Guild Wars 2

I’ll start by stating my Necromancer experience which is roughly 300+ sPvP tournament wins with the necro. I’ve been playing only sPvP since beta 1, and been playing the Necromancer since the beta 1 stress test. I’ve seen the necro go through many stages of being OP/UP. In beta 1 there were disgustingly OP builds for the necro (as well as with every other class). In beta 2 the necro was toned down a lot but still had ridiculous survivability. With certain builds you could tank 4+players for a very long time while dishing out consistent team fight control/damage/conditions. The problem with the necromancer since launch is that they are the weakest in MOST areas. The reason I say most is there are very rare circumstances where you would want a necromancer over another class. The necromancer just simply doesn’t have the damage output of other classes. Now I’ve tried MANY builds on the necro, including a ton of damage dagger builds. And although dagger builds are very fun to play and just wreak noobs, they are weak in a competitive sPvP sense. Why would you not pick a pistol whip thief over a dagger necro? They have more damage, more survivability, and more roam capability. Don’t believe me? go play one. They are very easy to play and master. Why would you not pick a rifle engi? why not a mesmer? The same thing can be applied to a condition specced necro. In sPvP it is a common practice to just mark the necro and kill them. Death shroud use to give you a lot of survivability but at the moment, against GOOD players death shroud is no problem. If you have a super try hard, win all mindset, then the only time you would want a necromancer on your team is if your team comp is a heavy tanky/condition team comp. Because necromancers excel at condition control (spreading conditions, taking them away from your team, etc). Outside of that rare circumstance the necro doesn’t do ANYTHING better then other classes. the necro doesn’t team fight better, doesn’t roam better, and doesn’t 1v1 better.

Now keep in mind that I am only addressing high level competitive sPvP. Also that I still do run the necromancer in most of my tournament games. But having tried other classes in tournaments, its sad to see how easy it is to wreak people on other classes, and how hard I have to outplay to excel on my necro. In 8v8 pugs I can easily outplay people and just have a lot of fun crushing people. But it’s a different ball game when you are playing against teams that theory craft deadly team comps, and have a lot of experience with their classes.
Now, if you’re just looking for a fun class to play, despite the state the necromancer is in right now, I would still recommend it. To me, something just feels fun about playing it.