Guild Wars 2

.. haha Vaati, you read my mind .. I was writing the same post, you beat me to it xD

I agree that the silence on their part atm, is quite frustrating. I only hope the reason they haven’t made any changes is that they’re planning a major class overhaul of the majority of necro skills and class mechanics.

If you’re even reading this forum Anet, just acknowledging the issue would do a lot to reassure the majority of the necro playerbase.

I too would love to know their reason for “streamlining” the necromancer beyond recognition .. -.-

If they wanted to do more aggressive mele thing work for necro’s they should have given us a unique weapon type i.e. dirk .. or maybe even a normal sword like mesmers .. having daggers to actually mele seems off. I just wish the weapons would be more like focuses to cast spells not actually used to stab / fight with. Look at ele and their whip like spells ..

Yes, I too would like to know if we can expect any changes soon .. or I’m switching over to my mesmer or creating a warrior / guardian. They are at least fun to level up with.

Well maybe they shouldn’t do the same dmg. but as of now we’re not even in the same ballpark as the rest of the proffessions. I don’t think that was intended.

Unfortunately, I have to agree with most of your statements. The necros are in a sad state atm.

Nekroseth, I agree with you most of the spell effects both design wise and effect wise (dmg and conditions) are rather uninspiring and bland. Especially staff which is basically the same boring marks. I was expecting some cool spell animations with staff which is considered the primary weapon of choice for casters but all we got was a sub par nuke. Though the nuke has what can be considered the necro’s only really good animation; the scythe.

Wanting class balance is not trolling or “seagulling” as it were ..

If you think the gw2 counterpart is anything like the gw1 necro you better replay guild wars I because it is stripped of not all, but most of that made the orginal necro great. Don’t tell me you can’t see how the minion master build from gw has been completely gutted ?

And don’t give us the “I’ve been pwning pvp all week” speech. Your personal experience with people vs. people is hardly compelling evidence that the necro isn’t currently underpowered when compared to it’s peers.

Or maybe allow us to use death magic / blood magic or spectral magic / curses etc for each weapon type similar to how the elementalist’s elements work ..

Nekroseth.5186:

Besides the look problem, we have staff,dagger,a axe, scepter and focus variation for skills. And Ele has the same, (excluding axe, witch is not used by anyone) but his Class specific not dopples but increaces the ammount of his skills 4 times.
Where is Death shround compared to this?

If Nekros dont have a seriously cool mechanic then they need a LOT more weapons to use. (like a lot of classes actually)
There is just to few skills and builds to use. You cant seriously costumize your gameplay or game style like this.

I agree with you fully on this Nekroseth, my first reaction to our skill sets compared to the way elementalists get their skills quadrupled, was that we have a severely limited skill set.

A good way to expand our skill set would be like you suggested to allow us to use more weapon types. I think a sword would be good and completely in line with the necro’s more aggressive nature. Maybe make it more burst dmg for the players that like that playstyle.

And make us be able to use all weapons in the offhand including the axe. That would open up for a lot more combinations and axe / axe, sword / axe. Sword / dagger etc etc.

I agree with op, I also think the necro could benefit from a new weapon since we already have the fewest skills of all proffession .. I could see us using a sword for instance for a more in your face burst dmg combat. Regardless, we desperately need some buffs in the damage department . . Right now every other class outshines us on the dmg front, and what we can do, every other class can do better save for conditions and maybe boon removal..

Nekroseth.5186:

I can alredy say i can also agree with Venom. Not only te skills itself are “meh ok” , but the animations to.
Also agree with an option to summon from corspes for a slight benefit. (i would not force this trough, just leave it as an option, since you become half useless if you dont find corpses.)

In other hand you also pointed out that Compared to Eles and Mesmers unique skill concepts the nekro basically only has the Death shroud witch is totally fictionless, compared to the games awesome designs.

I also liked the costumizing the “skin” or “model” on the minions. Actually i alredy added a full topic to “alternate skill effects” buyed via gems or unlocked. (like banners on pets) . So i can totally agree with this to.

And in toher hand reading your ideas of skills i realized also, that Eles have lots of “heal others and self” skills via water. But necro can basically ONLY steal life. And give regen buff to players. I would suggest a real heal skills to. It totally fits his Class. I have many ideas on it, but i leave this to devs.

