Guild Wars 2

Dump your ideas here.

*Make minions scale with stats, not just level
*given necromancers a unique condition
*Allow necromancers to deal more skill damage to conditioned targets. more conditions = higher damage multiplier
*allow necromancers to trigger their marks manually, as well as by being walked over (dunno if it’s just me, but sometimes my marks just don’t trigger)
*Allow wells to grant boons to allies, as well as debuff enemies (group support is what necromancer’s sorely lack)
*Improve minion AI (it seems, at least to me, to be super kitten y)

Note: yes, I know necro is viable in pve, but it’s the lowest rung on the ladder in terms of viability and what they bring to the table

2.5 of those are already in the game. Only necros can cause damage with Fear (and quite potent at that, for a condition), and the Curses grandmaster minor trait increases the damage dealt to targets per condition on the target. Wells can also grant Protection if traited and Well of Power grants boons if it does anything at all.

Really, the main thing that has to happen to improve necros in PvE is to have mobs behave more like players and also revamp boss mechanics. This, however, is a difficult process. For now, adding more enemies like the Toxic Alliance and Mordrem is the best route to improve necro viability without affecting PvP/WvW balance.

The second thing that can be done is improving unused traits and utility skills. Strictly speaking, this would shift PvP and WvW balance, but not in a way that actually makes anything overpowered (unless the change itself is OP). If you stick to only the largely unused traits and utilities, all that happens is build variety is introduced, as extant builds remain the same. Prime candidate here is the Blood Magic line, which almost all necros on these forums agree needs some serious help. My personal take on this is merging some of the traits (such as Vampiric Rituals and Ritual Mastery or Quickening Thirst and Dagger Mastery) and introducing new ones, preferably that introduce unique buffs that the necro brings, such as a necro’s siphons healing his nearby allies, or allies receiving a stat boost of some form.

I mean, basically nothing you said would actually change anything, either because its not that good for PvE or because it already exists.

What we actually need is for them to take our current PvE 66002 dagger build and add unique support to it, without forcing us to deviate from the current build too much (basically we have only 3 points we can move around before we start losing too much DPS). This would be things such as a spotter-like buff, but for ferocity, maybe a set of new utility skills that are auras like we had in GW1, an AoE lifesteal buff, things like that. But basically, we need unique ways to buff our teams DPS without losing any DPS from where we are now.

I’m sure there’s others, but this is what I could immediately think of:

Axe / Scepter Cleave/Small-radius AoE— If only for one of the hits on AA, just give us this and get the bellyaching to stop (or move to another item).

Rework Vampiric Skills/Traits— Vampiric builds were among some of the most fun to play in the original Guild Wars and is something a lot of players identify as being “quintessentially” necromantic. Reworking SoV to siphon health on being hit as opposed to just healing is a great start. Reworking Bloodthirst into something that actually does something is another.

Self-centered party utility— Biggest flaw to necromancers is the apparent lack of utility. Lots of players and devs would state that they’re intended to be a “selfish” class, but I ask why can’t we use this philosophy to create necromancer utilities? Why can’t necromancers offer party-wide buffs at a cost to other players, capitalizing on a “deal with the devil” idea: something that necromancers define very well, while at the same time being more powerful for the necromancer?

Example

Blood is Power
Bleed yourself and your target. Gain 5 stacks of might for 10s. For the next 10s, whenever allies strike the target, they gain might and begin bleeding as well.
Might: 5x (10s)
Might (per strike): 1x (3s)
Bleeding: 1x (10s)
Bleeding (per strike): 1x (5s)

Condition Cap management— Preventing weaker conditions from overwriting stronger conditions would go a long way in helping necromancers become “viable” and condition-based builds in general. Alternatively, allowing all players to share from a “condition damage pool”, where all players who’ve applied the appropriate condition would get credit for the damage being done, could help as well.

IMO i think to make the necro better in PvE is for Anet to stop working mostly on the useless DS ability and focus more on other aspects of the necro.

