Breakfast Topic: Should Death Knights get unique racial abilities?
by Daniel Whitcomb 
May 30th 2008 at 8:00AM
So with WoTLK fast approaching, there's still plenty of discussion and debate about that whole Death Knights being all races thing. We've already covered the lore aspect, but another thing lot of people have been discussion is how Racial abilities will work with Death Knights. Some people are concerned that abilities like Gift of the Naaru aren't something a Death Knight steeped in shadow should be able to use. Now me, I think that if the Naaru can forgive the Blood Elves for M'uru, they can forgive Draenei Death Knights and give them back Gift of the Naaru.
Still, commenter Clayton sent an intriguing thought into WoW Insider's secret headquarters the other day: Who says Death Knights have to use racials? When you consider what a Death Knight is, there's at least some measure of sense to it. Death Knights have undergone a radical change. They're suffused with dark energies, they have forsaken what they knew of love and life and light, they have forsaken whatever skills they knew in the past, all to take up the Runeblade. It is true that not all Death Knights become actual undead, but the total control the Lich King exerts over them leeches away much of their former identity. Because of this, it seems possible that Death Knights could have lost their connection with their racial identities, and through that, their racial abilities.
This could also be a quick and easy way to ensure a bit of balance between the various races. There's a whole lot of considerations to made with racials and Death Knight abilities. Will Arcane Torrent combined with anti-magic tanking abilities just make Blood Elf Death Knights too powerful against casters in PvP? Giving Death Knights their own unique set of "racials" based around their class would be an easy way to sidestep this, and probably justifiable since Death Knights are their own seperate "hero" class category. Then again, it might put them under undue pressure to make special racials for all other hero classes as well, so they might want to stay more flexible.
Which side of the issue do you fall on? Should they keep it simple and just keep the racials like they always have? Or do the Death Knights need a whole new set of racial abilities, and if so, what?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics, Expansions, Death Knight, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Callandra May 30th 2008 8:18AM
No.
As far as I remember Priests are the only classes that do, and that makes sense from a relgious aspect.
In the end, its going to create too many balance problems (i'm sure Blizz has enough balance issues adding an entire class) and everyone will end up getting fear ward anyway.
jrb May 30th 2008 9:01AM
i'm sure blizz will take a pragmatic approach, and go with the clear distinction that DKs are a class, and not a race.
Purely based on the fact that the character creation screen shows race selection, gender selection, and class selection, and racial abilities are based purely on the race, not the class. It's more likely we'll see class specific passive skills that make the DK unique, or even potentially nullify any abilities that don't make sense lore-wise.
Callandra May 30th 2008 9:04AM
I'm not sure if I just didn't read well, but I meant unique as in ala priests.
All apologies. Yes, they should be given racials just like any other class.
Dan May 31st 2008 7:31AM
"racial abilities are based purely on the race, not the class"
That's not entirely true though, both Orc and Draenei racials change depending on if your an attack or spell power based class.
Brimoonfang May 30th 2008 8:36AM
I like the idea that Death Knights should lose their former racial ability and gain new ones.
Of course, I think Death Knight's should be restricted to just a few races (Gnome DK's? NOT!), so what do I know?
Dominitus May 30th 2008 8:35AM
Well, they have to retain some racial identity, because their race still determines whether they're Horde or Alliance. And even if they're disconnected from their people, some racials like Tauren endurance and war stomp are based more off of physiology than culture, so it wouldn't make sense to lose those.
Todd May 30th 2008 10:33AM
You already said what I was going to. I don't see how a dk Tauren will somehow forget to do a warstomp. As for every other racial I don't see why not. Credible lore has long since left the building. Female gnomes with pink pigtails as dk's? riiiiiight.
grofer May 30th 2008 10:15AM
Racials have been a bad idea all along.
Chaosforge May 30th 2008 8:42AM
Well if what was said about loseing one's ties and there fore racial abilities is to be believed. Wouldnt breaking away from the Lich King and reasserting one's own persona be a step in bringing those back? Makes sense and far less programing. Besides when has making Horde OP in PvP been an issue? Go Red Team
Xecnamalain May 31st 2008 11:32AM
I think that they should keep there former abilities, but the abilities should change for the class. Much like the way a Blood Elf abilities change where you are a rouge.
