Necromancer was my favorite class. I'll miss it but I'll still get Diablo 3. Witch Doctor is similar, but just isn't the same imo.

kojirodensetsu

I wanna see the samurai class...having multiplayer skills like commiting hari kari when you're life runs out to ruin the monsters around you yoshimitsu style.

Megalomatthew

That sucks, the Paladin and Druid were my favorite classes.

AEREC

@exkon: I would just think the female barb would kind be the amazons replacement.

Megalomatthew

Wish Blizzcon would get here sooner.

Majpain007

I used Paladin, Necro and Barbarian in Diablo II and I am pretty good with all of them. I wonder what other classes they can bring to Diablo III

Kai200X

I really wouldn't mind seeing new classes. It makes it so that the game actually seems more... like a NEW game instead of just an update.

Hoping for a Ninja class!

suya123

@rupinderpaul: Really? You really want Blizzard to die in a fire for doing the same thing they did when they transitioned from D1 to D2? Perhaps you think the game should be made by UPS, so that you can see what brown can do for you and your Diablo.

sarcasmOD

@SpishackCola: Nerfed? Shaman!?

Aye Mak Sicur

McWhertor -- What you're saying is actually pretty feasible. In fact I remember there used to be a barbarian build that used nothing but the shout and battlecries. Hard to do but very rewarding if done correctly

Sparx

@SpishackCola: I don't care if you play the game or use the CD as a coaster. Bitching is bitching, and when the issue doesn't particularly move me the way it does some people it's fun to watch.

sarcasmOD

im with you McWhertor, a bard would be awesome.

stryker1800

@EnigmaNemesis:

well to be perfectly honest the witch doctor does have similar aspects to the necro but at the same time takes elements from other classes as well. The witch doctor is just a hodge podge of a character. D3's version of the platypus if you will

Sparx

I'm partially shocked cause I'll miss mah Sin, but I'm also glad cause it'll really be it's own game.

vid3oman64

@Aye Mak Sicur:
That's until they get nerfed next patch.

SpishackCola

@Jext:

Oh and Witchdoctor = Necro, duh!

No shit, I cant see why people on here or on the web just dont see that ... they have the same skills for crying out loud.

EnigmaNemesis

It sounds like everybody that's upset just wants diablo 2 with better graphics.

"BUT I WANT MY ZEAL/FANATACISM PALADIN"

Play Diablo 2 then..

whitey9

No druid?

C'mon, the druid class is the only class I play all the way up to Hell Difficulty!

XdragonSB

Well, the lack of Necro sucks. Most especially because that was my whole life in D2. But once the game comes out, im sure I'll find some other class thats awesome. Witch Doctor did look promising~

Cronoking

People shouldn't be getting so bent out of shape abotu not having their characters. More than likely it'll be abotu the same classes just with a name change and upgraded skills. Like perhaps the amazon becomes a trapper, or the paladin becomes a lancer/dragoon, or the sorceress becomes an elementalist. Even if you played as a necro the witch doctor seems like a good replacement. Remember, this is Blizzard, how often do they let their fans down? Chances are the new classes might be better than what you're crying about losing

Sparx

Good! NEW classes! Why is everyone acting like the D2 classes have been in both Diablo games? D1 and D2 did not have the same classes, so who gives a shite?

Oh and Witchdoctor = Necro, duh!

Jext

To me, the Witch-Doctor just doesn't sound as cool as the Necromancer.

Oh well, I'm still insanely impatient for the game anyways and it'll be fun learning some new classes.

Thief

@phorty40:
well, if you think back to D1 none of those classes made it into D2. They had some similarities but they pretty much started over. Doing that again between D2 and D3 sounds par for the course. Or am I the only one with a memory long enough to realize that was the case?

Mommar

Nice to hear the perfection of the Necromancer class! Too bad it won't be back. Actually I'm really sad about this. And I'm not even emo!

formina

@Sparx:

So true. I never played DII the first time around and picked it up. Knowing zero about the game, I started with the barbarian to allow me to both learn the game and not die constantly.

JapJay

What?!

No Sorc/Amazon? :(

hamandcheeseUK

Who cares what classes they bring back? Everyone's just going to roll Shaman anyway.

Aye Mak Sicur

@Placentasaurus:

A guy with all telekinetic and psychic powers could be one of the coolest things ever. Just create a PK storm that tosses everyone and everything in the room in a huge whirling vortex. Fun stuff.

Shape shifter was KIND of done with the Druid class in Lord of Destruction. Though he could only transform into two separate things.

Steampunk engineer? While I don't know if it would fit, it could be extremely cool despite itself.

PapaBear434

@mii_the_people:
Taken from Wiki:
"In some versions of the myth, no men were permitted to have sexual encounters or reside in Amazon country; but once a year, in order to prevent their race from dying out, they visited the Gargareans, a neighbouring tribe. The male children who were the result of these visits were either put to death, sent back to their fathers or exposed in the wilderness to fend for themselves; the females were kept and brought up by their mothers, and trained in agricultural pursuits, hunting, and the art of war."

darekkhort

I've stopped playing D2 because I picked up Titan Quest. 20$ off steam including the expansion.. well worth it. It's like they took everything that you wanted in D2 but didn't get, and put it in this game.

wicko

@mii_the_people:

In Amazonian times, they would kidnap men from nearby villages, mate with them, and then usually kill them.

