Breakfast topic: A long day's journey into Death Knight
by Mike Schramm 
Aug 2nd 2007 at 8:00AM
Oh, trust me, if yesterday's FAQ turns out to be legit (and I'm not entirely sure it will), that's definitely not the last "knight"-related pun you'll see. So what would you think of a Death Knight hero class? According to the rumors, it's a Warlock/Paladin crossover, able to tank and break out the shadow damage. There may be various requirements to become one, or players who start the class may be able to start at a high level.The first problem I see? Remember how many Blood Elves and Draenei there were on the servers after the last expansion? That's not so bad with a new race, but with a new class, the whole balance of gameplay might be thrown off. Not to mention that Feral Druids and Prot Paladins might not be real happy with even fewer tanking roles.
Still, I'd play one, of course. Truthfully, I think this is all kind of a moot point-- if the Death Knight class is real, I hardly think it's the only hero class that is going to drop with a new expansion. Even if the Death Knight is the only class they reveal this weekend (remember how long we had to wait to learn about the Draenei?), my guess is that there'll be more announcements to come. Twenty four hours left!
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics, Classes, BlizzCon
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Pandoire Aug 2nd 2007 8:11AM
its unlocked by doing a quest chain most likely as a pally
Junzim Aug 2nd 2007 8:20AM
Hmm.. Would my Belfadin turn to the shadows? Possibly. He is a bit of a bastard but I always thought it was more out of arrogance than mean spirit.
That said, one of my friends has said that there's basically no way he can't go for a Death Knight if the rumours pan out since it'd be a lovely combination of his 2 mains: warlock and warrior.
Chris Aug 2nd 2007 8:23AM
The other thing that occurs to me, if, as you mention, such a class were to start at a high level, there will be all these high level characters running around with no idea how to play the class.
One should grow into a class role organically by playing it up through the levels.
Safety Dancer Aug 2nd 2007 8:29AM
This whole "only warlocks, or pallys" can be death knights sees a bit off. I could understand that if once unlocked your current character would become a death knight. But you have to create him/her from scratch, and that seems like it would be available to all classes. Also if that was true blizz would not screw the other classes like that, and release a hero class for all classes with the expansion. While I agree that it would throw off the balance, but, at the same time, it would not throw it off. I guarantee its gonna be a bitch getting the requirements. Not every n00b in wow is gonna be able to make one. If its anything like SWG (Star Wars Galaxies) and Jedis, we are in for a long, long, long process to become a hero class.
Graaly Aug 2nd 2007 8:36AM
It would be nice to run around as a gnome death knight if warlocks were given the option.
Reg123 Aug 2nd 2007 9:27AM
If this Hero class rumour is true, then Blizz can't make it only available for just the 2 classes it is effectivley merging. That would be very unfair on the other classes in the game.
mugginns Aug 2nd 2007 8:42AM
Adding another hybrid class is really, really, dumb.
Delilah Aug 2nd 2007 8:43AM
Could someone please explain what a hero class is, and why death knights would be considered a hero class instead of just a new class?
Lilith Aug 2nd 2007 8:47AM
Warlocks suddenly able to wear plate and melee while doing shadow damage? Yea, I don't think so. This seems like more of a logical step from a paladin. All you have to do is look at the Deathknight NPCs you fight and you'll see they are pallys. Necromancers are a logical step from Warlocks.
BTW, that FAQ gave out entirely too much info so it's fake. Blizz barely gives you scraps of info before the make anything official.
Dyermaker Aug 2nd 2007 8:56AM
If this turns out to be true, it would really explain Blizzard's inability to come to terms with non-Holy Paladins. Hard to put any thought into the Retribution tree for damage dealing Paladins when you have the Death Knight as a damage/tank class.
Gungolf Aug 2nd 2007 9:02AM
#4 IMHO is quite right.
I guess you would need to complete a really long questline, including lvl80 highend-raid-content, done this and that and even more. And then, once all criteria are met - nothing happens with your char! :-( No, not nothing, but as soon as you log out there will be a new button available on your character creation screen, an when you click that butten, there he is! Your brand ne and shiny lvl umpteen hero Death Knight!
