Guild Wars 2

As a Necromancer main, I have been thinking about what else might be holding the profession back in terms of group or squad usefulness. Greatsword addressed the lack of cleave and shouts added some on-demand AoE. However, there is one, very important group utility from Necromancer’s original design that did not work as planned: fields for combinations.

Necromancer has a large array of skills which create combination fields for other professions to utilize. Most of them are dark fields and poison fields.

Dark – Most Wells, Reaper’s Nightfall, and downed skill’s Fetid Ground create a dark field, which can proc life steal or blind. Life steal only heals other group members when they use projectile finishers. Otherwise, it heals the casting Necromancer a tiny amount with a whirl on Grave Digger. Otherwise , it blinds, which all PvE bosses have resistance to and, in PvP or WvW, most everyone else ignores. Blinds do not stack, either.
Light – Well of Blood and Ritual of Life (WoB trait for extra healing around downed players) can only proc a condition cleanse or light aura. Who needs this field in a group?
Poison – Corrosive Poison Cloud, Chillblains, and Death Nova drop this field. Poison is much less useful in PvE than PvP because because the potential dps is low and bosses do not try to heal.
Ethereal – This field is only created by Spectral Wall on Necromancer and is primarily a Mesmer field. Combinations produce Confusion, which PvE bosses do not prioritize to remove and continue to take action in combat making it potentially higher dps than Poison.
Ice – Executioner’s Scythe in Reaper Shroud is the only ice field the profession has. For Reapers, the skill can be traited to add bleeds but chill finishers for everyone else are only marginally useful on break bars. Unfortunately, the field is tied to a high-damage skill in Reaper Shroud so voluntarily not using it to prevent an unwanted field is a damage loss for the Reaper.

Compare that to other professions.
Fire – Adds, by far, the most dps through Might and Burning
Water – Heals much better than Dark’s leaching and can be positioned only on allies to prevent covering enemies with a less useful field.
Lightning – Gives swiftness when blasted
Smoke – Gives stealth when blasted or leaped through

Looking at it this way, Necromancer provides many fields that are unpopular and none of the fields that are desired. Before Reaper, finishers were limited to staff auto attack, an unreliable pull (Necrotic Grasp) and minion skills. The profession was clearly designed to lay down combo fields but none of them are in demand.

Arenanet, please review the usefulness and potency of the various combination fields. Without changing profession skills or combinations, it seems like Necromancer’s group utility could be improved by re-balancing what fields do in combinations.

I would find it interesting, if Anet just would make Combos in itself more fun, would expand the Combo System:

Field = Currently the only Combo Type that exists which lets you create an AoE Area that can be triggered for Combo Effects based on the Combo Trigger Type

New Action = Lay a Combo Point, that leads to Combo Attacks with your Allies if they perform at the same time with you in the near of an Combo Action Point a Weapon Skill that synergizes with your Weapon Skill.

Combo Triggers
Currently there exist just four:

• Explosions
• Projectiles
• Leaps
• Whirls

New possible Combo Triggers could be:

• Stay = A Combo Effect, that simply triggers, if you stay for long enough in a Combo Field
• Pull/Push = A Combo Effect, that triggers, if you successfully can launch a foe into Combo Field or pull one into a field, instead of you leaping just through it. Makes Skills that can launch away foes or pull them to you more impactful and meaningful.
• Fall = Simple Combo Effects that trigger, if somebody – you or foes falls down into the Combo Field

That could be three new Combo Triggers, that could make Combo Fields and their interactions alot more fun and interesting, especially when Combo Fields would begin to create different effects based on the “Skill Synergy”.

Skill Synergy

Lets say there are 3 grades of Skill Synergy for Combo Fields.
Lets make an Example with

Fire Field + Explosion Trigger

Skill with Low Synergy = Triggers Might Boon on nearby Allies
Skill with Medium Synergy = Triggers Multiple Burning Stacks on nearby Foes
Skill with High Synergy = Triggers a Fire Explosion that causes significant Damage and launches nearby foes away from you due to the caused shockwave of the Explosion.

