Guild Wars 2

man…MM was NEVER op. just people made the same idiotic mistakes people make when fighting turret engis.

The fact that you would even say that about the most bugged build in the game atm is just….wow….

I would assume more specilizations will come out as the game progresses. But I imagine theyl want to release one at a time. In the end I imagine youl only be able to have one specialization for each class active. But thatl wait until each class has multiple set up (probably wont occur anytime soon as theyl make sure whats there has a place before shoving new things into the mix)

I recently started running a zealot 02066 full melee ranger. I can honestly say I have little to no fear of power rangers. Between the retal/reflect of axe 5 and the evasions built into the sword and greatsword dodging things like rapid fire becomes a cakewalk.

Sylvari female. Definetely. Lets go ahead and make the paranoid pact members as paranoid as possible.

TBH I think theyl stay seperate from turrets. I imagine thely be untargetable support drones. One may slow, Another may damage, A third may periodically strip boons…etc..etc..

So theyl be more mobile. But probably less persistent acting instead to make the engineer himself a power node in the team formation. Which would fit a melee engineer very well.

This is happening to everyone. As well as in multiple areas in PvE. Theres another thread on this as well I think.

Shatter Me by Lindsey Stirling
Adegio for Strings (there are multiple versions…all of them are good)

Here from FA. Having a mixed blessing here. Weve lost SMC four times now only for that wierd rollback to happen and its suddenly ours again. I imagine the guys flipped it are kittened. On the other hand. there siege all refreshes too so they get back in instantly.

Lich claws are defenitely strong but quite easily countered. They move slowly. They can be blocked,reflected,dodged,blinded, and even are fairly perfectly negated by a weakness application.

Lich however is very good at nuking bunkers. Its kinda what its designed for. But a well played medi guard who knows how to time his blocks nad blinds will walk all over a lich any day of the weak. A lich does a decent job of countering a bunker guard in a team fight as the bunker guard cant “soak” that kind of attack. My best advice is to bring something to act as counterplay to it. WOR is perfect for the job.

Most damage builds in the game can negate lich forms effectiveness through negating each individual attack one by one. As a bunker guard though you cant do it as well. Making in a sense that lich the counterplay to you. Where as the aforementioned medi guard is the counter to it.

Ive always been one to say use the build that fits your playstyle. Anyone can roll a terror necro. Anyone can use a tripple kit engi. Anyone can play a mediguard or bunker guard. Its all up to practice that decides your effectiveness. (barring external circumstances)

But what decides your enjoyment of the game is..ultimately…going to be how much fun you as an individual enjoy it.

If playing an MM necro is what you enjoy. Do it. kitten anyone else that says otherwise. If the build happens to be weak youl find a position for yourself in the leaderboard where it fits. In that range your skill will decide where you place. As long as you accept that then your golden.

Too many people forget this is a game. And that enjoyment of the moment is what its about. I cant tell you how many people I see playing builds they hate because there worried about being “meta”.

Sure there highly placed. But they log onto there character less and less and focus on leveling up alts because doing that is more fun than playing there main. Because they pigeonholed themselves into meta builds that in no way match there playstyle just for the sake of “effectiveness”

Edit: The trick is using the build that matches your playstyle in a way that allows you to fight against stronger builds more effectively. MM is actually pretty good with that due to the number of combos and debilitations a necro has access to. Learning how to use them against something like a cele ely however takes time and patience.

I should warn ya ya might wanna post htis in the engi forums.

On the other hadn that kinda thing is generally more useful for a power ranger taking a defensive trap than a turret engi.

The issue is turrets are a VERY big part of your on point pressure. Without them in combination with your weapon skills you lack alot of the pressure required to keep a point lethal to stand in. So sacrificing a turret in that sitatuation for a delay when it may cost you the point entirely 10 seconds later is hard for me to support.

official…you…do know the nerf will hit there condi damage as well right?

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Might

Durzlla.6295:

I’m dumbfounded that they buffed Illusion of Life, and have left Search and Rescue in the corner, still crying and weeping in its own blood after they smiters booned it.

Other than that though, i’m very happy with the buffs we’ll be getting to torch and warhorn! But i feel like Heal as One will still be pretty sub par…

haha never mind search and rescues ABSOLUTELY REDICULOUSLY MASSIVE COOLDOWN in TPvP. Last I checked it was almost twice if not three times as long as its PvE version. Its not even an instant effect thing. The rez mechanic can be KILLED for kittens sake. It can be interupted,stunned,knockbacked,affected by poison, its worthless if hte person is in a difficult to reach spot, its worthless if your not using another cooldown with it.

