Deathknight Info

[Bastet]

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King will add a new option to the game's class roster with the introduction of the first hero class, the necromantic death knight. During the Second and Third Wars, the people of Azeroth learned to fear these merciless, unholy opponents and their terrifying powers. Leading legions of the undead into battle during the Third War, the Lich King's death knights proved both their strength and their cunning on several occasions, making them an invaluable part of the Scourge army.

In Wrath of the Lich King, you will be able to pick up a runeblade, don some plate armor, and wreak serious havoc using both melee abilities and offensive magic. To give you an early glimpse at the design philosophy behind the new class, we sat down with the World of Warcraft design team to talk about the role the death knight will play in the expansion's story as well as in its gameplay, and to get their thoughts about goals and ideas for the new class.

A short intervieuw with more info can be found here.
And a bit of the lore here.
 
Also, i recon we might need a new class forum at some point

[Bastet]

Cheers TL (at least i think )

[Bastet]

Death Knights
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• Changing runes won't be as prohibitive as talent speccing or anything like that, but at the same time, it won't be so fluid so that you're doing it between fights. We're going to hit some sweet spot between those two. (Source)
  
  
• Death Knights aren't restricted to swords, they can also uses maces and axes and dual-wield their 1-hand version. Obviously, they can't use a shield. (Source)
  
  
• Using a 2-hand weapon or dual-wielding won't change anything to the amount of runes (6) you can use. (Source)
  
  
• Death Knights will start off in a floating necropolis in the Eastern Plaguelands, much like Naxxramas in its current location. They will then go on to level in a dedicated area East of Tyr's Hand and the Noxious Glade, where they will learn more about the background of Death Knights. (Source)
  
  
• A few more DK abilities

               Blood Presence - DPS. Increases DPS and heals the DK slightly when attacked. (Source)
                Blood Strike - Does an amount of damage based on how many diseases are on the target. (Source)
                Blade Strike - Applies disease to the target in addition to doing damage. (Source)
                Mind Freeze - Interrupts spell casting (Source)

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Death Coil -- Depletes all Runic Power, dealing 600 damage to a non-Undead target, or healing 900 damage on a friendly target. (Curse.com)
Death Grip -- This is the Death Knight's "taunt" ability. It also pulls the target to the Death Knight, forcing them to attack the Death Knight for a short amount of time. Yes, I said pulls the target; Blizzard is going to allow players to move mobs in the expansion both with Death Grip, and other knockback/pull abilities. This works on players too, so PvP balance ahoy! (Curse.com)
Chains of Ice -- Roots the target in place. When the spell fades, it places a snare on the target that reduces in potency as the duration runs out. (Curse.com)
Death Pact -- Sacrifices the raised ghouls to heal the Death Knight. (Curse.com)
Death and Decay -- Targeted, AoE Damage-over-time which pulses similar to the Paladin spell Consecration. Anyone affected by Death and Decay has a chance to be feared. (Curse.com)
Frost Presence -- Increases Armor by 45% and allows the Death Knight to generate 25% more threat. Only one presence can be active at any time. (Curse.com)
Unholy Presence -- Increases Attack Speed and Movement speed by 15%. Only one presence can be active at any time. This was described by Tom Chilton as the "PvP" presence. (Curse.com)
Anti-magic Shield -- Reduces the damage of the next magical spell cast on the Death Knight by 75%. It also converts the damage reduced into Runic Power. (Curse.com)
Strangulate -- Depletes all Runic Power, dealing minor damage and silencing the target for up to 5 seconds. (Curse.com)
Summon Deathcharger -- Allows the Death Knight to summon a Deathcharger mount. This mount is acquired through quests, similar to the Paladin and Warlock land mounts.  (Curse.com)
Raise Dead -- Raises a nearby corpse to fight for the Death Knight for 2 minutes. If used on a player corpse, the player has the option to play as the ghoul for the duration -- gaining access to the ghoul's abilities. (Curse.com)
       The ghoul has the ability to do the following:
              Leap to the target
              Rend for decent damage-over-time
              Stun target, and of course more

From www.mmo-champion.com who have been gathering it for a while, looks good.

[Lucian]

Can't wait - this will be the first thing I'm gonna do once the exp hits.  Get a knight and get it levelled!

[Jim]

Can't wait - this will be the first thing I'm gonna do once the exp hits.  Get a knight and get it levelled!

you do know there is a quest line to unlock playing a death knight

[Sandrion]

you do know there is a quest line to unlock playing a death knight

Nope, there are no such plans for that anymore. The only requirement is that you have a level 55+ char on the realm to start one.

[sheepy]

i think ill have a peek at the new land b4 starting one, maybe leave it for a week or so for the starting area to quite down a bit

[Jim]

Nope, there are no such plans for that anymore. The only requirement is that you have a level 55+ char on the realm to start one.

Oh ok then must of changed it from when i last read it.

i think ill have a peek at the new land b4 starting one, maybe leave it for a week or so for the starting area to quite down a bit

Agreed.... Happened on TBC when outlands was opened - same with Draenei and Bloodelf starts