I have been refraining from making a post about the upcomming classes until I felt ready to make a slightly more indepth post than listing 5 character names. So....here it goes....
After some evaluations of the characters we've seen/played, articles, interviews, and other peoples threads on character suggestions there seems to be a pattern. We tend to lump our characters both knowingly and unintentionally into groups, or architypes. So to start out my class theory I would first like to introduce my "Architype Family Tree."
These are the general architypes that every character that we have played (as can be seen) and every one that has been suggested ultimately fall into. I will admit that this can be argued but it is how I see it.
As you can see there is a total of 7 base architypes which can be further broken down into 2 main types (Melee and Spell-casting) and their subcatagories. The further down the "family tree" the more blended the architype which is why there isnt really any room to grow without architypes completely loosing their dividing lines which we can already see beginning in just the third tier. It is from these architypes that I will pull my class suggestions.
1) Melee - Barbarian
This is of course is a given. But what I would like to mention about this character selection is that the development team has mentioned that the decision to re-use the Barbarian in Diablo 3 is because they felt that they had pleanty of room to grow with this character (which is also why the Necromancer won't make the first cut of D3 - they though that they had already perfected the class and couldnt bring anything better to it). This tidbit will help influence a later suggestion...
3 Skill Trees:
A. Warcries/Chants/Taunts
B. Melee Special Attacks (whirlwind, charge, smash)
C. Masteries (Passive buffs, Weapon buffs, Duel-Wielding Skills)
2) Spell-Casting - Arcane Mage (Magus)
A pure spell-caster is just as given as a pure melee character and what would be better than an Arcane based mage? I believe there is another thread that suggests this type of character which comes from a 'Middle-Eastern' society. Perhaps from the area near Lut Gholein, this class has studied the ancient texts from the many desert tombs and have rekindled the art if Arcane magic. They specialize in not only telekinetics but telepathy and elemental masteries as well.
3 Skill Trees:
A. Telepathy (Passive Def./Off. - avoid attacks/missles, increased critical hit rate; Control/confuse enemies; Paralize enemies)
B. Telekinetics ( Teleport, Shockwaves, Throw objects, Debris Shield)
C. Elemental Skills
3) Ranged - None
I do not believe that there will be a pure ranged character in the initial statement of Diablo 3. The developement team has said that they did not want to use characters from the previous titles to keep away the sense of simply remaking Diablo 2 and to create another character along the same lines as the Amazon/Rogue again would be redundant. I wouldnt be surprised to see the Amazon/Rogue again as either a NPC/Mercenary or to return in an expansion but as for the initial release of D3 I believe that their attributes will be shared amoungst other new classes.
All of this can be said as well towards the #6 Agility architype. While it wouldnt be redunant there isnt enough room for growth in this architype for a second Assassin type without the feeling of "its just an Assassin with a new name."
4) Balanced - Mercanary/Bounty Hunter/Death Knight
Before you jump the gun let me explain.... This character will be another knight type class that has a nice balance between melee and magic skills. It will be used to fill the place of the Paladin and partially the place of the Amazon/Rogue/Assasin. Its iconic look will be of a swordsman but this class will have bow/ranged skills (possible traps) and of course auras/magic skills. Lore behind the character could be something along the lines of....
"When the church of the Zakarume fell many of its holy knights fell as well. When the ordeal was over and Mephisto was defeated many of the few remaining Paladins turned their backs to their former beliefs and began to look for work where their combat skills would be advatntageous. These fallen heroes began training and working as bounty hunters and mercanaries; knights of death. They increased their skills with the blade while learning skills of stealth - possibly learning to duel-wield two swords, or a sword and dagger combination. They would learn to use more cunning techniques and traps to accuire their targets and develop bow skills. And as they fell from their 'divine' power they begain to learn of the darker side of magic.
3 Skill Trees:
A. Swordsmanship (Melee attacks)
B. Bow/Traps (Pretty straight forward... Perhaps 'Unholy Hammer' lol)
C. Dark Magic (Auras, Stealth, Passive Buffs, Spell Casting)
5) Summoning - Witch Doctor
Again this class is a given. A character that dwells from a tribal "Africa/South America/Polyponesia" type society which summons creatures to do their bidding while plaguing his enemies with curses, diseases, fire, and other types of 'dark magic.'
3 Skill Trees:
A. Summons (Mongrel, Zombie Wall, other?)
B. Curses (Confusion, Off. Auras, Scare Tactics, Iron Maden?)
C. Special Att./Def. (Poison, Fire, Soul Cage?, Zombie Spear? lol)
6) Agility - None
This architype will likely return as an NPC/Mercenary or in an expasnion. Architype traits will be exemplified within other characters without having a pure architype class. See #3.
