One should not limit the Necromancer to his skills in the previous game. I think having bone related skills could really be built upon to make a viable comeback, but curses and minions would have to be changed a bit to really create distance between the Necromancer and Witch Doctor's similarities.
If the Necromancer were to have minions, they would have to be unique enough to separate him from the Witch Doctor's. Sure the Witch Doctor can summon a few minions, but the Necromancer would have to be able to summon armies of minions. Perhaps even static minions, similar to sentries from the Diablo II Assassin.
Perhaps the Necromancer would have to become a more physical class, getting closer to enemies than the Witch Doctor. Maybe new curses could make the Necromancer into a formidable melee class (scythes, anyone?). What I'm imagining, is an undead taskmaster, leading his army into the waves of demons, with himself on the frontline.
Sure, it might be a little controversial to change the "sit back and cast" class into a "lead your minions to victory" class, but it would have some interesting mechanics to it. Plus, everything in D3 that has changed from D2 has been pretty controversial - but seems to come out fine in the end. Why could this not be true for the D3 version of the Necromancer?
Those are exactly my thoughts, Acid. The difference here is bone spells and masses of underlings. The WD seems to be more designed like the Druid was: his few summons are mostly temporary or supplementary, distractions or "aids" to his attacks. (Although not necessarily buffs, although that may change with runes.)
I considered that Acid, the army of minions thing, but I think they're wanting to cut down on the amount of summons you can have even with the Witch Doctor, so in order to balance that out as a summoner necro, the summons would probably have to be incredibly weak, since they are balancing a lot more for PvE and even somewhat PvP.
Well, it could still be doable if enemy AI was better scripted. Fishymancers usually can't take much damage or deal it on their own, so "smart" enemies could just think, oh, a certain percentage of his skill points are in pets. Time to cast only on the player and not his pets. Time to jump on the player and not his pets.
I think better AI could be a more creative solution to that rather than completely disabling a (unique, at least insofar as the other game characters are concerned--a player that relies entirely on pets!) build.
And it wouldn't be very fun to have a weak army, I suppose. I guess that's where you'd have to consider your other skills in order to boost your army's performance. Maybe you have the option to curse enemies to lower attack power. Maybe there are options to curse your own army to boost their power. Maybe you have a bone spell that auto-summons a minion upon killing an enemy.
I guess the point I'm trying to get at, is if you want to be a strong summoner Necromancer in D3, you'll have to branch out more in your skills than just the Summoning skills to make your army efficient and useful. You simply can't just plug everything into the Summoning skill tree and carry on your way.
It would have to be such a way, that there isn't one single good summoning Necromancer build. I think there would have to be enough options within the skills to really make your summoner distinct and special in your own way - as well as being deadly. Traits and runes could really help that out, I think.
Just read Magistrate's post above, and if there were a "Like" button next to it, I'd click it. I think that is another thing that could be tweaked to change how the Necromancer plays out.
Personally, I think they're a bit too similar. From what we know, there are two planned expansions for Diablo. The classes are:
-Barb
-Monk
-Wizard
-Witch Doctor
-Demon Hunter
With the obvious Sorc, Barb and Amazon taken up by Wiz, Barb and DH, we're left to interpret Necromancer, Druid, Paladin, Assassin
Now, I'd say the Assassin is ruled out also by the Demon Hunter. Paladin perhaps by Monk as a secondary melee class. I think that Druid is probably the first class they will bring back. Shapeshifting seems to be absent from the game and it's a fairly unique mechanic that is easy to differentiate from the existing D3 classes. Necromancer, as people have said, has many similarities to the WD. Necro is defined by summoning, and it would have to revolve around minions almost entirely (meaning you couldnt do a Necro build WITHOUT summons).
If we assume Druid is the first additional class to be added, and assuming that my idea that each expansion will feature a new class, we have to look for gaps in class types. We'd have:
Not entirely sure what to make of it. Perhaps they realize having 7 classes is a bit hectic for a Diablo-style game in which roles of tanking, healing, and damage are all self-sufficiently implemented within each class. I think that Druid would fill in very nicely in terms of being able to spec for melee, ranged or support combat, somewhat related to what the Druid did in WoW. Maybe then we'll get the extra class in the first expansion and have purely content in the second. Who knows. But I would say that the Necromancer seems like a very unlikely candidate to make it into Diablo 3. I think we have to consider the WD its spiritual successor. I just see far too much overlap.
I theory it's do-able, as has been discussed above. Though at the same time so would be a half man half demon class, and Blizz already went through that idea, or a half man half angelic class, I just mean in theory any class idea sounds playable. We have to sit in the minds of the D3 team to look at a class in true light.
