Guild Wars 2

So, what I gather from this is that they want to lesson the use of staff. I don’t agree with this, but I see what they are doing since it is a highly used weapon (though GS for many other professions hasn’t received such treatment).

As for the DS changes, I can only fathom they are trying to reduce the influx of necro numbers. I mean we always had DS to fall back on as our defensive line. We don’t have reliable stability, vigor, stealth, aegis, etc. so this was our one true defense (on a 10 sec. cooldown AND had to be built up). Now it overflows damage which makes it much MUCH less useful of a defense. Heck Aegis is better now than our whole class mechanic when it comes to defense.

Finally, Dhuumfire combined with Terror makes us a bit OPed, so rather than nerf or change Dhuumfire (I an others suggested change burning to Torment) they nerf the unique mechanic of Terror. Terror has been around forever and was never OPed until Dhuumfire, therefore it should be rather simple to determine the problem. This is a rather dyslexic nerf if you ask me.

Bad form Anet…bad form indeed!

It’s odd that it isn’t in there unless they have some other grand plan for a rapier as a new weapon. I say this because in one of the blog post stories they make mention of a “new and highly effective weapon used by the Aetherblades called a rapier”

Fungalfoot.7213:

Are we really going to have to spend months as a broken class again before getting the attention we need?

Simply put, yes.

I like jumping off the cliff in Mount Malestorm

Maroah.8607:

I wouldn’t say that most of these are nerfs. It depends on the situation and build. In some cases these are buffs, in some they are not.

Damage taken while in death shroud will now overflow to the necromancer’s health pool if the damage taken is greater than the remaining life force.
If you take a look at Wiki there’s a note that says
“Taking falling damage while in Death Shroud will drain life force. Any excess falling damage is negated, allowing any necromancer to fall from heights normally deadly”.

This might still be untouched after the patch.
The change might only be affected by damage from enemies.

That is extremely wishful thinking and very unlikely. Wiki is not driven by devs, but by players so that is not an official statement anyway. Besides, damage is damage unless otherwise specified. Although I’d love to believe you are right here, I just can’t stretch my thought process far enough to do so.

Oh, and now Warriors have access to Torment. Was kinda hoping for another options for necros, might have made the nerfs easier to swallow. Was hoping Dhuumfire would do Torment which would have avoided the need for nerfing our unique and fun terror options.

DS got hit on this one, very uncool as it is our unique ability and a life saver since we don’t have invulnerability, evade, or other such skills. No more jumping off mountains either (c’mon that wasn’t hurting anybody, it was good clean fun)

Nerf on terror? It is Dhuumfire that f’ed it up so why not nerf it (or change it completely). Terror is unique and fun, Dhuumfire is just part of the same ’ol stuff (and exactly what Engies have). A fail for me.

Spectral skills were hit again and are no longer the reliable source of LF. What a shame!

Buff on axe is a good thought, but Axe #2 was fine. It is Axe # 1 that needs attention.

Marks got a slight buff in radius, but the move of Greater Marks to Master Trait line sucks! That said, in all fairness I haven’t looked at the new mark radius in action so I can’t say how big of an effect this may have.

All in all, necros got nerfed and frankly I think in mostly the wrong ways. Very unhappy.

This has been brought up multiple times in the Suggestions folder. The bottom line is that money to change isn’t a big deal to me, it is the inconvenience of going to LA (longest loading map) to change. I’d pay for a way to change on the fly and save configurations when not in combat even if I had to pay more silver per transaction.

My opinion, it is free and a nice gift. Shouldn’t complain just because you can’t use EVERY item. All of this has been said before though.

My question to the OP, why is this in the Bazaar of the Four Winds forum? Those chests have nothing to do with that living story. It is simply and update to the game as a whole.

Khisanth.2948:

Actually there has been a thread or two already. One of those happens to be the result of an interview where they’ve said they won’t be going to consoles. At least for now.

Beat me to it. They have mentioned in multiple interviews (one very recent) that they have no plans to go to a console. They want to focus this as a computer game without the added complications of adapting to a console.

Yeah, lack of mention of Guild Halls makes me a sad Panda.

Frankly, with the adding of Quartz to home instance, I’m starting to believe they are gearing up to utilize that more which probably put the Guild Halls on an even slower burning back burner.

