Guild Wars 2

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

TheLastNobody.8319:

GoogleBrandon.5073:

What is this thread even about now? O.o

Tacos…and nachos.

Why are these not craftable foods in game?

(I want to see how off topic we can get without attracting mod attention now :p)

Meow you people, now I am hungry for Mexican food :<

runeblade.7514:

The best 5v5 DM builds are all zerk builds.

There isn’t enough toughness, vitality, armor to stop 5 zerk players from destroying you.

Unless you don’t bring enough defenses yourself (stunbreaks, condition clears etc) else you will become a pingpongball of glassy nature – and trust me, nothing is worse than a pingpongball made out of glass…

… Except maybe a pingpongball that is made out of wool, you cannot utilize them well in the sport…

leman.7682:

Fuchs, just follow my lead and uninstall.

But man, the LS updates you miss out on :O

I am laughing and crying….

This… this is just pure comedy

What is this thread even about now? O.o

To be fair, I think Corrupt Boon will only shine more as you progress within heavy teamplay…

Usually, small skirmishes will diminish more and more, and you will be more inclined to be in heavy and big teamfights – and as we all know, you cannot stand in those since you will be focussed down almost immediately…

PoC is fine, sure, as is fighting within melee range on a Condi Necro in small skirmishes – but in bigger teamfights, as favoured within the EU meta, you simply cannot afford as a Necromancer to stay in those since their sustainability does not scale better in big fights, and your teamplay (recieving heals) will become tougher and tougher…
Corrupt Boon is henceforth desired since it allows you to safely pick a target from range to turn their strengths into weaknesses, while PoC enables you to still peform well enough in small scale skirmishes (I.E. Against Engineers, Warriors, Med Guards or Elementalists)

Plus, Dark Path is a projectile you can get body blocked, which can lead to frustrating outcomes in a fight (been there, had that)… And if you want to remove a key stability (Stability stomps, Plague and Lich Form come to mind), PoC is not going to be a saving grace, especially when you consider it “only” corrupts 2 boons at the time, whereas Corrupt Boon “Bursts” 5 boons…

Then again, it is my personal preference, since I never remove Corrupt Boon on my bar – however, I do think you should reconsider taking it… It is far too important not to, especially if combat gets tougher…

Swapping it for Spectral Wall is a beginning of such sorts – when you get into bigger fights, the usefelness of this one utility will completely decimate since Guardians can literally render this utility useless, while it is costly within your build on kitten (!)
A duel with a Hambow can cost you your head as they have both more ways to shut you down, as the sheer fact that you, within your current build, lack a reliable way to counter them… You cannot kite forever, especially not if they run Dogged March…

So yea, those are my 2 cents about your build now that I read somewhat more into it – of course you are free to agree and build as you see fit, I just thought it was enough for me to explain why I made certain decisions myself within building a build

(and get an energy sigil… you’ll be dead if you rely on RNG to get vigor ._. )

spoj.9672:

You forgot reapers touch and tainted shackles as a main source of damage in PvE.

Id be worried if they toned down condition damage aswell. Its currently very weak at max potential in PvE. And necro even has a lot less potential condition damage than other classes.

So im not really sure where they would tone the damage down. Further nerfs to Lich form? Because that doesnt sit well with me either.

Id say the better solution would be to just nerf lifeforce generation on power builds. And leave damage untouched.

Sorry, was a bit out of the loop with Necromancers regarding PvE and their rotations :P
Have not done much research prior to my comment, but hey, I also had a lack of coffee during the whole day…

I am not someone to look at when it comes to shaving and stuff… I usually point out flaws, but my lack of experience regarding balance usually necks me…
What I do question is nerfing Lifeforce Generation on power builds though… I mean, if we go by a common power build, their weapons are usually D/D + St … Though aware that Axe is used, it is on average what is used mostly in tournaments…
Staff is within this spec the only way to reliably build up lifeforce weaponwise, where traits can make up for some small percentages… So traits like Reaper’s Precision and Soul Marks would probably get hit (for a common 6/2/0/0/6 build) if we think about this but, as mentioned, Staff likely as well…

