Guild Wars 2

I decided to brainstorm about trait changes for Necromancer. This is quite extensive. Some are small tweaks that could be implemented quickly, some are radical changes, some may not be considered necessary at all, and many don’t take balance into consideration, but my point wasn’t to just “correct” everything I thought was wrong – it was also to envision new or alternate mechanisms to play with, to the make the game more fun or interesting as a result. Things can always be infinitely balanced after anyways. I put brackets at the end of some suggestions to explain my thought process.

Since I have listed multiple ideas per trait, some could be split off and made into their own.
Spite
Parasitic Bond
In PvE, it can work with events that have a lot of enemies that drop like flies. However, in PvP, with deaths being harder to come by, it falls short. Ideas:

1. Gain health whenever enemies near you are downed or die. [Minor change, probably quickest to implement, while helping reward downing enemies in PvP]
2. Gain health whenever enemies affected by your skills near you are downed or die. [Necros have a lot of AoE skills, and this could help trigger PB faster].
3. Gain health for every 20 seconds you have targeted an enemy (or used skills on them) [References original GW1 Parastic Bond skill + attrition].
4. Gain health for every X hits per enemy.
5. When you are downed, unleash a huge poison cloud.
6. While you are downed, create a life stealing well at your location. [If Necromancers are supposed to be about attrition and surviving long fights, then you shouldn’t be getting downed easily – and if you do, you should be rewarded(?)/protected(?) a traits backing you up – the combination of downed skill 1 + life steal well should quickly get you back up].

Siphoned Power
If you’re at 25% health, you’re probably going to die. One measly stack of might ain’t gonna do KITTEN. Ideas:

1. Gain Might when you reach 50% health. [Fastest fix + more time for the benefit]
2. Gain Might when enemies around you reach 33% health.
3. Your attacks steal Might when at X% health [This is what siphoning really means* – stealing it for your own use].

Spiteful Marks

1. Gain retaliation while standing near marks (one trigger per mark).

Curses
Reaper’s Precision
This is a really low amount – 1%!? And it’s not even guaranteed! I get the feeling this is made for those with uber high precision and/or Signet of Undeath equipped – but not everybody uses that. Ideas:

1. Your critical hits have a % chance of piercing.
2. Critical hits while in Death Shroud generate Life Force.

Target the Weak

1. Apply an extra damage packet for each condition on a target foe (each packet has a chance to critical hit). [Combines with +precision from Curses, may help trigger current in game Reaper’s Precision more ]
2. Gain +condition damage for every unique stack and condition on a target foe (when you apply 1 stack of bleed, gain +X condition damage, same with 2, 3, etc… but if they remove the bleeds, you need to get up to 4 stacks to get a bonus… also get it when you apply chill, poison, etc – ends on target down and enemy based.)
3. Your attacks do massive damage to Weakened foes. [Addresses Condition Damage vs Power dichotomy for those who may use other traits and feel they are very low damage].
4. Blood Curse/Rending Curse/Putrid Curse have a chance to bounce to foes suffering from Weakness. [I have heard some people say Weakness is a weak condition (no pun intended), so this might give some incentive to focus on Weakness by turning the staff into an AoE auto attack].

Death Magic
Reanimator

1. Summon a jagged horror whenever you kill a foe (no 30s limitation, maximum 10).
2. Summon a jagged horror whenever you kill a foe (no 30s limitation, unlimited amount, they do not give lifeforce on death).
3. 20% chance to summon a jagged horror when taking damage [currently they are weak as hell! Not sure if 20% is a good place to start, but it would promote minion armies].
4. When you kill a foe, summon a random minion with high HP (since you will have no control over it, it better be able to take a couple hits first).
5. Your minions gain health when they attack.
6. Every time you summon a minion, there is a 40% chance to summon a second one.
7. Minions have a ?% chance to resummon themselves upon death.

