Guild Wars 2

uhohhotdog.3598:

This is true. Someone will tell me to stop going far meanwhile I’m keeping three of the other team busy fighting me 3v1 allowing a 4v2 for my team on the other 2 points. It makes a difference.

I tend to do this quite often in soloque .. Ah, the joys and woes of that. I main Necro so I’m pretty much focused anyway, and to many people I have a “Free Kill” sign above my head so often times people will drop what they’re doing just to chase me. I use that to my advantage and roll a “bunker-ish” build and abuse Death Shroud and tie them up for quite a bit of time, sometimes killing them if I can’t disengage.

The only depressing thing is that after keeping the enemy team offpoint for so long, sometimes 2v1 or 3v1, your team didn’t bother to cap anything … Head, meet desk.

This needs to happen already. Can you imagine? Fights will most likely last a little longer, or at the very least won’t abruptly end all of a sudden without the possibility of counter play.

BlackBeard.2873:

Jelzouki.4128:

Kako.1930:

Yeah… I don’t really want them to NERF NECROS INTO THE GROUND like they did in the past, buuuut…. when I kill someone accidentally with a locust touching them while they’re standing behind me and have it explode on them with fire + air + spinal shivers and neither of us knows what just happened, that does seem pretty messed up lol. It could use a little adjusting. :P

I see where you are coming from but you have to see the grand scheme of things. How often does that actually happened?

Before necromancer receive this damage nerf you are all talking about, the base class needs to be buffed to make up for it, maybe without procs. But necromancer in its current state is not ready to take a damage nerf. Surely you understand that thieves and mesmers and rangers and medi guards do a necros job better? And the ranger from almost 2000 range??

I think this is what most people are asking for. Take away spinal shivers, and give them more consistent on abilities that have cast-times.

I’m gonna’ go out on a limb and say you’ve never played a Necro in PvP. The class is already bogged down with overly long cast times, providing a field day for CC (It’s why the phrase “Necro ping-pong” exists, also little stability). The difference between Chill of Death (Spinal Shivers proc) is that it is an investment in your build, and Sigils are a simple one-click several thousand damage proccing machine outside of build investment. That is a horrible imbalance.

I have no problems with changing (Or removing) the Runes/Sigils system in PvP, even if it “gimps” the damage of Necros, or any other class for that matter. If fights end up lasting longer, so be it. But those fights will be more skill based, with less RNG involved.

Leeto.1570:

Draw every que and you will be Rembrandt by the end of week.

kitten it.

Great writeup, spot on. Definitely agree with you on the domineering nature of Runes/Sigils, and also the matchmaking situation. Many think it’s due to Anet changing it and that’s why it’s so bad, but the simple fact is there aren’t enough playing for it to do it’s job.

As for 2v2 and 3v3 arenas, I’d love to see them. What I’d love to see first though is proper balance. I think adding arenas right now would only serve to hurt PvP, and make more obvious the glaring issues we deal with every day.

And for the off chance any Anet developer reads this, I think I understand your attitudes a little bit more now. The predominating thought many of you have is that we’re playing the game wrong, or we’re using mechanics the wrong way. That we haven’t figured out how to react to “perceived imbalances”. Well I’ll tell you what. What we have is what you’ve given us. This is our feedback. Please react accordingly.

Mrbig.8019:

Current meta is not defined by cele amulet, it’s defined by SIGILS and RUNES.

Engies are overlords because it’s the proff synergizing better with sigils due to INNATE passive procs ( IP).

There’s nothing to defend here, this is like the worst case scenario of every game trying to be competitive.

There’s the elephant in the room Anet doesn’t want to talk about. I’d like to think they’re reasonable folk however, so maybe if we can drum up enough dissent they’ll consider changing things.

To the guy mentioning Weakness and Protection, I’ve run builds specializing in both. Scepter/Dagger Necro has tons of Weakness application especially with Withering Precision for Weakness on crit, Spectral Armor along with Last Gasp, and Spectral Wall for Protection. I take Runes to increase Protection uptime and the minor trait to make Spectral skills last longer.