More effects and boons for the group, shorter CD/longer effects of wells, get some blast (wharhorn) or other, and that’s all.
I love necro but he’s so selfish, I understand that in fractal or “high level” dungeons no one wants necro because of poorer support.

Here’s a couple of thoughts.

What if Epidemic either transferred conditions like it does now if you target an enemy or copied boons if you target an ally?

What if wells could follow a target, either enemy or ally, or even yourself like plague form.

Since there’s a light aura that’s been introduced what should a dark aura provide? Lifesteal? Maybe leaping through a poison field gives dark aura, too bad necros have no leap skills.

Swamurabi.7890:

Here’s a couple of thoughts.

What if Epidemic either transferred conditions like it does now if you target an enemy or copied boons if you target an ally?

What if wells could follow a target, either enemy or ally, or even yourself like plague form.

Since there’s a light aura that’s been introduced what should a dark aura provide? Lifesteal? Maybe leaping through a poison field gives dark aura, too bad necros have no leap skills.

Your version of Epidemic would be a copied Signet of Inspiration.
Wells must remain stationary, otherwise they’re not “wells” (or “fonts”, if you want to go that route).

Dark Aura… now you’re on to something, change from poison fields to dark fields (which necros have plenty of) and you’re in business. Make Spectral Recall, Necrotic Transversal, and Dark Path all function as leaps (similar to Mesmer’s Swap or Phase Retreat) and suddenly necromancer just became a lot more useful.

As for mechanics/functionality, what would Dark Aura/Armor actually do? Lifesteal? Torment? Blind? Any combination thereof?

Look at queen’s gauntlet, necro is actually top tier in most of the fights except liadri. Especially condi necro which people claim to be useless in pve. Reason is without unshakable/defiance, necro can use its tools properly. Liadri doesn’t favor necro because of the 1HKO that is independant from liadri herself, necro’s tools are again became useless.

This proves the pve mechanic itself contributes a huge part to necro’s pve incompetence. Necro’s controls are actually group support as it debuffs the enemy, affecting every allies. If it works in pve, necro wouldn’t be as “selfish” as it is now.

We need some kind of support. Either in the form of “orders” like in GW1, lets say party members deal x% additional damage per hit for 5 seconds, every hit costs you 1% lifeforce.

Or a simple number buff like spotter. A trait that adds ferocity to yourself and allies while in DS for example, the numbers could be higher then all other group number buffs as ferocity does nothing on its own and is always tied to the crit%, giving a justifying argument for pvp balance, as well as a reliable buff for PVE as its trimmed on zerker gear anyway.

Control and defensive support is viable/helpful too. If it does not cost too much dps. And that´s the problem.
Only offensive support will not solve our problems. Look at rangers.

GW1 necros had several skills that added energy, both for themselves and/or their allies.
Angorodon’s Gaze
Blood Ritual
Blood is Power
Cultist’s Fervor
Foul Feast
Jaundiced Gaze
Masochism (PvP)
Offering of Blood
Reaper’s Mark
Signet of Corruption
Signet of Lost Souls

This would be opposite of Chill’s cooldown increase. Since there’s already a game mechanic that alters cooldowns negatively, there should be a way to alter cooldowns positively. This would definately let necros be added into a PvE party if we could reduce cooldowns of skills.

I think a lot of the possible changes would have PVP people crying so honestly I’m not sure.

A few ideas,

• Axe bounce like ranger axe.
• Well of Power pulse the 1s stability so it maintains stability for a bit for the group.
• Well of Suffering, increase vuln duration or stacks to make it comparable to a skill like Glyph of Storms.
• Blast finisher on Warhorn4 (Wail of Doom) only warhorn without a blast…
• For all boon corruption skills add something like “if no boons apply 2 vuln stacks per attempt” so using say focus5 would yield an additional spike of 6 vuln stacks, where if there were boons it’d just strip what was there. With that Well of Corruption would also tick 2 vuln stacks per second making it like the current suffering when things lacked boons. I know this one is a stretch but really necros need some reason to use all those skills

Yeah, basically I’m saying let necro fill that vuln stacking niche as it’s something they kinda do now but not good enough to actually have a spot for it. When you look for that need you look at Ele’s ability to burst out the vuln stacks or Engi’s ability to maintain them. Necros kinda have the burst but not nearly as powerful.

