Patch 3.3 is coming and with it some rebalancing of Unholy, but little else for Death Knights. Meanwhile mages are getting single-stack Scorch and permanent Water Elemental Glyph, among others. It’s increasingly tough for me, from a powergamer point of view, to stick with the DK rather than going back to my mage.

For the past few months it’s been the same, many other classes getting buff after buff while Death Knights get nerfed or ignored. Now, this ain’t a QQ post – most of the DK nerfs to this day have been deserved and the class has needed some finetuning to get it where it is now. And yet one would have expected a lot of angry rerolls by now. I’m sure some have. But DK’s continue to be the most powerful class in WoW. Why is this, considering it’s no longer the most overpowered class in the game (not by a long shot). In fact, DK’s are posting very poor numbers in Arena PVP, and in PVE they no longer make the best tanks or top DPS.

Three things. Aesthetic and mechanic, and ease of entry. Most people who rolled their first toons, would pick a paladin. And invariably go Ret. The allure of a plate clad spellslinging 2Haqnder wielding warrior is probably the first thing on any male’s mind when they roll a toon. At least, any powergamer. Pallies seem to have it all – tough, strong, can heal. Death Knights are simply the ‘dark’ paladin of the game and share much of the same aesthetic, except all spooky and evil like. The flip side, mechanic, means that some of the abilities that a DK has, regardless of whether they’re OP or not, are incredibly fun. Most anyone who rolled a DK alt for the first time and Death Gripped something likely immediately fell in love with it. Being a  plate wearer and having a pet also seems like it’s too good to be true. These mechanics of seeming-overpoweredness attract people to the class. Lastly, ease of entry. When picking an alt, being able to pick one 54 levels ahead of any other class is a huge draw card. It’s incredibly hard not to click on that DK icon on the start new character screen.

Death Knights will continute to be the dominant class in Wrath of the Lich King, but with Cataclysm all that may change.