WWI '08 Panel: Death Knight
by Natalie Mootz 
Jun 28th 2008 at 3:40PM
Understandably, everyone is begging to know more about the Death Knight class. At WWI, the Blizzard developers discussed the class in depth at both the main Development panel as well as at the Q&A panel. So you don't have to go fishing everywhere to find what you want to know, here's a roundup of new information about Death Knights from WWI so far.Starting Area
The Death Knight starting area will be an extended area in Northern Plaguelands. The developers feel strongly about keeping people interested in playing in the Old World so they are creating this new zone. I personally hate every zone that has the word "plague" associated with it. Admittedly, I didn't reach either of the current Plaguelands until after I'd upgraded to The Burning Crusade, which meant I really had no time for grinding there since Outland awaited alluringly. However, it will be interesting to see if they make changes to the existing Western and Eastern Plaguelands along with adding content to the North to make these areas more interesting to players -- be they Death Knights or not.
Races
Death Knights can be any race. As one speaker said, "The Lich King doesn't discriminate." (I just knew he was a standup guy!) The specific example they gave is the concept of playing a Gnome Death Knight. Man, I cannot wait to see a Gnome Death Knight! I mean, it boggles the mind. Along those same lines, the voice emotes will be changed for Death Knights according to race. A Tauren DK will sound very different from a Dwarf DK; conversely, you will also be able to tell the race of the Death Knight by its voice. For me, this gives me added incentive to play races I've never tried like Orcs or Dwarves, just to see how they might differ, even if it's just for a few laughs.
Abilities
We knew previously that DKs use runes for their abilities. Today we learned that they will have a 10 second cooldown. The short cooldown is meant to illustrate how the Lich King is able to command literal Armies of Undead. This prospect sounds awesome. I seriously want armies of undead at my disposal, like a wall of rotting flesh hurling itself at my enemies! I wonder how tough these dudes will be?
In terms of what role the Death Knights will play in battle, the developers said they didn't want to punish the player based on what spec they choose. Even though it's problematic for designers, they are sensitive to WoW's tank shortage problem. They want to avoid forcing DKs to choose between tank spec or DPS spec. They are searching for a more flexible solution to the problem, giving a player as many options as possible. For example, during raiding, they want tanks to be interchangeable for the 5-man level, but they should have a specialty at the 25-man level. Although they envision Death Knights being the best tanks versus casters, they should also play decently well against other foes.
In general, the developers have said that they want to make switching between specs easier for every class, not just Death Knights. I think this makes it much more appealing to try out tanking (which I've never done) because then it doesn't seem like a grave mistake if you end up being horrible at it or not liking it. The flexibility of the DK class is going to be a huge draw and it's going to make it very fun to play.
For more info, check out WoW Insider's Death Knight guides.
Filed under: Events, News items, Expansions, Talents, Death Knight, Wrath of the Lich King, Worldwide Invitational, Analysis / Opinion
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Antolin Jun 28th 2008 3:47PM
Let's hope they do the same for other tanking classes then or we'll go from the most wanted people in a group to being out of a job.
Jim Jun 29th 2008 4:29PM
All I can say to tanks that are worried about being put out of a job is this:
Stop ignoring those "LFM -- need a tank" calls in chat. Start building relationships now. We'll still group with you in November if we know who you are today.
Because I can pretty much guarantee that if I have to keep waiting for an hour or more for a tank to agree to PUG it out, no other warriors or pallies will be in my pugs, or filling out my guild runs. Payback's a bitch. And don't bother to respec; we'll take the CC/DPS classes, because we're not idiots.
If you still want to get off on being the linchpin of the group and in such high demand that you can pick and choose, you could always reroll a healer (but not a holy pally -- remember that we won't be grouping with them). With everyone and their brother wanting to tank, healers will be in high demand.
superfrank Jun 29th 2008 9:24PM
how about you roll a tank instead of bitching about other people not wanting to tank for you ;)
Lord Quas Jul 3rd 2008 2:43AM
You tell him Superfrank.. nothin more pathetic than a 2-button dps'er gettin all high and mighty over this subject. You do some tanking then come back and post, k?
dan Jun 28th 2008 4:03PM
Why is everything italicized? It makes it very hard to read. Esp. since it's misleadingly reading as a quote.
Natalie Mootz Jun 28th 2008 4:13PM
It was a 2 second glitch. Fixed.
Blind Jun 28th 2008 4:11PM
What I'm wondering about is how DK's will work on pvp servers, if they all start in the same area won't it just end up being a huge gankfest?
