Guild Wars 2

Archmage Logan, my 2nd lvl 80 Necro, and is now my main.

I am just here to say a few bugs that are rather annoying, and really limit a certain class. We would really appreciate a few comments as well from the higher ups. It is a nicely compiled list, and it is constantly updated, so, a few fixes on the list every now and then would be great. Here is the list. Thanks.

Edit: Also, I just ran into a bug while putting the Scythe Staff Skin on my staff, and now I do not have a “Switch Weapons” button.
Edit 2: The “Switch Weapons” button returned after using a skill. Strange.

^ Can’t…stop…lol’ing!
P.S.: They finally got rid of the Jon Peters thread! XD

Unpredictability.4086:

Have a poll where people vote on what they want to be prioritized.

…right after I said that there wasn’t much else that could be done, you come in and be creative! Why, I ought to (praise you for being more creative than I) and then when I am done with that I am going to take my fist and (give you a fist bump) like you have never received before!
:)

kinderghast.8501:

I am not sure what you mean by consolidation.

Do you mean the pages and pages of threads collected all in the one place, that being the Necromancer forum – any threads made in the General forum get moved or deleted quick smart.

Do you mean the sticky thread with a neatly compiled and maintained list of all currently identified issues.

I will have to closer look through the Ranger forum more, but there seems to be less consolidation of Ranger complaints in that forum than there has been in this Necromancer forum.

I am not sure what you are suggesting we do differently to get a response from a dev?

Yeah, I can’t see us being able to do much more. The necros find the bugs, test them, and post them in a thread that was sticky’ed by the devs (so obviously they know where it is). It is very neat and well maintained (thank you’s to They are hashes.4523 and the many other finders and testers). I really don’t know what else could be done, besides what I have mentioned in another post, but no one likes to get infracted, and it would just generate a negative view about us.

Lich Form- Upon entering this form, you will be transformed into a giant lich (now 5x as large), have no skills, and a target will be placed on you.

Epidemic- Casting this skill causes conditions to be spread to nearby allies

Any amount of fears have been removed

@ QSpec
I feel for them as well, but at least they have gotten a dev reply… https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Ranger-update/first#post513272

@Eon Oh no! Let’s not actually do it! I kid, I kid! XD I would hate for them to see those and think “We will show them bugs…”! (PS I know you were joking as well…or at least I will assume so, lol)

@ tim
Yeah, I can definitely see the outcries of “Necro r OP nurf neowww!”. I considered saying we should have one of those we are missing mixed in with our other weapons skills, but quickly decided that would be stricken as overpowered and I would be biased.

@ Knote
Actually, that makes sense. Some real life diseases cause confusion, so it could make sense!

@Doomsayer
I remember that. We were quite the dreaded class to fight because of that. I feel that this generation’s necro is different though for some reason. Idk if it is the new mechanics or just the class, but it feels different.

@ Jericho
Yeah, the complaints would definitely roll in, but I think we deserve to have ALL of the conditions if we are (except in a few cases) forced to go with conditions. If the other scholars can have burning and also spec for conditions, why can’t we have burning and/or confusion? Bleeds can put pressure on the enemy, but I feel that the only way to fight is to stack all of my bleeds and go into a complete evasive/defensive mode while trying to keep those stacks up. It just seems to take forever to kill someone, and let’s not mention if they wash your work away. -_-

Idk how I feel about torch offhand (though Onza’s idea was great!), but I agree with those who said we should have a “Spectral Flame”. It would be the first time I used a spectral skill, and I would love it.
(Btw, I was kinda surprised by so many great responses and no one getting bashed or flamed!)
Edit: NOW the reply button works. XD

I have spent quite a bit of time as Necro. I just got my 2nd Necro to 80 today (Party of one here. I know no one else cares, but that’s ok, lol. ). But, in that time, it has made me think about this.

That something I mentioned us missing, I think, is 2 conditions that we could benefit greatly from. Burning and Confusion.

We have Bleed and Poison, and I am not going to complain that bleeds are worthless, because they are a great source of damage. Poison on the other hand, I don’t really get much of a use out of it. The Poison Field just doesn’t seem worth the utility slot for me. It just seems too easy for the enemy to deal with. I only use my scepter/warhorn mainly for bleeds and to gain swiftness, so I don’t really notice the small poison. I use the staff to stack as many bleeds as I can (usually able to maintain 10 on a single target), control the flow of battle, keep conditions off of me, and generate life force. Staff just seems to work for me at any range, and seems to do the most damage while keeping me in control, usually.

