Guild Wars 2

So necromancers… to start off, i love necros they are a really fun class to play however the necro class is still looked down upon in dungeons and most PVE type of projects. I realy hoped that Anet would have provided necros more DPS with the great sword equal to a warriors great sword. the problem that i see is some of the dps is slow for example GS skill 3 its great because of the 12 stacks of vulnerability but it takes too long for it to proc off by the time it procs then mob and/or player ,in pvp, would have moved away. granted the chill skills do help but if the skills were faster then then necro would be a bit better. The auto attack should be faster like the other classes as well as the skills. now the reaper skills are great and it has some speed and i really love the look and how the skills work that is fine but in my opinion i feel like the necro should not have to choose the trait the reaper on. what i mean by this is simply take both the death shroud and reaper shroud and make them use the same life pool but be able to swap like the elementalest can swap attainments. that way the the necro has at least some great skills that they can use in shroud to be faster and deal more damage. i do know necros have a place in PVP. they are vary hard to kill some times because of fears and conditions, so i know there has to be some form of balance. other weapons are good to use like dagger/dagger or axe but i still feel that the class its self is still not the best in straight DPS even at full zerker gear and good traits the class still don’t do that much DPS like the other classes. the shouts are cool but most of them are still weak. Anet really jumped to try to fix the new class , revenent, but still necros are one of the only classes that cant reflect or deal enough damage to matter. i know they are could be a tank because of the bubble life from normal life and shroud but the guardian class is still more tankyer and do more damage and also be helpful for reflecting multiple times. Anet pleas help out the necro so its can be better and can be a good class that many meta type people to accept necros more. Thanks for your time guys and ps. i know my spelling / grammar is bad. -_-

Firstly, mmo players across all games make the mistake of missing the other type of damage: damage per Hit and reaper GS fits this very much so. There is a class similar to this in TERA, dubbed slayer(or berzerker), which hits very slow but very hard. this is the theme of reaper’s greatsword. it does not have high dps, it has high dpH
And i’m having a lot of success with it in WvW frontlining.

Lightsbane.9012:

Firstly, mmo players across all games make the mistake of missing the other type of damage: damage per Hit and reaper GS fits this very much so. There is a class similar to this in TERA, dubbed slayer(or berzerker), which hits very slow but very hard. this is the theme of reaper’s greatsword. it does not have high dps, it has high dpH
And i’m having a lot of success with it in WvW frontlining.

Well, idk if you’re talking about PvP or PvE (either way it shouldn’t matter) but the Reaper GS has both low attack speed and low damage per hit. According to every bit of hard math I’ve seen, the GS is outclassed in dps by dagger MH in every way. Even spamming GD below 50% hp is less dps than simply clicking 1 on dagger MH. Please prove me wrong, I’d welcome it, but all the math and my own personal feeling when playing reaper screams that GS is not up to snuff atm.

Near.7439:

Lightsbane.9012:

Firstly, mmo players across all games make the mistake of missing the other type of damage: damage per Hit and reaper GS fits this very much so. There is a class similar to this in TERA, dubbed slayer(or berzerker), which hits very slow but very hard. this is the theme of reaper’s greatsword. it does not have high dps, it has high dpH
And i’m having a lot of success with it in WvW frontlining.

Well, idk if you’re talking about PvP or PvE (either way it shouldn’t matter) but the Reaper GS has both low attack speed and low damage per hit. According to every bit of hard math I’ve seen, the GS is outclassed in dps by dagger MH in every way. Even spamming GD below 50% hp is less dps than simply clicking 1 on dagger MH. Please prove me wrong, I’d welcome it, but all the math and my own personal feeling when playing reaper screams that GS is not up to snuff atm.

of course it is outclassed by dagger in dps. dagger attacks faster. as it stands now, my gs auto hits pretty much as hard as my dagger auto, in that sense, yes GS auto attack does need to hit harder.
even if it does hit harder by the time release rolls around, dagger would still outclass greatsword in terms of dps.

Love the class.. but the skill activation.. though accompanied by beautiful animations – is painful. I appreciate, now, how enemy monsters must feel with their excruciatingly long tells.

