Equal Mobility For All Classes In Diablo III

One of the biggest concerns with Diablo III's class differentiation concerns the issue of mobility. Besides putting one foot in front of the other to pace about the world of Sanctuary like enthusiastic tourists, characters in D3's predecessor, Diablo II, had a variety of different ways that allowed them to get around with varying degrees of ease.

The Assassin had the ability to increase her movement speed, sprinting as fast as the shadows, while the Barbarian had his ability to leap from point to point. Gifted with magic, the Sorceress had the fastest form of transport available to her: Teleportation. Other classes–less fortunate–were forced to move about the old fashioned way. The Paladin may have had Vigor at his disposal, but it didn't do much good for getting out of a tight spot.

Enter Diablo III: A user on the Battle.net forums asks of Blizzard whether they intend to amend the disparity between the mobility of classes in the upcoming game who cited the Witch Doctor as an example of a character that lacked the ability to leap like a Barbarian or teleport like a Wizard.

Blizzard community manager Bashiok responds:

We definitely want to avoid as best as possible a single class being far and away better than all others at something (such as mobility) and thus used exclusively for specific tasks.

As long as there is choice and variety in the game there's going to be one solution that gains a general consensus as being the best at "X". The hope and the intent is to make the difference between the best and second best, third best, etc. as close to imperceptible as possible so that you can use what ever class/character you want, what ever build you want, and not feel that you're far and away below the abilities of something else. That's balance in choice.

We're taking a close look at what those specific mobility issues were in Diablo II and could be in Diablo III, and yes we're certainly trying to be a bit smarter about planning for it. You specifically mention the witch doctor. With the way he plays and feels a big warp or jump around skill just doesn't really seem right for him, but he may have a trick or two up his sleeve... 

With any luck, they'll do like the Army Rangers and make sure no one gets left behind.