I Dream of Diablo: Character, Skills & Skill Tree Predictions and stuff

[MANazon]

Much like most of the folks here in the diii forums, I imagine/daydream of who the characters are and what their skills will be in D3. So here's my 2 coppers on how that will be (or how I'd want it to be coz it's driving me nuts ever since the d3 announcement. and yes, I have no life. That is why I do this).

First off, I predict that, like what Ed from Russia said, there may be 10 characters in the game (5 for d3, 5 for the expansion).

I also predict that there would be 4 skill trees for each character but you may only get to choose 3 so that the player can customize on his/her character's build as well as encourage replayability to test different builds. Even with the 3 skill trees, one may concentrate on only 2, so for each character there's several possible builds.

Now with the characters. First five:

BARBARIAN - Already announced. Obviously the melee brute.
Possible Skill Trees:
Combat Skills - like d2. Composed of battle skills
Combat Mastery - like d2 again. Passives (iron skin, etc) and weapon masteries.
Warcries - like d2 again again. Buffs and debuffs
Berserker - significantly more damage than Combat skills but would take a toll on the barbarian's HP


*yes most of his talents are from d2 coz I couldn't think of anything else a barbarian can do. Maybe cook rabbits?


WITCH DOCTOR - Also already announced. The dark mage/summoner.
Possible Skill Trees:
Voodoo Mastery - spell and summoning passives
Voodoo Spells - offensive spells and buffs
Summoning Skills - summon spells and summon passives
JuJu - defensive spells


ROGUE - Ranged.
Possible Skill Trees:
Tricks and Traps - stuns, confuses, redirects, immobilizes enemies. Maybe damage over time.
Amazonian training - long range skill, T&T passives
Survival - fast but low damage melee skills & defensive skills
Marksmanship - long range skills. Maybe bow, crossbow & throwing daggers


WIZARD - Mage type. Pure arcane.
Possible Skill Trees:
Arcane Knowledge - defensive damage over time spells
Arcane Mastery - offensive arcane spells
Conjuring - arcane support spells
Arcane Intellect - spell passives. (+dmg, less mana, etc.)


TEMPLAR - Hybrid type. Probably a higher ranked Paladin. Graduated Zakarum University before Mephisto taking over.
Possible Skill Trees:
Auras - offensive & defensive
Combat Skills
Divine Intervention - holy spells
Divine Knowledge - holy spell, aura, combat/physical skill passives



The Expansion five:


NECROMANCER - back in black and darker than ever.
Possible Skill Trees:
Bone, Blood and Poison - classic bone spells mixed with poison spells. And I imagine blood spells like Blood Explosion (necro sprinkles his blood everywhere then kaboom or explodes the blood in creatures except skeletons).
Summoning Skills - undead, skelemages & golems
Dark Rituals - spell and summoning passives
Curses - probably different from his old skill tree curses. I was thinking like "Boil Flesh" (DOT), "Rot Mind" (DOT with mana returns), "Drain Soul" (DOT with life returns). mostly DOTs, some beneficial for the necro.


SHAMAN - Ranged. No totems here.
Possible Skill Trees:
Spiritual Focus - calls on the spirits for support. not necessarily summons. More on buffs and debuffs
Spiritual Attunement - fast but low damage melee & defensive spirit spells. Something like "spirit form" to avoid damage.
Tomahawk mastery- long range skills. Maybe throwing axes.
Spiritual Guidance - passives


MONK - Hybrid. Similar to the d2 assassin.
Possible Skill Trees:
Martial Arts - direct damage kung-fu skills.
Mental Focus - support spells. buffs
Enlightenment - physical and mental passives
Mental Strength - telekensis spells. Like the assassin's.


ELEMENTAL - Mage. Sorcerer/ress type.
Possible Skill Trees:
Flame and Frost - fire and ice spells (duh)
Lightning and Wind spells
Elemental Mastery - spell passives
Elemental Summons - defensive spells and summons


BEASTMASTER - Brute type. I was imagining this to be a druid type that focused more on shapeshifting and animal attributes.
Possible Skill Trees:
Shapeshifting - Combat skills mixed with shapeshifting
Beast Mastery - passives
Summoning Skills - mostly beasts. Not limited to crows, wolves and bears. Limited number. Probably not more than 3.
Animal Aspects - Combat skills mixed with animal-like attributes. "Strength of a Bear" anyone? heheh nothing like that but you get my point


And the rest who may or may not replace anyone from the ones listed above:

