I've been doing a bunch of research in to the Death Knight class. They seem like a fun and flexible class. Part Warrior, part Pally and part Warlock.

I've even saved a name for him: Takifugu

I've mostly been playing with talent calculators and seeing what kind of starting builds I could get and what kind of 80 builds I could try. I'll probably go with a hybrid tanking build (24/11/36) and try tanking out for the first time. It would be nice to have a toon that can fill a tank slot if/when we have more than enough dps.

I've also been getting ready for Inscription by herbing on Kurma, my shaman alt. I got a good stockpile of all levels of herbs. Hopefully I can get a good start on leveling the skill on my Death Knight once he gets to 68. The only drawback is Kurma is 64 and unless I level him to 68 he will not be able to get Northend herbs for Takifugu. So may have to level him to 68 or just buy herbs with my extra money.

I'll probably start leveling Varah to 80 with Nicole on Idunna. I may either wait for off times to level the Death Knight or just wait until Varah is 80 and then start working on Takifugu to 80. I may also work on Mocoloco since he is my main gather for Varah's crafting skills. But Moco will probably be third in line to get to 80 as I think Varah and Takifugu will be more useful.

I reserved Kreath. Other suggestions will be accepted.

I haven't figured out who I'm leveling first. Depends on the healer/tank/DPS availablity I suppose when WotLK comes out.

I've got a bunch of alts I don't play, so one of them will be replaced by a DK. Essie, Tizzie, Rizzie, or Vizzie. All are already gnomes except for Essie, so she will probably be the one to get switched to death-gnight. :)

Since I level at the speed of... well, paint drying/molasses/old lady on the freeway (take your pick), I'm starting out with the classes that are easy and quick on the solo-grind. Tukka, Elana, or Esse will probably be first (if Esse's even 70 by then). The mistake I made last time was choosing the more difficult character first (Esa), so I ended up taking forever... partially because I hate soloing with her anyway.

I might do Esa second or third though, because she's great utility for raiding--spec tank/spec healer/spec tank/spec healer... :)

A DK alt would be last, and not necessarily with the goal of getting to 80, as much as learning a bit about the class, and having another evil gnome to play around with.

Edit: ooh, i forgot to mention, I was also thinking of making a MALE gnome DK. Yay, character-cross-dressing! I'm thinking maybe... Gness? :D

I reserved Democles for my deathknight :)

I was up late tonight so I thought I type up a review of DK talents in terms of tanking to help me figure out builds.

These scores are based on what I can tell from the ability and what I've read on some forums. They may not be 100% true since I've not really tanked before and I'm not in Beta to test them.

10 point system. 1 being not worth it to a tank and 10 being the best talents for a tank.

Blood
Tier 1
Butchery 1
Doesn't seem like much use to a tank other than a little more runic power.

Subversion 6
More crit is nice and having threat reduction while not tanking is good too.

Blade Barrier 9
More parry while waiting for runes to come back is nice.

Tier 2
Bladed Armor 3
Since a tank will have high armor more AP is nice.

Bloody Strikes 5
Nice damage boost.

Two-Handed Weapon Specialization 6
Since most DKs will be DPSing and tanking with a 2 Hander this will be good filler if you want to go deeper Blood.

Tier 3
Rune Tap 6
Seems like an okay oh crap button if you need a quick heal and your healer is either busy or can't heal you.

Dark Conviction 6
A nice crit boost to all melee strikes.

Death Rune Mastery 4
Not sure how much Death Runes will be really needed for tanking so I put this in the middle of usefulness. Seems mostly useful if you are a deep blood tank.

TIer 4
Improved Rune Tap 4
The reduced 30 second cool-down reduction seems better than the 4.5% more healing.

Spell Deflection 8
Since DKs will have a very high parry rating, this could be a really useful talent against caster mobs.

Vendetta 3
More of a leveling ability. 6% healed and only after you kill a target. Though could be a little useful when AOEing trash mobs.

Tier 5
Scent of Blood 4
Another Runic Power boosting ability. From what I can tell. RP generation will be pretty good on its own so this might be a talent for tanks to skip.

Veteran of the Third War 8
More Strength and Stamina is always good for tanks especially DK tanks.

Mark of Blood 6
A decent healer helper especially if the mob does AOE.

Tier 6
Bloody Vengeance 6
More damage is always good. Good for deep Blood Tanks.

Abomination's Might 5
Kind of a DKs version of Enhancement Shaman's Shamanistic Rage. But they won't stack so if you have an Enhancement Shaman around, it may not be that useful.

