Death-Knight
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Patch 3.0.8 bug roundup
My favorite time of the patch day is here – looking at all the bugs! At the time of this writing, we're about six hours after the patch and the majority of bugs have been found. We've counted six of them, and will go over each and when the fix is expected after the break.Obviously some are more important than others. The Wintergrasp bug that is currently crashing servers left and right needs to be fixed "nao," as people are clamoring about in trade channels. The game is nearly unplayable for most people.Interestingly there are no bugs about missing mail or other missing items, nor are there reports of extreme lag and other difficulties (other than the severs crashing). The full list of 3.0.8 bugs, and information about their status, after the break.
No account-wide DKs just yet (for some)
As of the shortly before Wrath launch time, the plan for Death Knight character creation was as follows: If you have a level 55 or greater character on any realm, You can create one DK per realm on any realm you like. You can't, of course, create DKs of the opposite faction on a PvP server on which you already have characters. Since the expansion launched, though, due to technical limitations, it has only been possible to create a DK on servers on which you have a 55+. 3.0.8 was supposed to ease this restriction, returning to the original design of DK unlocking being acount-wide rather than server-wide. However, "due to unforeseen circumstances," this change was not fully executed. Some people are able to create DKs on any realm as intended (myself included), but some are not. Neth promises that we will see the change come to all "in the near future," hopefully after some rolling restarts tonight. And here's hoping those same rolling restarts solve the Wintergrasp crashing bug that's annoying us all so intensely.
WoW Insider Show Episode 73: Yes, Virginia, there is a Martin Thunder
Great show on the podcast this past weekend, if I may say so myself. We started off with a kickass intro from David over at Trekcast.com, and I think it set the tone well: we had Michael Sacco (a.k.a. onetime Blizzard GM Belfaire) on the show, and he revealed some great stories about what it's like to be on the other end of Blizzard's ticket system. Turpster was on with his wacky self as usual (along with some excellent Warrior insight), and we all talked about the most embarassing thing we've done in game, and how to know when you're ready to head off into Heroics, as well as the Death Knight changes coming up in the next patch.If you want to send us an intro or anything else, the address is theshow AT wow.com. You can listen to last weekend's show using the links below, and if you'd like to hear us live, definitely make plans to listen in next weekend: we record the show live every Saturday at 3:30pm Eastern / 20:30 GMT. Oh, and don't forget to become a fan of our site on Facebook -- we're almost 3/4 of the way to our goal of 4,000 fans, and if we can reach that goal, Turpster's promised us a brand new, exclusive song. Tell your friends!Enjoy the show and have a great week. And if you're wondering who Martin Thunder is, here you go.Get the podcast:[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.[Ustream] Listen to the unedited recording in Ustream.[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.Listen here on the page:
10 things I learned from a destitute alt on an RP realm
I have a few alts on an RP realm that I visit from time to time, and I remember thinking to myself at one point: "These characters are a bunch of deadbeats." I'd gotten too used to the alts on my main realm being a bunch of pampered brats, spoiled rotten by the presence of a hardworking main, so financial discipline had grown to be a thing of the past. Not so on another realm where you don't have a main, and I realized that unless I went back to a few monetary basics, my alts would wind up dancing naked on mailboxes in pursuit of gold. This is a fine tactic with a long and storied history, but when your most promising alt is a level 16 Undead Mage, you're up the proverbial creek. No one wants to see a rotting, naked corpse.So I started not being a deadbeat, and it was with surprise and delight that I logged on to find the little tyke sitting on a pretty respectable pile of gold by level 21 -- as in, he can afford to pay for his level 30 mount and training several times over, and still have enough left over to train himself all the way to 45 even if he doesn't make another penny.
The Digital Continuum: Checking in with Warhammer Online
It's been a while since Warhammer Online was released and in that time we've seen a lot of crazy stuff happen. Namely, Wrath of the Lich King launched, became the fastest selling PC game of all time and rocketed World of Warcraft into an even high number of subscriptions. And with everyone spending the last couple of months in Azeroth -- myself included, admittedly -- I felt it was about time to hang up my Death Knight armor, grab a halberd and run around as a crazed Dark Elf wearing way too many spikes and blades for his own good.
