Axanor

Really, the only thing that bothers me is the leaked info stating that they're gonna stay with 25-mans. Would think that 30-mans, with a 10x3 class balance would make more sense than keeping it at 25.

 

Maynard

I don't consider this "drastic" by any stretch. Siege weapons will likely use the pet control system and have long-range AoE spells; this isn't drastic. Revamping the honor system so it's not a one-dimensional grind independent of player skill is drastic. Cosmetic character changes are simply catching up with other MMOs, it's nothing as bold as, say LoTRO's title system.

A new class doesn't necessarily imply a revamp, but that's just the cynic in me talking.

No doubt we're going to spend months salivating for specifics so we can all carefully and intricately plan what we're going to do over the next few months...

 

thaen

I have to say that I agree with this. One of the strengths of the larger raid design is that Blizzard can balance around an assumed class balance. You can even see this kind of thing in Kara, where Blizz can assume at least 1 of every class. Not being able to design to a specific ideal raid makeup (i.e., one of each class of each spec) seems like it will prevent certain kinds of encounter designs.

 

vyedma

Didn't the spoiler say that DKs would start at a high experience level? If so that would greatly ease the pain of leveling a new toon. If it started at a new lvl 50-60 area (somewhere around plaguelands?), then went to outlands, then new areas that would be great.

Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

 

• frmorrison

What is the new Death Knight class has limitations on it (especially since the leak said the class would not start at level 1), like it is only a PvP/farming class?


WTB further details (likely tomorrow at the panels some titbits will be given).

 

Typhon

If they go with that, then it will be very similar to how Frogloks are used in EQ2. Mind you, I'm not convinced that the Deathknight is anything other than a rip-off of the Shadowknight class in EQ2 either.

 

◊ Malan

Since the german leak page was right about most of the other stuff, it might be safe to assume they were also correct about the part that stated "the death knight will begin in the high level zones immediately, meaning that you get to skip all the crappy old world content.

~Rocks, coming to a shaman near you in the next expansion~

 

Copernicus

I doubt we're going to get much in the details department, because Blizzard really doesn't want to go back on any promises they make.

"New class, unlocked by a flag on the account, and starts at a higher level" would be enough for now.

 

Earthhoof

Despite the pain of leveling, I would actually rather *not* see it implemented this way. It takes a while, but the process of gaining levels, getting a feel for your abilities and how the class plays - what you can handle, what you can't, how to tackle adds or ranged mobs or any other situation - is totally key to the game. I am not saying they couldn't do it right (I do have a great deal of faith in Blizzard to execute things pretty well), but I feel like it would be a lot less satisfying to start at 58 with gear, cash, or whatever. I know it would be a huge investment, but I'd rather see a revamp of leveling content - replace the +strength/spirit cloth with decently-budgeted stuff with a bit of spell-damage, for instance (the rewards in Ghostlands do a great job with this). Maybe some low-level relics for those classes (+10 damage to Maul or something) that use them. Make the process more painless and more rewarding.

I also wonder what sorts of abilities they'll have; Death Coil is already claimed, Death Pact might be tricky unless they can summon things to sacrifice. It would be neat to have an Animate Dead that would act as a temporary battle-rez (the person can function for another minute or something before dying again), but that falls squarely into the realm of speculation and wishful thinking.

 

andastra

I just can't get excited about the class. It doesn't seem that there is any niche that could possibly work in game that isn't already filled by some other class, especially in PvE.

 

• Nite_Moogle

If the class starts out at something like level 65, you'll still have plenty of time to figure out how your class works along the way. I re-rolled in TBC and quite honestly I didn't learn a damn thing about the class soloing or duoing for 68 levels. The experience you're talking about doesn't really start happening until you're in groups, which TBC forced you to do for rep reasons. If they repeat that process by the time you're ready for raiding in game terms, you'll be ready in skill terms as well.

I for one welcome our new death knight overlords and look forward to having a new class to dissect from a theorycraft perspective.