Paustinj

oh gawd. if the art direction had fans feeling alienated what will they do now that pally's, sorc's , zon's and necros wont be back?

in all for change but damn if this isnt a radical one .

its the equivalent of them just keeping the terran in Starcraft3 and saying the zerg and protoss had reached their pinnacle in games 1&2 , its just wrong

phorty40

Argh, I loved necromancers. No more Javazons makes me sad too...

At least the Witch Doctor looks cool, and I'm sure the other classes are fine too :P

mfwahwah

@sarcasmOD:
Uh, I'm gonna buy and play the hell out of the game no matter what. I always play every class in dungeon crawler style games, whether they are new or not. I'm sorry that I can't convey a joking tone perfectly in a text-based medium.

If you must know, I also loved the druid (second fav after amazon overall) in the D2 expansion. Would you like me to freak out him not returning as well?

SpishackCola

Wait... this isn't a remake?

I love it when people slam games for being "1.5" instead of a sequel, and then slam games that are different from their predecessors too.

Make up your minds, people!

elevenoverzero

Well that's a shame, as the Necromancer was my favorite class in Diablo II. Honestly, as long as I can use a spell that summons a gigantic spear of bone that lances through creeps like a railgun shot, I don't care what they call the class that casts the spell.

Atheist Jew

Man....

No Paladin or Necro...go die in a afire blizz.

rupinderpaul

I want to regain the thrill of teleporting across vast areas and hunting down the best equipment with a Sorceress again! Oh sod it, I'll just play D2.

Varone

I hope the new classes are really unique, not some cliched shit like a beastmaster or something else that's been done in every other hack n slash game. I want a Samurai, a steampunk engineer, maybe a psychic, or a shapeshifter, or some kind of badass desert nomad. Though some of those might not fit in Diablo all the way.

Placentasaurus

OMG!!! MY $FAVORITE_THING_FROM_EARLIER_GAME IS NOT GOING TO BE IN $SEQUEL_TO_EARLIER_GAME! $DEVELOPER IS RUINING MY LIFE!

adocious

@SpishackCola: Watching you fanboys squirm is half the fun of the announcements for this game.

sarcasmOD

That kind of sucks about the Necro. I had a friend that had a necro called Mr. Spooky that could practically three shot Bale.

Personally, I was partial to the Druid. I like to be the healer/support class in almost every game (guess it makes sense I am an EMT, eh?) In WoW, I played a healing Druid too.

So, yeah, as long as they have some sort of healer, that will be me.

PapaBear434

Man, bard would be awesome.

okor

if male zons dont exist, how do the females reproduce? cloning?

mii_the_people

@NeoTurbo: Same here... loved his style of play more than any other class.

OtisElevator

WTF? No! I want my Javazon! Oh, someone is gonna need a kick in a crotch at Blizz HQ.

SpishackCola

they should add in a ranger, wizard, zealot, ninja, and shapeshifter.

Cucco

Cmon... they gotta have some kind of sorceress!

wicko

@NeoTurbo: Me too. Righteous slaughterer of the undead!

freakout

@NeoTurbo: Agreed. Loved playing as a Paladin in D2, always fun to build a nice zeal/fanatism build. :D

Tieowbeijas

Well another reason they need to keep around the barbarian or any simple warrior class like that is for people to get the hang of the game. Typically the newer players will start off melee (like in any game really) and then when they feel comfortable they'll expand to create new characters such as the witch doctor or caster/ranged fighter

Sparx

I personally really enjoyed the Assassin class from the Expansion.

Mommar

But..but I wanted my Pally back! T__T

NeoTurbo

Interesting...the only class not coming that makes sense would be the Amazon...since you know..male Amazons don't exist...

exkon

No Necromancer? Cue insane angry 'fan' petition in 3...2...1...

Insomnia Bob

Oh please ... the Necromancer (insert Witch Doctor here) has returned.

EnigmaNemesis

Blackguard? Please? :(

Candlejack

@Shockadin: Yes and No.
Pallies had auras in D2.
Druids.... can't heal in D2.

It's quite different. There are some borrowed ideas though. But the greatest difference is that each class is designed to be able to complete the game on their own.

Whereas in WoW classes are designed to complement each other in groups to complete the quest.

i.roboto

in related news, my d2 barb is sucking about, even though he just hit lvl 30. anyone got any good builds/ideas? im running with a pally, necro and sorcerer, and i hate being dead weight.
sitting on like 12 skill points till i figure out what to do.

TheIrishNinja

@Gunhaver:
Uhhh, did you play either of the first two games? Might want to count how many there were. Besides, with smaller numbers they can flesh out the jobs much better then having say 20 jobs.

Evil_Monkeys

@mii_the_people:

they mate with the males than kill them when they're done :)))))

tooji

@Placentasaurus: The new classes could be Amputee, Pastry Chef, and Pregnant Teen and I'd still be all the hell over this game.

