The necromancer needs more than what was shown in the skill preview last Friday.
The class at its core is completely selfish. It seems the developers designed the class to have mastery over conditions, but damaging conditions – as designed – are completely useless in any sort of group play. Gw2 is based on group play – which means this class is ultimately flawed in most PvE environments.
It has low access to boons (of any type), no leap movement skills, no easily accessible combo finishers or group buff fields, long recharges on skills, and innumerable useless traits (more than any other class I have played). Necromancers are also pigeonholed into one of two elites – plague form or Lich Form – or maybe just 1 now with the nerf to Lich – unless you are lucky enough to have chosen Norn at creation. Minion AI is very unresponsive when used while the character is moving, often sitting idly by as your character dies. (this bug needs work!)
Jumping from Necromancer to Elementalist was an eye-opening experience on how a class should be designed. Warrior & Engineer were equally shocking in their flexibility in comparison.
Were Necromancers designed to be a punching bag class??
Below is a list of game modes and my thoughts on Necromancer status in each. Some players kittenpond to this post will disagree with various points but the underlying point is clear – the changes previewed for the upcoming balance class are not enough.
(In PvE Dungeon Parties): Necromancer is the LEAST wanted class in Dungeons according to several polls up right now in the Dungeon Forum. It has no group boons or group benefits, boon removal (via Corrupt Boon & Traited Dark Path) doesn’t help as bosses reapply almost instantly. Long recharges on skills and no damage avoidance mechanics to avoid certainly fatal blows at high level Fractals make the clkitten then optimal for skips and runs (the preferred method of dungeon gold farming).
(In sPvP): Being a selfish class here forces Necromancer to be the ONLY class required to have a handler to survive upper tier team sPvP. No dodge utilities or weapon skills, escapes, reliable stability or leaps mean that any knowledgeable player simply focuses the necro until downed.
(WvW):
[Zerg v Zerg]- Necromancers will always have a place in WvW Zergs due to the Death Shroud mechanic staying charged from massive deaths and the stacking of pulsed wells for direct damage. Zerg v Zerg, in my opinion, should not reward players so much more by their numbers then their skill on the battlefield.
[Roaming]- Necromancers can duel well with a fully charged Death Shroud and an opponent that does not run away. When this is not the case, as is almost always in WvW, Necromancers fare poorly in this mode. They have no leaps or escapes (barring Norn racial elite – always play a Norn Necro for this mode) and are inevitably crushed by any outnumbering of the enemy. They cannot pick their fights and retreat from bad ones, which ultimately means they do poorly in WvW roaming mode.
(Downed State): Necromancer downed state is tied for weakest according to several player polls. No tide-turning abilities such as mist form, temporary rally, pet help rally, group heal, or stealth invisibility. A downed necromancer is almost always a dead necromancer.
You won’t see Necromancers used in high end dungeon runs, you won’t see them used in high end sPvP (just Zombify?) and you won’t see them used in any game mode where skill is most important.
This is because the upcoming balance changes are not enough – nothing fundimental has changed.
Thus, the class is not balanced for most of Guild Wars 2 and new players should spend their time elsewhere.
Please only respond if you read this entire post. Sorry, no TLDR;
