Guild Wars 2

Bacon.1835:

It also has this ridiculous 15s cooldown.

It’s 12? 9.6 with Unholy Fervor.

I’d still like to see this reduced to 6.8 or so, to account for Speed of Shadows.

Xecil.2798:

The scaling is pretty bad, too. With full Crusader’s weapons/armor/trinkets (503 Healing Power) it only increases the healing by 9.32043204320950252% (The decimal values are hyperbole, but you get the kitten point.)

Are you taking this number from a tooltip, or from the actual healing value you’re receiving in game? I’ve noticed the tooltip was incorrect (previous to the last patch).

Zetsumei.4975:

So I’ve recently understood why BB got nerfed, I did a dungeon with two friends playing revenant. They were afk next to me when I looked down and saw perma swiftness, fury and 15 might…

Ridiculous that we were the ones to get nerfed to compensate.

But if their permabuffs are balanced (and I’m not saying they are or aren’t), and the issue is that the trait we have was too strong when combined with them, it makes perfect sense for that trait to be nerfed (limited) in some way. Maybe not this way, but some way.

The notion that we shouldn’t be nerfed because of something another class does isn’t fully thought out.

Ragion.2831:

It really doesnt matter if Gs gets buffed or not. If your changes got implemented today, the problems will still be there, you will still be wasting your time with everyone else that is constantly evading, invunerable, blocking etc. All that would happen is the changes will give people more reason to stack all these negates.

//

What you are looking for is for the ability to punish classes that constantly stack attack negates. That unfortunately will not come from one weapon buff but from some traits being reworked and/or added.

The only issues I’ve had with negates was a DD Daredevil when I didn’t have enough condi cleanse (I was so stacked full of stuff, I would die before I could do anything to its hp bar). What are the others giving problems?

Rym.1469:

I’m not sure if that change didn’t push Condi Reaper a bit over the top. It’s incredibly powerful now.

Might be just that new “meta” doesn’t really have that much AoE cleansing as all metas over past 2 years had (D/D Eles, Shoutbot Guards/Warriors etc.) trying to replace it with CC and is quite vulnerable to Reapers.

Safe to say we are currently on top of the food chain, imo.

I think it’s this. Condi Reaper deal swith Dragonhunters really well through Rise!/minions for their traps, Death’s Charge for their True Shots, and condi damage for their low hp + lack of condi clears (since they’re used to killing things before those things can react). I think a lot of people are just learning how to play them, too. I was pretty awful for the couple of games I played it (though still put out 1mil damage, so… that was cool I guess).

Condi Reaper also puts out a lot of indiscriminate damage in team fights, murderizes minions and clones, and actually deals with someone getting in its face really well with Reaper’s Shroud.

There also doesn’t seem to be much of a meta past “play Dragonhunter, random builds on the new elite specs, and see what this Herald is all about”. When people start trying to make more balanced and multi-faceted (get it?) builds, the situation may even out better.

meow one twenty.4376:

@Dead, are you comparing Chill to DH? DH is burst then bust, not to mention the most complained about class shouldn’t be your metric if measurement. That’s called powercreep and it’s bad for games.

I’m just comparing relative strengths in a completely unscientific manner.

I’m not even sure if 400-900 (with no overwrites) is a good DPS marker for a GM trait or not.

Greatsword and Reaper in general don’t seem to have any issues with lifeforce. I think the only time it even could is if you’re spamming a very low damage Gravedigger and not actually killing anything.

It’s a selfish trait based on our own actions. That seems just like the necromancer design and playstyle, outside of Blood Magic.

Silverkey.2078:

Reaper is all about chill and scalable defense/offense. Currently BB does not scale in team fight, while it used to. There is no tweaks in number which will change that.

The amount of healing/lifeforce could be changed to increase by multiples off of how many enemies are around you, for each boon you apply to yourself, but this could give rise to some ridiculous situations when against a lot of minions/clones/etc.

