Hello there,
I’m a WoW-Player from Germany who happens to write a lot, be it at work or in my free time. I also find great joy in plotting stories. What I don’t know is if this is the right thread or if anyone already had those ideas. Be it as it may, today, I come to you with a few ideas regarding the Death Knight hero class. First, I must apologize for any misinformation on my part, but the following ideas are based on the following (perceived) truths:
- To raise a new Death Knight, the Lich King must be present and corrupt a soul from a living being – or from someone who died only recently
- The Death Knight is bound to the Lich Kings will and is able to perceive his voice
- Arthas raised his Death Knights against their will
- After the fall of Arthas in „WOTLK“, Bolvar is the only possible creator for new Death Knights
- Nobody but the Ebon Blade and Tirion Fordring knows that Bolvar is alive, until he steps out of the shadows in „Shadowlands“
- The dialogue in the new Death Knight starting zone suggests that allied races seek out their „dark resurrection“ on their own accord – as volunteers
These perceived truths stem from „casual playing“ during WOTLK, Legion, BFA and Shadowlands, plus a small research in the web and WoW forums, for example this and this thread. Now, this list presents problems. How can Pandaren, let alone Kul Tirans and the other allied races, be raised as Death Knights, when nobody knows about Bolvar? And on top of that, why would anyone choose this fate? I have only seen comments in forums and in sections of YouTube-Videos, but I think you already know far better than I how those changes regarding Death Knights were received in the community.
Problems exist to be solved, and I hope I can be of some use in this regard. I have 3 core suggestions for Death Knights:
1: Death needs a champion
First, we must fix the problem that Bolvar is the sole creator of Death Knights. If I remember correctly from playing the Death Knight campaign in „Legion“, he endowed the player, I’ll call him the Deathlord, with the power to raise four new horsemen. One could say that this might be the „entry gate“ for new Death Knight players. I don’t exactly know if Bolvar needs the Helm of Domination for this power to work and if that specific power only works in the Deathlord if his connection to Bolvar still stands. But for the sake of the plot, let’s say, it is enough for the Deathlord to wield his legendary weapon to raise new Death Knights, even after Bolvars loss versus Sylvanas (we don’t really have a choice here because, obviously, players still create new Death Knight alts even after Bolvar isn’t the LK anymore). His new lore would state that he wanders the lands endlessly, but not aimlessly, to seek out willing (a.k.a. utterly desperate) souls to turn into new Death Knights. New Death Knights will meet him in their starting zone, but more about that later.
A side note: this would elevate the importance of the „Death Knight“-campaign in Legion, leaving other classes behind. Opportunities for new story lines and starting zones arise. What could the High Priest do? Or the Arch Mage? Another post, another time.
2: Conflict breeds opportunity
Moving on. „Why would you choose this fate when you can live?“ - this sums up the second core suggestion. What conflict, I hear your ask. The conflict would breed between Death Knights of the third generation (those are, as far as I understand it, the „Arthas-Knights“) and those of the fourth generation, a.k.a. Allied Race-Knights. First, I had this idea for a whole new expansion, but since Death Knights are generally in favor of both the alliance and the horde and only really fought against the LK, I deemed this unrealistic. So, why not make this the plot for a new Death Knight starting zone? I loved laying waste upon the Scarlets back when I played my first DK. The Allied-Race-Knights could start as their „old“ selves, be it a farmer, merchant or simple cleric, who go through hardship hitherto undreamt of and lose everything, after which they see their only hope of being of use in receiving Bolvars unholy gift (or, as mentioned in suggestion #1: the gift of the Deathlord). Then, they must „earn the respect“ of the older generation, who obviously never had a choice and are having a hard time understanding this ultimate decision. For this suggestion, it is imperative to show the new „Death Knights in the making“ in a moment of their greatest despair, and the Deathlord offers them a quick „out“.
3: The many voices inside my head
The third suggestion aims at certain races for which the Death Knight class feels kinda weird. Those are – from my point of view – Undead, Lightforged Draenei and Void Elves. Since Undead have been raised as Death Knights before and are part of the common lore since WOTLK came out, we can ignore that. Lightforged, on the other hand, are a problem. I imagine their “light” side acting as kind of an immune system against the “death magic”, if you will. It should not be compatible. Void Elves are different, they get their powers from the Void and already hear a voice inside of their head all the time, now the LK wants attention, too.
Now, the Void Elf Death Knights could easily be fixed with a new unique joke, exclusive to that race-class-combination. Something among the lines “Great, another voice in the mix”, something like that. Special dialogue or quest texts could act in a similar way.
The Lightforged are more difficult. As far as I know, the Holy Light fights all death, as seen in multiple fights around that Chapel in the Plaguelands, even if “death” comes with good intentions.
For me, there are two options.
First: Kill the Lightforged Draenei DK. The wood hammer method would be in line with the lore, but unfair in terms of balancing, I imagine. Maybe they could get another class instead. I’m pretty sure you guys already discussed this – why not ask the audience?
Second: Give 'em the Void Elf Treatment with new dialogue, jokes or a special quest in their starting experience. Or maybe a passive that enhances either their light or their death side, depending on the day-night-circle, like you did with the Night Elves.
And that’s it, I’m afraid. That’s the last I’ve got. If all those ideas are already floating around somewhere, then at least I’m hoping to express that there others out here who are in favor of them. And maybe – maybe – someone took joy in reading this and juggling ideas around.
With kind regards,
Tides (Antonidas EU)
P.S. The 500 characters from the ingame suggestions-window are a joke.