The samurai horse is pretty well-beaten, I think, but steampunk has some possibility. Ooh, a special attack could be four spider arms ripping out or the guy's back and adding powers of mobility. I'd like to see that. And zeppelin air strikes, of course, but who wouldn't want to see that?

Narsil

Five classes? that blows. I'm going to miss my old DB II favourites :(.

Cyborgmatt

@Gunhaver: Tell you what. You should walk right up to Blizz HQ, confront the lead developer on DIII, and tell him that you think he is being lazy with his classes. I hope he punches you in the face. In a nice way, of course.

sarcasmOD

Why the HELL are there only gonna be five classes? Even the stunted hero system in WC3 had four heroes per faction, not to mention the neutral recruitables. This just sounds lazy.

Gunhaver

The only blizzard game I have ever played was WoW and it's two expansions, well WOTLK only on beta... anyways are the druids and pallies in WoW the same as they are in Blizz's other RPGs or like them?

Shockadin

I'll really miss my assassin.

Dalren

Well then why aren't they bringing back the paladin? He was completely broken which would mean he was poorly designed, no?

Krytha

I miss the Rogue. Amazon just didn't cut it in diablo 2.

ila

Man, gonna miss Sommer, my Lvl 76 with an armor that Diablo and Mefisto feared on Nightmare, xDDDDD

Man, i hate that I lost my Blizzard ID :'(

Well, lets see whats comming besides the paladins, the assasin, the amazon and the sorcerer

KristenBal

@PapaBear434:

No doubt. Accountant's Death by Numbers attack also can make mobs brains explode. Its so OP.

Meohfumado

@Meohfumado:

Legal Assistant! OH! Awesome Papercut Storm!

But seriously, don't fuck with the Soccer Mom's Minivan Road Rage attack.

PapaBear434

People say Necro sucked. But only 5 CLASSES? WTF.

Furude

So the Necromancer was perfect, so they didn't want to bring back perfection? Huh? Am I missing something here?

This makes me want to buy Diablo 2 just so I can get some Necromancer goodness. Get that uber-army of skeletons going!

Quilt

I love it when people second-guess Blizz...

When was Blizz's last video game bust?

(that made it to market that is...not talking Starcraft: Ghost or Warcraft Adventures or anything else they've scuttled)

I've always gotten my money's worth with Blizz. I don't see how this will be any different even if the classes are Soccer Mom, Accountant, Pastry Chef, Alter Boy, and Legal Assistant.

Meohfumado

If they are gonna put Ninjas in D3, maybe they can put pirates in there too.

konchy

What? I know that Jay doesn't liek the darker grittier elements of Diablo 2. Maybe the removal of dark deathly skeletony necromancer is jsut an extension of that? Wee! We might as well add in the Carebears and Teletubbies into the mix of playable characters

konchy

Ok, now that you mention Bard. That would be awesome, seriously awesome. I want to play eddy vanhalen riffs with killer rainbows flooding the screen, causing the enemies to drown in their own futility.

suntorytime

I am going to buy the game no matter what.

That being said... RIP my poor Assassin! Cloak 'em and smoke 'em was my favorite bit of that game.

ArgentAngel

Blizzard survives the nuke by merging WoW classes into Diablo 3:
- Mage (As an alternative to the sorcs of the prev games; allows them to remove Teleport from the game while keeping an elemental caster)
- Hunter (with Pets, traps, and bows/crossbows)
- Shaman (totems instead of the pally auras, wolf transformation for run speed, and weapon chants "so that Blizzard can bring back the under-used Enchant"

But seriously, I'm guessing that the classes will be hybrids like the Witch Doctor for all 3 of the new classes.

elagothro

I always wanted a gunslinger..

Prathik

I see... this game is MOF (Made of Fail aka Weak Saunce aka... well you get the rest)... I have officially lost interest (but it saves me from buying a new PC). Thanks Blizzard!

domain

It actually makes sense. With the jump from Diablo to Diablo 2, we lost the three classes from Diablo 1 because the entire leveling and skill system was changed. We don't know the number of changes from the 2 to 3, but if they're large enough to force a character redesign then it makes sense.

But if they don't include classes just because they feel they're 'already too developed' then that is just silly. You have designers that are being selfish because they want to create work for themselves. If the class designs are so perfect, what prevents Blizzard from simply dumping them unchanged into Diablo 3?

And if the reason for that is a change in gameplay mechanics which would require Blizzard to rebalance that class (which I'm pretty certain is the case) then why not do their best to fix the class after they've already implemented all their new fancy classes?

If Diablo 3 plays like Diablo 2 and has the same leveling system, they have no real excuse to remove those classes.

jbiller

The reason its a dumb idea to bring the necromancer back (if you consider it near perfect) is because there's nothing to change! Either it gets messed up, or you dont make any changes and then whats the point of having D3 if its just going ot be D2 with higher graphics? Are they just supposed to be cut and paste with the talents and skills? Probably not a very fun project to work on. So its out.

Also, saying that the classes in D2 "were Diablo" to you is pretty silly considering that they not only added extra classes in expansions, but in the first game (which is the whole reason we HAVE diablo 2) NONE of those classes made it to the sequel.