Shrouded Removal

1. While in Death Shroud, you do not take damage from conditions (condition damage is “paused”, it does not affect your main or DS HP, however you can still get conditions, but they will only take effect when you leave DS – I believe that you can be damaged with conditions while in DS currently, right?)
2. While in Death Shroud, you are not affected by conditions (they are “paused” and resumed upon leaving DS)

Protection of the Horde

1. Every time you inflict a condition, you gain additional toughness for X seconds.
2. Every time you kill an enemy, your minions health and toughness is increased (max 26 charges, ends on down). [Better for PvE, just an idea though]

Flesh of the Master

1. Minions have 50% more health and will occasionally absorb damage done to you.

Blood Magic
Transfusion
This is a weak heal tied to a 40s timer inside of Death Shroud. Ideas:

1. Life Transfer heal allies for an equivalent amount of damage done. [Better healing – and almost like life stealing in it’s implementation, also in line with Blood Magic this way]
2. Channeling grants vigor.

Deathly Invigoration
Another weak heal, tied to death shroud, and doesn’t scale.

1. Heal in an area when you enter and exit death shroud. [Fast fix by doubling the Promotes shroud jumping.
2. While standing in a well you gain vigor.
3. When you gain vigor, you gain Life Force [since Necros don’t have natural access to vigor, the LF gain better be higher than some measily single digit percent – this is like a cross profession combo in GW1 – like Necro equipped with Barbs, assisting physical allies by following their targets. I did that all the time and it really added up, just watch where people go and synergize. You don’t even need to have a spear equipped.]
4. You gain vigor after teleporting. [This helps Dark Path, Spectral Bond, Necrotic Transferal, and any other things, like using a Portal]

Blood to Power
I have no idea what to do about this one, but who seriously can maintain 90%+ health while in battle? It’s one thing to be in some stupid zerg, sitting on the outsides, just pumping out endless Life Blasts or auto attacks, but otherwise I don’t see this being able to be used much. Some ideas:

1. When you bleed, you gain +Power. [Not really worth the master status, but it fits the name]
2. Stealing health gives you Might (internal recharge or random percentage). [Lots of ways to seal health, so it may trigger multiple times]

Soul Reaping
Gluttony
10% is really not that much at all.

1. Small chance to double Life Force gain.
2. Your Life Force generating skills recharge X faster (based on seconds, %, or scales with Soul Reaping rank, like how GW1 scales skills).

Life Blast/Plague Blast
I thought of something different for this one. The skill will be similar to now, but with effects based on the weapon you select.

1. Generates Life Force when hitting targets (staff).
2. Rapidly fires – faster moving particle or lower activation time (main hand dagger or scepter).
3. More damage against foes with conditions (scepter).
4. Range increased to 1500 (axe?).

New trait ideas
Blood Bond

1. Minions gain health when they attack and foes dying near them are healed. [References GW1 Blood Bond].

Call of the Dead

1. Jagged Horrors create a jagged horror on successful attacks.
2. Damage nearby targets when you gain Life Force. [Synchronize with main hand dagger, axe, and anytime melee gets close to you]

Extra fearful

1. Doom is now AoE.
2. Doom is now a mark.
3. All your Fears are now marks.
4. Marks you apply have a 10% chance to cause fear.

Soul Marks 2

1. Deal damage to foes when you apply conditions to them or they remove your conditions [References GW1 Soul Marks]

Spontaneous Combustion

1. Corpses you are near explode [Reference GW1 Putrid Explosion].

Trapped In The Well

1. Wells have a 50% chance to cripple foes with conditions upon entering them.
2. Wells have a 50% chance to cripple people with conditions inside them during each pulse.

Death Shroud Skill #5 / Disease

1. Requires two condition removal to remove. The longer the target is affected by this, the shorter their boons last. [Plays into attrition and if reapplied].
2. Requires two condition removal to remove. Conditions may spontaneously transfer or copy to and from foes.
3. Requires two condition removal to remove. Condition removal skills may fail.

Unnamed Ideas

1. Death Shroud lasts for X longer.
2. Death Shroud is guaranteed to last for X seconds when you enter it.
3. You can weapon swap while in Death Shroud.
4. When you gain Regeneration, gain Life Force.
5. Marks effecting 3+ foes grant you a random boon.
6. Grasping Dead chills foes.

So… any feedback? Or things that may seem too much?

