Contact me ingame for Necro, Ranger, Mesmer, and Thief advice.
Necromantic Suggestions
I don’t think we need drastic changes. We need quite a few minor changes/buffs/QoL improvements to certain things, and then a few more “major” rehauls like making Signet of Spite (and maybe other skills) a competitive choice in builds, and making a few changes to traits here and there.
Visually, we are fine in my opinion. Yes we could use some legendary love, and I’d like to see more skin related things (like minion skins), but overall I don’t see much need. I don’t want us to be a super flashy class, I’d much rather someone underestimate my marks, rather than have a gigantic black fireball of death come flying from the heavens and smashing apart the earth for every Mark of Blood I trigger. I couldn’t care less if people fear me in combat, so long as the class is balanced so I can kill them.
Edit: I’ll make specific balance things I’d change in the morning (too sleepy to brain right now), but I don’t have much for the rest other than I’d love to have a set of cartoony minions, Flesh Golem a giant teddy bear, Flesh Wurm a snake, bone minions little bunnies, shadow fiend an owl, heck you can even make them “dark” looking, but I’d throw so much money at ANet for cartoony minions (and bunny bone fiends, I NEED them).
(edited by Bhawb.7408)
Hahaha, cartoon minions. Someone wants to befriend the wildlife, eh?
Contact me ingame for Necro, Ranger, Mesmer, and Thief advice.
As much as I like the current iteration of the Necromancer (seriously I think a ‘rework’ would be overkill) there are definitely skills I want to be improved. I’m not totally comfortable preaching about skill balance (Edit: Except Signet of Spite, that needs some changing, and I’m inclined to say a shorter recharge and maybe removing the bleed) so I’ll just stick to visuals.
So everything else in this post is about visuals.
Things I’d like, in order of personal importance:
Corrosive Poison Cloud has practically zero visual impact. When cast it kind of blotches up the ground. It actually reminds me of a well, if you take out the “Blighting the earth” (Blindness, corruption, suffering) and “Arcane symbol” parts of a well’s visual themes. AKA the coolest, most distinguishing parts.
Make CPC have a vertical graphic / particle that gives it an actual horizontal profile, possibly similar to poison clouds used by NPC enemies. Also, scale the poison-y effect to fill the AoE circle. The current one is pretty dang tiny.
Jagged Horrors are literally scaled down Bone Minions. Change one or the other. (I suggest changing Bone Minions, since they seem to get a lot of complaints already for other reasons. Maybe something based on a skeletal canine / wolf, rather than a skale?) Edit2: Actually, maybe make jagged horrors a scaled down bony canine, Fighting on for you loyally to their last breath. And don’t forget, in great stories, the dog always dies.
Skills that generate life force should also generate green orbs, similar to (but probably smaller than) when you kill a foe. Then you can let things like ghastly claws give multiple orbs if the channel completes, or feast of corruption could show an orb for each condition. Just another way to visualize an in-game mechanic.
Dark Path could stand to regain its AoE Chill on arrival graphic, (Visible in some old beta videos, similar to Sigil of Hydromancy) tinted a lot darker / with black. Really show off that “Boom here I am” gimmick.
Mark of Blood has one issue: the particle effect when it triggers is more like “Mark of Water”. Well of blood has the same “blood is light blue” problem too, but I can give it a pass because it’s a persistent healing area. By the time mark of blood has triggered, your allies can’t really act on that light blue cue, so we can go for the dark reds of blooood. Also it matches the bleeding half of the skill.
Mark graphics are good and bad. I love the ones that are there, I just wish the skill icons actually matched them. Also reaper’s mark could use its own graphic symbol, it currently shares the same one as chillblains. Greater marks could also scale up the size of the marks, rather than putting tiny symbols in huge circles.
Spectral Wall needs something. I can’t for the life of me think of what though: adding symbols to the dark flames just seems over-the-top, and I can’t think of how to communicate both Protection for Allies and Vulnerability for Foes.
That’s all of them. Anyone like these, or think they’re too much / the wrong direction?
Mixing insults with your post is like pooping in a salad.
It’s pretty obvious, and nobody’s impressed.
It’s pretty obvious, and nobody’s impressed.
(edited by Softspoken.2410)
I think they’re good visual suggestions, but I also think there needs to be some more for other skills that are more often used. I’m really sick of Necrotic Grasp, I have to sit there using it 10,000 times a day and all I see is this weird and out of place claw coming out of my bloody scythe. Why would Necromancers shoot disembodied hands at people? I mean, it’s just out of place. I can understand spectral grasp, I can even understand Dark Path, but… WE HAVE TOO MANY SEVERED HAND THEMES!!! Not enough mythical, too much cartoony. Next I would improve some of visuals of corruption skills, they seem so lackluster just “They’re there now!@$! I think…” Blood is Power could use a visual effect of some sort, as well as Corrupt Boon.
Contact me ingame for Necro, Ranger, Mesmer, and Thief advice.