Its sad because the idea of the ability is actually GOOD for a ranger shout. But if it cant be used reliably theres no point to it. And its massive cooldown makes it WORSE for the risks it has instead of better in comparison to other rez skills…which no one brings except for banner…ever.

condi guard gets countered by longbow ranger? excuse me while I die of laughter. If the longbow ranger is GOOD and outplays the living kitten out of that engi he might win that 1v1. But thats not really reliant on the ranger doing well. It relies on the engi making every mistake he possibly could. He missed with chill grenades. He blocked auto attacks instead of rapid fire. He didnt dodge Point blank shot. He didn’t pull ranger off the ledge etc…etc…etc..

This is so biased its sad hahahaha

It MAYBE makes it more viable in PvE but it will make it even worse in places like WvW. Aegis only blocks one attack. Where protection can mitigate a dozen attacks hitting you from different sources. When your dancing through a dozen red circles your gonna wanna make sure you have protection topped off or else the next wtf fireball from the sky is gonna roll you.

just as bad. You still need to ressumon your minions before each fight if you want them to work. and even then its a 1/10 chance that theyl bug out. Its frustrating enough I switched from a 40604 build to a 20606 build so that my damage would be centered on me and not them. Until there fixed you can only really rely on them for there actives.

Id like to think there considering adding more “white” attacks to mob behavior (atm most mobs just repeat a hard hitting attack or a low damage attack with condis attacked to it..both are generally slow). However mordrem seem to show some altenrate behaviors.

Teragriffs auto attack quite quickly. ALthough I wish there duel swing auto attack acted like a chain attack for a player. so confusion would proc on each part of the “chain” but have that chain lead up to something quite painful. (Kinda like how a guardian hammer setup will lead to that protection symbol) seeing chain attack setups would be very nice IMO. and it would improve the health of confusion as a condition.

My only issue is that bosses seem to be moving further away from the white damage and more towards scripted attacks. Dont get me wrong scripted attacks are awesome as long as they do enough damage to be considered such. There a way of forcing the player to break out of there comfort zone and react. Which is fun. However those scripted attacks are often quite slow and lack the punishment attached to them. So they lose not only the thrill but the effectiveness of punishment such as retaliation and confusion.

I feel if a middle ground could be found between very heavy scripted attacks and middling rapid white attacks the bosses could not only be more fun but also be more in pace with the confusion there trying to buff. just me though. Kinda went off on a psuedo rant.

I believe other games had issues in combat balancing where nearly every pvper in the game bunny hopped to victory…it sucked…and it looked stupid as hell…

Patchi speaking as a necro I kinda cant help but laugh at what you said about greater marks. I cant think of a single build that takes this trait ever since the original marks got buffed in size to what was at the time the greater marks effect.

The only place I believe it was taken before that buff was for WvW and in certain early attempts at a heavy staff build for pvp. I havent seen anyone run that build in an extremely long time though.

I…honestly doubt your running into necros traited with greater marks as often as your claiming to.

im curious on how heal as one change will affect things. Its always been a heavy heal. But if it actually becomes somewhat reliable as a low cooldown burst heal option thatl be interesting.

I like the idea. But have you considered using a death nova build for weakness? It would give you a bit more aoe poison and weakness while still leaving you tanky. And it should free up those points from curses to go into something like death perception. Freeing you to take an amulet that doesn’t use percision.

If aoe weakness and being able to hold your own against multiple opponents for a time is the goal. A 20606 build or a 00626 build might work as well. Using bone minions for aoe poison and weakness blasts and maybe spectral skills to round out life force generation and provide a bit more raw defense.

I do however like the build idea you came up with. I may try adapting my blood shroud build to take that some of your choices into account.

Anirri.4156:

was fighting a champ on my lvl 27 necro. the 3 randoms died (a guardian a thief and an ele) so i soloed it. DS is a life saver giving my healing minion time to get some of my BASE hp back. i am a power/condi hybrid and though i don’t kill quickly i am VERY hard to kill.

