Guild Wars 2

I think resistance on corruption skills defeat the purpose of having the conditions applied to the necro. We do need a source of resistance, but I think other utilities are where we should find them (like shouts). Though, I think cool down reduction for an extra condition is underwhelming. Maybe if corruption skills became instant cast or had reduced cast times in exchange for the extra condition.

The big thing I am noticing is everyone really liking the idea, but thinking Arenanet will never do an AMA. What if we got r/Guildwars2 mods involved, as seeing if they could request an AMA or maybe see if Arenanet would do a Q & A with some important members of the Necro community/Guild Wars 2 community (Maybe Pro player or dungeon speed runners). Maybe I do not really understand how difficult setting something like this up would be, but there seems to be a couple of relatively easy ways for Arenanet to get their vision for necros across to the community while addressing our concerns.

Would it be possible to set something up similar to a AMA? I think hearing the balance teams vision of the necro would be nice and an AMA would also give the community the chance to be heard/vent. I do not think Arenanet has done a very good job communicating what they think is wrong with the necro and what changes they are considering. Arenanet also has not weighted in on the communities debates about what is wrong with the class or commented on the communities suggested changes.

The cast time and the recharge need to be altered, but I think Augury of Death (7% cool down reduction per target hit by the shoot) is weak, especially compared to the major adept traits. Unfortunately, the cool downs for reaper shoots are probably slightly balanced around Augury of Death.

I really like the theme of corruption skill and I think expanding the theme to the necro other utility skills could justify a huge power increases in our utility while maintaining a interesting theme.

Spectral:
Could use a percent of either total life force or current life force in the cast cost. The cool down of all spectral skills could be lowered and spectral skills would no longer grant life force.
_________________________Spectral skills___________________________

• Spectral Wall
  blocks projectiles and fears foes who try to walk through or shoot through the wall
• Spectral Walk
  Remove all movement impairing conditions and become invulnerable(3s?)
• Spectral Grasp
  Remove the projectile and have the effect happen immediately on target, apply torment and chill.
• Spectral Armor
  Gain protection and stability, chill foes (or damage foes) that attack you.

Signets:
Could cost a percent of health and have a very low cool down, however each signet apply an effect that increases the health cost of the next signet.
_________________________signets___________________________

• Plague Signet
  Turn this into a signet that is good for conditionmancers, I currently do not have any really good ideas for this signet
• Signet of Spite
  keep the passive. On active give a percent (not vuln) or flat damage bonus to the necro (and maybe teammates)
• Signet of Undeath
  Passive needs to change, maybe move last rites to this signet. Active is fine, but needs to be improved.
• Signet of the Locust
  Change the active to be a blink, with the right cost I do not see this as a problem.
• Signet of Vampirism
  Passive: heal for a percent of the damage dealt. Active: Deal damage to target (Cost of activation + a percent of siphoned damage or passive healed), each attack siphons a portion of the damage. (For clarity: this skill would damage the target, then each attack siphones some health up to the amount of damage dealt by the active. )

___________________________wells___________________________
I imagine wells will be the most controversial when it comes to these changes. I personal favor a health upkeep cost, these would give them unlimited up time coupled with a low cool down. Mechanically I am hoping to incentives casting wells for a short time then moving them.

• Well of Power
  Grant pulsing stability every second for the entire duration on top of original ability.
• Well of Suffering
  Have damage increases by a percent of the health upkeep cost every three seconds.
• Well of Darkness
  Targets are feared if they receive three stacks of blindness while in the well.
• Well of Corruption
  Generate life force for each boon removed.
• Well of Blood
  Water field that pulses a set amount of health, upon despawn/decast the well release a burst of healing(base amount + a portion of health upkeep cost).

_________________________Shroud_________________________
Shroud will need some changes as well to help balance out the changes to our utilities. Our weapon sets might need to be altered as well, but let’s not go there now.
-General changes*
Remove life force lost per second and replace with a set activation time (If a set activation time proves necessary for balance). Give resistance in shroud, we currently lack resistance and death shroud seems like a good place to give a strong amount of resistance. Give stability on skill 4.

Final notes:
I am ignoring minions because the AI is broken and needs to be fixed before they could undergo a massive overhaul. Corruption still needs some changes as well, but no a complete overhaul so I am ignoring Corruption skills as well. Traits for each of these utilities will need to be altered as well. Signet trait should probably allow for life force generation.

Thanks to Zefrost.3425 for suggesting a formatting style for necro skill changes.

I believe he/she thinks life blast should be a chain skill. The rest of the post is about the benefits from making life blast a chain skill. It’s not a bad idea and I agree with the change, but with reaper getting a chain auto this change wouldn’t happen till after reaper release.