Reacting to Deathknights

Do you feel threatened by deathknights? If you are currently playing a warrior in World of Warcraft, you probably do. When recently a reader suggested that Blizzard might surprise us with a sudden announcement of WotLK coming out in 4 weeks, unlikely as it is, my first thought was "and then what do I do with my warrior?". While in the long run the class roles will probably balance out, in the short run we can expect a rush of deathknights. And I'm simply worried of not getting any invites to groups any more, because wherever I apply I'm told "we don't need a warrior, we already have two deathknights".

The specific problem is that when WotLK comes out I will have at least two, if not three level 70 characters, and I don't know which of them to level first: warrior, priest, or mage (if mage gets to 70 by then). Now some people will reply to that with the common platitude of "play whatever is most fun", but that is just rephrasing my question. I don't know which character will be most fun, because that depends not only on myself, but also on the environment around me. I have most fun in groups, thus the character most likely to get into groups usually ends up being the most fun.

I was thinking of leveling up the warrior first, as long as there aren't any deathknights around yet. I mean, there certainly will be one crazy guy somewhere leveling up his existing level 70 to 80, do the deathknight unlock quest, and level up the new deathknight from 60 to 80, all in the first week after the WotLK release. But the large inflow of Deathknights, where half the server is playing one, is more likely to happen a few weeks later. Meanwhile I could level up my warrior from 70 to 80, and already visit all the new dungeons before two much competition for the tank spot is around.

Of course it is totally possible that deathknights aren't actually competition for the tank spot in a group, but more like fury warrior off-tanks. From the announcements it appears that deathknights should be better damage dealers than warriors. It would be really bad design if they were also better tanks, because then the whole warrior class would be obsolete. The question is whether deathknights are "good enough" tanks for groups to accept them on the tank spot. Or will there be groups of 3 deathknights shouting for a tank and a healer?

Leveling my holy priest up in groups shouldn't be a problem, there should always be a demand for healers. It is more a question of timing, first leveling the warrior while there aren't too many deathknights around, then leveling the priest when there are many of them, all looking for somebody to heal them. The mage I am not so attached to. He is obviously much easier to solo than a protection warrior or holy priest. But I haven't got much group experience with him yet, as he is only level 47 and there aren't exactly a lot of groups below level 60. And of course I haven't invested thousands of hours into that character, as I have into the two others.

What do you think will the deathknight do to the class balance in World of Warcraft? Will there suddenly be an abundance of possible tanks? Or will deathknights just be one of many classes vying for the "random" slot in a group after a tank and healer has been found?