Death-Knight
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All the World's a Stage: So you want to be a Death Knight
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the eighteenth in a series of roleplaying guides in which we find out all the background information you need to roleplay a particular race or class well, without embarrassing yourself. Originally I had planned to write about death knights only after I had written about all the other classes, as a way of wrapping up and rounding out this whole series of articles about the lore behind the playable races and classes of World of Warcraft. But then ZuWho posted a comment on my last article specifically requesting me for my thoughts on death knights -- and even used the word "pleeeaase!" So of course I'm always a sucker for such polite requests, especially comments like this with really insightful questions. Today we'll look specifically at these questions and see what possible answers come to mind.To a certain extent, we already covered a number of possibilities for death knight characters about 6 months ago. However, while most of those possibilities are still valid, there was so much we didn't know about the player-character death knight lore at that time, and there are definitely some points that need updating.
Death Knight's Death Grip as crowd control
I haven't played a Death Knight on the live realms yet (I leveled one through the starting experience during the beta, and am only 79 so far on my main), but I have grouped with quite a few of them now, and the ability that real stands out to me and others seems to be Death Grip. A lot of the other Death Knight abilities are just new versions of other classes' spells, but Death Grip is a pretty new mechanic -- instead of charging or jumping away from a mob, you're bringing the mob to you. And with all new mechanics, players have found new ways to play with them. As you can see in the video above, Death Grip, when chained by a few Death Knights, can even be used as crowd control.I've seen it used in a few other wild ways, too -- it works great as an interrupt, and when combined with a Hunter trap, it's finally a reliable way to trap ranged attackers and casters. And most of the Death Knights I've seen use it for pulling -- they suck the caster in from a group, and the rest of the mobs come with, and group right up for AoE. And I haven't even been to any PvP matches with Death Knights yet -- I imagine the uses there are even more hilarious, not to mention that I'd be yelling "Get over here!" every time I hit it. Very fun mechanic for the new Hero class.Thanks, Michael!
Wrath of the Lich King ranks in Edge's top games for 2008
It's been a good year for the second expansion to World of Warcraft, but things just got even better. Edge Magazine has tossed up it's top 30 of 2008 and Wrath of the Lick King placed at number sixteen. The expansion is the only MMO on the list, which is saying a lot in a year when Warhammer Online and Mines of Moria came out, impressing many players.The placement is attributed to Blizzard's re-imagining of what's possible in Azeroth through new quests and zones, as well as the addition of the Death Knight class. We've got to agree with them there, which is why Massively awarded Wrath with the best expansion of 2008. 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!
Analyzing the upcoming changes to Death Knights in World of Warcraft
The Death Knight is a pretty fun class, but anyone who's been playing one since launch knows it's a bit lacking in the tanking department at times. And for a class that wears only plate armor and has talent builds that focus on either giving damage or taking damage, it's kind of important to be able to take a few hits. So when the new Death Knight changes hit the public test realms, WoW Insider was all over it.Overall it looks like each of the three talent trees have been tweaked to fall in line with what they're supposed to offer a player. Blood gives good singular-target damage, while healing the Death Knight, Frost is all about tanking and taunting and Unholy is a blend of support and area of effect damage spells. So, in other words, it looks as though Blizzard is making mostly positive changes here. We'll be curious to see if anything is changed as it's tested out by players, because well, that is the point of testing out an upcoming patch after all. 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!
WoW, Casually: What Patch 3.0.8 holds for casual players
Robin Torres writes WoW, Casually for the player with limited playtime. Patch 3.0.8 is on the horizon and there are a lot of interesting changes coming our way. Leveling will become even more convenient, some fundamental gameplay changes are being made and classes are being adjusted... again. While these changes affect everyone, I'll be going over the ones that will particularly matter to those of us with limited playtime.(Edited to add:) What you won't see here is Dual Specs. They are scheduled for Patch 3.1.Although this info is currently on the PTR (or Public Test Realm for those of you not into acronyms), this does not mean that it is final. A lot of things could change before this patch goes live, but as things stand, here is a list of changes to be ready for.
Patch 3.0.8: Analysis of Death Knight changes
Well, I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I'm certainly having fun playing my death knight. I can solo a lot of the more difficult quests in the game; my Blood self-healing along with my glyphed Death Strike keeps me topped off and out of danger almost all the time; and I bring desirable buffs to parties and raids. I keep thinking to myself, "Something has to change! I can't have this much fun all the time!"Well, guess what, WoW community? You've gone and done it. You've gotten us buffed. Great. Just great.