I will definitely play this class in HoT.

Lightsbane.9012:

Near.7439:

Lightsbane.9012:

Firstly, mmo players across all games make the mistake of missing the other type of damage: damage per Hit and reaper GS fits this very much so. There is a class similar to this in TERA, dubbed slayer(or berzerker), which hits very slow but very hard. this is the theme of reaper’s greatsword. it does not have high dps, it has high dpH
And i’m having a lot of success with it in WvW frontlining.

Well, idk if you’re talking about PvP or PvE (either way it shouldn’t matter) but the Reaper GS has both low attack speed and low damage per hit. According to every bit of hard math I’ve seen, the GS is outclassed in dps by dagger MH in every way. Even spamming GD below 50% hp is less dps than simply clicking 1 on dagger MH. Please prove me wrong, I’d welcome it, but all the math and my own personal feeling when playing reaper screams that GS is not up to snuff atm.

of course it is outclassed by dagger in dps. dagger attacks faster. as it stands now, my gs auto hits pretty much as hard as my dagger auto, in that sense, yes GS auto attack does need to hit harder.
even if it does hit harder by the time release rolls around, dagger would still outclass greatsword in terms of dps.

I mean, you have to explain why dagger should do more dps than the greatsword. Maybe in a 1 target situation the dagger could pull ahead a bit but I’m sorry, the dagger does not feel like a dps weapon. I literally click one and sit back and I only do that because its the best we got atm. We dont have a true power dps weapon. The dagger skills are all geared towards siphoning and control, not damage. I want a power dps weapon that can keep me having fun for months coming up with cool rotations and combos. This is where the greatsword needs to shine.

I mean, you have to explain why dagger should do more dps than the greatsword. Maybe in a 1 target situation the dagger could pull ahead a bit but I’m sorry, the dagger does not feel like a dps weapon. I literally click one and sit back and I only do that because its the best we got atm. We dont have a true power dps weapon. The dagger skills are all geared towards siphoning and control, not damage. I want a power dps weapon that can keep me having fun for months coming up with cool rotations and combos. This is where the greatsword needs to shine.[/quote]

I agree with you the Great sword should be the DPS weapon even if they did decide to keep the “slow, heavy damage goal” the point is it is still not a DPS weapon when simple daggers out put more DPS. dagger/ dagger is good but i agree a sword should do more DPS then simple daggers. i can kinda see the heavy hit = slower movement, but if they really wanted to do that then why is it that a warrior can out puts more dps/dph and still moves faster. so there for the necro still is at the bottom of the DPS chain. necro is a really cool/fun class and i just feel like Anet works so strongly on making the normal classes so good but the classes that need the most help they don’t provide much for them. Anet did do great in giving the necro a great sword but did not do so well with how it hits and deals damage there is still time to fix the great sword to make it better and i hope they do. i also like seeing post on this topic because it shows that there are others who would like to see more out of necros and what the great sword could do for them and change the meta to something useful in PVE.

It looks cool, sure, but the way it is now is only gonna get you downed and cause you to loose your match. Will be good for playing GW2 barbie though. What irks me the most is on the third swing i loose my beautiful twilight animation and is replaced by this ugly white icicle. Sure you are causing chill but the animation could go to what you hit and not interupt the animation on the great sword. Just like all necro weapons..its slow. Necro is possibly slow due to balancing issues like if it had minions that actually attacked..might do some damage.

I have to agree, it is REALLY slow and the damage just isnt out there
especially when you consider multi hits are so much more effective coz its more chances for crits=more on crit bonuses, plus against blinds,aegis etc if you do 2 hits for 50% damage each, against say aegis you still get 1 hit in.
also dagger 1 has the life force gain, greatsword has next to none life force gain, which it really should, death shroud is insanely better then greatsword so much faster,so much more damage and so much….. harder to get into, i found it much more useful to use things like axe 2 for that confirmed 12% life force and soul marks so i can shroud more as gs is just so useless.
great sword could also definitely benefit from some more range, i mean people are just like ooh massive wind up to hit, let me just take 1 step backwards where that humongous weapon cant quite reach me, 5 is also such a short range pull that’s so hard to use. i feel like the 3 drill skill should be like 600 range just so i cant be perma kited while using gs.

