Death knight voices.

[Dragonbeard]

In the Scarlet chain, you're magically changed to look, feel, and sound like a Scarlet. Even your mount changes!

"You will don the Scarlet courier's clothes and with the help of some dark magic, take on the form of the courier." Source

The Black Knight was a spy, and had false stories for both the Horde and Alliance about his former life. He was reclusive and stayed sitting on his own away from other camps most of the time. He didn't speak to others often, as we was busy slaughtering them in the tournament. Also, they knew he was a Death Knight, just not a minion of the Lich King. He wore DK armor, had an undead mount, and pretty much glowed with the power of a Death Knight.

[Aphetoros]

This is something important I have to say. Stop. Playing. Death Knights. To play. Death Knights.

It's getting obnoxious, because there are, I won't name names, death knights that lol around pretending to be not death knights.

I ran into a death knight that didn't smell like a DK, her runes were hidden, her mask suppressed her voice, the glow was hidden by her race's natural glow and there is nothing about her, personalitywise, that even stems from her being a DK. It doesn't affect her at all. And there are many death knights like this. You can't be a death knight and be a normal person. You can try, but it's sure as hell going to be hard, if not impossible. And even then, you fought, died, and watched yourself kill friends, family, women, and children. Imagine, right now, if you had no control of yourself and were given a weapon and made, with no chance of resistance, to murder your family.

It just annoys me to see death knights running around being all lolhappy and making love. I know, I sound like a lore nazi. But honestly, all death knights have that in common, and yet I know of like three active death knights that even show the effects of their DKness.

[CharAznable]

I love how DK players hide behind flimsy straw-man arguments to justify things about their characters.

DK's have the reverberating voice. Being able to turn it off in the game options doesn't make it optional for the lore, as stated, its a game mechanic that can help reduce lag. Given the above arguments made, and the fact that every 3rd Gen DK has this trait, it'd be silly to think otherwise unless you are using special snowflake syndrome.

[Dragonbeard]

This is something important I have to say. Stop. Playing. Death Knights. To play. Death Knights.

It's getting obnoxious, because there are, I won't name names, death knights that lol around pretending to be not death knights.

I ran into a death knight that didn't smell like a DK, her runes were hidden, her mask suppressed her voice, the glow was hidden by her race's natural glow and there is nothing about her, personalitywise, that even stems from her being a DK. It doesn't affect her at all. And there are many death knights like this. You can't be a death knight and be a normal person. You can try, but it's sure as hell going to be hard, if not impossible. And even then, you fought, died, and watched yourself kill friends, family, women, and children. Imagine, right now, if you had no control of yourself and were given a weapon and made, with no chance of resistance, to murder your family.

It just annoys me to see death knights running around being all lolhappy and making love. I know, I sound like a lore nazi. But honestly, all death knights have that in common, and yet I know of like three active death knights that even show the effects of their DKness.

This, and I don't think you're being a lore Nazi. We're pointing out glaring inconsistencies that make no sense. I'm not going to RP a Shaman that wields a sword, wears plate armor, and has the name: Human McHumanface. That would be silly.

[CharAznable]

Furthermore. When it comes to player DKs, you're playing a former shock troop of the lich king who had specifically designed these soldiers to be undead (unliving for you people clinging to whatever interchangeable term you want) warriors in plate that strike fear in to their enemy. That's why they have a uniform look and feel. Giving them a uniform voice also further makes them unnatural. Your character when he became a 3rd Gen DK, wasn't a special snowflake. You got the same treatment as everyone else, and would have the voice that everyone else got.

[flammos200]

This is something important I have to say. Stop. Playing. Death Knights. To play. Death Knights.

It's getting obnoxious, because there are, I won't name names, death knights that lol around pretending to be not death knights.

I ran into a death knight that didn't smell like a DK, her runes were hidden, her mask suppressed her voice, the glow was hidden by her race's natural glow and there is nothing about her, personalitywise, that even stems from her being a DK. It doesn't affect her at all. And there are many death knights like this. You can't be a death knight and be a normal person. You can try, but it's sure as hell going to be hard, if not impossible. And even then, you fought, died, and watched yourself kill friends, family, women, and children. Imagine, right now, if you had no control of yourself and were given a weapon and made, with no chance of resistance, to murder your family.

