DiabloFans

Just wanted to add a note to this thread - feel free to send me a Personal Message if your build has disappeared (and you don't wanna post here for some reason). I'll also handle that personally. Thanks for your patience while we experience these annoying spam waves :|

This thread has sadly derailed into flaming / bickering and as such will be locked.

Reserved

@Docdemort please do not necro 4 year old threads thanks. I've also edited out some of your personal info from your post (might wanna re-think about sharing those).

I'm gonna work on updating all the stream section in the near future, adding all new requests and removing all non-Diablo related streams. I'll make sure to update your stream title once that time comes. Sorry for the delay on it.

It's caused by the massive spam waves that are hitting us right now and making our anti-spam measures go crazy. They sometimes mark legit content as spam too.

Feel free to contact a moderator, or myself, with a link to the content that was marked as spam and we'll gladly unmark it. Sorry for this inconvenience guys

There have been quite a few requests for streams to be added over the past couple months, and I'm sorry I haven't updated the list recently.

The reason for that is that I'm considering cleaning up all streams that are not D3 related, and make sure our Stream section is as clean and useful to our users as the Twitch D3 directory. That would be removing all current streams there, and then only adding people who requested their stream to be added recently (say in the last 15-30 days).

But before doing that, I would like "some" community feedback. What do you guys think of this?

Every now and then either our anti-spam measures bug out, or we're hit by a new spam wave that the measures take a while to adapt to. What you see is just the tip of the iceberg to be honest, as the system picks up hundreds of posts/threads every day, and only a few get through. I assure you we are trying our hardest to keep our forums tidy and clean for our users!

Thanks for your patience and understanding in this matter.

We hope you guys enjoy this one as much as the Necromancer. Feel free to leave feedback on what you think could be improved and what you liked the most! The devs are always watching these and, who knows, maybe it can even influence the future direction of the game.

I just loved going through what Nightcrest wrote and picturing it in-game. Transforming into cool new forms, summoning the elemental forces of nature (Tsunami, Volcano, Monsoons), having animals and plants help you and follow your lead - seems like an amazing Diablo class

Avatar Q&A

Nightcrest87, the creator of the featured fan-made Avatar on the front page, made this Q&A for those interested in having a little more insight and knowing his thought process when designing the class. Check it out!

Avatar Fanart by Applibot Inc© and Nathalia Gomes©

To help people visualize the idea even better, Nightcrest has also set aside these amazing fanart ideas from Applibot Inc (male) and Nathalia Gomes (female).

General Concept:

Q: This class is clearly the Diablo II Druid. Why did you choose the name Avatar instead of Druid?
A: First of all,  in this fan creation Avatars are Druids. It is just an honorary title bestowed to the wisest of druids. That being said, when I was researching the thematic aspects of the Druid in Diablo II, it became fast apparent that the original concept was lacking. The original concept had basically 4-6 themes depending on how conservative you are in the way you categorize them. The rest of the classes had an average of 8 themes in their skills trees. That being said, the theme of the Druid class had to be significantly enhanced in order to become something functional in D3. Therefore…, Avatars.

Q: Can you compare the themes of the Druids and the Avatars?
A: The Druids have the following themes: volcanism, weather, transformation (dps/tank) and companion (support/offence). The avatars have kept the same thematic identity but have diversified them as well as adding new aspects to it. The Avatars have the following themes: tectonics (volcanism, quakes, tidal forces), weather, companion (offense/support/utility), transformation (beast – melee dps, wisp – caster dps, oak – defensive/support, hybrid – utility), nature (growth, cleansing, survival), piercing weapon affinity and special interactions with poison elemental damage.

Q: What are the Avatars exactly?
A: The Avatars are the elite of the Diablo II Druid class. They are the ones who have reached the high peak of being a Druid either through their mental age or some genetic enabling trait. They are the embodiment of nature. They are one with everything. If Sanctuary had flesh and bones and was a living entity, that would be the Avatars. And this is where the name came from, *Avatars* are the *image/representation* of Sanctuary; even literally. All Avatars were once Druids, but not all Druids will manage to become Avatars. I could have called them Archdruids but it felt too cliché.

Q: Why is Will (Willpower) their primary resource?
A: The Avatars can command nature itself. They can animate the elements, they can influence animals and give conscience to plants. In my mind, willpower seemed like the resource that made absolute sense for them.

Q: Why is Wisdom their primary stat?
A: When I started designing the Necro, the Druid was also at the back of my mind, although I wasn’t sure if I would actually design it as well. I needed a primary stat that both classes could use. In fact, I decided on Wisdom for both long before I even created the first spell for the Necros.

