Barbarian is the only returning class.

[Jenny]

When Blizzard announced the first two classes in Diablo III, the Barbarian and the Witch Doctor, at least one fan of the series was taken aback by the class rehash. That would be me, for the purpose of this post. After enduring such a long wait for the third Diablo installment, why resuscitate the Barbarian, when there are plenty of perfectly good fantasy game archetypes still left to explore?

Diablo III lead designer Jay Wilson says the reason is simple. The Barbarian in Diablo II could've been better. He was a bit more diplomatic in his dissing, saying that the brute force attack class had "room for improvement."

There's one class that definitely won't be coming back for another appearance in Diablo III. And Wilson says that it was because that class was just shy of perfectly designed.

The Necromancer, he said, was simply a victim of his own success. He was just too well crafted as a character, something that Wilson's Blizzard design cohorts, current and former, likely don't mind hearing. Necro fans on the other hand, probably won't be too thrilled to learn of his disappearance, despite the Witch Doctor class's similarities.

Wilson says that there are absolutely no plans to bring back any other classes, but, given that Blizzard wasn't breaking any news at Games Convention, wouldn't dish any details on what the remaining three classes will be.

We have a sneaking suspicion that Blizzard will take advantage of its own event, BlizzCon, to make such an announcement. (C'mon, Bard! We really want to serenade Diablo's minions to death.)

I didn't play D2 much, but I liked playing the Assassin and Sorceress. Kinda sucks they wont come back, but atleast some sort of hybrid of them will, surely?

 

[Darkmatter]

Sorceress ftw. I want my orb.

 

[Dragnskull]

i'unno

personally i hope for no more returning characters, i want fresh meat to sink my teeth into when D3 comes

but to be honost i wouldnt be surprised if they brought back some chars (id expect them to be renamed though, as "Mage" and "Sorceress" etc etc) with a few changes

 

[Sogeking]

thats cool. itll be kinda odd not having a paladin class though since its such a staple in rpg games these days.

 

[Emperor Pan I]

****ing right.

It's like I left a tooth under my pillow, and woke the next morning to find a million dollars.

No returning classes is ****ing sweet, now all that needs to happen is cut all the old Starcraft units for SCII and make new ones and Blizzard is next to God in my prayers.

 

[torrid mind]

I think this is awesome.
Can't wait to hear what the other three are.

What do you guys speculate?

 

[Renzokuken]

Good. I hated most of the classes and they are right, the Barb wasn't done well.

 

[Darkmatter]

You guys suck.

I think they will have classes more suited for the time line...maybe new classes having to do with the demons/worldstone or a new faction...etc.

 

[Gimmi]

i liked sorc and zons =(

 

[Renzokuken]

The sorcs skills looked kinda gay, except for the lightning ones. Frozen orb looked so bad. Sure, it was a great skill, but it was fugly as hell.

 

[Vadriel]

Just because they're not bringing anybody else back as "the same class as before" doesn't mean we won't see familiar faces. They could take the Sorceress, cut her into male and female counterparts with new skills, and name the class "Mage" and it'd still qualify as "not a returning class."

I fully expect a reworking of Assassin and Amazon into a Rogue-type character, and you're just an idiot if you think there'll be no form of standard elemental spellcaster. Whether it's called a Sorceress or not, there'll be one. Whether it's called a Rogue or whatever, there'll be a ranged class. Hell, since they're seemingly allergic to re-using names other than the Barbarian, it'll probably just be called a Ranger.

 

[electricmole]

samurai class. period.

 

[Darkmatter]

Due to the gender change, they will likely go with something more general so that you can fit that into a male or female rule. Much like what Vadriel said. They might even tie it in with the story...

 

[Johnny]

Just because they're not bringing anybody else back as "the same class as before" doesn't mean we won't see familiar faces. They could take the Sorceress, cut her into male and female counterparts with new skills, and name the class "Mage" and it'd still qualify as "not a returning class."

I fully expect a reworking of Assassin and Amazon into a Rogue-type character, and you're just an idiot if you think there'll be no form of standard elemental spellcaster. Whether it's called a Sorceress or not, there'll be one. Whether it's called a Rogue or whatever, there'll be a ranged class. Hell, since they're seemingly allergic to re-using names other than the Barbarian, it'll probably just be called a Ranger.

Elementalist to combine sorc/druid pretty easily.

 

[concrete_sox]

i just want a shape shifter wtf?

 

[electricmole]

amazon
samurai
assasin (ninja)
paladin
crusader
sorceress (mage)
bard
rogue
monk
sage
blacksmith
alchemist
priest
necromancer
druids
barbarian
mime

lets have all of these class in d3. what say you?

 

[Darkmatter]

Absolfuckinglutely no.

Barbarian.
Ranger.
Witch Doctor.
Crusader.
Elementalist.

 

[electricmole]

The amazon is the ranger already.

sage could be the elementalist and sage is a better name imo.

lets have a summoner class also that can summon bahamut and doomtrain but works only against specific enemies.

i say give each character an ss or special or limit break skill. The samurai with low hp will enable you to use an omnislash death blow.

 

[Renzokuken]

samurai class. period.

Yeah that would be fun. A class that has a philosophical way of life, generally avoiding fights and is in love with his sword.

Try ninja. That would be awesome.

 

[SweatyOgre]

I imagine some if not all of the classes from D2 will return, just not as playable characters. The sorcorer and rogue from D1 were in D2 as mercenaries, so I foresee the return of some of the heros from D2.