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Speaking after the opening ceremony, members of the Diablo II development team ran over some facts to introduce the Monk to us.
- Inspired by Pen and Paper RPG Characters
- Fragile, fast, melee is good gameplay
- Good contrast from the barbarian
- Different and an unexpected class
- “Kit” This is what drives the character
- Feels like a fighting game with combo moves, definitely a lot of martial arts
- Uses holy magic, focus on speed over toughness. His main tactic is a hit and run tactic or he nails his target and they die while he’s walking away
- Complementary skills, wanted the combo moves to blend into one another, so there is a lot of depth to how he combines his moves together.
- Wanted a class that was a bit more challenging to play at the beginning because of his combo moves and the fact that he’s fragile.
- A class that combined the eastern european feel with the Asian archetype not only from a looks point of view but also their philosophies.
- The monk is from the Ivgorod in the Foothills. Raised in secluded monasteries to be pure reflections of their deities by perfection of a myriad of fighting techniques.
- To prove their dedication they are tattooed on their back with very intricate tattoos of their 1001 gods which takes their entire life to complete.
More below the fold.
- Their very structured Theocratic religion is very different from the witch doctor or barbarian making for an interesting contrast.
- They report to the patriarchs who are the philosophical kings or the priest kings of their society.
- As holy warriors they do, what some might consider, to be the dirty work of the church, but the monk view it as sanctified.
- When not fighting they spend their time in deep meditation to cleanse themselves of their sins.
- They are fear and respected in equal amounts throughout the world because they are killing machines but at the same time Holy Men.
- They wanted to apply combo moves in an interesting way and something more simi liar to that of the Rogue in WoW than the Assassin in Diablo 2 whereby combo orbs would be accrued and then there would be nothing around to kill.
- Monk Skill - “Way of the Hundred Fists”. Has visually distinct stages (each is one click of the mouse). Stage 1: Dash. Stage 2: Multiple Strikes. Stage 3: Area of Effect. This makes the skill feel a little more like a console brawler.
- “Crippling Wave” - This focuses on debuffing enemies to deal less damage. Stage 1: Movement slowed. Stage 2: Reduces Damage. Stage 3: Refresh both debuffs on all nearby enemies
- “Exploding Palm: = Distinctive “signature” skill and fulfills the fantasy of internal damage. Stage 1 & 2: Damage. Stage 3: Applies a moderate bleed that deals more damage to moving targets. This Damage over Time ‘bleed’ will cause the target to explode dealing damage to those in the area proportional to their maximum health if they die during it.
- Combined Comb Moves. The goal here is to make it simple for beginnings yet with depth for the vets of Diablo. Players will be able to use stages from any of the skills from any of the three stages and mix and match them. An example would be to start with the Dash component of “The Way of the Hundred Fists” (Stage 1) and then they click “Crippling Wave” at which point you’re on Stage 2 so that would be Reduces Damage and then at Stage 3 you go to Exploding Palm which applies a bleed.
- Skill called “Seven Sided Strike”, similar to the Sorceresses Chain Lightening skill from Diablo 2,but this has some old school 2D fighter style to it and is played out on a rune mapped out on the floor which frames the action and pulls it all together.