7) Shapeshifting - Druid
The return of the Druid would most likely piss more people off than the return of the Barbarian and the exclusion of the Necromancer combined (lol) but I believe that this is a viable character to see in Diablo 3. Because of how mundane and just seemingly under-developed the Druid was in Diablo 2 I think that the development team might give the character another shot. After all they did choose the Barbarian because it had room to grow and almost noone has more room for developement than the Druid (save the Assissin). The new and improved Druid 2.0 (or should I say 3.0 lol) should focus more on Lycanthropy, Agility/hunting skills, and Natural World Magic while keeping the pets of course.
3 Skill Trees:
A. Animalia (Lycanthropy, Summoning)
B. Hunting (Agility oriented melee skills for both human and warebeast form)
C. Earthen Magic (Wind, Fire, Ice, Cyclone Armor)
So thats is folks..... If there is anything that I forgot to mention I apologize, its late and my thoughts have begun to cloud lol. Feel free to state your rebuttles but please I beg of you not to resort to flame.
your basing this off of diablo 1 and 2 directly. with a new game comes new grounds to be explored. you cant expect a certain class because its been used. id like to see renditions of each class, but to see another pally or rogue classical archetype sounds very lame.
i wouldnt be surprised though, to see at least 2 more of those builds replicated in new fashion, but i also wouldnt be surprised to see a whole new type of build.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Remember the String of Ears
"to the worm in horseradish, the world is horseradish."
The Paladin/Amazon would be a ridiculously powerful character. Think of combining strafe or multishot with almost any of the auras. Multishot with Fire/ice/lighting aura would create an incredible elemental wave that would do a ton of damage. Then switch that with the Meditation every once in a while. This character would be sick and I would love to play it but I don't know if the balance would be right.
the witch doctor isnt a summoning class blizzard stated it will be the main caster (damage dealer) when addressing a "will the WD replace the necro?" question and how the necro may be in an expansion
The Paladin/Amazon would be a ridiculously powerful character. Think of combining strafe or multishot with almost any of the auras. Multishot with Fire/ice/lighting aura would create an incredible elemental wave that would do a ton of damage. Then switch that with the Meditation every once in a while. This character would be sick and I would love to play it but I don't know if the balance would be right.
There's no such things as too much power
Knowing Blizzard I'm probably wrong, but from what I've seen from the WWI I have a vision of a Ranged Holy class with Greek inspirations coming from Skovos.
You know, we should probly stop trying to assume that there will be hybrids.
I was suprised when they called out the Witch doctor
Who would have geussed? no body, thats who.
So I wouldnt assume that they will bring the hybrid into view.
They will simply make another class thats got the same techniques (summoning, poison/disease etc)
It will ethier be original (hence the Barbarian) or another "type" of summoner (hence the Witch doctor)
The necro, amazon, pally, assassin, sorc, are all "old" fashioned character.
My bet is they will make another "type" of elemental being other than the sorc.
They will make another type of holy man, other than the pally.
They way i see it, they are bringing in different "races" from different parts of the world.
So it looks to me that they are going to bring in the best of each race.
It would actually be good if they mixed in different races of mankind to fight agianst evil.
Cheers.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Battle not with monsters lest ye become a monster and if you gaze into the abyss the abyss gazes into you.
After some evaluations of the characters we've seen/played, articles, interviews, and other peoples threads on character suggestions there seems to be a pattern. We tend to lump our characters both knowingly and unintentionally into groups, or architypes. So to start out my class theory I would first like to introduce my "Architype Family Tree."
These are the general architypes that every character that we have played (as can be seen) and every one that has been suggested ultimately fall into. I will admit that this can be argued but it is how I see it.
As you can see there is a total of 7 base architypes which can be further broken down into 2 main types (Melee and Spell-casting) and their subcatagories. The further down the "family tree" the more blended the architype which is why there isnt really any room to grow without architypes completely loosing their dividing lines which we can already see beginning in just the third tier. It is from these architypes that I will pull my class suggestions.
1) Melee - Barbarian
This is of course is a given. But what I would like to mention about this character selection is that the development team has mentioned that the decision to re-use the Barbarian in Diablo 3 is because they felt that they had pleanty of room to grow with this character (which is also why the Necromancer won't make the first cut of D3 - they though that they had already perfected the class and couldnt bring anything better to it). This tidbit will help influence a later suggestion...
3 Skill Trees:
A. Warcries/Chants/Taunts
B. Melee Special Attacks (whirlwind, charge, smash)
C. Masteries (Passive buffs, Weapon buffs, Duel-Wielding Skills)
2) Spell-Casting - Arcane Mage (Magus)
A pure spell-caster is just as given as a pure melee character and what would be better than an Arcane based mage? I believe there is another thread that suggests this type of character which comes from a 'Middle-Eastern' society. Perhaps from the area near Lut Gholein, this class has studied the ancient texts from the many desert tombs and have rekindled the art if Arcane magic. They specialize in not only telekinetics but telepathy and elemental masteries as well.
