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* The '''Necromancer''' class exist in [[Diablo II]], and you can read more about the '''[http://diablo2.diablowiki.net/Necromancer Necromancer class in the Diablo II Wiki]'''. The Necromancer will not appear in amongst the 5 characters in [[Diablo III]] when the game is released, but adding in an updated version of the character in an expansion team has not been ruled out by including the [[D3 Team]]Necromancer as an expansion character. They've also strongly hinted that players will see a Necromancer NPC at some point during the gameplay.

The non-inclusion of the Necromancer in Diablo III was greeted with a great deal of protest by loyal fans, and as a result Blizzard has repeatedly had to explain why they made the decision. Their main argument was that the Necromancer was done so well in D2 that they didn't see much to improve upon in D3, and didn't want to just repeat the same character in the new game. This contrasts to the [[Barbarian]], who they thought they could update and reinvent in interesting ways. Here's D3 Lead Designer [[Jay Wilson]] commenting on that issue in September 2008:[http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200809/N08.0903.1800.35279.htm?Page=3]

Here's D3 Game Designer [[Jay Wilson]] explaining this in an August 2008 interview. [http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/08/05/diablo-iii-necromancer/] ::"Our approach for classes in 'Diablo III'is that we don't have a strong desire to bring back classes from the previous game," Wilson told me. "The goal is to try and give people new gameplay and not just re-hash old gameplay. We're not just making a 'Diablo II' with updated 3D graphics." ::"The problem was, we looked at the class and didn't think that we could really make him a lot better," he explained. "We could add some new stuff to him but for the most part -- curses, corpse explosion, skeleton pets -- done. That's the class. We wanted to create new gameplay, so we chose to do the Witch Doctor as a different kind of class."  Jay elaborated on this in September 2008: [http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200809/N08.0903.1800.35279.htm?Page=3] ::One of the reasons we didn’t do the same treatment with the necromancer that we did with the barbarian is that the necromancer was more fully realized as a class in Diablo II. If we were going to bring him back, curses, skeletons, corpse explosion—you’re done. That’s the class. We felt the job was so well done that we didn’t know that we could do a lot to improve him, and that choosing to make that class was more or less like putting handcuffs on ourselves and wouldn’t allow us to create new and original gameplay. So we decided to go with a new pet class. We focused with the witch doctor on having him play differently enough from the necromancer so that, say if someday in the future we want to add some of the old classes back to Diablo III, I don’t like those doors to be closed.  ===As An Expansion Character?=== Though the Necromancer will not be one of the five characters in Diablo 3, the developers have left the door open for the class to potentially return in the game's planned expansions: [http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/08/05/diablo-iii-necromancer/] "There's a lot of people on our team who aren't happy with our class choices,” he admitted. "But after we've established 'Diablo III' as its own game with its own type of gameplay and experiences, I wouldn't be opposed to looking at old classes. We are trying to design [the Witch Doctor] class so that if we did bring back the Necromancer, there's room for him. We're looking out ahead of time at what our expansions are going to be, so we've got to keep room open for some of those other classes down the road." There appears to be a level of PR in this reply -- the [[D3 Team]] has never ruled out any character from appearing in an expansion -- but it's impossible to know how much this is a serious consideration and how much it's just saying something consoling to keep Necromancer fans on board.  ===D3 Necromancer NPC?=== Blizzard has not confirmed this, but they've given several strong hints that players will see one (or more) Necromancers in Diablo 3... as NPCs. (Or possibly as monsters?) The Diablo 3 Community Manager [[Bashiok]] teased about this in February 2010. [http://www.blizzblues.com/us/so-without-the-paladin-class-23042165807.html] ::The Knights of Westmarch and cult of Rathma still exist, so the chances of coming across a paladin and/or necromancer through your travels are pretty good.