Guild Wars 2

So while playing ive finally decided to make a post about nearly every skill having exquisitely long cast times and animations besides maybe wells. Most other classes i feel have these really quick/ instantaneous effects that allow 0 response time.

Even with your defensive conditions like blinds.. our OHd2 takes extremely long to even reach the enemy. So there’s no responding to a hammer war lunging at you unless your timing is flawless.

So many other things like focus 2. Whats with these really long cast times and whatnot. Look at the mesmers GS4 its like a normal swing lol. No cast time at all just blam. So not only are all our enemies suppose to see all our moves comming 2 weeks ahead of time, our defensive conditions take too long to do actually defend us.

I keep sensing this really strange paranoia or this like extreme cautiousness to the level of phobia that necos will perform really well. lol. I’m not even saying you cant do well with a necro. I’m saying that there is a huge microscope planted 24/7 over the necros, keeping a HUGE eye on anything that might make them strong in too many ways.

Like most other classes the only trouble they’re having is trying to scrape off the access overall power. Trying to touch up some of the strong points ya know bring em down a lil… but dw they will also buff something same patch on that class XD

but I think we’ve had our fair share of losing something without gaining anything in return. Shame. Sigh

I think i said it before, for most skills on a necro a 3/4 cast time is good, gives enemy time to react while not making you do too fancy hand waves with WoD, WoP, Plague, Lich, Spectral Walk, Armor and Taste of Death that should be instants while SoU (as all rezzes should be) set on a 2 1/4 cast *maybe also cutting WoB to 1/2 as all aoe field heals are, but it doesnt really matter*

The only positive thing I see for long cast time, is that people dodge too fast for it, and the timing is perfect for hitting them right after the dodge. Lifeblast and Focus #5 are perfect for those evade spammers. But it is kind of sad to like those slow cast time.

Ignoring balance, I think the cast times in general give a proper feel to the Necromancer class. How much sense would it make for the slowest class in the game to have a ton of instant cast abilities? There are two professions with a lot of instant cast/effects, Mesmers and Elementalists. Both of which are very combination heavy classes, who rely on fast reactions, bursts, and rotations to do anything.

While we could probably argue a few of our obnoxiously long cast times should be reduced by 1/4 to 1/2 of a second (1/2 I can only think of 1-2 skills for) for balance reasons, the overall “feel” I get from those longer cast times actually makes sense from a gameplay point of view. It just feels right to have a slower pace of combat.

TheDevice.2751:

I keep sensing this really strange paranoia or this like extreme cautiousness to the level of phobia that necos will perform really well. lol. I’m not even saying you cant do well with a necro. I’m saying that there is a huge microscope planted 24/7 over the necros, keeping a HUGE eye on anything that might make them strong in too many ways.

Your sense is accurate. Necros were godly during beta and, quite rightly, we needed to be nerfed in the name of balance. Unfortunately, the pendulum swung too far to the nerf side and we suffered for months as a sub-par profession.

We’ve seen some improvements since then; though too often accompanied by an out-of-left field, “WTF?!?!” nerf at the same time. We’re better off than we were, but we’re still not where we need to be to fulfill the vision of being the attrition/sustain class. I think one of the contributing factors is exactly what you’ve stated above; they’re really afraid of seeing us return to the OP state of beta.

Bhawb.7408:

Ignoring balance, I think the cast times in general give a proper feel to the Necromancer class. How much sense would it make for the slowest class in the game to have a ton of instant cast abilities? There are two professions with a lot of instant cast/effects, Mesmers and Elementalists. Both of which are very combination heavy classes, who rely on fast reactions, bursts, and rotations to do anything.

While we could probably argue a few of our obnoxiously long cast times should be reduced by 1/4 to 1/2 of a second (1/2 I can only think of 1-2 skills for) for balance reasons, the overall “feel” I get from those longer cast times actually makes sense from a gameplay point of view. It just feels right to have a slower pace of combat.

