Guild Wars 2

Now that this got some attention. It’s great that this new condition may be coming, it didn’t make it in this patch but having talk about it in the SoTG raises expectation, the question is When is this condition coming? More importantly since many seem to be happy with the current state, Do Necromancers really need it? Is the need to still answer these questions the reason why many other professions got priority? Skills are introduce to help balance not to give ulterior bonuses or fill out empty boxes, so let us reflect well if as a consequence of such an introduction to the skill may bring a nerf elsewhere across the board, in other words one better be careful what they wish for.

I cannot leave out my very appreciation to Arenanet for opening up for consultation with the players themselves on this topic.

Oh wait… having not seen it, I’m playing on my alts. Good job!

Pendragon.8735:

Thresher.3049:

Bhawb.7408:

If you are having a lot of trouble with boons, and you aren’t using one of the 3 very accessible utilities we have to strip boons, then you can’t blame the devs.

Funny to think the last 4 dev’s hunted down in-game (WvW) while playing, 3 where guardians, 1 was an elementalist… even game developers like playing on easy-mode
(I’m sure they where having fun until I turned up)

Don’t forget Peters on playing full signet warrior, now signets getting a big boost… Hopefully we see a dev playing a Necro soon, then we will know we might be getting somewhere.

A dev playing Necro, lol that’ll be the day! Maybe it’s my impression but I’ve always strongly felt a certain contempt towards the Necro by the ArenaNet staff, as it they were forced to include it on release, up to the SoTG broadcast I’m sorry to say. Maybe they may be trying to help it but I doubt this will change, in my opinion.

Simple question, to my understanding (and I’ll stand to be corrected) Minions do not inherit agony resistance from it’s master. Being an addition which has no bearing on PVP, why doesn’t ANet simply give minions the same property as ranger pets?

From what I can understand I can’t help imagining a scenario where Necro’s are going to be absolutely despised by those professions (apparently Warriors and thieves) on the same team who shall be given Boon hate… On corrupt boon “Yo, Stealin’ mah killz!!?!?!”

Please make mesmers fight bare handed!!! Their weapons hurt! QQ

For leveling they’re ok but honestly I don’t suggest you do, at least exclusively, you may get a performance hit when you’ll discover you have to get rid of them in favour of other builds for certain Dungeons/Fractals.

My only idea of this new 5th “condition” is that if it’s even a bit good you’ll see all Necro’s filling up their soul reaping trait lines in no time.

Are you in the US or in the EU?

1. Reanimator should be replaced by a trait.
2. Siphon traits (or at least the bloodthirst trait is applied) should get a fixed percentage added to their base heal from healing power.
3. Vampiric rituals should affect the group not only the caster as does Transfusion.

I outline these in this thread.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Necromancer-group-support-build-suggestions/ If you wish to check it out.

I’m finding this quiet a strong build (Recommended for group play):

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/necromancer/?5.4|8.1a.h15.d.1o.h1m|6.1g.a3|1k.a7.1k.a7.1k.a7.1k.a3.1k.a3.1k.a3|3w.d1e.21n.d1e.31n.d1e.1o.63.1o.63.2w.d1e|a2.k39.0.u28c.a3|0.0|3t.4d.4c.44.4f|e

Necro counterpick? No, Mesmers are flat superior.

DelOnasi.6051:

Lalangamena.3694:

this build
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=v6pnXc_Rp3k

is around abusing “deathly invigoration”
basically going in and out of death-shroud for 5 sec CD AOE heal.

Deathly invigoration is ok, and gets to be sort-of-good if you can cast it every 5 seconds and have really high healing power, but in my opinion well of blood and staff 2 are where it’s at if you have high healing power. Transfusion/“Life transfer heals nearby allies” is decent and works decently with or without healing power.

Edit: Didn’t mean to seem troll-y, that video is pretty good in general, and also talks about well of blood, staff 2, and transfusion. If you’re looking to start making a support build, watching it is worthwhile.

I’d safely disagree on the Deathly invigoration which is a self-heal first of all, which does nothing for a group support build and secondly the trait itself is simply horrible in terms of healing. Transfusion which is a group heal has much better healing itself.

Thank you for the video!

TheAgedGnome.7520:

@Yendorion, I’m wondering if your use of Precision (49%) and CritDmg (16%) is worth the investment in those stats. From what I see, you’ll get Barbed Precision, Vampiric Precision and Sigil of Blood, but those help you and are not support for your team. You also have fairly low Power in addition to low crit dmg% so it doesn’t seem that crits will hit very hard, and your Toughness is kinda low.

Just what comes to mind when I look at it.

