Guild Wars 2

This is the question i ask myself constantly while playing,

Please note that this may seem like a rant, it is not intended to be such but rather and observation/idea

Let me just state that i love the concept of the necromancer, the problem i have with it tho is that i don’t feel like one while im playing it, in PVP especially and the way the class uses weapons reminds me of this the most.

To explain what i mean by this let’s start with the staff,

“Inscribe a mark (to cause X effect)” is what most of the skills open with, you place your mark on the ground either under an enemy or just as a trap/roadblock, placing it under your target triggers the mark with no delay and aply’s the effect on the spot,
using it as a roadblock however makes it so that people who pay attention to it’s placement can dodgeroll through it to ignore (in some cases) all of the damage,
wich makes me think that staff use forces me into a supporting role rather then it actually being a valid offencive weapon choice.

Wich brings me to Dagger/axe/scepter +offhand of choice

Should you choose to drop the staff from your build alltogether you will be painfully reminded that you significantly lack cast range anytime you are not in shroud,
the currently most populare weapon pick being dagger mainhand makes you feel like a melee class, and the way necro’s get focused without any means of escape other then a 180 sec CD plague cloud or the more comenly used walking sticks attached to your hips you really don’t want to be walking around in a SPVP match for 10 minutes while half of that time is spend in death timer or walking back to a control point because the focus train comes around every 60 seconds.

On a class experiance note, in my eyes the necromancer leans towards caster the most, so let’s take a look at other casters. in terms of casting skills

The mesmer:
GS 3 – AOE damage without any delay no matter how it is placed, instant damage.
GS 5 – cone cast pushback to give you some breathing space, CC/helps with escape and survival
Torch 4 – stealth and blind, CC/helps with escape and survival

Elementalist:
Fire:
Staff 3 – AOE (burning) damage aplied instantly, no delay damage (tho aplied over time)
Staff 4 – Rollback/dodge, gives breathing space(to cast safely)/helps with escape and survival
Air:
Staff 3 – Push foes backward, gives breathing space/helps with escape and survival

Wich brings me back to the question at the top, what am i?

the one thing i could think of that might really chance the experiance from what it is now to a more necromancer like experiance, is a (complete) revamp of the staff skills, but since i have not played as long as some other necro’s this might hit a sore spot for players who love the way the staff works, so i would love to get feedback on this and ofcourse your own idea’s on what could be changed especially if you feel the same way.

Staff skills are amazing as they are and don’t need a revamp. The notion that it is a support weapon is completely subjective on your part.

could you elaborate as to why you find the staff skills amazing?

The staff skills grant a lot of utility. Chill to slow enemies, regeneration, poison to delay healing, condition transfer, crowd control, etc. I would say staff is more of a utility weapon than an offensive weapon considering it’s actual damage (outside condition builds) is not fantastic. I do find it useful to place Mark of Blood not on top of the opponent sometimes to bait them into wasting dodges.
As for lacking range without DS, that’s why axe needs to be 900 range and deal more damage.

I’d add to that list that you can trait for nice life force regen and unblockable marks if you choose.

900 range on axe would be nice.

Rant post:

What they did with Staff 4 is despicable. Before the change we were able to transfer condi from teammates in the area as well, but they decided to KILL one of the very few support skills we had, without explanation, as usual.

Also, the reduction from 3 bleeds to 2 on Staff 2 is just laughable, as if we were too good at condi bombing, when in fact every other profession were already doing it better (not sure about guardians though).

Staff is “good” only when you compare it to trash weapons like scepter and axe. And if there wasn’t a trait that 90% of people take (because SR is almost always required), it would be mediocre.

“As for lacking range without DS, that’s why axe needs to be 900 range and deal more damage.”

this might fix some things

“Staff is “good” only when you compare it to trash weapons like scepter and axe. And if there wasn’t a trait that 90% of people take (because SR is almost always required), it would be mediocre”

this was the feeling driving my comments on the staff.

Thanks for the feedback so far, i am still very currious wether or not the necro currently embody’s (your) idea’s of a necromancer and if anyone thinks it should be attuned to do so more, or maybe it’s fine and im looking at it wrong?

Staff is garbage, it does not provide real utility, it is boring, and the only reason it is used in builds is because it is our only other choice for condi builds, and power builds often need higher range than Axe (which is also awful).

The “utility” it provides is covered all over the rest of our profession. The fear isn’t unique, condition transfer isn’t special, regen is all over, and chill/poison are common. You can very easily replace that utility, which isn’t true of any other utility/support weapon in the game, they all offer unique packages of skills.

Honestly if Scepter had a better 3 skill and had LF generation, and if Axe was 900 range and had a solid kit, staff would find itself woefully outperformed. It needs help, desperate help.