AkiLeaves.2613:

spoj.9672:

AkiLeaves.2613:

I’ve heard power for dungeons, condition damage for PvP, and that makes me a little disappointed. I’m a huge fan of doing dungeons and fractals, but my three level 80’s all use zerker type builds, and I really want a character that can effectively run carrion or rampager gear in dungeons.

Are there any viable builds like this? I don’t care if it’s pure damage oriented or what, I’d just like a good, solid condition damage build for dungeons. Preferably with Staff as one of the weapon swaps. Thanks a whole bunch.

Its not about viability of builds. Its about condition damage being poor in general for pve. You have lots of bosses that clear conditions, it takes time to build up stacks. If more than one person takes condition damage you get reduced overall damage in the team. Plus it doesnt do as much damage is power crit builds. Also dungeons with objects are impossible to kill with rabid sets. Not so bad with carrion but still a problem because you wont be taking damage modifier traits in your condition build. Also even with just one condition build in the team, damage can be reduced due to other classes applying weak bleeds and burns with their power specs and so they take up the stacks and reduce your damage.

I see, that makes me really sad.

Well, I’d still like to run dungeons, so if I want to use staves, what kind of build would you recommend even if it’s power/crit oriented?

I suggest wellmancer axe/x and staff for marks. Great AoE in PvE (mobs stay in your wells) that combines Marks and Wells. I suggest Axe as the other weapon as it it mid ranged, generates LF fairly well, and traited it isn’t bad damage wise either.

1) Utilities and/or Traits to make more use of Torment
2) More Fear (not saying we need it, but it is a wonderful condition)
3) Another minion
4) Also very much like the ideas of new Auras as mentioned above

WP or Keys shouldn’t be the deciding factor as far as I’m concerned. They are both temporary (4 weeks). If it was permanent I’d vote for the WP reduction, but I’m not going to base a long term decision on a short term gain.

The deciding factor, as far as I’m concerned, is the only permanent piece they’ve mentioned. The Fractal addition. Of the two, I am FAR more interested in the Fall of Abaddon and therefore will be voting for Evon.

The WP cost and Key costs to me are irrelevent as they are both temporary (only 4 weeks). If they made those permanent changes then my mind may be changed.

However, to me the vote is more about the permanent addition of a new fractal. As for me, I’m voting for the Fall of Abaddon as that seems much more epic than the Thaumonova reactor blowing (we see Asura blow things up all the time in botched experiements).

With the announcement of adding more legendary weapons, I think I’m just going to wait for the next batch to see if we get anything more appropriate for the majority of our themes.

I think it is perfectly fine considering the time and effort needed to get those achievements. Also, at this point they would have a hard time reducing it even if they did do it by accident as it would mean taking away points and items already given to some players. The PR alone would be a nightmare if they tried.

gorgrog.5720:

Thats why i think it should not be a fractal, but rather a separate dungeon. For a lore lover like me, that would be awesome.

I too would love this, unfortunately I can’t see it happening. They have a good idea and theme going with Fractals that transcends the problem of something being outside of the timeline established. I wish it was executed differently, but it isn’t bad.

In all, although I would LOVE for Abaddon’s Fall to be a dungeon by itself, i just don’t see it fitting with the themes going.

The problem people are having is that in the past we’ve been under powered in many ways and therefore necros were scarce. The necros that were around ran the same thing as we only have 1 or 2 viable options to even be playable at that level. Now we are as strong as other classes and on top of that have more play styles. People haven’t learned to adapt yet to the new threat and therefore have called out that they are OPed. Give it time and it will equal itself back out with little intervention from Anet.

Wow, that is rather freaky!

No, I like them

So, doesn’t anybody know the answer to this?

It has been said before and even has its own thread, however I’m going to say it here. Terror just got nerfed (moved from minor to major trait) which throws off one of my builds. I’m not entirely upset about that as, even if I don’t agree, I can completely understand the move. The addition of Dhuumfire seems to be causing terror to be OPed according to most, so let’s fix that.

Change Dhuumfire to something like Dhuumtorment and instead of stacking fire it stacks some torment. This isn’t much different than bleeding and shouldn’t break things and it fits better to necromancer gameplay, lore, flavor, and tactics. This way we fix the problem and not break Terror (especially in PvE where a Terror nerf would make it near useless).

Rennoko.5731:

Personally I would rather torment over burning. It is a condition I don’t have to worry about capping, it helps to cover other conditions, and it is harder to remove for some classes than burning. If I roam with a burner, I don’t have to worry about the wasted double burning going on.

