Hey there, let me tell you a litte bit:
I really liked the Necromancer in GW1, not just because of touchrangers.
I liked Minion-Bombing, I like heal/support the Necro was capable of while still dealing damage to enemies. I liked the synergies with Energy-Expensive Sec-Classes.
The Soul-Reaping from GW1 really got a good transition to GW2 and the Hexmancers/Conditionmancers work well with the Condition/boon-System.
But that’s where the good things end.
First, Deathshroud.
I get that it’s supposed to be a second state, some kind of dark and mysterious state in which the Necromancers has become closer to an incarnation of death. the concept sounds cool.
But because of how the skills currently work and how bad they are, it doesn’t look like that. It’s like a trouble-bubble for Necros with 1 or 2 nice skills attached, if you traited correctly.
The Boz said alot of important things about it in https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Death-Shroud-I-never-asked-for-this
The (imho) most important points are:
-only 1-2 out of 4 skills is usually usefull to a build
-most skills are lackluster
-does not add a unique touch to the Necro-Gameplay like many other unique gameplay mechanics do
I’m here to Discuss what can be made different, completely different.
Another thing I hate about the new Necro are the minions. Apart from being stupid as hell and almost as usefull as a wet towel inside of Mount Maelstrom, the entire system doesn’t work.
The sequence skill-system is not how it’s supposed to work.
Minions used to be a ressource. You could use the vampiric ones for heal, you could use the twin ones for raising a large army fast or you could use the standard ones for sturdy classical warfare. You could make them explode, use them as stored Healthpool, use them a smeatshields and keep the healed with your own health.
In GW2, they are like one trick ponies: one attack, one special skill.
It’s not anymore what the Necromancer does with them, but which he ha and how he is traited.
The Necromancer should take back his ability to command an army!
That’s why I propose (I know noone of importance will ever hear my pleas, but still, let me dream!):
Remove Deathshroud
And replace it with 4 skills for the F-Buttons that use Lifeforce:
*A sustained “beam” that deals more damage the longer it is sustained (like GS Memser used to have)
*A flash forward that blinds enemies in an area (like Dark path was promised to be)
*A summon for a standard Minion, up to 5 Minions maybe
*A soul-shield to keep the bubble for those who grew fond of it.
The Minion skills would be replaced with skills that change how a minion acts. One would bind down a minion and make it immobilize enemies, one would consume a minion for health, one would make a minion seep it’s Health out to allies untill it dies, one would make it kaimikaze, etc. Maybe you could keep the Golem, cause that is one cool minion to have.
The Skills would be able to be pressed in quick succession for multiple applications before going on cooldown OR have a low cooldown time (~5-10 seconds).
The idea is to make minions a ressource again. You can expend all your minions to immobilize the enemy, but would quickly loose them to AoE, you could kill them for health or kamikaze, You could slowly regenerate yourself and your team, but loose your minions more quickly to an attack and have their effectiveness reduced, or you could just make a healthy, but less effective mix.
Right now, I HATE minions, not just because of their lackluster abilities and stats, but because they seem so boring and moot. Look at a Necromancer and you know what he will do with his minions. There is no concealed strategy. A Minion-master is easy to counter in PvP and the only suprise would be when he uses which minion.