Guild Wars 2

dood.7526:

I prefer Orders.

Do remember that we are getting new skills for our f skills along side Death shroud(maybe) as well as utility skills. We could still get orders and Spirits. Best of both worlds.

Also, I don’t think Spirits would be all doom and gloom. The Ritualist spirits were Amazing in GW1! Absolutely bonkers. And even giving them a Dual nature might be super cool to. Like when you enter death shroud the change somehow.

I’ve already put the conspiracy out there that Ritualist might be our specialization. I beat you to it.

Also I’m thinking we might get Binding Rituals. That seems to be the most likely. Ritualist Spirits did quite a bit back in GW1. Far far more then the ranger spirits do now. And having them on a necromancer bar might not be that bad. But we can’t really be sure.

Conjure skills is another possibility. Perhaps rather then weapons we summon spirits or moving buffs. Which spirits could do anyway without the moving part.

A topic I’ve brought up multiple times over the years. Death shroud just doesn’t do what its design to do. From the time I started playing to now, it never has.

The changes actually open the door to far more then you realize. At the moment, the new trait system will not provide a greater diversity in builds. It doesn’t remove builds we already have, at least it should. It also means that your stats aren’t locked in with traits which means that armor can be more diverse. So you know how in PvP you have trinkets that give you 4 stats rather then 3? or the accessories in PvE/WvW which also give you 4 stats? Well, since the armor bonuses we are getting are going to be scaled up to accommodate the loss in stats we would get from this change it also means that 4 stat gear could be in the near future. Perhaps even gear with passive boon or condition duration added on without sacrificing a whole third stat to do so. it can be a minor stat in the gear.

piano man.1672:

Eh, I think we should wait for specializations on the Necromancer to be released before we start assuming they are “losing a place with Specializations”. It looked to me like the Dev’s took a hard look at the Mesmer and tried to figure out how to improve on the base class. I’m sure the Dev’s will do the same for other professions.

Yes lets wait for the specialization. Until then I got my tinfoil hat!

Relshdan.6854:

do necros have a place now?

and still to early to tell if chronomancer will have a place outside of wvw groups

Surprisingly Yes! There are a few instances were necromancers really shine in PvE. Now these are very few and very far between and it isn’t even close to enough to warrant a slot for them on a team unless you play with the person and like them. But they do have their minor uses.

For starters they seem to excel in the Aetherblade fractal and Mai fractal. Their Terrormancer build has proven to be surprisingly good against the golems in the boss fight in Aether and the fact they can cheat death with Unholy sanctuary while taking signet of undeath along with something like well of power gives them plenty of options to support allies in the fight while remaining extremely difficult for Mai to kill. This doesn’t mean they are the best at it, but not a terrible option.

Other examples include the husks in Silverwaste which, the necromancer excels at killing them in mass as well as their utility in the Wurm world event.

Beyond that their uses tend to waver quite a bit. For dungeons they just don’t have the proper support other professions provide and are extremely lacking in the damage department. And getting to a dungeon like Arah there Death shroud is trivialized to the point its absolutely laughable.

Roe.3679:

Lily.1935:

Roe.3679:

It’s really not close to a second health bar at all. It’s a pre-planned reset button.

Neither is Death shroud

Also, its Tongue-in-cheek.

Your whole post was tongue in cheek? Because you were right when you asked if you’re blowing it out of proportion. If anything, it’s a super spectral walk, except not a reactive stun break.

Just the name of the post. Trust me this is all in good fun. Also, spectral walk doesn’t make you immune to death while its active. It can make you immune to fall damage though. Similar?

Roe.3679:

It’s really not close to a second health bar at all. It’s a pre-planned reset button.

Neither is Death shroud

Also, its Tongue-in-cheek.

DevilLordLaser.8619:

Lily.1935:

Using Death shroud is a Double edged sword as well. And I also started the post off with “Okay not really.” Its really tongue and cheek to people who say Death Shroud is a second health bar when it really isn’t.