DRUID - Mage type. The other half of the druid type that focused on nature spells.
Possible Skill Trees:
Nature's Wrath - plague-like spells. direct and DOT spells
Summoning Skills - army of plants, trees, insects, wisps and whatever as long as they're plenty.
Nature's Touch - passives
Natural Disasters - volcano, cyclone, earthquake-like spells


HOPLITES - Hybrid. Amazon type that borrows powers from the gods. Since everyone here aren't too keen with the idea of a male amazon ("MANazon" ehem), here's something for both sexes. Even if Hoplites are based on something that was all male....:confused:
Possible Skill Trees:
Gift of the Gods - magic spells. Direct damage and buffs.
Spear Mastery - combat skills and melee passives
Blessing of the Gods - physical and spell passives
Javelin Mastery - ranged skills and passives


ASSASSIN - because I think I just listed most of the previous characters and morphed the rest. Might as well bring this one on board.
Possible Skill Trees:
Shadow Arts - combos and finishing moves OR just plain ninjitsu skills
Shadow Disciplines - passives
Assassination - high damage melee skills with long cooldowns
Shadow Skills - buffs, debuffs and support.


*yup thats right. no traps.



and finally some characters I would like to see: (Not a prediction but something that I came up with)



VENGEFUL SPIRIT - sort of like the banshee from warcraft 3. Mage type that can possess creatures.
Possible Skill Trees:
Possession - possession skills and passives. Sample spell would be like possessing while draining life or mana. Another would be using the possessed body as body armor. and if a body is not available, the spirit can summon dead bodies to possess.
Torment - debuffs. Something like mind control, etc.
Poltergeist - spells. one that comes to mind would be spontaneous combustion/explosion: the spirit explodes the possessed body. kinda like corpse explosion.
Pneuma Mastery - spirit passives



REDEEMED DEMON - something that looks like hellboy maybe? Hybrid
Possible Skill Talents
Remnants of Light and Dark - holy and demon spell passives
Demonic Attributes - physical passives
Fire and Brimstone - demonic direct damage spells and debuffs.
Redemption and Retribution - holy-based melee skills and buffs. Sample would be "Blade of the Heavens" buffs weapon with holy energies adding damage to every attack.




Whew. That's about it. Till then I'll be day dreaming away.

[Dacar92]

Nicely dreamed. :)

[5zigen]

My vision...

First off let me start by saying I don't think they will have such a focus on passive skills, and if they do I hope all the classes have their own passive trees (like WoW talents) so I'm gunning for mostly active skills for the characters.

Barbarian (already confirmed, melee noncaster archetype)
- Combat skills (things like leap, charge, whirlwind and other mobile skills)
- Weapon Mastery (weapon specific skills, think like the amazon skills only usable with a spear. But here with things like ranged sword attacks, aoe hammer attacks etc)
- Shouts (basically the same as in D2)

Witch Doctor (already confirmed, summoner / debuffer archetype)
- Voodoo (summoning zombies and stuff)
- Disease and death (direct dmg spells and dot spells)
- Curses (fear, confuse, other debuffs)

Sorcerer/ess (same name as D1, just to keep the namesake, many changes)
- Enchantment (spells to modify your character, ala d2's enchant / frozen armor, but many more perhaps granting lightning damage, straight damage reduction, things like charged strike from the amazon etc)
- Evocation (Direct damage spells, ideally mostly fast casting (.1-.25 seconds, low cooldowns, fireballs, charged / lightning bolts, glacial spike frozen orb (if it must come back)
- Summoning (this is spells where you summon something basically from off screen, Things like meteor, hydra, blizzard, call lightning, but also mobile things like elementals, ice / fire golems etc)

Ranger (ranged archetype, uses ranged weapons primarily)
- Deadeye (bow skills and throwing weapon sills. Things like GA, Strafe, multishot, peircing shot etc, along with throwing skills for knives and such, like fan of blades from WC3 or Shadowstrike)
- Chicanery (skills that disorient enemies, help the character move, things like decoy, cloak of shadows, sprint (high move speed short duration))
- Beast Mastery (summoning animals to do stuff, some can be like direct spells that would say, shoot snakes at some enemies, some could be like retainers such as wolves or panther (to spice things up))

Finally-

Exorcist (holy archetype, buffing, debuffing, hybrid melee and caster)
- Auras ( essetially only auras that affected enemies, things like holy freeze, fire, sanctuary, etc)
- Blessings (replacing auras with blessings so you dont have to make a choice between buffing your party or debuffing enemies, basically things that wouldnt stack, but could increase attack speed, defense stats, attack speeds, base stats, anything)
- Smiting (holy attacks, some melee based some simply cast, ala holy bolt, making things like FoTH an aoe attack, new things like aoe melee attacks that rely on your weapon damage)

That's what I would like to see and what I hope to see when the game comes out.

