So I've taken a bit of an interest in the ol' Heroes of Warcraft, and have decided to dust off the ol' TCG game designing skill to take a crack at one of the fandom's favorite bits of speculation: New classes.
This is not a prediction by any means, this is just an interpretation of what I think would be one particular possibility for where the HS design team might try and take these classes, if they were to ever add them.
So far, of the three unrepresented classes, I have only codified one. No points for guessing that I'm working in chronological order:
Death Knight
"Frostmourne hungers."
The Death Knight was the first class added to WoW, as well as the first Hero Class. Blizzard made a point when introducing the class that this did not mean it was stronger, merely functionally different from the base classes, and required prerequisites to obtain. Whether they would choose to only make the DK or the other Hero Class, the Demon Hunter, available to players after fulfilling a certain condition (say, raising each base class to a certain level), I do not know, but I would expect that they would make the new classes available to all players once the update was live.
Arthas was chosen as the hero because he is the most iconic of the Death Knights by far, with Darion Mograine being the next most important as the leader of the Ebon Blade (aka, the rogue DK faction that players are a part of)
Hero Power:
Based on the Rune resource system that Death Knights use in WoW, Runic Power adds a random 1 mana Rune spell to your hand. The three options are as follows:
There are three types of runes that death Knights use, Blood Runes, Frost Runes, and Unholy Runes. These rune types are also the namesake of the three specializations of the class. There's also a Death Rune you can get somehow, but I couldn't find out how or what it's for. So the power only generates the three. Blood Runes grant armor because the associated specialization is for tanks.
Death Knights would have a number of Freeze cards, but not quite as many as the Mage, and mostly as a stall tactic though, where a number of Mage cards grant bonuses if a minion is frozen.
Finally, the death part. Death Knights would have a theme throughout their cards that care about Deathrattle, grant Deathrattle abilities, or care if a minion has died. Some spells, like this one, would give enemy minions a Deathrattle effect that benefits you. In many cases, this produces Ghoul tokens.
Like the Shaman, Runic Power would randomly give you a Rune you don't already have in your hand, but unlike it, you could have more than just the Three runes in hand. If you have a copy of each, the power will randomly give you a second copy, but no more than six in your hand.
Like all classes, Death Knights have an improved Hero Power that is granted by Justicar Trueheart's Battlecry.
And like the Shaman, if offers you your choice of Rune. It still caps you at six in hand, however.
Next, each class has ten free "basic" cards they earn for leveling up.
So this is all really out of my wheelhouse, and not something I'll ever be too interested in. Still, I like the seeming attention to detail you're putting into these.
Okay, non-joking now. I like the idea with runes, but i question how they're balanced right now? Blood rune seems just about right, frost rune feels a bit underpowered and unholy rune feels a bit ovwerpowr
First, the five basics that the game starts you off with:
A cycling freeze card. Barely more respectable than Frost Shock, but a useful tool nonetheless.
A sacrificial draw spell. Blow up a minion, get cards in exchange. Not card advantage, but it might be more useful than that Ghoul token hanging around. It also helps you snag some Deathrattle triggers. Mind if I roll need?
The logical extension of Unholy Rune. Cast this before you beat up a couple taunts or something, and you've generated adequate board presence.
A basic weapon. I envision Death Knights being fairly Midrange-y so having a removal tool like this in their basic kit would be nice.
"Feeling chilly?"
A 4/5 Water Elemental. Anything it can't smash gets stalled. I imagine this would be pretty darn useful in midrange. Bonus for stopping Warrior from smashing your dudes on their turn.
Now, for the cards you unlock by leveling up.
I can't really judge how much more or less useful this is than Icy Touch. I will say that the permanent debuff effect is nice, though. Something Death Knight might make use of on other cards.
"Your soul calls to me..."
The bony boy. This is a card I see being played with a certain degree of regularity in budget decks or deathrattle decks. On top of this, you might notice that her has the as-yet nonexistent "Undead" tribe. Since undead are an intrinsic part of the Death Knight Lore, I imagine that the Undead type would be retroactively added to a number of cards. The tribe would have a death theme, much as pirates have a weapon theme. This is supported by a number of existingminionsportrayingundeadcharacters.
