I've been playing the Wizard, and he feels really cool. He feels like an old time power hungry Wizard, to say the least. He fits the world, the theme, and he looks cool.
I played the Witch Doctor. I was immediately greeted with a very familiar Earthly accent that doesn't bold very fantastical. In fact, it sounds very stereotypical.
So, that's the point of this post. I don't like the Witch Doctor's theme much, it actually negatively affects my ability to play the character. I wanted to play a Necromancer like character but I can't bring myself to pick the Witch Doctor back up after about 40 minutes of play.
I feel like they went overboard with the whole Tribal African thing. It doesn't feel like a Hero from another world, it feels more like a stereotype from ours. They should've given him a different accent or something.
I'm also not sure why he stands the way he stands... Embarrassingly enough, I tried to stand like he does for about 5 seconds, and I tried to run the way he does... Doesn't work. No one with a spine would do that. I understand in World of Warcraft the Trolls are Jamaican and whatnot, and the Night Elves use Japanese architecture, etc. But the Witch Doctor just feels... Very very very specific.
And before someone tries to say this is "African" culture, I'd be sure you watch what you say.
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"When men are most sure and arrogant, they are commonly the most mistaken, and have then given views to passion, without that proper deliberation and suspense which can alone secure them from the grossest absurdities"
Nah, WD's cool. It's normal for people to like different classes, just don't play it if u don't feel to. I am personally probably won't play Wizard and DemonHunter. Their gameplay is so boring... And overall they just don't pull my strings.
I actually find it very positive that Blizzard make Witch Doctor special in this way, and not just make 5 big and strong character types. I don't understand that you find WD stereotypical, because i see it just the opposit way. I think they have something unique and interresting, where i find Barbarian way more stereotypical, but as pointed out above, it's really just subjective what you like.
Personally I have enjoyed the Demon Hunter, using traps/bolas/rapid fire etc. The acrobatic dodges and combinations over sheer brute force is an entertaining change of pace. I'm sure this comparison has been made before, but I feel like they had one specific model for their Demon Hunter character--not that it's bad, just amusing.
The Witch Doctor feels more Africa at first, but when you consider Kurast and the Flayer Jungle the class does fit. I haven't played it yet...personally, though, I wish the Necromancer was making an appearance again, especially when it's importance was so emphasised in the Sin War trilogy by Richard Knaak.
Embarrassingly enough, I tried to stand like he does for about 5 seconds, and I tried to run the way he does... Doesn't work. No one with a spine would do that.
This made me laugh. I never paid attention to how strange they run until I pictured someone doing it.
i was dead set on rolling a WD as 1st char for live
now its a toss up between wizard and WD
i havent played beta but seen vids, im afraid that WDs will rely on their hounds too much, i know you can play without them if you want a challenge
Using a WD will undoubtedly make the game easier, as a summonancer was in D2.
This is why i'm going to play with a Witch Doctar. At many cases, the conjurer/necromancer is a very overpowerd build in many games. I already made my Witch Doctor build using the build generator. But i can't upload it as a sing
Anyway, i'm going play with it on my first playtrought:
im afraid that WDs will rely on their hounds too much
That being said, does anyone know if the WD can still use abilities like locus swarm on his dogs to imbue them with a special ability?
As far as I know this feature was dropped.
EDIT:
Quote from name="Blizzcon 2009 open Q&A" »
Q: What happened to imbuing the witch doctor’s zombie dogs with fire and poison? A: One of the struggles we had with the Witch Doctor, Zombie dog in particular, was figuring out why would I choose to plague my dog or light it on fire, what are the situations that I would choose one verses the other. Is the gameplay supposed to be that the player is trying to keep the fire on the dog all the time but it keeps falling off or is that for some situations I want a fire dog and for others a plague dog? There were also issues where sometimes players would see this loud fiery dog on their screen and not really know how it got there because they didn’t realise it was their skill that did it. However, when we toned down the fire effect it made it hard to know if it was on fire or not so we had a bunch of difficulties with it, mostly in terms of communicating it to the player and having it be a meaningful gameplay decision. We still want to keep the idea of customising your dog in different ways and one of the ways we will probably look at doing that is through either additional skills or the rune system which we were unable to show at Blizzcon this year. That is a whole other level of customisation on skills that isn’t even being shown right now.
