View Full Version : Leaked Info on the Remaining Classes?
Has anyone seen this?
I found this on another site and was wondering what you guys thought. From my part, I hope this is right. I can’t tell if it smells fishy.
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Remaining Classes Planned for Original Release:
4. Warlock (Melee Fighter/Knight Class with Demonic Abilities): During the invasion of the prime evils and the corruption of the high council, those few paladins that still clung to their faith found themselves largely outnumbered and defeated. In a desperate attempt to serve and protect the innocent, a few warriors chose to willingly sacrifice their souls to the powers of hell in exchange for terrifying and fearsome demonic and unholy abilities. After the destruction of the worldstone, the people were horrified by the actions of their protectors. Shunned and despised, the warlocks have become obsessed with freeing their souls from hell and restoring their forsaken honor.
Unlike the warlock in WOW, the warlock in DIII is NOT a spell-caster class. Rather, he is a “knight class”, a fallen/unholy paladin that fights the unholy powers of hell with his own. (Resembles a death knight from warcraft, but h is not inherently evil, though his powers are really dark.)
Skill trees include:
• Arms: This tree is the main combat tree that is mainly dedicated to weapons skills and physical combat abilities. Though a cursed warrior, the warlocks were originally paladins and, as such, are well-trained in the use of weaponry.
• Demonic: Demonic skills, dark spells and unholy auras and curses. This tree also contains skills to summon demon minions and, at high tiers, grants the warlock demonic shapeshifting abilities.
• Hellfire: This tree mainly contains fire-oriented spells, scorching abilities, burning auras and weapon enhancements (like Immolation).
Appearance:
Dark-skinned race. He looks a lot like the paladin from DII. He is an anti-holy warrior.
5. Elfstone (Hunter/Amazon/Nature-Type): The elfstones (not elves, but humans) are masterful and skillful hunters. They rarely, if ever, come near civilized society. Familiar with the wild places of the world, rumors say that elfstones call-upon the spirits of nature to do their bidding.
Skill trees include:
• Hunt: Ranged combat using bows, spears, and javelins (sometimes with Nature-Type Enhancements). Tracking abilities. Several traps skills.
• Ambush: This tree mainly has a lot of defensive abilities, efficiency skills, and survival skills. Several traps skills.
• Sylvan: This tree mainly consists of nature and healing spells (much like the Keeper of the Grove in WCIII)(Treants, Entangle, offensive and defensive nature-type auras and spells).
Appearance:
Light-Haired, European-Type. The elfstone seems to be a direct cross between a keeper of the grove and an amazon with a few traps abilities. While first and foremost a “ranged (bow) class” she is also somewhat of a “nature-priest” similar to a WOW restoration druid.
Classes Planned for Expansion:
6. Skin Walker (Shapeshifter/Melee Warrior/Supernatural-Type): Originally hailing from the nomadic druid tribes, the skin walkers were exiled for embracing the darker and often sadistic primal forces. Shunned by the rest of the world, the skin walkers became the denizens of the darkest forests, where the ghostly whispers of the night would hide their supernatural rites and predatory rituals. Over the centuries, people began to believe skin walkers to be phantoms, ghost stories told to children — but I have seen one and they are made of flesh and bone like you and me. Cruel and cunning, they no longer derive their powers from the harmonious presence of nature, but from the twisted horrors of nightmares.
Skill trees include:
• Ghost: Ghostly, supernatural enhancements to melee combat and abilities (Ghost Venom), ghostly summons (Summon Wraith), and debuffs (Banshee Wail, Haunt), supernatural shapeshifting abilities (Ghost Form).
• Blood: This tree primarily consists of blood-drinking/bloodletting skills, critical strikes and gaining supernatural powers from drinking the blood of fallen enemies (Vampiric Instinct/Blood Bath) or purposefully spilling your own (Blood Ritual).
• Nightmare: This tree mainly consists of shape-shifting/beast skills (werewolf is returning but is much darker and sadistic), supernatural attributes, enhancements, and spells (like Spider Swarms). This is similar to the druid shape-shifting tree, but more supernatural.
Appearance:
Native-American Type. The skin-walker is a lot like a shape-shapeshifting druid, but is much more evil/nightmarish with her abilities and powers. She is not nature-oriented, but more closely resembles a “vampire/supernatural-type melee” character.
7. Monk (Assassin-Type with Holy Powers): The warrior monks are well-trained and disciplined fighters, walking a fine line between the presence of light and the domains of shadow. Monks use their divinely-granted abilities and combat prowess to assassinate from the shadows or to blast their enemies apart with holy fire.
Skill trees include:
• Martial Arts: This tree is primarily for monks specializing in ranged combat (throwing weapons) or martial arts (hand-to-hand). It also contains a lot of your agility abilities (Evasion) and survival abilities (Suppress Pain) and efficiency abilities (Meditation).
• Light: Light abilities, blessings, and divine powers (mostly buffs for throwing weapons or martial arts combat enhancement). For example, this tree has abilities to enhance your ranged combat and martial arts skills with holy power and holy fire and to bless yourself and your allies with divine protection. This tree also has several offensive and defensive holy spells and a few healing abilities. This tree also has many target buffs, including Soul Infusion which allows the monk to infuse his soul with the powers of heaven. The main difference between the light tree and past holy trees is that it is much more offensive and combat-oriented, much less healing and defensive oriented. Healing abilities are really reserved to the elfstone (a nature type priest) or the warlock (an unholy warrior). (Light powers are generally used to enhance combat prowess and damage, like Raiden from Mortal Kombat).
• Shadow: This tree mainly includes stealth and critical strike abilities. This is an assassination, ninja-type tree, though there are no poison skills. Most of the skills revolve around critical strike abilities with throwing/ranged weapons and martial arts (often enhanced with shadow powers that blind or somehow debilitate enemies).
Appearance:
Asian-type. The Monk is an entirely new class to the Blizzard scene and the closest thing you are going to get to a “holy” character, other than the warlock which is the opposite of holy. I really have nothing to compare him to in past games – although he reminds me of a mix between Lui Kang or Raiden from Mortal Kombat, only more bad ***. Dress appearance has a lot of Asian influence.
