Guild Wars 2

Hello! The following content is actually a comment I posted in response to this thread in Reddit which was a backlink to another thread in this forum. I really wanted some insight/criticism/feedback regarding these suggestions especially in regards to the damage staggering concept in Spectral abilities. I hope I don’t look like I’m being conceited for reposting this as a standalone thread but despite getting several upvotes the concept never actually received any feedback or reaction. I’m not claiming to be someone who has awesome skills in balancing, I’m just someone who’s easily inspired and is quite fond of theory crafting.

Welp… On with the show! :P

Here are my weird suggestions… Some of them are actually inspired by some of the comments I read in this thread. I’ve divided the post into several sections since apparently I can’t fit them all into one post.

Now hear me out, the start of this post might sound like a debilitating mechanic but this is a serious suggestion. If you want to make sure that I’m not giving a troll answer just skip to some of the other stuff I wrote to see the more positive notes.

Master of Corruption – lets conditions ON the Necro LAST LONGER, add secondary on-self conditions when using Corruption skills as it currently is doing, and Master of Corruption should swap places with a weaker version of Lingering Curse so that it becomes a GM trait. Here’s the upside: MoC also gives various boons to the Necro whenever he/she gets inflicted with conditions. (we’re MASTERS OF CORRUPTIONS for Grenth’s sake!)

e.g. – Bleeding gives Regeneration, Poison gives Protection, Burning gives Might, Confusion gives Fury, Daze gives Stability (since we can’t protect ourselves without skills) etc. all at the same duration and/or stack as the condition inflicted on the Necro.

And regarding Corruption skills, CDs should be returned to what they previously were. Imagine! We’ll finally become the S&M dominatrix (or sadist masochists) ArenaNet wanted us to be!

Corrupter’s Fervor – would also apply max stacks of Corrupter’s Defense upon entering DS so if we want to “hold on” to our conditions we won’t actually die from it. When leaving DS CF returns to as it is right now.

Imagine, Master of Corruption as a GM trait would be a great combo with Corrupter’s Fervor and Necros would actually LIKE getting more conditions. And since condis last longer we could actually have the time to transfer them back to our enemies. The boons accompanying the conditions we get also offset the fact that condis last longer on us.

For blocking stuff and more defensive capabilities why not make Spectral skills stagger the damage taken by Necros when they’re currently active. Basically, we take the same amount of damage but bursts won’t work on us.

• Staggering means inflicted damage is divided into several instances so instead of bursts, all direct damage (not condition damage) done to Necros during Spectral state would become DoT instead. This increases our survivability but if we take overwhelming or too many sources of damage we die nonetheless, we just don’t die immediately. This mechanic would be unique to us and while it mitigates the instant “necro can’t block or be invul so he dead” circumstances it doesn’t break our class and make it OP.

e.g. # 1 – Mesmer shatter bursts us for 20k+ damage while we’re in Spectral Armor, instead of 20k+ damage in 1 second we get 4 ticks of 5k damage each over the course of 4 seconds. We still die later (since no damage was prevented at all) but we can at least retaliate or possibly heal ourselves before the whole amount is delivered to our poor Necro bodies.

e.g. # 2 – A Theif, a Guardian, and a Mesmer walk into a Necro. They all do 10k damage each for a total of 30k. The Necro was in Spectral Walk so instead of getting 30k damage upfront he takes 7.5k damage every second for 4 seconds. Necro was actually spectral walking for quite a distance already so he hits Spectral Recall and teleports to safety. Three more seconds pass and the Necro is now in a downed state, however, the Thief, the Guardian, and the Mesmer don’t know where the kitten Necro is so Necro happily Rallies himself only to turn around and face an angry Engi. The End.

In regards to the theme for Spectral skills, we’re supposed to have become “ghost like entities” for Grenth’s sake! We shouldn’t even be tangible! Just imagine the staggering damage as our wispyness during “ghost form” being disturbed or something… lelz. In fact, staggering damage as a concept would mean Necros could literally forestall death even for at least a few seconds!

When it comes to mobility, I actually like it that we’re not as dashy teleporty as the other classes. However, we should have the ability to stick to enemies EVEN BEFORE THE REAPER COMES.

Here are some suggestions:

Spectral skills – grant us Stability or at least makes us ignore (not remove, so the CD increase of Chill still works on us for example) movement impairing conditions.

Dark Path – after the initial teleport a shadow trails behind the affected enemy for a few seconds. When walking on this shadow the Necro will have Swiftness (and maybe ignore movement impairing conditions? lol…) and the shadow would effectively mark the affected unit showing their location even without revealing them if for example they are in stealth. (imagine Nocturne’s Q02.mp4 or Spectre’s Q from LoL and Dota 2 respectively)_

On top of that the ability’s name actually now makes sense, since after using it we create a DARK PATH! Ha!

Dark Pact or dagger 3 – becomes a ground targeted ability. The farther it is cast the longer the cast time. The closer it’s cast the shorter the cast time. If it doesn’t hit anything the CD becomes significantly shorter albeit it inflicts bleeding on the Necro using it.

Spectral Grasp – instead of just pulling an enemy, the enemy and the Necro teleport or pull themselves towards each other (See it’s even intimate! Crucial to an S&M theme!) to a midway point, (imagine Chaos’ Knight’s W or Nautilus’ Q from Dota 2 and LoL respectively) and after that Chill the enemy like it does now. It might not seem like a required change but displacing both the enemy’s and our positions could mean lots during a heated skirmish, be it for better or worse depending on positioning and skill.

The mobility (or immobility! ) changes won’t be OP at all (I think… lelz…) and it definitely adds more utility to our class. On top of that it doesn’t ruin the flavor of the theme at all.

And finally, PvE support. IMO the rework to Blood Magic has done an excellent job of giving us a niche support area. Vampiric Presence is awesome! Even though all the little numbers initially look insignificant, all of those actually add up together! And remember, it’s not just the Necro doing those little numbers when they’re in a party. Insert Oprah voice here: Necro gets little numbers, Ele gets little numbers, everyone gets the little numbers! All of which translates into actually big numbers! Also, Transfusion is just awesome in PuGs. I’m far from a dedicated speedrunner but feel like it can actually be used as an “OH KITTEN!” button if several party members gets downed. Aside from that, Necros already have Protection, Blindness, Vulnerability, and maybe some Chill from Wells, just make Well of Power pulse Stability and that would make Well-o-mancers a good party members! Also, why not let Spectral Wall and Corrosive Poison Cloud block projectiles? Both are thematically in-line (walls block stuff and corrosive poison clouds… corrode? lelz…) I mean they’re such a popular requests after all.

Anyway, that’s that. Sorry for all the exclamation points. I’m just passionate about the profession and aside from writing I also love reading all the stuff people suggest. In fact, a lot of the ideas here were inspired by the suggestions of those people. Forgive me if my humor sounds optimistic or childish. I just wanted to deviate from the usual depressing and disappointed tones most Necromancer rants have when it comes to balance.

Welp… Here’s to Necromancers and their woes of balance! I hope we get our happy days soon! Necros need more love!