PTR updated to build 9464
A new build, number 9464, went up on the PTR last night for the perpetually predicted, not quite here yet patch 3.0.8. The changes aren't huge; for the few list, you can check out MMO Champion. But there are a few that interest me. Scrapbot repairs equipment, as we discussed previously. Vampiric Blood, which got a huge buff in early 3.0.8 builds, has been taken down a little bit, although still better than it is now. In the latest build, it temporarily gives the DK 15% of his maximum health, and increases the amount of health generated through spells and effects by 35%, for 20 sec. Previously in 3.0.8, it was 20% max health and 50% increased healing. In live, it's just 50% increased healing.
Warrior and DK threat bug hotfixed
My own Death Knight is not quite up to raid tanking yet; I've got a few more levels to go on that one. However, some players have noticed that DK threat, especially on single targets, seems a bit low - significantly lower than the other three tank classes, to the extent that the tanks were having trouble keeping threat against high DPS. It turns out that there was a slightly complicated bug involving Frost Presence, the foundation of DK tanking. It went like this: Some aspects of Frost Presence don't go away when you die, and some do (this is the bug). Part of the threat boost, however, does go away when you die. When you res and come back without changing presences, the game doesn't reapply Frost Presence, because it sees that you already have some of the effects of it. However, you still don't have all of the threat boost. So potentially, DKs who die and come back without switching to another presence (Blood or Unholy) and then back to Frost were missing out on 15% of the 45% threat that Frost Presence brings. This has been hotfixed now, so there is no further need to worry about it. If you saw your DK threat go up a lot yesterday, that's probably why. Ghostcrawler adds that "it is likely" that Defensive Stance was also being affected by this bug, although I haven't seen any prot warriors complaining about their threat since 3.0 hit.
GamerDNA and Massively explore Death Knight demographics
Our friends at Massively and GamerDNA are at it again -- they're digging into their database of players, this time to determine some Death Knight demographics. They want to know what kinds of players are picking up the new Hero class. Unfortunately, their sample size is super small -- only 500, according to Sanya Weathers, which seems way too tiny to determine anything about the Death Knight class at large. But we'll go with it anyway, and see what we can get.As you can see above, Blood Elves and Humans dominate the race choice in our little group, which seems about right, considering that those are the two most popular races overall. Death Knight players in this study generally tend to have reported themselves as male in real life. And GamerDNA also lays their Death Knights up against the Bartle test and while WoW players trend pretty well to the norm, Death Knights go way more towards the "Killer" and to a lesser extent the "Explorer" end of the scales.So according to this little survey (and we'll remind you that this is 500 people, so there are plenty of exceptions out there), the average Death Knight is male, chooses whatever race is most familiar to them, and wants to go kill and do damage rather than worry about socializing or achieving. In other words, lots and lots of former Ret Paladins. It'll be interesting to see how this changes over time -- lots of these players are interested in the newest thing, obviously, since they've switched their mains to a new class at the first chance, but as things settle down and more people head back to get new alts, maybe we'll see a different crowd coming out of Acherus.
Encrypted Text: Patiently awaiting patch 3.0.8
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the Rogue class. This week, we'll discuss the upcoming Rogue changes in patch 3.0.8.According to the SK-Gaming Top 100, Rogues are doing pretty well. Our fraternity of assassins has a solid hold on the coveted #3 slot, behind the insanely dominant Death Knight / Holy Paladin combination. With Druids and Warriors being as powerful as they were in Seasons 3 and 4, seeing them bring up the bottom of the Top 100 representation is the truest indicator of significant balance changes that Wrath brought with it.Luckily, I feel that Rogues are far stronger than our 10% representation shows. We are poised to absorb the market share that Paladin and Death Knights will be hemorrhaging when the long-awaited patch 3.0.8 comes to right all the wrongs that this team has committed. Four of the top six classes in the SK-100 are being nerfed significantly, with Rogues being the least affected by these changes. After the cut, I'll cover important changes for Rogues in 3.0.8, as well as a few changes that will alter our top opponents as well.
