Barbarian
- See a full listing of the Barbarian Skills.
Character Design
The Barbarian is back, and he (or she) is bigger and better. There's a great emphasis on power and destruction; on wanting every movement to look massive and devastating. The D3 Team spoke about the character concept during the WWI 2008 Denizens of Diablo panel.
- This is actually the same individual from Diablo 2. He's aged twenty years, and he's got a personality in this game. Look at his gear; his armor has points on which he could impale himself. It's extra protection for the harsh environment, but it's also dangerous to him. The day to day life characters lead in this world is very hard.
- With the Barbarian, we had to updating a classic. The Barbarian was exciting for us to work on -- to take a classic char we all love to play and bring him back to life. What's this guy been doing for the past 20 years? This guy's 8 feet tall and 300 lbs of pure muscle. He saw things during the events of Diablo II that would have killed most people, but he's still around. In D3 we aged him, grayed his hair, gave him some scars. We think those elements help sell the story visually. Signs of age, how he wears his armor. All that helps us tell the story visually.
Story
The Barbarian character himself is the same individual from Diablo II. In his personal history the Barbarian defeated Baal, only to learn from Tyrael that the Worldstone was corrupted and would have to be destroyed. The destruction of the Worldstone blasted Mount Arreat to rubble, destroying the remainder of Baal's army and saving the Barbarian lands from their invasion. Twenty years later, when Diablo III takes place, the Barbarian lands are largely deserted, and the only remains of Mt. Arreat, formerly the symbol of the lands and the source of the Barbarians' spiritual strength, is a huge crater.
More than the physical damage, the events detailed in Act Five of Diablo II devastated the Barbarian culture. The Barbarians gained their identity and cultural pride from protecting the Worldstone within Mount Arreat. To see it defiled by Baal and his minions, and then destroyed, tore out the heart of these proud people. They abandoned their homeland and became nomadic, wandering the lands of Sanctuary and pitching themselves into battle after battle in an effort to forget the pain of their shattered homeland.
The plot information on Blizzard's Barbarian page drives this point home, and sets the stage for the story we'll learn when playing the game.
- The Barbarians consider it their sworn duty to protect Mount Arreat and the mysterious object within. They believe that if they fail to uphold their duty to the great mount, or are not given a proper burial upon its slopes, they will be denied a true warrior's death, and their spirits shall roam the land without honor for all eternity.
- If there are any barbarians left alive, they must truly be without hope. Perhaps this is the genesis of the rumors of monstrous things reported to resemble the barbarians in size and ferocity, but that are in reality nothing more than unreasoning, inhuman beasts. Could the destruction of not only their home but also their very beliefs have actually brought this magnificent race so low?
Old? Female?
Some suspension of disbelief is necessary to accept the Barbarian character as presented in Diablo III. After all, the Barbarian was male in Diablo II, and the story in D3 is identical for the male or female versions of each character, thus you can play a female Barbarian in D3 whose past history includes all the events in Diablo II. It's also an interesting concept to have the same character return in D3, as a grizzled veteran of countless conflicts, as a grown man (or woman) who defeated the three Prime Evils twenty years ago... and who starts off D3 at level 1, without the ability to do much more than swing an axe.
Still, looking at the gameplay video from WWI 2008, they do seem to manage to give a very powerful impression of the Barbarian. Too bad we do not know the level of that character.
Resources
- Barbarian Skills.
- Blizzard's Barbarian page has plenty of plot information, and short videos of some skills in action.
- Diablo III Media Coverage Archive for all interviews, previews, pictures and more.
Development
The Barbarian was not intended to come over from Diablo II originally. A character with similar appearance and skills was planned, but everyone in the dev team started calling it Barbarian, and so they decided to call it that. Jay Wilson quote: [1]
- The barbarian is the only returning class. Originally we actually planned to have no returning classes, but as we developed the barbarian, it essentially ended up turning into a barbarian. We sort of got to the point where we went – because we actually had a different name for him originally - I think were going to call it this other name and everyone else is just going to call it the barbarian, so maybe we should just call it the barbarian.
- One of the things we really did not want to do – it's why we set that initial goal to not repeat classes – was, we didn't just want a rehash; we wanted to make the sequel and the sequel has new gameplay and new experiences. I know a lot of people really love the classes in Diablo 2 and it's not my desire to intentionally arc those people – I like those classes to; I love the necromancer, he's my favourite class from Diablo 2 – but as our goal we really wanted to provide new experiences; that was our focus.
Jay did not disclose what the original name was.
Media
Male and Female Barbarians are featured in numerous pieces in the Image Gallery.