Your observations are correct to a point, thus this post. Precision would be fine as would be toughness & critical damage as these would be made up for healing mitigation & health siphoned from enemies respectively. I made my calculations based on how much healing power would be needed as a coefficient to be added at the capped base of each siphon to make it adequate as so far as you correctly point out is a bit sub-par. (although it works to an less than almost good degree)

At the core my critique is on the mechanic not on the build itself.

PS. I will study your build, looks interesting.

You both seem to have my understanding of this approach, as Nay of the Ether indeed hit the nail on the head with his explanation, this wouldn’t make the Necro a burst healer as in the context of a guardian or an area HoT as with Elementalists (as I see it from my limited understanding of that profession) but as a damage mitigation for the group, of course I was very careful with the numbers in terms of balancing which currently is really almost there & the coefficient would percentile it up to an adequate level according to how much the player would be willing to invest on healing power in relation. At it’s core Life siphoning mechanic is good as it is, it require the enemies to steal life from plus that it requires the player to go in and put himself more in harms way for the benefit of the group.

An interesting note on Well siphons is that Necros the Vampiric rituals trait has it’s own capped base heal as all siphons (thus can be adjusted independently for balancing) and it would come to function much the Transfusion trait (Where the DS Skill 4 life transfer heals neareby allies), except that this trait’s heal doesn’t require enemies to siphon (Something I forgot to insert in my previous post) from which I would see as a bug, it should get that requirement as well plus my suggestion as my first post.

I’m writing to make my humble suggestions for a viable Heal/Support Necromancer following much experimentation and number crunching in the last 3 weeks based on the following build, this is by no means a complete build by it’s based on many workaround so I can get a suitable number base to test in live PVE/WvW scenarios. I personally felt it’s quiet practical although in a very apparent need of a buff in terms of balancing.

Original build (WvW):
http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/necromancer/?5.4|8.1a.h15.d.1o.h1m|6.1g.a3|1k.a7.1k.a7.1k.a7.1k.a3.1k.a3.1k.a3|3w.d1e.21n.d1e.31n.d1e.1o.63.1o.63.2w.d1e|a2.k3a.0.u251.a3|0.0|3r.44.3u.48.4f|e

Wells variant (PVE/Dungeon/Fractals):
http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/necromancer/?5.4|8.1a.h15.d.1o.h1m|6.1g.a3|1k.a7.1k.a7.1k.a7.1k.a3.1k.a3.1k.a3|3w.d1e.21n.d1e.31n.d1e.1o.63.1o.63.2w.d1e|a2.k39.0.u28c.a3|0.0|3t.4d.4c.44.4f|e

To the point, while I found out I don’t have any objection to the life siphon capping, I do believe bloodthirst trait should benefit to at least 3% of healing power + it’s current base stat based on healing power. This would allow players to return benefits from using a Healing power armor if they’re going for support/attrition build while retaining a practical but reasonably suitable amount of healing. Also Vampiric rituals Well heals should be apllicable to the whole group rather then the necromancer alone and again it should be it should be affected by the same percentage by healing power. I will stand to be corrected on the above, I forwarded my suggestion as I felt it was where I could give a contribution, I hope in someway they are taken note of.

ADDENDUM: While I very much appreciate the posted builds (keep them coming, I love different approaches to support builds) I’d prefer to focus on life siphon as a group support mechanic as proposed above.

01:00 GMT

I would love to be part of this, I should be able to make myself available at any time.

Let me introduce myself, Asuran Male, Nlixx, graduate in Synergetics. At your service!

Today I planned today get the Dungeon Master achievement, somehow I got lucky and found a good group but after spending all our time doing the dungeon well we hit the final boss “War Minister Shukov” which absolutely didn’t trigger.

ETR.8152:

Fear can be pretty amazing when used at the right time.

Elaborate

Jackums.3496:

Chaos Archangel.5071:

And what type of Mesmers are yall? (Shatter/Mantra/Glamour, ect..)

I’m running a condition build (full Rabid stats). Not a glamour build, though. Confusion is my main condition, but I achieve it through shatters and the staff/scepter skills.

I have literally zero condition removal, and this makes Mark Necros my worst enemy. If they can keep their focus on me and see through all of the clones, the condition stacking generally destroys me. I sometimes use Null Field, but I find it too situational because I mostly WvW roam, and rarely do you come across a Necro in doing so. Other professions don’t use many AoE condition skills, and I can avoid the ones that are applied directly.

In your case Arcane thievery is your best friend

I was doing a Guild mission with my guild, we tracked our target (bounty tier 1) and I got locked in combat, I bugged out until I had no choice but to log out of character…I couldn’t port on location as a result, what I lost… guild commendations.

