It's a problem: here you are, a master of your very own runed blade, a summoner of an army of undead, an immensely powerful tank and damage-dealer -- and yet no one will let you into the lore party over at Starshine Shadowstrider's house! "Yuckie!" they say. "He got his powers from the Lich King! ...Eww!"
"But I turned against him!" you proclaim in your defense. "I wised up and came back to the Light, sorta. Okay not really but I'm still not completely bad! It's like... fighting..." your voice gradually gets quieter as party-goers stop listening, "... fighting fire with ... fire. Dammit. I'm gonna go kill Onyxia by myself! That'll show 'em."
Yes indeed. It's looking like the future's going to be pretty rough for Death Knights. As Nethaera explained, "It's most likely that Death Knights aren't going to find themselves being popular guests at the town picnic."
But Death Knights aren't alone in dealing with this sort of thing. "Keep in mind," Nethaera points out, "that Warlocks aren't generally welcomed with open arms either (depending on the culture of the race in question)." Here we have a good role model for plucky summoners of the undead: Warlocks are magic users who use the powers of the Burning Legion against the Burning Legion itself! Have not the Alliance and the Horde not gradually come to accept that just because some people happen to summon demons, cause agony, corruption and ruin, as well as steal people's souls -- that doesn't make them inherently evil, right?
So it is with Death Knights. So what if you betrayed all the peoples of Azeroth to go and serve the Lich King for a little while? So what if his taint of undeathiness is still flowing through you while you draw those unholy runes and create zombies? You can now go to Shattrath to have your picture taken with a Naaru! Your reputation should be squeaky clean.
While Blizzard may yet find a plausible reason for Death Knights to be fighting against the Lich King rather than with him, keep in mind that even if that doesn't work out, you've got one magic word that will make everything okay. Whenever people won't trust you or play with you just because it would seem that you might possibly be technically evil (on the outside)...
Just say: "Lore, lol."
Subscribe
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
9-15-2007 @ 3:37PM
Slayblaze said...
It would work into lore better if each RACE got its own Hero class which would not be available to any other race. A "Racial Class" similar to racial abilities. Death Knights would be the Hero class of the Undead race. Mountain King would be the Dwarves Hero class and so on.
Reply
9-15-2007 @ 4:24PM
overneathe said...
Archmages being......?
Reply
9-15-2007 @ 4:56PM
Dave said...
haha immensely powerful.
death knights will be no such thing, and anyone who's figuring they're going to be, is pretty much dreaming. They can call them Hero classes with marketing hype, but they've said they're balancing them within the scope of the existing classes, so they're not even going to be the best at anything they do, just more versatile.
Reply
9-15-2007 @ 5:01PM
popeguilty said...
There'll be a lot less animosity once Death Knight tanks start shoring up the tank shortage.
Reply
9-15-2007 @ 5:06PM
overneathe said...
"Hero" in Hero Class stand for "the heroes from Warcraft 3 had the same titles!". Nothing more, nothing less, face it.
@4 NO! They'll all dps! MWHAHA
Reply
9-15-2007 @ 5:23PM
Mats said...
I'm sure the Death Knights will be welcome to the annual Warlock picnic (hosted this year in Shadowmoon)
Reply
9-15-2007 @ 5:38PM
Hybrys said...
You know, I think you kinda missed the point of them being named a Hero Class... The reason they did it is one, for marketing, and two, to have an excuse to not get 150897132560136 people complaining about having to level them from level 1.
Also, almost EVERY hybrid I see in a useful role, wants to be DPS. Everyone likes to see big numbers, and not healing numbers... *Big numbers are the only reason for a warlock to spec Destro, a hunter to spec lolMM, a warrior to spec Arms, and so on... It's not their best DPS spec, it's the one with big numbers.*
Reply
9-15-2007 @ 5:40PM
Hybrys said...
*coughs* Excuse me, I'm taking a rather PvE-biased stance at that.
Reply
9-15-2007 @ 5:54PM
Rich said...
Blizzard jumped the shark with the current Hero Class concept.
Reply
9-15-2007 @ 7:02PM
therationalpi said...
From a lore perspective, plenty of groups in the game are going down the path of redemption.
Orcs were fel-tainted for a long time, but have shaken that off in favor of a more honorable path. The gnomes destroyed their own homes through their own mistakes. Warlocks use the powers of the Burning Legion. Mages use the thoroughly addictive, and considered corrupting, Arcane magics somewhat wantonly.
So I think there will be a lot of roleplay options for Death Knights.
I can see a Death Knight who says,
"This is what I have become, though I'm not proud of it. Even if it means holding on to this dark power a little longer, I will atone for my sins."
Moreover, I can see a Death Knight whose goal is freedom from the control of the lich king. He may wish to be his own master of terror. The only way to achieve that freedom is to see his former master, Arthas, slain. He may not even care about others, but good means to bad end do exist.