With that build I can nullify and mitigate enormous amounts of damage, including Sigil procs. But look what I had to do. I had to dedicate an entire build to counteract an RNG proc system that’s beyond out of control. My build isn’t even designed to take on certain professions, but ITEMS. How bad is that?

Yeah it’s a pretty bad time. For too many reasons we all know too well.

Chill seems to work fine for me, but it leaves you a bit kitten against other professions. Exhausting their dodges and cleanses works great too with cancels, but doesn’t always work. You gotta’ go for the burst while they’re chilled and it’s GG.

Glad to see this thread return. Keep fighting the good fight MrBig. I got an infraction for questioning why the other thread was simply deleted, and not closed stating why. I think we’re on to something here. I think the word is: Obfuscation.

Anyway, Runes/Sigils either need to go or receive some kind of balance strictly for PvP. They work fine in PvE, and why they’ve been implemented as such in a competitive environment I’ll never know. I’m tired of a meta that revolves around which professions can best exploit the RNG involved.

" As always, all the numbers shown in the livestream are subject to balance changes." – From the POI Recap post.

Yes, I would hope that’s obvious, but why mention it? Is this to quell the fears and tears already building in other class forums? Will Reapers be a bait and switch? Or am I being paranoid and should shutup?

I’m gonna’ shutup.

Honestly, you were probably better off playing it. At least 40-80. You’ll find all the builds you need on metabattle, but knowing what to do with them only comes with time.

I think Condition Reaper is going to be quite powerful .. The ability to apply so many simultaneously is not to be scoffed at. Fear, Blind, Chill, Poison .. Could be decent spike damage if not cleared.

I main a class that isn’t even in the meta. I don’t get any satisfaction playing something that’s unequivocally established. It can be frustrating at times, but any success I achieve is largely due to my own efforts. That’s satisfying.

Of course, the concept of “meta” is relative, and you need to cultivate a strong understanding of what it even means. You can be “anti-meta”, but given enough time you’ll be a part of the current meta, or even the new meta. That’s how I like to play.

choovanski.5462:

Laserbolt.6731:

Cynz.9437:

as posted on other threads: once you reach above 50% win rate the game tries to bring you back to 50% and stacks all odds against you… so no matter in what tier you would fight, you would alway experience same effect

only way to counter is: make a full group of top players, put them in ts and farm everyone~

I think this is pretty much true.

If you win a lot, you will be balanced back to a 50% win rate. So as a solo player, enjoy the process==>the individual battles; forget about being a winner in a majority of your games.

if you dont have people on TS to queue with and are forced to solo you have to treat it like golf. worry about your play, try and improve and savor your good moments. you are 1/5 of the team, you dont have a lot of control over the outcome, even more so as they game tries to make you lose- so you gotta find that zen zone. your goal has be getting better, not winning because with matchmaking how it is you are not going to have fun if you get worked up when you lose.

play hard and kitten the score.

Pretty much this. Don’t take it seriously unless you’re in Ranked obviously. Even then still try to have fun. The matchmaking in this game really hasn’t done anyone any favors since its inception; no reason to expect it to now.

BurrTheKing.8571:

I’m getting mixed messages on the auto attack situation.

If the opponent allows you to, absolutely smother them with auto attacks. Applying so many conditions (Especially with sigil procs) is huge. Scepter AA is one of the best in the game for a reason. Should you overly rely on it? Absolutely not. I’m a fan of opening with an AA chain, or Staff #3 then Scepter AA. It allows you a quick glimpse of the enemy’s removal, and if they’re willing to blow it early. Sometimes they’re even willing to interrupt/CC you right off the bat before you even begin a proper rotation. Those fights usually end in my favor.

As for Power Necro, it’s definitely a lot more straight forward. I forego crit from stats on mine and opt for more defenses and bring a lot of stun breaks (I swap between Death Perception and FitG). I solo/duoqueue primarily, and a build like that works out fairly well. You can duel well enough, and have moderate survivability with DS against 2-3 if you time your rotations and stun breaks effectively.

