Reaper of Souls

[Duncanîdaho]

I don't recall anything happening to Auriel (Hope) or Itherael (Fate). I don't think that part of the prophecy has happened yet.

We saved Auriel from the Lord of Despair, it was him who captured her. Imperius was about to attack us if Diablo didn't get to the spire when he did and gimp the angels. Meaning he's already heading down the path to wrath. Had they all died if we didnt save them fate would have been alone and shattered.

The thing is though it was a fake out prophecy. We were meant to think it was happening during Diablo 3 but all we were doing was Mathael's work for him. We are Mathael's number one minion and we don't even know it. I mean how much stuff do we kill for the lord of death? The prophecy is really still about to happen as Mathael goes around and puts the angels in the black soulstone. Fate will be the last one to go.

I have a feeling he will make his first appearance when we battle Imperius during the angel civil war that is coming and possibly kill Tyreal. As we kill Imperius Matheal will appear to us, and reveal that he was Adria all along playing diablo and us like a fiddle, and steal Imperius and Tyreal's soul thanking us for doing his work for him. He will then head off to get the weaker angels himself. The rest of the game is us chasing him in typical diablo format.

He was the one who broke into Kuules tomb before we even got there and but meph's and baals, and the lesser evils from D2 in the stone. He's been playing the heros, andgels and demons since D1. Kuule was even warning us about him, I believe he knew Adira wasn't what she appeared.

Leia is also still alive I believe as she is part angel and demon and her soul could be contained in the soulstone, and will be communicating with us somehow. She will eventually serve as the bridge in the stone to balance the angels with the demons and keep them all contained. The stone will no longer have only a certain timeframe to hold souls this way. Matheal will be able to use it for whatever he plans then but will receive resistance to by us time from Leia.

I called this all months go in some threads as did others. Expansion definitely seems to be heading down the predicted path, for once. Usually were all way off lol. The black soulstone was definitely going to be used for angels at some point, why else would they tell us it could be used for that, yet not put a single angel in it in D3? Mathaels goal is to gain the powers of Anu and Tathamet(through the black soulstone) to become a god and reshape the universe as he sees fit.

[Pendulous]

The first thing that strikes me is the shadow of extended wings over the doorway.


But I wanted to do some more research, so I tweaked the colours a bit in PS.

These statues, what can we say about those? Don't they have a Voodoo / Witch Doctor / Jungle vibe to them? Could this be a temple in Kurast?


[IMG]http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/9507/26db.jpg[IMG]

If so, it would complete my theory of the different Acts in D3 compared to D2.

[Renley]

I don't recall anything happening to Auriel (Hope) or Itherael (Fate). I don't think that part of the prophecy has happened yet.

Auriel was captured by Rakanoth, Lord of Despair (Hope swallowed by Despair).

Only the last 2 lines are really unaccounted for. Though, you could say that fate was shattered. Technically, Diablo was supposed to take over Heaven or something along those lines, according to the Scroll of Fate. But because Nephalem are not in the Scroll of Fate(Nephalem aren't a natural part of Creation, thus not accounted for in fate), we changed fate and stopped Diablo. This could be seen as "shattering fate".

The Death line, though, I don't think that has happened, thus I dont think Fate has been shattered yet(due to the 'as' in the prophecy). It makes too much sense for Malthiel to be Death.

1) He was obsessed with the World Stone, then disappeared and went psychotic once it was destroyed.
2) It's said he wanders Pandemonium searching for answers of life and death.
3) He uses sickles/scythes, originally used in reaping crops.
4) Someone found that the D3 T-shirt contest originally had Malthiel labeled as Malthiel(Good Version), which was soon after changed(can be skeptical of this, just heresay at this point)

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The first thing that strikes me is the shadow of extended wings over the doorway.


But I wanted to do some more research, so I tweaked the colours a bit in PS.

These statues, what can we say about those? Don't they have a Voodoo / Witch Doctor / Jungle vibe to them? Could this be a temple in Kurast?

