Its just days until the next blizzcon, and these past days Diablo 3 has suddenly given me more excitement than SC2 did a year ago. Anyway, I'm taking a wild guess on the next character class but before that lets have a brief summary of what classes are already in the game and their roles. * Barb - pretty much the same tanker and great raw dealer, but furtherly developed to have different kinds of paths. This class was public enemy number 1 for D2 fans, being the only revamped & rebuffed class. * Witch doctor - somewhat, comparable to the roles that the necromancer had, only this time we go taboo version. His skills right now aren't fitting for him btw especially summoning the undead, i.e. zombie dog/wall, its too much necroish. * Wizard - ahhh, this was the most interesting class for me so far, for being so much like what a dungeons & dragons wizard type should be. Getting those arcane spells path really signifies wizardry. Check out diablo-source.com for the current skill tree for each class. ------ Now, a recent rumor said that fans are gonna get mad at blizzard again for this next character. For this reason, we can say that another D2 class is going to be revamped. Since we got the Barb/Sorc/Necro roles already, then we can assume that we are looking forward to either 1 of the other remaining 5 classes. My possible guesses: A. Cleric - being the successor of the paladin class, I couldn't think of anything else better to suit the path of justice other than this one, considering how many branches of clerics there are. I'm really looking forward to have this character, being able to buff/debuff and also gaining access to divine magic that is far advanced than a paladin would have. B. Ranger - bows, xbows, ranged weapons, this is an essential class of most RPGs and certainly this one will make an appearance, but only this time, this will not be a half baked bow-user like the amazon was. And further more, a ranger should have access to nature magic or possibly animal companions. Can we imagine the great Dr. Van Helsing as an example here? C. Half Angel/Demon - now, even if this is just a guess, it would make sense now for angels or demons to partake in this new realm, knowing that it was the side effect of having the world stone destroyed. If the cleric would not be designed then I think that this is a good alternative for the cleric, a class gaining either angelic/demonic powers. This class would also be suited to have proficiency using spear type weapons. D. Alchemist! - this class would be the unorthodox unit type like the druid in its sense of being very flexible. This class simply just fits the game being an open-ended type of unit gaining mysterious powers without relying magic. He could have access to morphs, transmutations, chemicals, conjurations etc. Just simply unique imo. E. Rouge/Thief - there's always the speedy type character of course and nothing suits best than this class. No further explanations necessary. Basically this will be the assassin of the game, having traps and martial arts proficiencies. -- a monk type unit is also possible but the cleric has already taken the good-willed warrior of the game.
Personally, I reckon there are two likely scenarios. The first is that they won't reveal a class this time. Basically, from my limited recollection of what's been said, they've clarified that an event doesn't mean they'll reveal a class, and that they're far from completing both the unannounced classes, including art, which would make revealing one particularly hard. Remember that they are most likely going to release the rest of the Witch Doc's spells and abilities regardless of other announcements, and the entire arsenal of the Witch Doc plus what is most likely going to be the entire arsenal of a brand new class would truly be a massive announcement, so it's highly unlikely. The second is that they'll reveal the ranged class, regardless of the direction they've taken it in, because if they decide to announce the other class at BlizzCon, everyone's basically going to know what the remaining class will bring. As for the Witch Doc's spells, I don't see how they aren't suited to him. The Doc's all about voodoo, and that's practically all revolve near-exclusively around a voodoo style theme. The only real 'undead' that the Witch Doc deals with so far are the Mongrels and the Zombie Wall, and even those have been given a huge tribal direction. To me, the Witch Doc simply represents a fun character to play. It often looks as though game designers focus too much on trying to make something awesome, and end up forgetting about making it fun. This is why I'm looking forwards to Torchlight so much, and it's why, to me, the Witch Doctor seems like such a great character.
Yeah, that could be possible for them to do. But even if it's 99 out of 100 that a range class will be revealed, there is always still a possibility of having it the other way around. And in that scenario I can see that it could be Blizzards trap to elude us into thinking that we should expect the range class. There are still lots of unveiling to do here and they could go anywhere whichever order they desired. Hell, Diablo isn't been sighted in the game considering this is his Franchise. Regards the Docs case right now, that is one possibility that they would do. In a way, he really needs the treatment for his own.. good right now. But if its about skills, then it's the same case as for the other two classes since neither have been finalized at the moment. Considering how they do their conferences, they always bring us huge surprises, and it wouldn't be totally blizzardish if they just give you minimal updates for something that only happens once a year. Though it is good to know more about the other three, it just wouldn't be as cool as knowing what that mystery class is.
lol cleric, i had to say that. I personally want a shapeshifter hybrid of sorts. Kinda like the druid was, maybe with some other cool features. The witch doctor was a blend of the necro and sorceress, so maybe the new unit will be a blend as well?
BLIZZCON 2009! AUGUST 21-22, 2009 "WHAT IS BLIZZCON? BlizzCon is a celebration of the Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo franchises and the communities that surround them. This two-day event will contain Q&A panels featuring Blizzard Entertainment developers, social events for players and developers to meet one another, and hands-on gameplay featuring your favorite Blizzard Entertainment games." http://www.blizzard.com/blizzcon/
I think there is going to be some type of holy warrior and some type of ranger. There just staple classes that have made it into so many games. There cant be a midevil game made by blizzard without it having some class using a bow.