I just want to throw in my 2 copper and say that we could use one of the stronger conditions. Bleeds are 5% of our condition damage and Poison is 10%. On the other hand, Confusion is 15% and Burning is a whopping 25%. Every other class has direct access to burning, as well, minus us. I know we can toss it back at them, but having direct access makes it more worthwhile. I know it probably wouldn’t make much sense for us to have Confusion, but something like a Dark/Unholy Flame would make sense, at least, to me. I would happily trade the staff 5 for a Burning. I believe that the 40sec (or 32, as I have, with the 20% cool down) would be justifiable then, due to the damage. Waiting that long for a 1 1/4 sec Fear, that I only use as an interrupt isn’t worth it to me.

Am I crazy for thinking this?

@brickforlife.1364
We do get a knockback in Lich form, it is Chilling Wind (3). I think it sometimes has problems with our height, though.

On to the post, I can agree with many points here, especially the builds. I am driven to the edge of insanity when I am trying to keep my 10 stacks of bleed up to do the best damage I can do, but everyone else can easily wash them away, either passively or actively. Then, are given a burst skill that they don’t have to work hard for to do crazy amounts of damage (crazy to me anyways).

It seems like other classes seem to have much easier times stopping in our tracks. Ex: Go into Lich form, get the tiny, weak minion army up, then get Moa’d and lose EVERYTHING.

I am not sure if I am the only one that also thinks there is a problem with the way the condition stat works, but I think there is a rather large gap for more damage (With bleeds only using 5% of the the stat, and poison using 10%). All other classes have access to burning (uses 25% of condition), and I think we should have at least 1 way to burn foes.

I am 19, and loving my necro. It is hard to find the time (going to college for Game Design), but the weekends and breaks help to help me get my fix. Necro’s could use some love, though. Just had to throw that out there, sorry. XD

Also, this game is very nicely polished. Between the constant events, and the linking of the events, it is hard to stop myself from roaming and doing events. The only time I really do is when I do PvP, or try to be a good soldier for my server (Fort Aspenwood).

I ran into some problems with Consume Conditions, all in one day, at separate times. Here is a list:

1. After dodging and quickly using Consume Conditions, the skill was used, I was healed, but the condition (Vulnerability) was not erased. It was not refreshed by any means, either. The timer was still going normally.

2. When being hit with Hunter’s Shot from a Ranger, I used CC and the skill was used. I got the heal and erase, but I was then knocked back, and CC used the cd of a knockback instead of it’s usual 25sec.

3. When using CC and being hit by Hunter’s Shot I used CC and was stuck in the end animation for it. The skill was not used, but I was stuck in the animation until I used a skill.

Edit: Sorry, I could not reproduce these things again, but I just couldn’t find a willing Ranger. The problems seemed to stem from them, so I tried to recruit one. No luck though.

Josher.9612:

A Volcano.2510:

If you don’t enjoy it, don’t play it.

I like how tanky it is…I was just in that lvl 80 Orr zone around the temple of Grenth and soloing a ridiculous number (like 10 guys) of mobs at a time. And you can just keep doing it because you have so many “get out of jail free cards”…Death Shroud, Plague form, 4 wells that siphon health, etc. By the time one is on cooldown some other one isn’t, and you can just rotate them.

I just played another class (low lvl engineer if you must know) and I was startled that a mere couple mobs can make a dent in my health bar. That hasn’t happened with necro (outside of dungeon mobs obviously or champions—although I have solo’d a couple of champions) in a long time.

But if you don’t enjoy it then don’t play it. The bugs are getting fixed slowly though, so if that is your major concern I wouldn’t worry about things.

Edit: Build is 10 death, 30 blood, 30 soul and use dagger/horn + staff if anyone cares. Full clerics/dwayna sets and heal gear.

Sounds like you’re a damage sponge that hits back like a wet noodle. Good job though, being creative=)

I don’t think OP wants a tank build, though. It is fine and dandy that you like to be tanky, but that is how you like it. The classes are supposed to be able to perform every role, and some variations.

I know they are fixing bugs, but they are also changing things prematurely. I think the bugs should be resolved before changing the way a skill operates.

@Teknomancer
I agree. It would actually make it a skill that (gasp) works well on both levels of its intended use! As it stands though, the bleeds are just not worth their weight to have the damage spread over 30secs.

Angry Flying Squirrel.3041:

Epidemic got nerfed (fixed) hardcore for wvw. Now it only has a 600 range. Have fun trying to get that off now.

600!? That is awful range. Why not just let us keep that “bug”? I mean, out of all the things in that list that they know is there, why take that away?