Q: Why did you choose Fire, Lightning, Cold and Poison damage for their runes and skills?
A: As a class that is one with nature, I chose to use the 3 powers that are nature itself (Cold, Fire and Lightning) and the one that nature frequently enhances its creations with (Poison). Those 4 powers are also a small tribute to the Diablo II game, as they were the only ones present back then. My original idea on this class also employed a thematically primal version of Shadow damage but I quickly changed my mind on that.

Q: What is the gameplay and synergies of the class?
A: Unlike Crusaders and Monks which are tank(-ish) classes that can also heal, the Avatars are mainly a support class that has the ability to also wreak havoc if they so choose. Their primary role in a group is to be their safeguard against failure. I even created an item set that highlights this design; The Shards of Awye. That being said, the Avatars also have multiple DPS builds. In addition the avatars are capable of utilizing most tertiary statists in a variety of ways by employing internal synergies. No tertiary stat is useless to the Avatar; they can use everything provided they have the right combination of skills, items and passives equipped. Finally, their skills have a lot of inner synergies with themselves.

Q: What are the class specific items of the Avatar and what weapons can they use?
A: They have three class specific items: Spirit Cuffs (wrists), Javelins (1-h ranged, dual wielded), Lances (2-h melee). Their only weapon proficiency is piercing weapons. They can use all types of non-class specific piercing weapons from daggers (sorry, didn’t have enough space to add them to the passive – they would be in the 1-h sword/spear category) to crossbows. I choose piercing weapons for thematic reasons only. The avatars are naturalists, their favourite colour is green for Elun… ehmm… Tyrael’s sake!!! I wanted them to give quick merciful deaths to their enemies through precise strikes. Slashing and bludgeoning weapons are anything but… So… no furnace for you! …not that you would need one. >_>

Skills & Gameplay:

Q: Are skill costs high, low or balanced?
A: Skill costs are high but so are resource generation mechanics. The avatars will find themselves starved as often as they find themselves satiated. The class was designed in such a way that resources are awfully limited but they can also be generated very fast. It’s a way to actively promote the overall theme of alternation and vigor that the class possess through gameplay design. Of course, all that only comes into perspective if you understand how small the resource “globe” of the avatar would be which I didn’t have a way to describe in any place other than here.

Q: Why do the Avatars have so many channeled abilities?
A: I wanted the Avatars to a class that needs to make decisions on when to support allies and when to destroy enemies. I didn’t want them to be able to do both at the same time equally in efficiency. Channeled spells are a good way of doing that because they gate APM. I also gave them some additional support on the channeling theme through some of the passives. When you play the Avatar you won’t have to be a channeler by default. But if you choose so, there are synergetic passives that can make it easier for you. Finally, I added additional flexibility by making a couple of spells work with toggle mechanics

.
Q: Where are Werewolf and Werebear?
A: The entire shape-shifting tree in the Diablo II Druid was very distinct from all other trees on all other classes. It had an amazingly singular thematic identity. That being said, the skill tree was lackluster as hell in terms of recoding it into Diablo III format. It was clear from the very start that I could not have 2 spells (Werewolf, Werebear) so I decided to recode the entire D2 tree into a D3 single skill. The original idea had 3 abilities for the wolf form (base and 2 runes) and 3 runes for the bear but eventually I decided that I could make it even more diverse than that. The result is Beast Within, which is the entire shape-shifting skill tree compressed into one skill, and then some!

Q: Why does the primary and secondary attacks of Twisted Lineage do the same weapon damage?
A: The base damage is the same because the gameplay on this particular skill revolves about making the right choice in the right time. Both abilities are legit but they work kind of like the rogue from WoW. Think of the primary one as a combo stacker and the secondary one as a combo spender. More or less…

Q: What is the purpose of wisp form?
A: Just like Barbarians have Wrath of the Berserker that empowers their melee prowess, the Avatars have Will-O-Wisp that empowers their casting prowess. The Avatars are resource starved by design and wisp form is a brief solution to that problem that comes at a very unique cost that requires micromanagement. It’s a completely different type of gameplay that can be both rewarding and risky at the same time.

Q: Why is oak form a toggle? It’s not like you can cast other spells while it is active.
A: Oak form is basically a panic button when in dire need of defense. I wouldn’t want you accidentally die to a molten explosion because your fingers moved out of the button in your duress. Besides, making it a toggle spell can also help you plan ahead and queue up the defensive abilities you are going to use the moment you disable the form.