Its pretty natural that after all this time, people are very attached to their characters. But its time to move onto bigger and better things. If i wanted to play D2, i'd install the damn game, not force blizzard to remake it.

vicryixiv

This has been a subject of debate on the BNet forums for weeks. My personal predictions for the three remaining classes are:

-a melee/support character like the Paladin was; one who's more reserved in combat abilities than the Barbarian, and supports the party through Auras. Auras are such a great mechanic for team play that even if Blizzard isn't bringing back the Paladin, they'll be bringing back his Auras. No doubt about it.
-a full-on spellcaster ala Sorceress and Sorcerer. My original thoughts were that they'd be bringing both back as a unified class under a new name, but this statement just sort of killed that prediction. So it likely won't be the Sorcerer/Sorceress PER SE, but it'll be fairly similar. Perhaps with some potential for melee combat so that Blizzard can bring back the under-used Enchant.
-a bow user, like the Rogue and Amazon, but with a bigger emphasis on tool usage in addition to bow skills. Could possibly even have the Assassin's traps.

Also, it's been mentioned that they're not opposed to bringing older classes back in Diablo III's expansion, so hope for Necromancer fans is not lost just yet...

GhostWhoWalks

Trying to think of the most broken necro build... hmmm..

Give a summoner Enimga (ability to teleport)
Give his mercanary a runeword polearm with offensive auras
Teleport next to a someone and ur minions all attak at once dealing damage as a single blow. A well rounded one too, since u get melee skeletons, mage skeletons with ele dmg, and u can revive almost any monster in the game to help u out too. depending on the gear, that can be up to like 50+ creatures attacking per teleport.

Thats the only broken necro build I can think of.

Grandreaper999

Druid and Sorceress ftw!!! It's sad that they probably won't be back in D3 but I'll survive.

Honestly, I never really liked the Necromancer or the Amazon so I could give a shit if those came back. Besides the Witch Doctor is basically a remake of the Necromancer so hopefully I'll get a Druid and Sorceress remake.

KEFIOX

Fuck, I need my paladin... or some other Holy motherfucker to lad down a smack down on 'em demons.... errr.... I mean strike down with great vengeance...

mergedwarrior

Classes announced for Diablo III: Death Knight, Warlock and Pandaren Brewmaster!

resvrgam

There's been a leak. Death Knight is gonna be one of the classes!

OiScout

Lame.. better have a shield/sword class like Paladin or I will reign death upon blizzard.

Shawk

@trjnRabbit:

Yeah, the barbs weren't that great in offline where u dont get much amazing gear, for the most part if u weren't Whirlwinding you weren't doing a whole lot. The best thing about d2 is that with certain gear you make a potentially broken build of almost any class (sounds horrible, but when u earn the gear for the build it's such an achievement).

Pretty sure when I quit playing like a year ago I was playing as a melee sorc. She could use Zeal, and hit for like 52-58k a hit. and fried everything within a 2 screen radius. A real sight. Hillarious to see her smack down a maxed out Paladin too. I hope they give people the freedom of the runeword effects for helping builds in D3. Change the classes, just not the items!

Grandreaper999

"Necromancers were perfectly designed, thus we're not bringing them back."

Um.

That sounds like the opposite of a good idea.

Foggen

@Grandreaper999:

Yeah, I absolutely agree. I had myself a Pally and a Barb back in the day and they were sick.

However, the Necro as a perfect class? I'm not too sure about that one. They were hard to perfect that's for damn sure, but I guess I never really got into them.

I'm not worried about new classes either because they'll all be the same as D2 essentially...New caster, range, brute, summoner and etc to cover all the bases, just with different names.

DoMiNaTi0n

I'd like to see a shapeshifting-based character in D3.. I made countless Werebear druids. Favorite being fireclaws with run/walk charms and 120% (6xshael'd) Phase blade.

Grandreaper999

@Grandreaper999:
Considering how unbalanced and overpowered Paladins, is it really hard to see why Blizzard doesn't consider them perfect? There is such a thing as too good.

Strangely though, Barbarian was the worst class (IMO) from D2, so it coming back hopefully means they're taking another shot of making it work.

Seeing as Diablo's classes only made an appearance as hirelings in Diablo 2, I was actually surprised that the Barb was making a resurgence.

TrjnRabbit

WOW!

I can't believe that guy actually said the necro was the shy of perfect class.. Sure, summoners were a very safe build, but...

Ok, I know this comes from the creators of the game, but I'm POSITIVE, as a recovering D2/LOD-aholic, I can say with great truth and honesty, that the PALADIN IS THE MOST RIDICULOUSLY BROKEN CLASS EVER!

Let's break it down.
offensive auras. They do everything u want. Add ele dmg, inflict ele dmg, increase dmaage/atk speed, reduce and break immunities... That covers many of the game's mechanics in one skill tree. All skills easily broken with rune gears.

Def Aura. Self explainatory. If you want, you can increase one, or all of ur res's, you can skyrocket ur defense to the point where u don't get hit (defiance).

Here's the most FUCKED up part.

