handful of inconsistencies (or just stuff that I don't understand because I'm missing the WoW connection).

 

For the purpose of discussion I'll list my findings here and you can tell me why I'm wrong:

 

Feral Spirit has no spell school, Dragon's Pack however is a Nature spell, despite them both being effectively the same thing.

Lesser Emerald Spellstone is a Nature Spell for some reason, despite no other Beast summoning spells are like this (I can only assume the argument would be that it is a relic imbued by Nature magic)

Lunar Eclipse is an Arcane spell (like all astral spells), but Solar Eclipse is a Nature spell (are sun-related spells Nature damage in WoW?)

Corrupting Mist is a Shadow spell while Corruption, the OG spell has no school.

Spirit Echo somehow qualifies as a Nature spell, while stuff like Ancestral Spirit or Soul of the Murloc don't.

Rafaam's Scheme is a fire spell for some reason, when all other Imp summoning spells ([Hearthstone Card (Summoning Circle) Not Found] and the ranked spell) are Fel spells

Inner Fire and Focused Will aren't Holy/Shadow spells respectively (is there some Priest skillset that involves mental training that isn't related to the LIght/Void?)

Bloodbloom is a Shadow spell when all other plant related spells are Nature (like Hallucination)

Rain of Fire and Dark Skies are Fel spells. Now I'm a bit colorblind so maybe this makes sense if both of them shoot green fire, but to me it always looked like regular Fire.

Lesser Ruby Spellstone is a Fire spell. I guess they were going for color coding with those, but it just feels like a bit of a stretch.

Subdue is not a HOly spell. Maybe it was neever supposed to be, but it always felt like on to me.

Convert is not a Shadow spell, which is weird seeing the artwork and how it clearly implies mind control shenanigans.

Webweave is for some bizarre reason a Shadow spell, which becomes even weirder considering Spreading Plague is Nature as you would expect.

Oh My Yogg! is a Shadow spell, which is strang considering all the other Old GOd relics from Darkmoon Faire have no spell school.

Shadow Council is a Fel spell. I know this makes sense due to the nature of the spell, but it bothers me to no end seeing how every other spell with "Shadow" in the name belongs to that school.

 

So that's what I've got so far. Anybody else got opinions on this?

 

  • YourPrivateNightmare's Avatar
    Skeleton 2010 4741 Posts Joined 03/25/2019
    Posted 3 years ago

    So out of curiosity I was looking through all the old expansion to see which spells got updated with spell schools to figure out what the standards are.


    Unsurprisingly I stumbled over a handful of inconsistencies (or just stuff that I don't understand because I'm missing the WoW connection).

     

    For the purpose of discussion I'll list my findings here and you can tell me why I'm wrong:

     

    Feral Spirit has no spell school, Dragon's Pack however is a Nature spell, despite them both being effectively the same thing.

    Lesser Emerald Spellstone is a Nature Spell for some reason, despite no other Beast summoning spells are like this (I can only assume the argument would be that it is a relic imbued by Nature magic)

    Lunar Eclipse is an Arcane spell (like all astral spells), but Solar Eclipse is a Nature spell (are sun-related spells Nature damage in WoW?)

    Corrupting Mist is a Shadow spell while Corruption, the OG spell has no school.

    Spirit Echo somehow qualifies as a Nature spell, while stuff like Ancestral Spirit or Soul of the Murloc don't.

    Rafaam's Scheme is a fire spell for some reason, when all other Imp summoning spells ([Hearthstone Card (Summoning Circle) Not Found] and the ranked spell) are Fel spells

    Inner Fire and Focused Will aren't Holy/Shadow spells respectively (is there some Priest skillset that involves mental training that isn't related to the LIght/Void?)

    Bloodbloom is a Shadow spell when all other plant related spells are Nature (like Hallucination)

    Rain of Fire and Dark Skies are Fel spells. Now I'm a bit colorblind so maybe this makes sense if both of them shoot green fire, but to me it always looked like regular Fire.

    Lesser Ruby Spellstone is a Fire spell. I guess they were going for color coding with those, but it just feels like a bit of a stretch.

    Subdue is not a HOly spell. Maybe it was neever supposed to be, but it always felt like on to me.

    Convert is not a Shadow spell, which is weird seeing the artwork and how it clearly implies mind control shenanigans.