Apparently it’s dropping for everyone but Necro’s… just look at how many are on sale! I’ll keep farming till I drop mine, which mean an eternity but if it must be.

Ruufio.1496:

So this update seemingly increased Ghastly Claws’ damage by another 10%, right? I found it weird that it simply said, “Ghastly Claws: Damage from this ability has been increased by ~10%.” It would have made more sense to say, “Damage was increased by ANOTHER ~10%.”

Can we be sure this isn’t a typo and that it was actually Rending Claws that received the damage increase? Rending Claws and Ghastly Claws sound pretty similar and it wouldn’t be hard to make such a typo.

How often does Anet increase the damage of skills two times? That’s kind of like whack-a-mole isn’t it?

So, are we sure that the 10% damage increase is for Ghastly Claws and not Rending Claws instead? Can it even be proven? lol

There’s only yourself to blame if you didn’t keep notes.

The Necro is not underpowered in WvW? is this why you barely see any of them there? Necro are good baits/decoy in open battleground because they’re only good to badge farm on them and efficient sentries for fort defence (which is seldom a good idea)

Let’s face it, Necro’s are the laughing stock in WvW. Ask around if you’re brave to face the same general opinion.

With all my favorite games having been to Linux in most part, it’s rather unfortunate that I’m Guild wars 2 standing in the way of me making a complete switch, I’m knowledgeable enough to realize this shouldn’t be a heavy task for ArenaNet and should get on board on releasing a Linux client. I know and would be successful in using a 3rd party solution i.e WINE but I would prefer if this was endorsed by the parent company.

So please see how big thread this and realise the many more out there who would be very happy with this development. Please +1 for Linux

I’ll have my take on minions, it’s about time I did actually so thank you OP for bringing this up.

I agree that Necromancer minions aren’t supposed to controlled in the same way as Ranger pets do but they do respond to it’s command to perform their specified attack on a marked target. Which really sets the distinction between pet and minion, major problems arise in execution.

In essence minions are the necromancers cannon fodder, used to perform tasks and distract (crowd control of sorts if you must). What is worrying to watch is that the Mesmers clones are much better at doing this, I started out on launch with the aim of levelling an MM Necromancer when it ended up Conditiomancer for lack of alternative builds (pls don’t bring “power” builds into discussion, been there, done that) and alted on a Mesmer and I am now essentially doing exactly what I set out to do in the first place, extremely successfully I must add.

In fact I ended up wondering if fixing the Minion master is actually presenting a dilemma to Arenanet, if this would make it too much like the Mesmer illusion functions, the one thing I wish Arenanet to come clean about.

The only thing I may suggest is to introduce the ability to reanimate an enemy (perhaps 2 ta a time) in a mob to fight on your side and have this as a summon in PVP.

Esplen.3940:

Run Staff. Your dps is terrible in Phase 1, but you can drop Chaos Storm on the party. This gives your party buffs, damages Locusts and Grubs, and also causes Confusion on Lupicus (although I’m not sure if it procs off his knockdown/grub spawn attack).

Also, you can spawn Illusionary Warlocks (Duelists as well, but spec into pistols if you’re doing this for the bonus range on the Duelists), but make sure they spawn close to your group or else you need to break them with F4.

In Phase 2, focus on staying alive, as everyone should. He only shadowsteps to one person. If that person is you, you had better have eaten soup (a consumable that revolves around rolling) if you wish to live. If it isn’t you, make sure you don’t get hit by ANY of his projectiles (either the throw everything panic attack or the actual “I’m aiming at you” attack).

Also, make sure you yourself don’t get close to Lupicus. Don’t even bother running Sword. If you want an Offhand weapon, run Scepter for mainhand. Clones are, in this fight, meant to be destroyed. Don’t bother shattering unless you’re doing F4 for a panic save (notably used in conjunction with iPersona).

NOTE: You can run sword if you’ve successfully taken down Lupicus, but even then it’s easier and, arguably, better to just run something like GS/Staff.

Phase 3 is a joke, if you die in this part, you deserve it.

EDIT:

Also, don’t worry about running Time Warp. It’s only useful in Phase 1/3 which are the easy parts, anyway. Run one of your racials for Phase 2.

I’m quoting this because it’s basically what I do and with it the Mesmer absolutely shines against the Lupicus. In short at Phase 1. Staff on support role, avoid clones at all clones, Time warp & Chaos storm. Let others to deal with the grubs if it’s possible. Phase 2 & 3. Start swapping to scepter, create as much diversions as possible using clones/illusions, keep blink & mirror images handy. Develop dancing skills between circles…. trust me it’s fun once you get used to it!! ^^

“Necro is my fav class to play in WvW. Heavy conditions build + epidemic = chaos.” – says the Necro who never leaves the fort.