Death Knight solos (most of) AQ20
Felblood, the Death Knight who recently soloed Zul'Gurub, sent us news of a new accomplishment: he's finished off most of AQ20 as well. Kurinaxx's Mortal Strike-like debuff apparently didn't affect Death Strike, so he just had to dodge the sand there, and apparently Moam's mana drain doesn't work on Runic Power, so he was just a tank and spank. Ossirian and Buru were a little tougher, but eventually with a little practice, Felblood says he was able to keep up DPS on the bosses and move around to their eggs and crystals.It's not a full clear, however, since Ayamiss didn't get killed -- Felblood didn't think of a way to get away from her sacrifice, since he'd have been the only raider in the instance. But an accomplishment nevertheless -- it's crazy to think of how long we banged our heads on Rajaxx and Ossirian when they've now been toppled by just one level 80 Death Knight.So what's next -- are we going to see the old 40-man content soloed? Wouldn't be too surprising with Molten Core, as we've already seen it 3-manned at 70, but things might get tougher as you head to AQ40 (where Felblood said he could down some trash, but not much else) or even Blackwing Lair.
The best of WoW Insider: December 2-9, 2008
Joystiq's sister site WoW Insider celebrated our third anniversary this week, just after the game we play celebrated its fourth. So it was a week of looking both back and forward, as we checked out our top 10 most popular stories of all time, and covered all of the latest and greatest secrets in Northrend and the new expansion. From polar bears to proto drakes, here's to many more years of both World of Warcraft and WoW Insider. News Loken the most dangerous mob in the gameA look at the game's stats pages shows we've got a new player-killer in town. Storm Peaks daily quests reward a polar bear mountDo your dailies, get a mount. Blizzard legal targets private serversBlizzard lays the smack down on anyone running an unauthorized server. Ghostcrawler's thoughts on Death KnightsA dev tells us what he thinks of Death Knights and where they're at. Seeking the Time-Lost Proto DrakeHere's a practically free mount, a 100% drop from a soloable mob. The catch? Good luck finding it. Features WoW Insider's top ten stories of all timeOn our third anniversary, we take a look back at some of the biggest stories we've posted so far. Wrath 101: The sons of HodirAn endgame reputation grind that's "God of War meets WoW." The Queue: Trinkets, sigils, and death by OrcsOur Q&A column has instant insight every day on what players want to know about most. WoW, Casually: 7 reasons to make a Death KnightSeven reasons for casual players to try out the newest class in the game. Know Your Lore: DalaranHere's a look at the history of the game's new Northrend hub, and these are some historic streets we're walking.
Breakfast Topic: Don't you mean the *healer* shortage?
I wrote a Breakfast Topic recently concerning the somewhat ambivalent effect that Death Knights were having on the usual tanking shortage, but wasn't too surprised to see a lot of people (perhaps most) write in to note that the healer shortage on their realms was even worse. Leveling as a healer -- even with all the changes to spellpower and shared gear -- is an unattractive proposition for most, and a lot of people who healed at 70 want the chance to do something different. Past a certain point you'd give anything to be doing something that doesn't involve staring at a series of dropping health bars, and that doesn't lend itself to a large and willing population of healers cheerfully offering their services for 5-man use in LFG.My main's a Druid and I PuG a lot, so I have the luxury of being able to observe which spec is the most wanted for 5-mans (at least on my realm). As soon as dual specs become available, I'm going to have a PvE tanking and PvE healing spec set up and ready to go -- and after that, I'm going to keep a little notebook and tally how many times I get asked by a group to heal, and how many times I'm asked to tank ("But what if someone wants you to DPS?" you ask. What is this "dee pee ess" you speak of, strange one?). With an increasing number of Death Knights reaching 80, I'm willing to bet that the demand for healers is going to be even greater than it is right now, and that increasing pressure is going to be exerted on hybrid tanks (i.e. Druids and Paladins) to maintain a healing spec and gear in order to ensure that groups get off the ground faster than they do right now. I could be wrong, but I'd also be lying if that wasn't the dominant trend back on Wrath's beta with respec costs at 1c and a ton of Death Knights at 80.
One Shots: Fear the hand that wields Frostmourne
While we've seen several views of the new Death Knight starting area that came in as part of World of Warcraft's recent expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, we're really quite fond of this one. It gives you something of an idea of just how small players feel in terms of size while standing next to the Lich King and his cursed sword, Frostmourne. Today's One Shots of Arthas and Frostmourne comes to us from Veng, who captured this image when she started her own Death Knight. Chilling!There's lots of new graphical hotness in several games that we haven't seen yet, so what are you waiting for! Grab some screenshots of those new areas and send them to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com with your name and which game they're from. You're welcome to add a description, shout out to your guild, holiday wishes, or what have you. Please remember to turn your UI off (check your keybind options if you're not sure how in your favorite game) and sized at 1024px across or larger. We'll post them up here for everyone to enjoy and give you the credit for sending the image in.%Gallery-9798%
WoW, Casually: 7 reasons to make a Death Knight
Robin Torres writes WoW, Casually for the player with limited playtime.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.
