It's my fault, I am really bad at explaining myself sometimes.
Speaking of armor, there could be other bonuses. In Diablo II, armor already affects your movement speed, so this way casters and rangers who value speed more would be inclined to use lighter armor, and tanks can go with heavy armor since they don't need speed that much. And, again, requirements. For heavy armor you need tons of STR.
Yeah right... Tons of strength..:offtopic:
for a Sacred Armor that has 525 - 600 def
Versus Archon Plate 490 - 530 Def
It's totally unbalance the Heavy Armor got Movement penalties and require 232 str vs 103
str JUST for a measly 70 more base defense?????:(
Yeah right... Tons of strength..:offtopic:
for a Sacred Armor that has 525 - 600 def
Versus Archon Plate 490 - 530 Def
What does that have to do with anything? Those are end-game armor that normal people never even see and if Blizzard made them disbalanced it's certainly not anybody's problem but the Blizzard balancing team.
Hey guys, as all of you seem to be, I am pretty excited to see a Diablo 3. While reading up and looking at different forums this thread caught my attention and I'd like to join you all in your discussion.
First of all I would just like to say that reading through the thread I saw a number of posts with the prediction of Barb, Witch Doctor, Pally, Sorceress, and Archer. I think that we can give Blizzard more credit than to deliver us something like this. This is D2 with the necro turned into summoning creatures instead of skeletons and I think that we can trust Blizz not to deliever that. I believe 10 of their games have received multiple game of the year awards. This is a great developer and I've personally never been disappointed with one of their games including expansion and sequels.
Another thing is that while it may be disappointing to see some characters come back (as some of you are disappointed with seeing the Barb) we have to remember that there is lore, a story to follow, behind the game. Diablo is not just a game, but a universe that Blizz has created, and the Barbarians of sanctuary, for example, play a large roll in the occupation of Mt.Areat and the defense of the world stone, and so it would be strange to me to all of a sudden see them disappear.
The Barbarian is a great continuation of the past events in the Diablo universe and the Witch Doctor, while he may be a spin-off of the Necromancer, is, in my opinion, a great addition to the world as well as a creative one. He is not the same as the Necro, he may be able to raise minions and have the zombie wall as opposed to the bone wall, but I think that while these similarities exist, the WD will not disappoint us in providing a new and interesting character to play. I think this is exactly what we can expect from the classes to come, a good continuation of Diablo's history as well as some new interesting twists to expand it's lore and bring us new content.
My personal prediction on the other 3 classes would have to be:
1) The Ranger - I think it would be a good idea to replace our assassin character as well as the amazon with this class. Having great skill in ranged weapons such as bows, crossbows, javelins, and possibly even throwing weapons such as shurikens (sp?). I think, though it may be similar to WoW, that a traps tree and skills will be necessary for this character in order to be able to keep it's distance so that it can dish out damage where it is strongest. As for a third tree, I think this will be where the assassin part should come in. Specializing in minor melee skill and subtlety/escape techniques will allow the character to deal decent melee damage as well as provide alternate techniques to gain enough range to sneak in a couple powerful ranged blows and reengage it's opponents in melee combat. (I personally would like to see that class, I hope you all agree)
2)Psycher - The Psycher would be our ranged caster, light armor wearing class. It would specialize in psychic and arcane attacks, crippling it's opponents through mental attacks as well as dishing out great damage that can be complimented by an arcane aspect to incorporate more damage spells as well as a couple that will allow our hero defenses, such as arcane shields to absorb damage, as well as the classic teleport for escape. It's 3 trees would consist of Psychic and Arcane, of course, as well as a tree to improve it's defenses to allow for a little more toughness.
3)Paladin - I think that we can expect the return of the paladin, maybe not exactly the paladin, but some sort of holy warrior that would combine the might of his melee attacks with those of his holy spells. This character could also have support abilities such as the return of auras as well as blessings, and decursing and poison curing or at least mitigating spells. So we can have the trees of Might, Holy, and Aegis...or something of the sort.
