Guild Wars 2

Corfel.8047:

Hello, I was here

So was I.

Fordel.3208:

DaoC was a game where you had hundreds of people die in literal seconds thanks to a handful of casters and a unfortunate bit of lag.

You mean an unfortunate lack of awareness due to not panning their cameras while mindlessly following the zerg leader. A large group of people all clumped up on each other not paying attention deserve to die in seconds to a smaller group bombing them to kitten and back with AoE.

I don’t mind the fact fact that people like to run in big zergs, and I don’t mind getting rolled by larger numbers. But the fact that the side that already has the numerical advantage is getting its hand held by an AoE cap as well as how the rally system works stacks the odds so much in a zergs favor they don’t have to pay attention at all.

Bumping the cap to 10 would create more interesting fights (IMO). Zergs could still clump for buffs pre-fight. Spreading out (instead of clumping even more) when AoEs start to hit. It would help spread out the fight in a larger area instead of just a mass ball of players.

Wukunlin.8461:

Personally I don’t find guardians needing more conditions. I think we need more interrupts.

Bane Signet, GS5, Hammer4, Shield5, and Staff5/Hammer5 for area denial/potential interrupt. Guardians have a pretty solid selection of abilities for interrupts. Most might be melee range but they also come with a good bonus effect.

If you’re going to do a mix of roaming and zerging in WvW i would suggest Conditions. It’s just a bit better for smaller group play since we can’t really run out of a melee/short range fight and the extra wiggle room from staff/scepter helps keep your distance. Solo roaming it doesn’t really matter.

Zacchary.6183:

How about this:

1.) Limit max amount of players from one server to 50 for all maps.
2.) Redo maps with more objectives to take and less space inbetween.
3.) Add plenty more maps.
4.) Map designs should reflect events from different times or completely obscure and otherworldly areas like this.

Large amounts of open space in WvW is actually a good thing. Making an area smaller would only encourage zerging since a zerg could just defend everything at once. I do agree with a rework of the maps. Stonemist is WAYYYY too big. If shrunk in size it would give a gigantic open field area in the center of the map for zergs to duke it out while the outer areas will still have the choke points and geography for skirmishes.

For the other maps i would suggest just getting rid of those giant lakes and just put a small pond in the middle. Barely anyone like underwater combat due to some classes having excessive amounts of utilities and elites not usable there (as well as no way to stomp). The area could be changed to just about anything and it would be an improvement.

ronpierce.2760:

I was looking at that the other day. After a bit of number crunching i decided even though the main effect 1 shots people, the scaling on the additional damage while collecting tears is almost non existent so your build is heavilily flawed and your comments are useless and moot. No one would even take that ability in competitive play.

Due to my own sense of self-importance and feeling of superiority to you I will now ignore anything you ever say from now on, insult you a few times, and repeat my name for good measure. L2p nub. You are a garbage player and probably a brony. BrykerBrykerBryker.

Edit: I forgot to say viable atleast once. Viable.

Just reached 100,000 hours playing Necromancer, second only to Xom who has recently surpassed infinity hours, I have gained a new ability called “Xomfire”. Purchased with just one skill point it allows you to dual-wield Scythes with an ability that does the damage of 1000blades (yes 1000) while stacking every condition in the game to 50 within a 1500 range PbAoE. Does extra damage if TheMightyAltrolls tears are collected while saying All Hail Mighty Xomfire in map chat.

Tobbygnome.6793:

Also if you knew anything about Necromancers, you would know Rifle is useless in tPvP, the meta is pistol. I have a double degree in Meta-ology and Necromancy.

I was laughing a bit while reading this thread but I completely lost it when I saw this.

It’s made the biggest impact on being able to 1vX for me. I don’t think I’ll be dropping it from the bar anytime soon.

Now that’s some good Necro play. But I’m very jealous of how little you were focused compared to how much I am in WvW (Theives love me). The only thing I would suggest is dropping BiP, not because it’s a bad utility but you seem to forget to use it quite a bit. Switching it for Well of Darkness for AoE blind on stomps (you mentioned this being a problem) as well as for safer rezzing.