So as a first pass, I’m not really a fan of traits that have a chance to proc on an action, rather than just “When you do X, Y also happens”. The exception can be you’re doing that thing at a very high frequency (getting hit, attacking a foe, getting a critical hit) but events like summoning minions and placing wells are a lot less frequent.

I did find this take on Spiteful Marks interesting – for a while I’ve thought of retaliation as something really fitting for the necromancer, but wished they could apply it to their friends. Would this allow them to grant retaliation to allies?

For gluttony, a small chance to double is just a spikier/less consistent implementation of the current behavior. Plus, if you give a 10% chance (low?) to get 200% life force, that’ll average out to the same thing as 10% bonus overall.

Shrouded Removal is odd. For one thing, I already really like this trait, so I know I’m biased, but… If it changed to your suggestion, the trait wouldn’t really ‘fix’ conditions or anything, it would just cause them all to pile up on you while you were in Death Shroud. Then when you left it, the 15 bleeds that your foe had been applying periodically would all tick through at once. I guess you could squat in Death Shroud and wait for allied cleanses to save you, but it seems like that’s making the Necromancer more dependent than empowered.

As for Call of the Dead, I already hate krait that can summon barracudas that can summon more barracudas. I do not want to be that krait, I want that krait removed from existence.

Softspoken.2410:

So as a first pass, I’m not really a fan of traits that have a chance to proc on an action, rather than just “When you do X, Y also happens”. The exception can be you’re doing that thing at a very high frequency (getting hit, attacking a foe, getting a critical hit) but events like summoning minions and placing wells are a lot less frequent.

They’re just ideas, I put them out there because they came to mind and would be a change, not always because I believe they should be implemented. Think it’s good to dump all ideas out on paper, it may trigger something totally new in somebody else’s thought process.

Softspoken.2410:

I did find this take on Spiteful Marks interesting – for a while I’ve thought of retaliation as something really fitting for the necromancer, but wished they could apply it to their friends. Would this allow them to grant retaliation to allies?

I never thought of granting it to allies at all! I thought of it was a way to stick it to those who avoid triggering your wells. For players who don’t bring the mark size increasing trait or if the AI is improved and they learn to avoid marks – this trait would be kind of penalty for not triggering them. So I’m not really sure about allies. When does that get too strong?

Softspoken.2410:

For gluttony, a small chance to double is just a spikier/less consistent implementation of the current behavior. Plus, if you give a 10% chance (low?) to get 200% life force, that’ll average out to the same thing as 10% bonus overall.

No idea about the chance, just I have no idea what to do with this. 10% is just very small.

Softspoken.2410:

Shrouded Removal is odd. For one thing, I already really like this trait, so I know I’m biased, but… If it changed to your suggestion, the trait wouldn’t really ‘fix’ conditions or anything, it would just cause them all to pile up on you while you were in Death Shroud. Then when you left it, the 15 bleeds that your foe had been applying periodically would all tick through at once. I guess you could squat in Death Shroud and wait for allied cleanses to save you, but it seems like that’s making the Necromancer more dependent than empowered.

The build up of conditions was part of my intention. You could still be affected by non damaging aspects (like chill/cripple/etc), but after you leave DS you can quickly throw those back to somebody else with off Deadly Swarm, Putrid Mark, Well of Blood + finisher, Plague Signet, or convert them with Well of Power. I remember some quote were it said that Necromancers were supposed to be masters of conditions, and this plays into it – negate condition damage (special functionality) while providing more to throw around. I guess I could see it like a condition burst if used in this manor – enter DS, pile up, quickly throw back.

Softspoken.2410:

As for Call of the Dead, I already hate krait that can summon barracudas that can summon more barracudas. I do not want to be that krait, I want that krait removed from existence.

I completely disagree here lol. But do remember that, if they die pretty quickly or never get a chance to attack, they can’t keep regenerating themselves. Or I could add another RNG to it.

I like the idea to split some abilities that are obviously more towards one side of the game than another into two, especially minors.

Parasitic Bond having an on-down mechanic instead of on death in PvP would be awesome. We could get more reliable healing that way, and actually when we need it (during the fight).