3 Skill Trees:
A. Telepathy (Passive Def./Off. - avoid attacks/missles, increased critical hit rate; Control/confuse enemies; Paralize enemies)
B. Telekinetics ( Teleport, Shockwaves, Throw objects, Debris Shield)
C. Elemental Skills
3) Ranged - None
I do not believe that there will be a pure ranged character in the initial statement of Diablo 3. The developement team has said that they did not want to use characters from the previous titles to keep away the sense of simply remaking Diablo 2 and to create another character along the same lines as the Amazon/Rogue again would be redundant. I wouldnt be surprised to see the Amazon/Rogue again as either a NPC/Mercenary or to return in an expansion but as for the initial release of D3 I believe that their attributes will be shared amoungst other new classes.
All of this can be said as well towards the #6 Agility architype. While it wouldnt be redunant there isnt enough room for growth in this architype for a second Assassin type without the feeling of "its just an Assassin with a new name."
4) Balanced - Mercanary/Bounty Hunter/Death Knight
Before you jump the gun let me explain.... This character will be another knight type class that has a nice balance between melee and magic skills. It will be used to fill the place of the Paladin and partially the place of the Amazon/Rogue/Assasin. Its iconic look will be of a swordsman but this class will have bow/ranged skills (possible traps) and of course auras/magic skills. Lore behind the character could be something along the lines of....
"When the church of the Zakarume fell many of its holy knights fell as well. When the ordeal was over and Mephisto was defeated many of the few remaining Paladins turned their backs to their former beliefs and began to look for work where their combat skills would be advatntageous. These fallen heroes began training and working as bounty hunters and mercanaries; knights of death. They increased their skills with the blade while learning skills of stealth - possibly learning to duel-wield two swords, or a sword and dagger combination. They would learn to use more cunning techniques and traps to accuire their targets and develop bow skills. And as they fell from their 'divine' power they begain to learn of the darker side of magic.
3 Skill Trees:
A. Swordsmanship (Melee attacks)
B. Bow/Traps (Pretty straight forward... Perhaps 'Unholy Hammer' lol)
C. Dark Magic (Auras, Stealth, Passive Buffs, Spell Casting)
5) Summoning - Witch Doctor
Again this class is a given. A character that dwells from a tribal "Africa/South America/Polyponesia" type society which summons creatures to do their bidding while plaguing his enemies with curses, diseases, fire, and other types of 'dark magic.'
3 Skill Trees:
A. Summons (Mongrel, Zombie Wall, other?)
B. Curses (Confusion, Off. Auras, Scare Tactics, Iron Maden?)
C. Special Att./Def. (Poison, Fire, Soul Cage?, Zombie Spear? lol)
6) Agility - None
This architype will likely return as an NPC/Mercenary or in an expasnion. Architype traits will be exemplified within other characters without having a pure architype class. See #3.
7) Shapeshifting - Druid
The return of the Druid would most likely piss more people off than the return of the Barbarian and the exclusion of the Necromancer combined (lol) but I believe that this is a viable character to see in Diablo 3. Because of how mundane and just seemingly under-developed the Druid was in Diablo 2 I think that the development team might give the character another shot. After all they did choose the Barbarian because it had room to grow and almost noone has more room for developement than the Druid (save the Assissin). The new and improved Druid 2.0 (or should I say 3.0 lol) should focus more on Lycanthropy, Agility/hunting skills, and Natural World Magic while keeping the pets of course.
3 Skill Trees:
A. Animalia (Lycanthropy, Summoning)
B. Hunting (Agility oriented melee skills for both human and warebeast form)
C. Earthen Magic (Wind, Fire, Ice, Cyclone Armor)
So thats is folks..... If there is anything that I forgot to mention I apologize, its late and my thoughts have begun to cloud lol. Feel free to state your rebuttles but please I beg of you not to resort to flame.
i wouldnt be surprised though, to see at least 2 more of those builds replicated in new fashion, but i also wouldnt be surprised to see a whole new type of build.
"to the worm in horseradish, the world is horseradish."
Druid is an hybrid for example
Melee/Spellcasting/summoning
Paladin would also fall in this category as of lately.
Primarily a melee, but has several spellcasting as well (hammerdin)
Shapeshifting should not be a general class the blizzard use as the druid in LOD is the first.
There's no such things as too much power
Knowing Blizzard I'm probably wrong, but from what I've seen from the WWI I have a vision of a Ranged Holy class with Greek inspirations coming from Skovos.
I was suprised when they called out the Witch doctor
Who would have geussed? no body, thats who.
So I wouldnt assume that they will bring the hybrid into view.
They will simply make another class thats got the same techniques (summoning, poison/disease etc)
It will ethier be original (hence the Barbarian) or another "type" of summoner (hence the Witch doctor)
The necro, amazon, pally, assassin, sorc, are all "old" fashioned character.
My bet is they will make another "type" of elemental being other than the sorc.
They will make another type of holy man, other than the pally.
They way i see it, they are bringing in different "races" from different parts of the world.
So it looks to me that they are going to bring in the best of each race.
It would actually be good if they mixed in different races of mankind to fight agianst evil.
Cheers.
Battle not with monsters
lest ye become a monster
and if you gaze into the abyss
the abyss gazes into you.