World Of Warcraft: Wrath Of The Lich King Classic’s pre-patch resurrects Death Knights today

World Of Warcraft Classic returns to the Wrath Of The Lich King expansion in September, but there’s a pre-patch coming today that resurrects the game’s first hero class a little early. The Death Knights aren’t the only thing arriving in WOW Classic before the expansion though, as there’s a fresh profession and a zombie infestation to consider too. Have a watch of some of the senior dev team discussing Death Knights in the video below.

Death Knights are former heroes reborn into the undead service of WOW’s lich king, Arthas Menethil. They were introduced with the Wrath Of The Lich King expansion all the way back in 2008 as the MMORPG’s first hero class. That means they start at a higher level than other classes, and get their own special intro experience.

You can only have one Death Knight per realm, but your first one is free of restrictions unless it’s created in one of the fresh start realms that arrive along with the pre-patch today. If you want to create another Death Knight then you’ll need a Level 55 character who’s already in that realm before you can bust out another undead minion of the Lich King. You can read the full deets about how Wrath Of the Lich King Classic’s Death Knights are different from their modern cousins here.

Among the other updates arriving in today’s pre-patch is the option to become a scribe thanks to the inscription profession. You’ll be able to sign up for scribing by finding an Inscription trainer in any capital city, in Honor Hold, or Thrallmar in Outland. Scribes can learn to craft magic items and wards such as scrolls, tomes, Darkmoon cards that can be combined into decks, skill-enhancing glyphs, and the powerful master inscriptions. Glyphs work differently in Wrath Of The Lich King Classic than in modern WOW, so you can read up on exactly how here.

A zombie plague arrives in WOW Classic from September 6th, when mysterious disease-ridden containers will start cropping up at the game’s dodgier ports. Touch them and you’ll be infected with a variant of the Scourge plague, which can be cleansed by an Argent Healer. Don’t heal and your character becomes a Plague Zombie, able to infect other players but not use any of your existing abilities. From September 13th you’ll have to contend with Scourge invasions into major cities too, battling rare undead at hotspots around the map. You can read all about the zombie and scourge threats here.

Activision Blizzard are still having to deal with legal challenges and reports alleging an environment of discrimination and harassment for workers. Microsoft are also acquiring the company for $69 billion (£57.5 billion). Earlier this year, Blizzard Entertainment head Mike Ybarra expressed commitment to fostering change, but Actvision Blizzard have still seen staff walkouts over ongoing welfare concerns.

Wrath Of The Lich King Classic proper is out on September 26th, but you can get a head start now the pre-patch is live. You can check out the full roadmap of what’s coming with the expansion over the next month and a bit here.