14 DAY TRIAL // BlizzCon was in full swing at the end of last week and it brought forth a lot of announcements regarding all of the popular properties from Blizzard, from World of Warcraft to StarCraft and everything in between. But while many people clamored over the new expansion for WoW, dubbed Cataclysm, the company also revealed a brand-new character class for its Diablo III role playing game, which might make an appearance either next year or in 2011.
Joining the already announced Witchdoctor, Barbarian and Wizard will be the Monk, a character based on both magic and melee combat, a street fighter, as declared by Diablo III's Jay Wilson, who is hard at work on the hack and slash game.
Inspired by pen-and-paper RPGs, the fast and fragile character is in antithesis with the Barbarian, as he was inspired from fighting games. This is highlighted by its appearance, which reminds many Street Fighter fans of both Zangief and Dhalsim, two popular characters from the famous franchise.
The new class will predominantly use fighting combos in combination with holy magic in order to defeat the forces of evil. It is particularly aimed at hardcore gamers who favor tough combos instead of just mindless bashing.
Leonard Boyarsky then explained how the team was inspired by Eastern Europe and Asia when designing the new class. The monks are holy warriors that fight in the name of their gods, meaning that they are truly based in a structured society.
Wyatt Cheng, who is a producer for the game, talked about the fact that the team wanted to add depth to the combo system, much in the vein of Diablo II's Assassin and World of Warcraft's Rogue. Most of the attacks and powers will have three stages, which culminate in a fast flurry of high speed attacks. Players can create different combinations, making the monk a highly customizable class.
Overall, the Monk seems like a great addition to the game and will find a lot of supporters and fans easily. Hopefully Diablo III will appear in the near future and we will all enjoy the great RPG experience. Have fun watching the presentation video of the Monk.