I know that this subject had been beaten to death, reanimated and then beaten again, but garsh darn it, this is how I ended up on the forums. I played 2H Frost since I became a DK in Cata. I loved the heavy Obliterates and how powerful that made me feel. I know that the sub-spec needed heavy band-aid fixes to stay relevant but that was part of the design flaw that Frost is still suffering from today.
The day Legion Artifacts were announced, I was excited to be getting Frostmourne, or at least a reforged version of it. To be honest, I think the blade was too skinny. However, I was saddened to find out that Frost would be Dual-wield only for the rest of the expansion, which I was okay with because I thought, “It’s just for one expansion. Let the fantasy roll.” This is where we get to the part of our story where the hero is enraged by BFA.
2H Frost did not return in BFA, thus my hatred towards Frost increased. Now you maybe thinking, “Just play Unholy, or Arms Warrior.” The thing is, why should I have to compromise for something that I once loved? Yes, I do play Unholy, but that is because Frost is garbage to play because of the GCD change and lack of any real depth. However, I am not a fan of pets, which was a good enough reason back in the day for Blizzard to keep 2H Frost in Cata.
- We want to provide a 2-handed style for Frost since we recognize that pets are an acquired taste. We think we have the design space to do that now that we don’t need to support Frost tanking. We’re definitely committed to making Frost work as a dual-wield tree though – that isn’t going away.
Now what could we do to make both dual-wield and two-handed Frost work, without breaking the spec? I have brainstormed hundreds of ideas. However, 9.0 is a year and a half away. The quick solution for BFA would be to remove the restriction off of Obliterate and Frost Strike and create a passive that allows Frost to apply two runes to their weapon. This would allow the interchange of weapons to be easy on the player and the developers. The only problem I can see is the white numbers and attack speed. Both are just number values that can be altered.
Why even ask for this? Like myself, there are many players that see Arthas as a Frost Death Knight. Yes, hero characters such as Anduin, Jaina, Arthas and so forth break the rules when it comes to class design. However, Arthas was a Death Knight, our abilities mirror his, and so too should his weapon choices. Two-Handed weapons should be the staple for a DK. It is the easiest thing for new players to understand and makes changing between specs flawless. And to nit pick a little, Obliterate doesn’t really do its job anymore. It tickles people.
For the future.
I would like to see Frost Death Knight wield a 2H weapon but have the option to conjure a different assortment of weapons to fight their foes. Think Sub-Zero from MK11. Also, Obliterate needs to start doing its job and deal large amounts of damage. Maybe change it too;
- Obliterate: A brutal attack that deals a total of [(60% of Attack power) + (60% of Weapon damage)] Physical damage. While Remorseless Winter is active, Obliterate ignores the targets armor.
TL;DR: 2H Frost was a beloved concept and should be allowed to breath once more. Easiest fix is removing the restriction from Obliterate and Frost Strike. Adding a passive that allowed the use of two runes on a single weapon would be a nice addition.
Additional Request: Allowing the ability to mog Shadowmourne would be appreciated.