I was thinking they did look a little 'tiki' like, but they also look pretty demonic. There is also the numbers on the columns that interest me.

Maybe, if it is a temple in Kurast, we must use it to enter the *enter name that escapes me* to rescue Leahs soul, encounter demons galore, and find Malthiel. A little bit of a jungle scene would be nice. We've seen fields/plains/boring landscape(Act 1 of D2/D3), deserts(Act2 of D2/D3), snow (Act 5 of D2, Act 3 of D3), fiery hellish places (Act 4 of D2, Act 3 of D3), and Heaven (Act 4 of D3). Wtb jungles.

[Deleted]

I was thinking they did look a little 'tiki' like, but they also look pretty demonic. There is also the numbers on the columns that interest me.

Maybe, if it is a temple in Kurast, we must use it to enter the *enter name that escapes me* to rescue Leahs soul, encounter demons galore, and find Malthiel. A little bit of a jungle scene would be nice. We've seen fields/plains/boring landscape(Act 1 of D2/D3), deserts(Act2 of D2/D3), snow (Act 5 of D2, Act 3 of D3), fiery hellish places (Act 4 of D2, Act 3 of D3), and Heaven (Act 4 of D3). Wtb jungles.

We've also been to Kurast. But I agree, wtb jungles. But they would have to open up some of those stale linear path zones if they want to create an immersive jungle, like in Diablo 2. Narrow dungeons and stuff, fine, but let the area be open.

[aeir]

LoD had 2 classes, hopefully, the same will happen in this expac, but I doubt it. My guess is that another str class will come, since we have 2 int users and 2 dex users, while only having the barb as str user. Guess just to even out the stats.

Though personally I'm hoping for a druid-like character, because all the current characters are pretty much the ones from D2. WD being the necro, assassin/amazon being the DH, barb being barb and monk being a paladin.

Good things tho'. Can't wait!

[von Richthofen]

I was thinking they did look a little 'tiki' like, but they also look pretty demonic. There is also the numbers on the columns that interest me.

Maybe, if it is a temple in Kurast, we must use it to enter the *enter name that escapes me* to rescue Leahs soul, encounter demons galore, and find Malthiel. A little bit of a jungle scene would be nice. We've seen fields/plains/boring landscape(Act 1 of D2/D3), deserts(Act2 of D2/D3), snow (Act 5 of D2, Act 3 of D3), fiery hellish places (Act 4 of D2, Act 3 of D3), and Heaven (Act 4 of D3). Wtb jungles.

Maybe a Necromancer/Cult of Rathma city?

"As with most users of magic, the priests of the cult of Rathma hail from the far Eastern Jungles. They reside in a vast underground city located deep within those jungles. Their specific geographical locale is particularly secluded, however, preventing their assimilation into a formal mage clan"

"It is unclear how one becomes a Necromancer (or apprentice). Training takes place in the vast underground cites of the Necromancers in the Eastern Swamps. They are first taught the ideology of the Necromancers, including the Great Cycle of Being.They then go through lessons on anatomy, how to revive people and a host of other skills. Despite their appearance, Necromancers can move quite fast as they are trained to react instantly in a hostile jungle world."

The Necromancer also knew about the Abyss apparently, but then again the Cult of Rathma is probably well-versed on what's going down. "Good journey, Mephisto. Give my regards to the Abyss."

[Deleted]

"There's a lot of people on our team who aren't happy with our class choices,” Jay admitted. "But after we've established 'Diablo III' as its own game with its own type of gameplay and experiences, I wouldn't be opposed to looking at old classes. We are trying to design the Witch Doctor class so that if we did bring back the Necromancer, there's room for him. We're looking out ahead of time at what our expansions are going to be, so we've got to keep room open for some of those other classes down the road."

OMFG yes! Necromancer would make me one happy boy!

[Mormolyce]

So either Coventus Shen was a disguise of Malthael or Adria was. I bet that Adria was either used by Malthael or was a disguise so that he could use the black soulstone to unleash the Prime Evil to weaken the heavens.

Well, part of me objects to this disservice being done to Shen's character.