Yeah. Using DS to soak blows and hopping out of it for the heal is pretty nice. The low cooldown it has makes it good with “on heal” runes which can be a life savor when leveling up in areas higher lvls than your current lvl.

alright. This is gonna sound wierd. But can the two of you post your builds? Exact copies if you can manage it? It might help to see if yall have traits or something else in common. That way we can maybe see if theres something you two have in common thats different from other necros that aren’t having this issue.

Does one of your weapon sets have vitality while* the other doesnt? Your vitality affects your life force pool. So if one weapon is carrion and the other is rabid your life force pool max will rise and drop. effectively “wasting” some life force.

Edit: also those events may have something that gives you a vit buff that comes and goes. Doing effectively the same thing.

Hmm id have to say either a guard or a very “in your face” warrior. Something that can apply some hard CC while I load a person up with soft CCs.

Ive had some great duo plays with a hambow.

Just stepping (from a necro perspective) in to say that staff four no longer removes conditions from allies as of some set of months ago. It is however still a possible full condi clear if you hit multiple targets. Making it ideal for fighting a condi mesmer as the clones are good for condi bouncing.

It is however still very useful for popping a poison field for aoe weakness. Which does ALOT to reduce shatter damage if you can clip not only hte mesmer but multiple clones with it.

Its a way of cheating using another program to monitor the game and locate targets even when its not possible for you to view them

Edit: Primarily used as an anti stealth tool.

That is the most disturbed asuran I have ever seen hahaha

Seriously though. Agro is decided by two primary things. Toughness-vit values and proximity.

As long as you have a pet with high toughess/vit (id seriously reccomend a drake NOT a bear) in close range of the target the target will go after that pet 90% of the time.

The other 10 percent of hte time is when you have similar toughness-vit value to your pet. Meaning your both equally good targets in hsi eyes. In this case hes gonna go running after you. The way to avoid this is with the second of the two things I mentioned. Proximity.

This works in two ways. Distance and the ease of crossing that distance.

If theres 600 range between you and the target odds are he will still come after you. But if theres 800 range odds are hel go after the pet. But thats not a set thing because you can influence it.

Cripple is the way to do it. A crippled mob prioitizes nearby targets. Even if that target isn’t an “agro magnet” Because it would take too long for the mob to reach the more attractive ranged target.

Certain mobs have exceptions. Some bosses seem to have unique agro mechanics (lupicus is a good example of this…as he tends to “fixate” on a target and focus on him until his phase shift…certain mordrem have also been known to prioritize fruther targets for there special abilities)

It very much is possible to manipulate agro in this game. It just takes a bit more experience to learn how. And its possible to glass burst most encounters in the game ANYWAY so no one has bothered to ever really learn how.

Edit: Do not use this logic in Orr in general. The mobs there seem to prioritize weakened targets. Especially in the dungeon paths there known to swarm downed or injured players ignoring the rest of the group.

Corana.9837:

Spirit Weapons basically operate as a cross-between weapon spells and binding rituals from the original Guild Wars ritualist profession. They can attack independently of the Guardian and allows for a strong command skill, when compared to their regular attacks at least, but they are quite fragile so they tend to die quickly.

Bow – regular attacks removes conditions while the command skill heals a selected area.
Hammer – regular attacks cause damage with knockback on the last attack while the command causes solid damage, knockdown and is a blast finisher.
Shield – creates a shield of absorption which absorbs projectiles and the command grants aegis, causes weakness and is a stun break.
Sword – regular attacks cause damage and command causes vulnerability and damage.

Make spirit weapons impossible to kill but have a limit of one activated at a time or reduce their duration to compensate. Additionally, link the spirit weapons regular attacks to the attacks made by the Guardian and the “Command” skills would remain unchanged. It increases control of the spirit weapons, avoids the problem of their fragile nature and does not require any change to the traits.

Essentially, it allows them to have a similar function to the weapon spells the ritualist had in Guild Wars. Of course, such a thing is just as unlikely as the Necromancers having access to party-based Guild Wars spells like the elite skill “Order of the Vampire.”

This….would actually fix all if not all of the problems that SW guards face than atleast most of them. And it would really push them into a role there own. Instead of “bad pets with good burst” theyd end up being summoned augmentations instead. I would like that VERY much.

Id…honestly consider reinstalling if its having that much of an issue and someone in tech doesnt get back to ya within 24 hours.

your not the only one whos been reporting some wierd times downloading. Hopefully a red post can awnser yah. But first id suggest putting in a ticket just in case. There should be a section that applies.

