Learning to be a Death Knight, at level 1

| Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Is anyone tired of having their DK's leveling narrated by Batman?  It's a great set of quests, but perhaps it has gotten repetitive, particularly given the highly-linear, scripted nature of it.  Beside that, given the small changes that have taken place since Wrath of the Lich King came out, there is justification for a new source of death knights.


That source?  Take your pick.  Warriors or paladins could have a corruption chain which converts them.  Warlocks could take a liking to inch-thick steel.  Alternatively, they could start at level 1.

Like any other class, the death knight would start off as a little nothing nobody.  But they'd learn something else.  Something darker.  Gone would be the scripted DK creation/rebellion sequence.  Instead, they'd play in the same level 1 world as everyone else.

Surely the Knights of the Ebon Blade could feel a similar pressure as the Forsaken, pressure to ensure their survival, both for their own interest as individuals in need of allies and as an organization that doesn't want to see the return of the Scourge.  However, while the Forsaken need abominations and corpses to increase their numbers, Death Knights can be converted, willingly.  The weak would desire such power, though only the strong would survive it.

This could even be beneficial to the player population overall.  Death knights wouldn't be hit with so many ability so quickly, then having barely learned their class (if that), shoved right into the middle of the leveling curve filled with players who expect people to have half a clue.  The outside impression could be improved as well, removing the "you started at level 55" or "you're lazy" element.


Rather than delete the current death knight quests, they would be a class quest chain, starting at level 55.  They would be optional, though I expect that the gear rewards would be a strong draw.  Rather than being directly about breaking away from the Lich King, they would instead be set as a series of challenges, to confront the past history of their class and those who wield such power.  In this form, it could be broken into multiple quest sections, so that players would not need to complete them all at once.  Contrast this with the current quests which essentially imprison the death knight until they are entirely completed.


Would you want to level a death knight from level 1?

5 comments:

Diablokls said...

I think it would be a great idea. Personally I always thought that after WOTLK they would update the starting quests, much like they did with the Forsaken.

In theory starting at level 1 could be the exact same as it is now. This would teach the newer players the history of the class. They wouldn't have the blue or green gear or most of the abilities, but like you stated it might help make people appreciate them better.

Hyperian said...

The interesting thing would be in how they explain that story. Right now it makes sense that the LK raises them, tosses them like trash and they rebel. But I feel as though they would need a central authority figure to or some long lost Gul'dan scripture that allows DK creation to happen. If it was Sylvanus doing it, wouldn't make much sense for Alliance players. And though Varian has accepted their help now, something tells me the alliance wouldn't be likely to suddenly recruit a bunch of guys who willingly sold their souls and allowed themselves to be corrupted for power. At least the current generation of DK's have the "OMG it was all the LK's fault to fall back on. But I do agree that now that LK is gone, the honeymoon is over and they should have to level from the ground up. It makes sense, maybe give a different class a chance at hero status. Demon Hunter anyone?

Klepsacovic said...

@Hyperian: Both factions allow warlocks, so there is clearly some willingness to allow or ignore the use of dark powers. Alternatively, there could be a less-evil form of DK which has the powers but gains them by some other means, similar to how the Horde paladins are Blood Knights and Sunwalkers: same abilities but different backstory.

Hyperian said...

Hmm very true.

Hyperian said...

At the end of the day, I suppose both sides hate each other enough that they'd be willing to side step the morality aspect in order to win the war. Varian is not above helming a team of assassins to "remove" Moria, and Garrosh still hasn't chopped up Sylvanus ridiculously hot undead body, so I suppose anything's possible.

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