There are a few roles in parties.

• Might/Fury stacking ( I lump these as the people who do it best do both war/ele)
• Vuln stacking
• Projectile Defense
• Stealth
• Profession specific tools (Banner, Frostspotter, Portals, aegis, etc)
• Defensive support (Condi removal/Stability/blind being the primary things)

Necro doesn’t really fit any of them currently. Yes you can condi cleanse, but long reuse making it not as effective as the alternatives, You can vuln stack, but not nearly as well as Engi or even Ele.

They need to develop some niche for Necros. Their curent niche of boon corruption is amazing… in PVP, but in PVE they didn’t make the content really utilize such skills leaving necros unable to perform their niche role.

So again, I think if they developed their offensive support with vuln stacking, strengthen their well of power to give group stability, something that’s in quite a limited supply. Then I could see them being a worthwhile addition to many groups. Also a Vigor trait or something wouldn’t be bad either

Norjena.5172:

Control and defensive support is viable/helpful too. If it does not cost too much dps. And that´s the problem.
Only offensive support will not solve our problems. Look at rangers.

Except Rangers are very viable and used in a lot of content because they have unique buffs that no one else can bring.

Defensive support and control are both mediocre at best in the current PvE design.

Some things I’d change:

• +150 AoE Ferocity trait (already discussed)
• Add functionality to Ritual of Protection: Wells apply 1 stack of Might for 20s per pulse to allies within its radius (limit 5)
• Alter Spectral Wall to block projectiles
• Add vulnerability to dagger auto’s second hit (Necrotic Stab)
• Blast finisher on Wail of Doom (already mentioned)
• Putrid Explosion (Bone Minion active) becomes ground targeted so you can blast small combo fields or line shaped combo fields

Sins.4782:

Some things I’d change:

• +150 AoE Ferocity trait (already discussed)
• Add functionality to Ritual of Protection: Wells apply 1 stack of Might for 20s per pulse to allies within its radius (limit 5)
• Alter Spectral Wall to block projectiles
• Add vulnerability to dagger auto’s second hit (Necrotic Stab)
• Blast finisher on Wail of Doom (already mentioned)
• Putrid Explosion (Bone Minion active) becomes ground targeted so you can blast small combo fields or line shaped combo fields

Most of these would need PVE split for it to be balanced.

1) DS build already crit crazy. I don’t think think adding more ferocity would be balanced.
2) OP in organized wvw bomb.
3) fear wall is already very powerful, plus it grant prot. As much as I want a reflect on necro, I don’t think sprectal wall is the best place.
4) That would make axe even worse. Dagger already hits hard enough, generate LF plus now it cleaves. No way it applies vuln.
5) Blast finisher on Wail of Doom. Maybe.
6) No comment on that. I don’t MM much.

I think a lot of these come down to a skill doing too manny things at once if it grants boons. Imo, a skill shouldn’t do more than 2.

Blood Magic is a distasteful investment for me. Only wells CD reduction feels worth doing. WoB was nerfed and I am still trying to figure out why. It is not as if Necro’s group heal was game-breaking. Heal and vampiric scaling are weak.

Maybe it was a combination of putting wells traits in a healing line. Wells are deservedly popular so healing has to be bad.

Anchoku.8142:

Blood Magic is a distasteful investment for me. Only wells CD reduction feels worth doing. WoB was nerfed and I am still trying to figure out why. It is not as if Necro’s group heal was game-breaking. Heal and vampiric scaling are weak.

Maybe it was a combination of putting wells traits in a healing line. Wells are deservedly popular so healing has to be bad.

It was nerfed for one reason.

Anet wanted a new aura, and they didn’t want Necros to be able to supply the field for it for too long.

They thought they did the adjustment correctly, only they did not, and I don’t think they will acknowledge that.

That explanation is so very sad, especially because it sound like WoB was kitten for greater group support that Necro’s cannot even use.