The problem then arises where Staff and exploding Flesh Worm is the only way for a Condition Necromancer within TPvP to get Lifeforce… Outside of this, they have a huge shortage of it on their average builds (0/6/4/0/4)…

I wonder if nerfing Lifeforce Generation is really the answer, but in the end, we would never know if Necromancers do not recieve heals in Deathshroud as a whole… Who knows, it might just open other options (such as my exotic Condi build) to shine better than what is standard…

Fyi, yes, I am fully aware I am rambling and thinking out loud… I am again not one to look at when talking specifically about balancing, I am more one for pointing out problems – that is easier in the end :P

Nope you did not say that, those were my words, not yours >.>

I guess I should not forum when I did not have had my coffee… Talking of which, could use some more

spoj.9672:

They have to be very careful with where they remove damage if they go down that route, Because currently in PvE necro is one of the least damaging professions.

Well yea, though as we all know Anet does not like PvE enough to take things into consideration to help this :P

If anything though, most of the damage a Necromancer does in PvE comes from Dagger auto, Warhorn and Well of Suffering – all three who are not the main power sources of a Necromancer in PvP (Well of Suffering maybe a bit, but that is only useful against people who cannot press WASD) so I hope it’s going to be safe…

dodgycookies.4562:

if you have an nvidia graphics card with an older version of geforce experience installed, that could be the issue.

There was an issue with shadowplay/streaming overlays and sweet fx, but that was fixed in an update. So check to see if you have any driver updates.

I had GeForce Experience removed because of this last time, so it could not be it on my part :P

Dunno about the OP though…

flow.6043:

GoogleBrandon.5073:

Blackmoa.3186:

WoP is a lackluster stunbreak at best cause you cant activate it if launched, you can use it as 2nd stunbreaker but you should not drop wurm for it imho

This exactly… Worm is the one and only tool to get out of combat and get in a suitable position…

First of all, there is no such thing as enough cleansing. So an argument like “having a dagger means you don’t need WoP” is complete nonsense.
Secondly, lackluster? How about a reliable source of vigor and aegis, and not just for you but your allies as well. Yes, there is a very short period of time during knock backs when you can’t cast it, this has never been an issue for me though. Then again, if you see the knockback coming you can use the stability to avoid the stun(s) entirely.
Also, it’s a dark field, and dark fields are boss.

Remind me, what does the wurm do again? Oh yeah, nothing, just sitting somewhere in a hidden corner.

You quoted me wrong Flow, I never argued against the usefulness of WoP, I just argued as to the opposing behavior of the two stunbreaks :P

I like them both with different reasons… Worm because I am used to it, but WoP for it sheer utillity… If anything though, I use neither now in my highly experimental builds >.>

Also, just saw my flaw in my reply to Moa… I meant to agree with him on the behavior of Flesh Worm, not on WoP being useless ._.

Guys chill, it is just a game;

Kicast.1459:

What does counter a good s/d thief ?

A proper D/P Thief :P

Blackmoa.3186:

WoP is a lackluster stunbreak at best cause you cant activate it if launched, you can use it as 2nd stunbreaker but you should not drop wurm for it imho

This exactly… Worm is the one and only tool to get out of combat and get in a suitable position…

WoP is actually quite decent to recieve buffs you’d normally do not get – plus, it enables you to, indeed, run Warhorn rather than Dagger offhand since you saved yourself some condition pressure…

djooceboxblast.9876:

With all the elementalists running around carrion is certainly the better choice! The toughness from rabid is not going to save you from the mes/thief bursts anyway. I was a big advocate of rabid for a long time but i have recently changed to carrion – both are viable choices though.

