If the last class is an archer type, that's probably what the concept art resembles. However, these are definitely NOT the actual concepts for the final class. Blizzard kept a very tight lid on the artwork for the previous ones, so nothing will change with this one.
Demon Hunters are already an intricate part of the Warcraft series, so that might effect Blizzard's decision of introducing them into the Diablo universe. The classes in the Diablo games seem to follow a more prosaic or real world line of thought. Monks, wizards, and barbarians are more down to earth than Demon Hunters or Death Knights. Catch my drift?
It's very dangerous from a business standpoint for Blizzard to continue the practice of delaying games or creating these long waits between releases. I was just speaking with a buddy of mine today who was a big Diablo fan back in the day about the newly announced Monk class, and his reaction was basically "the game's not coming out, so who the hell cares?" At first, I was a bit taken aback, but he's right.
Waiting this long (let alone another 2 or 3 years) since the game was first announced last year is just ridiculous. The game should have come out within six months of that announcement, same goes for Starcraft 2. If Blizzard's not careful, they will miss the hype train, and the game could fail, not because it's bad, but because people just lose interest after a while. This phenomenon is a lot more common than people think. Remember the movie "Snakes on a Plane"? They had a brilliant marketing strategy and created tons of hype online, but because the movie was pushed back, by the time it came out no one gave a damn about it. The same thing could happen to Blizzad if they're not careful. All it would take is one slip-up of WoW (perhaps a worldwide version of what happened in China recently), and they'd be finished. Tons of game companies thought invincible have fallen recently, so it could very well happen.
Don't get wrong, I want Diablo 3 to be a finished game with few bugs, but does it need to be perfectly polished and balanced on release? No. I think Blizzard has management problems in that something is preventing them from allocating the proper resources where they're most needed. Just put the game out there with all the story elements and features in place, and worry about number crunching, class balancing, graphical enhancements, etc, for the patches.
I don't know how WoW is an abomination. It was successful. If it's not your thing then that's cool... but that game made it possible for Blizzard to do what it is now. Without that source of income they wouldn't be able to fund D3, SC2, a new MMO and another new game on top of that.
Exactly.
Why do all of you hate on WoW when 90% of that game is derived from Diablo 2? You obviously must hate D2. Actually you guys probably resent WoW because you don't have jobs and would need your mommy to pay for the subscription. Am I right?
...All their servers will be shutting down on 1/31/09. The game is officially over, dead and gone. It's one of the biggest failures in recent gaming history.
Now, the reason I'm mentioning this is because of all the flack that company (Flagship Studios) gave us over the years for believing there would eventually be a true Diablo 3. They tried very hard to convince everyone that HG:L essentiallly was Diablo 3 and that the whole Diablo fan base should bow down before Flagship Studios. Sadly it worked for a time. Anyone who checked out these forums prior to Diablo 3 officially being announced can attest to the back and forth arguments between HG:L viral marketers/rabid fanboys and people that wanted a true Diablo game. Now that the real Diablo 3 is coming and HG:L and Flagship Studios have gone under...well, let's just say that karma's a bitch. Not to sound harsh for celebrating their failure, but they were the reason why any serious attempt to discuss Diablo 3 on the internet (before it was unveiled) was just about impossible because everyone thought HG:L = Diablo 3.
[/list]Not sure how the pirate thing applies, since it would seemingly fit in with a rogue. Maybe not by the thesaurus, but the basic idea is about the same. Someone who steals/tricks/uses quick or stealthy weapons/fights for profit. I would think that rogue and thief are pretty much the same thing, by the logic of most rpgs.
"Pirate" turned up different words in the thesaurus than "rogue" or "thief" (which likewise have varying synonyms), hence why I listed the results.
List tags are malformed.
Too bad we won't find out what the next class is until sometime next year. Then we'll probably have to wait until 2010 to find out about the final class.
Way before Diablo III was announced, I put the word "sorcerer" in the online thesaurus to come up with class ideas and and found the terms "witch doctor" and "wizard" as synonyms. Now that the Wizard has been announced, I think it's a fair bet that the rest of the classes are in the thesaurus as well (if you know where to look). It seems the thesaurus maybe the best place to look for the names of the next two classes. The following are some of the words I put in there (based on some archetypes yet to be used and some of the existing Diablo classes and WoW classes), and the synonyms that go alongside them:
I wish I had saved some of the old rumors and what not onto my computer, because there were some doozies. I think the two most common themes that popped up were whistle blowers (in other words, people that claimed to work for Blizzard and were spilling the beans or had inside connections) or claims that the game would never be made or was years and years away.
Personally, the latter was the most annoying because it kept popping up over and over again (that, and the constant "HELLGATE LUNDON IZ DIABo0 3 LULZ NOOB"). Did anyone take a look at the official WoW forums during the splash page countdowns just before D3 was released? So many of those idiots just couldn't wrap their minds around the idea of there being a new Diablo game. Practically all of them thought it was going to be WotLK related or SC2 related. I wonder why? Any company like Blizzard with deep pockets and vast resources can work on major projects in total secrecy. Diablo 3 was a no brainer. It was more a question of "when" rather than "if", but I was in the minority with that sort of thinking.
