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.