Interestingly enough, it is for me more or less depending on what kind of build I run…
When I run PoC, I run a somewhat more safer build than the standard, enabling me to run Rabid and Earth – which is what I am used to and feel decent with… So far, it has given me no issues…

When I ran Dhuumfire however, I noticed that because it is a more glassy setup, I felt more comfortable with Carrion… It might be between my ears, but this is generally how I felt about it…

The thing is, people are afraid that Necromancer will have its current power and a lot of sustain buffs, and this fear is justified imho…

Necromancer is certainly not weak – it’s bursting capabilities in a competitive setting, both condition and power, while still maintaining their own in small skirmishes (1v1 – 2v2’s) is quite something… Though their sustain only scales for these kinds of skirmishes, whereas burst healing (Ele) Invulns (Warrior Stance, Ranger Signet), Blocks, Vigor and numeral teleports do not diminish in numbers…

A Necromancer get’s focussed a lot, and people usually say this for either two reasons:

• They hurt when unattended
• They are easy to shut down

Frankly, both are true… And this is an issue…

There are design inconsistencies that only happen because of the power that a Necromancer has on a small scale… The very fact that this is the only class out of eight that is not able to recieve heals from the team because of their defensive mechanic blocking it is one of these inconsistencies and should not exist in the first place… If there needs to be toning down from the damage on certain builds to make it happen, then do so, because it is crippling the way combat and teamplay in general works, and it is poking holes within the design of the Necromancer An attrition based fighter …

Correction, staff is essential in almost any build, because only traited Axe hits as high in DS as staff does ._.

flow.6043:

HeadCrowned.6834:

..so you won’t need WoP

Wop > all.

The only thing I would change is carrion instead of rabid.

I guess it is all personal preferences but I never take my hands off of Rabid :P

Rozbuska.5263:

Everytime someone use hashtag to “look cool and nerdy” I have that strange urge to install mIRC on my old PC286 and smashing that cool kid with it as long as his whole body will be covered by bloody hashtags.

Dude chill…

Hotjoin is going to be removed, so your main concern will literally be gone…

However you will cope with this loss is up to you, but at least you could’ve read into it and formulate an opinion that is not heavily biased and soon outdated…

Got the same issue, though I can usually play the game with SweetFX still on after clicking away the warning a couple of times…
It happens again when I open the Black Lion Tradingshop

From what I’ve read on the interenetz is that this is an issue between SweetFX and Windows 8.1 – what is confusing however is that this only happened since a couple of weeks back… Plus, you do not seem to have Windows 8.1

I also tried a “fix” that was suggested with using RadeonPro, but this sadly had no effect. Removing SweetFX removes the warning, but in turn you miss it…

Just wait until tomorrow…

djooceboxblast.9876:

We do not really see a lot of necromancers that can compete on top level apart from maybe myself and a few others.

Same can be said about Mesmers, though it is not as bad on the EU as Necromancers… Might also be because of the popularized Mes/Thief combo, but w/e…

They both suffer a lot if you position them badly, which people tend to do…

zapv.8051:

Necros healing in DS isn’t something that should be done for balance. It is something that should be done because it doesn’t make sense for one classes profession mechanic to isolate that class from all group healing. Any nerfs that need to happen afterwords to balance the class are fine, but it currently doesn’t make sense that there is no healing in DS.

Yep, that is pretty much my thought only condensed in a smaller package :P

NeXeD.3042:

I said I wont hate it, but I stand by it probably being op.

To be fair, I find it too difficult to judge…

I mean, some players have learned to deal with the shortcomming of getting no regen in DS, but it is still awkward that Necromancers are the only profession who do not when activating their own sustain skill, for which they sacrificed a lot (Vigor, Stability, Blocks, Instant Ports, Reflects)

The only way to find out if it is really OP is by introducing it, and likewise removing it if it has indeed proven to be overpowering… And even so, if it is overpowered, they should shave something to make regeneration work, because it is quite shoddy that it doesn’t for no specific reason at all aside from “fear of making Necromancers’ sustain overpowered”…

I love how serious some people can be over this…

Or well, maybe I am sad… dunno

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

That being said if you combine scepter with signet of spite, dhuumfire & epidemic you end up with a combo that can easily melt up to 5 players.