DS doesn’t really have any way of screwing over your recharges/healing the way Continuum Split does. Also it’s a bar which takes damage when enemies hit it in lieu of your main health bar when you’re Shrouded up.

Heh…I get what you’re saying Lily, I do, but this isn’t the way to try and point out issues with the Necromancer. Necromancers already get practically double a Massmore’s health, and you’re comparing a base Necromancer without traits to half a Chronomancer build. Expecting a necromancer to just facetank everything on its fat health bar without any extra dodges, blocks, evasions or mobility sucks, yeah, especially when Massmores get all of those and Chronomancers get all of those plus a TARDIS – but complaining about a Necromancer’s health is kinda the last thing people pay attention to.

I wouldn’t call it “Screwing it over” seeing as you know what is going to happen. Effectively anything that’s done to you while you’re using Continuum Split doesn’t matter. While Death shroud it really does. The Mesmer is going to be even more tricky to fight because of it.

And do remember that Necromancers gain zero benefit from healing outside of unholy sanctuary while in Death shroud. They will have to leave death shroud to benefit from any heals that are coming toward them or to use their own heal, stun break, utility or elite. While the Chronomancer will basically just double all of that. Yeah, its on a longer cool down, by at minimum of 6 times but its leagues stronger then death shroud in its entirety. If you Burn down a necromancer in Death shroud, it matters. If you burn down a chronomancer while using Continuum Split, it doesn’t so much.

I’m not saying this will be a faceroll mechanic, because its not. its nuanced and very complex. What I am saying though is that this can easily make the mesmer feel as though they can’t be killed. Far more so then the necromancer is currently. Though this could change with the necromancer’s specialization.

On top of this, Death shroud doesn’t scale. Something that people often forget about death shroud. While it seems great in a 1v1, it gets far weaker the more people are in the fight. While other mechanics such as evade skills, invulnerability and even blocks have a greater tendency to scale up in potential defense. When you take this into account along with Continuum Split their defenses are insane.

Argon.1563:

I wouldn’t call it a second health bar myself.

Using Continuum Split is more of a way to negate death memorially, with a small chance to turn the battle round. I think its more comparable to a Warrior using Endure Pain just before its about to die, in which time they could stun me and heal up. The same applies to Chronomancer.

and like Rob said, using Continuum Split/Shift is a double edged sword, in the sense it carries a high cooldown, as well as the fact the Continuum Rift can be destroyed by enemies, which will automatically activate Continuum Shift.

Not so much a second health bar, more a “Im going to avoid death for a few more seconds, hoping I can heal.” style tactic, akin to Endure Pain, Unholy Sanctuary, etc.

Using Death shroud is a Double edged sword as well. And I also started the post off with “Okay not really.” Its really tongue and cheek to people who say Death Shroud is a second health bar when it really isn’t.

DevilLordLaser.8619:

Except Split has a lengthy recharge, while DS can be flickered through in seven second intervals without any shenanigans. Or recharged instantly, if it runs dry before you swing your dagger again. Much easier to restore life force for Shroud than to restore the cooldown for Continuum Split as well, even with Alacrity. And more importantly, Split requires illusions to shatter in order to function, which means its activation can be partially controlled by an alert enemy, and also that the Chronomancer give up some resources to hit Split, as per Robert’s commentary. Necromancers hit F1.

That and might I remind you that while Continuum Split is an elite specialization ability that requires one to give it their Elite slot (which may be important when we have more specializations), Necromancers get Death Shroud by being Necromancers? They can stack whatever their own elite spec ends up being on top of their Shroud and gain the benefits of that elite specialization (very likely) without sacrificing their second health bar.

Don’t get me wrong, the Chronomancer looks lik an excellent upgrade to the Mesmer and just what I needed to make this class actually work for me…but no, Continuum Split does not outperform Death Shroud in terms of second health bar-ness.