Sylvanite
23-10-2008, 22:00
This is in definite need of a citation. It smells fishy because the name "Elfstone" makes no sense at all. In fact, it's a term stolen from a very specific source, namely The Shannara books by Terry Brooks. It wouldn't even apply to a class of humans. This seems like well thought out characters crafted by a community member.
I thought elfstone sounded weird too. Isn't it another name for Aragron in the Lord of the Rings books?
I don't remember.
Apocalypse
23-10-2008, 22:09
i gotta call BS on this until i see some proof. as of now this sounds more like a wish list than a bliz plan
It was posted on diablofans.com forums prior to Blizzcon. If you do a search it should take you to it.
This wasn't the whole post either. He said that the WD trees were going to be voodoo, spirit and witchcraft and it ended up being voodoo, spirit and plague. He also said that there was going to be a pure spellcaster class with trees being arcane, conjuration, and elemental and they ended up being arcane, conjure and storm.
i gotta call BS on this until i see some proof. as of now this sounds more like a wish list than a bliz plan
That is what I thought too.
Starving_Poet
23-10-2008, 22:18
Warlock also sounds very NWN 2-ish
I thought elfstone sounded weird too. Isn't it another name for Aragron in the Lord of the Rings books?
I don't remember.
I was right, elfstone is what the elves called Aragorn in Lord of the Rings.
No doubts there will be more classes in D3, but Blizzard will never use names or termins from other franchises. So lets forget about Warlocks, elfs and their stones, monks and so on.
"Skin Walker"? Come on.
Interesting read, but pretty obviously made-up stuff.
No doubts there will be more classes in D3, but Blizzard will never use names or termins from other franchises. So lets forget about Warlocks, elfs and their stones, monks and so on.
Yeah, because paladins were never used prior to DII (most used class in Might and Magic games) and warlocks don't currently appear in WOW. And, of course, barbarians and wizards are totally unique, with wizard predating all of them going back to the first nintendo gauntlet, the first wizardry games, and the first bard's tales.
I am not saying this is real, but, offhand, I can't think of any name that blizzard has used in the past that wasn't already used elsewhere in some book, D&D or videogame franchise. Even the term "Dread Lord" was used as a title for a character in the Forgotton Realms books.
It was posted on diablofans.com forums prior to Blizzcon. If you do a search it should take you to it.
This wasn't the whole post either. He said that the WD trees were going to be voodoo, spirit and witchcraft and it ended up being voodoo, spirit and plague. He also said that there was going to be a pure spellcaster class with trees being arcane, conjuration, and elemental and they ended up being arcane, conjure and storm.
Well, if the guy got the WD trees right, then it could be a reliable source.
As for names, they're probably not final (like the trees ended up being called a little different). Assuming if the above is true (I'm not assuming anything), then the names are probably just temporary and are definitely subject to change.
I hope it's not true, though. Sounds a little disappointing - especially the expansion characters. =p
I really hope it's not true too. The classes don't sound all that great. Plus if they didn't want people to cry WoW then adding a death knight was a really bad idea. Plus doesn't the expansion sound exactly like the D2 expansion. We'd basically be getting the druid and the assassin again but with different titles and slightly different skill sets.
I'm putting this in the category of well thought out wishful thinking.
I really hope it's not true too. The classes don't sound all that great. Plus if they didn't want people to cry WoW then adding a death knight was a really bad idea. Plus doesn't the expansion sound exactly like the D2 expansion. We'd basically be getting the druid and the assassin again but with different titles and slightly different skill sets.
I'm putting this in the category of well thought out wishful thinking.
I wish I could dismiss this that easily. I would if it weren't for the fact that barb=barb, WD=Necro, and Wiz=Sorc, then I probably would. Thus far, it appears as though we are already getting the same things "all over again but with different titles and slightly different skill sets."
I guess we will just have to wait and see.
Good point.
Whatever the case may be, I will definitely be playing at least two classes in D3 - the barb and the wiz - even if Blizz won't come up with anything creative for the other 4 classes.
However, I'm sure the expansion will add a ton of things for us to play with, not counting the extra classes.
Good point.
Whatever the case may be, I will definitely be playing at least two classes in D3 - the barb and the wiz - even if Blizz won't come up with anything creative for the other 4 classes.
However, I'm sure the expansion will add a ton of things for us to play with, not counting the extra classes.
To each his own I guess. I will be probably flamed for saying this, but I have not been excited at all with the classes presented thus far. I have already played the sorceress and the barbarian to nauseaum and have no desire to do it again. Furthermore, I don't like the overall appeal of the WD.
But, blizz hasn't let me down yet, other than WOW, and there are still two classes to go. I just hope they spend a little bit more creativity this time around the block to give us something that's really new.
I tried searching for Skin Walker, sylvan and elfstone with 0 search results each time on Diablofans.com maybe you would be so kind as to provide the link yourself, no doubt if you can't remember the thread you can search your browsers history to relocate it.
Appearance:
Asian-type. The Monk is an entirely new class to the Blizzard scene and the closest thing you are going to get to a “holy” character, other than the warlock which is the opposite of holy. I really have nothing to compare him to in past games – although he reminds me of a mix between Lui Kang or Raiden from Mortal Kombat, only more bad ***. Dress appearance has a lot of Asian influence.
Umm...wasnt there an Asian-skinned monk in DI that focused on unarmed combat and evasion with light armor?
Keighvin
24-10-2008, 00:09
Hellfire monk, you mean? Not sure if he was "Asian" or not.
Umm...wasnt there an Asian-skinned monk in DI that focused on unarmed combat and evasion with light armor?
I read somewhere that Diablo III is supposed to be based on the Diablo Lore and Cannon more in line with the Diablo Books and main Storyline.
What there is has to be considered non-canon, since Hellfire is never referenced in other official Diablo lore, and the Monk type character class is not mentioned in Diablo II or other subsequent Blizzard products.
Since the Monk class (http://diablo2.diablowiki.net/D1_Monk) from Hellfire is considered non-canon I wouldn't expect it to be in the next game.