So don't expect to see too many of them too soon. My guess is the first few will be created by members of Nihilum, D&T and the usual suspects. It will be a while...
bwest0526 Aug 2nd 2007 9:06AM
My assesment of the whole thing is that it is entirely NOT Real as #8 stated...Blizz NEVER gives out that information, not even a disgruntled employee could give out so much info, Blizz would sue him until his great-great grandchildren were dead. It is nice to give people something to converse about before Blizzcon though, when they will enevitably find out the REAL truth.
a New Class DK is a good option it is just the opposite of a Pally and very fisable in the game. Until I hear it on an Official forum or Official Website then it is fake and unsubstantiated.
Good conversation though!
Niyx Aug 2nd 2007 9:12AM
@mugginns
Oh yeh? Adding another hybrid class is dumb?
Go ahead and tell me what other non-hybrid roles that need to be added to the game that dont allready exist.
A healer? A tank? A DPS'er?
Thats the trinity there mate and they're all covered many times over. I'm afraid as far as conventional RPG classes go, WoW pretty much has them all covered. The only thing you can do now is combine two other classes and hope you add some unique abilities to differentiate.
Oh
IF deathknights were real, the system would work like this:
1) You reach level 80 (on any class)
2) You do a quest chain/rep grind involving god knows what. Raid bosses and daily quests i guess.
3) Once completed, your account is flagged as able to create a death-knight.
4) On your character creation screen, theres now the option of Death Knight when creating a and race.
And if the FAQ was right they'd start at level 50 or something.
IT WOULDN'T BE A PALADIN/WARLOCK "ADVANCEMENT" QUEST. IT WOULD BE A WHOLE NEW CLASS, UNLOCKABLE ONLY AFTER SOMETHING WAS COMPLETED ON YOUR ACCOUNT WITH ANY CHARACTER.
Nafaras Aug 2nd 2007 9:16AM
It is true you need to be a paladin and go through a large quest chain. It involves killing Kel'Thuzad / Archimonde / Illidan / Arthas. Once you have downed all these boss encounters. Your next step is to to reach the frozen throne and a quest giver from a helm will give you Death Knight option. After you finish the quest you figure you have nothing better to but take a picture sitting in Athas's throne.
End of Game.
Morgun Aug 2nd 2007 9:46AM
If you have to complete chain quests and x amount of raid boss kills to get a new class then you are excluding a population of players...the casuals.
I for one will be Pi@@ed if I have to buy an expansion and then can't play some of the new content because I can't dedicate 5 hours a day to raiding and completing quests.....
DK's are cool addition but where do they sit allegance wise? Horde or Alliance or a new Faction??
I hope that this leaked FAQ is fake and that Blizz takes a different approach to the Hero class System that makes it available to everyone.
John Aug 2nd 2007 9:39AM
I hope they don't make a certain class only available to hardcore raiders. I despise raids and feel that raiders already recieve most content as it is. This doesn't bother me too much, there was enough for me to do to keep me busy and I don't need the highest level gear to be happy. However, if they make the new class only available to raiders I will be really... sad.
Gungolf Aug 2nd 2007 9:38AM
Exactly! That is why it is not like your pally or lock will turn into an death knight but the will be a new class available on your character screen. And the description "which will start with high level" is backing that up.
If every class had their matching heros-classes eventually every char would turn into the corresponding hero and we would end up with SW:G -- nothing but Jedies.
But then again... Why do only priests and hunters have their epic class quests? OK, pallies and locks have something similar for their mounts. That's not fair either - epic quests for every class! But that's too late now for lvl60.
Merus Aug 2nd 2007 9:46AM
If it requires high-end raid content to acquire one, they'll have to balance for both groups that have it and groups that don't. Also, when expansion 3 comes out it'll be almost impossible to get enough people together to go do the quest chain.
OrionPaxt Aug 2nd 2007 9:51AM
I have a thought about death knights
1. What if any Melee class could be a death night with shadow extensions of their current skills and talents.
2. Warriors and Pallys could choose their path into degrees of death knights (leaning toward shodow influence or total darkness). Total darkness could have a LOT of shadow power (like a shadow priest in shadow form), but no healing power. Lesser degrees have shadow power and midigated healing abilities.
Heraclea Aug 2nd 2007 10:08AM
Yes: if this is something that can be accessed only by months of hard-core raiding, I will be most heartily annoyed. Then again, I will also be annoyed if it requires some kind of repetitious rep grind.
Finally, I want at least a little bit of roleplaying in my roleplaying games. If the hero class turns out to be some kind of corrupted undead monster like Arthas Menethil turned into, I don't want one anyways.