Guild Wars 2

Finally the devs did something good with this nerf. I love it. What is particularly awesome is that by nerfing this single trait you managed to delete basically every necro spec besides a glass condi spec from existence. This is AMAZING…omg its amazing I can hardly contain my excitement to try these other specs and see how fast I die on them with no death shroud ever…it will be like a really fun mini game to see how many headshots till we all die.

I love the fact that by changing this trait you managed to nerf all the other death shroud traits such as unholy santuary and unholy martyr, and shrouded removal. These traits already sucked, so making then all 50% worse is really smart because it stops people from even thinking about taking them. Sure you might say it deletes all build diversity but build diversity sucks anyway, the game would be much more fun if everyone was a mesmer or a thief.

I also love the fact that none of these traits that are now worthless will be balanced for at least 3 years. We had the tri-yearly balance update so it is really important to now get to grips with the 1 spec that necros can play for the next 3 years. I am absolutely loving it. It is so much fun.

I am really impressed how deeply anet considered this change, my faith is restored. I love nerfing the key trait on the entire necro class, I think it is a really good idea.

Awesome work, keep it up! This expansion is going to be so good.

Ikr, I got all exited this season cause I thought I was doing great in ranked

Just cant wait till next season so I can examine the pure effort Anet put into the team spawn area

Read it now! Focus necro

Devs managed to nerf both in PvE and PvP a class that had issues in both…

Zoltreez.6435:

Devs managed to nerf both in PvE and PvP a class that had issues in both…

They only nerfed the following traits by up to 50% indirectly:

Repears might
Rending shroud
Signets of suffering
Armored shroud
Shrouded removal
Deadly Strength
Unholy Sanctuary
Unholy Martyr
Unyielding blast
Death perception
Dhuumfire
Relentless Pursuit
Blighters boon

All these traits are now worse. Most went from semi-bad to completely useless. Unholy martyr, unholy santuary, shrouded removal, etc.. these were only semi useful with vital persistence so now they are utterly worthless probably in all game modes.

So we got 14 traits nerfed, many into complete worthlessness.

It is actually pretty funny

They are going to regret getting rid of shroud without getting rid of it totally for ALL builds. As you noted, there are just too many traits dependent on shroud and years of playstyle. It’s going to be impossible to balance both scourge and shroud.

You can see where scourge forced them to redo this trait so that it would be applicable to the new specialization, but you can also see how short-sighted and primitively they think with this nerf.

They clearly didn’t even realize how much it affects other traits as well as damage too. The LAST two things anyone would think to nerf on a Necro is their focus survivability and PvE damage. They did both. It’s not a 50% nerf, but anything over 1-5% is ridiculous and it’s definitely far worse than that.

It’s not that surprising though. Last patch they released Epidemic with a bug that anyone who played 10 minutes of testing would have noted. Thus, you can tell this is 100% theorycrafting from some spreadsheet of warped values of abilities and 0% common sense and actual testing.

the nerf is so big that you can quote me necro will not be playable in pvp tops gold with luck
they should have make it base making it 33%-40% instead of the 50 it was and like the other person say they nerf a bunch of other traits by doing this
good thing they make a trait to make signets work on shroud something that should have been in the game for years without a trait… primitively thinking …..

Brokensunday.4098:

the nerf is so big that you can quote me necro will not be playable in pvp tops gold with luck
they should have make it base making it 33%-40% instead of the 50 it was and like the other person say they nerf a bunch of other traits by doing this
good thing they make a trait to make signets work on shroud something that should have been in the game for years without a trait… primitively thinking …..

I have played since about a year after release and yeh this is the biggest nerf I have ever seen any class encounter, I dont think it is close. It is a comprehensive nerf to the entire class and the only build unaffected is a glass condi spec which you can still do well with. It is impossible to spec anything else now

Lordrosicky.5813:

I have played since about a year after release and yeh this is the biggest nerf I have ever seen any class encounter, I dont think it is close. It is a comprehensive nerf to the entire class and the only build unaffected is a glass condi spec which you can still do well with. It is impossible to spec anything else now

I’ve played since day one. It’s not the nerf itself that’s the problem. They nerfed dhuumfire into extinction, but eventually came up with other things to compensate.

