Are DKs Poised to Take Over the World?

It’s been three months since the release of Wrath, and the ripple effect of Death Knights is still being felt all over Azeroth. The first Death Knights have made it to 80, and are starting to make names for themselves running Heroics, making their mark in arenas, and tanking raids.

As the first “hero class” of WoW, it’s certainly to be expected that DKs would make a mark on the game – after all, they’re completely distinctive in being the only class which starts at level 55, in being able to tank in all three talent trees, and in having fewer abilities to master at the outset, but ultimately requiring management of abilities previously unseen in the game – Rune Energy is like a cross between rage and mana, and the runes themselves are in a class all of their own.

There’s no doubt that DKs have made their mark on PvP. At last count, Death Knights were the second most popular class, after Retadins, in arena. WoW forums and blogs are filled with complaints of Death Knights being OP, unbalanced, and a threat to every other class trying to make a name for itself in arena. DKs are just as big a threat to other players in battlegrounds, especially in the 50-59 bracket: unlike every other class they get a fast land mount at level 58, and they enter battlegrounds with a matching set of blue gear. I personally noticed that when I joined battlegrounds on my DK I was topping the kill charts for the very first time in my WoW career.

But when you broaden the question to the impact DKs have had in the game as a whole, the camps are divided.

Some believe that DKs have no defining role or purpose in the grand scheme of PvE content in WoW. In his recent monologue on the subject, Totalbiscuit claimed that they’re not needed as a tanking class because they don’t have effective talent specs for tanking in raids. And, he notes, most DKs he meets don’t want to tank anyway – they’re in the game to DPS. And as DPS, he says they don’t top DPS meters either. And even if they did, do we really need yet another tanking or DPS class? He therefore questions whether Death Knights have any distinctive role in the game, and a number of his respondents agree with him.

But I have personally noticed that many formerly-ranged DPS-ers have abandoned their former toons to adopt the quick damage, versatile play style, and high survivability available to a plate-wearing class. In fact, it's a running joke that all those who used to play warlocks have converted to join the Lich King, what with both PvP and PvE content in game being so based on AoE instead of DoT combat. It's happened in my guild (our hunter class leader just rerolled a Frost tanking DK). Heck, it's even happened to me - it's pretty likely that I'll ding 80 on my DK before I do on my mage.

Truth be told, I think death knights are special. Sure, they tank, and many classes tank, and sure, they do melee DPS, which isn’t unique. But they do have some other tricks up their sleeve:

• Universal Tanking: DKs are the only class which can tank in any of its three trees. This means that literally any DK can tank if they want to. All they have to do is change stances. No other class can say that.
• Anti-Magic Class: DKs have two silence spells, multiple spell interrupts, both a self- and group anti-magic shield, the ability to heal in combat by doing damage, and an instant-cast immunity to fear, charm, and mind control. Death Grip removes the need for line-of-sight pulling in dungeons, and on top of it all, DKs have multiple ranged abilities should the mob/boss/enemy player get out of melee range, as slippery casters are known to do.
  
• Self-Heal: While not a healing class, DKs can heal themselves, again, by utilizing a baseline ability available to characters in every single tree.
  
• I Wear My Undeath on My Sleeve: Ok, DKs may fight like other classes on paper, but are you seriously telling me that there's another class out there with abilities like Summon Gargoyle, Army of the Dead, Pestilence, and Blood Boil? Death Knight combat abilities are macabre, eldritch, and grisly, because DKs are the most anguished, emo, and, in my opinion, badass class in the game. Everything about DKs screams Death and Decay.
  
• Ghouls: Maybe it’s because I’m Unholy spec’d but there’s something absolutely awesome about being the only melee class with a pet.
• I Have Three Professions: Runeforging is kind of like a cross between inscription and enchanting, and it's available only to DKs. There's a rune for every weapon and every situation, and managing them all could be considered an occupation in and of itself.
  
• The Cool Factor: DKs are the first class to get their own starting area. They have their own city, and hey, let’s face it, they’ve been by the big guy Arthas’ side for much of the game, which is incredibly neat. They have cooler voices, cooler eyes, and cooler abilities than most other classes.
• Easy to Play, Hard to Master: I firmly believe that anyone can pick up a death knight, and by now, everyone should at least have tried to take their DK through the incredibly cool phased starting area. But while it seems simple, being a DK comes down to management of many different factors, and players can play around for a long time finding that perfect rotation which optimizes the cooldown of every single rune, the best way to set up diseases on every target, and the optimum use of their Runic Power.