Breakfast Topic: The tanking shortage
One of Blizzard's avowed aims with the creation of the Death Knight class was tackling the chronic tanking shortage for 5-mans. While it was the opinion of many players that the tanking shortage had a lot more to do with tanks' unwillingness to suffer messy and expensive (and sometimes stupid) PuG's, there was no way around the fact that only 3 of 9 available classes could tank (and that 2 of them were just as frequently specced to heal). Providing a new, cool-looking tanking class that had tanking talents in all three trees and could use Warrior gear was Blizzard's contribution. Post-release, the rest is up to the players.I've seen several Death Knights already at 80 on my realm (and to my everlasting horror, two of them in my guild beat me to 80), but haven't noticed any real difference in the number of tells in trade and LFG searching for a tank. Whenever I see these, it's hard not to wonder what's going on. While it's much too early for the majority of leveling DK's to have had a big impact on 5-man tanking between 70 and 80, most of the ones I've seen at 80 are rerolled DPS and have continued in that role. Some would like to tank but just don't have the gear to withstand the damage of a high-level dungeon. Others have privately admitted that, while they're willing to give tanking a try, having to learn it at 80 with an impatient group that just wants to get through a dungeon is a daunting prospect. Still others really do just prefer to DPS.
The best of WoW Insider: November 25 - December 2, 2008
December is here, and where are WoW players? In Northrend, of course -- a sizable amount of the population has hit 80 already, and the rest of us are scrambling through the new content to join them. In the meantime, WoW Insider continues to have everything you need to know about the world's most popular MMO, from new spec and gear guides to the coolest quests and items on the way up. Here's our most popular posts from the past week. News Level 80 Death Knight solos Zul'GurubEven more old content made trivial by a few extra levels and a new class. Dual spec updateA dev updates us on one of the most awaited features in the game right now. Ghostcrawler: Wrath's difficulty is where we want itIs Wrath too easy? GC says no. Four year anniversary pet and feat of strength achievementFor the game's fourth birthday, we all got a baby bear pet as a gift. Wrath of the Lich King breaks internal records at EB GamesA secret correspondent in the big games retailer snaps a shot of the internal email about how well the expansion did. Features WoW Insider's 2008 holiday gift guideYes, it's that time of year again, so here's a guide that will help find a gift for the WoW player in your life. Five old world vanity pets you may have missedEveryone's chasing achievements, so if you're trying to get every single noncombat pet out there, here's five you may have missed the first time around. A Death Knight's first dungeon: Dos and Don'ts part 1How to run your first instance with a new class. The Oracles' mysterious egg is a must-get We're slowly finding out about some of the cooler rep rewards in Northrend. The Queue: Tradeskill bits and piecesOur Q&A column answers reader questions about tradeskills. Have one of your own? Ask it in the comments.
Ghostcrawler's thoughts on Death Knights
Ghostcrawler has sparked conversation on Death Knights and potential future changes on the official Tanking forum with a rather lengthy post. He starts out saying he's thrilled that Death Knights have been well-received, but they've expected since the beginning that they'll have to make changes to the class as they go along, because it is a brand new class. I think us players expected that as well, so it's really not a big deal.He mentions a number of problems that have cropped up with Death Knights since launch (or before in some cases) and some potential ideas on how they can be fixed in upcoming patches. No official change announcements, just thoughts and discussion. If you want to see the full list, head on over to the forum thread. I'm just going to touch on a few that I've experienced firsthand.
A Death Knight's first dungeon: Dos and don'ts, part one
Since day one of Wrath of the Lich King, people have been rolling Death Knights. While many seem to be getting along just great, many others are in need of guidance. This will be a two-part article, and will focus on the things that you will need to know when working with others in a dungeon setting. Today, I will be discussing the basic things that any meleer should know when entering a dungeon. Many Death Knights have never had a melee character, and may not know how to avoid aggro while dealing high damage and staying out of the tank's way.In part two, I will discuss your AoE abilities and their place in a dungeon setting, as well as covering the buttons you should never, ever push while in an instance. I will also run down some very basic rule of thumbs for your gear and talents, as well as including a discussion about some of the group-oriented talents that you could acquire.
Exploitation and the demise of Heroic Leap
There was a time in the beta of Wrath of the Lich King that Warriors everywhere were excited little special snowflakes. They had not one but two, count 'em two, special talents: Heroic Leap and Titan's Grip.While the dual wielding goodness/badness that is Titan's Grip continues today, Heroic Leap was removed mid-beta with Warriors everywhere screaming and crying. Yours truly shed a tear. I loved leveling through the Howling Fjord and Dragonblight with Heroic Leap at my side. One press of a button and bam – I'd be raining down upon my enemies with my plate shining and dual two-handers blaring.Its demise has always been speculated upon. Many thought that the skill just provided one too many ways for a warrior to quickly move about the world. Others thought that it was due to it being too over powered in PvP. Still others thought it had to do with exploitation of the terrain.
