BlizzConline was underwhelming to say the least. For those who are satisfied, I'm happy for you, truly. But I personally was disappointed by everything that wasn't the Diablo IV class reveal.
The Rogue returns from Diablo I, but as a combination of the D2 Assassin and the D3 Demon Hunter. It has the unique ability to pick a specialization, which is why it can pick shadowmagic or traps or combos. The name of the game is versatility. You can create the Rogue you want. I will probably go with shadow magic as it looks and sounds cool, but who knows? Maybe I will do several.
But this leaves us with an interesting question. What will be the fifth class? There has to be a fifth. Both II and III had five classes at release and two more with expansions. Let's look at it from a few angles:
Diablo very much uses class archetypes. The Barbarian is pretty self explanatory. You also have a spell caster with sorcerer, sorceress, wizard and now sorcerer/ess again. D1 also had an archer archetype with the rogue, that evolved into a bow and spear using Amazon in D2. In Diablo III the archer was the Demon Hunter, a mix of the Assassin from D2 and an archer. This became Rogue again. As this show, new archetypes emerged and got mixed with each other, especially since D1 only had 3 classes, while the later games had 7. Assassin was the first martial artist, that became Monk in D3. The Druid was the shape shifter that didn't appear in D3 but returned in D4. The Necromancer was the dark spellcaster that split into two for D3. Witch Doctor and Necromancer. Last but not least we have the Knight archetype. Sure in D1 it was a rather vanilla Warrior, but already it was carrying a sword and shield. Paladin was obvious. A holy knight. The same was true for Crusader, but sword was replaced with flail. It is that line I hope to follow up.
Another way to look at classes is with weapon types. Barbarian dual wields weapons or swinging two handed ones. Sorcerers obviously use staves and wands primarily and so does the druid. One of the reasons I was sure we would get some kind of archer is that no class used bows as a primary weapon. And how can you not have bows? Now let's look at the remaining weapon types. Despite them being a very basic part of any fantasy arsenal, we don't have a shield user. And as you remember, the Amazon in D2 used polearms. Well neither before nor after we had a dedicated polearm user. Even Final Fantasy only has one of those. So a shield and polearm user woul be nice. Did we ever have one of those?
Tirck question. This was the Diablo 3 Templar.
And this brings us to another way to look at it. No Diablo game was released without a new class. Diablo Immortal is a different animal as it is kinda a mobile spinoff of D3 and because it is planned to be an MMO with probably way more expansions and content updates than a regular Diablo game. And no I will never stop asking for Xiansai. But back on topic: Diablo 4 revealed four classes so far, with two taken directly from D2, one from D1 and one that is the mix of D1 and D2. You know, Sorcerer and Sorceress are the same, but previously they were gender locked. So not only did we not get a class that references D3 but we only have classes that were playable before. Templar fits both with it being an NPC class from III.
And if it weren't obvious enough that we need a templar, a holy knight that is still dark and cynical enough for DIV that is new enough and fills the weapon void, we also need to consider armor. Barbarian and druid are both more primal characters that wear skin, fur or nothing. Sorcerers will obviously wear robes and rogues rely on speed and mobility so anything more than leather would be a hindrance. Maybe very light metal before Shad jumps at my throat. But all of these classes would look riddiculous in full plate armor. But for the Templar it is the obvious choice.
So get ready for the Templar reveal. Or rather me being completely wrong. You will have fun either way.
No comments:
Post a Comment