In this video Jeffrey Kaplan and J. Allen Brack talk about Death Knights, Tuskar, and Arthas in this exclusive interview.
The last time we had a look at Blizzard's upcoming World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, was at last year's Blizzcon. The expansion will offer players a new land to roam (the frosty Northrend), an intimidating big bad (Arthas, the surly antihero prominently featured in Warcraft III's Frozen Throne expansion), and a dense mound of new content. We recently had the chance to go down to Blizzard's Southern California office and spend a meaty chunk of time rolling through several of the new zones in the game. In addition, Blizzard offered up details on the Death Knight class, a fundamental change to the raiding system, and some new quest types.
The mysterious Death Knight will be a gimme for anyone who has a character at level 55 or higher. If you have a 55 or higher character on any server, you'll get the option to create a Death Knight with any race. Obviously, there are some caveats: Players will only be able to create one Death Knight per realm per account. Once created, your undead rebel will be level 55, be able to summon a regular mount, and have a set series of quests designed to fill you in on how to use their unique abilities, as well as bring you up to speed on their backstories.
While we weren't able to play as the new class, we were treated to a brief demo showcasing the knight's finer aspects. The standout element of the knight is its rune-powered spell system. A series of six rune slots will rest beneath a Death Knight's life bar and hold any combination of the three rune types needed to cast spells or power their unique abilities: unholy, frost, and blood. The exact configuration of runes is customizable by players, although doing so will require you to go to a specific locale. We reckon this will work something like talents, in that you'll have to visit a trainer of some kind to let you respec your rune setup. It also seems like a player's rune configuration will vary based on the spell and ability types he or she favors.