I’ve been reading the lastest WotLK news here, here, and here.

The Death Knight actually sounds pretty interesting, interesting enough to try. The reports say that if your account has a level 55 you can create one. But it’s not clear if the character you choose has to be at least level 55. It’s probably safe to assume it does. I’ve also read that they’ll start in a new starting area. An entire zone jam packed with the same class running every which way, waiting for mob respawns, should be quite the sight!

For some, it will suck to think about facing not another 10 levels to obtain, but 25. I’m sure this will deter them from creating a Death Knight. At least not until after they’ve leveled a character from 70 to 80. Personally, I think it’s a good idea to provide players with some time to learn the new class. But is it really necessary to start 25 levels behind the new cap? Hopefully the new starting area will last long enough to avoid regrinding Outlands.

Having everyone start their Death Knight with exactly the same arsenal of spells seems cheap to me. Everyone and their Mom will be making them. What if the desire to create a Death Knight, already minimized by facing 25 levels to the cap, were lessened even more? What if your Death Knight retained some of its previous class abilities corresponding with its character level at creation? Talented abilities would be included and a level 55 mage would have fewer options than a level 70 mage. So if you wanted to be a really powerful Death Knight, you would use a level 70 character to create one.

There’s a variety of ways to retain former class abilities. We could choose an ability from each one of the three schools. Or we could choose a single 31st and/or 41st talent. If I were a Druid or Shaman and wanted to carry over Nature’s Swiftness, it would become a Death Knight version of the spell. It would still provide an instant cast, but instead of affecting a nature spell, as I’m sure Death Knights have absolutely nothing natural about them, their rune system or a spell from one of their schools would be affected.

Admittedly, even if everyone and their Mom creates one, I’ll be right there in the mix trying the newest Blizz candy.

BIG FAT HAIRY EDIT

So it seems I’m wrong and you don’t use a current character to create your Death Knight. Everyone and their Mom will be running around as Death Knights making it nothing special for a freaking Hero Class.

This will present a challenge to us altoholics. If I want to create a Death Knight, I guess I’ll have to delete my bank characters.

/sigh