Magic hammer = Broken
Charge (pvp) = Broken
Zeal (with fanatacism) = pretty damn good
Smite = unpreventable, unstoppable, pure dmg to the face.. Broken
Holy Shield = God Mode (maximum block rate for melee and missiles, and sends def thru the roof, also ups smite dmg by a ton)

Oh.. and the pally's racial gear are SHIELDS! all with ridiculous defense, and contain auras in themselves. Not to mention boast huge smite dmg mods

BTW

The barb's only weakness was iron maiden. Avoidable when staying away from D's sanctuary in act4. Barb def goes nearly as high as pallies. Insane life also. Barbs were the next thing to the most broken.

Grandreaper999

@sarcasmOD: You sound like you need a hug, friend. Fans will be fans, there's no sense in poking them with sticks.

Back on topic: Good times, new stuff! It's weird, actually - I sadly never played either Diablo 1 or 2 (*shrug* dunno, just didn't interest me at the time), but I really like what I've been seeing with 3.

AntiheroKing

@xCruciaLx: Dude, they're retrofitting Assassin into Ninja and combining it with Druid to capitalize on the popularity of Naruto.

Believe it! Demon fox summoning energy ball shuriken flinging lightning leaf dancing class for D3!

Black-Dog-Howls

Pfft..

Your favorite class in D2 ain't coming back to D3 and you're bitching about it ?

Get over it, try something new. Blizz will eventually create something new and better classes. It always worked out in Diablo.

I love the Assassin in D2 but I don't care if it will not come back in D3.

Jeez..you guys are being a senseless fanboys.

xCruciaLx

So, Samurai and Musketeer confirmed for Diablo 3?

Black-Dog-Howls

It's interesting to note how little people comment on the Assassin or the Sorc. Everyone is so sad about the Druid and the Pally, but I only counted 3 mentions of the sorc in this entire comment tree.

Shirleycakes

@NeoTurbo:

Doesn't that seem obvious? Blizzard only releases a game every four or five years, so expansions fill the void and their financial coffers in between.

PapaBear434

@wicko: Except the random dungeons and such. Sure, you can go crazy customizing your character but I'm replaying it myself and it loses luster with the same map every time.

Shirleycakes

Three new classes...

Alien!
Zombie!
Gynecologist!

osteofight

You know, they say only 5 classes now...But doesn't that seem like the perfect opportunity(I seriously think I spelt that wrong) for an expansion?

NeoTurbo

@Meohfumado:

Yeah, but I heard they planned on nerfing the Death by Numbers by taking away 3% damage, subtracting 1% interest, adding a $599.00 deductible, adding an annual APR increase and charging a monthly holding fee.

Come to think of it, that could only INCREASE the damage Death by Numbers.

PapaBear434

Cleric please!

But man, dumping all the other iconic characters? That kinda sucks. To me, those characters *were* Diablo. Ah well, as long as they don't add in a steam-punk class I'll no doubt play the hell out of it.

Bael

Wait...the Necromancer was perfect?

While it was my favorite class in D2, it was, in all honesty, the worst class to pick out of the bunch. An absurd amount of set-up for very little pay-off that gets absolutely destroyed by other classes. Yeah, that's a perfect class all right...

DRaGZ

kinda makes sense for the most part. the rouge from D1 was from a all female warrior tribe, same with the Amazons. The sorceress was from a sect of female-only mages according to the story, and the mage from D1 was from I think a male-dominated one. It makes no sence to bring in the necromancer since the which doctor is pretty much the same only with zombies. The assassin was a branch off of the same clan the sorceress was a part of according to the story. Druids were a part of the barbarian clan that branched off, so we could in theory see something about that in diablo 3.

so besides Druids, warriors, and perhaps palidin (I THINK paladin are male-oriented though), there is no other class except the Barbarian that could be ether gender, thus cant be in diablo 3.

CloudHiro

Perhaps pirates could have something like the Sorceress' Hydra: Portable Cannons firing cannonballs, Grapeshot, chains, forks, spoons and knives. I can only dream...

konchy

@DRaGZ:

Actually, i have seen some pretty decent necromancers pvp, if they were good they usually beat the other classes easily. nova and well micro = win. I had a decent necromancer but def not near the ones that dominated pvp.

Savior

It was obvious that the Witch Doctor replaced the necro. It's also obvious that there will be a sorceress/elementalist/wizard/mage type class as well as a ranged dps hunter/archer/amazon class. There needs to be a healer as well, I can't imagine anything else but a paladin/priest hybrid.

I'll make a guess and say the classes will be:

Barbarian
Witch Doctor
Hunter
Wizard
Paladin/Priest

yargh

All of this talk about Steampunk Engineers and Riflemen has me jonesing for a technologically bent class. Make it so, Blizz, and I promise to build several churches in your honor.

Pezdispenser

They said they were going to announce the next class at Blizzcon in october.

belo

Noooo! Don't take away my Werewolf Druid D=!

Byakko

Since they practically have the necro in the form of a witch doctor, they better have the pally, amazon and sorc replaced in the very same manner.

mizeriq

@yargh:
Why is there a need for a healer ? The whole point of the Diablo games is that you can do the entire content by your self. You do not need a healer to suvive fights. You got your health potions for that.
Also Id love them to skip the standard Mage?sorcerer type of class and add some kind of melee/mage hybrid.

