Originally Posted by
Amorise
Diablo 3 Demon Hunters and WC Demon Hunters are entirely different, despite the same time. This is what people can't seem to grasp.
A Demon Hunter in the Warcraft universe is a light armored melee fighter using deception and demonic energy to dispatch foes. Iconic skills are Evasion (heightened senses allow them to "slow" time around them and dodge abilities,) Mana Burn which allowed them to destroy the magic in an enemy, and their ultimate of Metamorphosis where they temporarily become demons themselves and activate Immolation which ignited the air around them. They didn't use ranged weapons.
The Diablo 3 Demon Hunter is close to that of the Warcraft Dark Ranger in both abilities and aesthetics. The primary difference being the Dark Ranger has some skill in necromancy.
You can't just cross the two together and go on your merry way. It wouldn't make any sense at all and would water down the lore and concept of the Demon Hunter. Demon Hunters are an awesome idea for a new class, however Blizzard has already in the past given their iconic skills to other classes. Demonology Warlocks currently possess the ultimate and most iconic abilities of the Demon Hunter; Metamorphosis and Immolation. Meanwhile, Rogues possess Evasion and Priests were given Mana Burn (now removed entirely from the game.) I think we'll see Demon Hunters have more of an impact on the story in the future, but it's unlikely for them to me made into a playable class because of that. The class would lose a lot of its uniqueness in playstyle due to current class design and would feel more like an amalgamation and less of a new unique awesome class.
This is why I believe it's more likely to be a Tinker or Dark Ranger. Both could use ranged weapons. Both could Intellect Mail and/or Agility Mail. Dark Rangers could even use Agility Daggers. This would fix a lot of the loot itemization issues Ghostcrawler rants about wanting to fix every time it's brought up. Tinkers have some basis in the Warcraft universe, while Dark Rangers already exist in decent numbers on the side of the Horde (Troll Shadow Hunters and Forsaken Dark Rangers have some overlap.) Both are classes that could be built entirely from the ground up and have no creative limitations like the Demon Hunter would. Blizzard admitted during the Death Knight and Monk creation that when they build a new class, one of the things they look for is something they can build that's unique, awesome, and has no creative limits or overlap. Demon Hunters simply don't fit this bill from a design view.