So you want to be a Death Knight

As one of the first 10 or so Death Knights to hit level 80 on my server, I've had enough time since the launch of Wrath of the Lich King to monitor the DK population at large. I've grouped with them as both DPS and tank specs, raided Naxxramas 10 and 25 man with every different PvE spec possible and even done a bit of PvP to see how we fare. With all this information in hand, I have come to a conclusion: the vast majority of Death Knights are terrible.

Now I realize that this makes me sound like somewhat of an elitist dick (jerk?). I hold no illusions about being the best or any such, but being better than average puts me in a very small minority (at least on my server). With Death Knight being by far the most popular class, and being able to fulfill a vital role in groups (that of the sorely-needed tank), having all these terribad DKs poses a definite problem: take a bad Death Knight tank and wipe over and over, or wait around for 30 minutes to find someone useful?

Maybe you just hit level 55 for the first time, and already hate the class you chose. Perhaps you've been playing World of Warcraft a while and just want a change. Maybe you like the idea of a hybrid DPS/tank class that is completely viable in both roles. Or could it be that you just like glowing eyes and pale skin? No matter what your reason for leaving the land of the living to join the ranks of Arthas' Finest, there are certain considerations that should be made before you strap on all that spiky armour.

So there you are, a freshly dinged level 55 mage, wondering what all the fuss about this new hero class is. He wears plate, tanks with a 2 handed weapon and can DPS with the best of them. Sounds like a dream come true, right?

The problem is, Death Knights are not an easy class to play well. Having come from a pre-BC warrior, where all I had to do was press the same 3 buttons over and over, it was a major transition. If I hadn't had experience not only with my own class, but also playing with others and talking about the different class roles and etc, I would have probably been pretty awful.

"Ok Mitchell," you say, "I'm level 70 now! I've learned about my own spell rotation, run instances with other class and learned a bit about how they work, can I make a Death Knight now?"

Hell no, you can't! The next step is reading about the Death Knight class. Many of the Death Knights that I have played with literally had no clue about the class at all (at level 80 no less). So shove those reading glasses on to your beady little eyes and start reading. The Death Knight forum on the official WoW boards has some useful starting information contained in the sticky posts, but the rest of the forum is usually a write-off.

Two very good sources of information are Deathknight.info and Elitist Jerks. Deathknight.info is the place to go for all your up-to-the-minute Death Knight news, and Elitist Jerks gets down into the nitty-gritty of the class. Both sites have a wealth of information about various talent specs, spell rotations, leveling your DK, gearing up, etc. You can also google Death Knight, and take a look at the various blog posts that people make about the class.

Now that you're all educated on Death Knight mechanics and just about level 80, you have several choices to make. Do you want to be a damage dealer or a damage taker? Do you take the crimson-stained path of Blood, swat at the flies buzzing around your head as Unholy, or put on a parka and brave the Frost tree?

These are decisions to be made based on personal preference, so I'll leave that up to you. Test stuff out, see what you have the most fun with. If you can, start running heroic dungeons and gearing up for your desired role. Get used to the spell rotations, learn the fights, and in no time you'll be topping the damage charts in 25 man raids and the girls will flock to you like flies on shit!

Ok, maybe not that last part.

Stay tuned for a perhaps weekly column on Death Knight play, and feel free to email me at megafroggATgmail.com with any questions/comments/death threats.

So.... Rogues

Welp - I'm going to assume anyone who reads this post plays WoW - if not, I'll give you guys this much - Resistance 2 is a lot of fun, enjoy the single player campaign a lot (although I can see where the criticisms lie) but I am really fond of the Co-Op, I just got my first possible character upgrade, and it makes it that much more enticing to get more upgrades, you notice the difference and you appreciate the hard work that went into getting it.

Now WoW.

So I play a Rogue, not exclusively (making alts can be fun) but for most of the time, that's just how I do it. And I am in a good guild! Well at least good enough to be doing the endgame content, 25man Naxx etc. Now the thing is, I don't want to act like I am awesome, but well... I am awesome. I can usually keep up there in the damage meters, and you know, that stuff makes me feel all good and manly, but lately I've been slipping. Now this isn't because I've been getting worse at playing the game, but because other people are getting more gear, probably as geared as me, and this makes them skyrocket past. Whats the problem then? Probably my spec. I am combat specc'd with some pretty darn good gear (best mainhand sword in the game for example) and in general, I'm pretty good looking, but unfortunately even though rogues can't bring a lot to a raid other than damage (read; anything other than damage), we now need to resort to using a kinda bugged spec (HAT) to keep ontop. While I don't really care too much for Mutilate, I do aknowledge changing to mutilate would probably increase my damage, but not substantially. And something about going deep Subtelty to be great in raids seems confusing, as that is the PvP spec - which confuses me more because the reason (apparently) rogues aren't getting PvE dps buffs is because they are afraid of giving them too much of an edge in PvP - well that ship has probably sailed, and really all you're doing is making me kinda sad.

But in all honesty, it's not THAT big of a deal, I may not be the top, but I am damn near close to it, and I think that some people may over exaggerate the issue - and that probably has something to do with a little bit of lack of skill, and the desire to make up for this with more buffs. Or whatever, it doesn't matter, I really would appreciate doing more damage in raids, or bringing some sort of viable buff - but I can also just hope that future gear will itemize better and let me up my damage that way.

I think Frogg is going to post about DK's and probably why the majority of them are really really bad - I just do not know myself.

Damn you, Blizzard!

My name is Mitchell Rathgeb, and I am addicted to World of Warcraft.

