No Necromancer for Diablo 3

Author: Joe Martin
Published: 22nd August 2008
Comments (29) Stumble
The Barbarian is the only returning class in Diablo 3, meaning the Necromancer will be curiously absent.

The Barbarian is the only returning class in Diablo 3, meaning the Necromancer will be curiously absent.

Blizzard has confirmed that there will be no returning player classes in the upcoming Diablo 3, with the exception of the Barbarian class. In other words: No Necromancer.

Speaking to Kotaku at the Leipzig Games Convention, Diablo 3's lead designer Jay Wilson said that it was a deliberate decision not to include the popular Necromancer class because he frankly didn't need improving.

"The Necromancer was simply a victim of his own success," said Wilson, "He was just too well crafted as a character."

Instead, the Barbarian will be reintroduced as Wilson believes there is room for improvement in his character design. The Necromancer meanwhile will be completely absent, though Blizzard is including the kind-of-similar Witch Doctor class.

Blizzard still has three remaining player classes to unveil, but isn't giving away any hints just yet and will confirm only that the Barbarian is the only character from an existing game.

On the one hand, we can see Blizzard's decision to focus on not fixing what wasn't broken as a good thing. On the other hand though, it does seem a bit foolish to go against the wishes of the fan community and neglect to include one of the games most popular assets.

Blizzard has also drawn fire from fans recently over the art direction of the game, which is very colourful, light and bloom-ful - a stark contrast to the look of the older games in the series.

Are you looking forward to Diablo 3 or have these changes soured your taste for it? Let us know what you think in the forums.
Quote sotu1 22nd August 2008, 10:56
whaa? no necro? GREAT! no more boner jokes...

no seriously, it's a shame there's no necro cuz it was a popular (cookie cutter) class. and i'll miss the party friendly spells. They just better bring back the rogue or the 'zon.
Quote DarkReaper 22nd August 2008, 11:04
Ehh, the story did say they weren't bringing back any old characters except the barbarian :(

I'm curious now though, there's got to be your standard archer, mage, warrior archetypes though right?
Quote sotu1 22nd August 2008, 11:17
they'll bring them back but with new identities I guess. like, the Pally will be a knight, and the sorceress will be called a mage. archers might be elves, that sort of thing. They're basically doing a total character redesign i imagine. Mostly cool because we'll get a new twist on the game, but it's going to upset ALOT of people
Quote [USRF]Obiwan 22nd August 2008, 11:17
Hack and slay all the way :D
Quote yakyb 22nd August 2008, 11:58
noooo! Hammerdin will be gone! /cry
Quote Denis_iii 22nd August 2008, 12:10
assasin was kewl to play with, that not back either? not really bothered about necro, never played as it, witch doctor does appeal however

any idea on release date? time has been going sooo slow since heard about Diablo3 and know it will basically stop when release date confirmed
Quote Nature 22nd August 2008, 12:59
the witch doctor = blackromancer
Quote Blademrk 22nd August 2008, 13:09
probably re-introduce them in the obligatory expansion pack.
Quote crompers 22nd August 2008, 13:45
I can imagine the cries of diablo purists everywhere. Its a good thing to be adding new characters tho, i want diablo 3 not diablo 2.5
Quote Yemerich 22nd August 2008, 13:55
if a well developed character is the excuse not to bring the old classes, why they brought the barbarian back? It was my fav.

But i agree with dark reaper and sotu1. I think they will be back with other names.
Quote Yemerich 22nd August 2008, 13:56
IN TIME:

As long as they bring back "The Butcher" it's fine for me :D
Quote MrMonroe 22nd August 2008, 15:05
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nature
the witch doctor = blackromancer

win. seriously.

