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Even though i don’t play online RPG’s anymore, i’ve got a soft spot for Blizzard’s Diablo series. With Diablo 3 around the corner, i’ve been watching their promo videos whenever a new character class is announced.

Although the combat systems in these titles aren’t exactly on par with fighting games, Blizzard does have a knack for making polished and precise gameplay experiences. There’s little doubt that the end product will be stable enough and structured enough to support a little combo exploration. To that end, here’s a short list of things i’d like to try from having watched the trailers released so far.

1) One major thing in D3′s favor is the sheer quantity of projectile types accessible to players. In particular, almost everything the Wizard does is projectile related. Most promising is her ability to create a Slow Time bubble, which actually lasts for over ten seconds – an incredibly long time. She also has a spell which can freeze enemies, so the first thing i’d like to test is whether the time bubble extends that freeze duration. Needless to say, that would be very useful for elaborate combo setups.

2) The second question is whether her bubble affects her own projectiles, because she has a meteor shower spell which would be great for combos. In the D3 Wizard Trailer, we can see her redirect enemy projectiles outward. It would be pretty cool to gather all of her own meteors and then spread them out horizontally in one burst, especially in a room filled with destructible objects. She also has a spell where she creates five copies of herself. Can they be manipulated using the slowdown bubble?

3) Surprisingly enough, the next most interesting character is the Monk – not because of his built-in combo chains but rather two unique abilities: Impenetrable Defense and Exploding Palm. Giving a melee class the ability to reflect projectiles is a brilliant way of creating an incredibly diverse array of combo opportunities. Combined with the Monk’s ability to plant a ticking time bomb inside his enemies, we’ll start seeing expert players arranging crazy situations in no time. Imagine Exploding Palm setting off traps which are then reflected back using Impenetrable Defense and followed up by his teleportation attacks. Or reflecting ice projectiles, moving in to plant the bomb, then luring other enemies into its blast area. If planned right, it can all look so elegantly, tactically impressive.

4) Replacing the D2 Necromancer class, the Witch Doctor can summon pets, scare enemies away, and confuse them into fighting one another. But the most interesting thing we see from the Witch Doctor might be Locust Swarm transfer vectors charted out to extremes. The main question is whether there’s a limit to how many times a single cast can spread. Can it go on forever provided that there are enough enemies nearby? If so, that could lead to some really funny domino tipping competitions. Since his Horrify spell can redirect enemies without touching them, expert players could maintain locust chains for a very long time.

5) Finally, we’ve got the Barbarian, possibly the least interesting class to ever appear in the series. Basically he hits things. Blizzard gave him a slow moving pseudo projectile in the form of Seismic Slam, but it’s not that interesting. Probably the coolest combo he can do is Seismic Slam up close, followed by Cleave to knock the opponent back into the earthquake wave for another hit, followed by Leap for the finish. Come to think of it, that might look cool enough to find its way into a combo video, but if anyone ever produces one for D3, Barbarians will make the fewest appearances by far.

Well, that’s enough ideas for a start. Of course the most interesting ones are going to come from interactions between multiple classes, especially in a PvP setting. For instance, can a Wizard and three Monks create an infinitely layered triangle of doom by reflecting the Wizard’s fire beam between one another? Can the Barbarian be infected by the Witch Doctor’s Locust Swarm and then Whirlwind through an entire group of enemies to spread it around? Should be fun to watch this game develop once the players get their hands on it.