Lore and “feel” are all fine and good until they get in the way of game play. I can agree – thematically – that long cast times may fit the necro in some respects; the slow, inexorable hand of death coming to claim the next victim. However, an equally valid “thematic” argument can be made that death can strike suddenly and without warning; supporting a move towards shorter cast times.

Both perspectives aside and looking at it instead from a game play point-of-view, being a low mobility class is a weakness. Long cast times are a weakness. In a game that favors high DPS and twitch mechanics, a slower pace of combat is a weakness. Then throw in necros’ vulnerability to CC on top of all that, and we suffer a quadruple whammy. There are attempts to compensate with our strengths; but those fall short, at the moment.

I’m not supporting a move towards reducing the cast time of every necro skill. However, there are certainly some that could benefit from it without breaking lore or theme while improving the game play experience.

Kraag Deadsoul.2789:

Both perspectives aside and looking at it instead from a game play point-of-view, being a low mobility class is a weakness. Long cast times are a weakness. In a game that favors high DPS and twitch mechanics, a slower pace of combat is a weakness. Then throw in necros’ vulnerability to CC on top of all that, and we suffer a quadruple whammy. There are attempts to compensate with our strengths; but those fall short, at the moment.

You point out a good thing, how about we get a trait that increases enemy cast times, forcing a pace as slow as necros (something like reverse quickness).

I totally agree that they need to address a few of our cast time issues. I think we’re very close to a decent place, but a few spots are just sad (focus 5 is insanely long), especially considering some of our skills have very obvious pre-animations.

These are just further examples of “gating” our abilities. Many of our abilities are “tamed” down by “gates” such as pre-requisites skills/abilities, traits, RNG procs, interupts, resources (LF), cooldowns, terrain (LoS) and the list goes on. Like I said before, while our abilities look good by themselves on paper, their actual use/hit success negates a lot of those highlights. Add to that the counters, dodges, misses, cleanses and it takes a bit for us to connect meaningfully when compared to the raw ability specs on paper. Thats why our abilites need to be looked at from the actual hit-landing-end (actual effectiveness) rather than from the casting-end (max THEORETICALLY possible).

Bhawb.7408:

Ignoring balance, I think the cast times in general give a proper feel to the Necromancer class. How much sense would it make for the slowest class in the game to have a ton of instant cast abilities? There are two professions with a lot of instant cast/effects, Mesmers and Elementalists. Both of which are very combination heavy classes, who rely on fast reactions, bursts, and rotations to do anything.

While we could probably argue a few of our obnoxiously long cast times should be reduced by 1/4 to 1/2 of a second (1/2 I can only think of 1-2 skills for) for balance reasons, the overall “feel” I get from those longer cast times actually makes sense from a gameplay point of view. It just feels right to have a slower pace of combat.

As much as it pains me to admit it, with how I feel about the profession. I have to bite my tongue and agree with you. The necromancer should be slow and creeping, up on you like the cold grasp of death. Always one step away but feeling like it takes ages to catch you. The flavor and feel is right there.

That said, the necromancer isn’t all slow. Their condition build skills are! They are very slow to cast and execute. While the power build tends to be a bit faster in the way it works.

I also think that their are ways to improve on this area without removing much of this flavor.

Uh-oh. Lily is agreeing with Bhawb. The First Seal of the Apocalypse has been broken! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES !!! :P

Kraag Deadsoul.2789:

Uh-oh. Lily is agreeing with Bhawb. The First Seal of the Apocalypse has been broken! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES !!! :P

Everyone ends up agreeing with me once, I can’t always be wrong (a broken clock is still correct twice a day :P).

Kraag Deadsoul.2789:

Uh-oh. Lily is agreeing with Bhawb. The First Seal of the Apocalypse has been broken! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES !!! :P

Actually, we agree quite a bit. I was just tired that night, so everything was begrudging. :p