Near.7439:

Lightsbane.9012:

Near.7439:

Lightsbane.9012:

Firstly, mmo players across all games make the mistake of missing the other type of damage: damage per Hit and reaper GS fits this very much so. There is a class similar to this in TERA, dubbed slayer(or berzerker), which hits very slow but very hard. this is the theme of reaper’s greatsword. it does not have high dps, it has high dpH
And i’m having a lot of success with it in WvW frontlining.

Well, idk if you’re talking about PvP or PvE (either way it shouldn’t matter) but the Reaper GS has both low attack speed and low damage per hit. According to every bit of hard math I’ve seen, the GS is outclassed in dps by dagger MH in every way. Even spamming GD below 50% hp is less dps than simply clicking 1 on dagger MH. Please prove me wrong, I’d welcome it, but all the math and my own personal feeling when playing reaper screams that GS is not up to snuff atm.

of course it is outclassed by dagger in dps. dagger attacks faster. as it stands now, my gs auto hits pretty much as hard as my dagger auto, in that sense, yes GS auto attack does need to hit harder.
even if it does hit harder by the time release rolls around, dagger would still outclass greatsword in terms of dps.

I mean, you have to explain why dagger should do more dps than the greatsword. Maybe in a 1 target situation the dagger could pull ahead a bit but I’m sorry, the dagger does not feel like a dps weapon. I literally click one and sit back and I only do that because its the best we got atm. We dont have a true power dps weapon. The dagger skills are all geared towards siphoning and control, not damage. I want a power dps weapon that can keep me having fun for months coming up with cool rotations and combos. This is where the greatsword needs to shine.

greatswords attack slowly. daggers do not. therefore the dps of daggers is higher. is it really so hard to grasp? do your daggers hit like a caterpillar?
yes the greatsword needs to hit harder, but it is not a dps weapon. it is burst.

Is necro dagger slower than ele or thief? Why is the swing time missing from Necrotic Slash and Necrotic Stab?
So we cant complain i bet.
But guess which class does the least damage over time?

Lightsbane.9012:

is it really so hard to grasp?

Hey bud, no need for the passive aggressive tone. I dont know what aspect of the greatsword auto attack is burst, its just slow. When the AA actually hits a target tyhe numbers are the same or smaller than my dagger which is unacceptable for the time it takes to swing.. DPS literally means “damage per second”. Even slow weapons have a calculable “damage per second”. If the DPS of the greatsword is lower than the dagger in every way then why would you use it in PvE? Dagger already has the best single target, the best 2 target cleave, the best defense (life siphon and root) and the best LF regeneration. What is left for the greatsword? Some niche position where if there’s 4+ mobs it starts to pull ahead a bit? That’s absolutely not good enough for me. Dagger auto attack is sooo boring that I cannot continue playing with such a simple rotation. I really need the greatsword to be a general power dps weapon or dagger to be completely revamped. I dont think its so much to ask to get something similar to what Guardian and Warrior already have, a greatsword with decent single target and great cleave/AoE.

Near.7439:

Lightsbane.9012:

is it really so hard to grasp?

Hey bud, no need for the passive aggressive tone. I dont know what aspect of the greatsword auto attack is burst, its just slow. When the AA actually hits a target tyhe numbers are the same or smaller than my dagger which is unacceptable for the time it takes to swing.. DPS literally means “damage per second”. Even slow weapons have a calculable “damage per second”. If the DPS of the greatsword is lower than the dagger in every way then why would you use it in PvE? Dagger already has the best single target, the best 2 target cleave, the best defense (life siphon and root) and the best LF regeneration. What is left for the greatsword? Some niche position where if there’s 4+ mobs it starts to pull ahead a bit? That’s absolutely not good enough for me. Dagger auto attack is sooo boring that I cannot continue playing with such a simple rotation. I really need the greatsword to be a general power dps weapon or dagger to be completely revamped. I dont think its so much to ask to get something similar to what Guardian and Warrior already have, a greatsword with decent single target and great cleave/AoE.

the concept of the greatsword is burst, not specifically the auto attack chain. I suppose the concept of the auto attack is to inflict chill, which i think i can definitely do without to be honest.

