Deciding on your Diablo 3 class - Swords, Toads and Great Balls of Fire

Even though the hope of getting Diablo 3 before the end of the year has been mercilessly crushed by Blizzard, the game is still on track for an early 2012 release. And if you're the kind of person that like to over analyze stuff, like me, then it's really time to start thinking about what class you're going to be playing.

Difficult choices to be made

After thinking long and hard about it, I think I've finally been able to reach a decision.
Read on for my thoughts on the different classes and hopefully get some inspiration for your own class choice.

Barbarian





Ah Barbarians. The simple life of "Me see enemy. Me smash enemy with big pieces of solid metal".
There is something wonderfully attractive in this primitive character.

Wading into the heart of combat, swinging your weapon(s) of choice in wide arcs, laughing at the puny attacks of your opponents as they attempt to stop your bloody rampage.

However, I must say that I do prefer a bit more subtlety in my characters.
Planning out my tactics and striking with surgical precision is just more appealing to me than the all out berserker fury that the Barbarian embodies.

But for that experience of being a juggernaut of muscle and steel, well, I might have to come back and give the Barbarian a try.






Monk




The Monk embodies much of the sense of being a hand to hand force of whirling death that you find in the Barbarian.
But where the Barbarian is raw power and fury incarnate, the Monk is much more elegant and efficient in his attacks.
He moves with purpose and economy of motion that shows thought and purpose behind every strike.

Now this is a style that is more up my alley.
The melee carnage of the Barbarian, but with the elegance and dignity that I prefer.
But while I think the Monk is a really cool character, there is something about his appearance that makes him feel a little bit bland to me.

I think that the way he is *not* a giant muscle mountain like the Barbarian helps give him a distinct style of his own. But his underplayed style and simple robes don't quite have the flamboyance and flash that I'd like from my Diablo 3 character.





Demon Hunter





Now the Demon Hunter is a real badass, armed with deadly ranged weapons and ready with a huge bag of tricks for any eventuality.
Just being called a "Demon Hunter" is pretty frigging cool in itself, you know?

The Demon Hunter is the rogue class of Diablo 3, though, and I have never really dug the rogue classes.
While I'm all for planning your moves and efficiently dispatching your foes, I have never quite gotten the same sense of satisfaction from backstabbing an enemy or shooting them with an arrow, as I have from placing the head of an axe between their eyes, or blowing them to pieces with a fireball (I'm a sick person, but acceptance is the first step towards being cured, they say)

So while the Demon Hunter is definitely a very cool customer, I'm gonna have to give this class a pass.






Witch Doctor




The Witch Doctor is the class that resembles the Necromancer from Diablo 2 the most. And the Necromancer was my main character, so instantly there's +1 point for the Witch Doctor.

Being able to summon Zombie Dogs or bats that are on fire is also undeniably pretty sweet. Who needs intense planning and surgical precision anyway, when you can unleash flaming flying mammals in great swathes at your foolish opponents?

Hmmm, but I have to say that while I find the "tribal" art style of the Witch Doctor to be both distinctive and kinda neat, I don't know if I really want my character to be running around in a loincloth and big feather headdress (deja vu of my last time at the local carnival)

I'm gonna put you in the maybe pile, Witch Doctor. Please don't attack me with a plague of toads for my decision.





Wizard




That leaves us with the Wizard.
And considering that I have so far gone "nah" or "meeeeeh" to the previous four classes, let's hope that we're going to strike gold now.


Fortunately the Wizard has got everything under control.
I've always liked magic users. I just find that the flashy pyrotechnics of toasting your opponents with conjured flames, combined with swirling robes and glowing staves make for a winning combination on the coolness chart.

And the Wizard in Diablo 3 comes kitted out with some suitably impressive spells, including my long missed friend from the first Diablo game, the fire shooting "Hydra" summon. What better way to kill your opponents than creating flaming dragon heads that spit balls of flame?
I laugh in the face of your quaint "arrows"!





So for me the choice is fairly clear. I'm gonna be joining up with the robe wearing, spell slinging, flaming dragon head summoning ranks of the Wizards.
But I'm already looking forward to trying it several of the other classes on my second and third play through of the game.
The question is then gonna be, if my second character should be a Barbarian or a Witch Doctor...

What about you guys. Have you decided on a class yet, and what made you go for it?




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