Buuuuuuuut, hinging all of our teamfighting ability on a single trait in the elite spec line is bad design. Those still using base necro would want access to teamfight scaling as well, I’m sure.

While the current implementation is bad for build diversity when paired with the rest of the necro lines, because it requires Spite, so too was the old version; it was required for the profession as a whole to do well in teamfights. I’d rather see every line get some scaling to its defense.

Was chill damage always listed in the tooltips of spells that cause chill, because I just noticed that tonight.

Makes Spinal Shivers look even more disgusting than it is, and Focus look like a condi weapon.

It’s really not. It’s just not as good and teamplay synergistic nor multi-build friendly as it was before.

meow one twenty.4376:

Exactly. Overbuffed imo.

Compared to other Necro GMs, maybe, but even with the buff, I’m still not putting out near the damage I do on, say, the bullkitten that is Dragonhunter right now.

nearlight.3064:

I mean a 1 second ICD on the original effect probably would have been fine.

If they changed the values quite a bit. If not, it would have been a worse Unholy Sanctuary and would remove any sort of synergy with our/their multi-boon causing abilities.

I’m seeing 900-1k ticks from this now (once might starts stacking up), which puts it almost on par with Terror, but for much longer duration.

It’s also fantastic for builds running Blighter’s Boon. Each target hit by SS gives you a proc (up to 5).

I just started running this trait over the other two, and I didn’t even notice this! Thanks for pointing it out.

Well, I’ll say nearlight might be right about this whole condi business.

And I can’t tell you how useful Rise’s minions are for dealing with… everything, but especially Dragonhunter traps.

At least, this is the most damage I’ve done in an spvp match so far!

Most balanced way it could be, but might need some of these suggestions.

lolok

I would like to see the LF gain be more spread throughout the chain, the chill to be on the second hit of the AA chain, and the third to have another effect (a siphon, since that seems to be our thing?). Not only would this make the chill more relevant, and a better setup for the last swing, it would help the chain interact with Chilling Victory better.

A range increase on Gravedigger would be very welcome. With the all-or-nothing nature of the ability, you can’t just root/stun someone for 1 second then reliably get some damage from GD (like you can with other classes’ GS “long-cast” abilities), and 170 units is just not very much to step away from or account for lag when this ability is so central to the GS’s kit.

Also, that obscene aftercast really does wonders for making Gravedigger feel less fluid and enjoyable. :/ If that could get reduced/removed, I’d be a happy camper.

nearlight.3064:

I prefer carrion spite/SR/reaper aristocracy/grenth/nightmare runes with heal shout, flesh wurm, corrupt boon, and either rise or plague signet myself. I take spite mainly for bitter chill and chill of death, and then use spiteful spirit for a bit more boon rip.

If running Rise, are you also running Augury of Death? If that’s the case, how much have you explored ‘NCSY!’ as a swap for Corrupt Boon?

Bhawb.7408:

Only in zergs do we have a true unique role, and specifically because we very uniquely had ranged AoE direct damage, a role that very quickly could be taken away from us.

Are there hit-squads of Revenants running around just throwing out synchronized Coalescences yet? While outputting ‘Tons of Buffs’TM to allies?

I imagine that would be the moment the role is taken and improved upon.

nearlight.3064:

Rez/transfusion/heal support (no room to take blood magic with reaper, and blood magic doesn’t give enough persoanal sustain).

I don’t know that I agree with this one. I’ve been running Blood/Reaper/Spite just fine lately. Blighter’s Boon gives a lot of sustain through Unholy Feast + Spiteful Spirit + Chilling Victory (which also gives a lot with Sigil of Hydromancy), then you sprinkle some siphoned power, Reaper’s Might, and Life From Death + all the multi-hit abilities Reaper has with siphons, and there’s a bunch of passive regen going around. You even get to use Transfusion more often!

I’ve been trying something like this lately, and I’ve been enjoying it quite a bit!