Roll a Death Knight (almost) anywhere in 3.0.8
Oh, you poor unfortunate souls! Forced by the cruel silver hand of fate to roll a Death Knight only on realms on which you already have a level 55 character. You've cried out in pain as the lashes of this restriction struck you, and through the anguish you've yelled "Yo Blizz! Lemme roll my DK anywhere, aight?"Word. Big Blue's got your back. Starting with the launch of 3.0.8, you'll be able to roll a new Death Knight on any realm as long as you have a level 55 character somewhere. The normal restrictions for character creation are still in place, though--can't make an opposite-faction DK on a PVP server, can't roll a DK on a server closed to transfers unless you've got a 55 there already, etc. All fair!Before you ask why this feature wasn't implemented from the get-go, remember that it wasn't even very long ago that the developers were deciding "how is dk formed?" (though they did say that the restriction would be lifted soon after Wrath launched).So fret not, ye oppressed. Soon, your chains (of ice) will be broken.
Fatal1ty talks WoW at CES
Say what you want about Fatal1ty and his endless selling out (we know you will), but the guy is a recognizable face, something that's a little hard to find in the world of professional gaming. Allakazham caught up with him at CES last week, and in between talking about how awesome he and his products were (sigh), they did get some good Warcraft talk out of him.He's been taking advantage of Recruit a Friend, so he's got a Warrior, Rogue, and a Death Knight all to level 60 (unfortunately, I didn't hear him say which faction he plays). His Death Knight's "get over here" "grappling hook" have captured his imagination -- hopefully he'll stick with playing with his brother and get up to level 80 so he can see some of the endgame PvP. Unfortunately, he says he's not into PvE at all, which explains why he's going slow, but if he can push the last 20 levels, there's some fun stuff to be found..And then it's back to the selling -- he says he's looking forward to sponsoring some players under his brand later this year (though he has no plans to play WoW professionally), and he pimps some equipment, too. It's not exactly a hard-hitting interview, but it is interesting to hear one of professional gaming's biggest names talk about his time in Azeroth.
Breakfast Topic: Identity Crisis
Once upon a time, at the beginning of 2005, just a few months after WoW was released, The Spousal Unit made the switch and traded in his Dwarf Paladin for a Tauren Shaman and never looked back. He brought a couple other classes up to 70 and made lame attempts at duos with me, but Onnix the Shammy was the only character he really wanted to play.Then Wrath of the Lich King came out. He immediately took Onnix to Northrend and started questing. But he took a brief break to make a Death Knight, so that it could sit and get rest while he leveled his main. He decided to make an Orc because they look good in plate and we picked his name from a Celtic god of death (who ended up being a goddess). He didn't spend much time on the look and didn't care too much about the name because this was just a throwaway character.
The Queue: Spreading the space plague
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. A bad case of space cancer put me out of commission for the last few days, and for that I apologize. In addition to my apology, I blame the pandas. They caused me to come down with such a horrid plague. I'm back on my feet now though, so the Q&A will continue!jtrain asked...I'm admittedly new to tanking, and I hear people talk about a 'rage dump'. Why would I want to dump rage? I thought the whole idea was to build up a good amount so I don't have to sit there auto-attacking waiting for my abilities to become usable. In Wrath, I never seem to have a problem generating rage and at the end of a fight in which I've pulled several mobs, I usually have quite a bit of rage still available. Am I doing something wrong?
Crafted Death Knight tanking weapons removed from PTR
One of the initial changes in patch 3.0.8 was the inclusion of Death Knight tanking weapons that could be crafted by a high level Blacksmith. As of the latest 3.0.8 PTR update, these have been removed. And all indication is that they'll stay removed. Ghostcrawler doesn't want Death Knights to hang onto the weapons throughout their time in Wrath of the Lich King, which is apparently what Blizzard is afraid will happen. The other issue with providing 2H tanking weapons was that Blizzard would have needed to start itemizing (putting tanking stats on and crafting gear for) 2H tanking weapons overall, and that's something they didn't want to do.The Ghost also points out that the new sigil and runeforge enchant should be enough to get the Death Knight defense up to where it needs to be.
