Oyayu

Arguably the largest change that is coming in Wrath of the Lich King is the introduction of our first hero class, the Death Knight. Now, I personally went through varying emotions revolving around the Death Knight. The first was joy that they were adding a new class to the game, then there was disappointment when we found out they were only adding one new class to the game. Now I’ve tried it out, it’s somewhere in-between, Death Knight is most definitely cool. The armor, the attitude, the big massive sword. There is of course the doubt in the back of my mind that they should be adding two new classes, so people at least get some choice in the matter… Instead at current rate we’re going to have half the server running around the Death Knight starter area come the 5th of when it’s ready.

On with my first impressions. The character creation screen would be the obvious place to start. Unlike the other characters you get to start at level 55, and you don’t get kitted out in rags like the other classes, you get some very impressive looking armor.

Upon entering the game you don’t get the race-specific entry movie, you get a special one for Death Knights which gives you a little background and introduces you to the Death Knight starting area. I’ve included a video of this below, obviously the usual spoiler warnings apply.

You immediately come face to face with The Lich King himself, who following the usual spiel about death, doom and destruction he sets you off into Acherus to begin your training as a Death Knight. Your first quest earns you your Rune Blade, which is the basis of everything that a Death Knight is. The mechanics themselves are relatively simple, you have a set number of Runes, which you need to use abilities or cast spells, these runes replenish themselves over time. You also have a rage-like Runic Power which is also needed for some abilities.

The quests that you get within the first hour or so of playing your Death Knight are highly entertaining, and very rewarding, not only do you get a slew of blue quality armor, you are also awarded the talent points you would have gotten from levelling to 55 yourself. The quests range from controlling a floating eye to scout out the area below Acherus, hiding in a mine cart to be snuck behind enemy lines, through to stealing a horse. As you can probably tell, this is not your ordinary starting area, but what else would you expect for a Hero class?

The experience flows surprisingly fast while in the Death Knight area, I made it to 57 in just a few hours and I have still not completed the area, so I will get back to you once the area is complete and I have been turned out into the real world.

My main concern for Death Knight is the starting area come release day. I have painful visions of 400 Death Knights running around wreaking all kinds of havoc, but ultimately not getting a lot done. This was somewhat relieved when I saw the area on the beta servers, there were a lot of Death Knights around, and I mean a lot, however the quests were all still completable without too much hanging around waiting for re-spawns… So hopefully Blizzard will have planned for this effectively. Just be warned when you have to go and kill Mayor Quimby, I’d definitely advise getting in a group for that one, even if it’s just a group with the random others on that quest.

Overall, Death Knight is very fun to play, the Rune system is interesting, and I can see it becoming quite complex without being too restrictive to play. The starting area and quests are exceedingly fun, and even if you don’t have any intentions on levelling Death Knight seriously (is there anyone?) then you should at least take one through here just to experience the quests.