Character Planning

[JustAGuy]

I really want to get into the beta, but if I don't, I'm not going to commit suicide or anything drastic. It just means I'll have to sit by and watch and take in the good-ness as I did during the Diablo II (and LoD) beta.

That being said, I think I've already figured out what I'm going to do with my first character (beta or retail).

Paladin.

Always a Paladin with me. I really like the "Holy Avenger" type theme. Anyway, some of his skills really make him a party asset, and this game is all about parties, so it seems. Just like in Diablo II, he has auras, and now there's an additional castable stat increasing skill (a "buff") called a seal. He looks to be more of a fighter-mage, like how I envisioned he should've been in Diablo II. Not sure if he can cast it on himself, though. According to the WoW community page (here) a Paladin can cast the seal on any party member, but only one at a time. Situational buffs, baby. Reminds me of cycling auras in Diablo II for particular situations (salvation aura when resists are low, e.g. fighting conviction effects etc).

I'm very interested in the whole concept of mounts. I've never actually played a MMORPG, so this is all brand new to me. They say it will be hard to do, but I'm dead set on making my Paladin ride a wolf. Now that would be damn cool if you ask me. Put a big two handed sword in his hand and you've got yourself a "Holy bad-ass."

The Druid sounds really neat, and I'll probably try him out at some point (again, either at retail or beta if I'm lucky *crosses fingers*), but Paladin is number 1 on the list. Having pets and what not sounds really cool, but that Wolf-riding Paladin is just too much of a sight to see...

So get this, skill wise (from the community page above):

Holy Strike - Consecrates your weapon, inflicting X to X additional damage on your next attack. All damage is considered holy damage.

Sounds interesting, but I wonder if that's like the Diablo II skill of "Sanctuary", adding damage to undead and/or demons only... Then again, it appears he will have an entire tree of skills for just the undead, so who knows.

Divine Favor - You are protected from all physical attacks and spells for X seconds, but during that time you cannot attack or use physical abilities on yourself.

Divine Shield - Protects the Paladin from all damage and spells for X seconds, but reduces attack speed by X%. This replaces Divine Favor because it allows you to attack while active unlike Divine Favor. You can heal yourself while using Divine Shield!

Why even bother with divine favor then? Sounds reminiscent of "Increased Stamina" and "Increased Run/Walk Speed" for the Barbarian in Diablo II. Must have ran out of skill ideas...

Lay on Hands (very long cooldown)
Uses 100% Mana. Heals a friendly target for an amount equal to the Paladin's maximum amount of health and restores X of their mana. Drains all of the Paladin's remaining mana when used.

Now this sounds very interesting. I doubt anyone will ever use it properly, because if someone is in dire need of that much life and mana back because they lost it very quickly, restoring them to health only saves them a few seconds... Kind of like when you drink a big purple in Diablo II, but you're still eating those lightning enchanted bolts from a LEB while being affected by conviction.

Holy Light (Healing)
The Paladin is a good secondary healer with Holy Light. You will want primary healers such as Priests or Druids, but the Paladin can help out if they are not available. The Paladin is also good to keep the real healers alive if they are out of mana and about to die. Use Holy Light to keep party members alive. Use Holy Light after battle to heal yourself or other players.

This is probably why I'll enjoy playing the Paladin the most. Heal myself and others, but also be a threat on the battle field. A battle-cleric type thing. Sounds good to me. I think that comment about the "real healers" is hilarious. What was I doing, hmm? Sitting on my thumbs? How did you get that life back, then?

This game looks like it will be full of fun and interesting character choices. The whole building your own weapon and stuff like that sounds great, in theory. But the players are what make a game like this good... Hopefully, if people are paying to play, they'll bring some maturity along with their dollars. Otherwise, I'm going to have to ride my wolf up to them, and cut their little heads off with my massive two-hander. I might just heal them afterward too, if they've learned their lesson.

EDIT: The Hunter and Warlock are the summoners, not the Druid. Druid just shapeshifts ... Still cool though.