Jason May 30th 2008 8:55AM
We haven't 'already covered the lore aspect'. The only conclusion one came to, is it to be as incomplete and fragile as a house of cards.
Maybe Daniel would like to have another go at it once more and write ten pages, once again indicating it is bogus?
Daimon May 30th 2008 9:28AM
I agree, all this assumption about classes/races in DK are based in wild conclutions sustained over thin ice, once again I hope blizzard take in mind the previous well based lore and give the DK the right races, yes I think gift of the naruu is absurd in a DK, if you do a litle research you'll see that Shadow preists can't heal in SF, balance druids can't heal in oomkin form, and if you follow that logical line, having a DK unable to do holy spells would make that racial...idk useless?
ErsatzPotato May 30th 2008 9:21AM
Isn't this begging a question? If they lose the original racials...why should they get any "racial"? It'd functionally be a trainable ability or one they start with so why call it something else? There's no game mechanic where racials are a separate class of abilities.
Myself, I imagine they'll keep the original ones. Blizzard certainly isn't going to create a full set of new racials for Knights of all races. That'd be a sinkhole of time & resources upfront and ongoing.
Wulf May 30th 2008 9:22AM
I think they should keep their current racials, unless Blizzard are really going to go to the trouble of giving new ones for each race of Death Knight. The existing racials are fine as they, not exactly balanced admittedly, but they've worked out pretty well so far.
The issue seems to boil down to Draenei Death Knights retaining Gift of the Naaru, but as pointed out, the Naaru are rather forgiving types. Alternatively GoN could be considered a physical trait of the Draenei that they inherited from worshipping the Naaru over time.
Besides, many racial traits make a lot of sense lore-wise, either because they are physiological abilties or because they are so inherent to the race as a concept. It seems ridiculous that Tauren Death Knight would be unable to Stomp, an Orc Death Knight would not be able to launch into a battle-fed rage, or a Troll Death Knight would lose its ability to regenerate. Some abilities even make more sense in the context of a Death Knight, such as Will of the Forsaken.
In short no, racials are fine, seems silly to mess with them. We'll only hear more QQing about it later on.
Jess May 30th 2008 1:47PM
Although there's always the risk of things being unbalanced I really like the idea of every class having some racial ability, therefore the choice of race/class combos becomes more interesting.
Phil May 30th 2008 9:47AM
Am I the only person on Earth not bothered by the Death Knight all-race issues? At all?
They're already every race. Fine. Yes, give them standard racial abilities. Whatever. Races with overly powerful racial abilities are going to continue to have overly powerful racial abilities, DK or no DK. People will QQ no matter what you do.
I admit I wonder how some of them will interact, though - like whether an orc DK's Command trait will improve his ghouls or undead army - but it doesn't really bother me that a gnome DK will have their trap-escaping ability, troll DKs can go berserk, human DKs will be better with swords, and tauren DKs can war stomp.
I'm not sure a blood elf DK's racial abilities, to use the example in the article, will make that big of a difference, in the end, other than being an ability that goes along with their perceived and intended role in the game.
As for Gift of the Naaru: Draenei death knights barely make sense -anyway-, so there's no reason to cripple them further. Let's just assume the Naaru loves them again now that they're not servants of the Scourge. Frankly, the Naaru seem to be fairly open-minded people...energy...being...things.
Roxton May 30th 2008 9:52AM
Yes, they should have racial abilities, and so should every other class. Saying that Blizzard shouldn't attempt this because it will be difficult to balance is akin to saying that Death Knights shouldn't be introduced because it might disturb the balance.
Racial abilities gives variety. Variety is a good thing, especially in a game like WoW where there are currently fairly limited character personalisation options.
Also, if good racials were given to the current weak class/race combinations (human warlocks, for instance), this would encourage more variety in the classes, as opposed to EVERY horde mage being undead. So gogo class racials; they'd be awesome.
Haden May 30th 2008 9:51AM
there should be undead mount from all races. like a night elf Death Knights has a undead tiger mount, your race choice would determine what undead mount you get.
Ametrine May 30th 2008 10:03AM
So... Gnomes would get undead mechanostriders?
How would that even WORK?
Taxis May 31st 2008 1:16AM
Awesomely.