If you look around Outland and Northrend it becomes immediately apparent that the legions of DKs have not subsided, and that many of those who signed up "just to take a look" at the class haven't gotten sick of their DKs yet. Forget the supposed tanking shortage, after five dungeons run with a total of 20 other DKs, I firmly believe that the healer shortage is far more serious. After all, many DKs are capable of tanking on the fly even if they’re DPS spec’d before level 80.

In a previous post I outlined some of the reasons I personally enjoy playing a death knight. To sum up, I play my DK because she’s versatile, great at PvP, and has fewer abilities to manage than my old hotbar- and macro-heavy mage. I wouldn’t necessarily call DKs a hybrid class – after all they tank by doing DPS and they… uh, DPS by doing DPS too. But there is clearly still some appeal to the approachability of the Death Knight which has galvanized a strong contingent of followers who haven’t yet gone back to their old characters, who stick around with their icy-blue-eyed friends because they like the ease of play, the newness, or just the plain old mystique that death knights have to offer. If we're not taking over the world, we're at least carving our niche in it.

Prepare to Be Loved...

The next world holiday is almost upon us, and it's time to get ready. Love Is In the Air begins tomorrow, full of kisses, candy, strange nervous conditions, and bewinged goblins flitting through the air.

The Adoration Exchange: The basic premise of this holiday revolves around paying tribute to the NPCs (guards, peasants, and more) in each capital city. The more NPCs you pay tribute to, the more likely you are to get the holiday's unusual items, which include outfits, a picnic set, candy, and even a permanent non-combat pet. Ultimately, your goal is to hand out enough tributes in every single capital city that you are able to complete a City Gift Collection - a special conglomeration of cards, pledges, and trade goods of friendship which you can then bestow on your favorite leader of the Horde or the Alliance.

Players can honor city NPCs this by purchasing perfume, cologne (or both) from any innkeeper in Azeroth (sorry, as usual, Silvermoon and the Exodar and their respective environs are not included), along with Love Tokens, which the player will then bestow upon the NPCs of their choice. If you apply cologne on your character, they will become attractive to female NPCs, and if you apply perfume, they will attract male NPCs. Once you've become attractive, give someone a Love Token to receive one of the following buffs/debuffs:

Adored - the NPC in question will give you a Pledge of Adoration or a Gift of Adoration, which is really a box filled with various items, including chocolates, candy, rare item drops, firecrackers, and handfuls of rose petals. Hang on to all of these, because you'll need them if you're trying to get this holiday's achievements. In addition, Adoration packets contain the very important Unbestowed Friendship Bracelets, which can be used on other players to remove them of the following debuff:
Heartbroken - The NPC has spurned your gift of friendship, and you will be unable to offer any more Love Tokens for 60 minutes or until someone comes along and mends your heart with a Friendship Bracelet.

After you've gotten your Adored buff, keep on handing out Love Tokens to nearby NPCs in order to collect Guard's Cards, Pledges of Friendship, and Gifts of Friendship from the guards and merchants in each capital city. Once you've gotten 5 of each type of reward, combine them to create a City Gift Collection.

Why go to all the trouble? With each Gift Collection you turn in, you get a buff of +30 to Intellect, Agility or Stamina, depending on which leader you've chosen to honor. You can then purchase a host of different holiday toys, like fireworks or candy, from the goblin cupid Kwee Q. Peddlefeet. At the end of the holiday, the faction leader with the most "votes of adoration" will convince Kwee Q. to stay by his/her side for a whole week after the holiday is over, giving out buffs to visiting players.

Intro to Holiday Achievements: The title everyone is aiming for this holiday is The Love Fool. Want it for your character? You can start by crossing these easy achievements off your list:

Flirt With Disaster: get yourself a handful of rose petals (found in most Gifts/Pledges of Adoration), cover yourself in perfume, get completely smashed on whatever cheap booze your character can find, and then throw the petals on either Jeremiah Payson (the cockroach seller in Undercity) or Sraaz (the pie-seller in Ironforge) and /kiss them.

Sweet Tooth: Have a taste of the four holiday chocolates, which come in nearly every Gift/Pledge of Adoration.

