Guild Wars 2

Lets play a game. How about we all guess up to 3 names each on what you think the necromancer’s specialization will be called and what it might do. And when its revealed we look back on our predictions. This is just a fun post to see were the minds of our community is coming from and to have fun thinking about possibilities. And even if we are all wrong who knows, perhaps Anet will take notes and use some of our thoughts for future specializations for the profession.

What name(s) do you think it might have?:

Duskblade
Hexblade

Why do you think it’ll be called that? What does the name(s) describe about it?:

Although I don’t think the Hexblade a name would be used for the sub profession I thought I’d include it since both of these are somewhat similar. Although what each of them would do for the profession is very different.

In D&D a hexblade is a light armor melee class who uses hexes to hinder enemies to improve allies chances against them. This has some similarities to what a Cursing necromancer did in GW1. Mark of pain and Lingering curse being some of the most well known methods to hinder an entire group of enemies. This direction would mean that the necromancer would head more into support focus with a heavy condition based melee weapon. Or at least a hybrid. Since the necromancer’s condition damage is rather strong already this would be useful to some players but the primary benefit from this would be the party support. I don’t think hexblade is very likely or something similar to that style but its not off the table entirely.

The duskblade is probably the closes thing to what the community has been asking for for a long time for the necromancer. I think I have good reason to suspect that the specialization will have major focuses on life stealing and blood magic. For those who don’t know a duskblade(at least in D&D) is a melee spell caster who uses blood magic(among other things) in order to imbue their weapon. One of the biggest issues the necromancer has had in the past has been scaling. Their defenses don’t scale up with the increase of enemies and on top of that their life stealing has been laughable. Many players have wanted more use with blood magic and the duskblade would give us just that. With this possibility we can expect to be able to steal more life from foes around us which would scale up with increased enemies and sacrifice health for power. I think that something similar to this will be what we get and Its kinda exciting to say the least.

What do you guys think? What are your predictions?

I just have one: Medium.

A Medium is a person who speaks to the dead. Marjory already does this and the spirit of her dead sister resides in the sword, making the weapon as much of a spiritual connection as material.

What would actually come of that mechanics-wise? No idea. I do think the new utility skill type we’ll be getting is Orders, though, since they are definitely the most requested skill type for Necros.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

I just have one: Medium.

A Medium is a person who speaks to the dead. Marjory already does this and the spirit of her dead sister resides in the sword, making the weapon as much of a spiritual connection as material.

What would actually come of that mechanics-wise? No idea. I do think the new utility skill type we’ll be getting is Orders, though, since they are definitely the most requested skill type for Necros.

Orders would be superb for us. It could provide a level of support that we haven’t had on the necromancer. Medium? Hmmm. Interesting. Not a bad thought though if we are going with spirits why not Ritualist?

I’ve got a feeling “Ritualist” will be a Revenant specialization. “Medium” is, by definition, a Necromancer (divination from death being the actual definition of “necromancy”).

I almost want them to call us Death Knights just to kitten with people.

Bhawb.7408:

I almost want them to call us Death Knights just to kitten with people.

If they did that.

Lily.1935:

Bhawb.7408:

I almost want them to call us Death Knights just to kitten with people.

If they did that.

lol I don’t get it.. Whats the huge deal? Explain to meh?

I dont really have any ideas. I just hope its not Death Knight. Really dislike that name. Sounds so childish. x)

I quite like the name Medium, it’s certainly better than anything I can currently think of.

I dont get peoples issues with Death knight, sounds kinda cool to me. Then again I didnt play WoW, is that why people are tired of it? Death is necro for sure and a GS is very knightly…

The problem, as I see it, with Death Knight is that it really isn’t that fitting.

Consider that Marjory is pretty much confirmed to be a member of the new specialization, whatever it is. She’s a Necromancer, sure, but definitely no knight. Even though she has moved to using the greatsword as her weapon, she is still more mystic than martial. Death Knight implies more martial with a flair of necromancy.

Compare that to the Druid specialization. Druids have always revered nature (so, fitting for the theme) and druidic traditions have existed in Tyria, using nature magic. Again, this fits what we know of the Druid specialization. The Druid uses the staff to cast nature-related magic, the one example we have is firing a tangle of vines.

Is it used often? Yes, but it really fits here. Is Death Knight used often? Yes, but it really doesn’t fit what we’ve already seen.

Reaver sounds like a better name for the specialization

http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/necromancer

Ones which i tend to lean towards are:

Occultist
Witch/Witch Doctor
Exorcist
Warlock
Sorcerer
Spellbinder

More guesses….

• Summoner (more pets yay, demons etc)
• Vampire or some variation on the name that doesnt sound like a mob… (extra lifedraining, maybe boon stealing)
• Executioner (better with a great axe imo)

I actually would have suggested Revenant if that wasnt the new class name! Very fitting back from the dead type thing.

DarkMezmer.5198:

Reaver sounds like a better name for the specialization

This makes the most sense to me.

Spoj The Second.7680:

http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/necromancer

Ones which i tend to lean towards are:

Occultist
Witch/Witch Doctor
Exorcist
Warlock
Sorcerer
Spellbinder

I would die of happiness if its called Witch Doctor.