Hmm abaut sick magic tipe i can tell you wild things from real life. I study cults and rituals a lot actually. (its half of my job) . It was like 1 year ago when some guys made a pentagram from dog insides in the cemetery. And i see a lot of stuff like that.
And the real problem is not that its not “evil” the problem it does not LOOK like evil.

(bit offtopic)
And another thing to mention : Engineers have the same problem like Nekromancers with Minions.
THe skills that make them whole (give them skills so they dont only have to use that 10 skill they have from that ONLY 2 weapons ) take up the Utility slot. Witch should be there to have utility. And i must also add, that there skills only buff, nuke or heal. Thats all. Nothing special. (atleast gief us more skins for turrets to )

Yeah exactly, we get one class mechanics; death shroud. At least they could’ve made it a bit more unique / interesting looking instead of just seeing your normal character with some black swirling colors around him / her. They should have made it cool and powerful looking, like a real spirit / reaper form. Now it kind of just looks like a rushed placeholder animation.

zao.2710:

Yeah, these are some interesting ideas!
I also thought that perhaps they didn’t want to capitalize on undead raising due to the Zhaitan lore correlation, which kinda puts Necromancers in general in bad spot

Thank you.

Well, Anet already said that the Necromancer’s powers are in no way linked to Zhaitan. I think the words they used were " Necromancer’s harness the power of death while Zhaitan corrupts death itself" Lore should never be an excuse for bad game mechanics anyways =)

Minions doesn’t look cool, like at all. They don’t look menacing, they look pathetic.

.. Here’s the big bad necromancer that can even turn himself into a lich. BEWARE of his undead servants !!

Oh, wait those are just undead rabbits. Never mind what I said. Carry on.

Where are the basic infantry minions with blades instead of hands? I belive they were called “animated bone minions” Did necromancers just forget how to make them? And instead wanted fluffy (albet smelly) unliving bunnies as pets? What gives?!

Yeah I just want ArenaNet to capitilaze more on the undeath component of necros. I think a lot of ppl would appreciate more cool, creative and imagitive skills that actually play of of this concept.

There could be so much you could do with it. Like Raise allies. Extending your own life after death.

.. how about an elite skill that raises all allies and foes in the area. Called e.g. “undying army” “Raise all reccently deseased in the area for 30 sec,up to maximum of 4- (if a player is affected they are granted a auxilerary toolbar and can choose to continue fighting in temporary undeath.” (allies would get a promt asking if they wanted to be revived with a 5 sec timer, if they declined an AI zombified version of them would be raised instead)

This could also maybe raise yourself if you die as a passive with an extremely high internal cooldown) in a temporary undead form (complete with a new skillbar) for 30 sec.

- Making dmg, heal you, and healing. dmg you, temporarily (like a variation of reversed energy on undead.. positive energy damanages and negative energy heals undead creatures)

- Armies (a lot) of low to medium powered minions that overwhelms foes. Teleporting to corpses. Consuming corpses to heal, or to gain mana or for buffs.

Self detonating on death (could be downed ability) etc.

Also how about another elite to summon a fleshreaver?

I personally would like to see some form of minion customization if areanet is going to keep this concept of permanent minions we might as well customize them .. maybe unlock more customizations through quests .. drops .. or item store. Like different skins for minions and maybe slight variations on attack (adds a condition but decreases dmg) things like that.

I personally think that they haven’t even touched the surface of what death magic could be.

Zao, I actually think that the necromancer from gw 1 was way more innovative in terms of game mechanics than the necro of gw2.

Seems like it was a step back when Anet attempted to “streamline” the necro (read dumb down) removing our unique condition disease, and just slaughtering our minion builds. =/

zao.2710:

Erebus, I’m sorry but either this is a failed troll attempt or you have 0 experience in sPVP.

Venom, I absolutely support all you said. I would even like the necessity of having a dead body nearby to raise a minion being brought back if we’d get a strong and respectable undead monster in return. Not friggin necrorabits that are cannon fodder.

Thanks. I can’t tell you how annoying it is to have people like Erebus that, as soon as you point out that the class is poorly balanced or maybe is not working as intended in certain respects they go like " l2p noob, I’m pwning all the time with my necromancer !!! I can solo 3 ppl with just half my skillbar .. " or something similar lol.

Erebus.7568:

Shelledfade.6435:

necro weakest class in game in terms of s-pvp.

