Gnome priest
New race and class combination
A new race for an old Alliance class. Gnome priest doesn’t change what priest does — it changes who you can be while doing it.
At a glance
- Confirmed as a new race and class combinationVERIFIED
- Priest has been playable on human, dwarf and night elf on the Alliance since Classic; gnome is the fourthVERIFIED
- Every race's racials are changed in the demo build; Blizzard names Gnome's new Eureka! ability as one examplePROVISIONAL
- Whether Eureka! or the rest of the changed gnome kit does anything for a priest specifically, or is purely levelling and utility flavourAWAITING VERIFICATION
- Whether Blizzard gives gnome priest any lore or quest hook, given gnomes are not a traditionally devout raceAWAITING VERIFICATION
How to read these. VERIFIED — Stated by Blizzard in official material. We will tell you to act on this. PROVISIONAL — Datamined, reported, or our own read. Good enough to plan around, not good enough to bet on. It may change. AWAITING VERIFICATION — Nobody has said yet. We are not going to make something up to fill the gap.
What actually changes
Nothing about priest itself. Holy, Discipline and Shadow work the same regardless of race. What changes is the race decision for anyone who wants to play priest on the Alliance — human, dwarf and night elf are no longer the only options.
That matters most if you pick a race for identity first and optimise for stats second. Gnome priest was not available at all in Classic Era; if that is the character you actually wanted, Forever is the first time you can play it.
Does it matter for raiding?
Probably not much, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Priest racials have never been the reason to bring one — spec and player skill decide raid value far more than race. Escape Artist and the demo build's Eureka! read as levelling and solo-play tools, not throughput, and nothing datamined so far suggests gnome is about to become a min-max priest pick.
What we need from beta
Confirmation of the rest of the changed gnome kit beyond the one named ability, and whether it changes this assessment. Not expected to move the mechanical picture much either way.
Related
Get told when something changes your plan
One email when beta reveals something that changes a decision — a class pick, a ruleset call, a levelling target. No news roundups, no daily digest.