Hellfire wasn't a Blizzard product if I remember right. It was made by Synergistic and wasn't exactly 'authorized'. I wouldn't expect Blizzard to feel the need to include their part of the lore.
I don't really give a **** if the character classes are not "new" and "creative". Every character class has been done before, the only thing you are really doing is juggling names. D3 will be a new and fun experience because of the skills. The overall play experience which, thankfully, seems less focused on ability spam and potion spam.
mince pies
24-10-2008, 00:35
The Warlock sounds plausible, but the Elfstone just puts the entire post to ****. How amazing would it be if Blizzard actually did come up with a completely unique and original character class though? :O
Agreed with Generic - as long as they're fun. To me though, shapeshifting classes were never fun in any game, nor classes that rely on minions (ala Necro). That's just me, though. Also, I can't imagine myself playing as a bald monk-type chick. :)
You suppose the next announced class will be so cute and saccharine that you'll relish seeing it's death animation? Like something off of the Happy Tree Friends... I'd want to play the psychotic squirrel that flips out into flashbacks when he hears a loud booming sound. He has some interesting finishing moves, too! That sounds about as plausible as Stone Elf which summons spirits and just so happens to have not been mentioned ever in the Diablo series.
Hellspawn
24-10-2008, 01:57
Wow I LOVE all the new character ideas! You will NEVER get away from archetype characters, but I like the fresh takes on them. All mentioned are more interesting to me than the 3 we have now.
And if the original poster was correct about the WD and Wizard skill trees, then that sounds like a damn reliable source to me! Obviously the names are not final, but all classes mentioned seem too well thought out and yet fresh and creative at the same time while maintaining the needed game-play archetypes...
*waits for further verification*
Father Occam
24-10-2008, 03:35
These seem probable to me maybe a 45% chance of being right.
I actually like the new classes so far. You are never going to get away from achetypes. They are archetypes for the simple reason that they are balanced and theres only so many ways that you can fight. Basically the choices are magic, physical, traps, summons, debuffs/buffs, pet. There really arent any other choices. Its all about how you go about the fighting style that make it fun to play.
Also dont knock a class cause you dont like summons or what not. You gotta have classes in a game that you dont like so that it adds variety to the game. Say I only like melee so D3 only has melee classes, it would get old quick since everyone would be forced to play the same way I like how classes work together without me having to be an amazon.
/rant (sorry)
As for the classes presented elfstone is kind of a dumb name. I really hope for a rework on the title. The monk class seems really mixed up, a holy priest assasin? Just seems off to me that a person devoted to light and prayer would employ assasination techniques.
To be honest, this looks like a game's equivalent to really, really bad fan fiction. And it unsurprisingly falls squarely into the most popular suggestions for classes.
"OMG DARK/DEMONIC KNIGHT" - Because being "badass evil" is cool.
"OMG NATURAL RANGER ARCHER" - Because like 90% of suggested archer ideas involve nature spells or nature ties or other stereotypical DnD ranger stuff.
"OMG MARTIAL ARTIST" - Martial Artists are standard "badasses" in modern fantasy? Why do you think NWN servers were infested with Monks when the game came out?
Gotta give kuddos to the Evil, Dark, and Edgy Version of Druid, though.
jamesisbest
24-10-2008, 04:57
I agree with Konfeta it sounds like fan-fiction. Fire spells... sounds like witch doctor will already have them. Besides the warlock sounds like a perversion of the witch doctor. The elfstone doesn't sound like it would fit in the lore at all, sounds like something for WoW or Lotro. Also the fact that it's a nearly exact rehash of an amazon plus some random out of the place sylvan tree tacked on makes it very unoriginal. Blizzard also said they weren't planning out the expansion yet or even sure if there will be an expansion (though it is highly likely) so why would there be expansion characters in the works already? This seems like the typical poorly executed scam.
I don't really want to take the time to find it, but I remember in one of the interviews with someone on the D3 team they said they did not see how a monk class with limited weapon/armor options would fit with the driving force of getting increasingly better gear.
this does sound like a well thought out bs post. The stuff about a healer class is what really throws it. No class in d3 will have large healing spells. The game is meant to be soloable, and you dont build a class that wouldn't be fun in solo mode. And spending half the time having to heal yourself really isn't that fun. It just doesn't match what they have been pushing, which is a fast paced action game of kill kill kill. (no heal breaks)
however. I've been thinking that blizz is making a melee wizard type. It seems there is a lot of demand for that type of class. I would expect them to take it to ideas we haven't thought of yet. (or at least i haven't thought of yet) and it would be vastly different from a wizard.
I think we all have had the fun notion though of casting spells and then ramming a sword into a mobs gut.
Hell I remember my warrior in Diablo 1. I built up the magic high enough to use things like firewall cuz i loved casting those spells and then attacking **** with a sword. I would expect blizz to take this idea and build it to new heights. Perhaps borrowing a little bit from the sorc in d2 in terms of enchant weapon. except we'd see lots more options and things that really make the weapons do cool ****.
RawBanana
24-10-2008, 07:08
Taking a look a closer look, my best guess is that this is a leaked internal information regarding the classes.
My reasoning below:
- Descriptions are well written in the Blizzard style; grammatical, descriptive, concise, and open-ended to give Blizzard artists, designers, and employees a vision to build upon. At least I can’t write like that.
- Notes are concise/organized and not presented in a style that Blizzard uses for external presentations: fanboys tend to copy nice-looking existing work and not put thought into presenting something in bland organized text.
- Details of the classes seem consistent with what has been released previously: Blizzard doesn’t seem to have decided on the exact skills, skill trees, classes, or other details.
- The overall ideas seem to work: skill trees are consistent with the class description, abilities cover the major types of play-styles that should be included but have not been included yet (auras, ranged combat)
- Names don’t matter internally: awkward names like Elfstone may infringe on copyrights or sound stupid but internally they probably want the artists to think of making a modern interpretation of the Elfstone elfs from the Shannara
- In fact after reading the Wikipedia entry on Elfstone, its like reading a excerpt from Diablo. The Elfs would fit in perfectly with the current Diablo 3 storyline http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elfstones_of_Shannara
Analysis of classes:
Warlock
- I was really hoping for a class like this. Its basically a Diablo version of Deathknight (WOW). A melee class which requires a blend of skill and magic to play.