Level 80 Death Knight solos Zul'Gurub
Paladins have been the solo instance kings for a while now, from BRD to Onyxia to Blood Furnace, but there may be a new contender in town. Felblood let us know that his level 80 Death Knight (I believe this is his Armory page) has soloed one of my favorite instances, Zul'Gurub, going from the snake boss all the way to Hakkar with just his character.The snake boss, he says, was easy, just a nuke. The bat boss Jeklik silences, and a few of his resists failed on her, so she got some healing off, but she still dropped. Panther and spider went down all right, though the spider's webbing apparently kept him from healing as well -- being silenced, he couldn't cast disease, so Death Strike didn't heal. Bloodlord Mandokir was super tough, apparently -- I can imagine that watching would be pretty nuts during that. On Thekal, the tiger boss, his problem was that he was killing too fast: the boss would get ressed when one of the adds died early. Eventually he just brought them down to 50% and then just nuked all out, and the second phase was easy.And Hakkar was anticlimactic -- he just basically tanked and spanked. He tried to anti-magic the Blood Syphons, but they didn't heal for much, so he just wailed on Hakkar until he was the last one standing. Quite a feat. Of course, at level 80, he was 20 levels above where this 20 man instance was meant to be, so we probably haven't seen the end of the level 60 content being soloed. But it seems that Death Knights are almost more equipped than Paladins to bring down some of the raid content on their own.
All the World's a Stage: So you want to be a Paladin
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the fourteenth in a series of roleplaying guides in which we find out all the background information you need to roleplay a particular race or class well, without embarrassing yourself. You might say that paladins are the guardians at the gates of hell -- they fight evil wherever it penetrates into their world and they take the fight to the evil's source in the hope of quenching it forever. Although they focus on guarding their people from undead and demonic forces on the rise, paladins actually stand against evil everywhere, including the evil in their own hearts.Being a paladin means that you have a relationship of some sort with the Holy Light, that mysterious force of goodness and faith that flows to some degree within all living beings with positive intentions. Most paladins (and many priests) believe that when you do something that you believe to be good, the power of the Light increases in you and your connection to the rest of creation is strengthened, whereas doing something evil (such as acts of greed, despair, or vengeance) will darken the universe and weaken your connection to it. Whether this belief system is a religion or a philosophy is open to interpretation, and seems to depend in some part upon which race you are.There are three sorts of paladins in World of Warcraft, aligned with the humans, the draenei, and the blood elves. All of these share certain similarities, but each has its own differences as well.
Forum post of the day: Best LOL moment in "Wrath"
Wrath is an odd mix. It's unquestionably darker in tone than both classic WoW and Burning Crusade, but it's not hard to find funny bits and pieces scattered around. Därkseid of Deathwing, after having a disgusted murloc refuse to be rescued by him ("Ewwww, orc!") during a quest in the Borean Tundra, started a thread dedicated to peoples' favorite humorous moments so far in Wrath. All the normal world PvP events can be found here (aggroing a Storm Giant while being attacked and Feigning Death onto your enemy? Check!) but you'll also find a growing catalogue of memorable quest text and great NPC dialogue, like Akini's entry on this page.For my money it's tough to exceed the tongue-in-cheek commentary you'll find in the books scattered around Acherus as you start a career as a Death Knight, including the one pictured above. Some of them are actually serious and give accounts of the Scourge's spying into the preparations made by the Horde and the Alliance for an assault on Northrend. Some of them, like The Death Knights of Acherus, are just hilarious, namely the entry concerning one "Harmony" whose period of service turned out to be extremely brief: "The name of this death knight was found in violation of common Scourge decency. Struck down by the Lich King." Well, Arthas, in such matters I defer to your excellent judgment.
A look at the new classes of WoW, LotRO and WAR
The Book of Grudges, a Warhammer Online blog, is taking an interesting look at World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online and Warhammer Online -- the big three, basically -- and the fact that each of them is currently adding classes to their game worlds. What's even more interesting is that each of these three games is handling their new classes in very different fashions. Death Knights are a big epic instanced experiences; Runekeepers and Wardens are designed to be solo-able and compliment each other well and Knights of the Blazing Sun and Black Guards are being integrated into the game the game via a special in-game event.It's interesting that you could play each of the new class experiences in succession and none of them would operate in the same way. That's a surprisingly large amount of variety between three very-fantasy titles -- one of which is based in the origin of high-fantasy.
