Week 1 - Death Knight Appreciation

If you read my previous entry on Death Knights, you know how little I enjoy melee classes. That really hasn't changed much in the past few years. I don't enjoy playing with my character so close to the enemy as I feel that I just can't see what is going on. I've never really enjoyed tank or melee classes and after all these years it's highly unlikely to change. Because of this, I find it really uncomfortable to play them in groups. I can handle mucking about with quests on my own but as soon as I have to get other people involved I'm just too self-conscious. I never play them well as I don't enjoy them, and playing them badly makes me like them less and so on in a vicious loop.

My Dwarven maiden Death Knight, Brynwen,  has made it to level 110 though. I have completed her Class Hall quests which were nicely entertaining and even finished the quests for her class mount. I love the way that Legion brought in the Class Hall quests. It gave alt loving players so much more to enjoy rather than having to see just the same quests over and over. I have also completed the quests for all three of her artifacts even though I'm really only playing Frost spec as I wanted the three whelp pets from her Class Hall (yeah the pet addiction hasn't changed either!)

The transmog I use on my Death Knight has changed since I last posted too. While I do still love the original starting armour that the Death Knights get, Brynwen is wearing one of the recolours of the Tempered Saronite Battlegear from quests in Northrend, or at least most of it! I don't have a lot of plate transmog really but I like this one because it is fairly simple in design without being plain. The blue and gold shade ties in nicely with the Frost specialisation that she's been questing in too. Her pet of choice on these adventures is usually the Unborn Val'kyr (named Ellinde after a dear friend that sadly left WoW many years ago now).

As my Death Knight isn't a character I tend to play frequently, I decided to focus on finishing the Argus questline and optimising and equipping her followers so that I can get a little more gold from missions. I also decided to get a little more progress on her professions (Blacksmithing & Mining).

The Death Knight Class Mount (Frost version)

On the whole, I found this week a bit of a struggle. I didn't have a lot of spare time outside of raid commitments, dungeon runs etc and I felt like I was trying to make myself do something that just wasn't comfortable. That being said, my Death Knight does now have all her Argus missions and troops unlocked and has made some progress on her professions, so it certainly wasn't a wasted week.

Next week, Demon Hunter (more melee - yay!). I know I have a lot more to do on her.

Alt Appreciation: Week 1, Death Knight

Riding the Icebound Frostbrood Vanquisher

Death Knight was always going to be a difficult class for me. I struggle quite a bit with melee classes anyway as it always feels that my view is restricted when playing something up close and personal to the opponent. I've had this problem when playing tanks and melee classes since the game was first released so I never really expect it will suddenly vanish and that I will love them.

Posing with her Unborn Val'kyr, Ellinde

Let me introduce you to Brynwen, my Dwarven maiden Death Knight. When I first created this character, I adored the way she looked. Actually, I still do. She's my little goth dwarf! She sometimes is accompanied by her pet Frosty but usually, she has the Val'kyr which is one of the few pets in my menagerie not named Erik. This one is named for a dear friend of mine that tends to favour playing Holy Priests.

I've looked into many transmogrification sets for her and found many that I like, yet never one that actually seems better than some of the original starting armour the Death Knight is supplied with, so I tend to keep that instead. As you may have realised before now, I'm not really a fan of big flashing armour sets. Very few tier sets appeal to me and I find myself often choosing sets made of crafted items, random green items or quest rewards.

At the start of this week, my little goth maiden was level 82...I hadn't neglected her totally. I started out working on the Deepholm quests as she's a miner/Blacksmith and I thought a bit of extra ore couldn't go amiss. She's actually my only Blacksmith, so I really will need to get her levelled up to 90 as soon as possible or she will not be able to gain any of the new recipes in the expansion, which means I'd be cutting off all income from Blacksmithing. I moved on to Twilight Highlands after Deepholm as I love the Dwarf quests there and rarely get to do them. It was a lot of fun really. I managed to get her to level 85 and have moved her off to Pandaria ready for the next time I play her. 

The actual gameplay of the Death Knight I really don't like much though. I feel that the runic power and runestones system doesn't really add more challenge to the character, just more annoyance. I find it cumbersome to work with and that it offers little enjoyment for me in return. Still, she's cute and makes me smile and I can't bring myself to delete her!