- To me, Diablo characters are just 5X stronger versions of WOW characters. The true Hero classes of WOW
- I always thought there should be a shapeshifting ability that works better than the Druids werewolf; because this is a melee class already and not a caster who wannabe melee
- Melee pet class who needs a minion to help take some of the attackers off his back (he isn’t as tough as the Barbarian)
- Hopefully they will have a high level uncontrollable summon like the WOW Warlocks Infernal
- Surprisingly the trees are laid out exactly as I have guessed in my thread ( http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=679899 ) although I had more of a undead/death focus. It should play similarly
Elfstone
- Personally not the most exciting of classes compared to the Warlock, WD, and Wizard. Just another elf class
- Should play like the Hunter and Druid(WOW) but with much more power and flexibility
- They combine the Bow/Crossbow and Spear/Javelin trees from the Amazon which is obvious and should lower overlap between the skills
- Ambush tree should be a typical Rogue/Assassin skills: sneak attacks, dodge skills, critical strikes, melee attacks
- I really hope that by trap skills they mean snare/aoe skills and not device/widgets from the D2 Assassin (they seemed out of place, and weren’t very useful)
- Sylvan tree is straight from the druid: entangle, treants barkskin, and some heal over time spells I imagine
- Heal over time (HoT) spells fit better with Diablo than regular heals since HoT spells are more of a passive spell that increases survivability without a need to focus on spamming heals on yourself/others
- Treants are mentioned as the pet, hopefully accessible early on to tank as melee bosses which are notoriously hard for ranged classes without a pet/teleport
- A WOW-like Force of Nature spell to summon short duration uncontrollable treants would be a cool new concept in Diablo
- I really hope they put in a summon that has ranged attacks (behaving like the WOW Water Elemental) so a melee Elfstone can play with reliable ranged support (like the stupid Assasin Shadow Master spell that does his own random thing all the time)
- This class also reminds of the Rogue class I made in a previous thread. ( http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=679899) Admitantly the Hunt tree is obvious and instead of shadow they used Sylvan instead of shadow
As for the other classes, the Skin Walker is a really cool idea and sounds awesome. Don’t care much for the Monk as it sounds like an Assassin and is created for the wannabe asian-ninja. There is very limited need for heals and hand-to-hand combat is stupid in a game like Diablo where collecting good equipment is half the fun.
AcidReign
24-10-2008, 08:43
Warlock sounded legit. Then the elfsand or whatever made me go pffft.
Well, it sounds like its made up by a fan contest, but i would really like that Warlock guy. If it exists i can say goodbye to that damn barbarian if i want to play a melee. I hope its true, but i think not..
bigsuxoringnoob
24-10-2008, 09:38
woah, warlock and skin walker = win! they sound really cool, hope this is true!
I can't say with certainty that it's utter nonsense. However, there are some issues I have with its legitimacy:
Regarding the claim that the diablofans.com source got the Witch Doctor and Wizard's skill trees right, we have yet to find his/her post (even after a quick search). While I'm not saying that the OP here is making it up but it would strongly improve the credibility if s/he can find the original post, containing both, the new class info and the Witch Doctor and Wizard's skill trees, with it dated pre-Blizzcon.
When describing the Elfstone and Skin-Walker, the description uses the pronoun 'she' instead of gender-neutral 'he', which is odd since all classes are currently intended to have both, male and female versions. While the same could be argued of the Wizard, this is because it's describing the back story of a specific individual and not of an overall group.
The Monk is described as having an Asiatic appearance. However, there is already one in the game; namely the Wizard. While it's not impossible to have two physically Asian classes, it's unlikely.
TarnishedHope
24-10-2008, 10:36
Blizzard doesn't leak informations.
Appearance:
Asian-type. The Monk is an entirely new class to the Blizzard scene and the closest thing you are going to get to a “holy” character, other than the warlock which is the opposite of holy. I really have nothing to compare him to in past games – although he reminds me of a mix between Lui Kang or Raiden from Mortal Kombat, only more bad ***. Dress appearance has a lot of Asian influence.
The Monk is no new class, he was with us in Hellfire.
Jay wilson already said they were considering the name Warlock for the Wizard and didn't go for it because of WOW. If the pure spellcaster isn't warlock, no other character will be. therefore you're just making everything up
VioletJoker
24-10-2008, 14:37
Spirit + Rogue in Titan Quest = Warlock :)
http://www.titancalc.com/TitanCalc.asp?mastery=Warlock&master1=2&master2=6
I don`t think those names will be used for the next two classes but finger crossed for something like Assassin in Diablo II :P
Edit: Yeii 100 posts for me :guiness: for everybody.
Hellspawn
24-10-2008, 17:33
Regarding the claim that the diablofans.com source got the Witch Doctor and Wizard's skill trees right, we have yet to find his/her post (even after a quick search). While I'm not saying that the OP here is making it up but it would strongly improve the credibility if s/he can find the original post, containing both, the new class info and the Witch Doctor and Wizard's skill trees, with it dated pre-Blizzcon.
Werd. Get crackin, OP.
Creuzebek
24-10-2008, 18:20
I don't really want to take the time to find it, but I remember in one of the interviews with someone on the D3 team they said they did not see how a monk class with limited weapon/armor options would fit with the driving force of getting increasingly better gear.
Well, in NWN the monk can have all the gears. And if he wanted to fight with hands he could use gloves. Which would replace a sword, for example.
I thought this post would've been about the Blizzcon footage about the skill tree ideas they kicked around before they settled on what they have. There was one skill tree image that showed a ranged class with three trees in it.
This video 21 seconds in http://www.gametrailers.com/player/41491.html
Inner Focus, Nature, and Ranged Warfare.
Might have nothing to do with whatever ranged class they come up with or it could be the trees they went with, who knows.
Apocalypse
24-10-2008, 20:17
seems like the masses of fakes is coming out now huh, some being more creative than others
I actually kind of like these classes a lot. I think the main reason is they are pretty Dark.