I chose these 3 classes because I believe that the WD has obviously eliminated the possibility of a Necromancer as well as that of the druid. While he cannot shape shift, I think that his skills in disease (and I think we can expect poison) would account for, or at least make the nature skills of a druid a bit redundant. I think that the Psycher being the caster instead of a sorceress is necessary because the WD, once again, as we have seen, has fire spells and possibly frost once we are told more. Also the class of Sorceress or Sorcerer implies gender, so we won't be seeing those since it has been made clear that you have the option to choose your gender(also why I ruled out amazon). Also I think a caster that uses psychic powers with arcane would throw in more variety and something new. As for the Paladin, I would imagine that this hero would be necessary in the fight against evil of this nature...the devil and his minions. Also it gives us a sort of support class in the sense that he will be able to buff his party members with auras and blessings. Couple that with the shouts of the Barbarian and I think that is plenty of buff for the initial game and it's 5 classes. So with my predictions I've provided us with, in addition to our heavy melee character (Barbarian), as well as our caster with minions hybrid (Witch Doctor), a quick, moderately armored hero effective at dealing ranged-weapon damage, or the option to use ranged to soften up his/her foes for the melee strikes to come (Ranger), our lightly armored heavy ranged-damage-dealing caster(Psycher), and our holy warrior, heavily armored and ready to use his divine might to smite the evils of the underworld with weapon and shield or two handed weapon (Paladin).
I would elaborate on these ideas more, but I need to go now. Let me know what you guys think...I hope some positive comments come because I put a lot of time and thought into it (I know it is certainly not a flawless idea). Regardless, I hope I've brought forth some interesting ideas for us to discuss positively or negatively, as well as to further elaborate on.
We are on the same page as long as far as the ranger goes. I don't know, I'm not the most creative with names, nor did I really want to take the time to come up with a spiffy name, the idea was to explain...my ideas. I like the "Psycher" idea because I think it would be cool to see a character who uses telekenesis or attacks the minds of his opponents. I suppose it is more of a class that I would like to see rather than one I came up with to fit the story. I refuse to believe that the Witch Doctor will be the only new class we see. I do not, however, think it unreasonable that we may only see 2 new classes, with the other 3 being tweaked diablo 3 classes. Don't get me wrong, I would love to see as many new classes as possible. I guess my point of view all just comes down to me having a lot of faith in Blizzard's ability to impress and provide a 100% totally kick ass and awsome game. I have been playing Blizzard games since the original Warcraft and they have all been, at one point in time, my favorite game, as well as the best games.
I just know that looking at Blizzards track record, to start, in the original Diablo 3 (because we all know there will be an expansion) the 5 classes will consist of:
1)the heavy hitting, pure melee fighter (Barbarian)
2)our mixed summoner/caster class (Witch Doctor)
3)the not so heavily armored, but fast-paced heavy hitter (Ranger in my class selection)
4)A pure, straight up, big damage caster (Psycher from my classes again)
5)and then a hybrid caster-melee fighter (Paladin from my classes...yet again)
If you've been playing Blizzard's games for a while (which it seems like most of you have) then we can all look back and find examples of this trend from almost every one of their games...at least since the heroes in WC3. I really do not want to see anything that resembles a WoW class, I will say. Played WoW for long enough and stopped because for me to advance would take up more time than I'm willing to invest in a video game.
These are just my opinions, dispute them if you will. I'm dying to see/try and figure out reasonable classes for D3 so help me!
Diablo 3 will have 5 classes, same as Diablo II did (pre LOD)
The classes essentually, A Melee class, a ranged class a heavy spell caster, a second line melee class/Light Caster, and a Light Caster/Summoning class.
So in Diablo II we have the Barbarian (melee), Amazon (ranged), Sorceress (Heavy Caster), Paladin (second line melee class/Light Caster) and Necromancer (Light Caster/Summoning class)
This sort of 5 man team works quite well. It is an expansion of the 3 man team found in Diablo I. Melee, Ranged and Heavy Caster. Warrior, Rogue and Sorcerer.
So one would be inclined to think the 3 remaining classes that are yet to be announced for Diablo III would be a ranged class, a heavy spell caster and a light caster/second line melee class.
As the Melee class is taken by the Barbarian, and the Light Caster/Summoning class posistion is taken by the Witch Doctor.