    Webweave is for some bizarre reason a Shadow spell, which becomes even weirder considering Spreading Plague is Nature as you would expect.

    Oh My Yogg! is a Shadow spell, which is strang considering all the other Old GOd relics from Darkmoon Faire have no spell school.

    Shadow Council is a Fel spell. I know this makes sense due to the nature of the spell, but it bothers me to no end seeing how every other spell with "Shadow" in the name belongs to that school.

     

    So that's what I've got so far. Anybody else got opinions on this?

     

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    8
  • TheDynamicBandit's Avatar
    195 5 Posts Joined 08/02/2020
    Posted 3 years ago

    I'll let someone else make the obligatory "consistently inconsistent" joke. 

    Really cool analysis, I wonder if there is some kind of motivation. I'm trying to think of a standard that makes corrupting mist a shadow spell but doesn't include corruption and I'm drawing a blank. 

    2
  • AnAngryBadger's Avatar
    645 216 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 3 years ago
    Quote From TheDynamicBandit

    I'll let someone else make the obligatory "consistently inconsistent" joke. 

    Really cool analysis, I wonder if there is some kind of motivation. I'm trying to think of a standard that makes corrupting mist a shadow spell but doesn't include corruption and I'm drawing a blank. 

    Corrupting an entire board is evil but corrupting a single minion isn't quite evil enough

    9
  • AngryShuckie's Avatar
    1705 1735 Posts Joined 06/03/2019
    Posted 3 years ago

    Colour-blindness definitely accounts for some of them (Rain of Fire and Dark Skies are a sickly fel green, and I suspect the orange of Rafaam's Scheme is what motivated it's fire tag. Though I agree with you that the latter is wrong).

    I'm pretty sure the colour of the magic accounts for a few other odd ones too, such as Webweave's purple.

    I'm going to have to argue against you on Shadow Council though. You're dangerously close to being inconsistent yourself: does the card name/art matter more than the reality of what the spell is doing/representing? Anyway, I'm not really sure it should have a school at all since the shadow council was a physical group of orcs and ogres, and was not magically conjured. 

    All in all I agree there's a bit of tidying up to do. I suppose that's not surprising when a lot of spells were never designed with spell schools in mind so past artistic liberties can now cause problems.

    3
  • HuntardHuntard's Avatar
    Mailbox Dancer 875 744 Posts Joined 12/03/2019
    Posted 3 years ago

    Druids have a spec called balance, which switches between being empowered by a full moon and a new moon. The new moon empowers all the astral damage balance druids do. This is represented as arcane damage in WoW. the full moon empowers all the natural damage the balance druid can do. it is literally called natural damage in-game. 

    This had to be written quickly and crappily because I am busy atm, but the spell schools for the solar and lunar eclipse are actually correct.

    Your face is already dead

    9
  • SilverWolf's Avatar
    Tauren Chieftain Addict 990 1085 Posts Joined 04/01/2019
    Posted 3 years ago
    Quote From YourPrivateNightmare

     

    Lesser Emerald Spellstone is a Nature Spell for some reason, despite no other Beast summoning spells are like this (I can only assume the argument would be that it is a relic imbued by Nature magic)

    Lunar Eclipse is an Arcane spell (like all astral spells), but Solar Eclipse is a Nature spell (are sun-related spells Nature damage in WoW?)

    Balance as druid specialization in wow is balancing between nature and arcane magic. It have some sense, at least on a lore level.
    For example, all stars magic, like Starfall are Arcane, but all healing spells are nature.

    1
  • madcat's Avatar
    Planeswalker 1330 286 Posts Joined 06/02/2019
    Posted 3 years ago

    I just love  how Deadly Poison is a Nature spell instead of something that makes sense (like Fel or Shadow or no school). What's next, rogues running, oh I don't know, Earthmuffin Apprentice or whatever Blizzard comes up with as a minion making Nature spells cheaper, because that would be sooo flavorful.

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    -1
  • Bluelights's Avatar
    425 397 Posts Joined 04/02/2019
    Posted 3 years ago
    Quote From madcat

    I just love  how Deadly Poison is a Nature spell instead of something that makes sense (like Fel or Shadow or no school). What's next, rogues running, oh I don't know, Earthmuffin Apprentice or whatever Blizzard comes up with as a minion making Nature spells cheaper, because that would be sooo flavorful.

    Poisons deal nature damage in World of Warcraft. Thats why.

    2
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