The Skin walker is a pretty cool idea, and I think the Warlock would be awesome. A Paladin who sold his soul to hell for power and wants to unleash his soul so he can die in peace? Pretty cool. Maybe not the most in tune with the Lore, but again with everything that has been announced so far, I wont avoid it until I try em and I think this sounds cool. Think of a real transformation into a werewolf. That would be awesome. Not the happy go lucky dog that D2 was. Definte potential if this is real
edit: one thing that makes it sound more real to me is that the descriptions are being narrated...like the Al Habazid guy is writing the description...could be fake but who knows
Gigashadow
24-10-2008, 22:08
Personally, these classes are pretty feasible. They follow the standards...
Werd. Get crackin, OP.
While I would love to take credit for the ideas above, I'm not nearly so creative. I copied and pasted the info in a word document from a thread on fans forums; I can't find it now.
There was also a similar post going around on the main blizz forum at that time. I did a search under "skin walker" and it's not there either.
I know what this looks like, and you're free to think what you want, but I can't find it in either the Blizz forums or the DIII forums now.
Flame on I suppose, but I know I didn't write it.
Not to flame you, really, but in one of the videos with JW (I think it was in the sit-down video with JW and one of WoW guys taking questions from the media) where he stated something along the lines of "It's fun to read the forums. Sometimes, you see a post and you think: 'Hey, they got it right!'. You want to say something, but you can't".
Which makes me lean toward the possibility that Blizz doesn't really delete any such posts - that would only spark unnecessary attention and speculation of why the thread was deleted. They just sit and watch, to see what becomes of the idea and how people react to it.
Not to flame you, really, but in one of the videos with JW (I think it was in the sit-down video with JW and one of WoW guys taking questions from the media) where he stated something along the lines of "It's fun to read the forums. Sometimes, you see a post and you think: 'Hey, they got it right!'. You want to say something, but you can't".
Which makes me lean toward the possibility that Blizz doesn't really delete any such posts - that would only spark unnecessary attention and speculation of why the thread was deleted. They just sit and watch, to see what becomes of the idea and how people react to it.
I agree. I don't think it would be wise for them to delete posts. Even so, I distinctly remember there was a post talking about skin walkers on the blizz main prior to blizzcon.
Take it or leave it, I guess. We'll all find out soon enough.
733666:
4 5453 9687 42637.
Keighvin
25-10-2008, 00:12
By "blizz main", do you mean the Battle.net forums?
Hellspawn
25-10-2008, 00:24
JSLAW, I think I can speak for everyone when I say, if you are telling the truth, thank you! You are the man! If you are lying, please roast yourself slowly over an open flame! lol
Blizz do delete posts on battle net forums actually. If it was true they deleted one with supposedly leaked character info that would give it a lot more credence.
nicro tower
25-10-2008, 03:07
Very, very hard to believe this. Especially since the post talked about skin-walkers and elfstones, whatever those are. Thing is, druids don't deal with the powers of hell, and so far as I know, only necromancers have the power to raise dead without relying on demonic magic so... the "skin walkers" don't exactly sound very plausible to me. Besides Skin Walkers is the name of a movie, that apparently didn't do too well. And blackguard sounds much better for a fallen paladin. :P
Also, too many comparisons with WoW to be believable..
I looked all throughout this topic and I noticed....NOBDOY else saw that these are the EXACT set up of the d2 classes?
Barb? Check
Spirit oriented caster thing? Check
Pure caster, possibility for melee (zealsorcs) check
Holy (or anti-holy) warrior based? Check
Ranged bow oriented, survival expert? check
EXP:
Shape shifting master of the wild? Check
Stealthy light melee shrouded in shadows and secrecy? Check
HMMMMMMM
Hellspawn
25-10-2008, 20:50
^yep they make tons of sense and yet are still fresh and new, I am of the mind that it is more likely not a hoax. Plus, Blizzard announcing the extremely familiar Barb and Wizard as 2 of the first 3 classes, while saving the newer more unique classes for later also makes sense.
It still seems suspicious to me that someone saw a post, copied and pasted it, didn't link to the post, and now can't find the post within the span of two days. Even if it were on those forums I'd subscribe to the phrase; "If it's not in blue it isn't true."
Apocalypse
26-10-2008, 21:10
i am with nklint on this, very odd that no link was provided. also someone else would have seen this and you would be able to find something out there on a search
Thumbs up for the Warlock, if he ever makes it into the game.
stillman
26-10-2008, 22:34
I think peasant is right. This just doesn't seem like D3 stuff to me.
I mean, the ideas are not bland, dull and generic enough to be from Blizzard, lol. Come on, Barbarian and Wizard...the next 2 will be Theif and Cleric the way things are going at the Blizzard Hall of Creativity Dept.
To RawBanana: You CAN write like that. You just don't want to. If you really, really wanted to, you or (any of us) could make some good guesses, study the writings of Blizzard, and make a good attempt to sound like Blizzard.
If these chr classes are true, then we have not a single good guy chr to play in d3.
Barbarian: Broken down, meaner-looking than in d2, scarred for life, most of them gone mad from their experience, lost his sacred mount arreat so no chance of honorable burrial, corrupt, hardened and evil looking.
Wizard: Cocky, rebelious. Not attibutes of a true good guy.
WD: Voodoo is evil. Curses are evil too. Uses drugs. WD is an evil guy.
The rest (according to OP): all evil or pretty darn close. Evil guys playing as good guys.
Would Blizzard really give us nothing but badasses to play? So we go down to hell and crack a beer with our buddy Diablo.
I also wanted to note that the "elfstones" sound an aweful lot like elves. I guess that's one way it might be from Blizzard. They want us to believe Necros are not evil, but rather neutral and fighting for the forces of light. In the same line of reasoning, Blizzard could say, "Elfstones. They are a lot like elves in every aspect, by they are really people like you and me. Hey come on, you believed us about the necros being good guys, right??"
Brother Laz
26-10-2008, 23:10
If these chr classes are true, then we have not a single good guy chr to play in d3.
