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Almost all of us can agree that there is going to be a ranged melee class in D3. And many of us can agree that this class will more than likely be revealed at this years Blizzcon. So what i purpose is that we take guesses on exactly what form this ranged class will take and after blizzcon we can see who was the closest at guessing the ranged class. If the class is not revealed at Blizzcon (internal scream) than this contest will remain open until the class is revealed.

If you don't want to enter please do not post. This thread is meant for entries only and not discussion or debate.

Unofficial contest rules:
1.Please be as detailed as possible.
2.Include a brief description of character's appearance.
3.Include characters place of origin.
4.include small detailed lore of character
5.include skills. Tree names and description. Actual skill ideas are not necessary but welcomed.
6.do not copy anyone's idea. however, small subtle differences are o.k. and could make the difference on who was the closest. Class names are allowed to be the same.
7.Originality mixed with classic. Blizzard is known for taking classic archetypes and giving them a twist. with that said any guess is welcomed, simple or obscure.
8.there is no actual prize for this contest other than bragging rights for the winner and maybe a rep or two.
Edit: The winner of this contest will have their name added into Diablofans.com HALL OF TROPHIES!!
9. You may enter as many guesses as you want.


My guess:

DESERT NOMAD (A standard melee character that may rely on tactics more than brute force)

Look: Wearing light leather armor and white linens over it. Wears sandals and leather gauntlets. Will wear a bandanna or turban on his head for his helmet.

Origin: Kehjistan

Lore:The Desert Nomad hails from Kehjistan. He has spent his entire life living in the desert with a group of Nomads that would travel from city to city doing whatever they had to do to survive. The Nomads relied on there tactics to overwhelm the greater numbered foes they faced. First and foremost the Desert nomad was trained with a bow. The nomads have lived this way for years staying out of most of the Sanctuary's trivial societies and problems. However with the growing threat of monsters coming into their world, the nomads have changed their focus from armies and cities to monsters and hordes. They have realized that in order to survive they must eliminate all threats to them.


Skill Trees -

Extension - The Desert nomads are well trained with bows so they can stay away from advasaries and kill them from afar.

Rain of Arrows - shooting multiple arrows up into the sky, the nomads arrows fall down damaging everything in its AoE
Blind Shot - A desert nomad did not even need to see thier target to hit it. Arrow never misses its target
Burning Arrow - arrow ignites its target causing the target to spread fire damge to other monsters he touches.
Force shot - your shot is so strong when it strikes an enemy it pushes them back with the force of your arrow.

Swift - Desert Nomads were known for going into cities at night and killing the guards swiftly and quietly.
Swift Strike - attacks the target multiple times each swing.
Fade - allows the desert nomad to escape untouched. Instantly moves from one are to another.
Vital strike - strikes a target in a vital area casusing the monster to bleed and take additional DoT.
Dual strike - attacks enemy with both weapons dealing damage of each weapon simultaneously.

Fortitude - When facing a large city, the nomads formed a credible army with their long spears and shields as their arsenal.
Fortify - increases defense for x secs
Striking spear - increases attack spped and crit chance when using spears.
Sweeping strike - spins the spear around him striking multiple enemies.
Resiliance - reduces all physical damage taken.



Second Guess:


RANGER (Basically a mix between the amazon and assasin)

Look: Wearing all leather armor. Has short-medium brown hair. Very sparing armor to help his mobility. Leather gloves covers his hands and brown leather boots on his feet.

Origin: Westmarch

Lore:The ranger had escaped to the forests of Westmarch when a horde of monsters attacked his village. Here in the forests the ranger has learned to live and survive on his own. Only taking action when anything treis to invade his new home. With a recent surge of monsters encroaching on his encampment, the ranger has decided that he cannot stay secluded in his forest forever. He has decied to take his knowledge gained from the forests and venture into the rest of the world, destroying all of the monsters he encounters.

Skill Tree -

Archery - The trees in the forest allowed for good coverage allowing the ranger to strike from afar.
Straight shot - Arrow continues to damage everything in the arrows path.
Arcing shot - Shoots an arrow over other monster to attack a target in the back.
Sure Aim - increase chance of criticla strike
Resources - make arrows out of his surroundings making no need to buy more arrows.