Aeryss

Yeah, the Necro was my favorite Diablo 2 class. He was pretty near perfect.

I will definitely miss Corpse Explosion, though.

PissedPS3Fan

range-class and spellcasters are pretty much a given. but as Necrid said, the final class could be one of several catagories and since the summoning (which doctor, former necro) class and 'damage-focused' melee class (barbarian) is already filled it could be one of these catagories

-'speed-focused' melee class (a-la Assassin)
-'defence/hp-focused' melee class (the basic tank class, like
the paladin)
-self-transformation class (a-la druid)
-support class (like paladin and his auras)

thats all I could think of, #5 could be any one of those. of course more could follow with the expansion

CloudHiro

@yargh: mabie not exactly healing specific class, but a class with supporting capablilities and the abilitiy to heal dammage in this way, to support allies and him/herself, much like a palidin and his auras.

and dont forget this is just the initial 5 classes, we still got a expansion with classes to look forward to. this is blizzard, there is ALWAYS a expansion

CloudHiro

we need a spellcaster and a ranger quite obviously, but the 5th class could really be anything.

I'm hoping for something really unique, like a Pirate.

Necrid

There goes my furry-shifter.
And sry but necro perfect?Did that guy even play a necro after the blood golem+iron maiden fix/nerf?
Just wait for it,one of the new classes will be a Ninja in orange clothes and the other one a Death Knight with blue shiny eyes.

Chibirazi

by the way I loved the find a book learn a spell system in Diablo one. Bring that back and I will buy an extra copy.

onepoker

ok I will give up my favorite class but the developer has to promise to leave wirt and any of his remaining apendages out of this game.

onepoker

@domain: Cry more.

You will be not missed.

xCruciaLx

This is only a good thing. 4 totally new classes is better than getting some of those old classes you played to death in D2 with some improvements.

If hardcore fans would get to design the next game in series, it would probably suck.

Hansel

This sucks, hopefully witch doctor is a good replacement for the necromancer then because if there's no summoner sort of class then it takes away some of the fun. I thought the Barbarian was ace on D2 since you had a lot of variety in skills, you could move to skill attacks, defensive sills, passive skills and ofcourse mix the lot. I doubt they'll really improve on him.

I'd like to know the rest of the classes but I can't imagine Diablo 3 without paladins, sorcerors or necromancers. It just seems wrong.

Llost

Now, I'm still looking forward to Diablo 3, and will play it no matter if it has a Paladin class or not, but I just liked the concept of the character more than the barbarian (no, I didn't read all over the internets to see which class was the most imba, first time I sat down and played the game I just made a pally). Sword and shield along with something that helps your party and yourself.
If they have something like that in D3, I'll probably play it. If not, I'll find a class that suits me and that I find fun to play.

Tieowbeijas

@xCruciaLx:

Nah, its not about crying... if Blizzard wants to re-use their existing IP to create God of [World of] War[craft], then thats their business, but then again I don't have to agree with it... people do have varying opinions on these here interwebs :p

Most of their arguments detailing why they are making said changes to the game really don't hold much water for me... A class thats too perfect shouldn't make the cut, but one that wasn't so good should? Did the new designers ever actually play said class prior/post nerf? Is that why (even discounting maximizer builds) that classes left large portions of their skill trees untouched (as they weren't that useful)? Perhaps their definition of perfection is something unto itself...

Combine these whacky arguments with the somewhat questionable/highly debated art direction, replace/offset the class with the semi-evil yet "witty" dialogue with one that communicates through unintelligible speech, grunts, moans, and hula dancing, and what do you get? I'm not really sure but sounds like *I won't be missing* much here...

But... thats okay... D2 still works, and heck they even come out with patches almost 10 years later.

domain

NO NECROMANCER? BULLSHIT!

Rexter

TOO MUCH COLOUR ON MY BARBARIAN!

Para

@domain: Nah, eventually you will still buy D3. You know it. We know it.

:)

xCruciaLx

I think it's good that they're keeping at least one old class, to give a sense of continuity but it's also good to hear that we'll see new classes all the way through from here on out. It is unfortunate that we'll not see Necromancer, Paladin, and Assassin again but I'm ok with that. We've had a long time to play those and I'm all for new heroes.

There's just so many classes they could use. Traditional fantasy archetypes like Dark Knight (Interesting opposite to the Paladin), Priest/ess, Thief, Alchemist, to more out of the box ideas even like I dunno...a a knight that specializes in something other than sword and shield (spear maybe?), a Psychic something....maybe an indirect "mage/fighter" type like a...Meditator? A Martial Artist, something like a Ninja or a general eastern styled weapon-master (Hey that'd be interesting, a class that specializes in their variety of weapon specialties), or hell going off the example of the Witch Doctor we could even make something like a Janissary (The ancient Ottoman Empire elite guard). The sky's really the limit and with Witch Doctor and Necromancer it shows they're willing to go outside the regular fantasy suspects a bit so I'm all for nothing but newness from here.

