Guild Wars 2

I’m not a theorycrafter and have never posted a build before, but I was playing around with something and thought I’d post it. Forgive me if it’s common and has been beaten to death already; I don’t recall seeing it before though.

Also, I’m only 60, so I’m only working with 50 points right now.

Traits:

25 Spite, 25 Curses

In Spite, I selected Signet Mastery and Signet Power.

In Curses: Weakening Shroud and Hemophilia (chosen for lack of anything better, frankly).

Weapons: Scepter and Knife, and of course Staff.

Slot Skills: Well of Blood, Signet of Spite, Well of Suffering, Well of Corruption, Summon Flesh Golem.

So the idea here is to be able to dump an obscene amount of hurt on a single target. First, you activate Signet of Spite, which attaches six conditions, plus whatever you manage with the scepter/Knife and Staff.

Target the Weak grants 2% extra damage for each condition on a Foe. Signet of Power grants three stacks of might for activating the signet.

Then, for extra measure, you have the option of popping the two wells. Meanwhile, the Flesh Golem is doing it’s thing.

Theoretically, this should allow a necro to knock down even a tough foe fairly quickly.

There are some significant drawbacks though: I feel this is a one trick pony, glass cannon kind of build. I used to like running with a beefed up Death Shroud, so I feel like I’m without my safety net now. However, maybe this can be alleviated over the next levels by putting points into Blood or Soul Reaping. I could also take five points out of Spite and put it elsewhere; don’t know how effective Siphoned Power is, so maybe those five points would be better spent somewhere else.

This post is about the non-mechanical issues with the Necromancer class – things that don’t deal with stats, performance and bugs, but instead look and feel, visual issues, or general “quality of life” matters.

Note: I know some people don’t think these things are important – but some do, so let’s agree to disagree ahead of time.

1. Jagged Horror needs a new model. This is open to preference of course; some people probably like that it is a little bone horror. To me, it looks like a placeholder. The Jagged Horror should be it’s own little critter.

2. Life Force orb absorption needs to cause Necros to glow, or animate as absorbing into our bodies, or something to show we are taking in this energy. Currently, the orb just approaches our body and disappears – it’s like one final animation or glow effect or something is missing. Looks a little low-rent right now.

3. Liche Form – needs a female model. I’ve only tested Liche Form in PVP so far, so I don’t have the actual skill myself yet, but when I tried it I immediately turned into a big, hulking, male liche. Problem is, my Necro is female. She needs to be able to turn into a female liche.

4. Need ability to turn off minion “banners.” I.e., the names, healthbars and guild abbreviations. When I have out all my minions I feel like I’m surrounded by a mass of billboards. Very distracting. If I want to see my minion’s health status, I prefer to do it on mouse-over.

5. Clipping – I LOVE the harajuku look of many of my Necro’s gear, but the flouncy nature of some of these garments leads to some clipping. For example, I currently have on the “Ravaging Magician Coat of Honing” and the “Ravaging Cabalist Legs of Strength”, and the legs clip a bit up into the coat. This’ll never entirely be eliminated, but I hope Anet is going to continue to clean up these things over time.

6. Staff sounds – I wonder if Anet could throw in just one more sound variation, just to mix it up a bit? That “AaaaaaWHOOOOO” sound repeats quite a bit, as has been noted by others….

7. Plague – should we turn entirely into a cloud? Other “transform” skills seem to keep some resemblance to human form – DS, Liche, etc. Maybe tweak so that the visual effect is the same, but Necros retain a ghostly form within? Just a thought.

Keep up the good work Anet, this game rocks.

I would love to have a great sword.

A daze… So that makes me even more puzzled as to how this is useful… it may just be me, but the effect is literally gone before I can trigger my next attack.

Am I missing something with the Horn skill Wail of Doom? It seems chintzy to me.

It’s a 2 second stun. It hits in a cone, so it can hit multiple targets. And that’s it. This doesn’t seem that impressive for one of the only two Horn skill slots.

Am I missing something? Like does this rock in PVP or something?

My experience in PVE at least is that the stun usually times out by the time the attack animation processes. And there’s no other effect – no condition, no direct damage.

I guess I could see using this to try to catch fleeing players in PVP, under rare circumstances… but this seems really conditional and not really worth using up a precious weapon skill slot.

And the duration of the stun is so short that I’m having trouble seeing how this would be useful against mobs.

Is there a killer combo with another weapon that I’ve missed?

My first character in GW1 was a necro, so it’s a nostalgia thing for me. Also, I tend to go with darker professions. I was a DDD in COH and a Death Knight in WOW, for example.

Also, the game is pretty brand new, and there’s always one or two classes that need help at first. It’s pretty common. It’s not like the problems are locked in forever and can never be fixed.

For some reason I’m having a heck of a time deciding on trait lines for my necro.

At first I was Soul Reaping, with Blood as my secondary. I figured necros can’t take much of a beating, so maybe I’d focus on buffing my survivability.

However, then I read that Blood sucks as far as healing, and it didn’t seem like it was doing much in practice.

So next I went with conditions: Spite and Curses. However, I’m wondering if these are really a good fit for my preferred weapons: dagger and staff? Or does it matter?