Supreme.3164:

I will remember this thread when the time comes, necro players will live to regret their disdainful words….what goes around..comes around. You say to have no problems with having powerful condis on auto-attack, you will come to regret this idea

I think you’re vastly overestimating things. As many have stated, the likelihood of that third attack landing is quite small. Every meta class has access to mobility, which is part of the reason they’re meta. If you’re hit by that third attack multiple times in a single engagement then you pretty much deserve to lose. Necros are still going to be CC’ed and focused for days, so the fact you’re worried about an incredibly long auto-attack chain is kind of hilarious.

emikochan.8504:

If taking stop drop and roll makes you win more fights than soothing ice, then it’s not a worse trait. Just switch it out if you see a reaper, they aren’t exactly going to be teleporting around a bunch :p

But OP wants to be able to do everything without having to pick an “inferior” trait, even if it is relevant against the enemy.

I think their best chance will be applying Blinds. It’ll wreck our long windup, high damage skills. I think if anything it’ll be a lot easier for us to shrug them off, or force them to disengage. Netting kills on us won’t be as easy.

Sigmoid.7082:

in pvp a leech tank can effectivly hold 1v3 for extremely long and still do very decent damage. that is what i am looking forward to.

also @ Sororita you linked the same build twice…oops

You and me both. Looking forward to this so hard.

Samhayn.2385:

Well he could be running chill on blind, we’ll of darkness and plague form plus chill from staff. Dunno it’s hard to keep chill up on someone with good cleanse

Pretty much what I ran with the accompanying Sigils/Runes. Used every Blind I had access to on top of it along with that trait. It was pretty fun but yeah, cleanses hurt it.

Roe.3679:

Some people already think power necro is too strong, just wait until someone like that gets blown away by a reaper. The tears will flow.

Indeed. The PvP and Necro forums will be nerf central for the first few weeks when all this drops. I guarantee it. Some of it may be valid, but I’ll bet money that most of it won’t be and here’s why: People have gotten used to the state of Necro, and just how easy it can be to shut them down and drop them. Having trouble with them, and even losing to them regularly will simply be unacceptable. Mark my words.

ronpierce.2760:

WhiteCrow.5310:

Foefaller.1082:

War Mourner.5168:

And I’m saying it’s not OP, because it relies on having 5 people chilled and hitting as many chilled things as physically possible.

While this makes it very strong against anyone running spirits/minions/turrets/etc, in an actual team fight, where there is 3-4 enemy players that sustain will not let you survive focus fire any better then having loads of health/LF in the first place. That’s what actualy damage mitigation is for.

You mean like Shoutbow Warriors?

That ends that argument.

Honestly, the talk of nerfs/tweaks right now is asinine. The numbers aren’t even final; Elite Specializations are still in active development.

That’s so incredibly wrong. Right now, while things are being actively worked on is the BEST time to discuss it… This way we have a voice in how it’s watched over. It save us from their pure “imagination” later…

But you and I both know that isn’t how the devs see it. The only time they respond to our concerns is when we have what we’re referring to right in our hands. They’re going to abide by the opinions of internal testers.

I like the idea of a tanky Necro that foregoes crit for defenses. It’s how I play it currently and seems to work out quite well. I can’t wait for the instant application of multiple conditions either. Going to be epic.

As far as being OP 1vs1, I thought Necros already were, or could be? I mean that’s the ideal matchup right now at least; getting focused and mass CC’ed is the problem.

I ran a bunker-ish tanky build with lots of Chill some time ago, but unfortunately most of it was from Sigil/Rune procs. We have limited access to it at the moment, but not in the amount you’re describing. Actually, I may try this again .. Hmm.

Foefaller.1082:

War Mourner.5168:

And I’m saying it’s not OP, because it relies on having 5 people chilled and hitting as many chilled things as physically possible.

While this makes it very strong against anyone running spirits/minions/turrets/etc, in an actual team fight, where there is 3-4 enemy players that sustain will not let you survive focus fire any better then having loads of health/LF in the first place. That’s what actualy damage mitigation is for.