Security - The best ranger can kill his opponent even in his absence.
Booby trap - lays out a trap that exlpodes when a monster goes near it.
Arrow turret - Lays a turret that continues to shoot arrows at targets in its range.
Binding - immobilizes a target that walks over the trap.
Encompass - pulls monsters towards the trap allowing an easier target of the ranger

Animalistic - The ranger has learned many traits from the animals arround him.
Growl - reduces enemies attack and defense
Ravage - uses all his strength to quickly take down an enemy. reduces defense but increases attack strength for x secs
Mangle - the ranger wuickly attacks multiple areas of the target in a single strike causing increased damge.
Pounce - the ranger leaps a short distance onto an enemy causing damage and stunning target.

The Sentinel

Origin: Kurast

Lore: Former members of the Zakarum Church of Light, they had detected the corruption of the church in it's early stages and peacefully made a attempt to stop the demon's plans. However the corrupted council were able to fool the Que-Hegan and condemn the rebels. They were banished from the temples, and those who wanted to start a new religion outside the zakarum's rank were persecuted. Since the influence and prestige of the zakarum lasted during the corruption, they were officially denomided as heretics and criminals in many kingdoms of sanctuary.
Generations passed and the outlaw and rural life style changed then from clerics to expert survivors, hunters and lone wolves. They deny the institution of a church even through they never abondoned the ancient Akarat's teaching. Calling thenselfs "The Churchless Sentinels" they live spreaded in small groups across all kingdoms, protecting the villages and small towns from aberrations, cultists and demons spawned during the Evil's invasion and then fading away in the wilderness.
20 years have passed and once more the sentinels have to take their bows and arrows once again to acomplish their most sacred duty: watch for the safaty of the weak and the inocent.
NOTE: Since "The Churchless Sentinels" are a outlaw group, the character will naturaly hide his true identity.

Skill Trees:

Harmony - The greater contact with nature made the sentinel flexibilize their religion, putting together the prissyness of the Religion of Light and the comtemplation of the Nature.

Warding Circle: Creats a radial area around herself were weaker monsters are paralised and stronger monsters are weakned.
Karmic Purging: Mark target with a divine seal to cleanse his soul and make his spirirt rest in piece. Debuff increase damage taken and don't allows the enemy to be healed. Also, enemies killed during this effect cannot be ressurected.
Prime Attack: Attacks imbuing the weapon with the power of Light and Nature, dealing extra holy(?) damage and removing a certain number of positive magical effects from the enemy. When a buff is removed this way or the enemy is effected by Karmic Purging a nova of light explodes damage other enemies around spreading the Karmic Purging.
Purification: Emanates a aura from herself that cleanse allies body and soul, removing poison effects and curse like debuffs. Also damage undeads. NOTE: This is not a D2's aura. Imagine sothing like a barbarian shout.
Gifted Soul: The sentinel are so lucky that it's almost like the universe are helping her! Gives a evasion bonus and increase the health orbs drop rate.

Hawk Eye - The sentinels develop a powerfull combat tecnic with bows and other ranged weapons. Killing at distance is allways usefull when hunting the dinner or purging a group of cultists !

Far Assault: Charges your ranged weapon for 1.5 seconds, unleashing a devastating shot/throw with imense range. (note that in diablo theres no auto aim, so if the enemies move the shot misses, wich means you have to foresee the target's moviment or paralyse him). This attack also pierces through the enemies.
Aim Weakpoints: The sentinel aims at targets vital points. The next 5 attacks will have all a chance to make enemy cripple, bleed or critcally hit.
Hunting Manuver: The sentinel can enter in special state of concentration to hunt down running targets in hige speed. This is a single target skill. When you use this skill the sentinel starts to fire arrows in that target automatically and any attack comand and skill will cancel the effect. However the sentinel can move during the effect, being able to persecute enemies and attack at the same time.
Veteran's Eye: Increase attack range and acurracy.

Infiltration - The sentinel develop a series of scape arts and infiltration tecnics both to assault cultists groups and to scape from the city guards.