So what (base) choices does that leave us with. As it has been stated that the Barbarian is to be the only class returning as aplayable character, I guess the Sorceress, Paladin and Amazon are out, at least in their D2 forms.
-So we need a ranged Chracter, someone who will primarily use a bow, Prehaps the Hunter Ranger. This architype is almost always synmonynous with a bow (primarily to stalk their prey). Definitely going to be some ranged class, though I would imagine it will have a name other than Hunter or Ranger, or Archer.
-Blizzard did say that the Barbarian is (supposedly) the only class to be returning as a playable class, but there are few mage types that are plausible as a decent class other than the "Sorcerer". A class which has appeared in both previous titles. One male one female naturally, but still largely the same class.
What other mage classes are there? Well there is the most basic type, Mage. Fairly vague but it would work, lots of Mage clans in Diablo, the class could be from anyone of them. The Sorcerer in Diablo 1 was from the Vizjerei, while the Sorceress in Diablo II was ofthe Zann Esu. So the "sorcerer" class is not clan specific. And neither is a vague term like mage. However the class lore always refers to one. So Mage might be too vague, so what do we have left.
Illusionist. A mage who specializes in creating illusions to confuse and mislead., While creating Mirror images and other false images is fun, I do not see a full class being made out of it. Also you have that horrible connectation with stage magicians.
Diviner: A mage who specializes in detection and divining magics. Now I enjoy Far Sight and True Sight as much as the next, and they no doubt come in handy, but much like the Illusionist, I do not see a full class being made out of it.
Transmuter:A mage who specializes in magic that alters physical reality. Polymorph (and Polymorph Other) Shapeshift, Morph and Transform. That is what this type of spell caster specializes in. Either turning himself (or herself) into something else, or turning someone or something into something else. Definitely fun, but again I don't see a full range of say 30 skills out of this class.
Abjurer: A mage who specializes in protective magics. Well that role in generally taken by the Light Caster and Second line Melee class. It is usually them that offers the protective bonuses not a mage. Mages are far more cooler unleashing hellish firestorms. So this class is most likely out.
Conjurer: A mage who specializes in creating creatures and objects to assist him. Much Like the Abjurer, this role is pretty much taken by another class. The Light Caster/Summoning. And in Diablo III we have the Witch Doctor for that.
Invoker: A mage who specializes in Invocation/Evocation magic. Well for those of you who don't really know what Evocation magic is, it is essentially Anything to do with large displays of Elemental mastery. And I do think such a class will appear again, it's quite the staple of the series. Both times the "Sorcerer" has appeared they have had a whole host of elemental spells. So this one is probably highly likely, Those not with that name.
-Second Line Melee/Light Casters are great, they offer some killer buffs, and are full capable of handling themselves should the get surrounded.
So what do we have available to us to fill this role. This role is primarily if not stereotypically, filled by some sort of healer. Even is it is only one skill (eg Holy Bolt)
First one that comes to mind is the cleric. The cleric is a generic priest who tends to the spiritual needs of a community. He is both protector and healer. He is not purely defensive, however. When evil threatens, the cleric is well suited to seek it out on its own ground and destroy it. Based on how big a part religion (the Zakarum) and the two polar opposites, The High Heavens and the Burning Hells, plays in Diablo, this class is not such a farfetched as it prehaps seems. clerics are generally battle-hardened warriors who are also able to tap into the higher powers and cast a wide assortment of either offensive or defensive spells. I imagine such as class will make an appearance, sort of a d3 version of the Paladin. Clearly.
Similar to the Cleric is the Priest. But this class tends to be much more spell oriented rather than skill oriented, that is buffs and healing magics, rather than being able to do any real damage themselves, why bother when can heal the crap of a barbarian and a host of summons. But that largely defys the point of second line Melee.
The other sort of class that comes to mind is actually the Paladin, or rather the various sub classes there of.
First you have the Cavalier. This class represents the most common picture of the knight; the gentlemanwarrior who epitomizes honor, courage and loyalty. Seems to be a popular choice around here from what I have seen. So perhaps it is something we want to see. One that work I think.