Fact is they have consciously left 2 voids open for 2 future classes, hell they likely already have a few sketches around of them. So it have to try an figure what is missing the the 5 classes we know of, that will more accurately let up see what classes they have in mind, opposed to just reflecting on Diabo 2, who was made by different people, and have only one returning class in D3.
Anyway, IF he were to return, I'd think he's be a morbid class, focusing on death, sacrifices, possession, and mind control. Seeing as the DH already has a certain level of evil in it, for the Necro to stand alone as is own class he would been to be a whole new level of controlled evil. Obviously old skills like skeleton summon would HAVE to come back, or the community would prob riot. He's have to be part summon, part buff/de-buff, part dps. Honestly I can't see it working out to the quality level that the team have held everything up to so far, so I really don't have much more idea to what I'd see the class as.
“We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about.” - Albert Einstein
They've said there will be expansions, not how many though. I'd honestly guess seeing as Blizz is now running the show instead of Blizz North there will be more than 2 expansions.
“We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about.” - Albert Einstein
Has been conformed that Necro will return as a NPC in D3 already. If the Necro were to return to D3 as a playable class it wouldn't mean anything different for the WD. There will be just two pet summoners and two kinds of races to choose from and then they might have some different skills but it would be close to the same.
I agree with Dehydrogenaza. I even made a similar comment In cyberDragons wd=necro topic. A mass summon and bone Necro would be a possible returning champion, I just don't think that it will happen. As for the Druid, He will likely only come back as a shape-shifting focused class and might not even be called a druid. Some other self poly-morphing character perhaps, if they want to include that mechanic.
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If that made sense to you, Bravo! I think I even confused myself...
The Necromancer is nothing like the witch doctor. The witch doctor uses its pets as support while the necromancer uses his bone army with a golem to slaughter many enemies at once but has problems dealing with bosses. They can't change anything on the necromancer to much or else its not the necromancer anymore. The key thing about Necromancer trees would be a curse tree/bone tree/Summoning tree. I rarely ever saw a single necromancer use the poison skill build at all when I was playing diablo 2 so they are different enough for the necromancer to make a return back to the game. The lore between the is also massively different and no where near being the same at all.
The reason blizzard is not to interested in bringing back the necromancer is because right now in diablo 2 the class is capable of going summons with some curses naked in hell mode and solo hell mode without the need of ever wearing equipment and if they did bring it to diablo 3 they would have to nerf so much of it that most necromancers would just end up going bone anyways with a golem.
The necromancer is probably my all time favorite class in diablo 2 and right now with the current out of look diablo 3 none of the current classes have sparked anything from me at all and with that I might just not get diablo 3 at all.
Fair enough, I remember now that my mention of two expansions is based on that chart that was never verified as authentic that floated around. However, I am of the opinion that it seems in line with many educated guesses regarding WoW timelines, SC expansion, and further on. If it's a fake, its a very good one. Even assuming it isn't real, we know that having spent THIS much time on the game, the engine, and working it out, they won't step away from it without getting more mileage out of their work. AT LEAST two expansions. Even one seems like they aren't using their own creation enough. And I'm guessing that we'll see a new class each expansion, possibly just one addition amongst the two if Blizzard decides 7 classes is too much to balance and figure out for D3's style.
Honestly, the Necromancer isn't really Morbid, or Evil. The Necromancer isn't Good, either. He's Neutrality. Remember that the Necromancer's task is to maintain balance. He is to ensure that neither side really gets an advantage. The best way to think of him, is a Warden of Balance, more than an undead-summoning ghoul. Trang-Oul is, after all, Sanctuary's World Dragon (with every planet having a World Dragon). Neither the High Heavens, nor the Burning Hells, know about World Dragons currently, either, or they'd both seek to corrupt them, hence why Trang-Oul hides himself. Necromancers are his agents in the material, mortal realm.
He's returning as a NPC last I heard. I doubt we'll see him as a summoner class. Witchdoctor already covers curses/plague(poison)/and summoning
Only thing left really would be bone? Assuming that's not taken also.
I thought it was confirmed in some article or said by Jay a long, long time ago (and no i don't have proof, its just from memory) that the Necromancer will return as an NPC in Diablo 3, but most likely return as a playable character in the expansion for Diablo 3 because he will have a major role in the story.
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"Not Even Death Can Save You From Me" ~ Diablo (II)
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Only thing left really would be bone? Assuming that's not taken also.
If the Necromancer were to have minions, they would have to be unique enough to separate him from the Witch Doctor's. Sure the Witch Doctor can summon a few minions, but the Necromancer would have to be able to summon armies of minions. Perhaps even static minions, similar to sentries from the Diablo II Assassin.
