Kevin Spiess - Friday, October 10th, 2008 | 10:02AM (PT)
Magically...unsurprising
The secret is out. The third new class revealed for Diablo 3. The new class is most classic of Tolkien fantasy archetypes: the Wizard.
Yes, the Wizard. Many Diablo fans suspected as much -- after the Barbarian, and the Witch Doctor, a big gap in the class landscape was a character class focused on using magic, like the Sorcerer in previous Diablo games. What's the difference between a Wizard and a Sorcerer, you might wonder? Even if I knew the answer to that one I would not mention it -- that'd be way too nerdy to even put into writing.
Like Starcraft 2, it looks like Blizzard is committed to the theory that if something works, there is not much need to change it. It looks like they are sticking to the standard fantasy classes: we have the Barbarian, the pure melee fighter; the Witch Doctor, which will take care of the 'pet' class, replacing the Necromancer of Diablo II; and now the Wizard.
Really, you pretty much need an all magic class for Diablo 3. All the fans pretty much expected him to show up, it was just a matter of win.
Now that we have three out of five classes down, let's take a stab at the remaining two.
A long-range fighter seems like a good choice. Something along the lines of the Hunter, or Ranger. Something that uses bows. Perhaps throw in some traps. That'll be the fourth class.
The fifth class I think is the only big wildcard in Diablo 3. Once all the bases have been covered (magic user, warrior, etc) then the Blizzard guys will put their creative hats on.
My personal vote would be for an Alchemist. This dude would us pole-arms and staffs for his weapons. And he'd make potions. And bombs. And maybe a side-kick golem or two.
However the safe bet for Blizzard would be a Knight or Paladin. A holy fighter kind of dude that can swing sword and heal and banish stuff. Seems like a likely choice.
Update: Wizard's skill trees: Conjuring, Arcane, Storm. Some spells: Time slow/stop, teleport, disintegration (that's the red beam in the shots below), some sort of tornado spell, magic missile, mana increase (increases drop rates of mana-fill potions/globes, duplicate (makes a clone of yourself), magic shield, magic weapon damage increase.
According to hands-on session on DIII.NET, the skill trees look fantastic -- they have many different skills and ability tiers, and there should be tons and tons of different character builds you'll be able to do.
Surely Diablo III is going to rock. Personally I wish I never heard of it -- I wish it just came out one day all of sudden, because I'm going to be looking forward to this one for a long time, it looks like.
For you D3 news needs, I recommend www.diii.net -- they'll be live-blogging Blizzcon Diablo news today.
I like the idea of the alchemist, kind of combine the paladin and the necromancer. It probably will be a paladin type, but they might change the name to something like "cleric" or "knight" or something.
What's the difference between a Wizard and a Sorcerer, you might wonder? Even if I knew the answer to that one I would not mention it -- that'd be way too nerdy to even put into writing.
And yet you follow this up with a bunch of paragraphs on specialty classes and skill trees! Say hello to bachelor life, Kevin, it's a long and lonely road.
Say hello to bachelor life, Kevin, it's a long and lonely road.
Haha. I'd never use 'wizard' and 'sorcerer' in the same sentence when talking to a woman I'd like to get to know better... Unless she is some sort of freakishly attractive nerdy-type woman -- in which case I'd be speechless, of course.
Jessica Chobot? I'm not nerdy enough to know who that is >_>
As far as the difference between Wizard and Sorcerer, I think it mostly comes down to technique. Sorcerers usually use more arcane spells, and spells that usually require sort of tools/ingredients. as opposed to Wizards, who usually just throw out their hands and go "Poof, you're extra crispy now" and such.
Traditionally, I think anyhow.
Some people/companies/writers use the terms Sorcerer and Wizard interchangibly.
Seriously this is starting to look like a kids game with those screenshots. The female wizard reminds of those witches in the little kids movies like 100 Dalmatians or Pinocchio. I will probably still end up buying it, but its disappointing.
Edit: Okay I just saw the video and I feel a little better now. There are some epic things going on. I guess I just don't care for some of those bright parts. Those screenshots really don't do the game justice. Plus the game is still probably early in development.
They really should bring back the necromancer. Bringing back the dead is awesome. Although they might not because of the lag issues it caused on the Blizzard servers for Diablo 2.
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