Doubtful New Class is Corsair and Some Thoughts

[Dervacus]

As many of you have pointed out, Corsairs, by lore, are evil. Mariner would make much more sense, but I have some thoughts:

• We recently had more Race/Class combos added
• The last class that came out was Brawler in 2021, and any Race can be Brawler (obviously except Beorning)

I sense a pattern, and cannot say this with certainty, but I feel like the next class will be available to all Races, except Beorning. The problem with a Mariner-type class is that it would exclude Dwarf and Stout-axe as "Dwarves generally lived far from the sea and avoided getting on boats, as they disliked the sound of the ocean and were afraid of it." - The Silmarillion

Also, I have a hard time seeing Hobbits being Mariners. While they are known for using small boats, I'm not aware of any lore with them being out on the open sea.

The fact that we're going across the sea I hope they take the opportunity to acknowledge Dwarves' dislike for the sea, but have to overcome it for the sake of the mission. Could be funny.

Ghynghyn recently released a video claiming to have evidence from Bullroarer that the new class is Corsair.

First he claims the Class Filter list under Social > Fellowing is in alphabetical order so the TBDClass has to start with C, but if you look, the list is clearly not in alphabetical order.

Next he shows a piece of code that was datamined by a friend. It does say ClassInfo/ClassName and Corsair, but if I had to take a guess it's code for a mob as we will certainly be fighting a lot of those in the next expansion and tons are already in the game as is. I don't know the code for the game, so maybe I'm wrong.

Thirdly he shows the Worn Fighting starting Brawler armor set. Says it looks like it could be the new class starting armor, but no, that's for Brawler and has been since that class came out. Also he says the new class is medium armor type (we never see where he got that from), but the Brawler set shown clearly is heavy armor.

I like Ghynghyn and enjoy his videos. I just felt like the 'evidence' was a little weak.

Also, the additional problem to Corsair as a class it that it would only be available to the Race of Man. I suppose the class background could be you're a defected pirate slave, but that just seems so niche...

So what will the new class be?

The expansion story will probably be aiding King Elessar and King Eomer in their campaign against the Corsairs to the South. I could see the players being sent ahead of the armies of Gondor and Rohan for intel gathering. I'm really hoping we get some diplomatic quests too. What will be interesting is that we could be sieging a heavily fortified pirate city! Mariner as a new class could make sense. Someone has to be able to transport all these armies and adventurers across the Bay of Belfalas, right? We're told we'll see the more of the coast, but there has been no confirmation on any type of water combat. Not sure how Dwarves would be involved, but maybe we need to give them a break after Gundabad

Sorry, but Ranger of the North, Ranger of Ithilien, and Wizard/Istar will never be a class in this game.

Anyways, thanks for reading, just some thoughts I had!