Why the Barbarian?

[:1]I'm assuming the people reading this forum are highly interested in playing a Barbarian. That he/she'll be your first or 2nd char played, and that you plan on playing the Barb a lot. So... why?

What draws you to the character? Makes you want to spend your limited gaming time driving a Barb around, rather than a monk or a wiz or whatever?

Do you like the lore and the character bio, or the toe-to-toe style of gameplay, did you love the D2 Barb and that carries over, are there some specific skills you've seen that you can't wait to try out, etc?

There are no right or wrong answers to this; I'm just curious.|||Second to Monk, I'll be playing this for sure.

I've liked melee rather than casters, and have always loved WW. New graphics and a momentum factor will make it interesting this time around.



Then, he has ranged with the seismic attack, his own charge, AoE ground stomp + Hammer, and the typical + damage and res/DR found on a barb.|||As far as I am concerned, all the reasons mentionned by Flux.

I like the lore around Diablo. So the fact that he is a returning character is a motivation to play the barbarian. He was also my first and one of my favorite characters in D2. So, if I have to go back and fight demons again, let's do that with an "old friend".

Besides that, I like what I have seen of the gameplay and am impatient to try the improved version of the Barbarian. Even if I liked the D2 version it was quite limited to a few skills plus some situational skills. There were mostly two possibilities for the main attack skill (whirlwind and frenzy). However, the barbarian had some of the most spectacular skills I have seen for a character in any games : giant jumps, whirlwind, very impressive shouts...

Now they seem to have improved the char by giving him with many skills coming from other characters or games : charge from the paladin, seismic skills from the W3 tauren chieftain... If low level skills remain a valid option at high level, I think the gameplay will be more varied than in D2 and I am really eager to try all these skill. So we will have all the ancient typical skill of the barbarian plus many new very impressive skill. I really enjoy it.

Another thing I like about the gameplay of the Barbarian is that he is slower than the Monk. I prefer a slightly slower fighting pace, with hard hits, than the fast gameplay of the Monk.

Besides that, I think that the barbarian has an additional advantage over other characters: the look! When you are getting a new wand or a new dress as a mage, well, it is essentially an improvement of your stats. When you are getting a new armor, axe, shield for a fighter, the feeling is completely different and much more satisfying. Especially in Diablo where the characters are tiny: it is always easier to see a double handed axe from a distance than claws, daggers, wands...|||I guess im making up for something but ive always been drawn to the big tough guys, so ill likely be making a battlemaster/tank.. I just love being able to walk in somewhere and laught in their faces as I dont take damage, even if it means I dont deal as much either, plus he has some really awesome looking new skills.

One other main reason is just that he is the only one carrying over from D2, Im really curious how this will impact the storyline and conversations if he would for an example run into another of the old D2 heroes and such.|||I like the Barbarian's grizzled viking war horse aesthetic. He's a noble savage a little past his prime, but he's still a physical specimen whose lethality is amplified by his wisdom and experience. I like the battle-hardened old guy archetype.

Plus I'm a big guy, so he's the closest representation I have in the game. |||I'm a huge Barbarian fan

I became such a huge fan in D2 because of all the different ways of killing your opponent toe-to-toe (as you put it)

I had a barbarian using a full sigon set, even at higher levels just for the fun of it.

I had a barbarian using full immortal king set and noticed it was fairly effective with proper jewels.

I had a titan barbarian with a polearm for massive whirlwind damage.

I had a barbarian based around open wounds and gear good enough to kill anyone that got close enough. (pvp'd a lot with this one)

It's the class I spent most time with, leveling, releveling, boosting, pvp, ...|||I enjoy the playstyle. Sometimes I feel like playing a subtle character who advances to strike and then retreats away from the rigors of battle, most caster classes play like this. However sometimes it is very fun to just jump into the middle of a pack of baddies and see who has the biggest stick.|||I played a WoW warrior for a couple of years and really liked the class, so the barbarian seems to be the closest D3 will get to that kind of gameplay (visceral melee, very similar resource systems, heavy armor etc).|||I generally go for melee type characters. I usually have more fun with melee, and I honestly hate having to constantly cast spells, restore mana, etc... I'm just not a huge multi-tasker. :P

Besides, Monk is going to be way over played, as the other melee, I'm sure.|||I always tend to go the "safe" path when starting up any new fantasy game by choosing the warrior/fighter/barb first. On top of that, the barb in D2 classic was my favorite class, with Amazons coming in 2nd.

With the death of immunities on monsters and some really cool ranged attacks like seismic slam thrown in its looking like the barb will become my character of choice once again.

Now all I gotta hope for is for Blizz to make 2-handers a very viable option as a weapon of choice...