Lonely?: Head to Dalaran and look for anyone with their Romantic Picnic set out. Sit down and join them.

Like all holiday achievements, some are harder to get than others. But for those trying to get My Love Is Like a Red Red Rose, Blizzard has posted some help: the requisite Bouque of Ebon Roses that is part of the criteria for the achievement drops from the following bosses:

• Maiden of Grief (Halls of Stone)
• Prince Keleseth (Utgarde Keep)
• Prince Taldaram (Ahn'kahet: The Old Kingdom)
  

All About Questing: Not everyone is convinced that it's all love and games this holiday. In fact, certain citizens believe that all of this kissing, tittering and flirting is the result of a much more sinister plan. If you too are curious to find out what lies behind the rose petals and the chocolate candies, speak with Orok Deathbane in Orgrimmar, Temma of the Wells in Thunderbluff, or Deathguard Tor near the Undercity zeppelin tower for the Horde, or to Tormek Stoneriver in Ironforge, Lieutenant Jocryn Heldric in Stormwind, or Aldris Fourclouds in Darnassus for the Alliance. These NPCs will start you on your journey to figure out who or what is masterminding this lovesick haze.

Love Is In the Air runs between February 11th and the 16th. Have fun!

Take Heart, My Fellow Frost Addicts!

I admit it. Even after the nerf to Blizzard in patch 3.0.8, and all the shiny new abilities given to the Arcane tree, I still couldn't abandon my Frost spec. Yes, my Blizzards weren't as powerful (25% less powerful, to be exact), and yes, I did have my face melted by a few Arcane mages. But I still had a lot of fun pumping out massive crits in PvE dungeons and questing around Northrend with my trusty pal, Squelch the Water Elemental (Hey, hunters get to name their pets, why can't mages?).

Yes, I knew Frost mages were laughed at. Yes, I knew that overnight the Arcane tree had gone from being the mutant black sheep of the mage family to a brilliant, shining prodigy who brought the best food to the family reunion and stood up Frost and Fire by telling amazing tales of how much better Arcane Blast's grades had gotten in college, and how Arcane Barrage had opened its own chain of super-high-damage retail stores, where warlocks and rogues could go to have their pride demolished, their faces melted, and what was left of their corpses wheeled out on stretchers. I clung to my Ice Lance with its Winter's Chill proc and smiled nicely at the Arcane tree's prideful boasting, and then I went home and cooked up some ice cube soup for my poor little pal Squelch.

Overall, mages right now are in a fantastic position. We have more warlocks than ever screaming that we're overpowered and that we're so much better than they are in PvE (Hey, who needs DoTs when you have AoE?) and in PVP (Burst damage beats DoTs any day, people. And oh, did I mention that Ice Block cancels your fear? Did I? Here, have an Ice Lance to the face.). Our Mirror Image has been touted as one of the game's most over-powered spells ever. And the fact that Evocation's reduced cooldown, not to mention the fact that in the Arcane tree you can get that cooldown cut even finer to two minutes, means that mages no longer go OOM in the midst of raid fights, but that like our mana-recharging companions the shadow priests or the warlocks, we can just keep right on going, like Frostfire Bolt-hurling Energizer bunnies.

But I think my fellow Frost addicts (there have to be some of you still out there, right? Please? Tell me I'm not the only one!) would agree that for now, at least, Frost seems to have become the low spec on the totem pole. The last patch didn't give us any buffs, and nerfed what is for many the staple spell of mage dungeoneering and battleground PvP. The patch wasn't exactly cause for mass mourning of the part of all Frosties everywhere, but it was, well... a little sad.

I won't deny that Frost is for me still the ideal spec for leveling - its power and control are, for solo purposes, virtually undiminished, and there is absolutely nothing which equals the plethora of snares, slows, and crit procs we Frosties have in solo questing. Frost makes leveling the glass cannon mage an absolute joy. It is only when I join groups for dungeons or BGs that I shed a tear of regret for losing my ultra-powerful Blizzards.

But, should you have weathered the 3.0.8 Arcane storm without respec-ing, I have hope for you! In a recent blue post, Ghostcrawler revealed that Frost mechanics are still being examined, but that adding a "Shatter combo vibe" to Frost PvE is something they're considering, the only problem being that so far, it seems the way they would accomplish this would be to buff Ice Lance still further, which would, of course, "unbalance" Frost mages in PvP.