Reply
9-15-2007 @ 7:13PM
Vincent Avatar said...
Am I the only guy who is just really, really excited to have the chance to play a Death Knight? That's really all I could care about at the moment. I'll worry about Lore after I see whether or not they're any fun to play.
Then lore.
Reply
9-15-2007 @ 7:17PM
Amandil said...
"Have not the Alliance and the Horde not gradually come to accept that just because some people happen to summon demons, cause agony, corruption and ruin, as well as steal people's souls -- that doesn't make them inherently evil, right?"
---
Your wrong there. It is still prohibited to use dark magic (I think even by death penalty) in the Alliance. What do you think why warlock trianers meet in "secret" caves and under buildings? Warlocks in public play the roles of mages or priests or just townfolk. That's why, at least on our RP realm, warlocks should never run around in cities with their demon. If there's an RP paladin nearby, that warlock will surely be brought to trial and sentenced to death.
Reply
9-15-2007 @ 8:34PM
Octagon said...
I am of the opinion that Death Knights are silly. Currently Death Knights can be from any race. That's pretty ridiculous. Death Knights are Undead. Since when did the other races of Azeroth begin accepting animated corpses in to their ranks?
Tauren Death Knights?! Night Elf Death Knights?! Dreneai weren't even on the planet during the third war.
We might as well have Forsaken Druids and Orc Paladins!
Reply
9-15-2007 @ 9:24PM
Caleb Archon said...
Wow. I think some of the bile from the official forums is spilling over onto this site.
Reply
9-15-2007 @ 9:40PM
Valethas said...
Well to what I think there's going to be 2 races that can be DK on each side. Reason for this is they get to choose between 2 races for DK and they make the most sense lore wise. On horde we would have the Undead and Blood Elves. Why not Orcs? Because Orcs were the "old school" death knights so they can't really be a "new school" one. Undead well its obvious some Paladins after becoming DKs became Undead then when the Lich King weakend they broke free and became forsaken. For Blood Elves its the same way they use the Naaru for becoming Paladins. Give em a Death Knight or Lich to drain the magics from and BAM we have a death knight. For Allys its obvious Dwarves and Humans because they were the only 2 races to have had the Paladin class of the time of the third war and if you will notice one of the Death Knight's in Naxxramas is in fact a Dwarf and obviously Arthas become one without actually dieing himself.
Reply
9-15-2007 @ 10:23PM
David Bowers said...
There are some really good points here. A few things I'd like to respond to:
@10, I can see 1 or 2 death knights going down the road you mentioned. It would make good sense as a story for a movie or book or something. Somehow it reminds me of Darth Vader actually. But think -- would it work for all of the hundreds of new death knights that are going to come into being on each realm?
The story of the redemption of the orcs is really about Grom Hellscream and Thrall; the others all following in their footsteps. Perhaps the Death Knights could break free of the Lich King if they had one hero like that to follow? hmm...
@12, Ooo. You have an interesting point there. Warlocks do make more lore-sense as dabblers in the forbidden magical arts. Also, it sounds like you're on a really good RP realm if the general populace really pays attention to things like that. Which one are you on?
@15, Keep in mind that they've told us a Death Knight is *not* a corrupted paladin. He or she is a corrupted *person* -- period. That person could have been a mage, druid, hunter, or even manicurist for all Blizzard cares. From that perspective, the gnomish manicurist might very well have been tempted to come serve the Lich King in exchange for emo/goth nail polish. Seriously, though, my point is that there are lots of different motivations for all the races to become death knights -- not just the five you mentioned.
Reply
9-16-2007 @ 8:49AM
Thijz said...
Guys, come on! What if they show to be the best tanks you can get, or do crazy dps? You won't let them in your party/raid because the lore tells you they were on the bad side once!? That's just over-the-top roleplaying...
Reply
9-16-2007 @ 9:10AM
overneathe said...
There is NO "best tank" and "best dps". It's a matter of skill.
Reply
9-16-2007 @ 11:08AM
Paw said...
For whatever it's worth, I think that for the supposed scale of a $49 (US) expansion pack, there should be more than one hero class, should hero classes be what Blizzard wants to introduce. For $49 (US) we got the entire pre-BC game, correct? The scale of which is immense when compare to what was delivered in TBC. To be honest, with a new zone, yet only one new class being offered, TBC is even less of an offering for the money than TBC was. Don't get me wrong, I'm not downing the game, it's my addiction, but I really think Blizzard should do what some of you have already mentioned. Race specific hero classes, and introduce 3 or 4 per faction. Each race can merge into two hero classes so that you have an option of a melee-based or magic-based.
Reply
9-16-2007 @ 11:09AM
Paw said...
"TBC is even less of an offering for the money than TBC was. "
I meant to say:
WotLK is even less...
Reply