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I don't understand why everyone has such a hate on for the Barb in D2. I had 2 HC barbs one was my farmer and very good at his job of Pindle and Meph runs but not all that challenging for all of his bonecracking power. The other one was most definately not a cookie cutter ... and that was my PKK toon. Throwing specialist (wierd huh?) never lost a single fight and could chew through sorc's in seconds, no spells touched him and could double throw javellins 10x faster than a 'zon.

If they diversify the trees more than d2 did the Barb will mostlikely be an extremely versatile toon to play and a good addition to a party. Anyone can build a cookie cutter ... it's fun to build something that no one expects and the barb had quite a few interesting build options that left PK's staring blankly at their screens wondering wtf happened. Anyone could find a Cruel polearm and 3 shot Meph in hell, but imagination reins and doing something with a class that everyone expects to suck is satisfying to the extreme.

If they were going to bring back a class from D2 it kindof HAD to be the barb. For a melee class it is one of the most versatile giving players the ability to make an armoured juggernaut or a lightning fast blender with equal ease. I for one thank them for bringing the Barb back for the simple fact that lots of people do have such distain for them that Barb's are underestimated at first glance for just long enough to have their foe's faces ripped off and handed back to them.

Heya,

Been a diehard Blizz fan from since D1 and have never stopped loving them. This has always been my favorite series they've made and can't wait for the new one to arrive. Played 'em all... WAY too much. WoW actually sucked my life away for a couple years and I'm really happy they're not making D3 a MMO.

Peace
-Ohm-

As far as the new mage class goes I strongly agree that the "elementalist" is played out but there are those people that will be crying themselves to sleep if they can no longer bunenate their foes and melt faces. As Blizz has stated they will be trying to add diversity of builds to character progression I believe we will see a generic magic user class that has the ability to specialize in 3 VERY different trees. Gone will be ther days of a fire tree, ice & lightning. I'm hoping to see an elemental tree, encompasing all elemental magic, an arcane tree specializing in temporal magic (telekenisis, raw magical force ect) and probably a support based tree offering AOE buff-like spells and supporting magic.

The new destructible environments give a new importance to telekenisis... how cool would it be to blink around the dungeon ripping down walls on mobs ... loading arcane power into another critter turning them into a timebomb and then blinking away to buff your party with support magic to watch them clean up what little you leave behind.

If Blizz takes the time to diversify their trees like they should we need not see another cookie cutter again in this game. I'm hoping to see at least 3 viable builds in each class that will work with the right party mix. The magic user will really dictate their phillosophy on diversification well so I for one am eagerly anticipating its reveal. I always had a Barb & 'Zon in D2 and hated the Sorc, cause it was boring, but if they do it right, I may just tryout a caster for once.