My major gripes with variations on it are that I still miss Vital Persistence more than I should, I really wish Reaper’s Onslaught’s cooldown refresh was slightly easier to obtain (for even MORE Transfusions!), I can’t seem to get away from Blighter’s Boon even after the nerf, and every time I slot in ‘Suffer!’ I run into a shield Warrior or Guardian who blocks me and makes me wish I had put in ‘Nothing Can Save You!’ instead. >:{

Notes
- Leeching Bolts not healing through shroud is pretty awful and destroys a lot of synergy that could be had with our Dark Fields + Soul Spiral. They’re neat on Grave Digger though!
- You get a proc of Blighter’s Boon for each foe hit with Unholy Feast/Spiteful Spirit.
- You get 3 procs of Blighter’s Boon each time Plague’s stability pulses.
*I haven’t yet tested how Plague’kittens work against chilled foes when you have Chilling Victory. I really wish you could add chill to Plague, instead of cripple.
- Blighter’s Boon’s tooltip is always less than the actual healing it gives.

EDIT: I included a screenshot of the last game I played (badly) tonight. I have no idea if any of those stats are even decent, but it was an enjoyable game!

I like it just the way it is on every race. : /

Ramoth.9064:

Loving this change. Superior sigil of speed (agility) pop in RS for a quick 5.

^ Gets it.

Deathly Chill doesn’t do enough damage to have it be your primary focus of a build.

It (along with the joint YAAW synergy nerf) also nerfs your ability to actually have LF at the beginning of a fight.

That synergy was one of the best parts about shouts + BB in BWE3. Sad to see it go.

Rennoko.5731:

It couldn’t stack because something like RS4 into a chill field would do ludicrous damage.

Have you met other professions’ condi specs? :P

How many bleeds can a condi necro put on a target?

My initial desire would be for this trait to put a damage-equivalent number of short-duration bleeds on a target when that target is chilled, so that I can proc Blood Bond more easily as a Reaper, but I’m not sure if that would cause issues with Epidemic by going above the spread limit of 25.

(And the name would have to change, possibly to Cold & Blooded?)

Bhawb.7408:

YSIM out heals CC, as long as you have condi removal, traited YSIM is literally the strongest heal we have before you count the LF.

I don’t think I can echo this enough. This heal is insanely good, especially with Augury. It also opens up a lot of runes to be much more usable. Rune of the Trooper with just traited YSIM and Suffer is disgusting.

I really don’t get why it has such a bad rap.

I would much prefer a different effect like quickness or a Rapid Lacerations type effect on it, but it’s not total garbo. It’s a 3-10% increase on GraveDigger damage depending on your build (and whether you crit), and it gives you Nightfall and Grasping Darkness more often.

It just doesn’t touch the other two traits in its tier : /

Bhawb.7408:

I think people crap on GS for no real reason honestly. The only thing that is really problematic right now is the aftercast on 2.

And then obviously its trait is garbage but I can’t blame that on GS.

That aftercast is a big issue, though. I love GS4 and 5, but chaining 2 just doesn’t feel as good as it should almost entirely because of that aftercast. If GD was something we fired off every 6-8 seconds, once, then moved on to other skills, it wouldn’t be as big of a problem. A similar scenario is how a Warrior can GS3 directly after GS2 in order to flow through a damage chain. But we’re meant to chain it. Is the aftercast there just to reduce our dps when chaining Gravedigger? Is it there just to match the animation?

Funnily enough, the trait isn’t that bad with the release change. If you’re using GD in a teamfight and can hit 3-5 people each time, that’s 800-1400ish hp each casting (1000-1700 if in Cleric’s gear and running BM). I think it could still be changed up some to cover one of the big problems of Gravedigger spam, though, which is the lack of LF generation while you’re using it. I’d really like to see the trait have its current functionality AND give 1% LF per target hit, especially since Blighter’s Boon is less reliable for LF generation.

