Trait Overhaul
ah! I thought that was someone who had an idea about a new trait they wanted to see – wasn’t clear from the title of the post they were talking about the overhaul.
So with the news here – https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/traits-unleashed-forty-new-traits-and-more/
including:
Necromancer: Unholy Sanctuary
In addition to a bit of a trait line rework, the necromancer’s Death Magic will be gaining the ability to heal your health pool while Death Shroud is active. Unholy Sanctuary allows you to turtle in your Death Shroud and slowly heal yourself, granting you additional survivability in situations that might otherwise spell certain death. The healing rate of Unholy Sanctuary is the same as the regeneration boon and will be affected by healing power.Let the wild speculation and maybe even a little rejoicing begin!
Sorry, can’t rejoice over this. It will be a Grandmaster Trait in the Death Magic line. So, to obtain the sustain that is supposed to be a hallmark of the class (LOL) and permit us to heal while in Death Shroud (something the necro community has been asking for for a long time), we’re supposed to dump 30 points (now only 6 points with the pending revisions to the trait system) into Death Magic? All so that we can gain what I predict on average will be about 600 health while in Death Shroud?
Then, to top it off, we either will hit like a wet noodle because of the need to sacrifice points from Spite to gain the Death Magic Grandmaster while putting points into Blood Magic to maximize healing power; have zero synergy with our other “sustain” line – Blood Magic – because of the need to take points out of that line to put into Spite to maintain some semblance of DPS; or become a ghost who’s scariest attack is to go “BOO!” as a result of maximizing Death Magic and Soul Reaping at the expense of the other lines just to slow our inevitable death.
Yeah, this new trait is really going to grant us additional survivability and is exactly what the necro profession needs.
/sarcasm
The net effect will be to do nothing but extend by a couple seconds/one or two additional hits our already delayed yet inevitable death at the hands of focus fire and CC spam. The min/maxing armchair theory crafting aside, the trait will still fail to deliver the sustain and attrition this class needs. It’s another missed opportunity and failure à la Signet of Vampirism.
Contrast this with thieves’ new Invigorating Precission whereby 5% of their critical attack damage will be returned as healing. One of the hardest hitting, fastest hitting professions with one of the best de facto attrition mechanics (stealth) now gets 5% of their DPS returned to them as health. You thought there was QQ-ing before about thieves, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. GG ArenaNet!
That trait would have been more appropriate for the Blood Magic line’s Vampiric Precision, for example. Instead, we get healing equivalent to a regen buff while in Death Shroud (a resource-dependent profession mechanic versus the thieves’ new always-on heal-on-crit) IF we spend 30 points in Death Magic.
To rub a little more salt into the wound, thieves’ Invigorating Precision is in their Critical Strikes line; the line that improves their critical hit chance so they can…you know…gain health on crit. Contrast this with Unholy Sanctuary; a trait that benefits from healing power in the toughness and boon duration line!
The devs are totally clueless when it comes to the necromancer’s attrition and sustain. You could throw darts at a board to which is pinned all of the necro’s traits and come up with better balance and synergy than these guys.
Whoo-Hooo! Let the rejoicing begin.
So many souls, so little time. ~ Kraag Deadsoul