The REAL problem is that this many years after release they STILL don’t understand the importance of this trait…WHY it was in virtually every build…. and basically FORCED everyone to have Soul Reaping. When you read their exact words and logic, THAT’S what’s scary.

The reliance on VP was horrible design and should have been changed. You can’t have one trait that REQUIRED and impacted so many builds/traits/etc. However, what they did in this supposed “comprehensive” revision to fix the issue is beyond mindboggling.

You know what’s even scarier though is the design of Scourge. If any class can’t 100-0 a Scourge, it will be embarrassing based on what they’ve showed us thus far. There is no gap closer, no stability, and no chill…You are a cloth wearing support class that has to get in melee range of your enemy or super close to a shade for any benefit of the specialization. There are no scaling defenses (i.e immunity, block, etc) and anybody can just cc chain or kill you from range 100-0.

It’s basically a cloth wearing, banner, healing signet warrior with far less movement skills, blocks or immunities. And probably less healing and group utility too considering how small the radius of a shade is.

SPESHAL.9106:

Lordrosicky.5813:

I have played since about a year after release and yeh this is the biggest nerf I have ever seen any class encounter, I dont think it is close. It is a comprehensive nerf to the entire class and the only build unaffected is a glass condi spec which you can still do well with. It is impossible to spec anything else now

I’ve played since day one. It’s not the nerf itself that’s the problem. They nerfed dhuumfire into extinction, but eventually came up with other things to compensate.

The REAL problem is that this many years after release they STILL don’t understand the importance of this trait…WHY it was in virtually every build…. and basically FORCED everyone to have Soul Reaping. When you read their exact words and logic, THAT’S what’s scary.

The reliance on VP was horrible design and should have been changed. You can’t have one trait that REQUIRED and impacted so many builds/traits/etc. However, what they did in this supposed “comprehensive” revision to fix the issue is beyond mindboggling.

You know what’s even scarier though is the design of Scourge. If any class can’t 100-0 a Scourge, it will be embarrassing based on what they’ve showed us thus far. There is no gap closer, no stability, and no chill…You are a cloth wearing support class that has to get in melee range of your enemy or super close to a shade for any benefit of the specialization. There are no scaling defenses (i.e immunity, block, etc) and anybody can just cc chain or kill you from range 100-0.

It’s basically a cloth wearing, banner, healing signet warrior with far less movement skills, blocks or immunities. And probably less healing and group utility too considering how small the radius of a shade is.

Yeh scourge is conceptually just awful. It will be farmed so easily by thieves. Going to be funny to watch how fast scourges die

Lordrosicky.5813:

SPESHAL.9106:

Lordrosicky.5813:

I have played since about a year after release and yeh this is the biggest nerf I have ever seen any class encounter, I dont think it is close. It is a comprehensive nerf to the entire class and the only build unaffected is a glass condi spec which you can still do well with. It is impossible to spec anything else now

I’ve played since day one. It’s not the nerf itself that’s the problem. They nerfed dhuumfire into extinction, but eventually came up with other things to compensate.

The REAL problem is that this many years after release they STILL don’t understand the importance of this trait…WHY it was in virtually every build…. and basically FORCED everyone to have Soul Reaping. When you read their exact words and logic, THAT’S what’s scary.

The reliance on VP was horrible design and should have been changed. You can’t have one trait that REQUIRED and impacted so many builds/traits/etc. However, what they did in this supposed “comprehensive” revision to fix the issue is beyond mindboggling.

You know what’s even scarier though is the design of Scourge. If any class can’t 100-0 a Scourge, it will be embarrassing based on what they’ve showed us thus far. There is no gap closer, no stability, and no chill…You are a cloth wearing support class that has to get in melee range of your enemy or super close to a shade for any benefit of the specialization. There are no scaling defenses (i.e immunity, block, etc) and anybody can just cc chain or kill you from range 100-0.

It’s basically a cloth wearing, banner, healing signet warrior with far less movement skills, blocks or immunities. And probably less healing and group utility too considering how small the radius of a shade is.