Who was the spotless guy in D1? Warrior: soldier, came back from an unjustified war under a mad leader. Rogue: just in it for the L00T and to PWN FACE. Sorcerer: Vizjerei, who may be demon hunters, but he does seem to let the demonic power get to him and ends up learning things like Bloodstar and other spells that drain his life, not to mention Apocalypse.
This all makes it a bit more interesting than the D2 characters which mostly didn't have any issues and just came to demon-lands to kick *** and chew bubblegum.
Apocalypse
27-10-2008, 04:24
i gotta say, not all the classes are evil. saying the barb and wizard are evil is going to a major extreme. the barb comes off to me as a war hardened master of his art. lets be honest, if you went to hell and back and 20 years later found out you had to do it again how do you think you would feel? the wiz comes off as cocky and nothing more imo. i honestly cant say i know enough about the WD to form any opinion at all but even then i dont know if i go evil.
what is lacking though is the warrior of light, whatever class is may be they do not have a "god" driven character. now it looks like we may end up fighting both heaven and hell in d3 (could be wrong but its a idea that is out there) so maybe they are trying to create all characters that are in the middle so to speak. no holy warriors or evil characters. probably gonna end up with 5 classes that are sick of both heaven and hell sticking thier nose into the buisness of mortals
You guys this rumor was posted on another website and they even said that these classes appear to be fanmade.
Those classes don't sound very plausible to me. For one the names are kind of weird and the descriptions of the skill trees sound more like a fan's idea of 'cool' than an actual class.
I like the classes so far. The WD plague ability that harms enemies and helps his own summons is a cool concept.
I also like the fact that the wizard is going to have both offensive and defensive spells this time around.
So far, I think all the new classes seem very balanced and will be fun to play.
Mad Mantis
27-10-2008, 08:55
woMANly, please do not link to competing sites. We have no intention of functioning as a recruiting site for another forum.
Not sure why so many people are venemously against this being legitimate.
So to touch on the reasons why so many are against it.
My thoughts:
1) The name elfstone is wierd but very likely the names of classes and trees change.
2) The copy is well written and sound like a viable basis for developing a class. In other words, they look like a blue print.
3) They follow the archetypes.
4) They took a traditional RPG character and changed it up a little. Sounds like Blizz to me.
5) Before D2 was released there was a screen shot going around of the character select screen. It was dark and grainy and everybody screamed "FAKE!!!1eleventy1!!" "Look U can tell it's photoshopped!!!"Then Flux comes on and says it looks pretty real, and it was.
6) I don't want to play a Barb again, or a sorcerer/sorceress/wizard or an elf stone (hunter) so please let the Warlock and Skin walker be real.
7) "Monk isn't canon" duh let's see here-------they can make anything they want. Add it in, make it up etc. So because the hellfire monk isn't canon that means there can never be a monk? Rubbish.
8) Stop whining.
It's not so much that we are against it (at least, not on my part). Rather, it's that the claim is unsourced and that if it was a rumor proper, there should be more web sites also posting such claims. A quick Google search (http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=warlock+skin-walker+diablo&btnG=Search&meta=) using a few choice key words doesn't yield much.
They wouldn't know the expansion classes already, it's fake.
I really did not mean to start a stir over this. I thought posting this here would help my dilema, but it has only made it worse.
My thoughts:
Why It Could Be Fake:
1. Names are weird.
2. Some classes, like monk, apparently don't fit with item oriented gameplay.
3. Lore argument.
4. Citation (Though this argument is dead with me since I know I did not write this.)
Why it could be real:
1. Classes fit all the archtypes, with a twist
2. If this is real, then there would be 2 European (barb ranger), 2 Asian (wizard monk), 2 African (warlock WD), and 1 Native American class (SW). In my mind, this seems overly politically correct for a mere fanboi. It sounds more like it is following some marketing plan.
3. Weird names sound a lot like "fillers." At second glance, words like elfstone don't sound like a class, but more like an idea to get creative juices flowing. For example, I looked up "elfstone" and it is used in two popular fantasy series. In Terry Brooks, elfstones were sacred healing artifacts. In the Lord of the Rings, it was the nickname that the elves gave Aragorn, who was a human ranger. At second glance, this is not a class name, but a word that is getting someone to have a picture in his or her head.
4. You could still have martial arts classes that were item based. For example, the monk could use daggers, knives, wristblades, thowing daggers, sais, katanas, claws, or samuri swords and still be a martial arts character.
5. I still don't buy the whole lore argument. "Lore" is just the story so far. Things can easily be added or changed and often are. Take for example death knights from warcraft. In Warcraft II, deathknights were undead spellcasters created by the warlock Nerzuhl. They were the souls of orc warlocks trapped in skeletal form. In Warcraft III, they were fallen human paladins. While this seemed weird to everyone at first they quickly got over it. Similarly were the Draeni. In WIII, Draeni were ghoulish denizens of draenor. In WOW, they are a proud, good looking race taht fly around in spaceships. On that note, it really would not be too hard at all to write every single one of these characters into the storyline.
6. The depraved/bloodrinking/evil druid and the warlock are actually very good ideas. (I also like the idea of the monk using samuri swords.)
When I first posted this, I thought it was a fake. Now after hearing all of your arguments for and against, I am very confused.
jasonmazzy
30-10-2008, 04:40
I am afan of death knights!
It's still the D2 format with random descriptions. :whistling:
MrProphet
30-10-2008, 20:42
This is in definite need of a citation. It smells fishy because the name "Elfstone" makes no sense at all. In fact, it's a term stolen from a very specific source, namely The Shannara books by Terry Brooks. It wouldn't even apply to a class of humans. This seems like well thought out characters crafted by a community member.
I think it's also Frodo's title from Lord of the Rings trilogy.
demolishman
30-10-2008, 21:56
I would say the Elf to be true. Very Amazonian-a-like, blond with big boobies. That is what every player wants right now for at least one of the two new classes. Diablo 3 cannot be released without this.
And they already have the elves in WOW.. Lol. The warlock is sad, I really don't see a reason to use that wow name, unless to make wow players want to "check" diablo 3 just because it has two characters from it.. Witch Doctor and Warlock.
