Your problem is highlighted in your own post. You say that a thief can kill you if you don’t dodge or use the right skills.
That’s the point. You have to dodge and use the right skills.
There are thieves that complain about their lack of survivability I’m sure.
Necromancer is far from being underpowered. I see two big problems that affect our class. One is with the traits, the other is with certain utility skills.
1.) Necromancer Traitlines: They’re bad. Really, really bad. Almost every line includes at least one minor trait that either contradicts the playstyle encouraged by the major traits or is of questionable use to begin with:
Spite – Death into Life, Siphoned Power
Curses – Target the Weak
Death – Arguably all of them, since the last one forces you to focus on power.
Blood – Vampiric. It doesn’t go against the theme of Blood Magic, but it’s a terrible trait.
Soul Reaping – This one actually has good minor traits.
Then of course we have certain major traits that don’t do a whole lot for us:
Spite – Spiteful Talisman (bugged, last I heard), Signet Mastery (not strong enough, since it doesn’t let us keep passive effects), Signet Power (lackluster, especially since most of our active effects are situational anyway), Chill of Death (no boon removal, last I heard), Axe Training (inferior to Close to Death in almost every case).
Curses – Reaper’s Precision (LF gain is too low or chance on crit is too low), Banshee’s Wail (not quite strong enough, IMO. Also why is it in Curses?), Withering Precision (probably inferior to Lingering Curse for most people putting 30 points in Curses).
Death – Spiteful Vigor (not strong enough for a master trait, was probably great back when retaliation was stronger), Reaper’s Protection (cooldown is way too long, especially since half the time it doesn’t fear the opponent anyway), Death Nova (poison fields aren’t very good, even if minions worked), Necromantic Corruption (boon removing minion attacks?).
Blood – Vampiric Precision (siphon is too small), Bloodthirst (siphoning isn’t strong enough even with this trait)
Soul Reaping – Fear of Death (bugged last I tried it, radius seems tiny, really long cooldown), Mark of Revival (fear duration too short to get a revive off), Decaying Swarm (in what way is a locus swarm helpful at 25% health?)
2.) Utility Skills: Some of them are really great. Others are questionable or just terrible. Corrosive Poison Cloud is fairly weak, all of the minions need better active skills (the AI is another matter entirely, but even if it worked the minion actives would be too weak), Signet of Spite is a waste of a slot, Signet of the Locust needs a stronger active or a shorter cooldown, Spectral Armor has a huge cooldown, and Spectral Wall is bugged and has a tiny combo field.
Even with the problems I outlined above, I feel the Necromancer is a competitive class. In WvW the focus is not on 1v1s or duels, but on team fights. Wells and marks excel there. 1v1s and duels are more common in sPvP or tPvP. It’s all about making sure your build is right for the situation and making sure you use your skills and dodge rolls effectively.
Another thing I’ve personally started to do is use gear that mixes power and condition damage. I wish there was power, condition damage, and toughness on gear. Precision is good too, but you don’t need a ton of it. Power really makes deathshroud shine, and all that damage coupled with bleeds and poison damage makes for some impressive kills.