Tier 7
Bloodworms 3
From what I've read, these used to heal you more and proc more. So it may not be the best points for a deep Blood tank.

Hysteria 6
For one point, you can make yourself or other melee do 20% more DPS for 30 seconds every 2 minutes. The only drawback is you take damage.

Blood Aura 5
2% passive healing to the raid is nice, but not great.

Tier 8
Sudden Doom 4
Improves the crit chance and reduces the cost of Death Coil. But probably not the best points to spend for a Blood Tank.

Vampiric Blood 10
Each tree has a 36 point tanking talent. Blood's seems very nice. You get healed 50% more for 20 seconds every minute. A nice reactive ability for when you take in sudden damage.

Tier 9
Will of the Necropolis 8
More Expertise which is a really good tanking stat. Plus your armor increases when you drop below 35%.

Heart Strike 6
An extra strike is good. Plus is supposed to be slightly better than Blood Strike.

Might of Morgraine 6
More crit strike damage is nice.

Tier 10
Blood Gorge 6
Good for a tank, but more for a DPS Blood spec since your health will dip below 75% a bunch.

Tier 11
Dancing Rune Weapon 6
More dps but most Deep Blood tanks will not go this far into Blood since there are better talents in the other trees for tanking.

Frost
Tier 1
Improved Icy Touch 7
More IT damage is good because it is a DK's regular Frost damage rotation spell. Plus it slows a mobs attacks more.

Glacier Rot 6
More Frost Damage is good. But mostly useful if you go deeper Frost.

Toughness 9
More armor that scales.

Tier 2
Icy Reach 3
Not much use for a tank who will be doing damage close other than maybe for pulling with IT.

Black Ice 6
More spell damage. More useful for Frost and Unholy specs since they have more magic talents/abilities.

Nerves of Cold Steel 2
From what I've read, Dual Wielding is not the best for tanking.

Tier 3
Icy Talons 7
More slowing effects are good.

Lichborne 8
A good anti-fear and oh crap button.

Annihilation 6
More damage.

Tier 5
Runic Power Mastery 4
More RP. Probably most useful for deep Frost specs since they will have more RP spells.

Killing Machine 5
More crits for frost spell. Again most useful for deep Frost.

Tier 5
Frigid Deadplate 7
A decent avoidance boost against melee mobs.

Chill of the Grave 5
Same as other RP boosting abilities in terms of Frost tanking.

Deathchill 5
Auto crit for frost spells. Nice but not completely needed for a tank.

Tier 6
Imp Icy Talons 5
Frost spec version of Shaman's new WF totem but does not stack so if you have a Enh Shaman may not be needed.

Merciless Combat 6
More damage but situational. Mostly useful for deep Frost.

Rime 6
Another damage boost for deep Frost.

Chiblians 3
Seems mostly useful for slowing fleeing mobs.

Tier 7
Howling Blast 7
An additional AOE damage spell will help for AOE pulls.

Frost Aura 3
Only a little more spell resist. Not bad but not the greatest.

Endless Winter 5
Makes your Mind Freeze (silence) cost no RP.

Tier 8
Blood of the North 5
Another Death Rune talent.

Unbreakable Armor 9
Frost's 36 tanking talent. Seems pretty good. But seems a little below Blood and Unholy's due to only boosting armor and parry for 20 seconds which is mostly only useful against melee mobs. I'm not saying it's bad. It just seems that the other two tree's 36 pointers are a little more useful for tanks. That may change since this is only beta.

Tier 9
Acclimation 7
A nice spell damage avoidance boost.

Frost Strike 6
An RP strike, but other than extra damage doesn't lend more to tanking other than more damage.

Guile of Gorefiend 5
More crit damage.

Tier 10
Tundra Stalker 5
More damage.

Tier 11 6
Could be a useful for tanking certain situations. But since it is a 51 pointer, it would leave you only 20 points for the other trees so it may be more useful to skip this for some tanks.

Unholy
Tier 1
Vicious Strikes 6
More damage for unholy strikes.

Morbidity 7
Since DnD is one of a DK's main high threat spells, reducing the cool down could be very useful.

Anticipation 8
More dodge is nice.

Tier 2
Epidemic 5
A DK's two main diseases last for about 12 seconds. If a standard rotation of spells is used, that is enough for you to reapply the diseases again. But if you in a situation calls for you to do something else you might want your diseases to last longer.

Virulence 4
More hit on spells is nice, but unless mobs in Wrath dispel themselves, you might not have to worry about them being cured.

Unholy Command 8
Nice to have a shorter cd on your aggro snap spells.

Ravenous Dead 7
More Strength for you is more damage and more parry.