You can see history getting ready to repeat itself yet again. No one seems to believe that Blizzard is working on a new MMO. If you go to the WoW forums right now you will see huge debates about what new MMO is going to eclipse WoW, yet none of them bring up this new MMO being made by Blizzard that will undoubtably do it.
Here's a potential clue into the mage archetype: Go to 15:32 in the D3 gameplay trailer and notice the frost nova type effect used by that minotaur shaman thing. That might end up being one of (or similar to one of) the skills for a mage-like class.
I don't know if anyone else noticed, but Jay Wilson just said in one of his last interviews that the next class to be announced (probably at Blizzcon) will be very similar to one of the classes in Diablo II. Since the barbarian is back and the witch doctor is already somewhat similar to the necromancer, that leaves the other five...
Samurai is too much of a culturally exclusive term to be a Diablo 3 class. What I mean by this is all the Diablo classes so far transcend culture in the sense that all cultures recognize assassins, sorcerers, barbarians, etc, but a samurai specifically refers to something from feudal Japan. Blizzard would not do this. It would be like making a Navy Seal class or something.
Those class ideas seem way too hybridized. There are still quite a few "pure" archetypes that seem likely to be exploited by the remaining three classes, like a more traditional spell caster, ranged weapon user, etc.
I hope they reveal all three remaining classes at this upcoming Blizzcon. It would be very annoying if they just revealed one then made us wait another year to hear about the others.
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Murderface Cody, I agree, warden sounds really good for the last class.
Waiting this long (let alone another 2 or 3 years) since the game was first announced last year is just ridiculous. The game should have come out within six months of that announcement, same goes for Starcraft 2. If Blizzard's not careful, they will miss the hype train, and the game could fail, not because it's bad, but because people just lose interest after a while. This phenomenon is a lot more common than people think. Remember the movie "Snakes on a Plane"? They had a brilliant marketing strategy and created tons of hype online, but because the movie was pushed back, by the time it came out no one gave a damn about it. The same thing could happen to Blizzad if they're not careful. All it would take is one slip-up of WoW (perhaps a worldwide version of what happened in China recently), and they'd be finished. Tons of game companies thought invincible have fallen recently, so it could very well happen.
Don't get wrong, I want Diablo 3 to be a finished game with few bugs, but does it need to be perfectly polished and balanced on release? No. I think Blizzard has management problems in that something is preventing them from allocating the proper resources where they're most needed. Just put the game out there with all the story elements and features in place, and worry about number crunching, class balancing, graphical enhancements, etc, for the patches.
Exactly.
Why do all of you hate on WoW when 90% of that game is derived from Diablo 2? You obviously must hate D2. Actually you guys probably resent WoW because you don't have jobs and would need your mommy to pay for the subscription. Am I right?
Now, the reason I'm mentioning this is because of all the flack that company (Flagship Studios) gave us over the years for believing there would eventually be a true Diablo 3. They tried very hard to convince everyone that HG:L essentiallly was Diablo 3 and that the whole Diablo fan base should bow down before Flagship Studios. Sadly it worked for a time. Anyone who checked out these forums prior to Diablo 3 officially being announced can attest to the back and forth arguments between HG:L viral marketers/rabid fanboys and people that wanted a true Diablo game. Now that the real Diablo 3 is coming and HG:L and Flagship Studios have gone under...well, let's just say that karma's a bitch. Not to sound harsh for celebrating their failure, but they were the reason why any serious attempt to discuss Diablo 3 on the internet (before it was unveiled) was just about impossible because everyone thought HG:L = Diablo 3.
"Pirate" turned up different words in the thesaurus than "rogue" or "thief" (which likewise have varying synonyms), hence why I listed the results.
List tags are malformed.
- Ranger - policeman, policewoman, rover, soldier, trooper, wanderer, warden
I betchya dollars to donuts that the next two classes are in there somewhere.Personally, the latter was the most annoying because it kept popping up over and over again (that, and the constant "HELLGATE LUNDON IZ DIABo0 3 LULZ NOOB"). Did anyone take a look at the official WoW forums during the splash page countdowns just before D3 was released? So many of those idiots just couldn't wrap their minds around the idea of there being a new Diablo game. Practically all of them thought it was going to be WotLK related or SC2 related. I wonder why? Any company like Blizzard with deep pockets and vast resources can work on major projects in total secrecy. Diablo 3 was a no brainer. It was more a question of "when" rather than "if", but I was in the minority with that sort of thinking.
You can see history getting ready to repeat itself yet again. No one seems to believe that Blizzard is working on a new MMO. If you go to the WoW forums right now you will see huge debates about what new MMO is going to eclipse WoW, yet none of them bring up this new MMO being made by Blizzard that will undoubtably do it.
Those class ideas seem way too hybridized. There are still quite a few "pure" archetypes that seem likely to be exploited by the remaining three classes, like a more traditional spell caster, ranged weapon user, etc.