Blizzard previewing new abilities

As the Diablo 3 developers continue to refine the game, Blizzard has been kind enough to post previews of several abilities that have not been accessible in the beta. A full 20 new abilities have been added to the official site's game guide, including at least a few from each class.

Barbarian

Ancient Spear - Throw a spear to pull an enemy back towards you
Earthquake - Shake the ground violently, doing 1600% weapon damage as fire
Overpower - Deal 260% weapon damage to all enemies within 9 yards
Furious Charge - Rush forward, damaging and knocking back enemies


My Thoughts


Ancient Spear (level 28) - Now that we get to see this ability in use,  the spear's quickness and utility seem ideal for pulling enemies towards you and away from your allies in both PvP and PvE. As the Barbarian is one of the classes built to take punishment, it seems Blizzard is trying to allow for players to tank more effectively.

Earthquake (level 19) - Seemingly a pretty standard AoE DoT. It's also pretty hard to be disappointed by the effect - lighting up everyone around your character with flames is just cool.

Overpower (level 18) - The damage triggers instantly. Overpower has a low cooldown coupled with a very quick cast time, meaning it should make for a good follow-up for mobs weakened by earthquake.

Furious Charge (level 21) - Words cannot describe the awesome that is witnessed in Blizzard's demo video of this ability. Many exploding boars. As far as the ability itself, it has a pretty decent range, even damaging enemies past the end of its destination.

Overall I'm very happy with the way these abilities look so far. Ancient Spear and Furious Charge open up opportunities to reward skillful Barb play, while Earthquake and Overpower synchronize well for straight-up AoE damage.

To see new video of the other four classes' abilities, head over to Diablo III's official site.