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(Sorry for the lateness of this post faithful readers, both of you, but an overdose of internet locked out my account for a week so I'm catching up on some posting)
Here is the fourth and final instalment of my Return to WoW blog entries on my relapse into severe warcraft addiction. If you're feeling adventurous or decidedly masochistic you can read part 1, part 2 and part 3 but don't feel like you have to just because I asked really nicely and made big bambi eyes, I just look that adorable naturally. The last week of my paid for month was highlighted by an important milestone. I promised myself if I reached level 55 with my main I'd download Wrath of the Lich King, the most recent expansion and gift myself with a Death Knight, a special Heroic Class only available to players with a character above level 55. Well chopping up skeletons in the Western Plaguelands and running errands for ghosts was interrupted by that oh so sweet ding and flash of light that promised a new level and I logged out straight away to download Wrath of the Lich King.
In the words of Oppenheimer, I have become death.
That's my cuddly bringing of plague, pestilence, disease and war in the screenshot above. A Death Knight is a pretty nice aside for players, at level 55 you're still five levels away from getting to Outland and completing the Burning Crusade quests and a good fifteen levels away from getting to Northrend, the fourth continent of Warcraft and where you'll spend most of your time crawling towards level 80 while battling giants and undead dragons. Getting to play as the Death Knight class, that begins at level 55, is a pretty cool treat on the way to the rest of the content.
When you first begin you appear before Arthas, the Lich King. For anyone who's played Warcraft from the beginning this is a pretty amazing moment. You can read the full history of Arthas here, but suffice to say he's one of the ultimate tragic characters. A paladin and a prince of the human race of Azeroth, Arthas did what he believed to be the right thing, what he saw as the only solution to an impossible problem and took himself down a path of darkness that led to his becoming the most powerful and evil being in Azeroth. Screw Anakin Skywalker and his bleating about feeling a bit angry, the story of Arthas and his fall is a far more believable story of a fall from grace.
The Lich King sends you on your first tasks. To find a sword and power it with runes which gives you your first bunch of attacks, then its descending down on a skeletal flying horse to wage war on the Scarlet Crusade a faction of humanity dedicated to wiping out the undead. As a Death Knight you need to wage war on the Scarlet Crusade, shopping down the townspeople and the soldiers alike to advance the Lich King's army. Side quests include stealing one of the crusaders horses to turn it into a undead steed for you to get around on. The weird warcraft sense of humour is intact despite all this evil behaviour, even though you have to kill the towns mayor and all his people, it's hard not to suppress a giggle when you see your targets name is Mayor Quimby.
Playing as a Death Knight is a pretty different experience from the usual starting area and quest paths for most classes and it's probably one of the most enjoyable classes to get rolling, unfortunately you need to put the legwork into getting at least one of your alts up to Level 55 before you can create a Death Knight.
Warcraft has gotten a lot better since I first played and abandoned it, a lot of the things that turned me away in the first place have been fixed up or changed and now that the content has been expanded onto two more continents worth of quests and dungeons, levelling has been sped up to make the game a lot more satisfying to play in the short term. All up, yes I'm in love with Warcraft again and I intend to play quite a lot of it in the coming months.
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