Tier 4
Outbreak 6
A damage boost for both single and AOE targets.

Necrosis 6
Added damage to normal attacks.

Corpse Explosion 5
A nice AOE spell but situational.

On Pale Horse 7
Nice stun and fear reduction.

Blood Caked Blade 5
Another proc based damage booster.

Shadow of Death 7
Good Strength and Stamina boost. Plus if you die you maybe able to hold the mob as a ghoul to help kill the mob if it is really low.

Tier 5
Summon Gargoyle 4
Maybe be good for some more AOE damage.

Impurity 5
Seems better than it is. At least from what I've read. Only adds about 4.5% more damage to spells.

Dirge 4
More RP. But unless you are doing a lot of RP spells, you could probably pass this by.

Tier 6
Magic Suppression 8
Boosts your survivability against caster mobs.

Reaping 5
Another Death Rune talent.

Master of Ghouls 7
This is so far the only way a DK can control their Ghoul. Unless you have this talent, it'll just follow and attack whatever is in range. So if you want to tank and maybe have the ghoul off tank a certain mob, you'll want this talent.

Tier 7
Desecration 5
Could be a nice damage boost but from what I can tell the slow will only come in handy with running mobs.

Anti-Magic Zone 7
Could be very useful for a tank to cast around himself or to cast around the melee group to mitigate spell damage.

Unholy Aura 5
Of the three tree Auras, this might be the most useful since some fights need people to move out of the way. And getting there faster might help.

Tier 8
Night of the Dead 5
A reduction of your minion CDs. But you'll probably only be PSing very 10 seconds or so so it will take a while to get the CD low.

Crypt Fever 6
For a Deep Unholy Tank a nice damage booster.

Bone Shield 10
In my opinion, the best 36 pointer tanking talent and maybe the best tanking talent of the DK trees. You get 40% damage reduction every minute that can last up to 5 minutes. And you can use it as a passive ability by casting it on yourself before a fight. And during a fight, you can use it reactively when it is down and you need more damage mitigation. I wonder if you can have Earth Shield on you as well? Now that would be a nice combo if it does stack.

Tier 9
Wandering Plague 6
A good AOE booster.

Ebon Plaguebringer 6
If you don't have a Lock in your group, a nice caster boost.

Scourge Strike 6
Kind of a imp Plague Strike for now. But there has been word that it might be changed.

Tier 10
Rage of Rivendare 6
Nice damage boost for deep Unholy tanks, but might skip it for other tree talents.

Tier 11
Unholy Blight 6
Nice for AOE tanking. But as with all the 51 pointers, you might need/want to skip it to put points in other trees.

With the upcoming patch (no confirmed date yet) introducing the Wrath talents to live. I thought I'd see how I spec Varah and Moco at 70.

57/0/4
Basically going almost full Elemental to try out all the new bells and whistles.

0/5/56
Trying out most of the new ret stuff.

Last time they released a pre-patch, BC came out around 2 months later, didn't it? Yikes! that's really soon. So I thought I'd make a post about prepping for the expansion.

- Off-loading hoarded items. Some people did it well in advance for BC, but I waited too long last time, and ended up with way too many things that I vendored.

- Hoarding items that can level up your skills. Looks like I'll need to save up a stash of Netherweave for my characters to level up First Aid. Moco has stashed herbs to level up Inscriptions, which gave me the idea to gather up a bunch of herbs to level Alchemy (Super Rejuvs!)

- Complete a bunch of quests ahead of time, and turn them in after the cap on level 70 has been removed (go go Strath!)

- Kros leveled to 61 or so by hanging out in Winterspring and EPL. With the huge lag anticipated at the beginning areas, SMV and Netherstorm aren't looking half bad to gain an initial level or two (on alts that haven't done all the quests in those areas, anyway).

I found this guide to Inscription.

It lists the mats needed to get to 300.

http://www.wotlkwiki.info/index.php/Guide/Inscription

I'm pretty close to having the herbs needed for the levels listed. I'm at the low end on the Silvery Pigment level so I may have to get a few more stacks.

http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?pet=45#comments

ZOMG!!

/headsplode

...WANT!!!!! MUST HAVE!

holy crap, the second pass through our talents just hit beta...

Reckoning procs on blocks now, slimmed down talent trees which is seriously nice, shield specialization/redoubt rolled into a single talent and moved to tier 8...so much awesome

the only bad so far is they shaved 4% stam off Combat Expertise

i know my tanking spec now :)

http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?paladin=502300000000000000000000000050000000000000000000000000050053500313251533312321