I mean like, the laugh, her confidence, the way she talks, and even that bit about knowledge, it's got to be Wizard. So I was all like,
and like,
y'know, like when you're in bed on your phone and receiving wonderful news
Then it got me thinking, what would her class be? What abilities would be available? And so on. So without further ado, let's kick off this brainstorm session!!!
UPDATE, 22 JAN 2016:
Blizzard announced that Wizard was going to be a Ranged Assassin, hence I will have to make another post =) That will be coming soon! The rest below are of 21 Jan 2016 when I wrote the post.
Before that, a disclaimer:
This is not the official build for Wizard in Heroes of the Storm. I do not even know whether it will most definitely be Wizard as one of the new upcoming heroes (though I highly hope so). I do not work or is affiliated with Blizzard in any way. And this is just some sort of discussion post on what I expect the new hero would be and hope to be. That is all.
The first thing that I thought of was, what the gender was going to be.
Since, there were 3 female characters, and 2 male characters, I initially thought that the wizard would be the guy version. But alas, it's the woman like in the Diablo 3 trailer. Another thing was what class would the wizard be. I played the Wizard Class in DIablo 3 and he had no healing abilities whatsoever. Hence I came to the conclusion it would either be as an Assassin Class or Specialist Class. My money's on the Specialist Class since most of Wizard's skills are more towards area based damage and not really single target damage abilities.
Then it came down to the abilities the Wizard would use, to which I referred to the Wizard Trailer from Blizzard:
My reasoning being, since Heroes of the Storm is a free-to-play game and Diablo 3 isn't, they would want to use skills and abilities from the trailer so that a lot more people would recognize the character even though they haven't played Diablo 3. That being said, Blizzard has done a lot of things differently with the past heroes, so I'll be using the trailer as a guideline, but spells that can transition very well to the Heroes of the Storm Meta will not be overlooked as well.
The first thing we always look at first is the class, which I have assumed is Specialist, but the trait would most definitely be Arcane Power, It just transitions so well to Heroes of the Storm, like the Barbarian's Fury Trait. In essence, the trait would allow the Wizard to constantly cast spells without having to rely on Mana conservation, but at the same time cannot continually cast spells in quick succession because of the limited supply she has to use at once. I feel as though including this trait will allow the hero to remain faithful to the play style in Diablo 3 so I'm really hoping this would be the trait when the hero is finally announced.
With that in mind, the Wizard should be a hero that can deal a lot of damage to a large group of enemies, but at the same time can mitigate and move around the battlefield quite freely due to the glass cannon nature of this type of classes. The wizard should be one that won't be able to last long after taking hits but will reward you with heavy damage should you not look out for her.
The basic attack should most definitely be Magic Missile because if it isn't and it is a skill shot instead, I'll just rage so badly at their lack of imagination.
ON TO THE ABILITIES!!!
FIRST ABILITY
The first skill is always a skill shot in some ways, be it a skillshot that bounces to other targets, or a skillshot that deals damage in a straight path. So I'm hoping it would be Arcane Orb. It's an iconic spell, one shown in the trailer and also one the first spells you get in game. Arcane Orb also allows for a different type of skill shot, because it would be one where you release a projectile and when it hits a target, deals damage to the units around the target hit. As far as I know, we don't have that kind of skill shot in game yet, the closest being Greymane but that deals damage in an arc behind the target hit.
Talents
The talents could be very unique, given the fact that Wizard has a lot of elements in his arsenal. He can pull a Kharazim, meaning one level of talents could be just for Arcane Orb, one being like the Flame Arcane Orb, another being the Frost version and the last being one that increases damage like the first rune you get for Arcane Orb. It would be so amazing if that would happen!
I'm never going to go with just one idea so I thought I would include other ones as well, a Specialist Class Hero is especially good at clearing down waves of enemy creeps, so although Arcane Orb would fit the description, Disintegrate would prove better at pushing back lanes of enemies with the constant damage it dishes out. The way the spell could work would be like Diablo's Heroic Ability Lightning Inferno, the only problem being, I find that standing still in one place goes against Wizard's play style given the limited number of abilities you will have as compared to in Diablo 3.
Talents
Some talents they could include for Disintegrate would be Temporal Flux, which is a passive that can slows down enemies should they take damage. It would allow Wizard to somewhat limit heroes from getting close to her when she channels Disintegrate and slow down enemy creeps from advancing, Another one could be that creeps explode on death, dealing damage to the creeps in the vicinity, increasing your wave clearing power.
SECOND ABILITY
The second ability is usually one that can affect units in an area, so I can see that being Slow Time. Slow Time is one of the first abilities introduced to the Wizard Class during Diablo 3's development and is an iconic spell in my book. The ability should slow down enemies that venture into the sphere, reducing their movement speed and attack speed. The ability should also affect creeps more severely, allowing the Wizard to capture creep camps more effectively, further strengthening her role as a Specialist.