I concur, chill is junk anyway. Chill is for Elementalist. Remove Chill and add Dark Magic or just increase the swing time. You could add a chill sigil if you really wanted to but judging by the price of chill sigil…meh.

The problem I am having with the Greatsword is the speed of skills… It would be much more usable with a decrease of 1/4th second from cast times. The Shouts also feel clunky to me… When you use a shout the character Shouts it, but the effect does not happen until afterwards… Finally, the Shout heal, while it is great in concept, the heal is very very poor… Especially if no targets are hit and you get 0% life force from it. Default the heal to 4.5k health and Life force if targets hit, or keep health as is and give AT LEAST 10% life force with no targets and an additional % for each enemy hit. Suggestions?

All of this and more. I like the fact that GW2 is very solo-able. The classes I’ve tried so far have been enjoyable and they were pretty easy to one-man. However, I recently picked up Necro, and they seem to be my least favorite to play. Yes, necros can be a fairly decent tank, but as Ren said, their overall DPS is weak. The only way I can really seem to get any damage out is through condition damages, but that can only get me so far.

In the beta, I was really excited for the Necro class to get GS, however, the speed to which the actual attacks are thrown out is sad to see. I like the idea of having both shrouds like the elemental swap. It would give the class a little more flexibility without having to trait into it.

So I’m all for another buff for the class cause I really wanna like it, but at the moment, especially with this beta test, I’m a little disappointed with the lack of damage they can dish out, outside of condi.

I’m already starting to dislike specializations because of the Reaper. I don’t like having a weapon locked into a build. Reaper Shroud and GS should be split apart and chosen freely. I’m back to using Dagger’s and Well’s. Though I just made Vulcanus which is going to rot because I don’t like Reaper that much.

I only played PvE with GS and Reaper. I really liked it a lot. I didn’t mind the slowness and the DPS seems okay with all the traits we have. Especially after 50% they go down very fast.

Don’t forget that in comparison with dagger the GS cleaves 3-5 enemies and not only 2 with AA. So take that in account.

I must admit that the attack speed could be faster a bit, also the casting times of certain shouts is too long. Make them shorter!

well it is possible that if many people post what they hate about the greatsword then it is possible that an Anet person might see the post and might do something about it … maybe… so i kinda hope that they do see that there are a lot of players that want to see more out of the great sword then the low DPS/ slowness they do already i really love necros but again they are still not accepted in PVE projects alot of time. and when they said “necros are getting great swords” i was supper happy but seeing that the same low DPS made me sad that necros are still low DPS. the reaper again i think it should use the same life bar just be able to swap from normal death shroud to reaper it would definitely give more flexibility. ty all for posting comments and helping this post be known. i really hope Anet does something to help nercros.

yeah its dodgey greatsword and reaper shroud accomplish the same tasks except reaper does it better.
I think they need to make the greatsword a burst/control weapon, give it a DECENT aoe pull on a low cooldown, and more burst damage and life force gen like a melee version of axe 2.
that way reaper can pull all the targets to them, put down a quick burst for lf and damage then jump in shroud and hit them.

Lightsbane.9012:

-snip-

the concept of the greatsword is burst, not specifically the auto attack chain. I suppose the concept of the auto attack is to inflict chill, which i think i can definitely do without to be honest.

The concept of an auto attack is sustained damage, be it low or high and sometimes additional effects. A greatsword traditionaly has s slow attack time, but hard hits. This goes true for Reaper as well, as it follows the move monstar archetype, which is stated during the Reaper PoI. Slow and hard hits have a tendency to be top tier DPS in games because you need payoff for the slow hits. The rest of the greatsword does not scream burst. As a matter of fact it screams very high sustained damage and close quarters only. Vulnerability application, resetting PBAoE nuke (which deals lower damage than the auto attack chain as of now), a pull, and PBAoE that blinds and cripples. There is nothing that says burst in there.