WuGzaGenius.5684:

why isnt it in the rotation?

because some people don’t know how to fight or build a character that isn’t based around sitting in a circle and they don’t want to give up there playstyles so they go in and get wrecked horribly by the first group with people that have even the slightest idea how to do more than form a murderball.

Terrorsquad.2349:

Shadelang.3012:

Terrorsquad.2349:

Just sayin’…

Im more curious what happened in your previous match o.o that convo looks entertaining.

Oh right, I had this amazing team and erm, they were saying our Power Necro was our only pointholder and that he should stay mid.

So yea.. That’s my PvP life story really.

I……really? I just… im sorry I brought it up.

Dude dont bump mate. If no ones replying it means no one has the information you WANT to hear. The information is that there isnt a way aside from recreating hte build in HOTM and testing it yourself.

but im fairly sure its not what you want to hear

Yeah. even as someone who mains a ranger I wouldn’t say this is unfair by looking at it. It seems like youl balance out in practical combat once you take into account the various effects that are common there. That and I always prefer personally to see support builds than stand alone builds.

I can guarantee you it does use this attack as ive seen it happen. But when it happens I can’t say. If theres a difference between it and its normal attack animation its very small becuase I havnt noticed it. Its possible it only uses it when its taken significant damage like you said. Ive seen it used mostly in TPvP by seeing seemingly random high number crits coming from the drake when it wasnt using tail swipe.

All of that together makes isolating it a PITA.

Hmm immobs never been a big issue for me. its rare enough that the few occasions I get hit with it I can fleshaport (flesh wurm active) out of it or use dagger or staff 4 to give it to an enemy. In the case of entangle ill let it put alot of bleeds and immob on me then give it to the rangers pet. pretty much forces the ranger to immediately pet swap to try and save it.

Klonko.8341:

From my ~50h of pvp I learned one thing: Cripple and chill are the #1 enemy of necro. It would be fun to have a trait that give us a reduced condi duration for those 2 condition. It would help to get away in wvw and chase better.

Do you feel the same thing?

Yes haha its why ive been using centaur runes lately. They do a good job of reducing the effect cripple has on you. As for chill though I always transfer that to an enemy rather than waste it with Consume Condition.

ATM there is only experience. Alot of us wish we could see there timers while in DS however.

As you play it more and more you start to get the timing down without needing to actively think about it. Being wrong about that timing though has a tendancy of getting you killed >.<

Terrorsquad.2349:

Just sayin’…

Im more curious what happened in your previous match o.o that convo looks entertaining.

Favorite: Necromancer. Killing through control and debilitations as much as raw damage is what I enjoy most in RPGs. Screw the “rush the enemy until hes out of health” and screw the “kite the enemy until hes out of health” ill take the “make sure the enemy cant rush or kite as well as reducing any damage they can do in the meantime while my bone minions rush up to say (Hellooooo) and I get the pot boiling”….

Edit: Least favorite has to be the thief. I never more fealt like I was playing to make someone unhappy than I was to have fun then when I was on a thief.

Maximum Potato.5923:

Baldrick.8967:

Until they come up with a pet that can jump waves from the dragon, they are a liability there too- whether kept next to you doing nothing or sent in to do some damage, same result, dead pets and kitten damage output.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Devourer_Retreat
AI is excellent on this skill for dodging high-damage attacks, and you can F4 your pet to avoid PBAOE’s. Pets will also teleport back to you if you’re a good range away from them and set them to passive.

That skill in particular will trigger at ANY time an enemy that pet is in combat with enters less than x range or sometimes when it gets attacked by ranged attacks.

Which means a thieves shortbow one might trigger it. Or even a random PvE mob. I cant tell you how many times ive been getting stunlocked near my devourer and I REALLY need it to use that knockdown it has but instead it runs away.

I cant tell you how many times ive had something almost dead and I really want the poison attack it has but instead something random happens and it runs away.

That skill in particular is a HORRIBLE one ot use as an example. As it MIGHT help keep the pet alive but its far more likely to happen at random times causing the pet to not be doing any for of offense for quite awhile. meaning while its active you don’t have a pet.

That skill tends to do more harm than good.

Edit: If I could control my pet completely however id be in love with the devourer for just that skills reason. Its just that as it is now its auto cast programming tends to get you killed.