Also, I am going to have to say that even though I try for a power build, I use condition as a secondary means of damage. I used BiP for the bleeds, but above all I used it for the LF. The bleeds were awful, due to the fact that they would be washed away before even reaching anywhere near the 30s mark, but the LF made it worth it. I would rather have the 20% LF than the Might. Sounds strange coming from a power build, but it helped with having DS to fall back on during an enemy burst.

Onedoesnotsimply.5740:

and I don’t see any patch notes this week. Just maintenancing the gem store (shoulda figured that)

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/news/Update-Notes-October-1st-2012/first#post320824 (Though I am more inclined to call them October 2nd patch notes.)

I ditched my lvl 80 Saladmancer for a human. They just pull off the, for a lack of better description, “pretty boy” look that I have and like to have in common with my characters. The humans are so much easier to mold. Necros- “Just so nice, I had to do it twice”.

Lol, I know you are excited about your first pvp video, but you only have to post once! I promise it will be seen!

Eh, idk. I would like to utilize those buttons like the other scholars, but they wouldn’t have any use for non-minion builds. You minion masters should get some control, because, they aren’t the brightest color of dye, we all know that. Maybe a ctrl+click (or customized) to make them focus on one target?

Dibrom.6408:

Archmagel.1350:

Lopez.7369:

It would honestly be better if Greater Marks didn’t affect Chillblains at all.

Wait…wha? I would just like to see the bug fixed. Why would it be better if it didn’t affect it all, if you don’t mind me asking?

Because a non-greater mark’d chillblains will work 100% of the time.

Eh, I am sure that it will be fixed, too. Though, nachtnebel is right. I have seen one or two people post this in the Necro bug list.

Lopez.7369:

It would honestly be better if Greater Marks didn’t affect Chillblains at all.

Wait…wha? I would just like to see the bug fixed. Why would it be better if it didn’t affect it all, if you don’t mind me asking?

Level 80 here. Necromancer was my main in GW and I just can’t tear myself away from it. It fits the way I like my casters to be, too. Also, I continue because we will get a good fix soon. Hopefully today was just a little prep for the 10/1.

Wells activate where once you cast them, unless you have the targetable wells perk. The Well of Suffering is the one that you would probably want for DE’s as it does good damage to anything in it.. As for AoE’s, the staff has 4, which you can make larger with a perk. The staff uses marks, that activate when touched by an enemy. That being said, they won’t activate on environmental destructibles unless it is in a mark and it explodes from an enemy touching it (when I say “touching it” I don’t mean they have to move into it for it to activate, you can place it under them and they will activate). The m/oh weapons usually depends on the build you are going for. If you like the conditions, the scepter/dagger combo is really great for conditions. That combo also has 2 AoE’s, 2 & 5.

The staff has a nice effect of making a scythe out of itself when attacking something, laying the marks is quite fast, it has great versatility and utility, and I find that it hits pretty good and helps spread those conditions. The scepter can make arms come out of the ground with its #2 attack AoE, I find that pretty neat. The dagger is pretty fast and hits hard with it on main hand. Other than that, you may want to try them for yourself, or even look at the wiki . That link will send you to the Necromancer skills page.

Necromancer can be a really flexible class. We aren’t dependent on pets, they are just more tools. I, myself, don’t use any of the minions. I know there are others here, as well, that don’t run minions. You will have to look past the bugs, but Necro really is a great class. It is my favorite profession, and I have 2 other level 80’s as well, but I just enjoy my Necro the most.

Tony.2150:

But BEING SAID I do not want any other ideas on what you think would be good. ONLY FROM THE FORUM PEOPLE I HAVE SEEN PROPOSE GOOD ARGUMENTS AND ETC -Angrysquirrel, Mathemagician, and They are hashes.

Now that is just wrong. Why write off the rest of the community?

Anyways, I wish ANet would at least say “Yeah, there are going to be Necro fixes in this update for sure”. It would be a nice beacon of hope. If there aren’t any Necro fixes in the 10/1 update, then there really is no other excuse than that ANet hates Necros.

forice.3165:

i never think most people like death shroud instead of skeletons and zombies. let’s conduct a poll on the homepage. let’s see who is the troll. i am sick of being called troll.

I haven’t called you a troll, and I don’t think you are one. I am just saying that I, for one, don’t like the thought of being forced to use minions. Why not make a poll, or another thread asking so?

+ 1 ..err.. + 2!
I am liking the idea of how DS would work, and taking the skills out of it to place them on our f2-4. I always thought it was strange that we didn’t utilize them like other scholars. Good work on looking out for each and every build and play style.