Well you have to take into account that this game is fictional from the setting all the way to the inhabitants and the events that occur in the game. It gives developers a lot of wiggle-room when coming up with archtypes for their characters, and Blizzard is doing a very decent job. Since D1 we have witnessed different classes have their roots in different parts of Sanctuary - leading them to be unique from class to class, not just in their playstyle, but also their appearance.
The bottom line of it all is that Blizzard is very careful with having their classes appear authentic for this game. A barbarian from Mount Arreat is probably light-skinned and quite a hulk in comparison to a wizard. The monk seems to have his roots from a desert locale, demon hunters are all kids of Kate Beckinsale, and the witch doctor hails from the jungles. It is natural that these characters have different appearances, but a WD is no more specific than the other classes, even the necromancer from D2. Pale white, wearing mostly black and white armor, dabbling in the arts of death? Very stereotypical if you ask me, and that is one that I personally don't prefer. Mileage varies for different players.
I have to agree. The fact that he hails from the deep jungles would give anyone an instant mental image without seeing him. And even though sanctuary is fictional, just look at how we humans are different, from different parts of the world. If anything, I would be offended if they made him white with red hair.
It's understandable that you do not know how character development works. Well, I do.
"Fantasy" is just a word. Everything you see in these games are based out of our very own reality. And our very own reality does include stories of wizards and witches. People believed these to be real things far before they were ever in video games.
Kid's often have this notion that they can make something completely fantastical from their mind that nobody has ever seen before. And this is true, people can do that(however unoriginal it might actually be). But, the problem is, this character or whatever it is will be completely unrelatable. And when things are unrelatable they are too fantastic. People will not buy into the universe you are trying to convey because it's too hard to imagine that it exists.
In other words, if it doesn't have any relation to our own reality, it will not be a relatable and profitable subject.
That being said, any idea you have is directly related to what you already know and see. So the key is to make the character as believable as possible while still giving him or her a dramatic edge to intrigue the buyer.
I think you may need to go do some research on the psychological aspect of what a "stereotype" actually is and why we have them as a function of the brain to better understand how the Witchdoctor is completely fine.
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"I want to say something but I'll keep it to myself I guess and leave this useless post behind to make you aware that there WAS something... "
-Equinox
"We're like the downtown of the Diablo related internet lol"
-Winged
i was dead set on rolling a WD as 1st char for live
now its a toss up between wizard and WD
i havent played beta but seen vids, im afraid that WDs will rely on their hounds too much, i know you can play without them if you want a challenge
Actually i was thinking he will rely on pets before playing beta, but now it turns out not to be like it. Dogs are nothing like skeletons in D2, they deal scanty damage. So they are mostly like some shield, which isn't that necessary (considering u play in party or with follower). May be with thorns, hp boost and runes they will be more usefull in later difficulties tho, we'll see. But anyway, it's designed to be 6-skilled per build, so dogs are 1/6 of your power. And i'll probably stick with them, coz 1 slot out of 6 isn't that much, and the more company - the funnier trip.
Though i'm still thinking on my choice for the 1st character... Either Barb or WD. More probably WD, coz i'll play HC asap (there's still hope they will let us play HC without finishing normal SC), and i'm not sure i have that big balls to start with melee Tho it's gonna be more balanced than D2, dunno...
OP, I understand exactly what you are saying about the witch doctor.
It was the only class I really couldn't get into. I tried to run through the beta with the WD but he just seemed to... err I don't know, he just didn't seem to fit, almost like he was some 'goofy' hero. I couldn't take the WD class seriously, it just seemed to 'gimmicky.'
I played the Witch Doctor. I was immediately greeted with a very familiar Earthly accent that doesn't bold very fantastical. In fact, it sounds very stereotypical.