Class balance in a post-WotLK World of Warcraft
Class balance is always a touchy subject, depending on the class a person plays. But WoWRIOT has put together an impressive look a class balance in a post-WotLK World of Warcraft. After looking through much of the post, we're pretty impressed with its accuracy and overall take on current class balance, especially as it pertains to arena and PvP.Normally, those who actually play the game are much more interested in these kinds of balance overviews. However, the article contains an extensive look at Death Knights and everything about where their place in the game is right now. So for anybody who's been curious as to what's going on with the first new class in World of Warcraft, we'd say the article is definitely worth a look. For everyone who does play the game, it's probably a good idea to at least check out your class (or classes) if only to see why you should or shouldn't be upset with Blizzard. One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!
One Shots: Meep!
There are times when you just know you've gotten in over your head. Of course, to the resourceful player, this just means a fun challenge! One such occasion is the subject of today's World of Warcraft One Shots, sent in to us by Greeen, who has been playing a Gnome Death Knight. Greeen writes in: This shot was taken in the Valgarde Catacombs. My first reaction was "Gulp!" ! The second one: "Attack!" The third: "Run Forrest, run!" Luckily this is from a quest where one receives a temporary immunity bubble - otherwise my little gnome Death Knight, Blues, would really have to show what she can do....Are you once again (or perhaps for the first time) turning to Azeroth for your adventure? If you've snapped a fun screenshot from your favorite game - no matter the MMO - we'd love to see it! Send it in to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name and the game it is from. Descriptions are optional, but always welcome. Yours could be next here on One Shots!%Gallery-9798%
Magtheridon four-manned with Death Knight tank
One of the blogs I frequest most beyond our own WoW Insider is DeathKnight.info. They have a fun little community on their forums, and their front page highlights most of the really cool stuff that happens to come out of it. The bulk of it is, of course, Death Knight news, but it also shows off a lot of the really random things WoW players do.Magtheridon, once one of the hardest raid encounters in the game (depending on who you talk to), has been 4-manned by an Unholy Death Knight (who you may have read about previously), a Retribution Paladin, a Restoration Druid and a Holy Priest. If you've done the fight before, you might be thinking to yourself, "That's not possible. You need more people than that just to click the cubes!" Apparently that is not the case. They didn't bother with the cubes, they just healed through the damage.
Breakfast Topic: Death Knights and you
It's over a month after the release of Wrath of the Lich King and the World of Warcraft's first new class since its release. And though I'm guessing you all know exactly what I'm talking about, for the sake of clarity, I'll spell it out: we're talking about Death Knights. When everyone had an expansion box in their hot little hands, the first thing most of them seemed to do was hop off to roll a shiny new Death Knight. (Note: calling a Death Knight "shiny" to their face may or may not wind up duels to the death, but personally, I wouldn't risk it.) The starting zones were crowded and no one could have wanted for companionship while leveling up towards Northrend (unless they needed a healer, anyway). But after a month and a half? The rush is over and the crowd has died down. Have you rolled your Death Knight? Were you waiting on getting a main (or a main and an alt or two) to 80 first? Is anyone out there still rolling Death Knights?
A Merry Christmas with the Lich King
You might have thought Christmas was over, but not so fast -- there's one more terrible almost undead overlord who wants to wish you a merry one. Yes it's Arthas himself -- reader Adam Beamish sent us these pictures of himself (at least we think it's him -- he made the costume anyway) dressed up as a jolly... well, somewhat jolly old Death Knight, and they are hilarious.Brilliant. The costume is great (even if the idea of Arthas as St. Nick is a little silly), and the pictures, by Brooks Reynolds, are very well done. One question, though: where's the candy cane Frostmourne?
The Azeroth Ethicist: Why (or why not) to take a player
I had a lot of fun reading the comments on two articles we ran concerning a knotty moral issue, and readers wrote a lot of interesting things about how the problem could be considered from both an ingame and nongame perspective.This article's about a problem that's existed since the game's launch, but seems to have become more common since Wrath's release due to a substantial demographic shift with plate classes (more on this in a bit). Simply put; is it appropriate to turn down a potential member of a group over loot competition? Players generally don't want to face the prospect of losing a roll, especially if they've been endlessly running a dungeon trying to get a particular piece. But while you'll get a lot of sympathy if you've run, say, heroic Nexus 17 times trying to get the War Mace of Unrequited Love, people will generally elect to take a competitor if it's a choice between that and not doing the dungeon at all.