Not to be a meow, but I think if you run all that in one build, you are pretty much going to commit suicide ._.
(That is, taking into consideration that Corrupt Boon should always be on your bar, thus having no escapes at all)

On topic:

I think the issue with “Weakest Weapons” is that people tend to either compare them to the other class’ weapons, or review them on their own, of which the former can lead to any weapon looking underpowered… Some examples:

Axe for a Necromancer as well, people have given good ideas as to why it is not a bad weapon to run, however, my personal experience learns that it is a lackluster as a melee power weapon as compared to Dagger, and for a range/utility Staff takes the cake…

Pistol offhand for Engineers is not bad, it is just that Shield is miles better – and the need for burning is gone with IP and Balth Runes…

Offhand Axe for Rangers, again, great utility weapon, but why run it if you can run Warhorn or Dagger? Heck, even Torch provides a lot of pressure, and sometimes more than /Axe can do…

So yea, remaining is pretty much the Guardian shield, of which I have to agree with everyone… Before the “Nerf” of it’s unintended functionality (leaving the bubble after activation) it was actually quite a decent pick – not as good as Focus, but hey, it was “fine”… Now it is pertty much one of the most useless things to pick within any buid, unless you want to play Decap Guardian or something… This could use some help, and that is it compared to it’s own and other weapons…

In closing, what are the criteria? What makes a weapon the “Weakest”? When compared to their own counterparts? When looking in a vaccuum?

spoj.9672:

Doesnt matter how good you are with a certain class. If you’ve played all of them to a decent level you can quite easily tell that some are in a pretty poor state compared to others. Yes you can make up for it with skill to a certain degree but against equally skilled players with a superior class you are going to have problems which are more than just being directly countered.

Exactly this…

Thing is, for a mediocre player (me), I can safely tell most that I peform better in a team in PvP as my Elementalist, Warrior, Guardian and Mesmer, of which the latter has the same positioning issues a Necromancer has – although with more means to position yourself better/quicker…

Despite this, it is not as if I underpeform with Necromancer, I usually do good enough to win say 2/3 matches – but on average, I notice how much of an easier time I have playing different classes (and yes, I am fully aware those fill different roles)…

You can tell people all you want that there is no mystical build that will make you a pro, however, this will not change the fact that the Necromancer is somewhat flawed within it’s design especially considering that the class mechanic serves as both it’s unique aspect as well as it’s tool for survivability…

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

some red reply would be appreciated.

Good luck with that

spoj.9672:

signet mastery and chill of death are good for condi builds.

Yep, if Necromancer’s had any kind of proper sustain, I’d swap Worm for Plague Signet, get SoS and Corrupt Boon and voila, proper signet condi build…

… if ;_;

HeadCrowned.6834:

Sandrox.9524:

HeadCrowned.6834:

Shaogin

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Necromancer_-_Dhuumfire

Condi build. Pretty well known fact actually. Maybe actually have some sort of idea as to what you’re talking about before making crazy claim? O.o

You consider metabattle the only resource for builds apparently. In fact you’re right that that build with scepter/staff is indeed a condi build, but there are more builds possible with the dhuumfire trait. And don’t discuss like a little kid pls.

So,actually,what you saying here is that Necro does have diversty in builds options hm……(?!)

Thought we were talking about viable build options. I don’t consider dhuumfire viable. You may think something else, idc. Many traits are in the wrong traitline for a necro, including dhuumfire. Putting 6 in a power traitline for a condi spec is a waste if you want to play a condi build. Again, this is my opinion.

To be fair, when I was experimenting with it again, I did enjoy having Chill of Death back in a Condition build :P
And Spiteful Spirit is not half bad…
Plus, you can safely stay on range, whereas PoC requires you to get into melee range

Daishi.6027:

If necros were given more direct control over their default health bar without restricting access to it’s other strength and options it would be WAY to strong.

Interesting… And you know this because?

Harbinger.8637:

infantrydiv.1620:

Elitist.8701:

Lopez.7369:

The whole llama thing feels like ArenaNet is trying really hard to push some sort of in-joke and turn it into a meme within the community — except no one is falling for it or cares.

Although, it’s actually more like they are too lazy to come up with a real reward.

More like they save the good stuff for the gem store!

Mini Llama with a tophat?

Nah, Fractals are one of the few things left to do that is actually enjoyable group content with scaling difficulty…

Besides, Glorious Armor is not in PvE either now is it? Why should PvP get an option to have all the shinies?