But Ghostcrawler's post does indicate that apart from settling inter-class balance with the new mage buffs, Blizzard is also concerned about balancing intra-class abilities, i.e. they want to make sure that all three trees are viable in their own right.

To say that Blizzard always have a lot on their plate would be an understatement, so don't hold your breath for the new buffs or adjustments to the Frost tree. However, my fellow Frosties, we can rest easier knowing that the changes we've noticed in our class have not gone unheeded by Blizzard, and that, someday, help is on the way, and that hopefully we followers of the icy magics of doom will rise once more to our place of prominence as equal, if not superior dealers of magicky-death to all who cross our path. And hey, we'll always be superior when we can carry around a pocket water elemental, won't we?

It also occurs to me that this column is rather anti-warlocky, which though it is, should not be taken as a slam against all warlocks everywhere. Sure, they ate up our Arcane Brilliance buff, and sure the warlock I ran dungeons with last weekend managed to beat me in every single loot roll, leaving Violet Hold with a lovely new set of blues while I was left standing out in the cold with my ill-fitting assortment of tissue-paper robes covered in random animal skins. But those facts should in no way be construed as indicative of malice toward warlocks in general. I like warlocks! Really! I do. Squelch, stop laughing!

Darkmoon Faire: Northrend Edition

Another Darkmoon Faire has come to town this week - in Terokkar Forest this time, featuring a host of new goods ready to be purchased by interested connoisseurs. As promised, the Faire vendors have updated their stock, and are now selling goods and items collected from the wilds of Northrend. Here's a quick look at what you might find in store should you pay the Faire a visit:

Runic Mana and Healing Potions are now available for purchase at the base price of 2 gold each from Professor Paleo.
Northrend herbs, including Goldclover, Adder's Tongue, Frost Lotus and more can be found among our favorite Orcish trader Lhara's wares. Prices vary according to rarity, but are much cheaper than your local Auction House.
Autumn's Glow - that rare yellow gem sought by many a jewelcrafter is also in stock at Lhara's shop. However, you can't purchase these with gold, but instead must be willing to hand over 10 Emblems of Heroism should you want to add one of these to your collection, which unfortunately means that lower-level characters and non-dungeoneers may be out of luck.
Level 75+ Food and Drink can be purchased from their respective vendors, Stamp Thunderhorn and Sylannia, respectively.
Motes of earth, fire, water, shadow and more can still be purchased for a handful of silver apiece, however adventurers should take note that it is Lhara who sells them now, and not Professor Paleo.

Darkmoon Faire runs from February 2nd to the 9th. Have fun!

RIP: Greathelm of the Scourge Champion

Because I was a late convert to WoW, I basically rolled my characters right from level 58 Azeroth content and into Outland, neatly bypassing all of the later dungeon and raid content "vanilla" WoW had to offer. My gear was for the most part "quest greens," just your standard fare, and though none of it matched, I didn't really care, since I was switching out new equipment all the time, and certainly before I ever had the chance to get attached to my avatar "looking" a certain way.

So I never really understood all of the complaints WoW veterans - the players who had cleared old-world raids and had matching tiered gear sets - made about none of the gear matching, or even about Outland gear making their toons look like clowns or dancers at a carnival. None of my characters had matching sets of gear until the PvP sets at level 70, and until then, I was just happy to quest along in whatever clothing came my way.

Until I began leveling my death knight. Who was given a beautiful set of level 58 blues right out of the starting gate - gear that made her look cool, intimidating, powerful, just as a servant (err, former servant) of the Lich King should. I give kudos to Blizzard's DK designers - every single item given to us in the starting zone looks, well, badass.

And when I reached Outland, I was asked to get rid of my matching set of DK gear and give it up for, well, apparently an outfit that makes my toon look a bit like a trapeze artist, richly painted in bright, vivid colors which are better suited for a Skittles ad than for fighting minions of the Burning Legion.

In Azeroth, I took screen shots of my character about every five minutes, and in every one of them she looked the part of a death knight. Now I try to avoid taking screen shots, or make them into "action shots" that at least make my poor, bedraggled character look like she's fighting an interesting monster while being forced to wear spandex hot pants and a Superman cape. I now truly understand why players who were around to see the transition between their classic dungeon gear and Outland greens were more than a little perturbed at giving up those lovely, matched tier sets.