That’s the problem though. If the greatsword is supposed to be a burst weapon, it has no burst.

The dagger auto chain has more DPS than the greatswords #1 spam. The dagger auto chain has more DPS than gravedigger spam. None of the other greatsword attacks do more damage than the greatsword auto attack.

This is a problem and while it’s beta and things like this can be worked out, they’re so far off from effective it’s leading many to question what the purpose of the greatsword truly is.

If it’s not a DPS weapon than it’s a utility weapon (something the class doesn’t need since staff is its utility weapon). It’s not a melee utility weapon because it lacks mobility and holding skills. It doesn’t even generate enough life force to use shroud effectively.

Right now the weapon is entirely irrelevant when compared to reaper shroud and dagger spam.

Atherakhia.4086:

That’s the problem though. If the greatsword is supposed to be a burst weapon, it has no burst.

The dagger auto chain has more DPS than the greatswords #1 spam. The dagger auto chain has more DPS than gravedigger spam. None of the other greatsword attacks do more damage than the greatsword auto attack.

This is a problem and while it’s beta and things like this can be worked out, they’re so far off from effective it’s leading many to question what the purpose of the greatsword truly is.

If it’s not a DPS weapon than it’s a utility weapon (something the class doesn’t need since staff is its utility weapon). It’s not a melee utility weapon because it lacks mobility and holding skills. It doesn’t even generate enough life force to use shroud effectively.

Right now the weapon is entirely irrelevant when compared to reaper shroud and dagger spam.

yeah i totally agree the staff is the utility weapon and even if they did decide to do burst skills its still a pointless sword as it is now, that could have been something great but it is really bad. the only think i found use for it is useing dagger/dagger then swap to greatsword use skill 4 (because it is faster then all the other skills) then go strait in to reaper and use it the rest of the life force and hope i kill the mobs before i have to get out of it. maybe use gravedigger then go back to dagger/ dagger and yeah if Anet was worried about the sword in PVP then the slowness is a good start but the DPS really needs to be bumped up higher to make it balanced in PVE.

i thought gs necro was sick. you could face tank like 6 veteran spiders w/ 25 stacks of might w/o even trying. i don’t know what the problem is here

Jaxom.7310:

i thought gs necro was sick. you could face tank like 6 veteran spiders w/ 25 stacks of might w/o even trying. i don’t know what the problem is here

It has lower dps than dagger autoattack and its an impractical weapon for PvP.

watch this video and you will see great sword is kinda disappointing its not good DPS and the guy who did this video mains necro and even he said its too short and that dagger/dagger or dagger/warhorn is so much better the sword is really bad as it is now

Arche.7326:

Lightsbane.9012:

-snip-

the concept of the greatsword is burst, not specifically the auto attack chain. I suppose the concept of the auto attack is to inflict chill, which i think i can definitely do without to be honest.

The concept of an auto attack is sustained damage, be it low or high and sometimes additional effects. A greatsword traditionaly has s slow attack time, but hard hits. This goes true for Reaper as well, as it follows the move monstar archetype, which is stated during the Reaper PoI. Slow and hard hits have a tendency to be top tier DPS in games because you need payoff for the slow hits. The rest of the greatsword does not scream burst. As a matter of fact it screams very high sustained damage and close quarters only. Vulnerability application, resetting PBAoE nuke (which deals lower damage than the auto attack chain as of now), a pull, and PBAoE that blinds and cripples. There is nothing that says burst in there.

necro. sustain.
i love jokes.

I don’t think it’s realistic to expect every weapon to match the performance of every other weapon in every game mode. The greatsword felt good to me in PvE and especially in WvW zerging. It has some tools to keep enemies in range. #1 third strike chills, #4 cripples and #5 pulls which of course you all know.

My only complaint is that the greatsword doesn’t generate much life force. I felt forced to use axe or staff to generate life force so that I could even use Reaper’s Shroud.