That "Necro's choice/wow gayness" kid is going to bust a nut when he hears this. I can clearly see the kid in dark eyeliner pushing his keyboard through the monitor.
Quote Bungle 22nd August 2008, 15:30
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blademrk
probably re-introduce them in the obligatory expansion pack.
That's marketing thinking. Cookie for you.:D
Quote Firehed 22nd August 2008, 16:12
Meh, whatever, always hated necros. Zons and sorcs though.... their replacements had better kick some serious ass.
Quote Jojii 22nd August 2008, 16:17
I hope that the new 3 classes are all hybrid classes that will encourage people to play in a more creative and imaginative way rather then meat in the front and damage in the back.
Quote Arkanrais 22nd August 2008, 16:30
aww dammit. the necro was always my fav, even when he was under powered. my first character way back in 2000 was a necro and didn't even try out the specialty classes till last year (ie. spearazons, boners, hammerdins, etc). I did very much like my zoo keeper though and back before the skill synergies having 30-odd skeletons running around on screen was a hoot (or the hacked items with 35 fire golems burning their way through everything)

perhaps the necro was too dark for the 'watercolours and kittens' art style.
Quote rollo 22nd August 2008, 18:37
necro was overpowerd nonesence. Pre bug fixes you could have an army of 500+ lol
Quote Zytek_Fan 22nd August 2008, 19:33
Nooooooooooooooooooo!
The necro was my favourite class :(
You could summon your army of skeleton mages, and just spam the hell out of enemies with bone bolt :(
Quote jweller 22nd August 2008, 19:48
No problem here with the previous classes returning. It's more exciting to have new classes. The Witch Doctor seems pretty much a knock-off of the Necro to me. As someone else already said there are only so many variations-on-a-theme they can do. The "new" classes have to have the basic. Ranged class, heal/aura class, mage at lease in some form.
Quote Glider 22nd August 2008, 19:53
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yemerich
As long as they bring back "The Butcher" it's fine for me :D
I want the MooMoo Farm!
Quote LordPyrinc 22nd August 2008, 23:41
Crap... I really liked the necromancer. My level 70+ necro was the only character I had that could successfully solo against Baal in Hell Difficulty.
Quote FaSMaN 23rd August 2008, 07:35
So I guess there's no Druid then aether ,thats sad really sad I want to summon wolves and Shape-Shift into a wolf ,its sad ,hope they add it in a expansion :)
Quote metarinka 23rd August 2008, 17:18
I got a zookeeper right now, and a MF blizzard sorc I'm leveling. It will be nice to get some fresh characters and some new builds. I think they also said they are trying to make the game less of a 1 skill wonder. Some builds literally only used 1 skill especially when synergies came out.

and +1 for expansion packs comment, I think they're leaving em all out so they can reintroduce them in an expansion pack more $$
Quote docodine 23rd August 2008, 18:04
Nobody else realized that the necro was gone as soon as they showed the gameplay trailer? The Witch Doctor was casting the same spells as the necro, and had a bunch of minions, and a new version of Bone Wall. He also carries a dagger, much like necromancers are 'supposed to'.

I only played Paladins or Necromancers back in D2.. Hammerdins required equipment that I never had, so I was having fun with my Zealots. :-D

Also, yeah. A necromancer in a party with a few Paladins was unstoppable for Hell runs.. Fanatacism/Vigor/Concentration/etc auras made them pretty immortal.
Quote Zytek_Fan 23rd August 2008, 23:09
Quote:
Originally Posted by Glider
I want the MooMoo Farm!

That's the only thing I really care about.
Diablo NEEDS the MooMoo Farm. Plenty of sick drops everytime, and easy XP :D
Quote Amon 24th August 2008, 02:44
Wow, fukk this shttt!

Anyone here want to Hamachi a game of D2?
Quote OtakuHawk 25th August 2008, 04:47
goddamnit, I enjoyed playing 'zons.
Quote crazybob 25th August 2008, 05:43
Quote:
Originally Posted by crompers
...Its a good thing to be adding new characters tho, i want diablo 3 not diablo 2.5
Quote:
Originally Posted by jweller
No problem here with the previous classes returning. It's more exciting to have new classes...
My thoughts exactly. The classes in D2 weren't the same as the classes in the original Diablo, and I see no reason for the classes to be carried over this time. Sure, there'll be the same basic types of class; you'll have an archer, a melee warrior, a magician, a summoner, and probably a few others, but there's no reason for them to be identical to the D2 characters.

Wouldn't you rather spend time learning the subtleties of a new game, rather than playing a shiny-graphics expansion pack to Diablo 2?
Quote Amon 25th August 2008, 06:20
Quote:
Originally Posted by crazybob
Wouldn't you rather spend time learning the subtleties of a new game, rather than playing a shiny-graphics expansion pack to Diablo 2?
But the Necromancer was a pretty damned cool git. Truly, I doubt there will be another class with as much urbaneness.
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