Kiyosuki

@grecords:

There was technically already a Bard class in one of the original Diablo updates though. But you could hardly call it a genuine Bard anyways, it was basically a slightly physically weaker Warrior with the ability to identify his own items on the spot.

Kiyosuki

you can say "oh well that's just the first of the game!"

But... At the first of D2 was my favorite part--- I mean I get to run into a cave and slaughter a bunch of monsters, and I get a free skill point (on every difficuluty too).

Skill point (invaluable), or crude leather boots? (a drop u would normally ignore)

Grandreaper999

Obvioulsy there will be a Bard class. What would fit in better in the dark/dreary world of Diablo than a spoiled aristocrat playing the harp while the other warriors fight?

grecords

I think it'd be awesome if they brought members (a male and female) of the Horadrim back as a sorc/sorcress replacement.

They did so much right in D2 that shouldn't be dropped in D3. Like Shapeshifting, the summon skills (prettymuch all of them) and the horadric cube and rune words--.

Aside from all all the changes I've seen so far, MY BiGGEST concern are the quests and how they reward players. If they go WoW style, and throw in millions of useless quests that yield next to nothing for reward I think that will ruin the game experience entirely.

XP rewards in diablo would be a big no-no. I found being rewarded with a free skill point, stat points, a free rune drop, and opportunity to do things like imbuing and personalizing gave me so much incentive to actually do these quests. Give me a long list of quests with rewards like +10 gold, and Leather armor of Strength (+2 str) I promise I'll never ever buy the game. Story-driven quests with very helpful rewards, and maybe some sidequests for extra skillpoints or something and I'm a happy camper..

I think back to my first time playing WoW (trying to like it) I made a troll (can't remember class..probably hunter? idk) and for the first little while I got to do fun things like: collect scorpion husks for a pair of crappy boots and a little exp. No.Ty.

Grandreaper999

@Sparx: The "singer" build. I had a friend who built one of those, dual-wielding Wizardspikes. It was awesome to watch him yell at baddies to death.

Karlott

I thought for sure they'd say Sorceress as the perfect class. I had a pretty bad ass Hydra TS sorc in the day and I never had a class give me trouble in PVP(maybe some times Amazons). Aside from that, Orb TS simply owned PVE.

I'm glad leap is back in action. I loved that move, even though barbs would get their asses handed to them a lot.

I'm glad to see Necros go personally...not necessarily because I didn't like Necros, but because my lvl 60 Hardcore Necro inexplicably bursted in town near the entrance while I was watching a duel. Needless to say after losing a lvl 80 Hardcore Sorc that retired me from Diablo.

SIlentStrife

I'm less concerned with what classes there are and more concerned that that god-forsaken iron maiden curse (or something that functions similarly) will return in a form usable by monsters.

I don't even want to know how much gold I spent on reviving mercenaries or how much exp I lost because some jerk oblivion mage snuck it on me in the midst of the start of an attack.

Also, yes, (summon) necros were pretty much perfect. They require quite a bit of skill juggling but are extremely effective even without the couple pieces of equipment (enigma and a +damage aura poleaem [for a merc]) that effectively multiply their power.

Zegridathes

paladins indeed had a few broken builds. absolutely dominant pvm - hammerdin's could solo 8 player hell without that much gear, smiters are the ultimate boss killers, and hammerdin's were much more powerful in pvp than they should have been due to the desync bug as well as being great mf chars with marginal more cost than what it takes to make a mf sorc.. and paladin's dont need much dex investment to reach max block compared to other classes..which means hey! lots more vitality for a maxblock pally than compared to other classes..

bone necros were _broken_ in pvp. nuff said.

i never considered barb's to be that op..the only good build really was the BvC and it wasn't across the board all that dominant..

jinusky

as a person who took diablo2 pk way too seriously in 1.10, all you people who liked the necro and paladin (in particular bone necs and hammerdins) should die.

seriously though, sad for me to hear that the assassin won't be returning...put in so many hours and highrunes into my ghostsin and trapper......and i loved the class to death :(

jinusky

Something technology orientated like an Alchemist or some gunner person would fit with the feel that Diablo III seems to be trying to go for right now, which seems to be that humanity can't trust either heaven or hell.

Kiyosuki

I'm perfectly ok with this. Yay for class variety.... although i'm still hoping for a knight of sorts ; )

@CloudHiro: You nailed it quite nicely. Listen to this dude, ma boys, he is wise beyond his years.

Id really like a musketeer/gunslinger of sorts. Id make one faster than you could say Diablo. Sadly, i cant see it happening, its been only 20 years since diablo 2, and diablo 2 had absolutely no gunpowder....
Go on blizzard, come and shut me up : )

random_dude

I'm not worried. Blizzard, like Valve, never disappoints. I'd like a cleric if I can't have a pally, personally.

davo123

@Cucco: so you mean amazon, sorceress, pally, assassin and druid ....seems like we are just renaming classes at this rate...

kidvivid

veering off-topic a bit, but what the hell is this?