So, that's the point of this post. I don't like the Witch Doctor's theme much, it actually negatively affects my ability to play the character. I wanted to play a Necromancer like character but I can't bring myself to pick the Witch Doctor back up after about 40 minutes of play.
I feel like they went overboard with the whole Tribal African thing. It doesn't feel like a Hero from another world, it feels more like a stereotype from ours. They should've given him a different accent or something.
I'm also not sure why he stands the way he stands... Embarrassingly enough, I tried to stand like he does for about 5 seconds, and I tried to run the way he does... Doesn't work. No one with a spine would do that. I understand in World of Warcraft the Trolls are Jamaican and whatnot, and the Night Elves use Japanese architecture, etc. But the Witch Doctor just feels... Very very very specific.
And before someone tries to say this is "African" culture, I'd be sure you watch what you say.
The Witch Doctor feels more Africa at first, but when you consider Kurast and the Flayer Jungle the class does fit. I haven't played it yet...personally, though, I wish the Necromancer was making an appearance again, especially when it's importance was so emphasised in the Sin War trilogy by Richard Knaak.
This made me laugh. I never paid attention to how strange they run until I pictured someone doing it.
Using a WD will undoubtedly make the game easier, as a summonancer was in D2.
Anyway, i'm going play with it on my first playtrought:
http://us.battle.net...ctor#kbYPhQ!Waf
That being said, does anyone know if the WD can still use abilities like locus swarm on his dogs to imbue them with a special ability?
EDIT:
From http://www.diablowiki.net/BlizzCon_2009_Panel:_Diablo_3_Open_Q_and_A
I have to agree. The fact that he hails from the deep jungles would give anyone an instant mental image without seeing him. And even though sanctuary is fictional, just look at how we humans are different, from different parts of the world. If anything, I would be offended if they made him white with red hair.
"Fantasy" is just a word. Everything you see in these games are based out of our very own reality. And our very own reality does include stories of wizards and witches. People believed these to be real things far before they were ever in video games.
Kid's often have this notion that they can make something completely fantastical from their mind that nobody has ever seen before. And this is true, people can do that(however unoriginal it might actually be). But, the problem is, this character or whatever it is will be completely unrelatable. And when things are unrelatable they are too fantastic. People will not buy into the universe you are trying to convey because it's too hard to imagine that it exists.
In other words, if it doesn't have any relation to our own reality, it will not be a relatable and profitable subject.
That being said, any idea you have is directly related to what you already know and see. So the key is to make the character as believable as possible while still giving him or her a dramatic edge to intrigue the buyer.
I think you may need to go do some research on the psychological aspect of what a "stereotype" actually is and why we have them as a function of the brain to better understand how the Witchdoctor is completely fine.
-Equinox
"We're like the downtown of the Diablo related internet lol"
-Winged
Actually i was thinking he will rely on pets before playing beta, but now it turns out not to be like it. Dogs are nothing like skeletons in D2, they deal scanty damage. So they are mostly like some shield, which isn't that necessary (considering u play in party or with follower). May be with thorns, hp boost and runes they will be more usefull in later difficulties tho, we'll see. But anyway, it's designed to be 6-skilled per build, so dogs are 1/6 of your power. And i'll probably stick with them, coz 1 slot out of 6 isn't that much, and the more company - the funnier trip.
Though i'm still thinking on my choice for the 1st character... Either Barb or WD. More probably WD, coz i'll play HC asap (there's still hope they will let us play HC without finishing normal SC), and i'm not sure i have that big balls to start with melee Tho it's gonna be more balanced than D2, dunno...
It was the only class I really couldn't get into. I tried to run through the beta with the WD but he just seemed to... err I don't know, he just didn't seem to fit, almost like he was some 'goofy' hero. I couldn't take the WD class seriously, it just seemed to 'gimmicky.'
jk
but seriously.
i get what your saying but who cares, i focus on the more important things.... like... GAMEPLAY. doh