Lopez.7369:

Condition necromancer is amazing. The problem is it’s terrible until a player reaches a certain skill level — and most people (even some supposedly good necromancers in tournaments) don’t seem to be aware that positioning even exists as a consideration in PvP.

To be fair, and even taking this in consideration, there is no class that gets punished harder for badly positioning themselves aside from Mesmer I think… And considering the badly made joke of the class that is supposed to have “attrition” as it’s main core design, it is laughable that Necromancer should avoid being in fights rather than keeping classes in combat
Playing a Necromancer is like flying a kite, it requires setup and you should know your leash range – once you get those both, you will do fine… However, since people now have drones, playing a kite is old-fashioned and considered a drag…

Then again, get a team with two Necromancers rather than one… Hilarity ensues as the cries of Elementalists and Engineers fuel your damage more and more…

Err…

This thread started about PvE? Where the F do WvWvW cleanses come into play? O.o

Carighan.6758:

It’s also weird because wasn’t the whole point of a Necro to be so insanely tanky?

Meh, if we had updates on class philosophy, I guess now it’d be “Slow bursty class that annoys people” rather than “Attrition”…

To be fair, even the strength of a Necromancer (Condition and Boon manipulation) only works in regard to small scaled fight – and even then it is a far stretch from the other options you got…

Got enemies that have boons on them that don’t get spammed? Null Field is your friend, it even removes your Conditions…
In that respect, got conditions on you? Why bother transferring them if you can cleanse them with a good Guardian, and a little help of your Mesmer or Engineer friend (Yes, the PvE Meta builds can very much run Elixir Gun)…

The only way a Necromancer would shine if you got a dungeon in which you have to split your group, and there is a mob that is dangerous with boons, and is considerably weaker with conditions on itself… The Mob also needs to be extremely suspicable to soft CC and then you got a specific encounter in which a Necromancer shines – but this is creating content for classes specifically which this game does not try to do…

I am sorry to say, but the Necromancer lacks any real role, and giving it other options will not help the class, but rather make them on par by giving it the same tools to toy around with (A.k.a discount other classes)… The class is too heavily designed around a competitive enviroment with no general consent of how it should function within PvE – Granted, PvE is extremely shallow (challenging sometimes, but it lacks true depth), but even trying to improve it will, as Spoj explained, not enable the Necromancer to shine, but rather make other classes run different setups…

I have personally given up on caring about PvE and how classes function within, as my two most played classes are either dropdead boring (Warrior) or extremely subpar (Necromancer)… Only true benefit I have with running the latter is my ability to survive longer than most people do, but this has less to do with the class and more to do with my capabilities when playing PvE, as I can dream most encounters…

Carighan.6758:

I’m still not quite sure what the problem with making healing work on the HP-bar while in Death Shroud would even be. So what?

People are scared of giving Necromancers good stuff since “2 lifebars are OP”…

Meanwhile they forget that any other class does not get locked out of Regeneration while having acces to their sustain options (Invulns, Blocks, Vigor etc.), while the Necromancer sacrificed this to make room for Lifeforce and Life Drain (of which the latter does not work in DS as well)…

Class Xenophobia is real…

pierwola.9602:

GoogleBrandon.5073:

pierwola.9602:

GoogleBrandon.5073:

LF=/=Health…

This is a common misconception within the community about that, and to be fair, none of these skills were Sustained Healing …

Its even better than hp, Its unaffected by poison and
thanks to dmg reduction nie white in DS you have even more hit points

It’s okay…

No worries… it’s okay…

Its not my fault that you don’t know how to use ds

That my friend has to be one of my favourite things that has been said to me…

Kudos, I will make this my signature!

- Edit, should be there, trying to make it more subtle

pierwola.9602:

GoogleBrandon.5073:

LF=/=Health…

This is a common misconception within the community about that, and to be fair, none of these skills were Sustained Healing …

Its even better than hp, Its unaffected by poison and
thanks to dmg reduction nie white in DS you have even more hit points

It’s okay…

No worries… it’s okay…

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

I suppose I could have deleted “in PvP,” because I don ’t think it gets used anywhere except the end boss of Citadel of Flame path 1.