We don’t know yet. But we can get 3 uses out of it in rapid succession. This can potentially be a 12 second up time where attacking them doesn’t matter in the slightest. This is huge. And considering this isn’t their primary means of defense like Death shroud is for necromancer you will be seeing some rather powerful attrition based mesmer builds.

Palindrome.8904:

Lily.1935:

Okay, so not really. But its close. Far closer then the necromancer’s Death shroud. You can use this on low or high health and give yourself a shot to do some damage before dying. The difference between this is if you take lethal while Continuum Split is active you just return back to your original spot while with Death shroud you just die. I find it kinda odd that the mesmer would be given such an extremely powerful offensive and defensive attrition mechanic with all their existing blocks, evasions, stealth and in combat movement yet refuse to do the same for necromancer.

I may be blowing it out of proportion. But it is interesting how much attrition Continuum Split gives to the mesmer.

For referece: http://dulfy.net/2015/05/01/gw2-chronomancer-points-of-interest-livestream-notes/

Some points:

- Looks like the effect for Continuum split is 3 seconds, which is not a lot of time to do things.
- No official source has said that death while split is active will send you back. I’d expect that dead is dead, but who knows. Dies, Dying, Will Die. It’s all a matter of perspective.
- If you split at the wrong time, you’ll go back to low health and/or cooldowns recharging rather than the other way around. You can kill yourself as easily as save yourself.

Not really different then DS. You enter DS at low health you exit at low health. I mean it is, but it has that similarity. Plus you can get about 3 activation from it rapidly. Drops you health below 50%, recharge your shatters, signet to recharge your shatters. Seems good to me.

Okay, so not really. But its close. Far closer then the necromancer’s Death shroud. You can use this on low or high health and give yourself a shot to do some damage before dying. The difference between this is if you take lethal while Continuum Split is active you just return back to your original spot while with Death shroud you just die. I find it kinda odd that the mesmer would be given such an extremely powerful offensive and defensive attrition mechanic with all their existing blocks, evasions, stealth and in combat movement yet refuse to do the same for necromancer.

I may be blowing it out of proportion. But it is interesting how much attrition Continuum Split gives to the mesmer.

Runing Dhuumfire with unyielding blast along with Lingering Curse. Why not? Right? get some nice piercing burning going on. But yeah, LC should work in DS. A few traits we have no that effect us while wielding specific weapons still effect us while in Death shroud.

lordkrall.7241:

Lily.1935:

not talking about afk time…

Which is why I specifically wrote the running into walls part.
How do they decide who is AFK or not? The game kicks someone for inactivity if they do not move. But if they do move they appears as “online and active”.

Don’t be a kitten.

about 25 hours now.

lordkrall.7241:

Lily.1935:

I play almost every day, run Fractals with guildies at least 3 times a day. Also will usually do the daily and run Teq. I haven’t done any of that lately because of Silverwaste farm and I want to rip my eyes out. Why can’t they just do it on log time per week? people who actually stay and play for a while a day.

Because logging in and running into a wall while you got school/work/whatever does not prove that you are active? ^^

It is also worth pointing out that if you have issues with doing the same thing over and over and over again, a closed beta is not really the place for you anyway, since that is basically exactly what a closed beta is. Repeating the same content as many times as possible to find issues.

not talking about afk time…

I play almost every day, run Fractals with guildies at least 3 times a day. Also will usually do the daily and run Teq. I haven’t done any of that lately because of Silverwaste farm and I want to rip my eyes out. Why can’t they just do it on log time per week? people who actually stay and play for a while a day.

This event is making people really mean to each other. RNG is really a bad way to go about it. I’m none too happy myself.

About 18-20 hours…. At least 5-7 of those hours after the patch and still nothing.. I’m going to go cry now. I hate farming, I detest it so much.

Wow this is soul crushing. about 14 hours spent today trying to get something… Still nothing.

I’ve been doing Silverwaste for 10 hours and haven’t gotten one.