Stunbreak+dodge roll past. Puts you between them and the wall. Chain of fear broken. Add in any stability and by the time you can remove it and reposition the wall is gone. It’s strong combo when pulled off, but requires a lot more skill on your side to pull off than it takes to break it.

Necros having burning isn’t the problem, the problem is Terror having a massive boost in dmg when paired with another condition. Terror with no bonus dmg+ burning will be close to the same dmg as Terror deals with the dmg boost now (that was fine and able to be dealt with appropriately). Getting ~2k dps per second from just two conditions is a bit too much especially when it is combined with a CC effect.

If Burning ever gets nerfed Terror could be buffed back up (10-25% instead of 50% would be better). Dhumfire takes enough points to force sacrifices in necro builds and doesn’t need to be taken away. I just think that Terror, as a necro only trait and condition, should be hit considering that it won’t effect balance on other classes an the numbers can be adjusted and monitored for balance the easiest.

I made a thread saying this but I’ll just say it again in here. Now that we have access to burning remove the 50% extra dmg from terror. We don’t need the extra boost anymore and we have two more conditions to help cover. Tweak necros if needed from there.

Terror losing the bonus dmg would be a small adjustment to our condition dmg that wouldn’t destroy builds and leave a lot more room for other changes if they need to be made. As it is now, I just see Terror as being way too big of a factor to include when making other balance changes. If the 50% extra goes, then Anet will have a lot more breathing room when it comes to touching our class. I think it would benefit the overall health of our class if they did this.

As a player who has only really played Necro since release I feel that with our new access to burning, longer fear duration on Doom and Spectral Wall change Terror really should lose the bonus dmg for having another condition on. It is still a high dmg condition without the bonus so it won’t destroy the build entirely. Since this is probably the most compained about trait/condition we have(and for good reason) it only makes sense to me to change this first and see what needs work from there.

Few tips for fighting Terror/Condi builds:
All of our fears can be dodged (even Doom if casted during dodge roll frames).
Spectral Wall and Reapers mark are on fairly long CD’s, use a stunbreak on these and you can stop the fear chain from hell.
We still start with 0% LF in matches, focus the necro like you always should have.
Stability is now the last boon to be prioritized by Corrupt Boon (protection, swiftness, regen, retal, fury, might, vigor, aegis, stability in that order). Since Terror is both a CC and condition stability will stop both the CC effect and the damage.
If the necro has burning+terror, he has no stability on his own, abuse that. If he has stability, then it’s either no burning or no terror.

Please try to keep this constructive. I still don’t know why Anet made so many changes to classes all at once and I know it’s frustrating to deal with but keep the anger out of the thread if you have nothing constructive to say.

chaosgrimm.5837:

I want to post this for clarity. I dont feel that ds is awful, I feel that as a class mechanic, that the level of synergy isnt where it needs to be for certain builds, con builds primarily.

With 2 (potentially 3 if traited) damaging conditions DS is fine for condition builds.

I will never understand the infatuation with stacking a ton of vitality on a class that is already on the highest base HP pool with another life bar on top of it as well as multiple ways to deal with conditions. Some bonus vitality is good but not enough to take priority over other stats.

As for the build, maybe swap two Lyssa runes in for a little extra duration on your conditions. Only lose 4 sec on battle sigil might stacks and even less on BiP. With all the extra power from might stacks DS1 and 4 will hit pretty hard with the high crit chance.

I will always suggest Norn, being able to get out of bad fights with the rest of your group instead of being left behind to die is amazing. As for builds, that all comes down to what you want to play, Cond.Dmg/Hybrid/Power can all work with a group around you.

The problem with it becoming a “temporary awesome” button is that making DS that strong with the amount of uptime we can potentially spend in it would be over the top. Right now it offers a good reward on every build to swap into. Single target bleed+chill, Torment for AoE on condi builds, Doom for CC and potentially another damaging condion it traited. Power now has a more useful auto with the DS1 changed and AoE damage with DS4.

You know this isn’t beta anymore and all that has changed…right? So why are you trying to “balance” necros like it is?

