Runeforging Idea

[Kyruo 0]

Runeforging is indeed good, we have free enchants basicly, and best ones at that. But only 3 are actually being used by most death knights. Runeforging could use a little overhaul, to make them a lil bit more fun that before. Here are some examples:

Tank Rune: Increases Stamina by 4% and has a chance when struck in melee to instead be healed for the full amount of the attack.
Rune 2: Causes 8% of the damage done as magic damage in concordance with spec(Frost-frost, Unh-shadow, Blood-shadow) and has a chance when dealing damage to make the diseases erupt, dealing the remaining damage instantly without consuming them.

Rune 3: Increses magic damage done by 5%(stacking up to 4 times) and has a chance when struck by a magical attack to reflect 50% and grant a shield for 50% of its damage for 6 sec.

Rune 4: When striking in melee it has a chance to increase strength by 20% for 8 sec and make your next 3 attacks that consume runes to ignore armour and resistances.

These are just some ideas.

Edited October 15, 2014 by Kyruo

[MattGraham 0]

An intriguing concept, although I don't think more runes need added i'd rather see the unused ones just removed.
Unholy uses Rune of the Fallen Crusader and has done for as long as I can remember, it's an outright strength proc which synergises very well with the spec's naturally higher strength though Unholy Might; I don't see Unholy ever using/needing another rune unless blizz added a Shadow damage variant of Razorice.
I would like to see a more interesting alternative rune for Frost rather than also using Fallen Crusader, such as Rune 2 that you described.
As for Blood, Stoneskin Gargoyle is fine as a generic tank rune even if it is a little lackluster, while playing Blood I do prefer Fallen Crusader even if it is just for the damage.
In saying that, however, I would like to see a more specific tank rune such as what you mentioned.
As powerful as Fallen Crusader is it's not really tank focused.

Spellbreaking/shattering are interesting for specifically dealing with casters.
As Blood it's 4% less damage, in PvP the Silence reduction has it's use since DK's are still restricted to spell schools even though they're melee.
WTF is Lichbane though?  Aside from some semi-novelty against undead while leveling it just seems like a waste.

As fun as new runes would be, the reason I don't think they're needed is the same reason reforging was removed; I refer to people hearthing out to reforge.  Could you imagine the shenanigans in raids if DK's had to Death Gate out of raids to change runes or carry specific weapons just for another rune.
For example, I could see Rune 2 you described being ridiculous for AoE focused Unholy DK's, especially if that extra damage scales with mastery and the eruption pulses from each diseased target; Personally I'd love it, but I'm Unholy til I die (pun not intended but i'm rolling with it) The few the proud, the Unholy!
Runes offer a DK specific alternative weapon enchant, as much as I would like some more variety for the sake of experimenting and so on, it would probably become very awkward/inconvenient.
I would like it to be more set in stone which runes each spec used, to the point of it actually telling you in game in some way but that's gameplay convenience vs player choice, and is a fairly contraversial topic.

One change i'd like for the sake of convenience is being able to rune a weapon anywhere, without the use of a Runeforge but it would lose the feeling of authenticity - maybe they could add a Runeforge for DK's in their garrisons; I live in hope.
 

After saying all this, I could see some of these effects quite easily being baked into the existing runes.
Rune 4 armour ignoring easiily baked into Fallen Crusader and move the self heal into Stoneskin Gargoyle, essentially your idea of a tank rune.
Rune 3 shield proc could be a part of Spellbreaking/shattering and implimented as a stacking buff for X% of magic damage taken, procing a shield of 50% of the damage; I see it as a slightly weaker passive version of AMS.
Rune 2 could be baked into Razorice.
An intriguing idea that could breathe some life back into the somewhat neglected part of the class.

[demonardvark 556]

I honestly would just like a skill that summons a portable rune forge, saves me trips to the ebon hold. Don't get me wrong it doesn't take long to death gate there and back but I kinda got sick of going back, no real point. 

[Storm 426]

I don't mind going back to ebon hold now that death gate brings you back to where you came from. It used to really be a pain when you had to hearth back, especially if you forgot that your hearth was on CD when you went there.

 

I would like to see a couple minor changes.

- Stoneskin Gargoyle should provide 2% stam and a chance on hit to heal yourself (big enough heal to make this more worthwhile than the extra healing on fallen crusader, including extra AP from str proc affecting DS). This would make Stoneskin the primary reforge for Blood

 

- Fallen Crusader: chance to proc 15% str remains the same, chance on hit to multistrike, or cleave, or anything dps related instead of the heal. This became the primary runeforge used by every spec, which is boring. moving the heal over to stoneskin makes this less attractive to tanks

 

- Razorice: 4% weapon damage as frost remains the same, Chance on hit to inflict the target with frost vulnerability, increasing frost damage taken by 15% for 10 seconds. low enough proc chance to make it worthwhile to put this on both weapons for a DW frost, but high enough damage boost to make it the go to rune for DW frost.

 

- Something similar to razorice but for shadow damage, would be interesting for unholy, but that could cause balance issues. I honestly can't think of any good way to make it so that Fallen Crusader vs. XYZ would be a matter of choice and playstyle rather than a pure XYZ is 2% better type of choice.