The Witch Doctor Picture

I don't think it's much of a secret that I am, currently, opposed to the design of the Witch Doctor in general, however, there are many on this board that seem fairly adament about the validity of the Witch Doctor, which has led me to question my own position on the class, and begin to wonder what it is, exactly, others truly see in the class. I believe I have put my finger on what my ultimate difficulty is. I don't actually have a mental picture that represents the Witch Doctor as being awesome, or at all Epic. I can conjure a picture for the barbarian and the wizard with ease. However, the Witch Doctor seems to allude me.

For the Barbarian it has always been the picture of a war torn man, cut, bruised and battered, holding a giant war-axe above his head ready to swing it down towards the gigantic dragon that he is fighting, his face filled with all the rage and battlefury of a man ready to face oblivion because he's seen so much death that his own would be only one more number in his mind.

For the Wizard it is the picture of an old man being surrounded by multiple enemies and he lays waste to them with a ring of fire around him which sears the bones off of their flesh. His eyes are burning flames which light up his face as he shouts out the words of a long dead language which fuel his arcane might.

When I picture the witch doctor... I picture a man hunched over a cauldron, stirring a brew, in the swamp, with a mongrel chewing on a bone. He is adorned with all the regalia that one would expect of the witch doctor.

This is a fine picture, and extremely atmospheric, but, in my mind, it suits an NPC more then a PC. What's lacking, to me, is the sence of the truly epic. I can easily picture the wizard and the barbarian in epic posturing, but the witch doctor, in my mind, still rests as a character which would hide under the table while the big boys did their work.

So I invite fully and openly; What do you picture when you think of the Witch Doctor doing Epic Feats?|||Try thinking of Witch Doctor as Witch. Casting plagues upon the mortal fools lurking below. Calling all that creeps and crawls and bites to terrorizing and kill.

Imagine a Witch Doctor being charged by a gang of bandits. He pulls out his magic dust and blows, and suddenly a massive swarm of locusts are eating all of the bandits. they're running, screaming, cry and clawing at the bugs. And then the Witch Doctor uses his special brew. He tosses the hexed skull, and a massive explosion blows everyone to bits.

EDIT: Maybe you're going about this wrong. You might not be able to see the witch doctor causing chaos on the scale of the Barbarian or Wizard. But mess with him and the Witch Doctor, possibly more than any of the other classes, will **** you up. It's a creepy old man lurking in the jungle, casting horrifying spells.|||(Btw i think it would be best to refer to Classes' sex as the alpha version. (1st one to come out) So a Wizard would be a she, WD would be a he, barb would be a he, Amazon would be a she, etc etc)

I picture the witch doctor as a man who had a bad day.... and not a bad day that will be forgotten tomorrow, but a bad day that pushed him over the edge and he is barely hanging on. After taking too many blows to his life and maybe those around him, he decided to destroy the evil (Scourge as they call it). In order to do so, he utilized spells and powers that were dangerous to the caster in the 1st place......

He has learned to control Plagues, Poisonous Toads, Locusts, Mongrels, Bats and Spiders all of whom could very much kill him....

He has learned to brew vile concoctions that could go boom in his very hand, or while he is brewing them...

He has learned to dabble in the affairs of spirits, so that he could suck in the souls of his enemies, or awaken the dead to do his bidding... that doesn't mean that some vengeful spirit wont try to possess him...

Also not to mention scare the **** out of anybody...

He dislikes the things he uses and does not care about them (Sacrifice skill as an example).... He constantly lives on the edge.... he isn't some magic wielding pansy (no offense), he uses more physical magic and as i suspect will be a moderate melee fighter (as seen in artwork). He's scarred, he's pissed, and he will send his weak enemies to kill his other enemies....

He's not an old alchemist, who sits everyday hoping to perfect his art... he's Chuck-F***ing-Norris....|||Quote:








What do you picture when you think of the Witch Doctor doing Epic Feats?




Something similar to what DxAxxxTyriel sees. Simply put a nutcase. Someone who went over the edge and not towards the happy side. He is oblivious to the cruelty he inflicts upon others. Someone to be feared. His tribe had to think long and hard before actually coming to him for healing or advice. He seeks out something with his experiments and magic, but what that is might not be clear even to himself. For now he is content to just use the deadly effects of whatever skill he chooses to employ.|||But i don't think he is evil, i think he wont spill the blood of an innocent, or burn him, drain his soul.... He did go over the bad edge but hasnt fallen yet, he's hanging on it. He's not a nutcase, just doesnt care bout himself (a la Joker). And if you really want a bad-*** picture of him, imagine him throwing a skull of flame, with 2 plagued-Mongrels by his side, with toads/spiders crawling on the floor, with bats circling above his head, a massive voodoo mask above him and a wall of zombies nearby him, surrounded by an endless army of demons... and you know he will kill em all....|||Quote:










So I invite fully and openly; What do you picture when you think of the Witch Doctor doing Epic Feats?






Hi.

When I read Witch Doctor, I imagine an old man, creepy, dark voice, with many tics, hunched... more or less the same you said.

But also, I see great powers and charisma in this picture. Strong personality. A wise man. And, over all, a picture capable enough of doing many things with creepy animals, with the power of voodoo, mind and souls control and things like that.



I agree with you in one point: he is not the picture we usually evoke for mighty or glorious heroes, legendary heroes.

But I think this character is fresh and new conceptually, he got charisma, strong personality and many qualified spells, awesome well designed.

I see him good enough, conceptually, also imagine, and also in terms of playing. I think all this things make him glorious enough, and he shall be an Epic Hero in the long term.



But only time will tell.



Also, he incarnates some of the terrific stories from jungles and voodoo, and monkey island, and caribbean pirates, and many many legends from the entire world. I think this is a fantastic idea to put him in the good side and fighting against the Prime Evils, like the Necromancer in D2, for example. Because he is not a bad man. He is just a jungle man, like tarzan (not physically, lol).





PS: Offtopic —> I think you have a problem with the WD; perhaps it's not for you. There are some characters in D2 I don't like, and some I like. Same for almost every person. It's just part of the game. I think you got terrible nightmares each day concerning the WD, hahaha. Just making a joke here, no bad intentions.|||I agree Valmy. Personally I couldn't ever identify myself with the Amazon and Sorceress. For some reason these two characters didn't work with me. Nothing to do with their lore or anything like that. More just an unaccountable dislike. Definitely not a gender issue either because the Assassin is one of my favorite classes.

The WD does fit very nicely into my preferences for a character concept. It's most probably the class I'll try first (depending on what they do for the missing two). Being that a lot of skills are still missing, and -- I'm hoping -- they trim the rough edges on this character, I'd say for us to wait a bit longer before attempting to over-analyze.|||I agree the WD have an image problem, he does look somewhat cartoonish and laughable. Gameplay wise it is the class I had the most fun playing at Blizzcon. To make this class perfect for me it should look like something that would fit right into this video.|||Quote:








Ithink you got terrible nightmares each day concerning the WD, hahaha. Just making a joke here, no bad intentions.




Oh God my secret's out! He's the man that haunts my dreams with his ghaustly visage mocking the very inside of my soul! His form has now become digitized and he will go, from computer to computer, haunting others like me! We must stop him! Rise up and fight against the Witch Doctor or he'll ravage the world with his toothless grin!|||I find the Witch Doctor very mystical. He's insane, but it is a kind beyond our knowledge. On the inside, he is something we all don't see.

Think of it like Grug said. Instead of a wizard firing a fireball the moment he/she sees something, think of him, standing, waiting for them to approach. And then he explodes, releasing his locusts, his deadly bombs, ect.