Probably not. They refused to give us decent stability for years, why in the world would you ever think we will get any sort of attrition mechanic? What do you think our profession is? Attrition based?

So I decided to do some testing with Quickening Thirst to see if you still got the speed bonus while in Death shroud. And you do. So it might be safe to assume that Lingering curse will be the same way once the changes hit. So 6 second burning from Dhuumfire. Meaning we can stick in Death shroud for much longer without losing too much DPS if we feel so inclined.

Bhawb.7408:

A lot of traits would be made useless by not having Death Shroud at all. For example, Deathly Perception, Vital Persistence, Speed of Shadows, Transfusion, all on-entry/exit traits, Unholy Martyr, Reaper’s Might, Death Shiver, Furious Demise, Path of Corruption, Unholy Sanctuary, Armored Shroud, Unyielding Blast.

In fact, every tree has at least a few traits that relate directly to Death Shroud or skills in Death Shroud. Some of these could technically be changed, but I find it really unlikely to not have some kind of Death Shroud with the specialization. Chances are it will be different skills, a different type of shroud, or just different ways to spend LF, because with how many traits they’d have to change its almost a new profession.

I’m not so much saying that Death Shroud will be removed for the new specialization. In fact I’m partially with you. I’m about 85% certain that we are keeping Death Shroud. But I’m also 90% sure that the skills in Death shroud will change. The other traits you’re talking about? Well, thats actually an easy fix. Make them function with the skills that the new DS gives you. Some might need to be changed a bit but over all it isn’t unreasonable to assume that it could change. Hopefully the change isn’t something really lame like life blast dealing more damage on distant foes rather then close foes..

well. What is the wording on the skills in Soul reaping? and what do all the current traits say outside of Soul reaping? This can be a clue. Though we might know next week.

Bhawb.7408:

That’s a fair point, its possible that Terror isn’t strong enough to compare to Lingering Curse. If that is the case then I think its worth buffing Terror and moving Parasitic Contagion (which still seems like it should be a blood magic GM, move Deathly Invigoration which has no real business being GM) to make room for a power trait. I just don’t think allowing Terror and Lingering Curse, as they currently exist, to be in the same build is a good idea.

Maybe Parasitic Contagion to BM GM, Deathly Invigoration to Master, Transfusion to Adept, Bloodthirst combines with Vampiric Precision (which isn’t strong enough to be Master, and any build wanting to specialize siphoning should have crit chance), buff Terror if appropriate to make it compete with Lingering Curse (maybe revert that old 17% nerf first?), insert power trait to Curses GM?

Not a bad move at all. Having a healing option for Condi that doesn’t compete with our primary damage sources could be helpful, especially seeing as it would give me a reason as a Condimancer to go into blood over death. Right now, Death is looking good for me. And this might create two distinct Condi builds. Terror with Curse, Death and Soul Reaping and Lingering Curse with Curse, Blood and Soul Reaping.

As for Grandmaster? I still really like my “Everyone Gets Locus swarm” idea.

Do also note I said any life stealing trait. This means that any that might be added in the future through elite specializations as well as the ones you can normally get.

Muchacho.2390:

I agree with removing Deathly Invigoration but i dont like your suggestion. I dont like that it is tied to DS.

Why not something more simple like a vampiric aura.

The problem is Life stealing doesn’t function with Death shroud very well. This would give us a decent option that would also provide an interesting way to support.

So I think this Trait needs its own Post because its honestly not good. It was so bad before I completely forgot it was a master trait. My mind automatically assumed it was a Adept trait because of how bad it was. Now that you plan on flipping it to heal when entering death shroud in a larger radius its actually even worse then before even with the increased radius.

Considering the Support options the necromancer has now and will have after this is a superfluous trait. Necromancers already have quite a few raw healing options for allies. And Vampiric Rituals will be just a superior option for a raw healing supportive necromancer. It both helps your Ritual of Life and you other wells which you will want to run anyway. So its not going to do nearly enough to take over Vamiric Rituals in any situation.