Another common subclass of the Paladin is the Inquistor. The Inquisitor has dedicated his life to finding and eliminating practitioners of evil magic and defeating the forces of darkness. This is your holy warrior of light type guy. He is bound by the doctrine he follows religiously. The convert the heathens, purge the land of it's taint type people. Inquisitors do appear in Diablo, So I think they are quite likely to appear as a playable class.
Essentually an extension of the Inquisitor is the Undead Hunter type Paladin. While the Inquisitor focuses on almost anyone they deem unholy, this holy avenger has honed his abilities towards the destruction of the undead and other unnatural creatures and is immune to many of their more devastating abilities. A fun type to play it is hard to get a full class out of it, it fits better as say a class build build around a few skills. Though focusing on one monster leads to problems, much like a sorceress who concentrates too heavily on one element.
I guess I am looking at the "Invoker" the "Ranger" and "Inquisitor" or "Cleric" Not really sure which, both seem plausible as the D3 equivalent of the Paladin.
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-Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's First Law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only, truth.
You play too much DnD, Elfen, your mage divisions are based directly of it, and the heXen's mage fighter can't even find room there, nor can Nox's conjurer. The old archetypes are boring the hell out of me, and what we did so far is basically repeat the DII classes. Nor do I like solid divisions like "summoning". You all say the WD is the summoner. So far he only summons mongrels. What if that's the only summon he has? Or maybe he has like 3 of them as parts of other trees, but not really concentrated? Why did everyone suddenly decide that WD is a summon-geared class? How the hell did you get that? Nobody has a clue what WD really is.
Even in your very DnD, some classes summon like one creature (wizards, for instance), and they stay there, they don't summon a whole horde of things like they did in DII. Same for WoW, one minion, or one pet, not 40 of those.
Melee, archer, mage archetypes are by themselves fine, but they are not fine if you want to copy their old forms. And I want the classes to have skills that are more original, and less classified. Like, a ranger that has a "Nature" tree, which includes "Poison Weapon", "Entangle", and "Summon Oak Sage", rather than having a trap tree full of traps, bow tree full of bow spells, summon tree full of summon trees, that system was really bad in Diablo...
I wonder if they're going to take a different approach to auras, dividing them amongst the 5 classes? That way each class has their own specific auras, making partying beneficial to everyone involved.
Anyway, don't be surprised to see Shapeshifters with Sorceress powers and Archers with paladin auras.. They're definitely going to blend the current skills, as to not dissapoint the fans.
I did not realize that it was said that the Barbarian would be the only returning class from D2. Kind of a relief, but I'm curious as to where you read that.
I did not realize that it was said that the Barbarian would be the only returning class from D2. Kind of a relief, but I'm curious as to where you read that.
The Barbarian is not the only class to return. It is the only class to return as a playable class. The Paladin, Necromancer, Druid or any of the other classes may return as either a NPC or an Enemy.
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-Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's First Law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only, truth.
i would like to see the Inquisitor as a class. That would be very cool.
"PURGE THE UNCLEAN!" *burns shit down*
Sounds like you got your idea of the inquisitor from Warhammer 40,000. It might be kinda cool, but now that it was mentioned by Elfen (I think), the Cleric sounds like a much more realistic option.
Quote from name="Elfen Lied" »
The Barbarian is not the only class to return. It is the only class to return as a playable class. The Paladin, Necromancer, Druid or any of the other classes may return as either a NPC or an Enemy.
Ok, I understood what you meant, but would you mind telling me where you read that?
As it has been stated that the Barbarian is to be the only class returning as aplayable character,
Could you cite this please, if it's from an official blizzard post? I realize there's a lot of speculation on the barbarian being the 'canon class,' but the majority of blizzard statements on lore I've read have been very vague or all-encompassing, for instance referring to multiple 'heroes' rather than a singular 'hero.' I don't have exact citations for the examples I've seen, which is hypocritical, bahah yes - but there's one visible on the main diablo3.com page which states "Yet for those who battled the Prime Evils, the memory fades slowly." I think you get the idea; it's very nebulous.
I would have assumed with the barbarian returning, we would see at least one other Diablo 2 character returning as well - my guess being the paladin.
Anyway yes, requesting a citation for your statement. Thanks in advance.