Q: Speaking of toggles, what is the deal with Raven Flock?
A: Raven Flock is an AoE spell that buffs itself up depending on how long it has been active. I can’t imagine that any spell that actively summons 40ish companions would be good for your FpS or the game itself; even the animation of the spell I imagined would be set in stone and unchangeable regardless of how many “ravens” you would have around. It’s a toggle spell because I don’t want you to waste time buffing the spell up. Throw it at the face of your enemies while your primary focus is either to support or deal damage with stronger spells. That spell is in the Dominion tree because of its theme, which is basically “call companions to my side”, but it is by no means a companion summon like the other skills in Dominion.

Q: What’s the deal with the primary abilities? They all feel, strangely familiar…
A: It’s a tribute to nostalgia to the Amazon class from Diablo II. {nostalgia} I’d like to think that female Avatars could visually resemble the Amazons a bit. {/nostalgia} Amazons have been mostly absorbed by the Demon Hunters and I don’t expect them to ever make an appearance in Diablo III as a playable class although they can definitely appear as lore characters I guess. The only part of their theme that was not absorbed was their Javelin/Spear skills. When I was planning out the primary and secondary abilities of the Avatar, I was originally thinking of designing nature spells for both categories. After further thought, I decided to only design half of them as pure nature spells and the rest as javelin and lance spells that have a decent number of elemental and nature related runes.

Q: Some runes don’t mention what type of damage they deal. What’s up with that?
A: With the exception of Elemental Spirit that deals damage similar to the one it buffs up, all other unspecified runes deal the same type of damage as the base form of the ability. It was mostly omitted for convenience’s sake.

Q: Why is X ability so broken?
A: Guys, I’m … I’m sorry. When you are creating something on your own, the moment it starts to take shape, you get excited and you kind of end up falling in love with it. You become blind to its flaws because in your own mind it somehow made sense in the first place and you have no feedback from anyone at all to slap you back into reality, because it’s a fan creation that you do on your own; it’s not a group endeavor. I tried to iron out the biggest extremities but I’m sure things slipped through, especially in the between-skill synergies.

Misc Info:

Q: How did you plan out the Avatar and in what order did you design the abilities?
A: I started by devoting a few hours to research and trying to remember what the D2 Druid was all about. Immediately after, I had the transformation spells planned out followed shortly by the elemental ones. After that I planned the dominion spells and the defensive ones, leaving the secondary and primary for last. While I was working on the concepts of the spells, I was also thinking of possible passives and had pretty much established what I wanted my two 6pc sets to be about gameplay-wise.

Design wise, I finished the abilities in this order: Transformation -> Elemental -> Defensive -> Secondaries -> Passives -> Dominion -> Items -> Primaries.

Q: How many hours did this fan creation take you?
A: Around 60ish hours just like the Necro last month. But I had to do it in about half the days because I wanted it ready before Blizzcon.

Q: Where are the character models, concept arts, VFX etc.
A: My creativity sparks in concept creation and theorycrafting. Artworks is not my best side. /hangs head in sadness

Q: Is there a list to see the skill recodings from Diablo II to Diablo III?
A: Here are the 3 Druid skill trees and the Amazon javelin/spear skill tree:

Firestorm -> Eruption (Fire and Brimstone)
Molten Boulder -> Eruption (Molten Boulder)
Arctic Blast -> Monsoon (Base)
Fissure -> Tremors (Blazing Pillar)
Cyclone Armor -> To the Bitter End (Passive) / Natural Remedies (Acquired Tolerance)
Twister -> Already in game: Wizard (Energy Twister - Base)
Volcano -> Eruption (Stratovolcano)
Tornado -> Monsoon (Cataclysm)
Armageddon -> Eruption (Stratovolcano)
Hurricane -> Monsoon (Supercell)

Werewolf -> Beast Within (Hunger of Lupus)
Lycanthropy -> Beast Within (Alpha Beast)
Werebear -> Beast Within (Might of Ursus)
Feral Rage -> Beast Within (Hunger of Lupus)
Maul -> Beast Within (Might of Ursus)
Rabies -> Beast Within (Cunning of Vulpus)
Fire Claws -> Beast Within (Fervor of Catus)
Hunger -> Beast Within (Hunger of Lupus)
Shock Wave -> Beast Within (Might of Ursus)
Fury -> Beast Within (Base)

Raven -> Raven Flock (Base)
Poison Creeper -> Creeping Vine (Poison Creeper)
Oak Sage -> Elemental Spirit (Gravelus)
Summon Spirit Wolf -> Already in game: Demon Hunter (Companion – Wolf Companion)
Carrion Vine -> Creeping Vine (Vampiric Coil)
Heart of Wolverine -> Natural Remedies (Celerity)
Summon Dire Wolf -> Already in game: Demon Hunter (Companion – Wolf Companion)
Solar Creeper -> Creeping Vine (Vampiric Coil)
Spirit of Barbs -> Barbed Skin (Reflective Carapace)
Summon Grizzly -> Feral Guardian (Base)