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Duskblade,_Variant_

Hehe. Actually I don’t care about the death knight. But Necromancers are most defiantly no knights. Death or otherwise.

I don’t think death knight happens because of China and their aversion to death symbols.

Hey, I figured staff for rangers (because their relationship to druid) should be their next weapon long ago. Jus sayin.

But I do like the sound of Warlock… I could see that as a bad*** cloaked guy with a sword

Ugh. I mean death knight makes as much sense as a medium lol

I never knew a medium who walked around with a greatsword. And a medium is just somebody who communicates with spirits like a catalyst. Has nothing to do with wielding a sword so how can that name properly convey the specialization or its theme?

If you would want to convey the whole sword/spirit intertwined = necro sword master you can’t stop at looking over a thesaurus and finding a synonym for necromancer.

Anyways, I’m not saying its a bad or improbable idea im just saying it makes just as much sense saying death knight.

Personally, my choices would be:
Occultist (cuz it sounds cool)
Reaver (see occultist)
Symbiont (two organisms living as a singular, roughly speaking. In this case it would be more just entities. If a sort of “spirit blade” is key to the theme.)
Convergent (much like the symbiont idea)

Roe.3679:

I don’t think death knight happens because of China and their aversion to death symbols.

Death symbols aren’t the issue, just human skulls.

Let´s throw in Specter and Wraith.

I think both would be very fitting if the specialization builds upon spectral skills (which I feel are conceptually rather distinct and different from the remaining Necromancer skills).

TheDevice.2751:

Ugh. I mean death knight makes as much sense as a medium lol

I never knew a medium who walked around with a greatsword. And a medium is just somebody who communicates with spirits like a catalyst. Has nothing to do with wielding a sword so how can that name properly convey the specialization or its theme?

If you would want to convey the whole sword/spirit intertwined = necro sword master you can’t stop at looking over a thesaurus and finding a synonym for necromancer.

Anyways, I’m not saying its a bad or improbable idea im just saying it makes just as much sense saying death knight.

Personally, my choices would be:
Occultist (cuz it sounds cool)
Reaver (see occultist)
Symbiont (two organisms living as a singular, roughly speaking. In this case it would be more just entities. If a sort of “spirit blade” is key to the theme.)
Convergent (much like the symbiont idea)

“Medium” works because of the one example we already have in-game. Marjory’s blade-wielding is from her spiritual connection to her late sister, who’s spirit resides in the sword. She started using the weapon before Rox started training her with it, showing the proficiency is more of a connection rather than actual skill. The sword was the focus, rather than an actual weapon (though it works as that, too).

The main thing to remember about the Necromancer specialization is that we already have one to look at. No other profession has this luxury in predicting their specialization.

My prediction is for “Medium” because it fits everything we’ve already seen. And when you get to the root meaning of the word “Necromancy” you find that “Necromancer” and “Medium” are actually synonyms.

I’m expecting “Dark/Death Knight”, since they use a greatsword and whatnot.

The Dungeon Metamancern

Spoj The Second.7680:

I dont really have any ideas. I just hope its not Death Knight. Really dislike that name. Sounds so childish. x)

Wait so Dungeons and Dragons are childish now, because they also have Death Knights originally in fact.

Truth be told, the only reason people are tripping about the name Death Knight was because WoW has a class by the name… We saw this same argument going on when pre-release the Guardian class pic was leaked. People screamed for it to be called anything but Paladin, simply because WoW has a class with that name. Ignoring that WoW also has a class called Warrior as well…

Reaper.

Why not?

Maybe finaly metamancer 9000

Knighthonor.4061:

Spoj The Second.7680:

I dont really have any ideas. I just hope its not Death Knight. Really dislike that name. Sounds so childish. x)

Wait so Dungeons and Dragons are childish now, because they also have Death Knights originally in fact.

Truth be told, the only reason people are tripping about the name Death Knight was because WoW has a class by the name… We saw this same argument going on when pre-release the Guardian class pic was leaked. People screamed for it to be called anything but Paladin, simply because WoW has a class with that name. Ignoring that WoW also has a class called Warrior as well…

No it has nothing to do with WoW or D&D. Even with WoW i thought it was a stupid name. Its so uncreative and boring. It is literally something a child could come up with. Which is why i said its childish. I much prefer unusual original names. Not something pieced together from a description.

“We use dark magic and raise the dead. And we use a big sword so we are like a knight. I know! Death Knight!”.

Some real creativity went into that. /s

I doubt its going to be blood draining or life draining since the dagger already kind of fills that role and just needs to be fully put into that category.

I think its most likely going to be something in terms of movement and cleave damage. We are already able to summon pets, we are already able to debuff and if you wanted to make a support debuff role you can.

Necromancers are lacking in the movement department so a sword MH or greatsword is what is probably going to happen. What its going to be called is anyones guess though.

oh oh! Ghostfacer! (supernatural fans?)

Fashion Mage.3712:

I’m expecting “Dark/Death Knight”, since they use a greatsword and whatnot.