The autoattack doesn’t feel like it has much wallop to it, is my biggest gripe. The cooldowns for skills 4 and especially 5 felt like they’d been build with someone using the gravedigger-reduces-recharge-for-all-skills trait; stupidly long without it. For a gap closer I think skill 5 should have something more like the Ranger III’s greatsword or Warrior’s V’s cooldown. It was fun as heck though.

edit: now Quells mentions it, the lack of life force is a real drag. I suppose it makes sense in a way but it makes you want to take daggers instead for melee lifeforce.

Lightsbane.9012:

greatswords attack slowly. daggers do not. therefore the dps of daggers is higher. is it really so hard to grasp?

A statement like that makes me think you don’t really understand the concept of “damage per second”. Or even the concept of “per”. And you manage to come off like a kitten at the same time. Nice work.

To be clear, when considering DPS, the damage is just as important as the speed. If —and these are completely hypothetical numbers to address your point and not connected to any actual in-game numbers, so don’t misconstrue what I’m saying -- if daggers do 10 damage each attack and do that 5 times per second, and the greatsword does 125 damage each attack and does that every 2 seconds, there’s a scenario where the greatsword attacks more slowly and yet has a higher DPS.

tuck.2719:

Lightsbane.9012:

greatswords attack slowly. daggers do not. therefore the dps of daggers is higher. is it really so hard to grasp?

A statement like that makes me think you don’t really understand the concept of “damage per second”. Or even the concept of “per”. And you manage to come off like a kitten at the same time. Nice work.

To be clear, when considering DPS, the damage is just as important as the speed. If —and these are completely hypothetical numbers to address your point and not connected to any actual in-game numbers, so don’t misconstrue what I’m saying -- if daggers do 10 damage each attack and do that 5 times per second, and the greatsword does 125 damage each attack and does that every 2 seconds, there’s a scenario where the greatsword attacks more slowly and yet has a higher DPS.

alright, sure. so the greatsword attacks every two seconds, dealing 125. two attacks per four seconds, dealing 250 damage. whereas a dagger, dealing 50 damage per second, equaling 250 damage in 5 seconds. the ~2 seconds where the greatsword is still winding up(zero damage), the dagger has already done another 100.
therefore, dagger is sustain, gs is burst.

my point is really only that greatsword isn’t designed as a sustained dps weapon the way dagger is. but i do agree the auto attack needs more oomph, or a speed increase.

tuck.2719:

Lightsbane.9012:

greatswords attack slowly. daggers do not. therefore the dps of daggers is higher. is it really so hard to grasp?

A statement like that makes me think you don’t really understand the concept of “damage per second”. Or even the concept of “per”. And you manage to come off like a kitten at the same time. Nice work.

To be clear, when considering DPS, the damage is just as important as the speed. If —and these are completely hypothetical numbers to address your point and not connected to any actual in-game numbers, so don’t misconstrue what I’m saying -- if daggers do 10 damage each attack and do that 5 times per second, and the greatsword does 125 damage each attack and does that every 2 seconds, there’s a scenario where the greatsword attacks more slowly and yet has a higher DPS.

The numbers have already been calculated on the necro forums (by spoj I think) and the dps yes damage per second is lower than dagger auto even when grave digger would completely come off cooldown after hitting someone below 50%.

I’m trying to find the question in that wall of text…

The Necro has always felt lower on the dps meter to me as well, that’s actually why I stopped playing for a long time. I got really excited for the elite specs, but I have to agree with Ren, our speed shouldn’t only come from Reaper.

The greatsword should become the heavy hitting weapon of the class, but as a caster class we shouldn’t lose speed or mobility to achieve it. The Mesmer greatsword is heavy hitting but also still fast.

Gravedigger’s overall cast time is 2 seconds. It has a 2.0 coefficient. This means it has a 1.0 damage a second. Or the equivalent of 100% of your power every second.

Dagger auto attack rotation has a total coefficient of 2.8 with a total duration of 2.1 seconds. This means it has a 1.3 damage a second. Or the equivalent of 130% of your power every second.