^ Minions….all of those are minions, and not everyone likes minions. We know you do, but not all of us do. Some like having Necros that don’t have to rely on minions to do the dirty work.

And again, no. I am sure there are those out there who like undead minions, but some of us like just the raw dark power, and shouldn’t be forced to use minions. GW2 is supposed to be about us having choices. We are supposed to be able to make any build that suits our play style. Even in GW I didn’t use minions later on, unless the Ritualists ghosts count, then it makes a grand total of 2.

I would vote for a fixed version of our class.

@They are hashes- Sure, I will tomorrow.

@Angry Flying Squirrel- I know, it feels off. It may be a couple of weeks old, but I felt like I saw more then too.

Just tweeted, apparently it was across all levels.

They are hashes.4523:

Archmagel.1350:

Well, last time the distributions looked something like this…

I would like to know if that chart reflects all created characters (1-80) or just level 80’s.

In my guild we have 100+ level 80’s, just 4 are Necros. (And 0 engineers)

Me too, because I know I see more Mesmers than that. I also see more Norn and Asuran as well.

Well, last time the distributions looked something like this…

To answer forice: Yeah, I like DS much more than more mindless minions. I don’t like sharing my power.

I do hate the fact that DS has caused to have be permanently weakened, because those few moments in DS are not enough to make up for the low damage, the lack of good crowd controls or other interrupters like, a decent fear on the (supposedly) most feared profession.

Yikes… I see others have brought their daggers to this thread. I think I will keep mine in the bank, but anyways, here is my build and some details.

http://tinyurl.com/cxw9fej

(I know I don’t have have a Grandmaster trait, but I don’t feel that I would get as much out of them as I would for branching in the other trees. I use this in pve and spvp, but I am building myself up for tpvp. Also, I am not claiming that I am pro or anything. This is just the build that fits my play style.)

I have found this build to work nicely for myself, well, as nicely as I can considering the staff bugs. This build is focused on power, with condition damage as a secondary means of damage, and toughness to get the staff skills, live a bit longer, and get a small amount of power while I am at it. The way I play it is, like any mage would try to combat an enemy, keep the enemy as far away as possible. I feel like I get more out of the staff than any other weapon, so it is my main. It has a good balance of damage and control, and that is great for my build. With the increased area of the marks, it is much easier to control large crowds of enemies, and it helps me double conditions. Whether I am trying to guard the keep in wvw, or trying to bring down enemies trying to capture those points in spvp, the staff is the weapon of my choice, though I use the scepter/dagger combo when needed.

Weapon:

Staff 1- Does some damage and grants 3% life force. Good for keeping my life force up so I am able to use DS for defensive measures.

Staff 2-Send this out as soon as you can. This is your secondary source of damage.

Staff 3-Use this for slowing your enemies. When you find a nice opening, use it with Corrosive Poison Cloud to make a combo.

Staff 4- This skill mitigates conditions for you and is the most damage dealing mark. I know I don’t like bleeding because of “Blood is Power”, but I think my enemy does, so I believe that I should just give him my bleeding, along with any other condition on me. Also, because it is an AoE, I won’t leave his friends left out either. Aren’t I just a nice person?

Staff 5- This skill is one I only use as an interrupter or to make a hole. There really is nothing glamorous about it, sadly.

Skills:

Consume Conditions- I chose this for the ease of building up more healing, and to be a mitigate skill when the staff and scepter/dagger transfers are on their long cd.

Corrosive Poison Cloud- This is a corruption skill, so it benefits from “Master of Corruption” in regards of having a lower cd. It is also used for the poison combo field, along with Staff 3. This skill also weakens and poisons enemies. Finally, since you weaken yourself, you can either use that to heal or lengthen the time the enemies are weakened.
Epidemic- This skill is perfect for 2 or more enemies. Throw as many conditions on one (or both) as much as you can, then hit this button and the targets friend(s) feel twice the pain! And gives you a condition to do whatever you want with.
Blood is Power- This is my favorite skill. The enemy takes so much bleed damage, gives you a condition to to whatever you want with, and is only 24s cd for such a powerful skill.
Lich- This is my “Gtfo” skill. Whenever I feel too threatened, I play this skill. It is great for helping your team push the enemy back, or for bringing down those few that have ganged up on you. You also receive the added benefit of summoning many minions, which procs your “Protection of the Horde” to help keep you alive as well.

That pretty much sums up how I play Necro.