Chamaleon's Skin: the sentinel becomes unseen for some seconds but gets a movement penalty. The duration is decreased when fighting bosses and players and suddenly ends if you attack.
Ecstasy Strike: Attacks target with a special paralysing herb imbued in your weapon. This attack will cause some small poison damage and slow, however it stacks up to 3 times (both the damage and the slow).
Silver Web Trap: Set a trap of spiked silver chains on the ground. It will trigger 1.0 second after the enemy enter the area (wich is a considerable circle around yourself) causing imobilisation and damage/bleeding to the enemies. (Notice since the area of effect is quit large it is a Aoe effect). Note: The trap are invisible to enemies.
Exodus: The legendary move used by the sentinel to scape from certain death while killing the enemies. The character jumps foward in a very acrobatic way, turning around in mid air and shooting/throwing at the enemies that was behind him. Imagine a charge that don't damage the enemies in front of the character, but the enemies behind the character.
Sudden Death: Gets a really large damage boost to the attack that breaks chamaleon's skin effect.
Light Foot: Increase moviment speed and Exodus's mobility range.

NOTE: My character do not suport melee weapons but are able to use bows, crossbows and throwing. Why I decided that?
Most of you guys know that a skill do not require points spended in the respective tree, only requires points spended (or levels). They did that because it was to hard to creat a hybrid build. A berserker barbarian would never have ground stomp and were allways dual wielding. But they don't want that, the skill tree are designed to be mixed, so both hybrid and pure builds are viable. This is the reason of why i think a skill tree in D3 will never be linked to some weapon type. It's basically to difficult to mix then.
For exemple, it's impossible to creat a decent amazon that use bows and spear skills.
Thats the reason of why my character is 100% ranged, so one can mix all the trees.

I would really like the Ranger idea, I find it hard to imagine Blizz to make the game with no bow-using class. Maybe even a Dark Ranger or something, to be more fitting into the whole Diablo lore.
@Trappist: I don't believe there will be a hunter , altho a Ranger would have all the skill a hunter should, just beacause they got a hunter in WoW.
And they say that passive skills in D3 will be at a minimum, just to avoid the paladin effect from D2: lots of auras, less stuff to click.

This thread's purpose is not really to discuss ideas for the ranged. It is intended to be more of a place to gather all of the ranged ideas in one place so that when the class is revealed we can see who was the closest to guessing it.

This thread's purpose is not really to discuss ideas for the ranged. It is intended to be more of a place to gather all of the ranged ideas in one place so that when the class is revealed we can see who was the closest to guessing it.


There is only nine days left until Blizzcon, make sure to get your guesses in on how exactly the ranged melee class will be. Lore, Looks, Origins, Skills. Do your best to guess what Blizzard is doing.

This thread's purpose is not really to discuss ideas for the ranged. It is intended to be more of a place to gather all of the ranged ideas in one place so that when the class is revealed we can see who was the closest to guessing it.


There is only nine days left until Blizzcon, make sure to get your guesses in on how exactly the ranged melee class will be. Lore, Looks, Origins, Skills. Do your best to guess what Blizzard is doing.

Seth has just approved that the winner of this contest will get their name added into the hall of trophies which can be seen by all. Let everyone know that you are a true Diablo fan and most accurately guessed the ranged class concept.

Quote from "scyberdragon" »

Seth has just approved that the winner of this contest will get their name added into the hall of trophies which can be seen by all. Let everyone know that you are a true Diablo fan and most accurately guessed the ranged class concept.

I though this tread was to creat the class the way you want it to be not to foresee blizzard's work.

It can be what you want it to be but the winner is the one who is closest to the actual Blizzard class. Nobody knows if Blizzard is going to go with a classic rogue type, a hunter, some sort of drifter, a darker class for the ranged. That is why every guess and idea is welcomed and has chance. You may think your idea is better but the winner of this contest is the person who's ideas resembles the actual class the most.

So what i purpose is that we take guesses on exactly what form this ranged class will take and after blizzcon we can see who was the closest at guessing the ranged class

Sorry if this was misleading.

6.do not copy anyone's idea. however, small subtle differences are o.k. and could make the difference on who was the closest. Class names are allowed to be the same.

Concepts can be similar with difference.

Maybe a desert class with traps or a desert hawk.. wink..wink maybe he wont have a shield spec.
maybe a ranger who has stealth or pets or no traps but more combat oriented.

there are many combinations that a ranged class can take, If you like my ideas than great but there are still tons of possibilities that others might think of. If you don't want to enter please do not post. This thread is meant for entries only and not discussion or debate.