[MANazon]

My vision...

First off let me start by saying I don't think they will have such a focus on passive skills, and if they do I hope all the classes have their own passive trees (like WoW talents) so I'm gunning for mostly active skills for the characters.


hey maybe they'll have the 3 active skill trees and a separate "talent" tree for passives. hmmmm...

[5zigen]

hey maybe they'll have the 3 active skill trees and a separate "talent" tree for passives. hmmmm...

That was my hope. get 1 skill point per level and 1 talent pt per level.

would make char customization much more in depth. I just hope it wouldn't be seen as too complicated for gamers to have to make so many decisions per level.

If you look at WoW there are no decisions when you level, and the only thing you do get to choose is your talents (past lvl 10), no stats and no skills. I just think it would be fun not only from a customization perspective, but because people would get more skills earlier, instead of typically dumping points into passives as you level you could put them in otherwise neglected skills to increase your portfolio and the depth of the game earlier on :)

[Vicarious]

I would like to see a counter-paladin class such as a death knight of some sort, all spells the opposite of what a holy paladin would have. I want more "evil" based classes added this time around. I like the Demon idea, but make it a human who can transform into a demon rather then a hellboy type creature.

[Jesse24]

Here's something new and exciting though stealing from a few different games so not quite original.

Witch Hunter

Exotic Weapons: Combat Skils and Passive Increases for use with it's own weapon class, stealing this from NWN2, but maybe something cool like a double bladed staff or maybe concealed weapons. Damage comes from dexterity stat instead of strength.
Stealth: Hide, Sneak around, High damage stun attacks emerging from stealth, damage over time and disabling poisons.
Extreme Conditioning : Passive defense increases such as dodge, resist boosts, temporary immunities to certain elements, run/walk speed boosts, etc


This will be more what the Assassin should have been.

[Chard]

I dream of but one thing....NO HEALERS. THIS IS DIABLO!!! Throw out your D&D stylings of party mechanics and interaction, usher in a return of the diablo style of play. One where you employ a myriad of possible tactics and means to slaughter thine enemies; whether they be tribal magics, arcane secrets, holy consecrations, years of training at the sword and axe; or maybe just maybe by fueled by the demonic power that you yourself fight against. There is only room for the trial of combat and the transformation of enemies into a fine red paste no matter the prior form they took.

Stand with me forum goers and keep up the fine traditions that we have established in the previous incarnations of this game and have none of this nonsense dictated to us by the myriad of cookie cutter MMOs that exist! For in that realm the game that had the feature first is the one that lives and to copy them is to invite those that would have this game too transformed into something that we already have!

[Morannon]

Nice effort dude!

However I think 10 classes is too much. My guess is good old 7.

[vendrox]

I love the dreamer, I want as much as can be!

In regards of the !healer guy, it's already pretty much "confirmed" that there won't be any healing class in diablo 3.

[MANazon]

I dream of but one thing....NO HEALERS. THIS IS DIABLO!!!


I don't think there will be. Coz in D2 each character (except the sorceress i think) had a life stealing or life regen technique. So maybe the same would be implemented in D3 for solo players.

[MANazon]

Nice effort dude!

However I think 10 classes is too much. My guess is good old 7.


Thanks, man.

Only thought it would be 10 coz im thinking Blizzard would want to turn it up a notch from the last one which was 7. But if they do retain the 7 characters, I guess it'd be great too.

[MANazon]

I love the dreamer, I want as much as can be!

In regards of the !healer guy, it's already pretty much "confirmed" that there won't be any healing class in diablo 3.


I love to dream myself. I'm thinking of adding some more. but what other unique characters are there? hmmm

[Techboss]

Let's review the history of the Diablo franchise before continuing. We need to do this so people remember where the game as come from and not jump this post saying "that's no Diablo". Diablo 1 had spells, which every character could learn. Mage, Warrior and Rogue could have all the spells at the highest possible level, granted it took a long time. The only real differences in the classes was the caste speed and swing speed of each class. There were no skill trees.