I think they’re good visual suggestions, but I also think there needs to be some more for other skills that are more often used. I’m really sick of Necrotic Grasp, I have to sit there using it 10,000 times a day and all I see is this weird and out of place claw coming out of my bloody scythe. Why would Necromancers shoot disembodied hands at people? I mean, it’s just out of place. I can understand spectral grasp, I can even understand Dark Path, but… WE HAVE TOO MANY SEVERED HAND THEMES!!! Not enough mythical, too much cartoony. Next I would improve some of visuals of corruption skills, they seem so lackluster just “They’re there now!@$! I think…” Blood is Power could use a visual effect of some sort, as well as Corrupt Boon.
I think the hands thing could be better done, but I like the idea behind it. Sort of the mental image that the Necromancer has a death grip on their opponent, dragging them down to the grave. Necrotic grasp could probably be salvaged if more was made of it ‘stealing’ the life force from opponents it hits, but I agree that it doesn’t really invoke that close-up, grabbing feel something like spectral grasp cashes in on. But things like grasping dead, and dark path are good as is. I’m not gonna fight the hand that bleeds.
Regarding blood is power and corrupt boon: Both of these actually have visual effects, they’re just subtle. I like them; corrupt boon’s reminds me of consume conditions, and the white / black of it implies the dual / converting nature of the skill, while blood is power is a dark explosion at the center of the character. It’s just a deep cut, which is all it does to them, really. Maybe something similar on the Necromancer but with something to indicate an influx of power would work, but it doesn’t feel that necessary.
Mixing insults with your post is like pooping in a salad.
It’s pretty obvious, and nobody’s impressed.
It’s pretty obvious, and nobody’s impressed.
Jagged Horrors are literally scaled down Bone Minions. Change one or the other. (I suggest changing Bone Minions, since they seem to get a lot of complaints already for other reasons. Maybe something based on a skeletal canine / wolf, rather than a skale?)
Jhorrors and Bone minions are undead rodents with a human skull pasted on them, a skale have a skeletal fishy head and long tail. Wurm is wurm, Blood fiend is Wind Rider, Bone fiend is a devourer, but bone minions are in no way related to skale!
Even if they somehow are it just shows that the artist was on a wild party got drunk, probably created some roadkill that he then took home, made a picture of it while on crack and then used photoshop and said picture in a very creative way and just slapped undead skale under it the next day with a massive headache and a new plush toy.
Regarding blood is power and corrupt boon: Both of these actually have visual effects, they’re just subtle. I like them; corrupt boon’s reminds me of consume conditions, and the white / black of it implies the dual / converting nature of the skill, while blood is power is a dark explosion at the center of the character. It’s just a deep cut, which is all it does to them, really. Maybe something similar on the Necromancer but with something to indicate an influx of power would work, but it doesn’t feel that necessary.
Those 2 are from GW just remade, BiP (yay for battery) was self cut (the hp cost, in this case self bleed) while Corrupt boon (seems like it) gets its animation from Rip Enchantment or pretty much every other enchantment rip (sparkle and then green/black splash as necro hit animation).
When life gives you lemon, ask if its from a anime or manga.
(edited by Andele.1306)
Jagged Horrors are literally scaled down Bone Minions. Change one or the other. (I suggest changing Bone Minions, since they seem to get a lot of complaints already for other reasons. Maybe something based on a skeletal canine / wolf, rather than a skale?)
Jhorrors and Bone minions are undead rodents with a human skull pasted on them, a skale have a skeletal fishy head and long tail. Wurm is wurm, Blood fiend is Wind Rider, Bone fiend is a devourer, but bone minions are in no way related to skale!
Even if they somehow are it just shows that the artist was on a wild party got drunk, probably created some roadkill that he then took home, made a picture of it while on crack and then used photoshop and said picture in a very creative way and just slapped undead skale under it the next day with a massive headache and a new plush toy.
The reason I say that is, they have very similar animations. I suppose in that vein they could also be based on gravelings.
I don’t really mind that they’re based on other animals in the game, (although I lost some of my respect for blood fiend after I saw my first wind rider) my main beef is that those two minions are the same model, at different sizes.
Regarding blood is power and corrupt boon: Both of these actually have visual effects, they’re just subtle. I like them; corrupt boon’s reminds me of consume conditions, and the white / black of it implies the dual / converting nature of the skill, while blood is power is a dark explosion at the center of the character. It’s just a deep cut, which is all it does to them, really. Maybe something similar on the Necromancer but with something to indicate an influx of power would work, but it doesn’t feel that necessary.
Those 2 are from GW just remade, BiP (yay for battery) was self cut (the hp cost, in this case self bleed) while Corrupt boon (seems like it) gets its animation from Rip Enchantment or pretty much every other enchantment rip (sparkle and then green/black splash as necro hit animation).
Oh, that’s kind of cool. Neat to see visual cues carried over, instead of just spell names.
Mixing insults with your post is like pooping in a salad.
It’s pretty obvious, and nobody’s impressed.
It’s pretty obvious, and nobody’s impressed.