PRIEST (An unlikely option but I think Diablo needs a "Holy" class)

Look: Small pieces of leather armor covered by a robe.

Origin: New Tristram

Lore: The priest had arrived in Tristram 2 years after the fall of Diablo. While many think the legend to be myth, The priest has witnessed the true devastation the monsters unleashed on the dreary town of Tristram. Eager to help the citizens to rebuild there once beautiful city, the priest has remained in New Tristram for the last 18 years. Now with the word of more destruction and evil approaching the Sanctuary, the priest has deiced to venture out of his new home and help others like him fight all that oppose their existence.



Skill Trees:
Faith - The priest's faith is his greatest ally in the battle field. Using Divine power to vanquish the monsters
Divine Intervention - Shoots a bolt of holy energy towards his target.
Exorcism - converts a monster to fight by your side for a short time.
Cross - A giant ethereal cross comes out of the priest smashing all monsters in front of him.
Angelic - The priests temporarily gains the powers of the angels increasing melee damage for x secs

Bows/Crossbows - The priest has trained himself to be quite capable with his crossbow that he carries on his side.
Divine Shot - imbues bolts/arrows with holy damage
Blind Faith - Guides arrow automatically to closest monster.
Cross Shot - shoots out bolts/arrows both in front and to both sides of the priest.
Holy Embrace - Shoots to additions holy arrows for each shot you take.

Inspiration - As a devout leader, the priest can encourage and help bolster his allies in the middle of the battle field.
Protection - The priests words help raise the defense of all allies
Healing words - The priests words can have soothing effects. Heals allies in a radius around the priest.
Righteous Power - Increases the damage of all attacks melee and magic.
Behold - A bright light emanates from the priest stopping all monsters from attacking.

Well, I'm ready to throw my time at this contest.

@Scyber - Some of your ideas are a little unrealistic. For example, Nomads that invade cities? I figured Nomads were nomadic so that they could continue their traditions in peace. What goal would they achieve in slaughtering city guards?

Skepticism aside - time to start.

The Witch Hunter

Origin: Lut Gholein

Lore: For the citizens of Lut Gholein, the assault from the Arcane Sanctum had proven to be a grim reminder of the power wielded by those who manipulated magic. The demons had rampaged their way through the palace harem, chasing down and slaughtering all humans who stood in their path. Luckily though, a hero had rushed in and stemmed the tide of evil, slaying the magician in charge of the assault and saving the city from imminent defeat. Despite the victorious outcome, the damage had been done. Dozens of women, many of them mothers, had been ruthlessly killed. The orphans were taken in and cared for by the surviving women, but many grew restless, desiring vengeance. Mentally scarred by the atrocities they had witnessed in the Harem, they joined the local sell swords, where they trained to become battle hardened soldiers capable of defending themselves. Yet, as the years went by, hatred for all things magical grew in their hearts. Within the mercenary ranks, they honed their combat skills, and a few pledged themselves to the hunt of those spellcasters who had robbed them of so much.

They became the Witch Hunters, warriors who dedicated themselves to keeping radical sorcerers and spell weavers in line.

Skill Trees

Gambits - Unlike other Assassins, the Witch Hunter rarely has time to set traps and must often think on the move. After all, a Wizard will likely flee for his life after catching a glimpse of the Witch Hunter.To compensate for this, the Witch Hunter is well-learned in both slowing poisons and violent explosives.

- Poison Missile - The Witch Hunter fires a explosive-tipped dart that detonates on contact, throwing poison into the air. The projectile both damages and poisons the target and those immediately around him. The poison slows those affected by 25%.

- Concoction Barrage - If ever the Hunter is caught in a tight corner by many foes, the last trick up his sleeve is to throw a hand held artillery barrage of explosive potions in a tight radius around him.

Imposing Stature - Being both dedicated and fearless, the Witch Hunters are skilled leaders and masterful warriors - using both bows and spears in combat. Combat, for them, is always retaining the element of surprise. With their imposing appearance, they inspire allies and strike fear into the hearts of foes.

- Tree contains both passive skills and auras -
(I'm a little tired to list examples of skills, I'll do them later.)

Combat Mastery - As hunters of those who wield the Arcane, it is understandable that the Witch Hunter has complete mastery of his tools.

Piercing Shot - The Witch Hunter fires a deadly dart, specially tipped to glide through flesh and bone and continue traveling.