It’s not that the skill is bad per se, it just doesn’t make the cut on the skill bar.

Haha, well on my off days I slot it for some lazy Weakness on the Cliffside Fractal in a casual run :P

But yea, it is that… It is not bad per se, just not good enough to take…

LF=/=Health…

This is a common misconception within the community about that, and to be fair, none of these skills were Sustained Healing …

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

GoogleBrandon.5073:

Projectile negation has been on anyone’s list really, and mostly discussed with Corrosive Poison… To be fair, I think the only reason they are holding back is because it has a lot of “utility” within the competitive scene already (on point weakness+poison), and as we know, skills will never be split across the board “Because it would be too confusing” -.-’

And yet, nobody takes the skill in PvP…

To be fair, I would under certain circumstances…

Most notable one is where I had better sustainability to give either up one of my stunbreaks, or where I did not want to sacrifice my one team-utility and picking it over Corrupt Boon…

It is not bad per se, it is just not on par with the rest of the utilities within a competitive setting…

Aye, so instead of making them unique you want to patch them up so you won’t feel useless… I understand this really, and I am inclined to agree seeing as how Necromancers are miles behind any other class in terms of utility within “Endgame PvE”

Thing is, and though I agree since I played Necromancer through every imaginable part of the game possible (as with any class), Anet is not going to give Necromancers the sustain they request since they say that the sustain comes from DS+Life-Siphons (hah)… I think it was said a couple of Ready Ups back, though they stated not wanting to give Necromancer acces to stability as well which is considered strange since they already got acces to it with “Foot in the Grave”, though it is not as good as most stability skills… Of course, this all relates to how the class functions within a competitive setting…

Projectile negation has been on anyone’s list really, and mostly discussed with Corrosive Poison… To be fair, I think the only reason they are holding back is because it has a lot of “utility” within the competitive scene already (on point weakness+poison), and as we know, skills will never be split across the board “Because it would be too confusing” -.-’

So yea, my only hope is throwing it on party wide life-siphoning somehow, but as you say it is gonna require a lot of work, and with the steady flow of having one class specific healing skill per 2 years… well, be perpared for the worst…

spoj.9672:

Boon conversion will never be better than low cooldown boon steal or removal in PvE. Even if you improve the content. And especially when the conditions applied when converted can just as easily be applied by other means.

Its a PvP only advantage.

Which is indeed a concern, they force to make a playstyle that only works against individuals work for PvE in general…

But you got to wonder why this is so… To me it is simple, there are not enough roles available to a Necromancer that makes them unique… Got condis on you? Get a Guardian… Projectile issues? Thief, Mesmer, Guardian and even Ranger or Engineer to some extend… Need party wide unique buffs (not might) for the party? Warrior or Ranger… Etc.
Necromancers, across all gamemodes, got one or two strengths, both usually used in conjuction with one another, and both failing hard within PvE…

A Necromancer cannot be unique within this sense… Giving them something that functions the same as a role another class had, take reflections, you did not solve the issue, since you now play a discount Guardian… Only, still less usefull…

So when people ask for a buff to Necromancers in PvE, I always wonder, what do you want? I personally would like to see strengths of the class working in conjuction of the gamemode, but we both know it will never happen… So what’s next?

spoj.9672:

GoogleBrandon.5073:

Some people need to realize that in PvE Necromancers do not need as much as a rework as PvE as a whole needs a rework… I mean, come on… PvE is borked, simple as that…

What most people want is the class to be Warrior or Guardian 2.0 with some DPS Buffs or Reflects… Ain’t gonna happen (Even though Corrosive Poison Cloud would be so much better with Projectile Negation)…

Necromancer’s fill a weird niche, namely boon-hate, which serves no purpose considering enemies literally spam their boons like D/D Elementalists on steroids… And since the classes’ strength cannot be utilized, the weaknesses the class has (No vigor, good stab income, lack of cleave etc.) become more and more apparennt, especially in the race against the other classes…

---

If it were up to me though, I’d make Blood Magic more interesting in the sense of enabling teammates to steal health (PvP and PvE), because this would enable build diversity as one, and gives the Necromancer a unique way of “increasing damage”… Mind you, this is still far from “Solving” the issue that Necromancers have in PvE since they are just miles behind other classes in terms of combat utility…

Then again, the content now is so dropdead boring that it can be completed on any class… You could run a naked Condi Warrior if you feel like it and still complete CM (Done that)

Both mesmers and thieves have better boon hate than necros. So its not even a niche that necros have an advantage in.