Bring it on.

100% agree. I’ve asked for this very thing on multiple other related threads. Makes sense from all perspectives (game play, lore, functionality, stacking overlakitten ues, etc.).

I searched and could not find anybody who tested this. So, on an enemy with the Defiant ability, when you fear them the fear condition seems to stick to them, but they just don’t move to the CC effect. My question is simple, does the damage from terror also get cancelled, or does it still proc. since the condition itself is on the enemy?

Frankly they seem to think it is burning and terror together. Frankly I didn’t like Terror moving to Master trait (though admit I can understand some reasoning for it), but to nerf something so uniquely ours even further bugs me to no end.

If you want to fix it, change Dhuumfire. Make it Dhuumtorment and have it add 3 stacks of torment on a 7 second internal CD. That makes it more necroish of an ability and fits lore perfectly (Dhuum was very cruel and loved to torment his domain). There, problem solved!

This doesn’t look like a very strong PvE build (but just an assumption), so is this tPvP, or WvW based?

DiogoSilva.7089:

What drew me to the harvesting sickle, besides the awesome animation, was the shorter harvesting duration. I absolutely love how I can harvest quicker with it – it’s very satisfying. I agree with Pixelpumpkin, the duration adds the most value to those items, or at least as much as the animation and the unlimited uses.

I have my 800 gems ready, but I’m unsure if I should get the axe because of that. :/

I agree with the duration. I was hoping for one long swipe with the axe (longer than 1 usual chop, but shorter than 3 chops) with a lightning bolt that felled the tree. That would be very satisfying animation and would give us shorter harvesting time. Give me that and I’ll buy a few more!

Very much looking forward to this, only bad thing I noticed is what isn’t there. Still no PvE culling removal.

The new achievement UI sounds very promising and the rewards for achievements sounds great.

So I completed my set today with the new axe and was wondering what everybody thought of it. Obviously I love it for the infinite uses, not a fan of the soulbound, but understand the reasoning and won’t complain there. Have to say I’m a little underwhelmed with the animation. It isn’t as dramatic as the pick, and doesn’t have the cool factor of the scythe animation on the sickle.

After they botched the sickle like they did at first and then turned it into an awesome animation, I figured we’d get a little more than the average chop animation coupled with a few thin lightning bolts.

That said, I don’t want to complain that much since it is at least somewhat unique, just slightly underwhelmed. Any other thoughts?

It was probably delayed because they originally did the half arsed job like they did with the sickle and didn’t want to go through that same public outcry and rush to redesign like last time. So they delayed it to make it unique and worth the money. Frankly I think that is a good choice.

My guess, if it gets released while this Aetherblade story is still going it will have a lightning theme. Perhaps a lightning bolt or charge slices through the tree. That would be cool.

I suspect they will release the axe next. Then after a month or two bring them all back and sell for a limited time as a package deal. The “limited time offer” marketing technique is tried and true and generates bigger sales because people don’t put off buying it and it drives impulse buys.

That said, I cannot see them never returning. They will return periodically then leave. They may change name or look sometimes, but overall they will be the same item wrapped in a new bow. If I had to guess, they’ll bring them back from Christmas at the latest (for a limited time of course).

PotH is ridiculous. Merge it with Reanimator at the least. Reanimator isn’t that good either but at least not totally worthless if you do MM. I’d like to see them merged, moved to 15 pointer, and remove or reduce internal CD. The game maxes 5 of the same minion anyway so it isn’t like we’d get a huge army considering that along with their very short life span.

Since the new release I decided I wanted something new. Tired of my Power Well build (though it is fun) and with Spectral Wall changed along with some fun DS changes I decided I wanted to try out something that gave power and utilized Terror. Unfortunately with Terror in Master line now I feel a bit stretched.

This is primarily PvE with WvW mix and would love some advice or assistance. Since I use it a lot in PvE (dungeons and the like) I don’t want to go full on conditions due to things dropping fast and bosses capping out on conditions if I have another necro or a thief involved. Since watching mobs hit Spectral Wall is hilarious that must be in the build.