Other Example:

Ether + Projectile Trigger

Low Synergy = Triggers Confusion on the hit Target(s)
Medium Synergy = Steals two Boons
High Synergy = Hitting Attacks deal +25% Armor Ignoring Damage

Another Example with one of the suggested New Triggers

Dark + Fall Trigger (Triggers also if you/your foe get(s) launched or knockdowned in them)

Low Synergy = Causes on touch Weakness to foes and Stealth for 5 seconds for Allies
Medium Synergy = Creates on touch a Well of Darkness on Enemy Trigger and a Well of Corruption if you or your allies trigger it.
High Synergy = Causes on touch for foes 3 seconds of Fear and for Allies and you to spread your Conditions over to nearby foes by causing an Epidemic

This way, through the help of Skill Synergies for Combos and through adding some new Combo Trigger Types and a new Combo Type could we have in GW2 alot more depthful and fun Combo Gameplay, where not every Combo effect in the midsts of a combat does exactly the same anymore.
Additionally through Combo Action Points like suggested could Classes get with the help of Skill Synergies a multitude of interesting Combo Skills. Basically exactly 3 for each Class Combination for each fitting together Skill Synergy.

If a Thief uses a Low Synergy Weapon Skill together with a Low Synergy Weapon Skill of a Ranger, while being in the near together at a Combo Action Point, this would cause them then to perform together agaisnt their same target a Combo Skill.

Examples for 3 Combo Skills between Thief & Ranger based on the 3 Skill Synergy Grades (Used Weapons play no role, just the Skill Synergy Grade counts, the Characters automatically switch to fitting Weapons for the momentum of the Combo Skill)

Low + Low Thief + Ranger = Venomous Barrage = Both together fire a volley of five venom arrows in a fan shape towards their target. Foes hit by these arrows will suffer on multiple venom effects.

Medium + Medium Thief + Ranger = Shadow Sting = The Ranger attacks the nearby target with a Greatsword, which the Thief uses after the attack to launch itself into the air with the help of the ranger to perform a poisonous Vault Attack at the Target Location

High + High Thief + Ranger = Sniper Assault = The Thief performs a Smokebomb which causes Stealth for both followed by the Ranger performing a Sniper Assault to the most widest away target that is in line of sight, which deals significant damage and will be always critical and unblockable that has the same ranger longbow mechanics with dealign increased damage on range, just that this shot as more range than usual – 2000 instead of 1200. After the Assault ends automatically the Stealth for both.

I, too, wish the combination system was more developed. You have some interesting ideas but I do not know how well they would play out.

First, differences in lag (to the server) can throw off timing so sequential combination with wide windows of opportunity help even out performance across the player base.

Second, tying skill synergy between field and finishers sounds great but doing so creates another level of complication. This game does not have enough finishers among all professions combo synergies will further complicate grouping. Consider Necromancer with many fields but few finishers and Warrior with many finishers and few fields. Synergy as you described it may demand matching weapons and professions, which is something Arenanet is trying to avoid.

Still, your ideas are worth discussing. The combinations in GW2 are very simple compared to other games. All combo’s are single-stage, meaning someone starts it and the next skill finishes it. Many players can continue making their own combinations as long as the field persists. There are no two-stage, or more, combinations. Also, finishers, as you pointed out, are not dependent upon field type. Any profession can finish a combination, though some professions have more skill options than others.

Consider, too, that there is no field which produces bleeding or torment for every profession. Fire, poison, and ethereal all allow every profession to proc damaging conditions directly by making a combination. Only Reaper with the Deathly Chill trait chosen has the ability to proc a bleed in a combo and only in the presence of an ice field. Torment has no such starter field.

Compared to blasting for Might or whirling for burning bolts on a fire field, blasting for blind and whirling for a leach are much less effective against bosses with defiance.

WvW and PvP are different, of course, but end game PvE bosses have stack and effectiveness limits for most conditions. Burning bolts, poison bolts, and confounding bolts are the only damaging combinations accessible to all with burning being far stronger.