I find myself imagining what new fashion emergencies await my character as she transitions into Wrath content. Wrath has been heralded as WoW fashion's return to drab, earthy colors, and for my part I didn't mind it one bit when my mages traded in their vibrant costumes and donned more conservative vestments. But I do wonder if anything my death knight finds in Northrend will equal the sheer Gothic beauty of her DK starting gear.

On the bright side, at least Outland has enabled me to expand my Haliscan caballero costume.

Roleplaying a Death Knight (Part Two)

Last time we took a look at the racial backgrounds of Gnomish, Blood Elf, and other death knights, to shed some light on how each race deals with their returning undead brethren. Follow us for part two of this roleplaying extravaganza as we complete the circuit...

Humans: More than any other race, Human death knights have truly followed in the steps of Arthas himself. As a race which is quite invested in the Holy Light, it is certain that a returning death knight will encounter some abrasion upon returning to Stormwind. Uther still has many loyal supporters. The truest paladin even has an entire holiday for him, for crying out loud. So among the paladin-set, and those who were there when Arthas turned against his people and betrayed Uther, it is unlikely that a death knight will make friends. Yet, Humanity is wildly varied – one of the few races in the Alliance which accepts Warlocks not just as a necessary evil, but as a viable form of study and exploration. Humans boast both paladins and rogues in their number, and both mages and warlocks. And any race which has such a series of polar opposite classes is bound to have supporters on either end of the Holy/Unholy spectrum. Thus, assuming they can find their appropriate niche, the only thing a returning Human death knight probably has going against them is the fact that Arthas himself is currently the most powerful baddie in the entire world, and Humanity cannot forget or forgive that the Lich King was once one of their own.

Night Elves: To say that all Kal’dorei society would shun a death knight upon her return to Teldrassil is probably incorrect. Night Elves have always claimed to follow the tenets of nature, and to walk in balance with all living beings. To that end, a Night Elf death knight is probably an aberration, as are, claim Kal’dorei priests, all undead.

But Night Elf society is also riddled with individuals who enjoy, wield, and strive for power. Some of the greatest, most powerful, and in many cases, most evil beings in all of Azeroth were once Night Elves, including Illidan himself. Ancient Night elf civilization was a magocracy, not like that of modern-day Dalaran, but certainly a society where those who were possessed of and adept at using the magic powers of nature (which were and are at least partly Arcane) were the ones who ruled.

There is no denying that death knights are powerful. They have, in every sense of the phrase, cheated death itself to inflict the desires and will of the Lich King upon the world. And now that they are free, all that power and capacity has to go somewhere. And there may be no other race on Azeroth which is more capable of using their power and ability to shift the very currents of the world than the Night Elves. In this case, it might be a better option for the Kal’dorei to adopt these wayward death knights than it would be simply to lock them up somewhere or cast them aside – both methods of dealing with magical heretics have been used in the past, but neither punishment met with much success. Assuming the returning death knight wasn’t too big on the “undeath for all” campaign, she might be accepted back into her birth society with little upheaval.

Orcs: It is not widely known, but the very first death knights were Orcs. In fact, as many today have forgotten, the Lich King himself, before Arthas took up the blade of Frostmourne, was Ner’zul, the spirit of one of the Horde’s most powerful Orcish shamans conscripted into service by Kil’jaeden.

In some ways, Orcs know death knights better than the other races of Azeroth. Death knights fought alongside the Horde in the Second War, after being raised from the dead and bound into service by Gul’dan, the most powerful warlock of the age.

And Orcs certainly know what it is to be led, blood and soul into battle as a pawn for others. They were conscripted into service by the Burning Legion, and only recently have broken the fel-blood curse. It is therefore quite possible that Orcish death knights would be accepted back into the Horde and treated like any other soldier. A soldier to keep an eye on, certainly, but in no greater a threat category as that in which Thrall currently places warlocks.

Tauren: When your entire civilization has been shaped by the idea that life is cyclical, and that death itself has a place and a status which confers honor, not loss, where do you fit in if you’re big, mean and undead?

Well, to the Tauren purists out there the answer would be “nowhere,” but even the most educated Tauren sage cannot deny that death knights are a reality now, that the tide has turned, and that their new-found allies, contrary, strange, and fearsome though they may be, cannot simply be turned away or forgotten.