So you can plainly see there is no burst. A player would be better off auto attacking with dagger than spamming gravedigger. Especially when you consider dagger’s also giving you tons of life force and GS is giving you next to none.

Zetsumei.4975:

The numbers have already been calculated on the necro forums (by spoj I think) and the dps yes damage per second is lower than dagger auto even when grave digger would completely come off cooldown after hitting someone below 50%.

Of course, which is why I said:

tuck.2719:

these are completely hypothetical numbers to address your point and not connected to any actual in-game numbers, so don’t misconstrue what I’m saying

The point is, the claim “X is slower, therefore it has lower DPS” is ridiculous. You need a bit more to back that up. And folks are certainly providing that; I’m not arguing that point.

Lightsbane, I think you are mixing two concepts that work on different levels.
DPS (Damage per Second) is not separated from damage per hit. It includes it. DPS is not a fixed value, it is an average aplied over a certain group of attacks, wich describes how much damage those do “per second”, in average.

Example:

7 Fast attacks along 6 seconds doing 12 damage = (12/6=2) = 2DPS.
1 Slow attack along 8 seconds doing 16 damage = (16/8=2) = 2DPS.

These 2 have the same DPS. It doesn’t matter for this measure (“DPS”) if that damage comes from 1 attack or from 12, or if the attack is completed under a second or not.

From a less abstract point of view, however, faster attacks are more reliable than slow attacks, simply because they have more chances to hit. If you miss two or three of a bunch of fast attacks it doesn’t matter so much because you still can hit with the next two or three, but if you miss the one and only big damaging blow you have, you are kittened.

I like the Reaper + Greatsword a lot (In fact is the first time I’m interested in playing a Necro), but the slow-but-damaging combination IS less reliable than a faster one. GS should be doing WAY MORE damage to be truly viable.

TLDR:
1- Add the damage for a full rotation with dagger, then divide it by the seconds it take to complete.
2- Add the damage for a full rotation with GS, then divide it by the seconds it take to complete.
3- Compare.

I really wanted to like the greatsword but as has been said here it was simply not as good as dagger/warhorn in terms of anything! Still we have to bear in mind that this is a beta so hopefully ANet will jiggle about with the greatsword skills a bit to make it a comparable weapon in terms of control, damage and lifeforce generation as dagger/warhorn.

I feel that the great sword AA would work better if it had some sort of back up plan like the guardian hammer AA does. Despite having the same weakness, guardian AA has symbol of protection to back up its easy to miss strike.

Perhaps instead of the burst of chill, the 3rd skill in the great sword’s AA chain could leave behind a small field (no bigger than symbol of protection) that does short but constant chill applications (think about how burning is applied when you step into lava).

This means that if your opponent insists on going toe to toe, they will be perma chilled no matter how many condi removals they have. As soon as they step out of that field, the chill will not last much longer.

This further reinforces the idea that the reaper with a great sword is meant to be kited while still strengthening the great sword’s utility

binidj.5734:

I really wanted to like the greatsword but as has been said here it was simply not as good as dagger/warhorn in terms of anything! Still we have to bear in mind that this is a beta so hopefully ANet will jiggle about with the greatsword skills a bit to make it a comparable weapon in terms of control, damage and lifeforce generation as dagger/warhorn.

yeah agreed really i would be ok with it being slow but it needs to hurt bad when it hits to make up for it. sence its a burst weapon as many has said, but the thing is i say it needs to hurt more then a full meta ele ( asuming that the necros is full meta zerkers) then i could see why it would be slow but as it is, if they decide to make it better then they need to ether make it hurt or faster or even have a high life drain so we can get in to reaper faster. but i think they will see that dagger dagger deals more DPS and i hope they fix it. ANET FIX NECROS GREATSWORDS PLEASE !!!!!

i liked the gs reaper. reposting this from the necro forums. w/ the shouts i started to stack might real well

i only played reaper for about an hour, and i could face tank 6 vet spiders. i dont’ think my guard or revenant could have done this without a lot of work, dodging, running away, returning etc. i think i only dodged like once, and i screwed up the skills alot cause i dont’ know much about necro, basically button mashing