At this point in the beta, I’ve been through most of the starter quests in the Howling Fjord. I’m now at the point that it’s starting to direct me further out, to the next quest hub. My exact plans for the beta are unclear at this point. I certainly don’t plan to do any intense leveling, as I’d rather save that for when my levels will stick around, rather than do it now and have to do it all over again. I do plan to play around with different specs as well as mess around in the early 5 man dungeons that are available.
The other night, I decided to try out the Death Knight. I had no intentions of rolling a DK when Wrath hits. Will my experimentation with the class change my mind? Let’s take a look.
The DK Intro Events
I’m not sure exactly what to call this, but what I’m referring to is the set of quests that introduces you to the class. This isn’t like starting out in Northshire Abbey as a human, with a few scattered quests and the option to leave for greener pastures whenever you like. This is a very specific, lore heavy quest chain that introduces you to how the class plays.
The story arc that you play through to begin your life as a Death Knight is very, very well done. Some have suggested that Blizzard stole this idea from the first 20 levels in Age of Conan. I never played AoC, thankfully, so I can’t comment on whether or not I see it as "theft." Regardless, I was very happy with what Blizzard put together. The storyline is both robust and interesting, and kept me playing well past my allotted time for the evening. I don’t believe they have set this up to challenge the player, but rather to hold their hand a little while so they can get a hang of the new class.
On a side note, though I took many screen shots, I am electing not to share them with you. In this case, I really don’t want to ruin anything for any of my readers, as I really think that this Death Knight starter chain is something everyone should try — whether you plan to play a DK long term or not. Trust me, it’s well worth it.
The quest chain also gives you an opportunity to explore your dark side a bit. You’ll be stealing, plundering, bombing and outright wreaking havoc on innocent villagers left and right. The quests range from the standard "Kill X of X" to more interesting bombing runs and stealthy, devious type quests. If the DK quests are any indication of the future of WoW questing, I can’t wait to see where we go from here.
Overall, the little intro story arc is some of the most fun I’ve had in the game in four years. Some of this may be due to its newness, but just as much is probably related to quality design.
DK Talents and Play Style
When you start out you have no talent points. Zilch. Zero. Basically, you are awarded anywhere between 1 and 5 or so talent points for most quests. Rather than overwhelm you with 40 some talent points to spend out of the gate, Blizzard has elected to leak them to you a little at a time. I am personally thankful for this decision, as I was overwhelmed by the new DRUID trees, and I’ve been playing a druid for a LONG time. This way I was able to focus on one talent tier at a time. I really have no clue about Death Knight talents, but from what I understand the Blood tree is the steady DPS tree, so that’s the way I went.
In all honesty, I was generally a little confused by the DK and how it played. A lot of the skills and talents you get function differently or are more powerful depending on how many diseases were on the target. I only saw one attack that inflicted a disease, so I basically led off most combat cycles with that. Then I went through my other fancy little tricks that relied on the target being diseased or whatnot.
I did NOT get a good grasp at all about how a DK should be played. My first impression of the class is that it is VERY complex. You have a number of different attacks to use, and I found myself a little lost as to how best to use them. I think part of the problem is that the starting quests are overall very easy. I think I only died perhaps once the entire time, and even that was a little fluky, as I got a few too many wandering adds hammering on me. For the most part I just plowed through the quest mobs I had to deal with. My guess is that I wouldn’t really get a feel for the class until the Outlands.
DK Gear
Fortunately, you get a nice leg up gear wise as well. I’m sure you’ve heard by now, but you start with a set of matching green gear, and every few quests or so award you with a blue upgrade. By the time you complete the quests and find yourself in regular old Azeroth, you have a complete set of matching Blue gear and a nice blue two handed sword or axe. It’s almost like getting a full set of Tier 0.5 armor for free. Nice! I’m sure glad new DKs won’t be forced to compete on the AH for any plate they can find, that’s stuff already overpriced!
In addition to the nice gear and weapons, you’ll also get a leg up with a nice looking Death Charger for a mount. The quest for it comes fairly quickly in the chain, and like the other quests it is quite easy but also quite dark. I’ve always wanted a pally/lock style mount, and I finally got to see just how cool they were.
Conclusion
It’s hard to say how I feel about the CLASS overall at this point, as I think it will take some more time to explore how they play in the more difficult Outlands areas. I am excited to take a look at the different trees, and see how the class actually pans out as a tank. I will say that after playing through the DK starting arc, I am much more inclined to give them a try at release. I have always wanted a dedicated tank, and starting an alt at 55 is very, very nice. Also, by the time I finished the starting arc, I hit level 58 and was ready for Hellfire Peninsula, with a nice set of gear, a mount and a fair amount of gold. Not bad at all! In the end, I’ll give the story arc a big A+, but give the class an incomplete. I had fun playing it, to be sure, but I have no idea how it will play long term.
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I’m a bit torn on the class as well. I liked it…a lot. Originally I was really feeling I would make it a main months ago so that I could fulfill a key raiding role of “magic tanking” but after Bliz made their plans known that they don’t want the raid to depend on a class…I started to have my doubts.
But after playing it, it is really fun and I am once again thinking about heavily investing playtime into a DK when Wrath launches.
I actually had NO plans of rolling one, but I have had a lot of fun myself, Aurdon!
Many hunter friends of mine, including myself are switching. Its the perfect time to try something new if your annoyed with your class. If the starting story sounds as good as you say… I cannot wait.