If the devs updated us on the status of Necro fixing as much as forice updates these forums, then we would be set. Not complaining, because, these are valid points, but, many valid points 10 times down the first forum page! XD

Sprawl.3891:

posting with the scythe animation is like facebook duck face. plz stop ;/

But it is the most awesome looking thing I have ever seen on staffs! It looks great and is really original! I don’t go around thinking “That is a sexy looking duck face”. I do however think “That is a sexy looking staff”.

Zyphent.2967:

I was under the impression that Conditions did not benefit from vulnerability.

So was I at first, but I noticed it on my necro a few weeks ago. Try to make your target bleed, record the bleed damage, then use the axe or something to inflict vulnerability. It goes up by some from what I have seen.

Another great thing is staff 4. It dumps ALL conditions on you into all enemies in an aoe. I love my staff too much. This is a good, well thought guide, btw. Great work! My build tries the power/condition, but I am still working with it, so I will have to give it more time.

@Deistik
Wait, I can fix that right now! “explds on comnd” There, nerfed spelling, problem solved. Now on to giving warriors more buffs…
XD

I do think that there will be a bundle fix. Though, a quick fix here and there would have been nice, the marks being blockable and the necrotic grasp come to my mind.

I probably am making myself work too hard for what I want, but I look around (and played) at the other professions and I see that they have so many viable builds. I do think my build will work for what I want, later.

I think that it is disappointing that my weapon skills do so little damage, even if I build one of my other professions up with to do the same thing I am trying to do. The ele has one earth weapon skill that stacks 6 bleeds instantly in an aoe. The only thing we have close to that is mark of blood that stacks 3 bleeds, then even when we add Blood is Power on top of that, it only makes 4, and to get the 7, we have to transfer our bleeding over to them, which leaves one target with 7 bleeds, and others with 5. I am not a fan of ele at all. I never have been, never will be. The whole avatar thing doesn’t work for me.

I am trying to build myself back up to be able to join tournaments by just doing quick pvp matches. I used to have a Curse/Death Magic/Communing Necromancer that focused on weakening then damaging the enemy, it worked very well for me (I am by no means “l33t super awesome look at me pwnIpwnalwayspwnwin”, but I could hold my own).

P.S.: Thank you for the Well of Suffering tip LastDay, it helps my bleeding and attacks add some nice damage with the vulnerability, and does some damage while they figure out they are in a well.

Ah, when I do the / I mean that for a combo. I am awful with cqb, so I have to avoid the daggers. I tried the axe and dagger off-hand, but it just produced nothing compared to my scepter with dagger off-hand, and my staff laughs in its face and takes its place back in my hands as I kill the hoard of risen following me with so much more ease.

Yeah…the axe/dagger just doesn’t do anything compared to the scepter/dagger. I have been trying to work with it, but it is worse than the scepter. I guess I will just have to wait for the changes to come to my beloved necromancer.

^Agree with you on the video and the class. Well said.

@Jackel

I am not sure what you mean when you say “some of the Staff bonuses only trigger if you’re within range of the mark when it goes off”. Please trust me, I am not trying to troll or anything, if anything I should be trolled for my preferred weapon choice. I main staff (I know, I am strange), and I get the condition dumps over VERY long ranges, even when I lay the mark down as far as I can then dodge back and someone steps on it.

I love the darkness of the Necromancer. I love playing the outcast mages that use power they allowed to/ is looked down upon, like Blood Mages (Dragon Age), or other mages of the dark arts.

I love the staff and how it becomes a scythe, that is smexy.

I love how I feel empowered when my guy finds power from a dark, raging beast inside him, bursts into that mass of darkness and yells “I am death incarnate!”.

Finally, I love how I truly feel and look like I am the master of death and darkness. (Along with fellow Necromancers of course!)

Tilron.2738:

Guild Wars 2 is a PvE game first and for most.

Which is EXACTLY why they spent so much time, effort, sweat, blood, and probably tears, making classes balanced by the spvp and tpvp in betas. It is also why they made any pvp in the first place. It is also exactly why they boast their competitive playing on their website, and on the lovely case…because it is a mini-game.
(Sarcasm switched to OFF mode now)

Oh, don’t worry, you didn’t discourage me from them, just the range and damage discourage me from them. I only used them when I couldn’t find a weapon smith when I started the game. I love to be in the back doing damage, but the bleeds are something else I have fallen in love with too. It really gives the dark/blood mage feel I like. I will do like you suggested and run with an axe/dagger as backup.

I am not a fan of the wells. They have such a short duration, and such a long cool down, that they just can’t take the place of my other skills. I would like to use them, because they are very good, but they just aren’t viable for me in the constant combat that I run into.