Lich King: Death Knight class distinction shows "core WoW philosophy"
Speaking to VG247 at Games Convention, Wrath of the Lich King design boss Tom Chilton told us that new aspects to the play style of the expansion's Death Knight class have been born from the team's intrinsic methodology for the entire game.
"One of our core philosophies for World of Wacraft in general is class distinction," he said.
"We feel it's very important that each time you play a different character class it feels a little bit different because the class mechanics are a little bit different.
"Also, with Wrath of the Lich King and the Death Knight being a hero class, we want to make sure that it feels a little bit different right from the start, to make sure it feels like becoming of a level 55 character, for example. We don't want it to just feel like another level one character that just happens to be level 55."
J Allen Brack, the game's production director, added that meta-story elements had also influenced the way the Death Knight turned out.
"It's also the story aspect," he said. "Lich King has been a big part of the WarCraft universe for many years, and to have players start out aligned with the Lich King then work out how to become a free agent is a big part of the story."