Sweeping Strike - Using his spear, the Witch Hunter sweeps around him - either knocking back or slashing those foes caught in its path.

Whew, I figured I may as well tie a class in that could be a consequence of the events of Diablo 2.

Come on guys. Only 8 days to go to get your entries in. I know many of you have great ideas to enter.

THE MARTYR

Look: Leather armor covered in white linen. Face wraps making face indistinguishable.

Origin: The martyr has found a home in Lut Gohlein.

Lore: Born from both an Amazon and a Vizjerie Mage, The martyr had never belonged anywhere. Outcasted from the Isles of Skovos and never welcomed within the Vizjerie the Martyr has wondered Sanctuary looking for a home and a purpose. She has lived her life in disguise and vagueness to avoid any more redicule for her mixed origins. FInally settling in Lut Gohlein, The Martyr has trained herself both in her mother's amzonian strength and her fathers mage abilities. Never fully striving in either ability, the Martyr has learned to combine the two into a much more powerful technique. She has used her abilities to complete miscellaneous jobs for odd people in Lut Gohlein. Fed up with this pety work, The Martyr has decided to leave this town to find bigger and better things for her to use her gifts for. She has decided that there could be no better target than the monsters from Hell itself.

Trees:

Elemental - The Martyr uses her elemental skills to imbue her attacks.
Fire Starter - after hittine initial target the fire consumed by the target spreads to other nearby enemies.
Cold Burst - Inflicts the enemy with cold. When the target dies a burst of cold shoots from the target freezing all nearby enemies.
Lightning Strike - Lightning shoots through the target passing through the enemy and hitting all targets behind it.

Amazonian- She relies on the strength of her Amazon ancestry to boost her attacks
Spread shot - Able to shoot multiple arrows at a time she can shoot four arrows in front of here in a single shot.
Improved might - increases chance of critical strike
Valkyrie's Strength - increases damage by x% for the next 30 secs
Quick burst - hits target three times per each attack.

Obscurity - Living in obscurity her whole life, The Martyr has learned many valuable skills in staying hidden.
Far Shot - able to shoot a target far enough away that the target does not know where the shot is coming from. Causes the target to not target you.
Blindness - causes target to stop attacking you for x secs
In and Out - Instantly move in front of a target attacking it multiple times and then returning to your original spot.

Only five more days until Blizzcon. Get your entries in. All ideas welcomed.

-Possible SPOILERS colored BLACK-

I'm still dismayed over the disappearance of the necromancer, they should be the only nephalem who know the true purpose of the worldstone save bul'kathos and potentially the barbarian clans. That aside, I assume the new ranged class will have some degree of hybridity. Mayhaps something akin to the amazon since the witchdocter, wizard and barbarian are all at least variations of the necro, sorc and barb(-.-). The last book by Knaak, having taken place in Westmarch, leaves me to believe not only that the followers of Rathma now congregate somewhere to discuss the fall of karybdus but, given the amount of people there at the time the chances of a capable mercenary not joining the fight seems unlikely. (Props to The_Engineer and scyberdragon, I like your ideas!)

Armor: Anything short of tanking status as his/her speed and skill will depend on convenience. Though I expect he/she will be wearing a helmet at all times.

General skill-sets might include:
Auras: (General enhancement, luck, etc)
Ranged enhancement: (ballista, bow, throwing knives, etc)
Melee: (enhanced speed, dodge, swords)

I expect he/she will hail from Lut Gholein and therefore his/her appearance will resemble less of a poor nomad and more of a sikh (sort of a persian twist to balance out the enigmatic look of the wizard). Think, Naseeruddin Shah's version of Captain Nemo from the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but with more magic. The class would be a combination of the assassin and the paladin, utilizing auras and magic enhancements to annihilate targets with a flurry of ranged and melee attacks.

I'll spare you guys anymore rambling, if you read this far I appreciate it!

P.S. Regardless of whatever the remaining classes might be I am SO freaking excited to get even the slightest bit of closure this game might include. Diablo lore got me reading again. Thanks Blizzard and Co.!

1 day to go. Get your entries in.

TODAY IS BLIZZCON!!! You may still enter the contest up the release of the announced class. If the class is not announced today or tomorrow (Let us pray that we get a new class) this thread will remain open to entries until the ranged class is revealed.