Diablo 2 introduced the skill tree which lead to characters being extremely min/maxed as well as several 1 point wonder skills. This lead to more diverse builds within the same class, but may be considered annoying by some.

(if you hate MMOs, don't read the next paragraph)

World of Warcraft took the skill tree and turned into a talent tree. They then gave each class a set of skills, which the talent tree augmented. This usually lead to 3 viable builds within each class, thus giving the play a bit of specialization and some replay value. One could say this is a combination of Diablo 1 and Diablo 2.

My thought is that they should give a set of skills to all builds of each class. For example, all barbarians should have leap attack. All characters should have town portal as well. They should then add talent/skill trees where players can specialize in specific areas. I'd like to see a few more skills than WoW has, but any 1 point wonder should become a base, no charge skill.

My suggested Barbarian Trees are:
- Two-hander Tree
- Dual Wield Tree
- Shout Tree
- NONE OF THE BARB TREES SHOULD HAVE WEAPON SPECIALIZATION. It's annoying and stupid.

My suggested Witch Doctor Trees are:
- Summoning
- Curses & Effects (fear, confusion)
- Direct damage

[5zigen]

My suggested Barbarian Trees are:
- Two-hander Tree
- Dual Wield Tree
- Shout Tree
- NONE OF THE BARB TREES SHOULD HAVE WEAPON SPECIALIZATION. It's annoying and stupid.

I dont see a weapon specialization tree as annoying or stupid. People complained about it with barbs because it was just a single passive that really confined your character but didnt add any robustness to him.

No one complained about weapon specialization with Amazons, and they were much much more pointed toward their weapon, be it spear javelin or bow.

I Think it would add robustness if there was a whole tree dedicated to hammer skills (perhaps PBAOE, aoe like shockwave etc) sword skills (perhaps like a single target ranged attack, or ranged attack that peirces enemies, etc) or axe skills (different shaped pbaoe etc), or spear skills (think stuff like aoe impale and fend, only cooler). I think it would add a lot to the barb personally, and be far from annoying.

Just wanted to add that as I felt like "no weapon skills" was a response to my suggestion for them. I don't mean to step on your dream, man. It's just that that is one thing that would make the barb playable for me :P

Though I guess what I consider weapon specialization skills could fit into your 2h or dw tree... it just wouldn't be the same though! Pounding the ground with a big sword just doesn't make sense like it does with a hammer!

[Techboss]

I dont see a weapon specialization tree as annoying or stupid. People complained about it with barbs because it was just a single passive that really confined your character but didnt add any robustness to him.I agree

No one complained about weapon specialization with Amazons, and they were much much more pointed toward their weapon, be it spear javelin or bow.Barb damaged is based purely on weapons, where Amazon damage is a combination of the weapon damage and an elemental skill of some sort. Amazons also have a lot more AOE damage than Barbs and thus having to make an extra AOE shot is far less detrimental than having to make an extra attack on each mob. Point being, because of these two mechanics, Amazons are less gear dependent than Barbs. Less dependence means less complaining.

I Think it would add robustness if there was a whole tree dedicated to hammer skills (perhaps PBAOE, aoe like shockwave etc) sword skills (perhaps like a single target ranged attack, or ranged attack that peirces enemies, etc) or axe skills (different shaped pbaoe etc), or spear skills (think stuff like aoe impale and fend, only cooler). I think it would add a lot to the barb personally, and be far from annoying.

Just wanted to add that as I felt like "no weapon skills" was a response to my suggestion for them. I don't mean to step on your dream, man. It's just that that is one thing that would make the barb playable for me :P

Though I guess what I consider weapon specialization skills could fit into your 2h or dw tree... it just wouldn't be the same though! Pounding the ground with a big sword just doesn't make sense like it does with a hammer!I just responded in general. The "no weapon specialization" comment voiced at Blizzard, not a particular poster. Weapon specialization is an annoying mechanic that serves no real purpose. A frenzy barb should find all one-handed weapons in the game useful, not be disappointed because something really cool dropped he can't use. A two-hand using barb should be the same. There are ways to implement the mechanics your talking about without tying them direct to a single weapon time.

[mince pies]

I would like to see more diversity regarding skills/skill trees in DIII. For example, in DIII the Necromancer (an example) had Poison & Bone skill tree, Summoning and Curses. In DIII the Necromancer would have those three skill trees but with each one have three sub skill trees for them. E.g. the Summoning skill tree would be split into three different skill trees, as would Curses and P&B. I know that's a LOT of skills but I think it would make it a lot more interesting :)