Siphoned Might – why not have it start at say, 75%, and then have tiers: 0-25%, 25-50%, 50-75%, with each tier giving better might (either longer or more stacks). Have it fairly light at the higher tiers, and more the lower it goes (numbers are totally changeable, more the concept).

I loved some of the Reanimator ideas. Specifically ones that didn’t summon minions on its own but worked off other skills. Some of those seem really strong, I think this would be a good way to move this skill up to Minor Master tier, get rid of Protection, and then give us a more all-build friendly selection for our Minor Adept.

Also, some of your proposed changes aren’t needed, or are a bit too strong. For example, +50% HP is already an awesome trait for anyone grabbing a few minions. Shrouded Removal is on par with similar traits (10s condi cleanse, which can go to 5s).

And I like the idea of Blood Bond, or more specifically I think MMs should have the option to have a better build that keeps minions alive, for passive damage, at the cost of other things.

Bhawb.7408:

Parasitic Bond having an on-down mechanic instead of on death in PvP would be awesome. We could get more reliable healing that way, and actually when we need it (during the fight).

For the longest time, I thought it was a freaking obvious thing to do, but I never brought it up.

Bhawb.7408:

Siphoned Might – why not have it start at say, 75%, and then have tiers: 0-25%, 25-50%, 50-75%, with each tier giving better might (either longer or more stacks). Have it fairly light at the higher tiers, and more the lower it goes (numbers are totally changeable, more the concept).

I never thought of something like that. That sounds really good.

Bhawb.7408:

Also, some of your proposed changes aren’t needed, or are a bit too strong. For example, +50% HP is already an awesome trait for anyone grabbing a few minions. Shrouded Removal is on par with similar traits (10s condi cleanse, which can go to 5s).

I guess I like more complex/wordy traits then. I mainly played Mesmer in GW1 and developed a mindset of “what does the game let me do that seems like a natural counter for the situation I’m facing”. I should probably be playing that class, but I was so let down by it in beta 1 that I gave it up. No energy denial!? No quick interrupts? And where the kitten are my hexes!? I was recently fighting those PITA Reef Drake on Southsun Cove, you know, the kind that pull your forward, stun you, and stick confusion and other conditions on you, either as a normal attack or in a constant AoE circle… to deal with them I let them build up slightly then throwing them back, converting/etc. I like my version of Shrouded Removal because well, I like being able to do that and this enables it easier. It’s hard to have them build up without the natural tendency to want to get rid of them when things start getting crazy. Plus people will see you have tons of conditions on you and then they’ll single you out – but you could warp into DS for a quick break to buy time, or to use it to gather more conditions, and shoot them back.

Part of the problem is also the tiered nature of the game. It’s not that you can simply fix a trait to be useful, it has to respect it’s position in line, which I don’t think is the easiest thing to balance. Like if somebody suggests something, and it seems good, but it’s too powerful for a minor or adept, then it can’t be used there. Either something else gets replaced in the tier up (original problem exists) or a new trait has to be invented (which I don’t see happening anytime soon). For every good trait that comes up… but we can only take a max 3 from that line as well. It seems limiting. I prefer GW1’s attribute point system. What if they let us use any traits like BWE1, but the strength of them was tied to how much we had invested in that line? Then, maybe even uber powerful traits would be ok to take in a weaker state. Plus it would make weaker stats better the more you invest.

Unpredictability.4086:

I
*Shrouded Removal*
# While in Death Shroud, you do not take damage from conditions (condition damage is “paused”, it does not affect your main or DS HP, however you can still get conditions, but they will only take effect when you leave DS – I believe that you can be damaged with conditions while in DS currently, right?)
# While in Death Shroud, you are not affected by conditions (they are “paused” and resumed upon leaving DS)

Technically, you dont take damage from ticking conditions in DS unless the enemy has high (900 for bleed 200~ burning) condition damage since their ticks are in synch with ds degen and are counted as the same thing.

Also the only things that should be changed for Transfusion and Invigoration are Healing power scailing, they are ok/adequate as they are right now since they are both aoes *what people often forget, its not just about the self heal*.

Agreed with Andele, we mostly need healing power coefficients to our healing, their base amounts aren’t bad at all, even compared to support builds; the problem is that without scaling real support builds in other classes beat us out.