Pretty much this. Admittedly, DKs don't rot so they don't have a smell - unless they've recently killed someone, and while you can suppress your voice via enchanted masks or what have you, the eyes are a dead giveaway. Dead. Keheheheh...

Anyhow, I don't get -why- people play Death Knights like that, and not, say, Forsaken? Hurmm?

They have almost the same features. Echoy voice, Ghostlight-glowing eyes, and they've been undead for longer - enough to likely have slaughtered a buncha' scarlets in Tirisfal and so on.

Sure, you -can- attempt to do infiltration jobs on a Forsaken or Death Knight. -But-. It's not only going to be costly, but it'll also take paraphernalia that will make things rather obvious...

Goggles to hide one's eyes, and something enchanted to remove the reverb in your voice. The thing is, beneath all that, you're still not a normal person.

I hate it when people play Death Knights as if they were normal people. The very point of playing them is that they are -NOT- like everyone else. It's not just a class, anymore than a Paladin is just a class - they both have very Lore-strict behaviors that people seem to omit, or otherwise ignore outright.

Face it. No matter how much makeup you put on to cover your paleness, or thickness of the goggles you wear, or strength of the enchant that masks your reverberating, deathly voice, you're still a machine of death, a walking cavalcade of slaughter. And that means that you're not like everyone else.

Also, I agree with Bounty on how the reverb rises even higher with intense emotions. I've always played it as taking on a metallic tinge as they go all hateful and killy. Kinda' like grating steel into your voice.

[FlyingSquirrel]

I ran into a death knight that didn't smell like a DK, her runes were hidden, her mask suppressed her voice, the glow was hidden by her race's natural glow and there is nothing about her, personalitywise, that even stems from her being a DK. It doesn't affect her at all.

$20 says she's living.

Regardless, I think we're slightly derailing the thread.

[Dragonbeard]

W...Why did you spend all of that time arguing with us about the voice, then?

That applies in the same manner as everything else you just mentioned.

Sorry, having an aneurysm here.

[Hexproof]

Right. So. It's taking all of my self control not to just run from this thread like the plague, but I'm going to give my two cents for the simple reason that people seem to be picking and choosing their lore, which really is fine, except when you all tell others how to play their characters. (I've made this argument before, but I'll make it again.)

On the topic of poorly played Death Knights, yes, they could be done better, but that was never what this topic was about. It was about Death Knight voices, nothing else. Please, please, please don't bring the flamewar over Death Knights into it.

I've always considered it something that could be suppressed, but not exactly controlled, the "double voice". It's rather hard for a Death Knight to do, and when their will was utterly bound to the Scourge (for whatever reason and to whatever extremity) it was nigh impossible to do unless one was ordered to do it (like impersonating a Scarlet Courier, cardboard trees aside).

That said, I'd say it relates to their current mental state, and that anything other than a controlled calm or an extreme amount of willpower and concentration would mean that it would show, and it's not something that can be "turned on or off at will". If anything, focusing on your voice would make you vulnerable, and it'd be downright impractical to split your concentration like that during a fight, and near impossible if one were feeling a powerful enough emotion (likely anger).

[flammos200]

Hmm? Because I like playing the devil's advocate. I like arguing in favor of a lot of implausible things. Just because I argue in favor of something doesn't mean I have to do it myself.

Anyhow, if you'll notice, I never said -I- don't play out the voice reverberation. I only said what the causes of other people not playing it out much could be.

I -like- my Death Knights as twisted engines of destruction, corruption and the devouring of life, thank-you-very-much. It allows for very refreshing circumstances.

And really, nothing excuses a Death Knight behaving like a completely normal person all the time. Every single one will snap into a murderous hunger as the Endless Hunger dawns on them. It's very interesting to explore the concept of a creature whose immortality was thrust upon them - in exchange for an eternity of killing other people in order to live. Essentially condemning them to eternity as a murderer.
Somewhat poetic, dun'cha'think?

Back on topic, I do wonder where Death Knight voices originate from. If it's a runic ability, it could likely be suppressed - at the cost of awareness in other fields, as Dragonmad said - but never truly blotted out. Anyone know any lore as to where it comes from?

[Dragonbeard]

(like impersonating a Scarlet Courier, cardboard trees aside).

Was done through magic. See my post above. Read the quest text. Watch the animation as you poof into a Scarlet Courier. Watch your horse go from being a glowy horse of death to being a silly brown horse. It's done through magic, not through will.