You mean like Shoutbow Warriors?

That ends that argument.

Honestly, the talk of nerfs/tweaks right now is asinine. The numbers aren’t even final; Elite Specializations are still in active development.

Pretty excited about Nightfall. The only problem is getting it off.

Supreme.3164:

BlackBeard.2873:

Laraley.7695:

Supreme.3164:

The 4s chill will be reduced without doubt, people would reach 100% duration otherwise, too powerful to be left as it is..but in the end yeah prepare to be quick on that dodge button, loads of pressure will be necessary to push the reaper on the defensive

I don’t think ele will be even able to face it in small fights, the chill is pretty deadly and it seems there will be lots instant procs that chill, too.

Bruiser ele will get rekt by high chill uptime, this is true.

Burst ele won’t have any problem, but scepter isn’t exactly great as you know.

Also, it’s ridiculous if you combine it with Chill of Death if you trait chill for damage. It’ll be basically procs procs procs and more procs.

Welcome to the future of GW2

Bruiser build will have -53% chill/cripple/immobilize duration, then add double condi removal every10s or chill removed on dodge every 10s, then add cantrip condi removal.

It won’t be an easy fight, but far far from impossible I believe, bruiser ele will also be able to use stone heart to negate chill on crit traits

To finish, after the change a bruiser ele will trait for 6 arcana I believe, that’s 8s CD on attunement, a chill application ( 66%) will bring the CD of attunement on 13s CD(base attunement now with no points in arcana), nothing as devastating as current chill where the CD of attunement CD goes up to 18s.

We’re giving too much credit to reaper, it hits hard…but it’s slow like GS ranger, luckily they can’t dush/rush like warrior GS

Well said. It isn’t insurmountable, like some people believe some of these changes are. Instead of adapting and using what’s already available to them (Nevermind all the changes still unannounced), they’d rather make a whine thread because their specific build with hand picked traits may no longer be as effective.

You seem to forget Warriors swing that GS much, much faster. Necros are slow, as well as their GS auto-attack. I’d gladly take faster attack speed over a slight range increase any day.

Check your privilege.

There’s no denying it’s an entry level Class. Just about any Warrior type in any game is. Its concept is basic, mechanics are basic, its playstyle and damage are direct. Is that a bad thing? That’s entirely up to you. I wouldn’t take that dev’s word as gospel, even if he does work on the game because it’s his opinion. And we all know everyone’s got one of those.

Black Box.9312:

WhiteCrow.5310:

Black Box.9312:

I won’t deny being biased towards Guardian, but even so it kind of irks me that so far both the Mesmer and the Necro have gotten specs that are fully cohesive with the base class. By contrast, almost nothing in the Dragonhunter traitline complements the base Guardian skills and traits, and vice versa.

Welcome to Necro for the last several years. Condition Grandmaster traits in our crit line, an entire line that is useless and doesn’t work with our class mechanic (Blood magic). And yet I stuck it out and still PvP’ed with it. You can do the same.

Yes, because making the same mistakes with a different class previously completely justifies doing it again.

It definitely doesn’t, but hey, look who we’re dealing with here. It seems for all the greatness they accomplish, they’re sure to equalize it with mediocrity.

Black Box.9312:

I won’t deny being biased towards Guardian, but even so it kind of irks me that so far both the Mesmer and the Necro have gotten specs that are fully cohesive with the base class. By contrast, almost nothing in the Dragonhunter traitline complements the base Guardian skills and traits, and vice versa.

Welcome to Necro for the last several years. Condition Grandmaster traits in our crit line, an entire line that is useless and doesn’t work with our class mechanic (Blood magic). And yet I stuck it out and still PvP’ed with it. You can do the same.

ITT: Fearing the Reaper.

If I’m running the right Utilities, I don’t have too much of a problem with most Mesmers currently. I got so sick of being shutdown by them I made it a habit to run something that gives them problems, since you always see AT LEAST 1-2 every single PvP match.

With Reaper, and all that it offers … I honestly cannot wait. The cries for nerfs will be loud.