Get all of your ideas entered. From the classic to the obscure. Nobody knows what Blizzard is planning for this class but your idea might closely match their decision.

Don't forget, the winner of this contest will be posted in Diablofans.com official Hall of Trophies.

PIRATE/BANDIT!(skill trees vary slightly, couldn't decide which i liked better, its up to you!)

PIRATE
Appearance: picture Johnny Depp only Meaner looking. Dread locks, loose baggy shirt and pants, greaves and gauntlets, light bits of armor shoulders/biceps, waist.

Origins: Skovos Isles

Lore: The pirate has bean raiding trading ships on route to kingsport and westmarch in the twin sea and ambushing trade caravans in the main land most of his/her life. Traveling to Caldeum to pawn off their loot. They have seen many creatures and demons throughout their travels and gained knowlgedge on how to defeat them.

BANDIT
Appearance: Covered from head to toe with camouflage clothing. (picture a ninja crossed with alladin:) ) light armour covers their chest and shoulders, wearing greaves and gauntlets aswell.

Origins: ???? somewhere in the dry steppes

Lore: The Bandits pick off easy unaware travelors making their way through the mountain pass in the dry steppes. They are expert tactitions and ambushers. Bandits spend their life as outcasts and know much about their surroundings allowing them to blend in to nearly invisible.

Class unique skills: Pirates can dual wield their class unique weapon (flintlock pistols)
Bandits have high critical hit bonuses

Skill Tree:
PIRATE
Canon and Grenade- pirates never play fair, they use these to gain an edge on their opponent.
BANDIT
Tactics and Stealth- Bandits strike swiftly and quietly, their prey is dead before they even know it.
BOTH
Ambush and Traps- Using their fellow bandits/pirates they set for unaware foes.
Experience(passive)- both having done and seen alot, they use their knowlage to defeat enemies.

Canon and Grenade:
Grenades- throws a powerful grenade with stun and knock back damage
Active reload(passive)- raises attack speed with pistols by X%
Dual shot- allows the pirate to fire both pistols
Precision- raises critical hit by X%
Mechanic(passive)- increases damage with pistols and grenades by X%

Tactics and Stealth
Camouflage- turn invisible for X time
Distraction- throw an object to distract your foes
Darts- throws darts at your opponent, High critical hit %
Flash bangs- throws flash bangs to stun your enemys
Diving strike- at lightning speed launch toward your foe
Vanish- use flash bangs to disappear and reappear anywhere on the screen

Ambush and Traps
Call for help- summons your fellow Bandits/Pirates to join the fight for X time
Ambush- lead your foes into a trap, summons several allies appear in the area to dispatch your enemies
Partner in crime- sommons an another Bandit/Pirate to join the fight
Quick sand- creates quicksand in an area to immobilize your foes
Pit trap- instant KO, enemy falls into a pit filled with spikes
Poison bomb- throw a flash bang filled with poison gas

Experience(passive)
Demonic speed- increase walk/run speed
Keen sense- warns of near danger
Favored Enemy- choose favored enemy class, increase dmg and vs favored class
Favored Weapon- choose favored weapon class, increase atk speed and dmg with favored weapon class
Sonic agility- enables you a chance to dodge an incoming attack

whelp, it would look like we didn't get our ranged class after all.
I'm going for a sort of druid/amazon Trees:
Ranged Damage
Animal Companion
Shapeshifting
The companion would be more powerful than the expendable WD summons, more like a hunter pet or the necro's golem.

simple: Bow, crossbow and some "guns".
sweet at all

The "Guardian" Class

The Guardian is kind of a mix between the Paladin and the Amazon with some Druid-ness thrown into it.
The current D3 classes don't have a lot of weapon variety, but the Guardian could use bows, crossbows, javelins, throwing knives, swords, clubs, shields, etc.
It wouldn't be a very "Holy" class (since we have the Monk now) but a bit of a mix between an armored knight and an archer.

Skill Trees:
Nature: Auras and nature-magic skills, possibly summons
Defense: Shield techniques, traps, and other defensive skills
Range: Bow skills, throwing weapon skills, etc.

The Guardian is a formidable opponent that can quickly adapt to his situation. He has many skills at his disposal while he has distance between him and his enemy, but when his enemies get close he can still protect himself while dealing some serious damage.