Combo fields and finishers is an extremely nice concept that needs to be more than just a minor gimmick.

PvE have way too many passive buffs that promote absolutely zero gameplay.

I wish combos had an actual impact on dps and sustain, to the point where by timing their combos and placing their fields right, groups would achieve higher dps and sustain.

Ya, Lag might be a problem for timing, but thats also already a problem with field crazy, as the field effect will be most likely gone already, before you were able under lag to use your skill. So ther is basically no difference betweee the Field Combos that require Combo Triggers like a Skill being combinated with them being of a certain type and my proposed action based Class Skill Combos that require Skill Synergies where the Weapon Skill must be in synergy with an other Weapon Skill of an other Class what makes up for the big difference bewteen both Combo Systems.
With my suggested system working more like a Combo System, which people most likely are used to from Offline RPGs, stuff like Chrono Trigger for example where two characters perform together a Combo Attack – thats the original inspiration basically here.

With 9 different Classes on the start, this would make up for alot of potential cool Combo Skills, especially if all Classes could have more than just 1 based on Skill Synergies. 9*9*3 would mean potentially 243 nice unique Combo Skills when you let each Class get for all 9 Class Combinations 3 different Combo Skills based on the suggested 3 Skill Synergy Grades.

If that should be too much, then reduce it to just only 2 Grades – Good & Perfect.
That would reduce the amount from 243 down to 162.
Yes, this sounds naturally like a huge task, so thats why I think something like that would be rather something for an Feature Pack/Expansion that focuses on it to expand and improve the Combo System.

However, it would be all just single Skills, which can be used only under certain circumstances – namely when you perform a Combo Skill together with an other Class, which makes such a kind of amount of Skills easier to balance, when you know from the start, that these Skills won’t be useable non stop by design, but only when you can successfully get to perform a Combo, which should be something, that needs to require by design good positioning and player Skill and should be something, that you spam non stop.

How would Combo Action Points work?

Combo Action Points are spawned by the game on the ground when in combat, if you stay near to an Ally, that you have “marked” as Combo Partner.
Has that other person marked you as well as Combo Partner, then both of you will see in the UI a “Synergy Meter”, which rises when both of you stay in near together.
Everytime the Synergy Meter reaches its Max in Combat, the Game will spawn in your very near a “Combo Action Point”, which only you and your Combo Partner are able to see.
That Combo Action Point is a small area, which allows you and your Combo Partner to perform a Combo Skill against an enemy, if you get your enemsy to enter that Area, while you perform at that time then both certain Weapon Skills against the target, which need to have “Synergy” with each other.

A Player can always have at any given time only 1 Combo Partner. the prson with that you are currently linked as Combo Partner, will get highlighted for you on the UI, the Minimap ect. People that currently requested you to become their Combo Partners will also get highlighte,d but in a different color.
Combo Requests alsomatically vanish, if the person who received the Combo Partner Request doesn’t activate it within a certain time through a click of a specific button, or with the mouse on the Screen’s request pop up icon to change your Combo Partner, if you had at that moment already one.

Simple Scenario

2 Guardians fight 1 Warrior and want to perform a Combo Skill on him.
G1 requests through Right Click on G2 to become Combo Partners
G2 clicks quickly on the Request Pop Up icon to accept it, they are now Combo Partners and can see each others as such in the Game, so that they can coordinate better their positionings to increase their Synergy Meter to let Combo Action Points spawn
The Synergy meter fileld up to full and spawned a Combo Action Point.
G1 and G2 try now through smart positioning to bring the Warrior into the area of the Combo Action Point, without that it looks to obvious (you shouldn’t just obviously run away to it lol)
The Warrior enters the area of the CAP, G1 and G2 use their chance and perform now both Weapon Skills that have Good Synergy to each other.
A G/G-Combo Skill of Good Synergy is now performed against the Warrior instead of the two single Guardian’s Weapon Skills.