Talents
There are so many good talents that Slow Time can use, and this is just from the rune upgrades that come in Diablo 3. One talent can increase the amount of damage enemies receive when inside the sphere, which can scale really well in taking down heroes but also in clearing camps. Another could cause creeps to get stunned when entering or leaving the sphere, further improving your laning and camp capturing ability. They can even include a talent that keeps the enemies slow for a certain duration even though they have left the area of effect.
Most specialists have a way of diverting creeps by introducing other units that can soak up the damage when capturing camps or in lane. Mirror Image would be the perfect ability to have for this, although they would most probably only produce 2 clones instead of 4 like the one above. The clones would be able to deal damage as well, casting the exact spell when you cast a spell, while dealing less damage since it's only a clone. The mirror images can soak up damage when capturing creep camps, but at the same time contribute to clearing the camp faster with the added damage.
Talents
Like I mentioned earlier, you could have a talent that allows the clones to cause damage. Or increase the duration of the clones or increase the amount of clones.
Left Out Abilities
Where are blizzard and frost nova? It would be silly to have two heroes have the same spell, so I doubt that Wizard would have Blizzard as well even though it was featured in the trailer. Frost Nova is centered around the caster and although it fits the bill of being an area of effect spell, I find that having an ability that centers around the user in a team game defeats the purpose since positioning the spell would be incredibly hard for a squish hero like Wizard. If Wizard were a Warrior Class Hero, it would make more sense since you want to be the center of attention.THIRD ABILITY
The third ability is always a utility spell, meant to allow the user to escape from battle or in some way mitigate damage dealt. Teleport is iconic to the hero, one of the first spells introduced to the Wizard and fits the bill as an ability to escape from danger. Even though it's a really simple ability, it can allow for so much for a hero like Wizard. She's a glass cannon so teleport allows her to position herself well and escape when needed.
Talents
You can have a talent that creates an explosion at the area targeted, or increase movement speed after teleporting or even create a clone at the point of arrival. I have this one idea where after using teleport, a mirror image is created and while teleport is on cooldown, you can use the button to instead control the clone, allowing for more interesting plays. A talent to follow that up would be you being able to switch positions with the clone when double tapping the skill, giving so much more mobility to a hero that needs to be elusive and mobile like Wizard. It would be really awesome if Blizzard includes something like that, but at this point we can only hope.
If instead Blizzard opts to go for something different, then Diamond Skin would make a great choice. It allows the Wizard to mitigate damage by gaining a shield, and then the shield exploding dealing damage to any brave nearby enemy heroes that insist on chasing you down. Diamond Skin would give Wizard a temporary shield but it's functionality can be greatly increased with talents. The added damage also allows Wizard to capture camps without taking damage while the explosion after would make it easier to defeat the camp.
Talents
The shield exploding can be one talent, or other talents can increase movement speed while providing the shield like the rune Sleek Shell, allowing for a more reliant escape ability. Or even a talent that allows the shield to absorb unlimited amounts of damage, further improving survivability. Though I still think I would prefer Teleport as the utility skill, I can understand if they choose Diamond Skin.
Additional Thoughts
Wizard's arsenal of spells include a lot of utility skills, so even mirror image or slow time can be listed under here should the second ability be something different.
HEROIC ABILITIES
Specialists are geared towards clearing camps better but their ultimate is more catered towards team fights. Be it dealing huge damage to units in a large area or just a single unit. So it would be SO, INCREDIBLY, AWESOME if they include Meteor. It fits the bill quite well, being an iconic spell to wizard, one you really look forward to getting in game and it's just an awesome spell to have in my opinion. But so much more can be done with Meteor as well with it being able to deal heavy damage on impact but also leave the area burning, allowing the wizard to interrupt the enemy team positioning like how the Phoenix works for Kael'thas.
Level 20 Talent
You can be unimaginative and just increase the damage dealt or increase the time the ground burns or you could make a level 20 Meteor strike instantly?! I mean that would be broken but it would also be awesome!!!
This spell was added later on after Diablo 3 was released and that makes it more of a reason to include it in Wizard's list of abilities for Heroes of the Storm. It also allows you to have a balance between two choices, one to deal heavy damage, and one more to put the enemies out of position. If Meteor is the damage dealer, then Black Hole would be a great choice for crowd control in game. Not to mention it would be great to combo up with other Heroic Abilities as well. Black Hole would gather enemies in one place, while dealing relatively low damage but the key goal is to create an opening for a huge follow up from your team.
Level 20 Talent
You can do so much here, increase the area of effect, decrease the cooldown, increase the damage or make enemies caught in it take more damage, it's a good spell so talents would only make it better.
Probably the most unimaginative and creativity deprived option that I'm including to this list but it's highly unlikely since it would be very similar to Tassadar. I hope they don't include this. But then again I might be wrong.
I hope you enjoy reading this, and I hope that it somewhat sates your desire for more Heroes of the Storm news until the heroes are finally revealed. I wrote this post in sheer anticipation so it kinda helped me here as well. Feel free to leave your own ideas in the comments, it is a brainstorm session after all and I would love to hear your thoughts!
Have fun and watch Heroes of the Storm videos to help you deal with the excitement! =D
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