So What should it be replaced with? I have a very powerful suggestion that will fill the niche that really needs it very well while still providing healing support to allies without being completely outclassed by Vampiric Rituals.

Awaken the Blood : When you enter Death shroud allies in the area gain the bonuses of your life stealing traits for 5 seconds. Life stealing heals now works in Death shroud. Radius 360.

If this is too powerful to just have life stealing up all the time while in Death shroud it could be a 5 second duration when you enter giving you the ability to burst some life stealing. This trait would be able to increase allies damage a bit while at the same time being some healing support. Its healing wouldn’t be quite as strong as Deathly invigoration but it would fill a roll that is seriously lacking in the game at the moment and will still be lacking after these changes if something like this isn’t added.

Tell me what you guys think, I’d like to hear your feedback.

Bhawb.7408:

I do think Terror and Lingering Curse actually have a meaningful decision between them. One pushes for spike damage via fear bursts, the other is all about stacking up long condition durations and overloading over a long period of time. That said, there absolutely needs to be a trait in the GM slot to work with power builds, and while Banshee’s Wail is fine moving it up to GM just presents us with bad power slot on Master (Reaper’s Precision should go).

I don’t think you should be able to have Lingering Curse, Terror, and Dhuumfire in one build though (at least not as they exist now). The new Lingering Curse would also boost Terror very significantly by allowing all of your non-Reaper’s Mark fears (its even possible to boost that one) to have double duration. That means a 4s Reaper’s Protection, 3s Doom (assuming it applies in DS), 2s Nightmare Proc, 2s Spectral Wall, and it allows you to drop Master of Terror in favor of the the other two traits, both of which will also boost your fears (more Dooms or more SWalls). If we want to move Terror, it will have to come with a (I hate to say it) nerf to the damage it deals.

On a side note, Corruption CD reduction trait being pushed into a fall trait sucks.

I’m going to disagree with you here. You compare terror damage to what you gain from Lingering curse you get quite a bit. If it works in Death shroud dhuumfire will be dealing double the damage compared to terror. Added on top of this the stacks of poison as well. Coupled with Enfeeble your foe will have 25 stacks of bleeding with at least a few stacks of poison and burning that just wont go away within a few seconds of the fight. With Terror, it doesn’t deal the comparative damage in the short term or long term that LC will. At least that’s my prediction. Now if it doesn’t effect Death Shroud then that changes everything. Then I could see an argument for its burst in comparison.

Tim.6450:

I suggest removing reaper’s precision, move terror there. and create a clone of the old target the weak with the addition of the following effect : gain 0.2 life force per condition on critical (not sure) hit. It would make curses on aggressive sustain option for power builds.

Thats what Unholy Martyr should be. A Sustain option for Power builds. Which it isn’t, but could very easily be made into with a few adjustments.

Out of all the Trait lines this one is the best, not even close. I really can’t think of a reason not to take soul reaping now. And even before there really wasn’t a reason not to at least invest 2 into it. We still seem to be in a Similar situation though. I don’t think Soul Reaping is too good. I do however think the others are a bit too weak in comparison. Even if you are going to be crazy and decided to dedicate to healing(A decision I have no idea why you would even consider) Foot in the grave coupled with amazing lower traits is still a very valid option. This line as everything you could want from life force generation, to Unyielding Blast, and just all around making Death Shroud better for you. You have Dhuumfire for pure condi, Deathly precision for Power and Foot in the grave for defense. If this trait line isn’t an auto include for almost every necromancer build ever I’ll be surprised. Cursing has become too niche and cut throat with itself, Blood has no real use outside of powerwells(or powermancer which are basically the same thing) and Death is kinda niche as well but far better off then Cursing and Blood. Spite seems like it has some solid options but something feels off about it. Can’t quite put my finger on it.

Conclusion, Soul reaping is the best trait line, not even close.