There’s definitely a lot to be excited about, but let us not forget the numbers aren’t final. They’re still in development, so our theorycrafting is gonna’ be pretty loose. Still fun to do though.

Greatsword for skills, dagger for auto-attack and proccing runes. Gonna’ be epic and I can’t wait.

Turk.5460:

I find the matchmaking system to be working just fine. I would much rather play a game and be challenged immediately (1-2 minutes) rather than wait 20-30 minutes to find the perfect matchup.

What everyone seems to overlook is that the people who browse these forums is an extreme minority of the total number of people who actually play the game. Just because people on the forums whine the loudest, doesn’t mean they speak for everyone. And ANET doesn’t solely consult the forums for feedback.

You should test that theory. Ask people their opinions in the PvP lobby about the match making system. I agree with you that just about any set of forums for a game are a loud minority, but it isn’t very true in this regard.

The PvP population is too small for any kind of real matchmaking to do what it’s intended to do. There’s more random in it than actual placement. Once you accept that things are a little easier to deal with.

Just don’t play a Necro and you’ll be fine.

glock.6590:

The PvP in this game is dead so it dosent have a working matchmaking system because there is nobody near that MMR range playing at the same time so they just put solo Q vs premade.

And even if they put high MMR solo Q’ers vs high MMR premade, the premade will still win 9 times out if 10 unless they are not in TS and playing some random troll builds.

So the whole matchmaking system is a fail. Not only in theory but also in game.

And Anet’s response to this is to promote it in eSports like cancer. Bravo, lads. Bravo.

Top comment in that thread was glorious:

Well Necro have always been selfish. Why not improve this concept and introduce stances based on party member sacrificing rituals
New Death Shroud – Uses party members HP, instead of life force! Happy leaching!
Utilities:
“Why I have to do everything myself!?” – You gain 10 stacks of stability for 10 seconds, at the cost of allies getting 2 stacks of fear for 2 sec each.
“I’m Invincible!” – Transfer all boons from nearby allies to yourself.
“The bond”- For the duration of 5 seconds transfers all incoming condition to your beloved party members.
Healing Skill:
“Noob Control” – Sacrifice weakest party member to restore your full hp.
Elite:
“Weakest fall first” – Next incoming kill blow is transferred to nearby ally.

Gryph.8237:

Rawdealomancer
Ignoromancer
Doublehpbarmancer
Hitmemancer
Nothingmancer
L2pDSmancer
Highconceptmancer
Lowbrowmancer
Whymemancer

I’ll take all of the above for $2, Alex.

Cynz.9437:

P.S. don’t bring “omg necros counter engis” that was true before celestial, now even necros get crapped on by engis tnks to celestial amy/CCs

Confirming this. I remember the days of fighting Engis in a respectable battle, perhaps with an advantage as a Necro. Now I’m literally hunted by them along with Thieves.

Source: I main Necro.

Nuke it from orbit. Done.

Go to the Viathan Waypoint in Kessex Hills. Spider Queen and Toxic Alchemist spawn there regularly every few minutes or so. There’s plenty of people around doing them repeatedly, so you’ll have company. Good way to pass time if you’re not sure what else to do in the game.

Xillllix.3485:

lol There hasn’t been any updates since January.

This is depressing. I wish I didn’t read that. I came back to the game about three months ago and it has been monotonously stale.

Given the monumental changes coming in the patch, I feel this is only right. Some people will be more affected than others, but offering the option can only be a good thing.

This needs to happen, and it’s quite a shame it hasn’t already. I want to know who thought it was a good idea to have Story mode dungeons be group content. It completely breaks the flow of the story and often turns people off to dungeons in general. Allowing them to be soloable would probably entice people to revisit the dungeon again with a group.

Poor design.

Anet only have themselves to thank for the zerker meta. Upgrading or tweaking conditions won’t change it either. They need to look long and hard at mob AI, and offering more in the way of mechanics. Giant meatshield mobs won’t fix it either.

What? I thought it was called Dragonmancer.

I play Necro, so I feel like I’m playing Dan all the time.