"You look like ghoul friend material~"
A very potent removal tool. Gives late game reach or provides a tool for repeatedly handling threats in the late game. Bonus for combos with Frost Rune and Unholy Rune. (I'm sure her drop quote would be adorably sinister too.)
The logical removal spell for the class. This trigger would likely be a recurring theme in the class, possibly worth a keyword of its own, but I didn't add one for clarity.
Mind control for your tribe. Because who wouldn't wanna steal their enemy's Kel'Thuzad?
Okay, non-joking now. I like the idea with runes, but i question how they're balanced right now? Blood rune seems just about right, frost rune feels a bit underpowered and unholy rune feels a bit ovwerpowr
They're all based hero powers of another class, slightly one-upped to compensate for the mana cost: Blood Rune = Warrior's Armor Up, Frost Rune = Mage's Fireblast, and Unholy Rune = Paladin's Reinforce.
I think Unholy rune is justifiable since you have to be able to corrupt an enemy minion to do it, and then kill it. It's not hard, but it's also not immediate board presence for what is ultimately a 3 mana 2/1. (Albeit possibly spread out over a few turns.)
Frost Rune on the other hand I feel is justifiable, as Frost Shock would suck less if it didn't have to take up space in your 30. I also think that if it were to deal say, 2 damage and freeze, that that would be too much. It's the Searing Totem of the bunch, more or less.
Fair. I saw unholy rune as '3 mana to turn a normal trade that you would probsbly be doing anyways into a free 2/1', but I'll agree that the need for trading in the first place does offset it
I like the idea of freeze cards that give debuffs. Jane and I were talking about Freeze and my eventual thought was 'if freeze came with debuffs, it would be, just, so much better'
I'd also add a 6-mana creature that has 'battlecry: All frozen creatures get their attack turned to 1', but that might be too freeze tribal for Death knight. Would work with freeze mage though
Gooood. I was joking, but I do actually care a great deal about the voice lines when I think of a hero. A third of the reason that I don't like playing Rogue is because unless she's threatening, Valeera always sounds like she's preparing the boudoir instead of getting ready to shank a bro.
Honestly, I could do with more lady heroes, but my (admittedly cursory) research only turned up Sylvanas, who is a card, and Tyrande, who is at least an alt hero.
Later is now!! This is a small sample of the sort of themes I expect in DK.
Undead Tribal
"Kill you!"
*Grinding noise*
*Design courtesy of Jane
This is likely the most aggressive Death Knight gets. Undead tribal would take advantage of dying minions through a swath of deathrattle effects and effects that trigger on enemy minions dying. This allows the deck to trade its minions more efficiently than other decks, by virtue of its high deathrattle density, and the additional resources to be gained from playing for trades when necessary.
Runes are useful renewable resources, so it's only natural that there should be cards to play around with them. Rune decks probably end up being on the midrange-y side of things due to how much mana it costs to use them regularly, but I imagine that the incremental advantages the theoretical archetype might provide its players to be substantial enough to work in that format.
Death is Power
"Victory in Death!!"
This theme is not so much a deck archetype as a recurring theme in the class. (Also reflected in a specific fashion in Undead tribal). Cards leaving play is a source of strength for Death Knights. As a whole, most conditional effects in Death Knight relate to dead minions. Even their weapons have deathrattle effects, though few as potent as the legendary Frostmourne.
Comments
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
So far, of the three unrepresented classes, I have only codified one. No points for guessing that I'm working in chronological order:
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Frost Rune on the other hand I feel is justifiable, as Frost Shock would suck less if it didn't have to take up space in your 30. I also think that if it were to deal say, 2 damage and freeze, that that would be too much. It's the Searing Totem of the bunch, more or less.
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
I like the idea of freeze cards that give debuffs. Jane and I were talking about Freeze and my eventual thought was 'if freeze came with debuffs, it would be, just, so much better'
I'd also add a 6-mana creature that has 'battlecry: All frozen creatures get their attack turned to 1', but that might be too freeze tribal for Death knight. Would work with freeze mage though
As for how Arthas would say "Happy Feast of Winter Veil." I imagine it would be very reluctant, preceded by an exaggerated sigh.
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
More species Alts would be cool too.