14 DAY TRIAL // As we reported earlier, the biggest single developer convention, BlizzCon, took place this past weekend. It was filled with announcements especially regarding the two most expected titles under development, Starcraft II and Diablo III. It also gave the attendants the opportunity to play through some of the missions from the two games and give valuable feedback to the developers that were at the conference.
The third title in the Diablo franchise was on everybody's lips mainly because it was rumored that a new class of characters was to be announced during the conference. And so it was, as Mike Morhaime, chief executive officer of Blizzard, the company behind the title, announced the new Wizard Class of the very popular RPG (Role Playing Game) franchise. Joining the ranks of the already announced Barbarian and Witch Doctor classes, the Wizard was introduced via a video as a young woman who can control the elements by using special spells and can obliterate vast hordes of enemies just by flicking her fingers.
The video was then followed by a design panel in which Wyatt Cheng explained the design philosophies and the powers that were employed during the creation of this new character. The class design team wanted to step away from the stereotypical point of view towards a wizard, as someone who keeps reading all the time and has no personality. This new class aims at pure power and doesn't want anyone getting in the way between them and victory.
Among the new powers that this class will have are Magic Missiles – from fire to thunder, everything can be aimed at the enemy –, the ability to slow time in order to properly assess situations and enemies, or, the most interesting one, the Disintegrate feature, which is materialized through a beam of energy that grows in power after an enemy is hit.
All in all, a very interesting class that is sure to keep Diablo fans happy until the next announcement comes. Until then, we can only guess as to what other characters Blizzard will announce.