Tanking while actually doing some reasonable amount of DPS? They're pretty mutually exclusive right now other than certain bear builds.

Gurgthock: the time taken to implement the 10 hugs achievement could have been used to make a new 5-man

 

Caligula

Debuffing?

 

◊ Malan

Doubtful, the leaked info said the DK is a tank/DPS hybrid.

~Rocks, coming to a shaman near you in the next expansion~

 

Esajin

Golems, skeleton warriors, skeleton mages, bone spirits, bone spears and the infamous Corpse Explosion come to mind for a tank/dps hybrid :P

 

Tyrian

1 - Can i fly in Northrend?
2 - Can I use my outland flying mount in northrend. Or do I need a higher level skill to fly in Northrend (then I do in outland?)

 

• Nite_Moogle

I think you've mistaken this thread for the dev panel.

Gurgthock: the time taken to implement the 10 hugs achievement could have been used to make a new 5-man

 

• Viator

Well, shut my mouth. I figured Northrend yes but Death Knight never in a million years. They're reasonably cool but they also scream fanboy wet dream. I stand corrected.

Now I'm curious as to when it's coming out. Do they pass out schedules there or is this going to be all of us refreshing for information all day?

Mages have a set time that they want you to ask for food, and that time is pull #4 of the night. You may notice them putting a little snack table down before the raid, that's them cooking the food for you to demand on pull 4. --Nork

 

Daenrya

That's my biggest concern as well. Fitting 9 classes into 25 man raids already sucks. Trying to 10 into 25 will suck even more. Bumping the cap to 30 allows for a pretty obvious way to make raids up.

 

andastra

I guess that's the point I'm getting at. Bears can already dps decently while being in bear form. And wherever they scale the dk on the survivability/dps ladder, I imagine it would just overlap with rogues or with one of the warrior specs. If they can tank so well, prot wars are gone. If they're a weaker tank with good dps, I can't imagine them being different from arms/fury wars. Different mechanics, yes, but not different effect and value.

I suppose Blizzard could give them special buffs/debuffs that nobody else has, but that would just constrain raid makeup even more. We're nearing the time when raid makeup will solely be based on trying to have 1 of each buff/debuff available.

 

Linnet

It doesn't matter if there's an overlap, it just matters that the new class gives roughly similar utility to existing specs/classes that fill that niche. (Whether they'll be able to do this, I dunno.) So if you can bring a DK instead of a feral druid or dps warrior (or retri din, but who does that?) to your raid, then it's fine.

I'm expecting something that utilises a version of drain tanking, in plate, with some debuffs.

 

• Avair

I'm speculating here, but there were a lot of reasons the first expansion 'TBC' introduced a lot of old world gaps, like not using flying mounts, and having to change from % to ratings. Many of the original mechanics weren't designed with scaling in mind. With one expansion under their belt, I would expect the next one to not to need to change the fundamental mechanics as much, since they should scale to 80 just as well as they did to 70.

Flying mounts could not be used in the old world unless they redesigned the game geometry to be less of a Potemkin Village. I would expect them to design the new zones to accommodate flying mounts, like they did with Outland.

 

Typhon

*groans* This is sounding more and more and more like a direct ripoff of the Shadowknight. If I was SOE, I'd be getting my lawyers warmed up.... Maybe Blizzard could try having an original idea for once...

Having said that though, Shadowknights are actually a fun, although intensive, class to play. They can tank almost as good as Guardians, the main EQ2 tanking class (think WoW Prot tanks), do insane DPS if specced right, but they have a wide variety of debuffs they can apply raid wide (mainly decreasing mob mitigation), and a quite ridiculous amount of lifetaps (imagine a WoW paladin not being able to heal but instead having the equivalent amount of healing power in drains from mobs).

But meh, if I wanted to play a Shadowknight, I'd play EQ2, not WoW

 

• Igniter

Maybe 27 or something, it'd mess up group structures, but at least they'd be raid room!