Bran.7425:

Lily.1935:

I think ever necromancer player has their favorite line… Minus Blood magic because no necromancer player worth their salt likes blood magic.

I think that is a fallacy there if not the for the concept of blood magic. Otherwise there would not be nearly as many threads/post touching on how it could be improved.

There wouldn’t be so many forum posts about blood magic if people actually liked it as is.

I think ever necromancer player has their favorite line… Minus Blood magic because no necromancer player worth their salt likes blood magic. Curses is my personal favorite. I love condition builds and I’ve developed several different builds for conditions that a necromancer could run. I’ve even used it for Power builds as well as more defensive builds.

But I have an issue with the over all changes going into Curses. 3 out of 3 grandmaster traits are just sitting on top of each other and provide little to nothing in terms of play-ability with other builds. You have Lingering Curse and Terrior which both will be biting at each other’s heels the entire time trying to gut the other from the meta and be the dominant Choice. And if Lingering Curse allows its bonuses to continue to work while in death shroud I don’t see much competition between the two.

The issue with Lingering Curse and Terror being in the same spot is really just this. You have two Condition offensive Grandmasters fighting for the same spot to effectively help the exact same type of build. While Parasitic contagion sits at more defensive at least providing an alternative option outside of damage.

My suggestion would be to move one of those two traits either down one or to a different line. The only Issue Is having Lingering Curse, Terror and Dhuumfire all on the same build. Which would basically be the same as it is now. Maybe slightly better but that is yet to be seen.

A Slot needs to be freed up in the Grandmaster space for a trait that functions more with the necromancer’s precision rather then just conditions. A player shouldn’t have to feel bad about taking Cursing on their power build for a few minors and lower tier traits.

What would my suggestion be? Its a bit of an Odd one so bare with me for a moment. Move Banshee’s Wail up to grand master and give it a new effect when using Locust Swarm. The idea is that when you use that skill allies around you get a swarm of locust and gain swiftness for its duration. Although they wont gain life force from the swarm if they are necromancers. This type of trait will synergies with the precision idea of Curses because of its multiple hits and it will also give us a way to support our allies that isn’t just more healing. Combine this with a Blood Magic grandmaster I suggested and suddenly we have a very interesting supportive necromancer build that could be very desired in PvE. Tell me what you guys think.

Bhawb.7408:

I’m not sure, I think curses might actually do okay with power builds, the only problem is the GM slot being mediocre/bad. Looking at it I think the curses GM should be re-thought a bit, because it is otherwise a really good tree for power.

But I agree, it is just not enough of a change to Blood Magic to make it good enough, except Vampiric Rituals being pretty good now.

Yeah. one of the Curse grand masters should be moved. Where? I’m not sure but as is its basically you take Terror on a Power build not because you want to but because its your best choice.

Bhawb.7408:

I would note that they mentioned Deathly Invigoration getting a big buff to its healing, which could make it attractive. However, otherwise I’d tend to agree. Blood Magic got nice changes, and was buffed. Here is a link to the list of changes.

My biggest issue is that, while I liked the changes overall, they weren’t enough. Its like if they added 5 damage/HP to Vampiric its a buff, but it isn’t enough of a buff. My guess is Blood Magic will be used by some power builds (though Curses is looking really good too, with increased crit chance), and MM. It still just isn’t enough to make the trait line really competitive, and if anyone takes it it isn’t so much that blood magic is great, but that once you’re down to a third choice you can afford something somewhat subpar.

Thanks for the link. The big problem is still the same as it was before. Nothing new really. Only that Power builds might want to go down it seeing as cursing will almost exclusively be for condi builds and nothing else. So that leaves them with Death and Blood as their third option.

I want to go over each of the Trait lines at some point but I feel they each will require their own discussion. So I’m going to start with blood magic as I feel this is still the worst line to take. Although its improved from before, I still don’t feel it has the value it could have compared to the other lines. Cursing is also going to be a major problem and I’ll get to that in the near future but for right now lets focus on Blood magic.