[gamextract.com]

found it through N4G. it's like the same article, almost word for word.

ogenbite

Like D2, each class came from essentially each part of Sanctuary. I think having the game set 20 years later would have spawned some new and interesting classes. The witch doctor being a survivor and a bi-product of Meph's reign in Kurast almost makes sense in a jungle-voodoo sort of way. The barbs would probably be wandering nomads since their mountain home was leveled.

As far as other classes go... I can see a rogue/mechanist that uses gadgets hailing from one of the larger cities..More like an arsonist/anarchist than an assassin, I can't really think of anything else. Maybe a spear-based class from Lut Gholein? The oceanic regions of Sanctuary were never explored, so there's bound to be a class similar or in likeness to a "pirate"--something to expand on the waters of sanctuary.

I'm also not going to rule out the possibilty of a psychic-based class (someone mentioned before) because the assassin had a psychic hammer thing...So more types of skills of that nature wouldn't be too farfetched.

Lastly, and I really want to see something like this, is a class that essentially uses geomancy. I think of this being a good class because they now have the game running in a 3d engine where objects and textures can all be identified. A class that uses environments, or even objects placed about to generate damage would put the 3d aspect to great use. Perhaps summoning golems on certain terrain would produce a different type? They did have physical and fire and blood golems in D2, they could expand on that easily.

Way too many possibilities really..

Grandreaper999

I'm not really that sad about the loss of characters.

All you people bitchin about the 5 characters, ITS CALLED THE EXPANSION! You'll get about 4 more characters out of that.

Cheroro

The funny part is that when Diablo II came out everyone was bitching about the complete absence of the Warrior, Rogue and Mage.

I'll play the game as long as there's an Amazon with Spear equivalent.

JesusDeSaad

I wish they would release an update for Diablo 2 that simply makes it run on modern hardware properly, including support for HD widescreen resolutions.

D00mM4r1n3

Anyone who pvp'd in D2 knows the barb was a great class. I bet they are getting rid of the necro because of the more intense graphics. I used to have like 40 summons on the sreen at once and people hated it even back then. Doing that with this new game might crash the whole universe. Or blizzard is just jealous of my 1337 n3c40 ski11s.....or something.

andrethejesus

Oh... I'mma gonna miss my Frost Maiden...

Jen C

Sorrow... devil dogs ain't no undead horde. I miss my necro love muffin already...

CurlyJim

I'm glad that all the other classes will be new. Half the fun of these games is exploring the nuances of the classes.

Me, I want an angelic warrior with holy magic and melee, though not being familiar with Diablo lore, I don't know if that would be permissible. Mostly I just want a character with Tyreal's tendril wing thingies.

Cam_Ras

Diablo III Classes Best Left Unexplored:

* Guitar Hero (fighting bonuses when playing in basement)
* School Marm (with Ruler of Death (+5 on unguarded wrists))
* Autistic Boy (really irresponsive to controls but shrugs off most damage)
* Paper Boy (does 5x damage when played on Sunday)

Trai_Dep

Althought I'll miss my necromancer quite a lot, it really is a good thing that there's going to be mainly new classes, because a major part of the game is playing around with the characters and just figuring them out.

LastFace

@sarcasmOD:
You seem to miss my point being of obvious hyperbole. But, yes, I do think they should bring back some D2 characters back to D3. Sure the Warrior, Sorcerer, and Rogue weren't brought back as carbon copy's but D2 did have the Paladin to fill the Warrior's spot, the Amazon to fill the roll of rogue, and lets not forget the Sorceress. Variations of the class were represented all to well. That doesn't mean to say they might have some new classes that are similar. My point is they are bringing the Barbarian back, they could at least bring some beloved classes back.

rupinderpaul

I hope they will put the Stone of Jordan back in the game again! Need some kind of currency which won't disappear when you die. SOJ trade!

konchy

To bad they deprived Diablo3 of the one class I thought was unique and interesting. If I want to play around with a Witch Doctor I would head over to blizzards warcraft universe.

resvrgam, you seem to be right about this.

Kentril

I think it's fair for people to be disappointment that their favorite characters have been axed. I'm not saying that's an excuse to condemn the game, but I'm sure there are people who are just sad to see their favorites go - Myself included.

I'm stoked for Diablo 3, but yeah I'm going to miss some of the old classes. If that's "wrong", than whatever.

TheNesta

You know what Blizz should do? They should release D3 exactly how they feel about it and then they should release an expansion for D2 for all the angry fans that seem to hate blizz so much for not doing another D2 because people that are complaining seems to just wanna play D2 once again. All the "I wont play if they dont add necromancer", "Give back Sorceress" & "baaah its to colorful" is just going to far.

Konung

Nooooo,Paladin plz come back,ur my favorite class,even tho i like Barbarian too,but Paladin is badass to play

Let us all just pray and hope Blizzard dosent put a Priest for Diablo 3,because then Diablo fans will be piss,we dont want WoW classes

And Pray and Hope they make an Expansion Pack for D3,were some D2 classes come back.

Idk but if there gonna bring the Barb back,they should at least tell us wat happen to the other classes/heroes from D2,and y is Barb the only surviving or class/hero left from D2

O no,plz Blizzard dont make my Paladin hero be evil.

We want Paladin back :(

R.I.P Paladin

SinStryker