I’d consider Death for Minions, but I know from past MMOs that my minions will die in seconds in any PVP or dungeon… and with each minion death, I get weaker… typically not a good idea to bank large amounts of your power in minions, I’ve found.

So I don’t know; either I’m all over the place, or these trait lines are.

Does anyone have any “conventional wisdom” to impart here? Anything that is know to work really well, and anything to avoid at all costs? I’d love a guide that breaks it out in kitten and Jane-level terms; “If you want to do XX, use X trait line and X weapon” kind of thing. A baseline for me to start from at least…

I was thinking greatsword too, because it seems like the least obvious choice. Funny you also mentioned having the skills for a new weapon focused on minion summoning, because I was thinking that would be cool for bow.

I know someone recently suggested pistols.

Hi, my character is a necro, and as such I chose Grenth as her patron god, as that just seemed appropriate.

One thing I’ve noticed, however, is that she seems to get zero special recognition for this choice, even though Grenth supposedly has his eye on her.

For example, when I stop by a priest of Grenth for a speed boost, why doesn’t he comment, “hey girl, I see Grenth favors you.” Or something like that, just to kind of acknowledge that early choice?

Also: my necro stopped into a cemetery in Divinity Reach recently. It would have been awesome if she said “woo hoo!” or made some other comment, as she was in a place where she should have been excited to be, being a necromancer and all that.

So in other words, it would be cool at some point to get some more contextual “feedback” from the game based on your character choices.

1. What if each class got a little something extra from interacting with priests of their particular god? Some a warrior who chose Balth would get the boost from a priest of Balth but not Grenth, for example.

2. What if your character reacted to locations that are obvious matches with their class? Necros in graveyards, warriors in training yards, etc. It wouldn’t have to be all over the world, but a few would be cool.

This isn’t a criticism post, just feedback after playing awhile.

I love my necro, but feel she needs… something. It’s a qualitative impression, not based on any kind of numbers crunching. I like her current skills and weapons, and can’t really comment on what’s bugged or underpowered…

I just think she needs something… else. There’s that final cherry on the top that is missing.

Right now, not yet 40, I kind of feel like I’ve already experienced everything my necro has to offer. My impression is that I need something more to play with. More depth, more toys, more tools… something.

I’m not even sure exactly what it is that I think is missing. Another weapon? Another F-skill? More pets?

If I had to choose, I think I’d say we need another weapon. I’d love to see the addition of a weapon that further challenges the idea that necros are just ranged casters.

On the other hand, I also think Death Shroud needs to be fleshed out more, or supplemented with a separate F-skill.

Or something else entirely. I don’t know, but I know that it seems like my necro needs… something… else.

Hi Developers, please, PLEASE add an checkbox in the options to turn over the nameplates that hover about Necromancer summoned pets. I can turn this off for other players, NPCs, enemies… but not the creatures that swarm all around me, cluttering up my screen with their names and health bars!

It’s a simple request…

I’m loving my necromancer. After playing a bit, I have some “quality of life” requests that I would love to see implemented ASAP, and a general suggestion/thought that is more qualitative (i.e., probably doesn’t match up with number-crunching, but is more of a “feel thing.”)

ASAP:

1. PLEASE add the option to remove the “name plates” that hover above our summoned pets. You know, name / health bar / level. This is good info, but I have all other name plates (characters, enemies, NPCs) turned off; I prefer to get this info on mouse-over. The only name plates are above my pets, and it is distracting and immersion-breaking. Especially on my little Bone Fiends, where the name plates are nearly as big as they are. Please add a check box so I can click off the name plates and view their info whenever my mouse runs over them.

2. Life Force Orbs: as a Necromancer, I’m constantly sucking up green life orbs. However, there needs to be a little glow or animation that “completes” this orb-absorption. Currently, when the orb hits me, it just disappears – there needs to be a green aura on my character (or something) to show that my character has “absorbed” the life energy. Do you know what I mean?

I know those are minor things — but hey, it’s a great game, I have no real complaints.

LONG-TERM SUGGESTION that probably isn’t supported by hard metrics but I’m throwing it out there anyway:

So after playing necro for a while, getting my weapons and skills, learning Death Shroud, etc… I feel like there needs to be one more thing. Necromancer just seems a bit light compared to some of the other classes in terms of the variety of weapons and skills.

This is where this assessment probably isn’t supported by the design or numbers, because Death Shroud adds a whole four skills, and summoned pets turn into new skills when active, etc.

My feedback is just coming from pure feel after playing for a while. Death Shroud and alternate pet skills are great, but… necro still feels like it needs one other thing to flesh it out. Another F-skill (F1, F2…), or another weapon.

I think I heard there was another F-skill that was removed from the game, Liche Form or something? I’m sure there was good reason. Maybe it could be revisited?

If you ever consider adding a new weapon, my personal vote is longbow. I just really like the idea of a Necromancer with a bow, and I think the necro-styled skills that are possible could be really fun. For example, what if all bow skills did a small amount of direct damage, but also spawned a short-lived dead thing too, maybe with a 20 second timer before it died or exploded?

Anyway, something else to play with. That’s my feedback.

Thanks for reading; if you do nothing else, I’d really like those name plates to go though. It’s a small thing, but it’s really annoying!