On the one hand, the returning Tauren death knight may be met with open arms. Tauren lore is heavily infused with the idea that the spirits of the ancestors never leave us, and that every previous generation watches this one. Heck, even Tauren humor revolves around this ideal: “You know how hard it is to get your groove on with the spirit of your great grandmother watching over you?” The very nature of death is not to destroy, but to change. For some Tauren, the fact that their relatives and loved ones are returning to them after death might not be too big a leap to make – after all, death knights are just ancestors in the flesh, unlike the spirits unseen.

But on the other hand, like the Night Elves, Tauren society has an affinity for the natural balance of things. The dead should remain buried (or at least enshrouded) – they should not rise up to wreak vengeance. Thus, at least among the more dogmatic Tauren, death knights are an affront against nature, beings which should have accepted that their time walking the earth was done but didn’t. Still, these are strange times we live in, and even the most stalwart Tauren may find it in their hearts to accept that death knights may be the best way to beat the Lich King at his own game.

Trolls: It is certainly a strange conundrum that while the majority of Trollish society practices voodoo, a strange mystic art frequently associated with necromancy, Trolls, at least the playable Darkspear race also fear, even revile the undead. Perhaps this is because most undead Trolls we encounter on Azeroth are mindless servants of the evil voodoo priests who animate them. Sunken Temple, Zul’Farrak, Stranglethorn Vale – these former Troll bastions are riddled with evil witch doctors raising zombie Trolls who are intent on destroying civilization, or bringing the Old Gods back to life. And the undead minions the priests of Hakkar and others like them employ are completely without free will, utterly evil, and bent on destruction, not unlike the zombie crack troops of the Lich King.

Add in the fact that the Darkspear just recently escaped from certain doom at the hands of the wicked voodoo doctor Zalazane, who actually bound the spirits of dead trolls to do his bidding, and it is perhaps understandable that on the surface at least, death knights would be met with suspicion, fear, or outright hostility. After all, who is to say that the Troll walking before them is really an entity with free will? Aren’t they still a pawn of Arthas? And since so much of Troll magic relies on spirits – forces which cannot ever be seen, but which can still possess, consume, or wreak terrible destruction upon mortals, death knights bear the double cross of being undead and formerly bound to the service of what is perhaps the most evil spirit of all, the Lich King himself.

So the question of whether a Troll death knight could be able to successfully assimilate back into the Darkspear is probably one of trust. Trolls talk to spirits all the time, and one possible plus for the Troll death knight is that there seems to be no Trollish bias against being dead; the prejudice lies instead along the assumption that if one is dead and still walking the earth, one is probably not doing it of their own free will. If the death knight can find a way of proving to her former friends that there really is no one else pulling her strings, then she may be allowed to re-enter Darkspear society.

Roleplaying a Death Knight (Part One)

As the new kids on the block, death knights don't have a lot of race-specific pre-scripted back story. Sure, everyone knows they were undead servants of the Lich King, bound to do his bidding and wreak destruction upon Azeroth, but what else is there beneath that pallid skin and those glowing blue eyes?

It doesn’t help that death knights come power-leveled to 58 but without any individual professions or gear. To a casual observer, the masses of leveling DKs wandering around Outland and Northrend may all seem alike. But if you’re looking to make a name for yourself by roleplaying a death knight, here are some things to consider from a racial lore perspective:

Blood Elves: Blood Elves became a unified race because of the Scourge, and the destruction of the Sunwell. Arthas' corruption of that font of all life for the high elves utterly and irrevocably remade the Sin'Dorei. And, as a long-lived race, all Blood Elves who now serve as death knights remember the destruction of the Sunwell, and the terrors of the Scourge. Hatred, therefore, is probably deeply-sown in the heart of the Blood Elf death knight. For not only is Arthas responsible for the destruction of life as you knew it, the Lich King set up his own knights as patsies in an ill-conceived plot to foil the Argent Dawn, as is revealed in the final quest in the DK starting area. It is probably very easy, therefore, for a Sin'Dorei death knight to feel nothing but lust for revenge, an unending, sleepless desire to see Arthas destroyed. Yet, like all death knights, the new emotions of undeath are probably tempered with memories of your homeland and life as an elf. As the golden forests of Eversong can never be touched by the likes of your kind again, regret, not unlike that of Sylvanas herself, is probably also held in your heart.

