Unholy

When I first began writing this week’s column I seriously contemplated going with my original idea about gearing in Hellfire Citadel for DKs.

Before I begin today’s column: A sincere apology to all readers who have been patiently waiting for another installment in the Plaguebearer series.

With the recent end of arena season announcement, and the fact that the latest PTR build is marked as a release candidate, it’s pretty clear that Patch 6.2 is largely done with development and will go live shortly. As such, it’s time to turn our attention to the Tier 18 Death Knight set bonuses that will be obtainable from the Hellfire Citadel raid.

With the Patch 6.2 PTR in full swing and new class changes coming to light with each new build, it’s time to begin coverage of what Tier 18 has in store for us.

Depending on how closely you’ve been following coverage of the patch 6.2 PTR, it may come as a surprise that my column today doesn’t focus on Death Knight changes, tier sets, and other goodies such as trinkets and legendary rings. This isn’t because I’ve been neglecting my own investigations into the patch - far from it!

When wrapping up my previous entry in Plaguebearer, I noted that I planned for a future post to address the reasons behind my belief that the Rune Regeneration tier of talents feels lackluster and unsuitable for Death Knights, particularly in light of the way our resource system is structured. Over the past week, I’ve come to the realization that properly making my cause requires tackling multiple issues- far more than a single article could hope to handle.

If you’ve been paying attention to community news over the past week, you’ve likely borne witness to the hullabaloo that accompanied the hotfix to Death Rune generation for Death Knights.

Ever since their introduction, I’ve found the implication of challenge modes in relation to class balance to be a fascinating topic.

Of all 11 classes in WoW, death knights have had the most dramatic evolution. From their beginnings as a supremely flexible "hero class" --with three hybrid trees -- to their current incarnation, DKs have ridden their pale horses a very long way.

What better way to begin what I hope is a fruitful and lengthy tenure writing about the master class death knights than by jumping straight into the nitty gritty of what the future seems to hold for us?