Not much has changed over all for this line over all. We still have many of the same problems as before. The major Difference I see is that powermancer will spec into this line purely for the wells and not much else. There is minor play with Minions as well. Anet seems to think that the minion change their one of their minors will be a bit too powerful, but I honestly don’t see it being any better or worse then it was before hand.

Lets look at the grandmaster traits because this is were a bit problem starts. We have Vampiric Rituals which will just be an auto include into any build and the other two will never be used. Before hand Deathly Invigoration really wasn’t a trait you wanted to take and with the changes you still don’t want to take it. The healing is… Fine.. I guess, but it just doesn’t do enough for your party, even with transfusion. Then there is unholy Martyr. This trait is still bad. It doesn’t do what it should be doing and I’ll go into more detail about that.

Unholy Martyr is supposed to be a supportive trait. But like Plague signet, you don’t take plague signet for its condition transfer on allies. You take Plague signet for signet builds or to transfer large amounts of conditions. Unholy martyr has neither of those function and might help you stick in DS a bit longer but its not going to be supportive. My personal suggestion would be for it to transfer a condition from each ally in the area and gain 2% life Force for each condition transferred to you. It should also either apply Resistance to you for one second for each condition transferred or should make your life blast transfer a condition to a foe on hit. This could make it compete with Vampiric ritual for a spot for powermancer or even tempt condi necromancers into using it with conjunction with dhuumfire.

Another change I’d do is with Deathly Invigoration. I’d probably just remove it entirely. This isn’t a good trait. Especially for a Grandmaster. It wasn’t good enough for a master and should have been a adept trait it doesn’t deserve grandmaster status especially with it being flipped. I’d Replace it with something like, Vampiric Spirit: Life stealing now works while in death shroud. When you enter death shroud, allies in the area of you gain the benifit of your passive life stealing traits for 5 seconds. This is something that is sorely needed for the necromancer. Being able to not just have life stealing be completely cut when in death shroud. It might need tweaking but with the changes in other areas this is could help make a vampiric necromancer a real thing.

I can’t remember all the changes right now but We can discuss what we’d like to see further. Tell me what you think.

MrAptronym.2846:

I mostly PvE and play a condition necro because its what I find fun. Not much looks to be changing for me. Dhuumfire is cool, like really cool. I like the new target the weak. I guess I will go Spite/Curses/Soul Reaping?

Still for condition necro it doesn’t seem like there is much variety or change here. Well, I am assuming the +100% duration on Lingering curses is wrong because if not, holy smokes. Otherwise, I guess I will have a bit of burning now and no longer have any life steal because of the placement of parasitic contagion. I can’t really say doom because I don’t know all of the condition changes going on, but honestly it doesn’t even look like they tried with necro. As I am now, my character limps along, I don’t see that changing. If I am not missing something, I’ll probably be shelving my necro for a while.

Minions are getting a boost, but I don’t like playing minions. Blood still looks astoundingly bad, vampiric rituals looks like the only thing of any interest to anyone there. Power necros get some neat toys so I guess that is good for them.

Without the trait bonus that we get from Spite before, which was 30%, this really isn’t as big of a change as you think. Before we had a flat 63% while using it. This is really only a 27% buff to duration. Not as impressive as you think. But we also lose allot of condi duration if we don’t. A flat 30% loss just from the changes.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

My main criticism is that condition specs have lost all of their synergy… You MUST take lingering curse if you want to play conditions. That means you automatically lose out on both terror and parasitic contagion.

Dhurrmfire has stopped being a condition trait all together, it is now a significant LOSS in dps over auto attack.

Since there are no more stats on the trait lines that leaves condition necros with 1 must have line and subpar everything else. They are forcing us to max out 3 lines but they specialized each line to only synergize with itself… It’s like two teams decided to do two completely different things and didn’t bother telling the other one what they were doing.