Jab -> Triple Jab (Base)
Power Strike -> Aimed Throw (Headshot)
Poison Javelin -> Piercing Thrust (Dissipating Plague)
Impale -> Piercing Thrust (Base)
Lightning Bolt -> Piercing Thrust (Charged Strike)
Charged Strike -> Piercing Thrust (Charged Strike)
Plague Javelin -> Piercing Thrust (Dissipating Plague)
Fend -> Omnistrike (Base)
Lightning Strike -> Dart Rain (Meteorological Tantrum)
Lightning Fury -> Dart Rain (Meteorological Tantrum)

It had already been clarified but I guess it bears mentioning again - flaming and breaking the forum rules will not be tolerated.

Everyone is free to say absolutely anything you want about the matter at hand: agree or disagree with the letter contents, that streamers are not representative of the community, whether the competitive aspect of Diablo 3 is legit or not - but the rules are for everyone and we won't allow anyone to break them. No matter how right or wrong one may be, without the rules we simply cannot have a civil discussion.

Please, keep that in mind going forward.

Please read our Forum Guidelines for rules on video posting. Thanks for your cooperation.

I forgot to make a post letting you guys know of the fanart update (added to the OP), so I'll make a delayed one

I've added the fanart because I felt like it really helps bring the whole Necromancer idea together, with a very unique visual style for him. I'm glad to see most people think it suits the suggestion by Nightcrest. Who knows, maybe Blizzard is seeing the praise and the feedback, and will think about it.

By the way, if he was willing to draw a female version of that, or even more fanart (moar would be awesome!) we would definitely highlight it. We're always looking for high quality fan-made content

Once again, thanks everyone for the feedback and comments! We sincerely appreciate it.

Necromancer Q&A

Nightcrest87, the creator of the featured Necromancer on the front page, made this Q&A for those interested in having a little more insight and knowing his thought process when designing the class. Check it out!

Necromancer Fanart by Sammael

To help people visualize the idea even better, I've borrowed this incredible fanart by Sammael to feature on the post.

 Q: Why Necros? Why not Druids or Amazons or Space Monkeys?
With the Aspect of Death vanquished, the essence of death has spread and ran rampant all across Sanctuary. The Necros were called on duty to harness it back into control.

Q: Why Wisdom? Intelligence seems like the right choice for the Necromancer.
As class balance currently stands, there are 2 classes for each attribute. Adding a 3rd one for Intelligence would require two more classes to be added to get into balance once more down the line. However, if a fourth attribute was added, it would only require 1 additional class to get into balance one more. The question I asked myself was: Could Druids use Wisdom? Since the answer to this was a loud yes, then Wisdom for Necromancers seemed like a decent choice as well.

Q: Why Bile?
All classes use as a resource something that comes from within them, either physically or mentally. Bile comes from within, it is thematically linked to the sinister aspects of the Necros and let’s face, it sounds cool.

Q: Why Shadow damage as a new element?
I don’t know… There seems to be some sort of a link between darkness and death but I can’t put my finger on it…

Q: Why is Shadow resistance the same as Cold resistance?
While adding a new elemental damage to give depth into a class is more or less inconsequential, adding an additional damage reduction option to look out and gear up for significantly diminishes the toughness of all classes in the long run.

Q: OMG! Why not use Lightning elemental damage?
I don’t particularly like Frankenstein’s monster, thematically. Besides that’s WD territory, aka Voodoo monster.

Q: OMG! Why not use Fire elemental damage?
Corpses are particularly flammable. I wouldn’t imagine Necros making much out of burning minions and fire in general. Besides, Poison damage and Fire damage does not match well, thematically at least.

Q: OMG! Why not use Arcane elemental damage.
Blizzard pointed out that they wanted arcane damage to be a Wizard only thing. I respected that.

Q: OMG! Why not use Holy elemental damage?
Really?

Q: Why didn’t you add X ability from D2 Necromancers? I R S4D.
Look again! There is not a single ability that was left out. Some are now base spells and some are runes but all of them made it in, some way or another. One major difference is that the Fire Golem is now Ice Golem because my D3 Necro does not use the Fire element.

