Skill Strategies
In addition to providing us
with some insight into the abilities of each character, Stieg
Hedlund also provided us with a look at the options you'll have
when deciding how to improve your skills. With 30 skills per
character, and the ability to improve many of these skills, there
are obviously many possibilities. By talking to Stieg, we got a
better understanding of these possibilities.
Bumping up passive skills (skills
always in effect once purchased)
The passive skills are important because they boost your
character substantially. Unlike other skills, like spells or
special attacks, which need to be cast with a right-click each
time, a passive skill is always in effect. By devoting more
points to these skills, rather than active ones, you can make
your character more powerful without needing to constantly juggle
skills during intense fighting. However, the effects of passive
skills aren't as spectacular as active ones, so some players
might actually relish the chance to choose from the myriad spells
during combat and then right-click away with a variety of special
attacks. Although this latter option requires more
micromanagement, it might get better results. Again, this dynamic
between passive and active skills lets you really customize your
characters.
Useful multiplayer skills
There are many skills being purposefully made for multiplayer
action. Two classes that have an abundance of multiplayer skills
are the necromancer and the paladin, as both have spells that
enhance the attack or defense of their comrades. Stieg says,
"Certain skills can benefit the entire party of characters.
The necromancer summon and curse skills can benefit the group, as
do the paladin's auras."
Putting all skill points in a few
skills versus distributing them among many
Again, you will really get a chance to customize your characters
and replay the game a number of times creating different styles
of play for different classes. Some people might want to create a
super-barbarian who has super-mastery of the ax, plus a few good
combat skills, while other people might want a well-rounded
barbarian who is good, but not great, with all weapons and has
some good detection and movement abilities as well. Of course,
some classes will require a broader approach to skills
advancement. With the sorceress, for example, you will need to
apply points equally to acquire spells in the fire, lightning,
and cold schools so she can affect more monsters who might be
resistant to one form of damage.
That's all we could bring you on the character classes, but once the beta test occurs, we'll bring you a detailed report and, hopefully, more updated information on the five classes. Now all we can do is simply wait, as Blizzard goes through the final stages of development for a game that is on many gamers' most-wanted list. We hope it lives up to the expectations - from what we've seen and heard, the character classes will at least bring a huge amount of replayability and excitement to the role-playing experience.