Ask A Beta Tester: Will we ever run out of Death Knight questions?

It's 11AM... do you know where your beta testers are? Right here, answering your questions, of course! We're exploring the Wrath of the Lich King beta so you don't have to. Just leave us your questions in the comments and we'll track down the answers and report back! But, really, will you ever run out of Death Knight questions? There's an office pool going and I'm starting to worry...

tal* asked....

Will school specific spell power increase healing? I have Drape of the Righteous from Kara, which only increases holy damage right now. Will it increase healing done by holy spells in Wrath?

I have one of those too! And, no, it does not increase healing in Wrath -- school-specific spell power seems to be damage-only.

max attack asked....

I have a question that I believe is probably on the minds of many other holy specced paladins. If the spell effects of this libram are associated with Bessing of Light, and that has been taken from the game what will happen to this libram?

Excellent question. However, I don't have much of an answer. In the present beta build, the text on this libram is exactly the same as it is on the live realms, despite the loss of BoL. But it is a beta: there are bugs, and the point of having a beta is so Blizzard can find them and fix them. I'll be sure to give a heads' up on Ask a Beta Tester whenever the text changes on this item.

Taytayflan asked....

Are Alliance and Horde Death Knights hostile to each other before they leave the starting area? And if so, can they just fight it out, or will guards intervene?

Horde and Alliance Death Knights actually are kept in seperate instances as they level up through the Death Knight starting quests. You will not encounter a Death Knight of the opposite faction until you hit Eastern Plaguelands.

Nathan asked....

Are you able to group with or talk to people of opposing races? E.g. If you are a human, can you group with or chat to an orc? If so, what language do they apparently speak?

As mentioned in the previous question, Alliance and Horde Death Knights are kept apart from one another, so grouping never comes into play until after you've exited the DK starting instance and entered Eastern Plaguelands. As it stands on the present beta realms, your Death Knight will speak whatever language is appropriate to their race.

Zanzi asked....

How do Death Knights gain talent points? Do they start out at level 55 with 46 points (and nearly-endless respeccing options) or do they start out with 0 but gain multiple points per level to catch them up?

Death Knights start out at level 55 wtih zero talent points -- which means you don't log on and immediately have to figure out what your different talent trees are or what to do with them. As you do quests in your starting zone, you will be awarded talent points (1, 2, or 3 at a time, depending on the quest) as well as money and experience. This gives you a bit of time to experience gameplay before you have to make any lasting choices, and by the time you've finished the starting zone, you'll have reached a level-appropriate number of talent points.

Alex asked....

What is Blizzard doing with old Outland gear other than spell damage/healing in order to make them usable for upcoming Death Knights and classes which need different stats now?

I asked our resident Death Knight expert, Daniel Whitcomb, what stats the Death Knight in the know would be after. He informed me, "DK itemization is pretty much 100% similar to Warrior itemization. (Except they won't want shield block or block rating gear since they can't use shields.) Spell power doesn't work on their spell effects, it all stacks with AP." So I'm not entirely sure a change in gear is needed -- Death Knights should be happy to take what was previously though of as warrior gear.

Fletch asked....

There seems to be a lot of priest talents that increase the amount of healing received by a target by quite a large amount (for example the top tier holy talent increase healing received by 40%) - is this increase needed because the mobs are doing a lot more damage, or is it partly to balance the change to spell power?

Though I don't have a lot of instance experience at this point, I can say this is certainly not to "balance out" the spell power change. My two healers (a paladin and a priest) are both finding that their heals hit notably harder than they did before the spell power change.

freakinhawaii asked....

With the spell gear all being switched over to spell power, will healers be competing with DPS for gear (especially in 5 man PUGs) or is there something that still sets healer specific gear apart?

I have to say that this is something that concerns me, though as some of our commenters have pointed out, a healer will still likely be looking for different stats than a DPS caster -- things like spirit, intellect, and MP5 while a DPS caster is likely to be more interested in straight up damage and crit. This change is certainly going to give everyone more options -- it will be easier for DPS casters to pick up stats like MP5 or intellect if they want it for longer fights (especially since no one's going to be chain-chugging mana potions anymore) and easier for healers to pick up stats like spell crit (if they're interested in itemizing that way).

But for Priests, Mages, and Warlocks, this is going to mean more gear overlap than ever before, and until we have a complete picture on what sorts of dungeon drops will be available, especially at end-game levels, it's hard to say how it will play out. The problem of fighting over drops could be solved by making gear class-specific or by bosses dropping tokens that can be turned in for gear rather than gear itself -- Blizzard has used both of these options in the past, and either could address gear competition issues in Wrath.

The Wrath of the Lich King beta is in full swing, and the WoW Insider crew is here to sate your curiosity with Ask a Beta Tester! Can't get enough Wrath? Don't forget to check WoW Insider's Wrath Roundup page for anything we haven't answered here!