Yeh scourge is conceptually just awful. It will be farmed so easily by thieves. Going to be funny to watch how fast scourges die

this really makes me sad and show to us that they have cool ideas but at the time to make them to work they fail to comprehend their own game design and simply toss it really I feel like the necromancer is the experimental class, might re roll to any other class… makes me sad because I started playing on beta as a necro and now is just unplayable

Vital persistence was a core trait for a necromancer in pvp. It is such a bad game design to remove it completely. Just to promote a new elite spec that does not depend on death shroud anymore?

Brokensunday.4098:

Lordrosicky.5813:

SPESHAL.9106:

Lordrosicky.5813:

I have played since about a year after release and yeh this is the biggest nerf I have ever seen any class encounter, I dont think it is close. It is a comprehensive nerf to the entire class and the only build unaffected is a glass condi spec which you can still do well with. It is impossible to spec anything else now

I’ve played since day one. It’s not the nerf itself that’s the problem. They nerfed dhuumfire into extinction, but eventually came up with other things to compensate.

The REAL problem is that this many years after release they STILL don’t understand the importance of this trait…WHY it was in virtually every build…. and basically FORCED everyone to have Soul Reaping. When you read their exact words and logic, THAT’S what’s scary.

The reliance on VP was horrible design and should have been changed. You can’t have one trait that REQUIRED and impacted so many builds/traits/etc. However, what they did in this supposed “comprehensive” revision to fix the issue is beyond mindboggling.

You know what’s even scarier though is the design of Scourge. If any class can’t 100-0 a Scourge, it will be embarrassing based on what they’ve showed us thus far. There is no gap closer, no stability, and no chill…You are a cloth wearing support class that has to get in melee range of your enemy or super close to a shade for any benefit of the specialization. There are no scaling defenses (i.e immunity, block, etc) and anybody can just cc chain or kill you from range 100-0.

It’s basically a cloth wearing, banner, healing signet warrior with far less movement skills, blocks or immunities. And probably less healing and group utility too considering how small the radius of a shade is.

Yeh scourge is conceptually just awful. It will be farmed so easily by thieves. Going to be funny to watch how fast scourges die

this really makes me sad and show to us that they have cool ideas but at the time to make them to work they fail to comprehend their own game design and simply toss it really I feel like the necromancer is the experimental class, might re roll to any other class… makes me sad because I started playing on beta as a necro and now is just unplayable

Its going to be pretty funny trying to watch necros heal at all during a pvp game when all their heals have a 1.25 second cast. Without death shroud they wont be able to tank out in death shroud in between heal interupts either. Going to be funny to watch scourges play entire pvp games and not get a single heal off

Thanks Anet
this class deserves to be the master of death…and dying

ggwp, i feel so motivated into handing out that $30 now.

The speed of shadows trait also nerfed the following traits by extension by making them less able to be proc-ed as often (as no ds cd reduction anymore):

Spiteful spirit
Weakening shroud
Shrouded removal
Life from death
Foot in the grave

So all these traits are now much worse as they cannot be combined with speed of shadows.

So 20 necro traits got nerfed this patch as they nerfed the two main enabling traits on the necromancer which make all these other traits viable. Almost none of these other traits are viable without VP or speed of shadows.

20 necro traits nerfed in a single patch, most now totally unviable

gg

Havent played with the new patch yet, but yeah this nerf is kinda ridiculous. Step 1: ‘’making Soul Reaping less necessary’’ is good, but Step 2: ‘’compensate that’’ is completely missed. Make the Shroud bar deplete less quick by standard, without the need of a trait.

Mmmm too much qqing going on. Power necro for about a year n a half now. I’ve never had a issue with power necro and getting to gold t3 or plat each season without really trying since i hate conquest and how it’s boring. If i tried and did the required games, I would have gotten top 250 ez. Last 5 patches now have either boosted a bit or done nothing to my build.

Always remember like in gw1 unique builds win the game if you know how to use them right. No one expects builds that aren’t “meta” so they are caught off guard a bit. Yes Copy Paste “meta” builds seem fun till people know the easy counters or anet buffs them down for being over used. Then your stuck in the wind. I’ve head nothing but necros hating the patch but i laugh because it improved my build a tad and gave me more power build options to try. It just screwed the condi necros a bit lol. Just wish they buffed me a bit more

Power Reap 4 life.

