So it may not be news to anyone, but the monk is confirmed as the new Diablo III class. In fact, if you type in Monk and Diablo III in Google you can find a truckload of news about it, including a trailer debuting the class at Blizzcon.

Something about the styling, however, concerns me. The original team that made Diablo I and II aren’t resposible for the new game of course, as far as I know. And what troubles me is there seems to be a lot of World of Warcraft slipping into the design. The monk seems to be designed directly off of the blademaster from Warcraft III. Understandably, in order to accommodate the number of monsters on screen (and the ragdoll, which I’m a huge fan off), the models have to feature toned down poly counts. The bad thing about this is that it really just makes me think of it as a World of Warcraft style, where things are really simplified. I don’t want Warcraft in my Diablo, you know?. Maybe I’m asking too much, but shouldn’t the models be a little bit more detailed?

Styling aside, the gameplay videos look great. I liked to see enemies flitting around the borders of the screen, waiting for your approach. Syndic and I have been rocking Diablo II for the last couple of weeks, so its pretty easy for me to tell right now what I feel is in line with the series and what isn’t. The combat is looking pretty nice I have to say. And its true that the classes do seem pretty cool. I’m worried about the last one though– paladin, necromancer? Are these Diablo II classes just too iconic at this point for me to see them go? I’m hoping more videos will allay my fears, as well as the announcement of the final character class. The website is fantastic anyway, even if you’re just there for the music. I’ll definitely be picking up the collectors edition for the soundtrack and all the extra stuff, just like I did nine years ago for Diablo II. Here’s the monk’s gameplay video, let us know what you think.

Oh, and I’ve also found out that the monk will be using fist weapons, ala the assassin in the Diablo II expansion. I understand what that means, and though I can’t say why, it makes me sad that the assassin was chop-shopped. Oh well, lets wait and see what the next class will be and then talk.

Diablo III is being developed by Blizzard for the PC and is set to release when its done, hopefully sometime in 2010

Related posts:

1. Monk-The New Diablo 3 Class?
2. Diablo III’s Female Witchdoctor Reveal, Body Proportions