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The latest patch 5.4 newsWoW, Casually: 7 reasons to make a Death Knight
by Robin Torres 
Dec 6th 2008 at 11:00AM
Many casual players have discovered the wonders of making a Death Knight since WotLK was released, but in case there are still some holdouts, here are some reasons why those of us with limited playtime should definitely give the class a try.
7. Gnomes.
Seriously. Widdle gnome Death Knights with pigtails destroying multiple mobs 10 times their size are worth the price of admission. The spousal unit and I went back to our neglected Alliance server just to make a gnome DK duo. Our guild there has long since dispersed and our friends are all on different servers, but who cares? It's all about fun and tiny agents of death = fun. Awww, dks in love.
6 more serious reasons for a casual player to make a Death Knight are after the break.
6. DKs make excellent alts.
Whether you use alts to maximize your rest (good idea), keep your WoW time fresh or escape from bad situations, it's good to have at least one playable alt around and Death Knights are an excellent choice. If you've been playing this game a while, you've probably done all the starting quests a few times and are tired of them. With a Death Knight, you hit the ground running at 55, the first three levels are done before you know it and you're ready to zip through the Burning Crusade.
5. DKs make excellent gatherers.Though they hinted a couple BlizzCons ago that Death Knights wouldn't have to go back to Elwynn Forest to kill wolves or pick flowers in order to level their professions, nothing like that was ever implemented. So, it doesn't matter what professions you choose, you have to start right along with the level 5 characters. That having been said, the fact that you get an epic mount for free (well, you steal it) really helps catch up to your level -- at least in the gathering professions. The cost of leveling the crafting professions is rather prohibitive, but gathering is a quick and easy thing to do which adds useful abilities, feeds your other crafters and can net you lots of extra cash on the AH. I particularly recommend Herbalism and Skinning. You get a free heal and a crit buff, they are the quickest of the three to level and you don't have to switch your minimap find function.
4. Death Knights are EZ mode.
Maybe you haven't read about the best builds/gear/techniques for playing your Death Knight, but for leveling purposes, you don't need to read a thing. Just pick the talents that seem fun and start mowing through your opponents. They are a bit overpowered while leveling, allowing you to solo even elite mobs above your level and defend yourself against the DK hating gankers (of which there are a few on PvP servers). They are also really good at fighting multiple mobs at a time, making questing that much faster.
3. Warlocks in plate.
This is kind of a repeat of number 4, but soloability is important to those of us whose schedules don't allow for much grouping. If you go Unholy spec, you get a pet ghoul that obeys your commands and is ready to fight whenever you are. Well... a couple seconds after you are... he has to crawl out of the ground first. With very little effort, dying is a rare event and everything short of instances can be done by the two of you.
2. Desecration.
Having arms pop up out of the ground while you fight is delightfully creepy goodness. Yes, I am biased toward the Unholy spec.
And the number one reason to make a Death Knight, whether casual or hardcore or anywhere inbetween:
1. The starting quests.
The lore, the instanced world, the quest chains, Arthas whispering in your ear -- the starting DK quests are sheer gaming pleasure. I have never had such a hard time reconciling my personal ethics with what I was doing in-game (yes I did things the hard way -- the light side -- in KotOR) and I loved every minute of it. Even if you abandon your DK right after your walk of shame to Thrall or King Varian Wrynn, the first three levels of being a Death Knight is worth spending a few of your play sessions.
WoW, Casually is a column for those of us who are playtime-challenged and proud Welfare Epic wearers. If you have questions or tips about how to get the most out of your limited playtime, please send them to Robin.Torres AT weblogsinc DOT com for a possible future column.Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Leveling, Alts, Death Knight, WoW, Casually
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 5)
Kyol Dec 6th 2008 3:41PM
My only DK complaint is the LHC event is sort of broken - I had a hard time finding my way down, and by time I got to LHC, the whole thing was basically over. So my conversion basically amounted to my old Lordaeron buddy going "rar argh fight Arthas, rar, kill me now" aaand some speechifyin' at LHC that we're going to convert Acherus and shit and y'know, that was it. Buh? I'm not about to go start a DK again just so I can get into that area at the right time, so I'm sort of unsatisfied.
The rest of it, though, with the world phasing and everything, was 100% awesome.