The other part of me is thinking about fighting a big bad guy voiced by James Hong



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Cannot wait. Time for deleting old chars and level other 10 anew :3

:O

Delete 10 precious characters? You crazy!

[Deleted]

I could use some dark hell act
If they ask for new expansion same as the whole game once cost, i expect 4 more acts! Or i'm not paying. I expect amount of content compared to how much it will cost.

[Bane-Thunder-God]

LoD had 2 classes, hopefully, the same will happen in this expac, but I doubt it. My guess is that another str class will come, since we have 2 int users and 2 dex users, while only having the barb as str user. Guess just to even out the stats.

Though personally I'm hoping for a druid-like character, because all the current characters are pretty much the ones from D2. WD being the necro, assassin/amazon being the DH, barb being barb and monk being a paladin.

Good things tho'. Can't wait!

I definitely think the Druid will be in this xpac, man I miss the Werebear would be awesome to see the return of that class. I love my Barb but the Druid was also awesome. Werewolf & Werebear form.

If I ws to guess i'd say Druid & Paladin would be the next 2 classes. But i'd prefer to see a Druid & Deathknight. For some reason I think a death knight in D3 would be sooo badass considering their powers with control of the undead.

[Coldkil]

:O

Delete 10 precious characters? You crazy!

I'm going to replay the entire game in self-found mode when they decide to put it in the game, so no worries. Maybe i'm going to keep only the DH, since i've played more than 250 hours only on him. All the rest are expendables (and tbh, even the DH - cannot wait to restart and go for all self found).

Did the same with D2 like 8 times.

[Kelimbror]

I definitely think the Druid will be in this xpac, man I miss the Werebear would be awesome to see the return of that class. I love my Barb but the Druid was also awesome. Werewolf & Werebear form.

This is all I care about regarding the expansion. They've stated loot will be improved, so I'm just going to (stupidly) count that as a given. Gimme mah Druid so I can finally play what I've wanted all along.

[Ratyrel]

We've also been to Kurast. But I agree, wtb jungles. But they would have to open up some of those stale linear path zones if they want to create an immersive jungle, like in Diablo 2. Narrow dungeons and stuff, fine, but let the area be open.

Please god no, everyone I know hated those jungle areas with a passion.

[sircaw]

There just has to be a Necro in the next expansion, i would be very surprised if they do not go that route as there was so much feed back from fans in regards to that class.
I do kind of wonder how corpse explosion would work with no corpses.

On a personal level i really miss my Trapazon from diablo 2, really enjoyed her playstyle and the demon hunter turrets just dont cut it for me but i think theres little chance of that coming back.

Either way im pretty excited to see whats on its way, fingers crossed for the best.

[Holycloud777]

I feel like 2 expax is as many as they can get out of d3. Mael this expac, Imp final expac. But we will see blizzard likes to extend its bounds.

[Lysah]

Auriel was captured by Rakanoth, Lord of Despair (Hope swallowed by Despair).

Only the last 2 lines are really unaccounted for. Though, you could say that fate was shattered. Technically, Diablo was supposed to take over Heaven or something along those lines, according to the Scroll of Fate. But because Nephalem are not in the Scroll of Fate(Nephalem aren't a natural part of Creation, thus not accounted for in fate), we changed fate and stopped Diablo. This could be seen as "shattering fate".

The Death line, though, I don't think that has happened, thus I dont think Fate has been shattered yet(due to the 'as' in the prophecy). It makes too much sense for Malthiel to be Death.

Yes, yes, and I think you can easily say death has already spread its wings over all. We fought through a lot of death in Sanctuary, only to fight through even more death in the Heavens, and then put throw the death on Diablo and his hell minions ourselves. Who hasn't yet died in gross numbers in this story? Before D3 and the lines of this prophecy Heaven was untouched and the angels were all 100% okay. After Diablo invaded, every line in this prophecy fell into place and death finally spread its wings over everything (including angels) at last. Fate being shattered could easily just mean that the existence of the player made nephalem god has removed Fate's ability to predict the outcome of everything. Diablo was supposed to destroy Heaven, but he was stopped (you already said this though).