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If you don't have anything good to say, say it on the internet.
well whatever classes they bring back. i hope they stick to there word and stick to lore. in the diablo 2 manual didnt they say that the barbarians had somekind of lightning ability? or maybe that was the diablowikia.com page. i cant remember.
I think if they bring back the druid (which I hope they do) they will implement him as more of a caster with traps and nature spells like making roots come out of the ground and wall off enemies from you or entangle them or throwing down some sort of pod that explodes with spiky seeds or something that'd be my type of druid anyways
I hope that they will bring back a ranger as well as a sort of necromancer or undead based thing and common sense tells me to expect a ranger return and I hope they return with pure ranged based skills where they are more like in D2 as an amazon that can fend off opponents easily with just bow and arrow and now like in WoW where you cannot solo at all with just bow and arrow even if your spec'd for it and you have to count on your pet to hold agro and then kite like a maniac I really hated that in WoW it's like a hunter without a pet is just plain crap
this means that where will be one more returning class, and one more new class for sure. and the last class will probably be new
I don't know where you got that idea. The first sentence referencing new classES and the second referencing old classES are stated that way to be ambiguous, not to hint that there will be more of each (I'm sure there will though). If they said new class or old class that would obviously be referring to just the WD or Barb and therefor the reader would understand that that would be the only new/returning class. I'm going to stick to my previous prediction of 2 returning classes and 3 new classes...if not just the Barb being the only returning and everything else being new (but for some reason I don't think that's the way it will be).
Barbarian*
Witch Doctor*
Monk
Psion (telekinesis based mage)
Rogue (Thief based, hopefully originating from the desert)
and no Rogue does not imply only female, it is defined as a mischievous person.
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"I will give you my blessing," the demon croaked..."And then... I will dine on your entrails and drink your blood from a cup fashioned from your fragile skull..."
- Richard Knaak
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Yeah right... Tons of strength..:offtopic:
for a Sacred Armor that has 525 - 600 def
Versus Archon Plate 490 - 530 Def
It's totally unbalance the Heavy Armor got Movement penalties and require 232 str vs 103
str JUST for a measly 70 more base defense?????:(
First of all I would just like to say that reading through the thread I saw a number of posts with the prediction of Barb, Witch Doctor, Pally, Sorceress, and Archer. I think that we can give Blizzard more credit than to deliver us something like this. This is D2 with the necro turned into summoning creatures instead of skeletons and I think that we can trust Blizz not to deliever that. I believe 10 of their games have received multiple game of the year awards. This is a great developer and I've personally never been disappointed with one of their games including expansion and sequels.
Another thing is that while it may be disappointing to see some characters come back (as some of you are disappointed with seeing the Barb) we have to remember that there is lore, a story to follow, behind the game. Diablo is not just a game, but a universe that Blizz has created, and the Barbarians of sanctuary, for example, play a large roll in the occupation of Mt.Areat and the defense of the world stone, and so it would be strange to me to all of a sudden see them disappear.
The Barbarian is a great continuation of the past events in the Diablo universe and the Witch Doctor, while he may be a spin-off of the Necromancer, is, in my opinion, a great addition to the world as well as a creative one. He is not the same as the Necro, he may be able to raise minions and have the zombie wall as opposed to the bone wall, but I think that while these similarities exist, the WD will not disappoint us in providing a new and interesting character to play. I think this is exactly what we can expect from the classes to come, a good continuation of Diablo's history as well as some new interesting twists to expand it's lore and bring us new content.
My personal prediction on the other 3 classes would have to be:
1) The Ranger - I think it would be a good idea to replace our assassin character as well as the amazon with this class. Having great skill in ranged weapons such as bows, crossbows, javelins, and possibly even throwing weapons such as shurikens (sp?). I think, though it may be similar to WoW, that a traps tree and skills will be necessary for this character in order to be able to keep it's distance so that it can dish out damage where it is strongest. As for a third tree, I think this will be where the assassin part should come in. Specializing in minor melee skill and subtlety/escape techniques will allow the character to deal decent melee damage as well as provide alternate techniques to gain enough range to sneak in a couple powerful ranged blows and reengage it's opponents in melee combat. (I personally would like to see that class, I hope you all agree)
2)Psycher - The Psycher would be our ranged caster, light armor wearing class. It would specialize in psychic and arcane attacks, crippling it's opponents through mental attacks as well as dishing out great damage that can be complimented by an arcane aspect to incorporate more damage spells as well as a couple that will allow our hero defenses, such as arcane shields to absorb damage, as well as the classic teleport for escape. It's 3 trees would consist of Psychic and Arcane, of course, as well as a tree to improve it's defenses to allow for a little more toughness.