Why are we defending this point at all? It would honestly be like me defending my Paladin's eyes glowing blue 24/7 because I can wear a helmet that lets me do so. (Funny story. In WC2, all Paladins had glowing blue eyes and echoing voices. They don't anymore as of WC3, but it was pretty funny to see that happen to DKs)

Don't give up your gift of what makes you so cool as a class. You have glowing blue eyes and a creepy echoing voice. If you want to be a war-torn, confused, living person, that does not have the signature signs of what makes them a Death Knight, besides death, play a warrior.

[Jonoth]

I'd think that one cause of the DK voice would be purely anatomical. While they may not rot like their Forsaken "cousins", there may be something about the way their body cells cease to age (and perhaps reproduce), combined with the fact that their vocal cords may be more rigid due to the frost they are capable of producing, that may cause the sound they produce. Heck, their frost may even affect the air around them, and since sound travels through air, the changes in the air around them may also be responsible for the sound changes.

[CharAznable]

It doesn't expressly say, but looking at other semi-sentient to sentient undead withing the Scourge (liches, other DK's etc, etc.) they all seem to have the reverb on their voice. Most notable would be Kel'Thuzad.

It might just be a process of them coming back to life and the unnatural magics that are keeping them going.

[flammos200]

..Actually, the Paladin eyeglow info was lost between the Second War and the late Third War - around the time of Hyjal, when the first Templars emerged. Templars do have glowing eyes. Not necessarily cobalt-blue. Instead, all sorts of metallic colors. Silver, gold, bronze, etc. In addition, one could argue that being suffused with large amounts of Light at a time - such as during a Templar's Divine Ascension ability, wherein they become an angelic being, could likely change one's voice.

Lastly, I quite enjoy the motif of a caught-between-life-and-death being which the Death Knight class displays. It is quite literally vampirism, in that you feed off the life(or rather, the death and suffering) of others to survive eternally.

Whether that means vocalizing yourself in an echoing manner, or suppressing it via an enchantment, to better blend in - or gain acceptance - with your favored prey: the living.

Or maybe you've been so traumatized by your time under the Scourge that you'd want nothing to remind you of it? Thus, you'd wear goggles, you'd try suppressing your voice, and doing anything to appear normal - while deep inside, the Hunger churns at you - a painful reminder of the monster that you really are.

Some Death Knights are trying to reintegrate into society and forget about their old ways. I imagine they'd pay top coin to have something to help them appear a little more normal. Even if it included enchanted items.

Like I always say: A lot of things are possible, if you have a reason for them.

[Dragonbeard]

..Actually, the Paladin eyeglow info was lost between the Second War and the late Third War - around the time of Hyjal, when the first Templars emerged. Templars do have glowing eyes. Not necessarily cobalt-blue. Instead, all sorts of metallic colors. Silver, gold, bronze, etc. In addition, one could argue that being suffused with large amounts of Light at a time - such as during a Templar's Divine Ascension, wherein they become an angelic being, could likely change one's voice.

Source? My point had nothing to do with Templars and was only a little tidbit about how in WC2, the animations had glowing eyes. Uther and the rest of his generation no longer had glowing eyes in WC3. It was just a difference in the way they chose to animate them, I assume. As far as I know it was not lore-based. If you have a separate source that explains why Paladins eyes no longer glow, please PM it to me.

"In Warcraft II Paladins were upgraded from knights which required a castle and a church. After the knights were upgraded to paladins their eyes began to glow and their voices started to echo with the power of the Holy Light." source

Anyways, waaay off track there.

Without making extreme inferences, there is no lore supporting the changing of a Death Knights voice. If someone can find some lore that supports the changing of a voice, then I'd gladly accept it.

However, we cannot simply make things up just because we want to have characters that are special. Your character is special because you are the one behind the wheel. Your actions make you special. Little aesthetic tidbits like eye-color, hair-color, the shape of your ears, or whatever, have no real effect on who your character is. To be so bold as to make up an enchanted item that can change your voice is not only silly, but potentially powergaming.

After all of the evidence piled against the notion that Death Knights can choose whether or not they have an echoing voice, and after the negative response from players who do not believe it is character-enhancing, it should be pretty obvious that it goes against the rules.