Is the Witch Doctor replacing...

[Niniux]

...the Sorcerer?!!!

But my precious Diablo classes were so cool, I can't see why they just wouldn't bring back the Rogue, Warrior and Sorcerer. Obviously, since the Witch Doctor is a spell caster, he's taking over the role of the Sorcerer. I think he's much too cartoony and fluid. I vastly prefer the stiff gait of the Sorcerer. And don't get me started on the Barbarian that is clearly replacing the Warrior. What next, Blizzard is going to release info on some two-bit, ranged weapon weilding, cartoony replacement for my rogue?

:whistling:

Anyways, in all seriousness, I really am digging the whole Witch Doctor thing right now. I think it's a very cool character concept and can't wait to get my hands on it to be able to play around with him. I am slightly disappointing they are rehashing the barbarian, but at least they've included enough tweaks to make his gameplay seem different than Diablo 2's Barb.

It seems like I might be one of the only people that is happy to see new classes. I doubt I would have liked Diablo 2 as much if it had just been Warrior, Rogue, and Sorcerer. Anyway else happy about the change?

[Gigashadow]

I really like the Witch Doctor. :) The idea of empowering creatures with your spells is very interesting, and new to the Diablo series. Innovation is very important to me, despite how much I like the prequels.

I was thinking of modding the Diablo II Necromancer with Witch Doctor spells, but I lack the skills. :(

[Schwalker]

It´s more likely that the Witch Doc is replacing Necros and Druids, the skills we have seen so far are really a mix between those two.

[raishi]

and the assassin's fire blast attack...

[5zigen]

It´s more likely that the Witch Doc is replacing Necros and Druids, the skills we have seen so far are really a mix between those two.

No they aren't. The skills so far have all been like necromancer skills in more ways than one. The only druidy thing about them is the fact that one of their spells is fire based. Everything else is directly analogous to a necromancer skill.

And the OP post was clearly a parody on D1's sorcerer class and why it's silly to cry about something from D2 being replaced.

[raishi]

d1 mage acctually but thats splitting hairs...the other druidy things is that the wd doesn't need corpses to summon...

[Schwalker]

Being that shapeshifting is a trait associated with some African witchdoctors (panthermen etc) while the Voodoo houngan allows mighty spirits to use his body and during that spell share their magic attributes I wouldn´t be surprised to see the D3 WD smoothly bridging the gap between Necros and Druids.

But that is just a minor speculation.

[5zigen]

d1 mage acctually but thats splitting hairs...the other druidy things is that the wd doesn't need corpses to summon...

Sorcerer

http://www.blizzplanet.com/content/367/

And no one will need corpses to summon, they're still undead things and he still blows up corpses...

[Xeteh]

I can't really see Blizzard going without a pure elemental class like a mage/sorcerer.

[konfeta]

I can. The important part is conservation of gameplay, not themes. They can't go without a pure nuking class (fragile, no pets, high spell damage output). There are hundreds of ways you can implement a class that plays like the Sorceress without making it an elemental caster.

Hell, they could just as easily dump the Paladin, make the next showcased Mage Clan be a bunch of guys obsessed with swords and magic combo (thus fulfilling the melee/caster hybrid role that the Paladin was fulfilling and at the same time having a fire/ice/lightning theme going). The next caster, instead, could be a total newcomer that loves blowing stuff up Nature, Science(!!!), and Fanfic skill trees.

[5zigen]

Hell, they could just as easily dump the Paladin, make the next showcased Mage Clan be a bunch of guys obsessed with swords and magic combo (thus fulfilling the melee/caster hybrid role that the Paladin was fulfilling and at the same time having a fire/ice/lightning theme going). The next caster, instead, could be a total newcomer that loves blowing stuff up Nature, Science(!!!), and Fanfic skill trees.

No they couldnt. Holy magic is ingrained in diablo pretty thoroughly imo. "dumping" the paladin is something they couldn't do without really fundamentally changing the game.

Well they could dump the paladin, but not for a non holy character.

I mean, in D1 the spells were broken up into fire spells, lightning spells and holy spells.

A pure elemental character could be possible as long as it wasnt a pure ranged nuke character. They could fill multiple roles with the elemental theme and that's what I hope they do.

[Blood_And_Iron]

I can't really see Blizzard going without a pure elemental class like a mage/sorcerer.

The damage type is not important. The game has to have a Mage class.

Personally I think they're going to add a Mage, an Archer variant and a Paladin variant. These are all essential archetypes that a game like this should not do without. The two classes currently showcased fill in the Warrior and Summoner archetypes.

The Witch Doctor is a hybrid between the Necromancer and the WoW Warlock. Don't know where you all have been?

[konfeta]

The Witch Doctor could potentially be a melee hybrid as well. The class is shown often with mace/flail as their weapon of choice.