Other things make no sense… why would I want to heal when entering DS? I can’t heal in DS, so that is a waste of a trait. Why am I forced to take minion traits if I want to spec into death magic?

If they Moved Parasitic contagion to Blood Magic and Terror to Death I could see some real choices having to be made. But that might be a bit too powerful.

Deathly invigoration was a bad skill before. Why reverse it and make it a grandmaster? it still sucks.

Some of the changes are good. But then the condi changes are good at lower levels but once you get to grandmaster you just have 3 traits sitting on top of each other. Which is really bad IMO.

Its something I’ve been discussing with guildies for months now. “What is our mechanic?” is it the death shroud, or is it the life force itself? And I think this will really change how we view the mechanic. Its very possible that death shroud will be something that we can only access through the core profession and we use life force through other means. Will this mean we lose our defensive abilities? That entirely depends on what the specialization adds. If we get a skill for example that functions like death shroud does now minus the skills then perhaps we don’t lose anything really. Or it could be that our bar while in DS completely changes to have 5 new skills. We wont be sure until its revealed but I’ve already made a post speculating on what could change and this announcement does rule out at least one possibility I suggested.

xadine.7069:

They’ve allready said “no t4” in an interview, sorry to crush your dreams

can you provide the link for that Interview? I don’t like to miss interviews.

Kinda a suggestion. Cultural armor is one of those really cool ideas in GW2 that was poorly executed in my opinion. A gold sink to get this cool armor that doesn’t have allot of prestige. I’d like to see new tiers of cultural added to the game to help diversify the races a bit more by giving players more of a reason to play as each of the races.

T4 cultural should be quested for not bought. You guys have presented us with a cool idea of questing and crafting for precursors and even did so for the Luminescent armor. So why not for cultural? Another idea is make it a unique quest for each race. It should reflect each of the race’s culture and you should have to do something different for a charr or a human. Although i’d like unique quests for each armor tier as well as each race that might not be reasonable. But I would like to be able to have a greater connection to my chosen race and feel distinctly different from others through questing and crafting this prestigious armor.

(now on the right forum.)

No. But Gaile Gray’s favorite Animal seems to be a frog. Which by the way, Gaile, if you are listening. Please get the designers to make a frog warhorn legendary weapon with lily pad footsteps with a blooming flower and that croak when you use it. I’d totally like that for my necro.

I’ve tested the trait and I have to say its really helpful. But its not a flawless defense like some people here seem to think. The necromancer still has major holes in her armor that can be exploited. Even with this trait. The fact that we have one of the best stunbreaks in the game now only helps us play as attrition better which is what we were intended to be in the first place.

I’m super happy about this trait. And I personally don’t think near to death is needed at all with this trait. Now all we need is blood magic to be fixed and the necromancer base will be in a pretty good spot I think. Except for PvE. We still need allot of help there.

ronpierce.2760:

EremiteAngel.9765:

Discuss the effects on PvP?
Will Necro now become a dominant force?

6 seconds isn’t a “practical” time, the 6 second CD doesn’t start until out of DS and assuming you ahve it to cast. And you have to give up death magic traits to take it. Seems to be in a good spot.

For power, its actually much worse since they do DPS in there, lining it up as a CC break is more of a side effect of normal battle than anything. Plus you lose 50% crit in DS. Its not as OP as paper makes it sound, i promise.

agreed. I still think the trait is actually really really good regardless. Its something we’ve needed for a while and I think it can only do good things for us.

This is a massive buff. I’m quite surprised at this change and really happy. Having a stun break on such a low cool down is something we sorely needed. Will it be too powerful? Time will tell, but I see good things in our future.

Azrael.4960:

Aristocrat has become a popular one given how easy it is to grant yourself might stacks with traits. e.g Might on Life blast or signet use.

Yep thats why I suggested it. I personally done like it so much because if you are running with a good group you’ll have 25 stacks of might most the time without investing in those runes anyway and they really aren’t needed if you are just roaming. They are better for farming from what I’ve seen.