I doubt that Blizzard will include any of the old classes in Diablo III other than the barbarian. Which in my opinion is a good thing. Probably some similar but new nevertheless.
Blizzard themselves pretty much said it in an interview.
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 Blizzard Quote: (Source) |
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Our approach for classes in ‘Diablo III’ is that we don’t have a strong desire to bring back classes from the previous game,”
“The goal is to try and give people new gameplay and not just re-hash old gameplay. We’re not just making a ‘Diablo II’ with updated 3D graphics. |
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But apart of this quote from Blizzard's Lead Designer. There are other things about the other classes that makes them excludable.
Barbarian (Yes)
Yes, he's definately in. Lets go on...
And now for the others...
Necromancer (not happening)
Blizzard has pretty much confirmed he won't be in.
Amazon (very unlikely)
All classes will have both male and female options, the amazon warriors are strictly female.
Sorceress (
Unlikely, but a pure caster is pretty much guaranteed)
The Sorceress as we know it is from teh
Zann Esu Mage clan, an order which is strictly female and focuses in elemental magic. However there are several other mage clans. A pure caster is a staple of any game this category. My guess is that there will be some mage in, but probably not three different elemental trees. (more arcane spells, maybe some alchemy, conjuration or something else that's cool)
Paladin (doubt it)
If the game would be a standard sanctuary + heaven vs hell the holy warrior or clerical type of character would be likely to appear in the game. But as the plot will likely contain some trace of conflict against heaven. Or at least it's "falling luminaries" it's unlikely that a character would use divine powers in combat. You sure gotta have some faith to turn the powers of heaven against itself.
Diablo I Rogue (unlikely)
again the sisterhood of the sightless eye is strictly female, however a ranged attacker is pretty much guaranteed, and a roguelike char wouldn't be impossible. But not from the sisterhood.
Diablo I Warrior (unlikely)
Would need quite a few changes to set it apart from the barbarian class. Some of the knightly orders could possibly be in, but then they'd better have something to set them apart. A magical tree, a leadership tree, or maybe somethign that lets him fight mounted???
Diablo I: Hellfire Monk (unlikely)
while the class in itself would be quite interesting, Hellfire was made by Sierra. And I think Blizzard would not want to be accused of copying their ideas.
That leaves three classes that I can't find something that would invalidate them, so you might keep your eyes open for these. But as they said, they're looking mostly for new classes or at the very least heavily revamped classes.
Diablo I Sorcerer (
(possible, quite probable)
While they don't specifically say that the sorcerer of Diablo I was Vizjerei it's quite likely. the diablowiki mentions Vizjerei, Horadrim and Zann Esu when talking about sorcerers. But as Cain was the only Horadrim and Zann Esu are all female...
Some kind of mage in general will most probably make an appeareance. The Vizjerei where quite generalist mages (in comparison to the Zann Esu) so even if we did know he'd be in. We could only speculate what spells he'd have.
Druid (possible)
The druids has nothing real substansial that talks against them. They have such a wide range of powers that Blizzard might choose to give the class some more exploration.
Assasin (possible)
A stealth character is always welcome in this kind of games. I could very well see the class make a reappeareance as a fragile melee class relying on crowd control, stealth, traps and devices.
He works for his dues.
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