Draenei: Perhaps more than any other mortal race, the Draenei have an affinity with the Holy Light. Even Draenei shaman are still permitted to use their Light-given Gift of the Naaru racial ability. And as we all know, shaman were Draenei who once used the powers of Light to benefit their people, but, due to fel pollution were cut off from the source of their holy powers. Now, shaman call upon the elements, and are able to sustain and heal their people just as well, but through different sources. Velen himself has completely vindicated shamanism as a viable path within Draenei society, even though shaman don’t commune directly with the Light (except for that one racial ability).

So what about death knights? What about an undead Draenei who has returned to the service of their people after mercilessly slaughtering innocent living beings? If the Light teaches all Draenei to be merciful and benevolent, how have these tenets been twisted by a mind which was once chained to serve the all-consuming, merciless Lich King? In all likelihood, Draenei death knights live on the very fringes of their society, accepted by none, and tolerated by very few.

But, even though the Scourge are what many would call an abomination unto the Light, it must be remembered that the Lich King is no longer under control of the Burning Legion. It is therefore possible that an undead Draenei would find more acceptance among her birth race than one of the fel-corrupted Eredar, who have no place among them any more.

Dwarves: Stalwart, sturdy, steadfast. Since time immemorial, these traits have defined the Dwarvish people. And hey, what would you expect from a race created out of the earth itself, and forged as part of the Titans’ master plan? Dwarves are probably the most dependable race in the Alliance – they honor their friends and never fail to come to their defense, even against the most powerful of enemies.

So what happens when one of their number falls to the ranks of the Scourge? What happens when the integrity of the Dwarven people is besmirched by the admittance of death knights into their ranks? The answer: it probably depends on who you talk to. Most upstanding citizens of Ironforge look upon death knights as an evil, and a disgrace. Dwarves have long practiced the arts of a paladin society, and uphold the tenets of honor and the Light, much as their Human allies. But on the other hand, Dwarves seem to operate on such a strong sense of honor and tradition that perhaps the phrase “once a Dwarf, always a Dwarf” is a good fit here. In all likelihood, the question of whether a given death knight “fits in” with their old society is one for the player to answer: do you want to go back to your birthright and uphold the glory of your people? Or will you carve a new path for your kind, one which pays no heed to the calls of your ancient race?

Forsaken: Forsaken may be the most tortured race on the face of Azeroth. Turned against their will to serve the Lich King, forced to commit atrocities in the name of the Scourge, then liberated from the curse of mindless undeath by the Dark Lady Sylvanas, these days the Forsaken are regarded as cursed by many, their very existence heretical by some. Unlike the other living, breathing denizens of Azeroth, Forsaken are liberated undead - zombies with free will. They lived human lives, then were plunged into darkness.

And Forsaken death knights went over to the dark side twice - the Lich King destroyed them once with plague, then brought them back into his fold once more. This means that more than any other race, the Forsaken are uniquely positioned to have insight into Arthas' goals. And probably more than any other race, they are hell-bent on destroying the Lich King. As a "twice-dead," or at the very least, "twice-corrupted" death knight, you have a deep furrow for your character's back story, and a rich variety of memories and events to play upon in your character description. You have served many masters, including, once upon a time, serving yourself and your own human ambitions. You have stood at the side of some of the world's greatest military minds, including Arthas, Sylvanas, and Darion Mograine. And you have twice been called to the Lich King's service, committing more atrocities in his name than any other race of death knight. In fact, it might be said that Forsaken are the ultimate death knights, who know better than any other race what it is to serve the Scourge.

Gnomes: It is hard to believe that the intelligent, calculating mind and insatiable curiosity of the Gnome would be erased upon joining the forces of the Lich King. Indeed, it is likely that the more ingenious diseases, virulent plagues, and most uncanny methods of dealing out destruction among the Lich King’s forces are owed, at least in part, to Gnomish ingenuity. Yet it cannot be denied that the sheer destruction and appetite for taking life which the Scourge embodies would have not only permeated a mind so careful and inquisitive as that of a Gnome, but co-opted it to serve the Lich King’s ends. The liberated Gnome death knight, then, is probably a combination of the intelligence that is their birthright, and a complete understanding of destruction, despair, and obliteration. Quake in your boots, people. The small ones usually hit the hardest.

Join us next time as we tackle some DK racial backgrounds for Humans, Orcs, and more! Happy trails!