Official Blizzard Quote:
Synergies aren't being planned for nor are they expected. It's sort of a funny question, because broken down you're essentially asking "Are the skill trees in Diablo III going to be boring and require incentive to spend points in skills no one wants?" Ideally the answer to that is no. There are some other things going on too that make sure synergies even less of a necessity. Clear separation of active and passive skills, respecs, ... and MORE!
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Let's take at look at our old classes from Diablo 2 because I think they are very relevant for the future. Only the barbarian is returning. It means that if they want to do something original, they WILL have to mix those classes somehow.
We know right now that the Barbarian, the Witch Doctor and the Wizard are in Diablo 3.
Let's take a look at those classes :
The barbarian is a total reworking of the old one, so we can eliminate the old barbarian from our "idea pool".
The WitchDoctor looks like a mix of the Druid, Necromancer, and sorc. He uses a lot of wild animals to attack (frogs, bats, mongrels). He has a fire spells tree. He has spells looking like the curses of the Necro but transformed into AoE spells casted around the WD.
So we can eliminate the fire tree of the druid. I would go on and eliminate his metamorphose tree too because this tree is too archetypal and adding it back would be an instant "THIS IS A DRUID 2". Lets eliminate the fire tree of the sorc and the curse tree of the necro. Let's also eliminate the summoning tree of the necro because I think it is too archetypal too.
Now the Wizard. We knows that she uses lightning and cold spells. So lets go and eliminate the cold and lightning trees of the old sorc, leaving nothing. She also uses some sort of tornadoes, the devs said that a normal tornado looked dull. So, since the elemental skill tree of the druid was just that, lets eliminate it. Leaving nothing from the druid. She seems to use conjurations spells, a bit similar to the bone tree of the necro, lets eliminate it, but lets keep the poison part of that tree.
So we are left with some old classes :
The Amazon.
A poison tree.
An Assassin.
A Paladin.
Now since we know that we will be fighting heaven (Confirmed when the devs replied SOONER OF LATER) an holy class is impossible. It would be retarded to attack heaven with it's own power (Fist of HEAVEN, anyone ?). I think we can eliminate the holy part of the paladin because of that.
We know that the wizard is from Xiansai, leaving really no space for another asian influenced character (subject to discussion). So lets eliminate all the martial art stuff form the assassin.
Fourth class:
We saw a bow in the first gameplay trailer, so lets say this class will use it as a main weapon.
BOW TREE, nothing much to add here, really.
Now if I look a the spells we have remaining, traps look interesting. I think it would fit, because it would allow this class to do some elemental damage. I would prefer the traps to be real traps, not auto-firing sentries. Lets eliminate the bow tree of the Amazon.
TRAP TREE <--- Now they wouldn't call it that, hehe
Spells like a trap freezing enemies walking in it. Exploding traps. Poison traps. Mana burning traps. Cursed traps. Lots of possibilities here. Lets eliminate that tree from the assassin.
Now the last tree is hard. I will take the fact that we didn't see any sword in the trailers. The barbarian seems to use axes and hammers mainly, and one-handed. So lets do something original.
SWORD TREE
This would allow this class to be good in close combat by pressing the fast-switch button.
It would be easily imaginable skills for this tree. Eliminate it from the paladin?
The last class :
After seeing all those classes, I saw that something is left almost unused too. Not only the swords, the SHIELDS too. The WD is using shields but it's the only one, can't be like that really, or a shield drop would be an instant Wd drop. So I think that last class should be a shield user.
Now there is something that really interested me :
That "npc" from the caldeum city. Most of you will agree with me when I say it is really argueable that this is a new class. However, it fits really well with what is remaining.
1) He uses a shield.
2) He uses a spear.
3) Lore wise, being from caldeum can give use a great opportunity to learn more about this region.
Using a spear gives him a great personality. So Let's begin :
DEFENSIVE TREE
Now I had to add a tree making use of the shield. Let's say he enchants his shield.
He would be able to cast one enchantment at a time on his shield so that the monsters hitting it would be effected.
Maybe an enchantment like thorn, returning physical damage.
Maybe an enchantment returning magical damage.
returning arrows
immobilizing the monsters.
etc
(Taking a bit of the aura of the paladin here)
SPEAR TREE
This tree would be really offensive and physical, like piercing skills and swirling skills. Head crushing and etc.
SPEAR/MAGIC TREE <-- Those names mean nothing, it's just to help you understand hehe
Now this class need some skills that are more ranged. So lets not make the spear throwable, would not be really original. Instead, lets use the spear a bit like a staff. Using it to shoot magic spears made of fire, cold, lightning maybe. Or a skill where he hits the ground to hard that a shockwave is created. You get my point.
This is it, you can replace all "Skill" by "Talent" since that is how they are called now. Nothing here is set in stone, so if you think that something is stupid or unrealistic lore-wise or logic wise, then reply.
Edit:
fixed some typos
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I note this and I will shout some insult at you when they show more screenshot of shoulderpads and more pieces of armor with huge shoulderpads.
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I stopped reading there, enjoy writing your post for nothing. I am now adding you to my ignore list too, good stuff.