A holy warrior isn't really a class, it's an art style, so it's not really a definite. Seeing as they're aiming for new, more dynamic and interesting classes, I'd be surprised if there was the a holy warrior again. It's not really a staple class, or at least not one of the essentials. The only real essentials would be the melee, ranger and spellcaster, purely to fill all the weapon types.
i still think there going to have a class melee or spellcaster that is impowered by "the light" The only reason i'm saying this is because i have been playing world of Warcraft for a good 2 years now. Change after Change and the things blizzard has done has not surprised me much anymore. They have yet to break there own stereotype in my eyes.
i'm hoping for some kind of "engineer" (maybe combined with alchemist?) class. throws home-made bombs, poison gas, maybe even has a primitive rifle of sorts. even larzuk in D2 was thinking of making them... 20 years later, maybe someone has!
@ i2new. That's why Diablo3 appears to be different. Diablo1, Diablo2, World of WarCraft, even WarCraft3, all of them follow the stereotypes. With Diablo3, they're physically aiming to break out and create new, unique characters. That's where we're getting characters like the Witch Doc and Wizard from. We haven't really seen anything like the Witch Doc before in terms of style and art direction, and it is, really, the new Necromancer, the only real difference being that no-one would say the Witch Doctor is evil, dark or Gothic. The only change is in the art direction. Diablo and WarCraft have always had this 'dark' class, with the possible exception of Diablo1 which only had the staple classes and nothing else. In Diablo3, this has been taken over with another style. To be dark, nothing about the Witch Doc would actually have to be changed, in that it's purely to do with the art, animation and names of both him and his abilities. Here it's apparent that Blizzard has broken its own stereotype. The same holds for the 'holy' class. It's only created through the art style, so there are no abilities dependent on something being considered holy. Because of this, and because of Blizzard wanting to have more unique styles of classes, there's nothing to suggest that a holy class will be included at all, especially when the lore of the Heavens are being explored deeper in Diablo3, and a possible corruption or influence that would force the 'holy order' or whatever to change, when, in game, that's not possible. Overall, the holy class is not a safe bet. I'm not saying it won't be included, but it really seems like an unnecessary inclusion which would purely be made for the sake of being generic in adhering to a stereotype.
i liked the first diablo because it was sweet and to the point. You could be a sorcerer, a guy who was good at magic, but not a hand to hand combatant. You could be a warrior, a guy who fought well hand to hand and didn't rely on weapons and wasn't the best with casting speed. Or, you could be a rogue, a sorta in between and physical distance either with decent spell/hand to hand combat. I liked it, really, because it fit into the story. You were some ragtag person who wanted to help stop the evil, so ofc you're not some class or breed of high tech char. I didn't get Hellfire, so I'm not sure about the monk and whatever the other class was. I know no BG on them, or even what they were good at, so I'll ignore that. In D2 there was more background to the characters, though i think it was a bit waster. I read the character descriptions in the manual and they were a bit hard to follow mainly because they never put it there in the game. you were just supposed to know the necromancer was to kill stuff, but you never learned via game that he wasn't evil or that he comes from the order and is trying to restore balance. Or that the Amazons are an all female race, etc. I guess the point I'm trying to make isn't so much as i care about what Blizz is doing art or class wise. Maybe i'm wanting too much depth, but i wish the class would incorporate a bit better, or that they'll actually take actual mention of it, or the classes/races will play some part in the game lore. not just, this is the BG for the characters now let's ignore it and not care for the rest of the game kinda thing. And as you say, Hex, holy and evil and dark are all the stereotype things. That's what I've liked about Diablo, the characters are (not to say generic) but really just there and not fitting into any group, really. The necromancers aren't evil despite raising the dead, the assassins aren't dark despite being assassins, etc etc. It's in the art style a lot, like you say. But I personally think Blizzard should work on, as i said, making the actual background for the characters in the game instead of worrying so damn much about the art. Heck, yeah, it's going to be awesome and graphics matter a lot. but if Blizz really wants to step it up, i think they should do something different and put meaning behind the classes instead of just 'this one has magic and summoning for those of you who like to explode and watch your minions maul' and 'this is a hand to hand BA fighters for those of you who are twelve and want to rip things apart with your bare hands' kinda thing. I personally wonder why they made a Wizard, too, because they already have a semi magic caster in the witch doctor. We'll just have to see how that plays out. What I really want to see, and i think is likely, is a kind of magical melee fighter, or just a melee fighter of sorts. Not charge in and obliterate like the barb, but something with counters and quick attacking instead of just for power. that's why i think a shapeshifter would be cool, though i doubt it'd fit into diablo lore, not sure. they'd be good to shift style and flexible to either be a form like the druid's werewolf for quick attacking and a lot of life when swarmed, or a werebear for brute force when it's just stronger enemies and not in as large of numbers. I don't know, just my thoughts ^ ^
Agreed! I never undestood why the sorceress uses all this fancy magicks stuff instead of just hacking things with a hatchet.
because hatchets only get you so far before they get stuck in a carapace of an enemy, like the lgithning beetles @_@ that's why you need fire. BURN!!
