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We all hope for a balanced pvp scene, but most probably it will be some classes and builds that excel here.
Which classes do you think have an edge?
Barbarian
High life, charge and whirlwind sounds like a deadly combination. Especially in a world where it is not so that every other char can teleport 3 times per second. And the skills "Death Proof" that can autoressurect you once every 5 minutes can make you near unstoppable.
drawbacks might be blockable attacks and possibly fury dependancy.
Witch Doctor
Hasn't released that much skill info, maybe the swarm skills and exploding mongrels or other summons could work fine in pvp. But so far nothing that stands out that much. Both barbarian and wizard can get past a zombie wall at least...
Wizard
Teleport, Slow Time and Temporal Armor seems like skills that canmake the wizard ner untouchable. Slow time slows projectiles making them easy to dodge or deflect, and slows melee attack speed by 1 second per attacks. Which is huge considering the wizard can escape with teleport. If he even needs that, as Temporal armor means that he takes no damage if he hasn't been struck for the last 6 seconds!
Freezing, silencing and stunning on critical hits makes the wizard even nastier. And if it's not as easy to resist/absorb spells he might very well be a top dueler. Oh, and did I mention the instant hit laser gun?
Hopefully, none.
Theoretically, it should be wizard, always, since those rely on micromanagement and otherwise beat any melee class.
Witch Doctor second because he's not a full caster.
Barb on the bottom. Perhaps above the ranged class.
But, because of items having an effect, it's really hard to see.
The class that can perform the highest number of critical strikes per second may dominate PvP in DIII. The paladin replacement, who is suspected to be an agility warrior, may be this class. Though the amazon replacement, who is known to be a ranged agility warrior, may be this class. Plus the amazon replacement will be able to deliver crits from a distance, which could make him/her a better crit dealer than the paladin replacement.
The witch doctor, though, if his Plague skill tree comes to feature a massive poison damage skill that acts over a long time period, could dominate / do well in PvP. The witch doctor could cast this poison skill on an opponent from a distance, then immediately cast a very wide, high-level zombie wall in front of the opponent. The opponent, unless they are wizard able to teleport or a barb able to leap, will be encumbered by this zombie wall for some amount of time. During this time the opponent takes high poison damage. When the opponent gets almost around the first zombie wall, another huge zombie wall could be cast at the corner of the first zombie wall, further encumbering the opponent for some amount of time. Five zombie walls later, the witch doctor wins from the poison damage plus the zombie wall damage.
I think a melee Wizard would be a lethal combinaison for PvP, combined with slow time!
And I think WD will be a flop in PvP. Not many of his unveiled spells can do anything to control others such as slowing them or locking / stunning or that kind of thing. People will just get passed his minions which were always only good for PvE... Howl of terror? Can't tell... this wasn't ever really used in DII PvP with the barb's scaring shout lol. I think he will just be flesh to smash unable to get away from you... sadly.
Long answer: While we don't know the extent of the PvP scene (or all the characters!) there are basically two traits that are fundamental to PvP characters:
1) The ability to interfere with the other player's game plan.
2) The ability to apply damage quickly.
Now, these get more complex. The first trait is important because it prevents the enemy from executing their game plan and builds frustration, which makes them do stupid things. Obviously, big damage is important, and critical are an important part of it. Lastly, the speed component shouldn't be underestimated.
All the good PvP characters in D2 had these traits. Some of them banked more on one than another, but the best ones used both. For example:
Hammerdin: Desync interferes with opponent control (they are getting inaccurate information from their screen). Obviously the damage was huge.
Barb: Leap stuns people and is generally extremely irritating. Builds frustration. Giant damage with another form of stun (triangle WW).
Necromancer: Bone Prison, IBS, both limit the opponent's options. Big damage.
Assassin: Traps and Mind Blast drive people nuts, and they limit the field for more skilled enemies. Damage, not so much, but it can be quickly applied (teleport/WW). Again, very mobile from fast cast.
Some characters, like Sorceress and Amazon, relied on the big damage part of the equation, but these characters were also corresponding less effective in PvP (the amazon had a limited type of stun with her knockback, but it wasn't skill based or easily applied). These characters were actually the queens of PvP before mobility became such an important part of the game.
Now, in the enigma era mobility was a given, but in D3 it won't be, so mobility would be the third vital trait. The "best" PvP character will be one that combines fast damage, mobility and the frustration factor most effectively. At the moment, I'd give that to the Wizard, Slow Time, Teleport and whatever damage skills (tornado would be deadly to someone stuck in a time bubble and unable to get away). Barb shows some promise, the WD seems like he'll be in trouble until his players figure out some nasty tricks.
I imagine all damage types will be pretty much equally dangerous after resists in D3 (other than poison/others DoTs which should probably be weaker), removing one of the major advantages held by OW/physical/magical based chars. Take out sorb and in D2 something like an ES fballer would probably be the pub dominator of choice. No idea if we'll still have CBF in D3, or fhr for that matter, fhr = stun resistance?
I suspect teleport may be really weak as pure mobility, more an occasional utility than something to spam in pvp. Being unable to touch a character, especially ranged, unless they play dangerously aggressively (see d2c sorcs) is surely going to get caught early on.
What with its focus on solo-capable play I wouldn't expect to be able to be able to limit other players' character control much. I'm guessing weak stun skills and probably some slow is it, probably with Guilty Gear type stunlock preventation (sort of an automatic fhr boost with every hit until the chain has been escaped from). No leap or mind blast.
One thing you don't consider Happyassassin is energy management and even self heals... I don't think anyone knows yet to what extent long term endurance will become a focus of duelling builds, if at all. Whether the player health:damage will remain similar is anyone's guess, pvp could become a lot less spike orientated. Similarly restricted or prevented mana potting and perhaps even pvp areas with their own mechanisms of providing energy. You're narrowing the whole 'interfere with the other player's gameplan' too much definitely, and oversimplifying it imo. Mobility certainly comes under this category, among many other things. In D3 I imagine there'll be a greater element of diluting and expanding the core gameplan.
Anyway as others' have said it's absurd to try and predict this without knowing the final skill trees of so much as a single character.
The answer i hope to get from Blizz is ... NONE ... none of the classes should be able to rule the PvP scene if they were designed right.
Each class should have some sort of weak point that the other classes skilled players could use against it ... or the other way around ... each class should have at least a couple of skills the excel against another certain class in the hands of skilled players.
Besides class balance we all know the other reaons some classes ruled the PvP scene (i.e sorceress teleport before everyone got Enigma ) ... the propblem with Teleport is that it was good against everyone not a certain or specific class ... that simply broke the gameplay ... they thought the could fix that by giving everyone teleport (Enigma)... gah ... could have simply nerfed Teleport ... i just hope the new team doesn't fall into those kind of mistakes/trap XD
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