Here is what I have so far, but it feels like it is still missing something.
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=;00;3kHFJ0C4ZJVJ0;9;4TJ;0J17A38;528;7KLO_KLO_;0kLsFT7;3L-Q0V1_YeZk4i

I’ve thought about replacing Dhuumfire, but I’ve found it is rather useful and fun to watch them burn (maybe I’m just taken in by a new shiney condition for necro, idk). Up for suggestions

The validity of whether it should or not I’ll leave alone right now. However the description states: Whenever a minion dies, it explodes dealing damage and creates a cloud of poison that lasts for 3 seconds.

Given that this trait requires 30pt investment and the bone minion does meet both qualifiers described (it is a minion and does die) then I classify either the action as a bug (meaning it should proc), or the description as a bug (meaning they should update to state that it does not work with putrid explosion).

Agreed, thank you. Loving Spectral Wall now!

I’m finding it loads of fun. Thank you Anet for giving us a utility skill that causes fear. Finally!

I’m thinking bug. Originally Death Nova didn’t proc with Putrid Explosion at all. I figure whatever was causing that bug originally has now done the same thing to the new damage portion of the trait. With any luck they’ll have a hotfix soon.

Overall I can’t wait to get home and try out some new builds. I’ve mained necro since beta and have been waiting for this. My only complaint is that Reanimator and PotH have remained unchanged. Was hoping they would be merged at least to make room for something…well…useful.

Can’t wait to play with some more DS focused builds again though!

Patience young padawan (ok, wrong franchise, but I couldn’t resist).

Ascii.9726:

Invictus.1503:

Granted, there is arguably more a necro can do with burning, but still this annoys me…

New Grandmaster trait – Dhuumfire: Inflict burning to opponents for 4 seconds on critical hit. This effect can only occur once every 10 seconds.
Compared to the Engineer
Adept trait – Incendiary Powder: 100% chance to inflict burning for 4 seconds on critical hits. This effect can only trigger once every 10 seconds.

Engineers use bombs, grenades, pistols and rifles. Its kind of self explanatory why they get access to burning quicker & more so then Necromancers.

Self explanatory for lore, perhaps, but not so much for mechanics. I’m not saying they should both be adept, but a 20 pt. difference is excessive if you ask me. I could see it being a Master trait for Necro and Adept for Engi.

Granted, there is arguably more a necro can do with burning, but still this annoys me…

New Grandmaster trait – Dhuumfire: Inflict burning to opponents for 4 seconds on critical hit. This effect can only occur once every 10 seconds.
Compared to the Engineer
Adept trait – Incendiary Powder: 100% chance to inflict burning for 4 seconds on critical hits. This effect can only trigger once every 10 seconds.

Granted there is more that a necro can arguably do with it, I still hate the fact that this is a supposed to be a Grand Master Trait (if leaked notes are to be believed). I mean the Engi has Incendiary Powder – 100% chance to inflict burning for 4 seconds on critical hits. This effect can only trigger once every 10 seconds. as an Adept trait. REALLY?!

I’m disappointed with Death. Reanimator and Protection of the Horde should be merged at least (or even get rid of Protection of the Horde…the protection bonus is laughable). I also agree with merging Staff Mastery and Greater Marks.

Doing those things opens the trait line to so many great possibilities. Hoping for a surprise, but bracing for disappointment.

I’ve been asking for a utility necro skill that causes fear. I’m very hopeful that the spectral wall is true and I’ll add it to my bar for sure!

I’ve said it before and will again. All axe needs is to be given Cleave. That would make me very happy and put it back on my weapon list.

Personally I hate the horn and find it annoying as a rule. That said, it isn’t such a huge deal that I don’t go to these public areas. I either deal with it and think “people will play the game the way they wish and it won’t affect me” or simply turn off the game sound while there. I mean, those people did pay money for it (likely) and are supporting the game I love. If they want to make annoying noise, they’ve bought the right

I will say though, that ONE time so far I actually enjoyed somebody on the horn in LA and they played, very well I might add, the American national anthem.

If this is accurate and complete then it is missing one major component that has been asked for and is sorely needed. Reanimator and Protection of the Horde have no mention. I would expect, at the least, these traits to be combined as most people hate them. C’mon, if you want the staff mastery and greater marks you have to put up with both of these minors wasting slots for you

I pray that this, or anything that deals with that really, is reworked this time around!

Movement damage is exactly what I (and some others) called and asked for in the big long suggestion thread on this topic. Though I have a feeling mesmers will be able to do it better

With any luck, DS5 won’t be our only source.

Thank you very much, now I feel silly for not noticing