Lorewise Dark Iron dwarves and Zanadalari trolls should be able to be Death Knights. We were assisting the Thorium Brotherhood and the Zandalari in Vanilla. Granted they were in the Searing Gorge and Stranglethorn respectively.
Of all the Allied Races these two make the most sense to be able to be Death Knights. It could easily be said that some of the Thorium Brotherhood came to help out when Arthas attacked, or were guarding a trade caravan that ran afoul of the Scourge. Also the Zandalari could have been in the Plaguelands to observe, etc. It wouldn’t be that much of a stretch given the Zandalari were active in Zul’Drak during Wrath.
Zandalari, Dark Iron, Kul Tirans and maybe Highmountain Tauren should be able to be Death Knights but aren’t for heritage armor reasons.
They talked about changing how heritage armor is earned in the future and if they do change it to a questline like they have for the core races instead of leveling up then they may open it up for them.
And the Zandalari and Dark Irons are going to stay not being DKs. There’s no reason whatsoever to make them DKs. It also interferes with current game systems and mechanics. No new class combos that aren’t definitely called for! “I could come up with a way to explain them” is not sufficient! You could come up with some way or other to explain ANY combo you want.
They’re not coming up with explanations- they exist. Dark Irons and Zandalari weren’t hidden from the world and existed in enough numbers that it makes sense for the Lich King to have snagged a couple.
One of the new Island Expedition NPCs is a Dark Iron Death Knight- and she is definitely a death knight, as she remarks about collecting skulls for her armor even before she died.
I think they just need to update the DK intro entirely, so all current and future races can be one. We were running roughshod over the broken isles and beyond in our campaign, raising fallen soldiers of the Horde and Alliance as well as dragons. It stands to reason we wouldn’t have been choosey with raising fallen Nightborne, Highmountain tauren, or even (or especially) the Lightforged and Void elves. Extend that to any Mag’har from Outland or Draenor in recent days, in addition to oldies such as the Zandalari and Dark Irons and just keep the lid off for future races as well. Death Knights should be like warriors I think, in that every race should have the potential to be one.
We do know that the Ebon Blade took bodies of fallen soldiers from the Broken Shore to raise them, so a new Death Knight intro involving the new Lich King and the current Ebon Blade may be prudent.
Allied race Death Knights can simply skip the intro in the way every other allied race class skips levels 1-19. And in doing this, you can also divorce them from the Arthas story. A Mag’har, Void Elf, Nightborne, Zandalari, or Kul Tiran Death Knight doesn’t need to have been raised by Arthas, dead now, and used as a sacrifice to lure out Tirion Fordring, dead now, for a botched attempt to slay him.
The reason allied races aren’t Death Knights is probably tied more to wanting to avoid making additional cosmetic options, while also to stop them from appearing as simple upgrades of existing races. As an example, Zandalari can not be Warlocks or Death Knights. If you want your troll to be a Warlock of Death Knight, you need to consider the Darkspear trolls.
Ligjtforged and void elves should be fine as well for dk. Hear me out: first and foremost, bolvar isn’t stupid. Holy infused draenei would be the best possible solution to a truly United group of death knights. As most of legion campaign revolves around getting dks on same “team” since lore wise, we’ve been doing our own things since wotlks end. Which is why the possible rps for dks are so numerous could literally go any direction with them on a rp server, even 4th wall breaking- deadpool style - Seriously tho, if you look hard at the lore, lightbound draenei have been around a minute.
What’s lightbound draenei have to do with ligjtforged draenei? Well, got starters, they are the same thing. Second, if I can put a draenei as a dk, on a rp server, i don’t see the problem with ligjtforged dk. Draenei in general hate the undead. Viewing them as basically a byproduct of evil.
As far as void elves and rest of allied races go, there is significant lore induced premise for them being able to be Any class besides dh. However dh limitations to elves is kinda racist, but should be expandable to the void elves as well cause racial lol.
Now, a bit of lore : Years after the destruction of [Draenor], the immensely powerful [Lich King]created a new breed of death knights: malevolent, rune-wielding warriors of the Scourge.
So…y’all keep forgetting the length and breadth of time travel that is encountered in this game. They don’t even care about continuity as most all time travel creates juxtaposition. And as the entirety of this game is encapsulated in time travel and the ensuing juxtaposition, limitations on classes’s races is obtusively insane.
To be fair, if Zandalari were going to get Demon Hunter, the Allied Race on the Alliance most able to also be Demon Hunters would probably be the Void Elves. Then again they could also easily be Death Knights.
I find Void Elf Demon Hunters unlikely and Zandalari trolls aren’t demoniacs even if in lorewise they’re fairly close. IMO they’re closer to old school demonology anyhow.
I agree, I was mostly just suggesting what seemed to be the easier route to go.
Considering Demon Hunters have a powerful drive to fight the Burning Legion and kill demons, the power of the Void, which demons fear, could have been a fairly strong draw for any Blood Elven Demon Hunters who heard of Umbric and his group. It would not have been a stretch to imagine them seeking him out to learn of the Void.
Mind you, lorewise that’d either work out very well, or very poorly, for said Demon Hunters. They wrestle with the demons they’ve bound within as is, and having to wrestle with the Whispers would be even worse, unless the Void gives them such a greater extent of control over those demons trapped within that the struggle with the demons is essentially nullified.
In all seriousness, I’d love an updated Death Knight intro, but even if they didn’t story wise I think it’d be as simple to add the Allied Races that make sense in as dropping a couple new NPCs like they did for Goblins and Worgen. If they ever figure out a different way to give out the heritage gear (or just opt to deny it for death knights) I hope they add the option eventually.