Andele.1306:

Nothing that was broken in design got fixed, we just got more builds to kitten with with the plethora we already had, and as said before some minion masters might have squeed a bit.

Broken in design? Dagger is not meant to have cleave, we have quite a large assortment of AoE abilities to make up for it. Don’t cast life siphon if you don’t have a target (shocking I know). OH dagger #4 works how it is supposed to, it’s a multi-target spell that transfers one condi per hit on each bounce with three bounces. Staff projectile finish is in line with all other projectile finishers. Scepter #3 is fine how it is and making a PBAoE would make it useless using scepter at max range or insanely op for LF generation if given a large radius. Making DS#1 full damage at all ranges and %Lf would just be ridiculous with the new 1200 range. Making DS#5 instant would give it almost no counterplay. Face it, we got a large buff and it still wasn’t enough for you.

We just got a massive buff…and you still want more? At this point just leave the class and play something else because it is CLEARLY not what you want and it will never be. As one or two others in this post pointed out you just want to be kittenly OP. I always try to be nice and helpful on the rare occasions I post but this is one of the few things that I can’t stand. Whining about serious buffs not being enough and wanting outrageous abilities that would make us god mode.

I’d hope for a decent base damage with O.K. scaling on power and average/low on cond.dmg (maybe around how much poison gets per tick?). That way it will be equally effective any kind of build.

The LoS issues aren’t just tied to the skill. It’s just the game itself doesn’t seem very well tested in that area in general. Small rocks and tiny inclines in otherwise flat ground need to be jumped over and can stop pulls halfway while smooth hills like the one described above can be pulled completely over. It’s just a matter of finding and remembering the spots/situations that work and the ones that don’t. There is a specific spot in one on the BL’s I can staff auto up a hill and watch it go up and hit, but if I move three feet to the left or right and I’ll be obstructed. Very annoying that I’ve played games 10yrs old with more intuitive LoS than GW2.

If running in a group in WvW, I would suggest dropping mark of evasion and Spectral Walk and picking up Foot in the Grave+Signet of Undeath. Guardian RoW/Staff#5 is more of a death sentence than just about any other ability and you won’t always be in range for someone to give you stability.

A cond.dmg build is very strong when played as a backfield control/support. AoE chill/cripple/fear will give your group a lot of kiting/chasing potential. If you are getting focused then your group needs to swing back and peel/kill those on you. The amount of control you can bring warrants a little babysitting (And being honest, who ISN’T going to drop to a couple theives focus without help.)

I’ll agree that right now for most builds its very hard to use Spectral Grasp without feeling like your losing a more important utility in tPvP. As for landing it, it’s not as hard as you think. The cast time and travel speed make it almost perfect to use about halfway through a dodge roll animation as long as you are not at point-blank/max range.
I’ve found it much more useful in WvW. When running solo it is very nice for keeping enemies from running. Between SG and DS#2 we can keep up with most classes in combat. In groups I could drop epidemic for it, most enemies either get downed+stomped to quickly or have a lot of condition cleansing. I’ve been finding myself using Epidemic almost always after CB if I actually want reliable results. Spectral Grasp will always be a niche pick utility, but it is much better than most Necros give it credit for.

Weakness as it is right now hurts Carrion builds more than Rabid anyway. As long as rabid still gets the crits to proc Sigil of Earth and Barbed Precision then losing 5-10% off the direct dmg won’t be much of a nerf.
Edit: Considering how much of a buff it will be for us overall I wouldn’t even call it a nerf.

With the recent fix to spectral grasp finally making the pull on the enemy the full 1,200 range I’ve been using it a bit in both sPvP and WvW to test it out. It definitely is more useful than it has been given credit for in the past as long as you pay attention.
Good Things about SG:
Pulls enemy to you (and your team)
Slightly faster cast time and travel time than DS#2
Chill lasts for 5+ sec in most builds (heavy in Spite tree or any Cond.Dmg build with +duration)
Life force gained can be increased with traits for a good amount gained from just one ability.
Like DS#2 can be precasted out of range and will still work as long as you are in range when it connects.
Many of the LoS issues are mostly caused by how hills interact from what I’ve tested (with some exceptions). If you are trying to pull someone down a hill you have to know if you are able to walk up it w/o jumping to not be obstructed. Some weird cases it will connect but only pull to the spot that needs to be jumped over. Pulling up an incline follows the same rule. It’s the same for both the Staff auto-attack and DS#2

Pendragon.8735:

Just another boost for carrion over rabid.