3)Paladin - I think that we can expect the return of the paladin, maybe not exactly the paladin, but some sort of holy warrior that would combine the might of his melee attacks with those of his holy spells. This character could also have support abilities such as the return of auras as well as blessings, and decursing and poison curing or at least mitigating spells. So we can have the trees of Might, Holy, and Aegis...or something of the sort.
I chose these 3 classes because I believe that the WD has obviously eliminated the possibility of a Necromancer as well as that of the druid. While he cannot shape shift, I think that his skills in disease (and I think we can expect poison) would account for, or at least make the nature skills of a druid a bit redundant. I think that the Psycher being the caster instead of a sorceress is necessary because the WD, once again, as we have seen, has fire spells and possibly frost once we are told more. Also the class of Sorceress or Sorcerer implies gender, so we won't be seeing those since it has been made clear that you have the option to choose your gender(also why I ruled out amazon). Also I think a caster that uses psychic powers with arcane would throw in more variety and something new. As for the Paladin, I would imagine that this hero would be necessary in the fight against evil of this nature...the devil and his minions. Also it gives us a sort of support class in the sense that he will be able to buff his party members with auras and blessings. Couple that with the shouts of the Barbarian and I think that is plenty of buff for the initial game and it's 5 classes. So with my predictions I've provided us with, in addition to our heavy melee character (Barbarian), as well as our caster with minions hybrid (Witch Doctor), a quick, moderately armored hero effective at dealing ranged-weapon damage, or the option to use ranged to soften up his/her foes for the melee strikes to come (Ranger), our lightly armored heavy ranged-damage-dealing caster(Psycher), and our holy warrior, heavily armored and ready to use his divine might to smite the evils of the underworld with weapon and shield or two handed weapon (Paladin).
I would elaborate on these ideas more, but I need to go now. Let me know what you guys think...I hope some positive comments come because I put a lot of time and thought into it (I know it is certainly not a flawless idea). Regardless, I hope I've brought forth some interesting ideas for us to discuss positively or negatively, as well as to further elaborate on.
I just know that looking at Blizzards track record, to start, in the original Diablo 3 (because we all know there will be an expansion) the 5 classes will consist of:
1)the heavy hitting, pure melee fighter (Barbarian)
2)our mixed summoner/caster class (Witch Doctor)
3)the not so heavily armored, but fast-paced heavy hitter (Ranger in my class selection)
4)A pure, straight up, big damage caster (Psycher from my classes again)
5)and then a hybrid caster-melee fighter (Paladin from my classes...yet again)
If you've been playing Blizzard's games for a while (which it seems like most of you have) then we can all look back and find examples of this trend from almost every one of their games...at least since the heroes in WC3. I really do not want to see anything that resembles a WoW class, I will say. Played WoW for long enough and stopped because for me to advance would take up more time than I'm willing to invest in a video game.
These are just my opinions, dispute them if you will. I'm dying to see/try and figure out reasonable classes for D3 so help me!
The classes essentually, A Melee class, a ranged class a heavy spell caster, a second line melee class/Light Caster, and a Light Caster/Summoning class.
So in Diablo II we have the Barbarian (melee), Amazon (ranged), Sorceress (Heavy Caster), Paladin (second line melee class/Light Caster) and Necromancer (Light Caster/Summoning class)
This sort of 5 man team works quite well. It is an expansion of the 3 man team found in Diablo I. Melee, Ranged and Heavy Caster. Warrior, Rogue and Sorcerer.
So one would be inclined to think the 3 remaining classes that are yet to be announced for Diablo III would be a ranged class, a heavy spell caster and a light caster/second line melee class.
As the Melee class is taken by the Barbarian, and the Light Caster/Summoning class posistion is taken by the Witch Doctor.