Speaking of…
Raise Skeleton Raise Undead (Base) / Raise Undead (Skeletal Defenders)
(*1) Skeleton Mastery  Well-Constructed (Passive) / Enhanced Guardians (Passive)
Clay Golem  Animate Golem (Base)
(*1) Golem Mastery  Well-Constructed (Passive) / Enhanced Guardians (Passive)
Raise Skeletal Mage  Raise Undead (Skeletal Magi)
Blood Golem  Animate Golem (Blood Golem)
(*1) Summon Resist  Well-Constructed (Passive)
Iron Golem  Animate Golem (Iron Golem)
(*2) Fire Golem  Animate Golem (Ice Golem)
Revive  Amber Horror (Base)
Teeth  Spirit Fangs (Base)
Bone Armor  Ossein Shield (Base)
Poison Dagger  Eviscerate (Slice and Dice)
Corpse Explosion  Corpse Explosion (Base)
Bone Wall  Bone Wall (Base)
Poison Explosion  Corpse Explosion (Fountain of Death)
Bone Spear  Reaping Lance (Base)
Bone Prison  Bone Prison (Base)
Poison Nova  Blight Nova (Poison Nova)
Bone Spirit  Hateful Apparition (Base)
(*3) Amplify Damage  Ruby Fever (Broken Things)
Dim Vision  Sapphire Sickness (Typhlosis)
Weaken  Emerald Plague (Necrosis)
Iron Maiden  Ruby Fever (Retaliation)
Terror  Amethyst Rot (Fear of the Dark)
(*4) Confuse  Amethyst Rot (Base)
Life Tap  Ruby Fever (Base)
(*4) Attract  Amethyst Rot (Base)
Decrepify  Sapphire Sickness (Base)
(*3) Lower Resist  Ruby Fever (Broken Things)

(*1) Passive abilities.
(*2) Fire element not used.
(*3,4) Consolidated abilities.

Q: So… What’s the point of this class? What niche does the Necro fulfill?
He is a tank mage. He has the support qualities of the terrain manipulation and elite monster disabling type and his gameplay revolves approximately 75% around his constructs, structures and his maladies. Everything else is peripheral/optional and simply adds flavor. If this was a real class, I guess a lot of legendaries would exist to specifically point builds towards more variability.

Q: A mage dual-wielding? Really?
Yarly! While barbarians use their strength to dual wield, monks use their finesse and demon hunters use some sort of impressive ammo refilling science-fiction ability that does not require a third hand, necros tap into their malice to attack with both hands, clumsily yet maniacally in order to maximize their effectiveness.

Q: But… Why runeblades?
WDs stole their ceremonial daggers.

Q: What’s the deal with the bone mantles?
 All classes have at least one armor class specific item (shields are armor, right? RIGHT? Tell me I R RAIT?!!?!!!), and the shoulder slot does not have too much value and/or diversity as the game currently stands. I knew that I wanted it to be something around bones, so I was between shields (crusader), helms (wd, wizard), chest plates (dh) and shoulder pads. I chose the latter.

Q: Phylacteries? Are you implying that the Necros are actually dead?
Who said it was *their* phylacteries?

Q: What’s the deal with the maladies? Are they like the curses from D2?
Yes and no… They fill the same role but functionally they work differently. Instead of AoE spells, they are now auras that have both active and passive effects. If anything, they are the D2 curses on roid-rage.

Q: What’s the deal with Shadow Bite? C_c
Just harmless flavor text. Your hardcore heroes would be safe.

Q: What’s the deal with Spirit Plane? O_O!
Spirit Plane was an idea that came along as I was developing the Necro concept. It was too interesting to completely leave out but should I have thought of it from the start, it would be hardcoded into the Necromancer class sort of like DHs have the unique niche of the dual resources. Basically, if I could go back and do it all from scrap, the Necros would use Bile until it gets depleted and have a buff of +damage while they do so, then switch to Essence until it gets depleted and have a buff of +toughness. Think a little bit of Gnar from LoL.

Q: OMG! X ability is completely overpowered/underpowered and can make the Necros immortal/trash! Also, those two abilities together are totally OP! Why?
I didn’t manage to do any particular balance across the entire class as it required me to go deep into statistical analysis and I was lacking the time for that. That being said, there is a decent amount of balance within each spell (spell rune balance) and within each spell category (Primaries balance, Osteomancy balance, etc.)

Q: What sort of marvelous software did you use to create all these?
… MS Paint…

Q: How long did all this take you?
About 2 months, but I had limited time to work on it per day. If I had to estimate actual time, I’d say it took me around 60-70 hours.

Conclusion

Feel free to leave your feedback and your thoughts about Nightcrest's vision of the Necromancer in this thread I'm sure he will appreciate it!