Perhaps the Necromancer would have to become a more physical class, getting closer to enemies than the Witch Doctor. Maybe new curses could make the Necromancer into a formidable melee class (scythes, anyone?). What I'm imagining, is an undead taskmaster, leading his army into the waves of demons, with himself on the frontline.
Sure, it might be a little controversial to change the "sit back and cast" class into a "lead your minions to victory" class, but it would have some interesting mechanics to it. Plus, everything in D3 that has changed from D2 has been pretty controversial - but seems to come out fine in the end. Why could this not be true for the D3 version of the Necromancer?
I think better AI could be a more creative solution to that rather than completely disabling a (unique, at least insofar as the other game characters are concerned--a player that relies entirely on pets!) build.
I guess the point I'm trying to get at, is if you want to be a strong summoner Necromancer in D3, you'll have to branch out more in your skills than just the Summoning skills to make your army efficient and useful. You simply can't just plug everything into the Summoning skill tree and carry on your way.
It would have to be such a way, that there isn't one single good summoning Necromancer build. I think there would have to be enough options within the skills to really make your summoner distinct and special in your own way - as well as being deadly. Traits and runes could really help that out, I think.
Just read Magistrate's post above, and if there were a "Like" button next to it, I'd click it. I think that is another thing that could be tweaked to change how the Necromancer plays out.
bone skill and blood skill will be great
-Barb
-Monk
-Wizard
-Witch Doctor
-Demon Hunter
With the obvious Sorc, Barb and Amazon taken up by Wiz, Barb and DH, we're left to interpret Necromancer, Druid, Paladin, Assassin
Now, I'd say the Assassin is ruled out also by the Demon Hunter. Paladin perhaps by Monk as a secondary melee class. I think that Druid is probably the first class they will bring back. Shapeshifting seems to be absent from the game and it's a fairly unique mechanic that is easy to differentiate from the existing D3 classes. Necromancer, as people have said, has many similarities to the WD. Necro is defined by summoning, and it would have to revolve around minions almost entirely (meaning you couldnt do a Necro build WITHOUT summons).
If we assume Druid is the first additional class to be added, and assuming that my idea that each expansion will feature a new class, we have to look for gaps in class types. We'd have:
2 Melee (Barb, Monk)
2 Ranged (DH/Wiz)
1 Summon/support (WD)
Not entirely sure what to make of it. Perhaps they realize having 7 classes is a bit hectic for a Diablo-style game in which roles of tanking, healing, and damage are all self-sufficiently implemented within each class. I think that Druid would fill in very nicely in terms of being able to spec for melee, ranged or support combat, somewhat related to what the Druid did in WoW. Maybe then we'll get the extra class in the first expansion and have purely content in the second. Who knows. But I would say that the Necromancer seems like a very unlikely candidate to make it into Diablo 3. I think we have to consider the WD its spiritual successor. I just see far too much overlap.
No I don't think so. Are you talking about the part in the Sin War?
Fact is they have consciously left 2 voids open for 2 future classes, hell they likely already have a few sketches around of them. So it have to try an figure what is missing the the 5 classes we know of, that will more accurately let up see what classes they have in mind, opposed to just reflecting on Diabo 2, who was made by different people, and have only one returning class in D3.
Anyway, IF he were to return, I'd think he's be a morbid class, focusing on death, sacrifices, possession, and mind control. Seeing as the DH already has a certain level of evil in it, for the Necro to stand alone as is own class he would been to be a whole new level of controlled evil. Obviously old skills like skeleton summon would HAVE to come back, or the community would prob riot. He's have to be part summon, part buff/de-buff, part dps. Honestly I can't see it working out to the quality level that the team have held everything up to so far, so I really don't have much more idea to what I'd see the class as.
I think he means the The Moon of the Spider.
Hopefully we'll get the Boner class.
Rise and rise again, until lambs become lions
The reason blizzard is not to interested in bringing back the necromancer is because right now in diablo 2 the class is capable of going summons with some curses naked in hell mode and solo hell mode without the need of ever wearing equipment and if they did bring it to diablo 3 they would have to nerf so much of it that most necromancers would just end up going bone anyways with a golem.
The necromancer is probably my all time favorite class in diablo 2 and right now with the current out of look diablo 3 none of the current classes have sparked anything from me at all and with that I might just not get diablo 3 at all.
I thought it was confirmed in some article or said by Jay a long, long time ago (and no i don't have proof, its just from memory) that the Necromancer will return as an NPC in Diablo 3, but most likely return as a playable character in the expansion for Diablo 3 because he will have a major role in the story.