Controversy sells

**Flux** · 01-07-2008, 22:32

I'm finding it interesting to see how many more posts and readers the WD forum has than the Barbarian forum. It's ironic, since there's more of the Barb shown in the gameplay movie, and everyone seems pretty approving of his abilities and skill sets. Which results in... nothing much to talk about.

Meanwhile the WD forum is much busier, even if half the people are there to say how much the hate the character and want the necro back in d3, and the other half are arguing against them.

If Blizzard wanted more attention paid to the barbarian, they should have made all his armor turn into pink, easter-bunny looking clothing, or said he could only hit twice with each weapon before it needed repairs, or turned him into a skinny dwarf...

**Dimmu** · 01-07-2008, 23:03

I would honestly rather have something new than have the barbarian return.

But if it functions totally different from the d2 barb, I suppose i'm content. We havn't really seen enough to know yet though.

Even if they had just called it something other than barbarian i would be happy, but i expected every character to be brand new.

**Felix** · 01-07-2008, 23:09

I think the barb ran slowly.

**StreetShark** · 02-07-2008, 00:35

I think the barb is a solid class. He gives the newbie players who are horrible at click play a character that won't die in 2 hits like a sorc. On the other hand, their buffing him up it looks like to make him more appealing. For some reason I believe this game is built around the barbarian, and I doubt we'll see the paladin back. The Barbarian is the selling point to the large customer base of people who want to get in and play with few obstacles, whereas a finesse character like a caster won't be for them.

I though, love the Barbarian and am glad that they brought him back but gave him more skills and power. I want more customization though. Mark my words, this game will be built around the Barbarian's story, and not the paladin.

OH yeah, and the WD is just a trash character. Boring, lame, looks like an alien. Nobody wants to play a real life character that looks like a freak, considering witch doctor's are real and do look like that. What a retarded move by blizzard.

**smartdot** · 02-07-2008, 03:10

i dont think nay one has the right to call a character a "trash" character for many reasons

1. Are you a Blizzard employee? have you played through the game at all levels with the WD?

2. Have you played the three unknown characters to compare it too? maybe the barb is just OP.

3. does your opinion apply to everyone else? people say fighters suck and are boring in D&D, but i rather enjoy them.

**LiquidClear** · 02-07-2008, 03:13

I agree with everyone you posted.

I think that the purpose of the Barbarian is to be the solid, consistent class in the game though, not the sexy one. I don't think Blizzard released him with the intention of getting attention, he was just the stationary class to go along with the new and different Witch Doctor. It's definitely not surprising that he's not getting much attention though; with sequels, people are obviously going to focus on the new material, not so much what is carried over. On top of the Barb not being "new", melee mashers don't really leave as much to talk about, and don't rub people the wrong way that more elaborate classes might. Whether or not you like playing Barbs, it's pretty much universally accepted that the game is going to need a masher/tank class, and the Barbarian fits that role very well indeed, there's just not much to argue about him. Plus, the barbs skills are pretty much physical moves, while the Witch Doctor is summoning mongrels, locusts, and zombie walls... definitely a little bit more eye catching.

Even without the hype, when the game comes out I'm sure that there will be more than just a few people rolling out the Barbarian with their first char (looks like myself included so far).

**prion** · 02-07-2008, 04:06

we dont want to talk about it we want to play with it!

**lazerlight** · 02-07-2008, 05:15

Originally Posted by StreetShark

I think the barb is a solid class. He gives the newbie players who are horrible at click play a character that won't die in 2 hits like a sorc. On the other hand, their buffing him up it looks like to make him more appealing. For some reason I believe this game is built around the barbarian, and I doubt we'll see the paladin back. The Barbarian is the selling point to the large customer base of people who want to get in and play with few obstacles, whereas a finesse character like a caster won't be for them.

I though, love the Barbarian and am glad that they brought him back but gave him more skills and power. I want more customization though. Mark my words, this game will be built around the Barbarian's story, and not the paladin.

OH yeah, and the WD is just a trash character. Boring, lame, looks like an alien. Nobody wants to play a real life character that looks like a freak, considering witch doctor's are real and do look like that. What a retarded move by blizzard.

I agree with your WD assessment. Blizzard basically just took the necro, altered his abilities a tad, and then made him look ridiculous instead of kick-*** in the process. I would love to see them scrap the WD and just made a more badass-looking necro to put in the game. (not to mention necromancer just plain sounds cooler than witch doctor)

As far as the Barbarian goes, the skills look fine, but the appearance is horrible! Am I seriously the only person that doesn't like the fact that blizz made him have long white hair and a white beard like some old man?! He looks like santa clause mixed with your grandfather for god's sake... not to mention the muscles could be A LOT more defined than how blizz made it... I dunno, I just hope the sorc/zakarum/rogue are better than these first two disappointing classes.

**Swiffer** · 02-07-2008, 05:20

Man, people really will complain about anything wont they.

"Witch docter is just a stupid name"

"Why does the barb have white hair and a beard? Its stupid"

"Why aren't blizzard making the game the way I want?"

And so on and so forth.

**lazerlight** · 02-07-2008, 05:34

Well make the barb look like a young, strong warrior and there won't be any complaints from anyone - pretty simple. If leonidas was a 60-year-old man in 300, do you really think people would have enjoyed the movie as much?

As for the witch doctor, just making him look like a normal person who can walk upright and is under 50 years of age would be enough to make him bearable. These aren't difficult changes to be made, nor are the feelings about the characters just confined to one person.