They’re so weak compared to guardian or warrior that it’s almost sickening to witness.

-_-
i can’t lose to a guardian even if i wait 10 sec with even attacking him…

necro’s DESTROY!!! any class in spvp…. maybe a really good rogue or ranger can survive but i highly doubt it and havent mead it yet.

the fact the necro will turn every boon on you to a condision and every con on himself to a boon and at the same time got a full 30sec invulnerability while putting out tons of dmg. etc etc.. calling him weak is a joke..

build him con dmg+thoughness, well based and stuff with plague as ult… his insanely strong. properly the strongest class in spvp

Well that may be but it doesn’t change the fact that we should have more than 1-2 viable builds and right now Minion Master is NOT one of them. Our minions as of now are a joke.

Please bring back the trademark MM build for the necromancer.

zao.2710:

Nekroseth.5186:

Nekromancers “trademarks” is supposed to be undead minions.
And not only they look “sigh could be a LOT cooler” Exspecially considering how totally amazing some pet animations and textures are.
But also they are quite weak. Even if 4 minion is attacking my target they eather die quite fast or wont even get hurt. The “sacrefice” skills for them are a joke to. I keep forgetting them.

Another problem of them is : They TAKE YOUR UTILITY slots. Why do i have to waste all my possible utlity skills to be what i am supposed to be?

What I think is that minions could be turned to another F-ability like the engi’s kits or ranger pets. Perhaps some down scaling would be necessary, but generally that would leave the utility slots opened, and more builds would be possible.

Well I think a parial solution could be that our current “weaksauce” minions could be turned into that, and then there could be stronger minions a la guild wars 1 that could be slotted into your utility slots so a true minion master build could still be possible after they buffed MM traits ofc. I would hate for the MM build to be completely removed!

And don’t get me started on how all our minions basically are vastly underpowered, takes up our precious utility slots, doesn’t regen out of combat, dies from one or two hits AND has a completely wacked out AI that keeps telling our minions to attack random targets, or worse just stand still while we are getting killed. Please Anet FIX minions!

MM should be a viable build!

In my opinion both the mesmer and the elementalist have by far, a much more unique feel to all their abilities and spells. Especially the elementalist with it’s different elemental schools of magic. By contrast, the necromancer seems to have rather unimpressive casting animations. What I’m most concerned about is that there seem to be very little variety or unique animations for spells.
The spells generally all exhibit the same green or dark graphics that blend into a feeling of every spell being the same. It’s hard to describe but I feel an essential sense of variety is missing here. One spell feels like another. This is especially apparent when using a staff where there is a lot of marks and when using wells. The marks and wells just lack the omph and wow factors of ele /mesmer spells or even ranger traps, and basically looks identical to each other.

What I would like to see is more unique and different animations for different marks, and please bring back the cool animations for wells that we know from the original gw. As it is now they almost look the same as marks ..

Now I could forgive the lack of cool animations for some of the necro spells if our minions looked awesome. Because to be honest I choose to play necro for the undead minions! .. however, as it currently stands, I think there is a severe lack of basic minions like we had in gw1 (where’s the standard minion soldier with a bone formed as a blade instead of hands?)

The bone minions look underwhelming as basic minions .. the shadow fiend and worm / healing pet are a nice addition don’t get me wrong but overall we lack diversity of minions . . how cool would it be if we actually had to choose from a larger list of undead servants? This lack of diversity could I guess be solved partially by having custom minion skins in the item shop to bring more uniqueness to the role of necromancer because even our elite minion skill flesh golem looks less impressive than it’s counterpart in gw1!

I’m missing a sense of “wow that’s an awesome/ terrifying looking minion!” .. I would gladly pay for a bigger and meaner looking golem, those things are supposed to be big and intimidating! .. how is it that we as powerful (max lvl) necromancers that can turn into a lich, only can summon jagged horrors the tiniest of undead servants (undead rabbits lol) feels so unimpressive compared to GW1 or AoC Necromancers.

In general I think it’s strange that the elementalism for all it’s pretty looking spells can summon bigger elementals than we can raise undead minions. We are desperately missing a bigger non elite mele undead minion (would be awesome if it looked something akin to a skeleton / undead warrior. Just my suggestion on how to add some more diversity and uniqueness to the necromancer profession.