Barbarian is the ONLY class to return from D2 !

**SilverTears** · 08-25-2008, 02:02 PM

When Blizzard announced the first two classes in Diablo III, the Barbarian and the Witch Doctor, at least one fan of the series was taken aback by the class rehash. That would be me, for the purpose of this post. After enduring such a long wait for the third Diablo installment, why resuscitate the Barbarian, when there are plenty of perfectly good fantasy game archetypes still left to explore?

Diablo III lead designer Jay Wilson says the reason is simple. The Barbarian in Diablo II could've been better. He was a bit more diplomatic in his dissing, saying that the brute force attack class had "room for improvement."
There's one class that definitely won't be coming back for another appearance in Diablo III. And Wilson says that it was because that class was just shy of perfectly designed.

The Necromancer, he said, was simply a victim of his own success. He was just too well crafted as a character, something that Wilson's Blizzard design cohorts, current and former, likely don't mind hearing. Necro fans on the other hand, probably won't be too thrilled to learn of his disappearance, despite the Witch Doctor class's similarities.

Wilson says that there are absolutely no plans to bring back any other classes in the initial release, but, given that Blizzard wasn't breaking any news at Games Convention, wouldn't dish any details on what the remaining three classes will be.

We have a sneaking suspicion that Blizzard will take advantage of its own event, BlizzCon, to make such an announcement. (C'mon, Bard! We really want to serenade Diablo's minions to death.)

**Mathalamus** · 08-25-2008, 02:31 PM

good, we have a dire need for more charater types, even tho ill be playing only the barbarian

**BrioCloud** · 08-25-2008, 02:57 PM

Well. I wanted a Diablo II feel in Diablo III. I was very happy of the feel when Diablo III was released also thinking the characters will come back. I don't know if it will retain that feel with only the Barbarian as an old character.

I don't really know what I can think of if the old characters are gone. There aren't that many subjects of classes left. I think the classses might sound something like Guild Wars. I have just seen my little brother play it these past couple of days.

**Nethran** · 08-25-2008, 03:05 PM

I'm guessing that the sorceress will be broken down and put into multiple new classes.. prolly same with the pally. But since Barbs are the most ownage class of D2, I'm happy.

**Blue** · 08-25-2008, 10:37 PM

Diablo games have all been made up of the warrior, archer, and sorceress type characters. What would change that now?

**The Mob** · 08-25-2008, 10:51 PM

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
only the barb? damn it
and the necro was considered a perfect character?

**Mathalamus** · 08-26-2008, 01:15 AM

apparently. and a bug made it even more perfect (that was fixed in 1.11)

**SilverTears** · 08-26-2008, 04:18 AM

Originally Posted by The Mob

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
only the barb? damn it
and the necro was considered a perfect character?

Yeah lol, if necs are made right they are gg.

**Fuggle** · 08-26-2008, 11:39 AM

There's always a ranged bow user so I'll be whatever with w/e they throw at me in that category, assuming it doesn't have a pet nor uses traps like a certain other blizzard game class.

**The Mob** · 08-26-2008, 01:34 PM

i wonder if the same rune word will be there..
or will they make this game less item dependent? (like you can run through hell w/o ***ly items)

**Mathalamus** · 08-27-2008, 02:32 AM

id say items are required to kill waves after waves of bad guys from hell.

**pepereina1** · 08-27-2008, 09:30 PM

Hopefully the items will be more balanced/less runeword-dependent.

I've always liked barbs myself but mightn't be a bad thing that they're branching out....

**Nethran** · 08-27-2008, 11:18 PM

And hopefully(please people, dun hate me for this) leveling is slower. I could get to 50 in a day before... That shouldn't happen. There should be lower exp gain maxes after, say, level 10.

**FrogMan** · 08-28-2008, 12:28 AM

Things might be bought into balanced, Barb was good with perfect gear only though of course things like the hammerdin and lighting sorc were heavily over-powered PVE chars so we could say a = footing of everything but I dunno if people would like that.

**Blue** · 08-28-2008, 06:15 AM

Originally Posted by Kellard

And hopefully(please people, dun hate me for this) leveling is slower. I could get to 50 in a day before... That shouldn't happen. There should be lower exp gain maxes after, say, level 10.

Try leveling that hi the normal way? If people would of played the game right, it would of been much harder. I had a legit single player character, that made it to act4 only being a 24.

**Nethran** · 08-28-2008, 02:05 PM

It's easy to level the normal way, especially as a barba with WW or an orb/blizz sorce. You get with a bunch of people around your level, do the quests, then start hitting Diablo for drops, and before you know it you're level 30.. then you get to use your crazy cool skills and the monsters around your level aren't as much of a challenge.

I think it's too easy in multiplayer, but I remember single player was hard as crap.. Maybe they should change how exp is gained in a party, then.

**FraterPerdurabo** · 08-28-2008, 02:30 PM

Leveling alone is easier than it is in a group, especially if you are a caster and don't rely on good drops, such as weapons and bows. I think I finished act 2 as level 18, a few more levels in a3 et voila I was in act4. I think that the earliest I've finished a5 is 25.

**Blue** · 08-28-2008, 03:09 PM

Originally Posted by FraterPerdurabo

Leveling alone is easier than it is in a group, especially if you are a caster and don't rely on good drops, such as weapons and bows. I think I finished act 2 as level 18, a few more levels in a3 et voila I was in act4. I think that the earliest I've finished a5 is 25.

I really don't get this post, you start saying that leveling is easy alone, but harder in a group, then go off to say that even at a5, you still have yet to hit 30...

Kellard, I tend to agree that leveling is easier in parties, basically because you got that team work going on there, killing more monsters than may be normal, which now give more exp. However, if you keep running something, like Diablo repetitive amount of times, then you will level fast. Its like taking the easy way out.

But looking back on D2, I always saw that the harder difficulties were hard as hell for a sp, but were much easier for mp. I couldn't get my barb pass nm (I had really shit gear and couldn't find anything.)