So what (base) choices does that leave us with. As it has been stated that the Barbarian is to be the only class returning as aplayable character, I guess the Sorceress, Paladin and Amazon are out, at least in their D2 forms.
-So we need a ranged Chracter, someone who will primarily use a bow, Prehaps the Hunter Ranger. This architype is almost always synmonynous with a bow (primarily to stalk their prey). Definitely going to be some ranged class, though I would imagine it will have a name other than Hunter or Ranger, or Archer.
-Blizzard did say that the Barbarian is (supposedly) the only class to be returning as a playable class, but there are few mage types that are plausible as a decent class other than the "Sorcerer". A class which has appeared in both previous titles. One male one female naturally, but still largely the same class.
What other mage classes are there? Well there is the most basic type, Mage. Fairly vague but it would work, lots of Mage clans in Diablo, the class could be from anyone of them. The Sorcerer in Diablo 1 was from the Vizjerei, while the Sorceress in Diablo II was ofthe Zann Esu. So the "sorcerer" class is not clan specific. And neither is a vague term like mage. However the class lore always refers to one. So Mage might be too vague, so what do we have left.
Illusionist. A mage who specializes in creating illusions to confuse and mislead., While creating Mirror images and other false images is fun, I do not see a full class being made out of it. Also you have that horrible connectation with stage magicians.
Diviner: A mage who specializes in detection and divining magics. Now I enjoy Far Sight and True Sight as much as the next, and they no doubt come in handy, but much like the Illusionist, I do not see a full class being made out of it.
Transmuter:A mage who specializes in magic that alters physical reality. Polymorph (and Polymorph Other) Shapeshift, Morph and Transform. That is what this type of spell caster specializes in. Either turning himself (or herself) into something else, or turning someone or something into something else. Definitely fun, but again I don't see a full range of say 30 skills out of this class.
Abjurer: A mage who specializes in protective magics. Well that role in generally taken by the Light Caster and Second line Melee class. It is usually them that offers the protective bonuses not a mage. Mages are far more cooler unleashing hellish firestorms. So this class is most likely out.
Conjurer: A mage who specializes in creating creatures and objects to assist him. Much Like the Abjurer, this role is pretty much taken by another class. The Light Caster/Summoning. And in Diablo III we have the Witch Doctor for that.
Invoker: A mage who specializes in Invocation/Evocation magic. Well for those of you who don't really know what Evocation magic is, it is essentially Anything to do with large displays of Elemental mastery. And I do think such a class will appear again, it's quite the staple of the series. Both times the "Sorcerer" has appeared they have had a whole host of elemental spells. So this one is probably highly likely, Those not with that name.
-Second Line Melee/Light Casters are great, they offer some killer buffs, and are full capable of handling themselves should the get surrounded.
So what do we have available to us to fill this role. This role is primarily if not stereotypically, filled by some sort of healer. Even is it is only one skill (eg Holy Bolt)
First one that comes to mind is the cleric. The cleric is a generic priest who tends to the spiritual needs of a community. He is both protector and healer. He is not purely defensive, however. When evil threatens, the cleric is well suited to seek it out on its own ground and destroy it. Based on how big a part religion (the Zakarum) and the two polar opposites, The High Heavens and the Burning Hells, plays in Diablo, this class is not such a farfetched as it prehaps seems. clerics are generally battle-hardened warriors who are also able to tap into the higher powers and cast a wide assortment of either offensive or defensive spells. I imagine such as class will make an appearance, sort of a d3 version of the Paladin. Clearly.
Similar to the Cleric is the Priest. But this class tends to be much more spell oriented rather than skill oriented, that is buffs and healing magics, rather than being able to do any real damage themselves, why bother when can heal the crap of a barbarian and a host of summons. But that largely defys the point of second line Melee.
The other sort of class that comes to mind is actually the Paladin, or rather the various sub classes there of.
First you have the Cavalier. This class represents the most common picture of the knight; the gentlemanwarrior who epitomizes honor, courage and loyalty. Seems to be a popular choice around here from what I have seen. So perhaps it is something we want to see. One that work I think.
