It’s tough playing an expansion when new updates have changed a few ways the system works. I’ve also had some troubles because most of my addons do not function in the Lich King beta. There are a few quests that have left people confused and screaming “how do I turn in the horse quest?” when the repeated response “press 1 to turn in quest!!”
Along with new terrain comes new questions and new solutions, many World of Warcraft gamers are used to the areas found in Azeroth and throughout much of Burning Crusades content. One of the fresh new experiences of an expansion is being able to play the game you love, but with new experiences not simply “more experience.”
It took me roughly fourty minutes to figure out how to get on my mount and ride off into the sunset. Because they’ve changed a bit about how the mount is placed in your inventory, instead being in the “pet” tab in your character profile; this new addition was a slight adjustment to my usual method of play.
Although information is growing on Lich King and its content you’ll find the general chat the best place to get answers as others have already experienced much of the introduction areas once or twice; some folks are on their third iteration of their best Death Knight.
Thus far, the introduction areas are a great way to exercise the powers of the Death Knight and best understand your abilities. You’ll find yourself gaining epic amounts of experience with ease, pushing 12,000 experience for a basic quest. When you’re at level 55, you’ll need a ton of experience to level up so the newbie areas tends to doll out tons of experience to give you a clue how the game mechanics.
Initially, you’ll probably be wondering what runes are, runic powers and what the talents the Death Knight holds under his/her black cape of doom.
Once you’ve gotten a vague idea of the Death Knights talents, powers and special abilities you can start farming and killing innocents across the land. Many initial quests will involve battling fleeing civilians and charging military installments upon a battle field to gain some experience. You’ll find much of the equipment you much choose from when finishing quests is going to round you out as either a spell caster or melee mauling warrior.
Although you’ll never stand a chance as the front line of a massive offensive, you’re a very well equiped second tier of destruction. Holding powerful spells to drain the enemy of life, raise the dead and stabbing the weak.
The most confusing aspect of the Death Knight is the runes and runic powers you utilize in combat. This takes a bit of getting used to but is more attune to the rogue’s energy meter combined with the fighters rage system to build a new style of combat mechanic.
Next time we’ll get more into the runes, runic abilities and raising the dead. We’ll also cover a bit about how the Death Knight plays their role in the combat system, a bit about their Blood, Frost and Unholy talents from my own perspective.
Overall, the beta experience is a nice one, a good deal of lag at times but it’s tolerable because you’re spending so much time learning the in’s and the out’s to this new crazy character class.
November 13ths release date should be an amazing one for many World of Warcraft fans.
Reportedly we’re going to see smaller 45 nanometer cell processors in 2009 which leads to similar cost savings as we saw in the Xbox 360 hardware. Cost savings appear on the manufacturing side, of course, along with less power consumed by the processor leading to less heat generated by the console.