We can make a new meta mini-game for necro/scourge. Sort of like bull riding, if you can survive 8 seconds of focus you win.

Ziggityzog.7389:

Mmmm too much qqing going on. Power necro for about a year n a half now. I’ve never had a issue with power necro and getting to gold t3 or plat each season without really trying since i hate conquest and how it’s boring. If i tried and did the required games, I would have gotten top 250 ez. Last 5 patches now have either boosted a bit or done nothing to my build.

Always remember like in gw1 unique builds win the game if you know how to use them right. No one expects builds that aren’t “meta” so they are caught off guard a bit. Yes Copy Paste “meta” builds seem fun till people know the easy counters or anet buffs them down for being over used. Then your stuck in the wind. I’ve head nothing but necros hating the patch but i laugh because it improved my build a tad and gave me more power build options to try. It just screwed the condi necros a bit lol. Just wish they buffed me a bit more

Power Reap 4 life.

Nice to see a player positive about the changes. I’m a completely non meta power reaper build and this has gutted my survivability. Let us know how your newly buffed build treats you.

“Necros don’t get the survivability skills and traits that other classes have access to because of Shroud”

“Hey let’s gut shroud so it melts in .5 seconds but you still won’t get any of the good stuff other classes can spam almost freely…unless you buy our Expansion!”

“T-thanks…”

Ziggityzog.7389:

Mmmm too much qqing going on. Power necro for about a year n a half now. I’ve never had a issue with power necro and getting to gold t3 or plat each season without really trying since i hate conquest and how it’s boring. If i tried and did the required games, I would have gotten top 250 ez. Last 5 patches now have either boosted a bit or done nothing to my build.

Always remember like in gw1 unique builds win the game if you know how to use them right. No one expects builds that aren’t “meta” so they are caught off guard a bit. Yes Copy Paste “meta” builds seem fun till people know the easy counters or anet buffs them down for being over used. Then your stuck in the wind. I’ve head nothing but necros hating the patch but i laugh because it improved my build a tad and gave me more power build options to try. It just screwed the condi necros a bit lol. Just wish they buffed me a bit more

Power Reap 4 life.

“unique builds” lol dude this game has zero theory crafting scope. The game is so streamlined that even a 5 year old knows what the best spec is 2 seconds after they see the patch notes. There is no “non meta spec”. In fact there is no meta. A meta suggests play and counter play which does not exist in gw2. Gw2 is about spamming and using a ton of powerful stuff. It is irrelevant what your opponents bring to the table.

Not to mention that signets were gutted as well, i guess they realized that core necro van corrupt boons as well…btw vp nerfed the new signet trait as well

Not to mention that signets were gutted as well, i guess they realized that core necro van corrupt boons as well…btw vp nerfed the new signet trait as well

I actually like this nerf. Tho i dont understand the spectral trait change. I think you are little too dramatic about this change. Ofc some unique builds were/could be running almost “permanent” ds form main focus build, but that doesnt promote healthy gameplay for necro in general. It also promotes smart and active use of ds/rs, unlike before. And little survivability nerf (while buffing spectral armor passive trait) wont make, the build that was viable before, suddenly completely unviable now.

Emapudapus.1307:

I actually like this nerf. Tho i dont understand the spectral trait change. I think you are little too dramatic about this change. Ofc some unique builds were/could be running almost “permanent” ds form main focus build, but that doesnt promote healthy gameplay for necro in general. It also promotes smart and active use of ds/rs, unlike before. And little survivability nerf (while buffing spectral armor passive trait) wont make, the build that was viable before, suddenly completely unviable now.

Just wondering what other professions you play.

A thief is constantly in stealth, dodging, evading…a mesmer is constantly blocking, immune, stealthed…a guardian is constantly blocking…a ranger doesn’t even have to be in range to do major damage via their pet…etc.

THOSE defenses scale 100% against a one or ten opponents. Thus, a necro with no vigor, no evades, no blocks, no immunities, no stealth, long cast times, cloth wearing, little mobility/escapes, and has to fight primarily in melee range NEEDED to be in Shroud most of the time to be able to do damage while taking damage like other professions.