Another common subclass of the Paladin is the Inquistor. The Inquisitor has dedicated his life to finding and eliminating practitioners of evil magic and defeating the forces of darkness. This is your holy warrior of light type guy. He is bound by the doctrine he follows religiously. The convert the heathens, purge the land of it's taint type people. Inquisitors do appear in Diablo, So I think they are quite likely to appear as a playable class.
Essentually an extension of the Inquisitor is the Undead Hunter type Paladin. While the Inquisitor focuses on almost anyone they deem unholy, this holy avenger has honed his abilities towards the destruction of the undead and other unnatural creatures and is immune to many of their more devastating abilities. A fun type to play it is hard to get a full class out of it, it fits better as say a class build build around a few skills. Though focusing on one monster leads to problems, much like a sorceress who concentrates too heavily on one element.
I guess I am looking at the "Invoker" the "Ranger" and "Inquisitor" or "Cleric" Not really sure which, both seem plausible as the D3 equivalent of the Paladin.
Even in your very DnD, some classes summon like one creature (wizards, for instance), and they stay there, they don't summon a whole horde of things like they did in DII. Same for WoW, one minion, or one pet, not 40 of those.
Melee, archer, mage archetypes are by themselves fine, but they are not fine if you want to copy their old forms. And I want the classes to have skills that are more original, and less classified. Like, a ranger that has a "Nature" tree, which includes "Poison Weapon", "Entangle", and "Summon Oak Sage", rather than having a trap tree full of traps, bow tree full of bow spells, summon tree full of summon trees, that system was really bad in Diablo...
Anyway, don't be surprised to see Shapeshifters with Sorceress powers and Archers with paladin auras.. They're definitely going to blend the current skills, as to not dissapoint the fans.
"PURGE THE UNCLEAN!" *burns shit down*
The Barbarian is not the only class to return. It is the only class to return as a playable class. The Paladin, Necromancer, Druid or any of the other classes may return as either a NPC or an Enemy.
Sounds like you got your idea of the inquisitor from Warhammer 40,000. It might be kinda cool, but now that it was mentioned by Elfen (I think), the Cleric sounds like a much more realistic option.
Ok, I understood what you meant, but would you mind telling me where you read that?
Could you cite this please, if it's from an official blizzard post? I realize there's a lot of speculation on the barbarian being the 'canon class,' but the majority of blizzard statements on lore I've read have been very vague or all-encompassing, for instance referring to multiple 'heroes' rather than a singular 'hero.' I don't have exact citations for the examples I've seen, which is hypocritical, bahah yes - but there's one visible on the main diablo3.com page which states "Yet for those who battled the Prime Evils, the memory fades slowly." I think you get the idea; it's very nebulous.
I would have assumed with the barbarian returning, we would see at least one other Diablo 2 character returning as well - my guess being the paladin.
Anyway yes, requesting a citation for your statement. Thanks in advance.
I hope that they will bring back a ranger as well as a sort of necromancer or undead based thing and common sense tells me to expect a ranger return and I hope they return with pure ranged based skills where they are more like in D2 as an amazon that can fend off opponents easily with just bow and arrow and now like in WoW where you cannot solo at all with just bow and arrow even if your spec'd for it and you have to count on your pet to hold agro and then kite like a maniac I really hated that in WoW it's like a hunter without a pet is just plain crap
Personally now that that has been pointed out, I'm seeing...
Barb
WD
Sorc
something new
physical ranged
but i am sure they will bring back the amazon and the paladin and of course the sorceress.
I don't know where you got that idea. The first sentence referencing new classES and the second referencing old classES are stated that way to be ambiguous, not to hint that there will be more of each (I'm sure there will though). If they said new class or old class that would obviously be referring to just the WD or Barb and therefor the reader would understand that that would be the only new/returning class. I'm going to stick to my previous prediction of 2 returning classes and 3 new classes...if not just the Barb being the only returning and everything else being new (but for some reason I don't think that's the way it will be).
Disclaimer: I love you blizzard!!!
Barbarian*
Witch Doctor*
Monk
Psion (telekinesis based mage)
Rogue (Thief based, hopefully originating from the desert)
and no Rogue does not imply only female, it is defined as a mischievous person.
- Richard Knaak