Err, English is not my first language, so forgive me for it…

Necromancers do not steal or rip boons, they turn them into Conditions… We all know that globally conditions are just bad in PvE, aside from maybe the Tri-Worm, something that takes (took) a lot of dedication and time to work out…

With Boonhate I meant turning the power of the enemy into their weaknesses, which is actually the only reason to take a Necromancer into competitive play… They turn the Condition inflicted into their power, and make your power (boons) undesirable… In PvE this simply has no effect as effectively Conditions are outclassed by Direct Damage and boon support (sides Weakness in Fractals), which makes it’s only strength in the whole game their greatest flaw in a flawed gametype…

Mind you, I did put an emphasis on “The whole game” since Necromancers without boon-flipping are usually just discount other classes with no mobility or survivability… Though on the other hand, I don’t know how true this is for GWEN in WvWvW

Some people need to realize that in PvE Necromancers do not need as much as a rework as PvE as a whole needs a rework… I mean, come on… PvE is borked, simple as that…

What most people want is the class to be Warrior or Guardian 2.0 with some DPS Buffs or Reflects… Ain’t gonna happen (Even though Corrosive Poison Cloud would be so much better with Projectile Negation)…

Necromancer’s fill a weird niche, namely boon-hate, which serves no purpose considering enemies literally spam their boons like D/D Elementalists on steroids… And since the classes’ strength cannot be utilized, the weaknesses the class has (No vigor, good stab income, lack of cleave etc.) become more and more apparennt, especially in the race against the other classes…

If it were up to me though, I’d make Blood Magic more interesting in the sense of enabling teammates to steal health (PvP and PvE), because this would enable build diversity as one, and gives the Necromancer a unique way of “increasing damage”… Mind you, this is still far from “Solving” the issue that Necromancers have in PvE since they are just miles behind other classes in terms of combat utility…

Then again, the content now is so dropdead boring that it can be completed on any class… You could run a naked Condi Warrior if you feel like it and still complete CM (Done that)

To be fair, I Duo-qued a couple of days ago, got three Engineers, and we lost…

In all respect to those players, but two Turret Engineers had not enough offense to get rid of one Condition Warrior…

…

Yea…

Exedore.6320:

Meta-game builds are there because they’re generally more effective than any alternative or more effective for the amount of skill and effort put in. If you don’t play a meta build, you have to have an effective build which fulfills some kind of role in a team game. And you have to be good enough at it to compete with others of near equal skill who are using those meta builds.

I often run into “special flowers” who want to be unique, but can’t accomplish anything with their build. They can’t kill anything, they can’t take a node, they can’t defend a node and lend team support. When called out, they defend their “special flower” build, ignoring it’s uselessness and usually their lack of skill. So if the only defense you can offer is “I don’t want to be meta”, you should probably stop thinking that and adopt a meta build until you can improve. If you can show your build fills a role and you do it well, no one should complain.

You sir, are terribly mistaken…

Meta builds are more than often build in conjuction as a team, and most often made by someone who feels comfortable running a build…
Meta builds also do not drop from the sky, they are created because people try different things… This is either because of boredom, or because the said person cannot adapt to the playstyle a set has to offer

What you are mixing up are optimal and suboptimal builds… You are not going to do much by running a Shatter Heal Mesmer, but if you run a Lockdown Mesmer, you could outpeform Standard Shatter’s given who plays better or is in a different comfort zone…

Take your head out of the ground, what is written on paper is not set in stone… Develop your own style and get good at it… Adapt to the situation, learn from mistakes… Don’t pick up a Meta build and think you are ahead of people, because you might regret it the moment someone shows up with a different build and destroys you with it…

To be fair, with Rated Arenas, a nice Gem reward could also solve some things and incentify people to que up for it :P

You know, like the old Arenas…