If the buff to weakness doesn’t actually reduce crit chance but dmg done by crits then it won’t really make a difference to rabid builds at all.

RedStar.4218:

I’m not too into my necromancer (well it’s my main, I did every dungeon and a few fractals but I don’t play with it when doing dungeons now that I have every other profession except ranger and engineer), but why would a condition build need precision ?

A lot of necromancers use precision in cond.dmg builds for more barbed precision and sigil of earth procs. With high base hp prec/tough/cond gear is very effective on us.

Go to the golem and hit staff #2 then #5, not that many numbers to look through to see the terror damage tick.

A ele spec’d more towards bunker is usually a stalemate. In the end they will end up beating you but it it going to be such a long fight that it will be decided by who gets help first (Most just run away after awhile in WvW). The squishier ele’s can be beaten with smart use of DS#3 to bait stunbreakers/cleanses early then waiting to CB as they leave water and chain your rotation inbetween fears. With low base hp an ele can be melted from ~60% hp if you hit everything as fast as possible. The biggest factor to win these fights is pay attention to both YOURS and HIS swap timers. Being able to do a full staff rotation>immediate swap just as they leave water can make the fight much easier. Also don’t be afraid to use CB to just wipe might stacks if they get it above 15. That is a ton of power/condi dmg to let them hold onto.

If you are planning on doing a good amount of WvW I would highly suggest rolling Norn. The racial elites are pretty much the only escape option we can get. If its just more casual play with some wvw thrown in every once in awhile then go for whatever race is most appealing to you.

Snow Leopard Elite is easily the best escape option you can possibly get on a necro. But it’s not going to drastically increase how well you can roam just by having it due to the CD. Being able to bail on one fight once every couple minutes isn’t something i would reroll for assuming your already lvl 80 or close to it. You would probably be better off just practicing how/who/when/where you fight as well as watching for any incoming enemies then to reroll for one ohkitten button.

Giving Near to Death a D+ is just grading it on your own personal idea about how good it is with your play style. Shroud dancing for perma fury or some of the other things we can trait DS to do on activation or deactivation is a lot better than you are giving it credit for.

1. Lich Form/Plague Form
2. Chain Fears off ledges or back into your team after a DS#2.
3. Landing the super rare Epidemics on someone loaded with conditions
4. The way a Necro plays as either Power/Hybrid/Condi always feels so unique compared to all the other classes.
5. My favorite thing has to be the trait lines by far. We have some useless traits just like every other class but we have so many options and different builds that actually work and are effective unlike so many other classes that go down the same 2 lines every time.

I ran a pretty glassy build using runes to increase protection duration an if i remember it was something around 9 sec from s.wall each time you passed through and i think SA gt up to 12. As for people in wvw, most are pretty stupid. Not uncommon to just walk around a zerg that is too lazy to pan a camera or find someone dumb enough to walk through a wall that doesnt directly do any damage to them.

Bhawb just hit the nail on the head with that last post. I would just like to add that a few professions have kinda mislead how people veiw traits in general. Look at eles, they have these two traits lines that have so many good things in them that it is very difficult to move away from those to actually make a unique build using other lines. Those lines are very likely going to beneefed or reworked until they have a tree just like ours…useful traits spread out among multiple lines but unable to get everything they could want like they can now.

Did he have any blocking abilities up like focus 5 or using his heal that blocks? Those i beleive can(and should) block CB. Auto’ing a few timea to remove or wait out the blocking duration might be why it seems to work more often when that happens.