They wont call it death knight. And there is a few reasons why. First reason is Arena Net and Blizzard have a lot of bad blood between them. Second reason is its not a clean name. If you look at the professions you’ll notice a clear pattern. Every single profession’s name is a single word.

High Warlord. And it will specialize in minions. /speculation

Perhaps they will surprise everyone and give siphons a huge boost for those specializing in Blood Magic. Then, Vampire might be it. I have to admit, BM has gotten a bad name in the Necro community over the years so Arenanet may want to encourage people to play a full BM build for variety.

Reaper. Just like with the staff 1 whenever a necro swing a GS the black smoke scythe appear.

To be fair, Blood Magic has its bad rep because it fights with Death Shroud, and Death Shroud is mandatory.

And siphon scaling sucks, but this is really the smaller of the two issues.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

To be fair, Blood Magic has its bad rep because it fights with Death Shroud, and Death Shroud is mandatory.

And siphon scaling sucks, but this is really the smaller of the two issues.

The reasons where made by the devs a long time ago. The siphons through DS was considered too strong so they just locked it from it entirely.

The actual siphoning scaling is still pretty terrible to be fair but I can understand how it may be difficult to balance.

It definitely needs some work but like others have said, maybe there’s some hope with the new expansion.

I think it is more likely to be along the lines of Reaver but if I had to throw out an original idea? (I think it’s original anyway)

Maybe Banshee?

Even if it isn’t maybe for the future.

I thought of another name. Cultist. Might work actually.

Lily.1935:

I thought of another name. Cultist. Might work actually.

unlikely. you need a cult to have cultists

I think it is more likely to be along the lines of Reaver but if I had to throw out an original idea? (I think it’s original anyway)

Dragon Age got Reavers.

but it’s one of the more probable candidates, imo. Along with Reaper. But there are already Reapers of Grenth and gods like grenth are a human thing.

Hexblade would be my personal favourite and would fit the necro well, but i never heard of it outside of DnD.

Maybe just ‘Hexer’ is an option?

How about Overlord, completely Minionmancer way of playing. The chief has GOT to have a GS in hand, while telling minions to slay the target.

I really hope its not something minion based, given the present state of AI… The ideas sound cool though.

I’m pretty sure there will be multiple paths of specialization, not just the GS path.

Minions and the GS specialization just doesn’t mix well imo since our golem acts as our melee attacker. Minionmancers are more applying CC and vuln so the minions are the ones doing most of the dps, not the MM himself.

Thematically it just doesn’t seem right to me but it’s not like you won’t be able to run minions with it. I just don’t think the GS will be themed towards MM.

Colin confirmed there will only be one specialization per profession (including Revenant) at HoT launch in an interview, but more will come later.

TheDevice.2751:

Minions and the GS specialization just doesn’t mix well imo since our golem acts as our melee attacker. Minionmancers are more applying CC and vuln so the minions are the ones doing most of the dps, not the MM himself.

Thematically it just doesn’t seem right to me but it’s not like you won’t be able to run minions with it. I just don’t think the GS will be themed towards MM.

It depends on the rest of it, but from the little we know about the greatsword it’ll be an amazing MM weapon. Vuln is nice to increase their DPS sure, but with GS having a chill on AA it already looks to be a potentially strong MM weapon.

I think it is more likely to be along the lines of Reaver but if I had to throw out an original idea? (I think it’s original anyway)

Dragon Age got Reavers.

but it’s one of the more probable candidates, imo. Along with Reaper. But there are already Reapers of Grenth and gods like grenth are a human thing.

Hexblade would be my personal favourite and would fit the necro well, but i never heard of it outside of DnD.

Maybe just ‘Hexer’ is an option?

Ah what I meant was an original name that hasn’t been used in the thread yet and by that I meant my suggestion of “Banshee”.

Sorry for the confusion, When mentioning Reaver I just meant that is what I’m personally expecting.

Whatever would make it except… “Dead last”…
But since specialization have high chance to change general mechanism, I kind of expect for necromancer to actually enchant their weapon so maybe, to be really classic, I would go for :

Wizard.

PS.: I mean, “Druid” is something really classic, it’s more likely that they will go along with this line.

Dadnir.5038:

Whatever would make it except… “Dead last”…
But since specialization have high chance to change general mechanism, I kind of expect for necromancer to actually enchant their weapon so maybe, to be really classic, I would go for :

Wizard.

PS.: I mean, “Druid” is something really classic, it’s more likely that they will go along with this line.

Ele will get Wizard before Necro. Wizard fits Ele more wince they use arcane magic as well.

it may be possible that specializations substitute skills on current weapons, too. Anet may keep, or modify, current animations but change effects. For example, MoB might drop bleed for more damage or another condition.

All wild speculation, mind you.

Anchoku.8142:

it may be possible that specializations substitute skills on current weapons, too. Anet may keep, or modify, current animations but change effects. For example, MoB might drop bleed for more damage or another condition.

All wild speculation, mind you.

1: they would have previewed that, it is a very big change and not one that they have said at all.

2: that kittens on clarity which is really important