Diablo 3 should be unique with its character names, like Wizard and Barbarian.
And this strategy works because when wow was first announced I enjoyed seeing a Warrior in there.. It was my first class (kind-of-related-to-d1). But back then it was ok to borrow things from D1/D2 because WOW was a brand new game and it didn't have a fan base, just the war 3 fans.
With D3 its different, fans don't like Blizzard to be borrowing raw information from another game, specially when there is a small amount of dispute going on between wow and d2 players.
But I am not Blizzard, so, they are the only ones who know all their reasons to do what they do, and they have the experience to make decisions... I am just a fan with a "gamecist" opinion. lol
Starving_Poet
30-10-2008, 22:00
Diablo 3 should be unique with its character names, like Wizard and Barbarian.
This brought a chuckle to my wrinkled, old face
DisneyDestroyer
30-10-2008, 22:17
Most significant reason why I think this is untrue: you many of the trees don't seem to be able to exist by themselves.
For the first three classes, we have seen that the most logical build(s) would focus almost entirely on a single tree.
But here, some of the skill trees seem to be intended to complement each other or work parallel with the other trees (more like D2). Some examples:
The Warlock with primarily the ARMS tree would miss most of the point of the build, seeming to lack the auras & curses, demon abilities, or fire abilities. Seems more intended to have at least one other tree active in parallel, which would water down the trees.
The Elfstone's HUNT tree seems to be almost entirely offensive, the AMBUSH tree seems to be almost entirely defensive.
The Monk's MARTIAL ARTS and SHADOW trees seem too similar and complimentary. They both focus on, and support, ranged/hand-to-hand combat. One by improving direct combat, the other by improving surprise attacks.
However, I do really like the idea of these classes. I think Monks are always a fun idea when done properly - higher risk/reward by having the most powerful build be based on no weapons or armor. I like the ghost/vampire character, but I'm concerned it would be difficult to properly balance. I'm not super-enthusiastic about the Elfstones, but it would properly suit the dual purpose of healer and ranged attacker. And the warlock makes sense if D3 ends with a fight within hell, itself - he isn't traveling into hell to save the world, but to take his soul back.
Could be fun.
I also like thinking about how runes would affect skills. What would they do to auras? Heal spells? Shapeshifting? Blind/suppress pain? Traps?
Looking forward to it...
blankblank
30-10-2008, 23:40
to hell with people who do not like the wizard. did you really expect an RPG without a mage type char? Time slow and chain lightning looks good already. What do you still want?
Apocalypse
31-10-2008, 01:53
i want a wizard who can morph into a huge dragon and swallow diablo whole
deadbeater
31-10-2008, 02:03
Fish. First of all, the Monk was in Diablo: Hellfire. Not new.
Second: The Skin Walker vampire sounds like a holdover of the vampire from Sacred.
And Elfstones? Why not straight up elves? Besides, you can't make a race a class anymore. This is not Classic D and D.
Also, nobody whose origin is from the cities? Pro-small-town, village bias anyone? I want for once somebody from a former Los Angeles-size city in Sanctuary as a playable character.
Gigashadow
31-10-2008, 02:24
Fish. First of all, the Monk was in Diablo: Hellfire. Not new.Hellfire was not a Blizzard product, so a Monk is still new as far as Blizzard games are concerned.
Starving_Poet
31-10-2008, 15:41
Also, nobody whose origin is from the cities? Pro-small-town, village bias anyone? I want for once somebody from a former Los Angeles-size city in Sanctuary as a playable character.
The Bureaucrat.
Skill Trees:
Taxation
Corruption
Social Engineering
Apocalypse
31-10-2008, 16:22
The Bureaucrat.
Skill Trees:
Taxation
Corruption
Social Engineering
what tree is the skill "slowly give country away to foreign government" in
what tree is the skill "slowly give country away to foreign government" in
Either in Social Engineering or Corruption.
Someone from the cities could actually be a Swashbuckler, a Bounty Hunter, or a Veteran Retired Guard, which would be interesting classes. (or a blacksmith, who knows)
Ruler of Heck
16-12-2008, 20:23
I don't believe these leaks are legit, for a couple of major reasons, both centered around the Skin Walker.
The description given begins in the standard third person, then switches to first person for no apparent reason. If this is a description intended to be read from some menu of the character creation system, then it is poorly written. If these descriptions are communicated to the player by an NPC or narrator type character within the game, then using first person isn't so bad, but why do none of the other descriptions use it then? I don't think Blizzard would let this kind of inconsistency go. Even if the consistency issues were resolved, the fact remains that where it slides into first person, it's simply really lame.
The second part is the lore itself. For those of you who may not know, the Skin Walker is a part of Native American lore. Something else you may not know about it is this: It could make an incredibly cool addition to a game IF it is represented true to lore. What I read in this forum may be cool, if you're into vampire werewolves, but it's simply not a Skin Walker.
Ok, small disclaimer here: In general, Native American lore is not precisely the same for all tribes and regions, so I cannot speak for everyone. Perhaps in somebody's lore somewhere, that accurately describes a Skin Walker, but it would be news to me.
*Actual Skin Walker stuff*
Here's the lore that I know: A Skin Walker is a type of an evil Witch Doctor. That right there would begin to create problems in this application, as there seems to already a witchdoctor under development, and for there to be two classes, they would need distinct identities. It does the standard witchdoctory things like cursing and removing curses, though with a different focus. Whereas the "good" Witch Doctors primarily are said to remove curses and promote healing, the Skin Walkers primarily curse people. These curses can cover anything from feeling sick to being unlucky to experiencing blinding agony, or even outright dying a nasty and horrifying death.
The actual Skin Walking portion of the lore does involve shapeshifting, but not at all like the druid stuff. The Skin Walker kills an animal and skins it, performing some kind of ritual to somehow capture that animal's essence within the skin. After that, the Skin Walker can pick up the skin from the animal and wear it to shapeshift into that animal. He walks in the skin of the animal, which is where the name originates. The experienced, accomplished Skin Walker might have prepared several skins over time and be able to assume a variety of shapes. While in this form, the Skin Walker can effectively go anywhere and do anything, unnoticed. Listen in on conversations, steal things (whether items of value, or things to help it curse people), or whatever.
