Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Closed Beta Preview, Part Three
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You may want to check in for the third installment to AusGamers' Diablo III: Reaper of Souls closed beta preview series, where you'll find that this particular portion goes into greater detail on the expansion's Crusader class, the newly added city of Westmarch, and more. An excerpt, as you might have expected:
The Crusader by nature is a holy warrior, one looking to purge the world of evil, and their skill-set reflects this by being full of special attacks and skills that deal in holy damage a category separate to the more common fire, ice and lightning, that although look similar have the distinct advantage of righteous fury. Their Fist of the Heavens secondary attack is not only powerful but a great piece of visual carnage as a chunky lightning bolt hits multiple enemies causing pretty big splash damage -- making it perfect for crowd control. The same goes for the Falling Sword attack, which sends the Crusader momentarily to heaven itself for some extra demon slaying juice where they can even call on a few friends to help out when they fall back down and crash headfirst into a group of demon spawn a pretty common sight in Westmarch, where the expansion's new Act takes place.
Act V in Reaper of Souls in many ways is a darker and more gothic version of Diablo III, perhaps itself like the Crusader class, a nod to grim environments of Diablo II. The city of Westmarch, being overrun by monsters, demons and death itself is pretty grey whenever it's not burning down all around you. Some of the sights are also pretty intense as early on you'll be fighting mini-bosses in buildings whose floors are made up of corpses -- a sight the tourism bureau of Westmarch somehow glossed over in their sightseeing guide. But thankfully, unlike the covers of many death metal albums, the description sounds a lot worse than the actuality of seeing it for yourself. It's worth noting mainly due to the stark contrast between the new setting of Act V versus, say, the wind swept desert sands of Act II.
Apart from the new visual and grim setting of Westmarch, a city overrun by death and demons in the form of new menace Malthael, the areas themselves although linear in design are immediately more varied and open than those from previous Acts. From the city itself with its multiple streets, alleyways, and houses to explore, to the large cemeteries and expansive swamps, each area feels less like a corridor or dungeon and more like a huge landscape. Although the overall length of the new Act is similar to Act II or III of the main campaign, for those players who need to explore and uncover every square inch of the map, there's definitely a lot of new content here. And a lot of new monsters to fight too, with the cemetery section of Westmarch proving to be one of the most action-packed areas in all of Diablo III. Seriously, it's crazy, not only are there hundreds of corpses but there are new enemies and monsters raising their own skeletal warriors to fill up the screen in no time.
