Im starting a Death knight and i wanted to complete all questlines lore wise, so my question is, after the DK starting area… does Death knights went straight to Northrened or did they went to Outlands at some point first before heading to Northrened? im a lil confused cause Arthas became LK in ICC i beleive but all DK starts at starting area in Plaguelands? so if we started at plaguelands does DK also did some questlines at the plaguelands and then Outlands following by going to Northrened? need some experienced advide and lessons here please.
the questlines are multiple time bubbles each of a separate expansion, and it can be hard to parse.
So, going to Outland is largely a gameplay thing. That story was completely and totally finished before the Death Knights as we know them from the Ebon Blade were playable, and had nothing but a few scattered bandit-level threats remaining.
The DKs start in Plaguelands, but it’s an older plaguelands than the questline you do in game. The only Plaguelands you have available to quest in, is set in the time period of Cataclysm. Outland quests are set in the time period of The Burning Crusade.
Arthas became Lich King in Warcraft 3, LONG before your Death Knight was a thing.
Death Knights start as the front line of the Scourge, assaulting an enemy stronghold deep in Scourge territory.
The timeline is basically. Warcraft 3: Scourge starts existing, attacks Lordaeron. Arthas goes crazy, goes to Northrend, is a Death Knight. He goes back to Lordaeron, and destroys it. Leads the charge against a bunch of other nations. Goes back to Northrend. Becomes Lich King.
World of Warcraft is starts. Arthas is still Lich King. The Scourge control a lot of the northern regions of Eastern Kingdoms, and nearly all of Northrend. They don’t do much. This is Classic/Vanilla WoW. The quests are about taking down Scourge leaders, giving the enemies of the Scourge more control.
Burning Crusade happens (all the stuff on outland). The Scourge doesn’t do anything until the end. Pre-patch for Wrath of the Lich King happens, and a second zombie plague goes everywhere.
Wrath of the Lich King happens. New Death Knights, who aren’t bound to a single weapon forever, are created. The ones we play. You’re in Plaguelands, still Scourge-dominated, post-vanilla quests so a bunch of leaders died. You destroy the Scarlet Crusade presence, you attack Light’s Hope. The Argent Dawn and Knights of the Ebon Blade become the Argent Crusade and attack Northrend together. Northrend stuff happens.
Cataclysm happens after Arthas dies. Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor get remade for a new leveling experience. Plaguelands is now set in the time period of the Cataclysm and ahead in time from Northrend quests.
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Thanks for that very informative reply! i just wanna make it work in my head, i wanna play DK main and always my OCD kicks in as all my toons have unfinished areas in quest… i wanna start a new DK and focus on finishing his questlines lore wise first then moving on… so once i finish starting area ill head out to Northrened! thanks again friend! im new on Moonguard looking for good community guild also.