Jessierockeron Dec 7th 2008 6:11AM
It's not broken, you really just gotta get there before the action starts, because if you did you would've spoken to that Darion guy and he woulda led you there. But it seems someone beat ya to it.
EvilOtto Dec 6th 2008 4:12PM
I'm deeply impressed by the size of your e-p33n, Sharkeater. You certainly are a real man's man, what with your ability to whine incessantly about a video game.
maarick Dec 6th 2008 4:42PM
"Your mistake is that you seem to immediately assume that all PvP Death Knights never PvPed before, all DPS Death Knights never DPSed before, and all tank Death Knights never tanked before. The most effective Death Knights are the one who already have experience in the role they are playing. And those who don't have experience become effective as they learn their new role"
kk fine, good point.
like i said in my first post, my problem isnt with the players as much as it is with the developers designing the OP hero class
and yes, in 6 months, there will be a lot less death knights, but not cause the novelity wears off, cause theyll get hit with the nerf bat, all the used to be Dks will be levelling some other flavor of the month
the class is OP compared to the other classes who just cannot compete with their inherent advantages, and im not going to roll one just cause they are OP atm, enjoy it while lasts, balance is a bitch, i know it first hand.
TO THE GROUND, lol
Cuteunit Dec 6th 2008 5:17PM
@Maarick
The OPness peters off somewhere around level 73-76. If by that point you think a DK is op, even a well played DK, then you ought to check out what Hunters or Paladins can do at the same level just to refresh your basis of comparison.
PimpyMicPimp Dec 6th 2008 5:00PM
I'm not casual at all, but I totally agree with you.
Also, screw all you Unholy haters. Unholy is awesome and you obviously just can't handle it. Me and BrainMunch will school you in the ways of awesomesauce.
Cuteunit Dec 6th 2008 5:09PM
@Shark
You have a patch of ground to stand on, Death Knights are indeed the new "Huntard" in terms of a certain class of player they attract.
Like Hunters before, good DK can stand out from the rest. To play a DK well is the most complicated thing in WoW, and coming from a level 80 DK and loving it, I sometimes wish I had octopus hands.
Articles like this that say DK are piss easy to play are sadly misleading. DK are piss easy to play at low level because you have excellent gear and honestly, solo scope mobs are made of air and happy thoughts since patch 3.0. You can autoattack most enemies in Outland to death, you know? Everything else is just bonus when the base is that low.
To be competitive at 80 is an engaging and rewarding challenge for a DK. You just have to watch out for our friend xxArthuzxx, just like you had to watch out for xxLegolazzzxx before us.
Anaughtybear Dec 6th 2008 5:13PM
"... the vast majority of DKs should be Forsaken and Blood Elves..."
Check the WoW census. The majority of death knights are belf, but that's because so many WoW players are little Nancies that rerolled Horde after getting teased mercilessly about their Legolas nelfs.
I hate gnomes. The only reason there are gnome death knights is that Blizzard didn't have the balls to stand up and say no to that whiny minority that demanded them pre-WotLK. They are ridiculous, and I know they have a bad time if they pick PvP servers, because the are KOS for just about everyone else.
MisterMoose Dec 6th 2008 6:20PM
They seemed to have "the balls" to stand up to whiny people like you who demanded only same races be DKs, even though it would make no sense lore-wise. The Lich King doesn't care what race or class you were in life, as long as you had power and would be useful to him.
Kraki Dec 6th 2008 6:10PM
gnomes? You sir, fail at life.
Delete your account now, and throw your computer out the window.
Maarick Dec 6th 2008 5:26PM
@cuteunit
good
cause i am basing it on 76 and under levels
i am about am a few days from 80 and grinding SOTA
ill know first hand then
hopefully all my crying is for nothing
@pallys
i think blizz thinks they are supposed to OP
they are so in love with their pallys
i dont get it
but good, cause i cant handle two OP 2 handed plate wearers that can heal
just pallys will be enuff
ill know for myself in a few days
Balius Dec 6th 2008 5:27PM
I'm not rolling deathknight anytime in the near future, mostly because the deathknights on my server are the worst players I've ever seen. Kill-stealing, quest item stealing, spamming general and trade chat with the most incomprehensible blather, screwing up 5-mans, purposefully killing other members of their groups...