I realize the whole angel of death thing makes sense, I'm just trying to suppose other ideas that also make sense. It's very easy to explain this prophecy as already coming true in every way and Blizzard could do anything they want with the story. I'm sure it'll be really predictable, given how D3 played out, but it doesn't have to be.

[Wildmoon]

And, at the End of Days, Wisdom shall be lost
as Justice falls upon the world of men.
Valor shall turn to Wrath-
and all Hope will be swallowed by Despair.
Death, at last, shall spread its wings over all-
as Fate lies shattered forever.

First 4 lines already happened and the last 2 lines will happen in RoS. This should wrap up Diablo series. I think it will very very likely be Malthael.

[Verdugo]

If the Necromancer comes back, no one will want to play Witch Doctor, thats for sure.

[traen]

OMFG yes! Necromancer would make me one happy boy!

Necromancer is a little bit weak to be the new class of the expansion.

It had a lot of unique mechanics, but it was the least played class in d2 exactly for the same reason - not too many people liked necromancer mechanics.

If necromancer will be implemented in d3, they'll have to implement 2 classes instead of one, otherwise it will be a major failure, one can only imagine how much whine they'll get from players who don't like necromancer's playstyle.

And blizzard is a extremely lazy nowadays so I doubt that we'll get 2 classes this expansion.
So nope, no necromancer for you

In means of the balance it must be another str-using melee. Or maybe a middle-range fighter of some sort.
Well, it's not like it matters. People will buy the game even if new class will be the treasure goblin.

[von Richthofen]

There just has to be a Necro in the next expansion, i would be very surprised if they do not go that route as there was so much feed back from fans in regards to that class.
I do kind of wonder how corpse explosion would work with no corpses.

On a personal level i really miss my Trapazon from diablo 2, really enjoyed her playstyle and the demon hunter turrets just dont cut it for me but i think theres little chance of that coming back.

Either way im pretty excited to see whats on its way, fingers crossed for the best.

Corpse Explosion could work like the Witch Doctor/Barbarian corpse skills where a corpse appears and explodes. The same Jay Wilson interview also didn't say anything about issues with Corpse Explosion being a reason they didn't do Necromancer.

"The problem was, we looked at the class and didn't think that we could really make him a lot better. We could add some new stuff to him but for the most part -- curses, corpse explosion, skeleton pets -- done. That's the class. We wanted to create new gameplay, so we chose to do the Witch Doctor as a different kind of class.

If the Necromancer dealt damage, it was through corpses laying around or through his pets. The Witch Doctor, his pets are a little more transient. If you watch the gameplay video, you really notice his pets come and go like crazy. There's a wall of zombies that go away fairly quickly or pets that just kind of blow up willy-nilly. That was intentional -- to try and make him different than the Necromancer."

The Demon Hunter had at least one more trap type at BlizzCon '10, which didn't make it to the final game.

Shock Spike: Dual traps that damage enemies.

Place up to X mechanical contraptions on the ground. The contraptions spin and deal X-X damage to all nearby enemies. The contraptions also generate sawblades between them that deal damage to enemies in their path.

I realize the whole angel of death thing makes sense, I'm just trying to suppose other ideas that also make sense. It's very easy to explain this prophecy as already coming true in every way and Blizzard could do anything they want with the story. I'm sure it'll be really predictable, given how D3 played out, but it doesn't have to be.

The problem with that is, if the Prophecy of the End Days has indeed come true in just the base game, then the 'ultimate invasion of our world by the Burning Hells' should be happening in the first expansion. Since the teaser explicitly shows us one of those lines, that should mean the prophecy isn't completed. Couple that with the fact they planned for multiple expansions, and it definitely seems like the 'ultimate invasion' will be something we deal with later, and is possibly something we trigger ourselves in X1 since the hint involves us going to the Abyss (where all the demons we've killed in D3 and the 7 Prime Evils are, since no one smashed the Black Soulstone).