Even more importantly…they also need a gap closer and stability…to prevent from being 100-0 from range or a cc-chain.

I’m guessing you’ve never played against organized teams or any high level pvp. If so, you’d realize just how much this change impacts countless other traits, builds, and overall viability of a necro. Almost 100% of pvpers didn’t take this trait for no reason. It was REQUIRED!

Nevertheless, see for yourself and play Scourge too in beta. I’m happy to be proven wrong.

Emapudapus.1307:

I actually like this nerf. Tho i dont understand the spectral trait change. I think you are little too dramatic about this change. Ofc some unique builds were/could be running almost “permanent” ds form main focus build, but that doesnt promote healthy gameplay for necro in general. It also promotes smart and active use of ds/rs, unlike before. And little survivability nerf (while buffing spectral armor passive trait) wont make, the build that was viable before, suddenly completely unviable now.

Ds is not for permantent use you have to time it defensively and ofensively if you use it random or camp it is a l2p issue and shows you dont pvp vp was requiere to ve viable on pvp and even with that people focus a necro first why was that? Because a necros shroud is always weaker to any other defence mechanic

“We found that more players than intended kept playing the Reaper specialisation”

Deflating Shroud – Life force will now deplete while out of combat. Reaper only.

Chaotic Shroud – Every 3sec while in shroud, you will get randomly feared, launched, knocked down and dazed for 2sec. Reaper only.

Anemic Reaper – Lose health every second while in combat. 1% per second if you have life force, 2% per second without life force.

Pixelninja.6971:

“We found that more players than intended kept playing the Reaper specialisation”

Deflating Shroud – Life force will now deplete while out of combat. Reaper only.

Chaotic Shroud – Every 3sec while in shroud, you will get randomly feared, launched, knocked down and dazed for 2sec. Reaper only.

Anemic Reaper – Lose health every second while in combat. 1% per second if you have life force, 2% per second without life force.

you forgot ban reaper you will get 1 day ban every time you use reaper or ds

dceptaconroy.7928:

Ziggityzog.7389:

Mmmm too much qqing going on. Power necro for about a year n a half now. I’ve never had a issue with power necro and getting to gold t3 or plat each season without really trying since i hate conquest and how it’s boring. If i tried and did the required games, I would have gotten top 250 ez. Last 5 patches now have either boosted a bit or done nothing to my build.

Always remember like in gw1 unique builds win the game if you know how to use them right. No one expects builds that aren’t “meta” so they are caught off guard a bit. Yes Copy Paste “meta” builds seem fun till people know the easy counters or anet buffs them down for being over used. Then your stuck in the wind. I’ve head nothing but necros hating the patch but i laugh because it improved my build a tad and gave me more power build options to try. It just screwed the condi necros a bit lol. Just wish they buffed me a bit more

Power Reap 4 life.

Nice to see a player positive about the changes. I’m a completely non meta power reaper build and this has gutted my survivability. Let us know how your newly buffed build treats you.

This is the standard gw2 pug player : “What can i use to spike and use high damage for quick kills”

The one that wins : “What build works for me? I like this weapon here so let me build around it.”

For me survivability > Spike burst

Once you make a build for your play style then nothing else matters. I’ve taken down every single class with my power build. Conditions are the hard part but with the life gain in my build and knowing all the other professions i kind of just laugh conditions off now then spike the person.

I love when a teefy or guard for instance tries to burst me but ends up being burst down and spiked to the floor lol. Little blocks don’t work against “Nothing can save you!”

Ill give you a hint to finishing the season off with just almost plat 2 and a 70% win loss ratio.

Spite Blood Reaper.

To answer your question my build is doing great and i haven’t changed a thing after the patch because it didn’t go up or down from the nerfs. Having a uniqe build takes me back to the good old days of Guild Wars 1 and the massive options for builds they had.

dont worry about it guys, they thought the second hp bar that allowed us 5-10 more seconds of fighting was too OP so now its good to tank 1 burst skill, after all we have access to 20 stacks of stability and 10 second AoE stuns, we were too broken, so they took away our only defense.

They make it base 25% its better now ^.^