Some are transfers from the alliance side who just don't get that horde people act differently than the alliance on my server, some started terrible players and brand new skills have just overwhelmed them, and some are just acting like jackasses because it's a blanket of anonymity when playing on an alt you didn't really have to put much effort into to level to 70. Whatever the case, they're quickly becoming synonymous with playing terribly, and people are already refusing to group with them.
I have no desire to join their illustrious ranks, even though I'm personally not going to be playing like that.
Draelan Dec 6th 2008 5:31PM
Just thought I'd post my own 2c...
I agree with the number 1 point in this article. If you do nothing else, you should really roll a death knight for the starting quests. They are absolutely AWESOME.
About unusual races becoming death knights (gnomes, draenei, tauren, whatever.), as far as I can see it, the Lich King is the ULTIMATE equal opportunity employer. He'd happily convert any living thing into an undead servant, and if you've got the skills, you can be a death knight. For the races having little contact with the undead, what's that truly matter? The way I see the timeline, You have Horde/Alliance journey to Northrend to fight the Lich King. You are raised as a death knight (possibly, your character was one of these first expedition groups into Northrend. Possibly a casualty while setting up these initial bases.) Then you do your death knight thing, get redeemed, and rejoin the horde/alliance. Lore-wise, even for the newer races, it works. But that's just the way I see it, and who am I to say how you should describe your death knight's history? =)
Personally, I've left my death knight in all his level 58 glory and continued with my main. Heck, once I finish some of my goals on my main (capping my profession, crafting me some epics) I'll probably be leveling my priest so our healers don't get too overwhelmed from the demand. Though, I'm also saddened by the thought of getting rid of my DK's cool looking gear... and I'm going to eventually reroll him to go through the starting area again once it's not so thoroughly packed. =)
Anyway, not that I should be fanning the flames, but as far as I'm concerned, even if WotLK is to easy for more hardcore raiding guilds, for those of us in casual raiding guilds it's good. I never got to see the inside of BT or Sunwell. Heck, I barely got to see the inside of TK, SSC, and Hyjal. Not because we sucked, per-say, but because we're a casual guild with wildly different schedules and lives. And, honestly, why should I be barred from experiencing one of the game's main draws (in BC, the ability to fight Illidan, and in WotLK the ability to fight Arthas) just because I CAN'T raid 5 times a week? Whether you like it or not, strategy-wise on Blizzard's part it's better to have such draws available to the casual majority then just the elite minority. If the game truly is too easy for you, the best thing to do is to find a game that isn't. There's no shame in that, and ultimately it'll be more fun for you. After all, the very purpose of playing a game is to have fun. =)
Cy Dec 6th 2008 5:39PM
@Cyanea: "Unlike DKs, Warlocks actually take some SKILL to play, kthnx."
Warlocks require no more skill to play than hunters do. And both are pretty much easy-mode classes. Only difference is that locks can't auto-spell, so you do have to remain conscious while playing them.
LordsBreed Dec 6th 2008 5:50PM
@ post 3.
Yes, warlocks take lots of skill to play. I mean, pressing shadowbolt 9,000 times in a raid fight and topping DPS meters in outland was terribly hard.
Chain fearing elites 4 levels higher than you and killing him with dots while /dancing is terribly hard.
Having a cast sequence for affliction that your bobble head drinking bird can hit while you make a sandwich is terribly difficult.
lololol.
Dekota Dec 6th 2008 6:53PM
Reason to become a Death Knight: to Death Grip /then/ punt Gnome Death Knights
portalis.lifehacker Dec 6th 2008 7:54PM
Worst
Reasons
Ever
Way to post yet another Casual geared blog. I should really stop reading this site.
Balius Dec 6th 2008 10:34PM
If you don't understand that an article in the series "WoW, Casually" is about casually playing WoW, I think you really should...
Doug Dec 6th 2008 10:49PM
Are you kidding me? Are you seriously complaining about the casual-ness of a series of articles entitled "WoW, Casually"? First, you're a moron. Secondly, go ahead and click on the tag wow-casually (right underneath the article, I feel like I need to point this out to you) to see exactly how often this series is posted. I'll wait.
Yeah, that's what I thought. The last one was Oct 14. Then before that Sept 21. Then July 6th.
So go ahead and stop reading this site. Your once-every-two-month schedule of checking this site will be sorely missed.
wersly Dec 6th 2008 11:22PM
the only "skills" in WoW are knowing grammar and spelling
and hand-eye co-ordination