Kettu Jun 28th 2008 4:21PM
I'd imagine they'd either instance it or make it a "sanctuary". At least temporarily, if anything.
doyesac Jun 28th 2008 4:16PM
Just FYI: the Plaugelands are great. My favorite zones. Full of creepiness and lore.
If only we could have a whole expansion based around the Scourage, undead, the Scarlet Crusade and zones like the Plaugelands rather than one set in space...
Oh, yeah, that's right! Blizz is granting my wish!
matt Jun 28th 2008 5:18PM
Interesting.
6 runes * 1.5 second GCD = 9 seconds. So if you're using insta-cast, 1-rune abilities, you could pretty much keep chaining abilities.
Obviously this becomes more complex with 2-rune abilities, and your selection of which type of rune to use, and non-insta-cast abilities, but it's nice to see the low CD. It should be a very nicely interactive class.
BookhouseBoy Jun 28th 2008 5:51PM
The author's opinions are a little mis-informed, IMO, about the quality of Eastern/Western Plaguelands as levelling zones. If you're into zombies and ghosts and creepy crawlies, they are THE zones you've been waiting 50 zones to get to !
Also, their quests give you lots of reasons to go to Scholomance and Stratholme, which are wicked undead-filled zones, and they have some nice, long quest chains that add up to a lot of experience, but also tell great lore stories (including that whole "Ashbringer" thing people talk about so much).
And oh yeah, there are plenty of ways to get Argent Dawn reputation, and some of the recipes and items still hold up (for a while) as worthy blues. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to seeing how the Northern Plaguelands meshes with the other two zones !
Natalie Mootz Jun 28th 2008 6:29PM
Differing opinions doesn't mean one of the parties is misinformed. I can hate the Plaguelands if I want to! And you can't stop me! /wicked grin
Tcgjarhead Jun 29th 2008 2:22AM
Sorry Natalie, would you prefer ignorance? You even claimed to have not experienced alot of the content in W/EPL. Why should anyone think of your opinion of the zones as anything but another one of the noobs who went there to do a couple quests so they can ding 58 and go to the outlands?
Maybe if you actually did the quests/activities in the zones your "opinion" would be a little more valid.
Natalie Mootz Jun 29th 2008 3:16AM
Oh wow, so it's going to be like that, is it? Well, I didn't hit Outlands until level 60 because I was told I "should" do all the quests in the Plaguelands. I tried. I stayed there for 2+ levels grinding and grinding and grinding, while I looked around and most days didn't see a single soul except a Blood Elf lost coming out of his starting area. Ninety-nine percent of the time I was out there by myself. I couldn't get pugs through the instances there because everyone was in Outands. Eventually, after nearly breaking level 61, I gave up and went to Outland. Maybe instead of calling people noobs before you even know anything about them, you should perhaps try to find out something first.
Tcgjarhead Jun 29th 2008 3:39AM
It would have been nice if you provided these reasons as to why you didnt like the zones. But im not sure, first in the article you say you didnt grind there, now you did for 2 levels.
Either way just because you werent able to get groups for scholo/strat or any group quests doesnt mean you should be sour towards those zones.
And I wasnt calling you a noob, I was trying to say that with what information you gave that you're opinion didnt seem any different from those people who went to W/EPL to hit 58 and leave. Sorry if you though I ment otherwise.
superfrank Jun 29th 2008 9:25PM
at least you're not getting ganked if there's noone else in the zone ;)
Brian Broom Jun 28th 2008 6:28PM
My only issue with the 'trying not to shoehorn people into a spec' is that the talent variation is what makes the classes so rich right now. You can take your class and do 2 or 3 distinct things. All they need to do is the ability to switch between two specs (lower cost, but with some limitations imo, like at an innkeeper) and you can have your tank spec, but switch to dps/pvp build for non-instance/raids.
What I don't want to see is where every character is like everyone else in their class.
Joshmaul Jun 28th 2008 10:01PM
I have a question: Where did you get your information pertaining to the "Northern Plaguelands"? All of the information I've seen and heard has indicated that the start zone is east of Tyr's Hand...
Natalie Mootz Jun 28th 2008 11:24PM
From the mouths of the developers.
Suzaku Jun 29th 2008 9:31PM
They must've mispoken, then, because it's very clearly located on the eastern side of the Eastern Plaguelands, to the east of the Noxious Glade and Tyr's Hand, with connecting points to both of them. There are plenty of screenshots/videos/maps floating around on Alpha leak sites. The Necropolis is called, "Acherus: The Ebon Hold".