But our Dagger+Warhorn dps isn’t anything to write home about, and a Quickness effect tied to something other than the weapon is usable with all the weapons – so it should be fine. The effect could absolutely be there for Reaper rather than other traitlines, because the GS is the one in most need of help right now. This effect would not have a consistent or even high uptime, so it wouldn’t increase DPS by leaps and bounds.

Sinister Reaper is a lot of fun, but you might go splat too easily in WvW

There isn’t a HUGE difference between exotic and ascended weapons, so don’t feel like you’re at an incredible disadvantage keeping what you have. : D

Axe is decent with the 1v1, but scales terribly. : /

Unfortunately, staff is the best you’ve got if you’re running power and fighting more than 1 person. Very, very unfortunately.

Dagger in your mainhand, Blood Magic always equipped with Quickening Thirst in your first tier, Flesh Golem when you can.

Everything else is gravy!

Drayos.8759:

Put a Quickening affect on our Elite Shout, this couldnt really be used as a DPS Increase by much due to the 90 Second CD on it to begin with.

Warriors get 4 seconds of Quickness as often as every 15 seconds just for hitting someone below 50% hp. As a Grandmaster trait. I think we can get better than every 90 – 59s if you slot a specific Elite and spend 1.25s casting it.

Luke.4562:

A lot of people lack taste and artistic coherence.

This is the best you can ever get out from an human Necromancer, in both pieces combination and colors.

Humble.

vicious.5683:

both are mediocre traits for GM tier.

Useful.

Blaine Tog.8304:

Base Ele is still really strong, but the Tempest has been a huge disappointment for me.

I don’t envy the designers in trying to add balanced specs to Ele, Guardian, or Warrior.

My point was referencing his favoring of the cele reaper build, so it supports yours :P

Hopefully the BB nerf is the beginning of a change to other systems such as more boon generation in other spec lines.

Shiki.7148:

Don’t have any pictures but it costs 400 HP to fully unlock.

250

Chuck Zitto.2367:

complain about hero points only to find my reaper builds got nerfed into uselessness. I HAVE NOT ACTUALLY PLAYED ANY HOT YET AND MIGHT NOT NOW.

Well that’s some over-exaggeration. Sounds like a rough life.

I’ve been enjoying GS in pvp, 1vx and teamfights.

The main things I notice I want are stability while not in shroud, Death Spiral to do more damage, and the heinous aftercast of Gravedigger to be reduced so that it actually feels good to chain together without quickness. Oh, and I’d also like access quickness (beyond the excellent Superior Runes of Speed/Agility), but that’s less realistic.

I can get around the above, but they sure would go a long way to Reaper feel like what it was advertised to be and flow better.

Anchoku.8142:

For ranged, nothing beats Ranger. It is the only profession with dps increasing with range (long bow only).

Dragonhunters also have this increased damage at longer range.

Welcome to Necromancer!

This is really not the most conclusive evidence, but is the best screenshot I could do at the moment :P

This doesn’t show off the 600 range very well, but does show the disparity in range between heal of Transfusion and damage of Soul Spiral. The flesh golem is being healed while the Chieftain is not hit.

I thought so too! And I could have sworn it worked differently in the BWEs, but it absolutely works exactly the same in either shroud form on the live builds. You’ll see the healing going out to ‘targets’ very far away, and can heal your flesh golem up as you run away from other mobs.

It’s pretty nice, especially with Reaper’s Onslaught allowing you to use it more often (though there seems to be something up with the recharge reduction on this, that I haven’t had enough time to test).

He was probably working from what he’s used to and trying to translate his old build to new functionalities. That he favored it for (very) short periods of time doesn’t mean much.

Healing power, power, condition damage split evenly (possibly with expertise thrown in!)

I’m curious what you expect them to “do” in their time alive? They aren’t there to be damage dealers. They’re there to give you damage mitigation. You don’t need more than what’s required to give you that mitigation for X time period given your predicament.

While the idea of a huge horde of minions is interesting, it’s not necessary for the functionality of the skill. 2-6 is fine.