Welcome to my first Wrath of the Lich King Beta journal. To have our content more varied, I picked a Horde Death Knight and chose to venture out and level her a bit as I was curious how they would perform, especially in Outland, given the fact most of everyone will be out in Northrend questing nonstop as possible Death Knights have to travel and fight their way through all of Outland before reaching Northrend themselves.
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/41136">
src="/image/view/41136/preview" alt="" width="200" />
Fighting a Giant in Hellfire
Let's start with the beginning. After being explained the basics by Arthas and many of the old Naxxramas bosses, you are given your first Runeblade and quests to go after the Scarlet Crusade. This area is right next to old Tyr's Hand from Eastern Plaguelands, and after a little scouting you're sent to do some kill tasks.
Many of your tasks include killing innocents, as should be expected from an 'evil' class to begin with, and you hear the Lich King (via in-game whispers) telling you to kill and take no prisoners no matter what. A cool touch!
One thing to remember about the Death Knight starting area is that while it may be flooded at launch by many Death Knights, it is of absolute importance for you to complete all the quests given to you in this zone, as most will net you talents and some even abilities thanks to these, so skipping them would be a pretty bad move for anyone, since you will be left talent-less. This may change for release, but as it stands, your talents must be earned through initial questing in Ebon Hold and the Scarlet Crusade's camps.
Once you finish your initial fights with the Scarlet forces you will be released from the Lich King's grasp and taken to a new Ebon Hold, where you will be able to return for your normal training and such (you are given a portal spell, much like Druids can teleport to Moonglade). Once out of the starter zone, I did a handful of quests (easily, might I add!) for the Eastern Plaguelands, and was ready to go ahead and venture into Outland.
One thing to note is that I picked to mostly pump points into the Unholy talent tree, as it allows you to move faster while mounted, and gives you more entertaining abilities such as having your own ghouls and gargoyles to fight for you, as well as the fact you gain Bone Shield later on, allowing you to take copious amounts of damage before needing to rest or heal!
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/41137">
src="/image/view/41137/preview" alt="" width="200" />
Even if you die, you come back as a ghoul!
All starter quests in Hellfire Peninsula were easier than ever thanks to all these new abilities and my talent picks, and it's worthy of mentioning that even the mighty Raging Collosuses, Demoniac Scryer guards, and pretty much most of the elite quests can be soloed by an able Death Knight.
Rotation for fighting was as follows, buff up with your Bone Armor and Unholy Presence, have a ghoul summoned, and begin your attack on your target. Use your normal abilities while waiting on runic power to unleash your Gargoyle for as much time as possible, and use your ice snare to bandage/heal if necessary. Before long, your enemy should be dead!
Even if monsters kill you, if you have the talent, you can come back as a ghoul and keep fighting - you would think ghouls are pretty weak, but not so, you are still a competent fighter and will probably finish off any weak mobs before you have to run back.
This ability is also useful in PvP, I was fighting a Flayer and a Draenei Death Knight attacked me, while I attacked back and we had a good spar, I ended up dying due to my previous fight. While the Draenei thought to heal himself, I immediately turned into a ghoul and finished him off. I imagine people will learn to expect that half the Death Knights will do this in the future, but it was funny and cool for now nonetheless!
Finally, I would like to mention that past Hellfire Peninsula, I felt no need to replace most of my armor, so the gear gap between Death Knight starter => First Outland Zone was minimal.
This concludes my first Beta Journal, hope you enjoyed! Feel free to post your own experiences or comments on our forums if you wish!
Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Ten Ton Hammer network or staff
Comments or questions? Email us ([email protected]) or post on our forums!
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our World of Warcraft Game Page.