I am certain that there is more to the lore that I don't know, because I learned it from regular people who just happened to be Native Americans born and raised on a reservation. Being regular people, they themselves didn't know all the historical lore beyond what I already mentioned. Belief in Witch Doctors is still prevalent today in certain areas, and belief in Skin Walkers not quite so much, but still common enough. However, it's not in the form of everyone knowing all the gory details. It's more like belief in the bogeyman, where it's a shadowy and mysterious figure, except one that is still actually believed to exist. You have to be careful talking about them, since they could be anywhere, just taking the form of an animal, and if you say too many bad things about them, they'll hear about it and come for you.
All this said, I would love to see the Skin Walker as a playable class in a game, but I'm not sure if Diablo is the right type of game for it. A great deal of the fun, for me, would be traveling through the world and defeating the various beasts to collect and prepare the skins to gain additional animal forms and abilities. It seems to me that this would work better as an actual MMORPG class than a hack-and-slash game class.
If it's not blue...
It ain't true
I don't think they are real, but who says their Skin Walker has to fit the Skin Walker in Native American lore? Its just the name of the class, it doesn't have to fit anything from reality.
CaptainDingo
19-12-2008, 20:32
On the subject of the "Warlock," I couldn't care less if you WoWophobes cried Death Knight over it. It'd be a fun class to play, and would instantly become my first-played class over the Witch Doctor.
But this post is obviously made up by a community member. My grammar-Nazi sense tells me Blizzard doesn't make so many errors in their brainstorms, or I guess more failure to punctuate things than spelling mistakes, but still. The ideas are good but the layout and presentation isn't Blizzard-quality.
jasonmazzy
10-01-2009, 03:52
i really think they are going to have to have some form of a 1/2 angel or an angel who has had his powers severely diminished. such as tyrael or his friend agrees to give up his powers in order to fight along side the humans. kind of the greek mythology lore where a god became man, had power above mortals but below the gods, so he may try to influence the battle.
callsignapollo
13-01-2009, 19:25
why dont they make one of the classes angels???
i mean why not?
why dont they make one of the classes angels???
i mean why not?
Because Diablo is about humans that are in the middle of Heaven vs Hell battle, yada yada yada, so nothing like angels because it ruins the mood.
ThulRasha
15-01-2009, 12:44
I'm a bit surprised that many posters in this topic are actually giving credit for that Warlock concept. And yet fall over the Elfstone name.
The name Warlock is extremely unfitting for the description of that class. In all other records, a Warlock has always been a squishy dark spellcaster. I'm sure Blizzard would come up with a name a lot more fitting to a dark knight. Hell, even the name Batperson would be more fitting :p
The ideas in the opening post are fanmade.
Zarniwoop
16-01-2009, 10:11
I don't buy a word.
Elfstone is from Tolkien.
Skin Walker? Awkward?
And everyone that read the warlock description just said "wtf, that's stupid. Call it a death knight then."
Blizzard doesn't make those kinds of mistakes.
The Lord of Darkness
17-01-2009, 00:40
war·lock (wôr'lŏk') Pronunciation Key
n. A male witch, sorcerer, wizard, or demon.
Yea, why not have 2 wizard classes. heh
The ideas of the warlock and skin walker seem pretty cool but that elfstone with healing spells has got to go. Probably nothing more than a wow fan trying to draw wow-like comparisons to D3 unfortunately.
skin walker sounds pretty effin' tyte so i hope so.
war·lock (wôr'lŏk') Pronunciation Key
n. A male witch, sorcerer, wizard, or demon.
Yea, why not have 2 wizard classes. heh
lol, did you wiki warlock?
To all the naysayers:
http://i29.tinypic.com/ml57px.jpg
So I got it out of order a little...monk is the next class.
ancalagon
22-08-2009, 01:57
It was posted on diablofans.com forums prior to Blizzcon. If you do a search it should take you to it.
This wasn't the whole post either. He said that the WD trees were going to be voodoo, spirit and witchcraft and it ended up being voodoo, spirit and plague. He also said that there was going to be a pure spellcaster class with trees being arcane, conjuration, and elemental and they ended up being arcane, conjure and storm.
And I hope you are saying that he is quite damn accurate.
ancalagon
22-08-2009, 02:04
Fish. First of all, the Monk was in Diablo: Hellfire. Not new.
And Elfstones? Why not straight up elves? Besides, you can't make a race a class anymore. This is not Classic D and D.
Correct. This is Diablo. Any race or gender can be a class.
Turns out he got the WD and Sorc skill tress right, and as of today, also got the Monk class right! Yeah sure some of the Monk descriptions are off but he was still way off in production.
I am routing for this guy, and all the classes are super original and amazing. They contain everything everyone wanted. Demonic characters, shapeshifting and rangers. And what is a Templar anyway, everyone wanted a Templar class???
Also, they all tie in to me.
Warlock: I can imagine the lore. A Vizjerej offshoot faction that still wanted to practice demonic magic in secret, in addition to honing physical strength and bruth force. Kinda like a Bartuc / Horazon hybrid. I can imagine him as a muscular paladin type with shield and helm who summons demons and uses hellfire and demonic arcane (red colored) magic.
Elfstone: Original Ranger class
Skin Walker: Everyone wanted a shape shifter. There he is. Remember what looked like a Female Druid in the original concept art? That could be this class. She did have a native american feel.
Yorkylol
22-08-2009, 04:29
The only way to know for sure if this information presented is accurate is to wait, although I must say reading this whole post and the huge sum of replies kept me quite busy for some time
:thumbup:
I'm thinking there is still going to be a ranger/hunter type of class. We already have 2 types of melee and and 2 types of caster classes.
And I hope you are saying that he is quite damn accurate.
Apparently he has been so far.
At any rate, I am still holding out that the Warlock idea gets implemented. Having a soul-tourtured, religiously haunted, demon-knight class is probably the best idea for a class I have heard yet.
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