Well, sort of. I've only been back in to WoW since Wrath of the Lich King came out about a week ago, but I've been pulled right back in to old patterns. To give a bit of back story on my relationship with the game: back before The Burning Crusade, I was a hardcore raider. I logged on after my shitty job at a butcher shop 4 to 5 times a week to raid late into the night, just to get up 3 hours later and repeat the process over again. When BC was released, I managed to pull away, mostly due to the fact that the new content didn't interest me that much. And I vowed never to go back.

So what happened? Death Knight. That's what happened. I played a warrior previously, and had a huge problem reconciling my desire to be a DPS class with that fact that every guild I was ever in wanted me to be a tank. Now Blizzard comes along and solves my problem by making a tank/dps hybrid class that is WAY more intriguing that any of the other classes available... what else am I supposed to do?

WotLK also dropped at a time when getting myself lost in an endless questfest is a desirable feature. I work overnights, so doing anything out of the house other than basic errands is pretty much out of the question during the week, and when I do go out on a weekend, I end up having to stay up all night anyways to keep my sleep schedule consistent.

Normally, I would be able to keep myself busy with the ONSLAUGHT of games that are released in the October/November months (hereafter referred to as "the gauntlet"). Unfortuneatly, the TV that my Xbox 360 is hooked up to has been comandeered for the holiday season. Halfway through Fallout 3, god dammit. Add to this the fact that I am running on a Mac, which limits my PC gaming to Blizzard games and Peggle, and it really isn't that hard to see why WoW was such an enticing proposition.

I think the reason I am writing this is partly as an outlet for my frustration at being sucked into the Life Ruiner again instead of throwing elbows on my way through the gauntlet, but also as an apology for any articles in the near future that I write on this here blog, as they will almost certainly have something to do with WoW (unless I can get XP running on my Mac, so I can throw up on people in Left4Dead). So uh.... sorry, guys.

Wow

Worked the WotLK launch at my store... I've got an itch man... I don't know if any other game can scratch this.

Damn it

I just beat Fallout 3, and I don't think I've ever played a game that had such a large contrast between the ending, and the quality of the game before that. The ending was bad, let's just leave it at that... but EVERYTHING else about the game was great to awesome! Frustrating that it couldn't end on a more enjoyable note. Irregardless, definitely worth a purchase from any sort of RPG fan - and even those who like shooters and want to dabble in the RPG arts would probably appreciate this game.

Now I've decided it is time for me to finish Fable 2, I just got back into the game today, and I think I am about 65% of the way through. Still have a lot more games I want to get my hands on after this though - and the call of WoW is ever so enticing, it's like a heartbeat that gets louder as the date looms closer. Doesn't freaking help that I am working the midnight launch and will be surrounded by nerds professing their love for epic loot. How I want to be one of them again.

P.S. One good thing about having no money, you don't rush through the games you own, and you sometimes go back and play the gems for ole time's sake.

Ugggh.... WHY FALLOUT 3, WHY!

Bah, I told myself I would beat Fable II before I started Fallout 3, but noooooooo - it had to come out a week later. I can't beat all of Fable II in a week! Now look at me, I'm 30 hours into Fallout 3, loving it, and also pining to finish Fable II, but I just don't have the time/will power to tear myself away from F3 to touch Fable.

This is stupid, stupid games coming out a week away from stupid each other. I'm going to try my best to get Fallout 3 AND Fable 2 done before I get into any more games, which is a pretty good possibility cause I am broke (finally having no money does some good) - so I refuse to pile up too large of a backlog... I already have half of Lost Odyssey and Infinite Undiscovery to finish - well one thing I can say is the Fable/Fallout one two punch absolutely and utterly destroys Infinite Lost Odyssey, and I am a huge irrational JRPG lover.

More news to come.

And so it begins

Alright, I'm going to start this off with a quick introduction of myself. My name is Abdella Ali, everyone just calls me Della for short - or some sort of variant of that, it's gotten weird. Anyhoo, currently I work at Best Buy under the position of "Gaming Specialist" job isn't too bad - also gives me some... low... low cred bragging rights.

I don't think me and my buddy Mitchell are really too sure what we're going to be blogging about... other than games, or more specifically, what about games we will be blogging about. So bear with us as we find our... niché. I think I'm just going to start it off with a quick game impression - Fable Deux.

So... something people will probably figure out about me as I continue to blog, is that I play any game (when I have the option) as a saint, I'm not sure what compels me to do it exactly... but does anyone? Anyway, the game - just to make sure I get the point across before I do anything else - is great. It's been about a week since I purchased it, and It has taken up almost all my gaming time and attention since. So far I think I am about halfway through the main story, but I am easily about 35-40 hours invested into the game - and that's because my character has more going on than just his quest for revenge. He has a wife (one he was kind of... bamboozled into marrying) he just had a kid, he is a very successful entrepreneur who owns many a shops and houses, and gallivants his way across the land rescuing people from highwaymen and trolls and the like. Not only do I do all these things once, I do them multiple times - I can't tell you how many times I've freed some poor fools from some slave traders, or beaten up some beetles hiding in cellars. The weird thing is that it doesn't really get old. I can keep doing it over and over without feeling... like it's forced.

I'm not going to spend too much more time talking about Fable II, cause I'm going to post one more time about it when I finish the game (which will hopefully be soon, as Fallout 3 is tomorrow and I want my time free for that) but I will say this. This game does so much to further the RPG genre, and (hopefully) inspire the creation of even more innovative games. It just feels like that kind of game. That is not to say that the game is not without flaws (most of them seem to be based on bugs, my furniture shop stopped restocking on furniture, and now I have a lot more trouble turning houses for profit) but those flaws are so easily brushed aside when you play this game, I feel as though I can't ever get mad at this game, It has completely and totally enthralled me.