Seems pretty normal actually. Its why anti meta builds are usually only good against that specific meta build. Its really easy to make a build that completely shuts down turret engis. And it leaves you open to other playstyles. Seems fair to me.

Thats what id bet. Probably something being set up in the back ground to make the transition easier. As these events never last long (never more than a few minutes) and seem fairly random.

There have actually been some strange periods of lag on the U.S. side as well. Ive confirmed its not just mine by asking around hwen they happen. Anyone on screen (and im assuming the entire area) seems to get hit by it as well. Ive had it happen so far in TPvP and WvWvW. Earlier today the entire guild group I was with in Red Bl lagged straight into a cliffisde when we thought we were in the middle of a supply camp.

this has happened for the last 3-4 days I believe.

While I agree in its current implementation it feels like a concept that got pushed through. I actually like the idea of traits that affect the core function of life blast.

Dhuumfire and Renewing blast are interesting ideas. I wish however that they were aoes >.<. I still hope to see other versions of life blast in the future so that each playstyle type can make use of it as an ability. (id personally move renewing blast to blood magic and make it an aoe on hit (could be useful in a zerg) for hte first 2 targets it hits (that way the necro has a chance of benefiting from it so that itl actually be a reliable healing method for any players in close proximity of the target)

So something like Necro———-Ally-Enemy——-Ally-Enemy Ally. All three allies would be healed even if there not in direct path of hte shot. because the heal is centered in an aoe around the target.

Assuming Unyielding blast was also taken

SilverWF.4789:

As for me, Life Blast is pretty OK, even OP a bit.

I think he specifically means the renewing blast trait. Which is incredibly difficult to use to its utmost. Even a bloodshroud build (20066) has difficulty using it simply because renewing blast has a painful time hitting your team mates. Theres no way to make it seek allies the way it would enemies. Its difficult to have it effect more than one ally at a time even when you CAN get it to reliably hit one ally.

I kinda wish it healed in a pulse around enemy targets. Like if I hit an enemy with it any allies within x range will get healed by x% of the damage done scaled to healing power. I could see zealot necro becoming a thing if that ever happened. For now that renewing blast isnt a reliable enough heal to take in place of deathly perception.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fRAQNAW4YjM00UbbN+1webiohS6A4AKAo6Rq3haoTB-TxhFABA8EAaU9HGuIAHp8DPdD6pEsj9HAA-e

Alright. After using minions since day one of the game this is currently what im using.

A combination of valk/cav will give a rather large defensive pool while still leaving your power and ferocity high enough to make use of death perception. Which means you can still use the more control/face-tank method of combat that the MMancer uses while still having hard hitting life blasts. The fact that a good portion of the toughness is converted to more power is nice as well.

I PERSONALLY use centaur runes because I find mobility helps me alot more. But for raw damage id take strength runes.

Youl have plenty of life force in this build to make use of it between, Death of enemies and minions (both of which are increased by death magic minor trait), Normal life force gain, and shadow fiend command attack (send it into a group of mobs and itl probably get more than one batch of life force from the attack).

Death Nova will provide reliable poison and weakness duration. It also punishes careless aoe if you decide to take it into a PvP area at some point. Youl be able to maintain reliable periods of weakness even on bosses. Useful for bosses that have heavy damage phases.

Your damage isn’t outsourced in this build. Instead you use minions for there purposes instead of as turrets. Flesh Wurm is your escape mechanic. Shadow fiend is your burst life force generation. Bone minions are your way of dealing aoe damage as well as reducing the enemies damage. Your biggest hit will come from your life blast. Youl be able to stay in death shroud for long periods of time and be able to hit with it quite hard. Making it both a good sword and shield on top of your natural tankiness.

Your sustain outside of DS is quite good despite not having consume conditions as far as PvE goes. I also find it more comfortable to have a small heal I can sacrifice on demand rather than a large heal I may not be able to get off.

Condi clears come from Dagger four and Staff four.

All in all the build is simple in concept however you can pull of ALOT of really weird stuff with it just in the ways the skills work together. That take practice and getting to know it on your own though if you choose to use it.

Edit: Secifically on Healing. Sacrifice blood fiend immediately upon exiting or immediately before entering death shroud to top yourself off IF YOU NEED THE HEAL (its best to keep yourself at max) Re Summon it the next time you exit DS if DS is on cooldown and your low on health use Dagger 2 while the blood fiend is active. Youl get a decent chunk of healing from the two skills actively healing you at the same time.