Reaper of Souls adds a new act, and a new class inspired by Diablo II‘s Paladin: the Crusader.
Blizzard have taken this year’s GamesCom to officially announced the rumoured Diablo III expansion pack: Diablo III: Reaper of Souls. The game was announced via an amazing cinematic (as we’ve come to expect from Blizzard), and was accompanied with a short gameplay trailer and some interesting new features, including a new class: The Crusader. You can see the cinematic to the right, and the gameplay trailer below.
In Reaper of Souls Malthael, the fallen Archangel of Wisdom, returns as the Angel of Death. He seizes the Black Soulstone, which contains Diablo’s essence, leaving our heroes to track him down and stop him before he unleashes irreversible havoc on the world. Our good friend Tyrael was left in a bit of a bad place at the end of the cinematic, so it’s not known if he’ll return in the expansion, or if it’s the end for our favorite archangel-turned-human.
The biggest new feature of the expansion is the new Crusader class. The Crusader is a “fierce melee warrior whose command of the battlefield is matched only by his unwavering conviction and uncompromising dedication to the Light.” Sounds a lot like Diablo II‘s Paladin, and when you check out at the gameplay trailer, it looks like he plays a lot like him too.
Other new features include an increase in the level cap from 60 to 70, complete with brand new abilities and runes for all existing classes. There’s also a new artisan: the Mystic, who can “transmorgify” items (take the “look” of a particular item and apply it to a new item) as well as “reroll” affixes on rares and legendaries.
Also included in the expansion is the long promised “loot 2.0” upgrade, in which “smart drops” will tailor their stats to be more appropriate for the class who receives them, “Paragon 2.0” which makes Paragon levels infinite and account-wide, and a new act set in the Westmarch.
It’s not known if Reaper of Souls will be coming to the console version of Diablo III, and no release date was given for the PC version.
I’m pretty excited about this expansion. People keep saying Diablo III was a letdown compared to Diablo II, but you gotta remember Diablo II only really got good with the Lord of Destruction expansion pack. Reaper of Souls seems to be delivering everything Diablo fans have been asking for. I am a little disappointed that there is only one new class, as opposed to the two that Lord of Destruction added.
Source: Blizzard via Diablofans