Actually many of our traits are in lines where they would make sense to be in. Having minion traits in a line that gives you stats to stay alive longer makes sense. The longer you live the longer your minions will have to whittle down an enemy. Giving us options to make them live longer themselves/boon strip/remove conditions gives us different options to how we can build at the same time. There isnt just one MM build because of that
Edit: softspoken you do make a good point about the lack of corruption traits. There should be more for those skills. But complaining about the grandmaster traits both being centered around minions is a bit lame. Someone could just as easily say they were mad about both grandmasters in SR being for DS. If you dont want those traits then pick something else. If there is nothing else why are you still going down that line? They cant give us everything in every trait line otherwise the whole trait system would be pointless. Picking and choosing what you want comes at the price of sacrificing something else in another area.

The fact that our traits are spread out is actually a good thing in my eyes. We have a ton more options in traits/builds than most classes. The fact that classes are almost pigeonholed into trees no matter what stat bonuses it gives or what kind of build they are going for is a massive flaw in how the trait lines are supposed to work. Having 4 traits for staff in 3 different lines is fine considering where they are. Higher dmg marks? Most likely picked up in a power build and hey look at that its in the power line. Want larger marks and shorter cooldowns for more utility you go in a more defensive line. Marks that generate life force? Geuss what its in the line that give you a larger lf pool. Staff is a very universal weapon and its traits reflect that.

Blind wont stop a stomp. It can make down states interrupts miss securing your own stomp. Think you just had the two mixed up.

The best way i could explain it would be instead of targeting someone,auto attacking once or twice to switch minion aggro THEN finally using the ability you now have the option to send a direct command. To be honest i thinkthey could do this with all the minions. It might make things harder to land in a 1v1 but it would make 1vX, skirmishes and teamfights muh easier and more responsive then it is now.

I think you might be overestimating how much harder it would make it. As an experienced mm you keep very good track or your minions and the position they are in. With the gtaoe assist off you would just hover your mouse over either the minion or the minions target and in the same amount of button presses you will get the same result. Except now your not responding to your minions they will actually respond to you 100% of the time. For me the biggest problem with the minions was the fact that 90% of the time they did what i wanted. That other 10% when they just didnt do what i wanted them to really frustrated me since i couldnt control it and that is worse than missing due to lack of my own skill at timing and placing abilities.

If your minions were close enough before to instant explode and hit this change wouldnt make it any harder. Just put the aoe right on his head and boom instant explosion just like before. Its just now you have more control. Like if you were in a 1v2. You down one player with the first explosion off a point, you can now tell the other to come back and explode at yourfeet on-point giving you a chance to bait the other enemy into it. Or just make it switch targets as you usually would if you still want it alive for a little dps. In any situation where you could land the explosion with the ai now you could with the gtaoe its just now you have more control and more options.

They could keep the regular attack ai the same so the bone minions would still run up to attack. Just need to see if it possible to change the explosion from instant at current location to a targeted area. It might make it harder to land offensively due to having to lead the explosion but the superior control and utility would make up for that. Edit: gtaoe would help MM in teamfights by being able to send in the minion immediatly. I would rather completly whiff and be able to use the ability than constantly wait for themto respond to a target change with my autos and most likely die from AoE before i even blow them up. Also sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes im posting frpm my phone.

I think making the minions explode on ground target would be the way to go. It would add more control over the minions that many necros have wanted from the start as well as taking away the big fire and forget nature minions tend to bring as a playstyle when using them. A big bonus would also be giving MM’s more team support by being able to reliably use the blast finish to combo with other classes combo fields (Staff #4+ 2bone minions in a water field for some healing+potential condi clear for example.)

Thats why i decided not to make a new post about it Lol. Lets just keep this buried in the bottom of this one before anet just removes epidemic altogether.

I was actually going to make a whole new post hoping someone could test it out but three necros coordinating with epidemic could potentially keep chaining epidemics to perma immobilize a small group. It wouldnt even be that hard after the first two epidemics since one guy could have a 12sec+ immob on him for the last necro to spread.

With an all necro team i would definatly have atleast one power+wells build. Calling out a dagger 3 immob so another necro on point could immediatly epidemic as it lands could set up some nasty well bombs to clear off a point.