This build is only optimal for defensive purposes, in open area battles a necro would absolutely be the first to get ganked.

This is not a rant or complaint at all, overall I’m so very satisfied with my mesmer, in general it works and responds perfect so I don’t have any particular concerns but I must make as simple observation, The Spatial surge animation on humans/sylvari (haven’t seen Norn) is astounding with the rotating blade, it’s an amazing effect but not so for the Asura, the blade is just pointed and the beam fired, no animation. Can it please be change so it comes in line with the other races effect?

Sorry if this has been asked before.

Look guys forget it, look at Trahearne, look at the boss at the Cliffside fractal, those are true necromancer, the profession is just it’s pitious parody. PERIOD. Settled..moving on..

You are welcome OP sir

As expected… bye “Necro”

Look at it from their perspective, better something implemented well then in haste.

Well said OP… Apparently for designers attrition means ‘bigger delay on the inevitable’, that is taking a beating… case in point, WvW trying to run on open grounds with a group, if you are met with oppponent it usually ends up with the rival mob chasing you and your allies running the other way cause the Necro is like a panzer truck with a burst cannon.

The elite disco lich form (with no heal), antbrained minion and a teleport wurm to which you can bring popcorn to watch summon aren’t of much help either.

I simply stopped caring expecting fixes, since it’s quiet obvious the professional stands on ANet’s stomach (I still remember the ‘oh but your DS is a secondary healthbar, too OP makes up for everything’) That I alted on my mesmer and the game is back to being fun again… perhaps someday.

Mesmer: Nlixx ^^

Nicely taken! Deserves a 9/10

The famous one: Minion AI will be fixed, to attack you and your allies xD

1. It’s mostly justified
2. It’s worth the effort and more fun when you’ll learn where each attunement exceeds
3. The necro can deal quiet a big deal of damage, over a long time..
4. Minions not pets, for now pretend they don’t exist.
5. You’re either 2 things in WvW, a condition dealing turret or the favourite pick to a chasing opposing mob cause simply you’re the least likely to get away.
6. Not bad if specced well

It is this kind of thread which made me switch to another profession in end-game besides the bugs/issues the Necro has, which I could bear with & play despite everything if the spirit of the professions community was more accepting and supported each other, but no here we are seeing so much bickering, so much divide that it was leaving me with a feeling of distaste while using my Necro. This thread confirms how well I did to shelve it for the time being.

Thank goodness I got my Alt (possibly-soon-to-be-main) Mesmer at full level as I was waiting for these releases. But despite this worrying news, I’ll give ANet the benefit of the doubt, if I don’t like what they give the Necro, I’ll just shelve it and pretend it was never there.

APPARENTLY many have my mindset, I’m seldom seeing Necros in WvW nowdays.

Necros in WvW can be effective while playing defensive but if you’re running out after a group to capture holds and battle in open fields, the necro definitely has it the worse… you seldom see necros in such groups in wvw nowdays in fact.

Melpomene.2367:

Really people? I’m sick of everyone complaining and even thinking Necromancer is bad. I’ve played it since beta weekend event 1. It’s probably the most balanced of all the professions in the game. We are so versatile and our survivability is pretty decent.

Yes minions/life siphoning/axe could use a boost, but we are not underpowered by far.

And for those who say conditionmancer is the “worst” build of them all, come and play me then. Or just watch the amount of damage I do in WvW.

I <3 Necromancer, so will you people quit slandering my profession?

If it’s not good it’s bad, yes the Necromancer needs a lot of work, probably mostly made up of small tweak in it’s skills, a complete overhaul of it’s DS and minions (Not just AI), and bring back a viable life siphoning and Axe. The necro may keep up with a good effort but yes it is underpowered.

I agree with you that the conditionmancer is a great build but it also requires good skill and great timing to get it right, the downside is that was not what necromancers are all about at all.

Even in namesake Necromancers are supposed to be summoners of spirits (which necros lack) and raising the dead (we get max 6 buggy birdbrains…) .. ONCE they were supposed to be the class to have exclusive access to fear, and ending with the smallest (insignificant) amount fear in the game. People have all the right to complain… I want to play a Necro mancer not a Plaguebearer (which fair enough it’s cool but not what I intended to roll).

It’s around 1400 as Distaste and should be kept that way while the projectile speed should be increased, which is where I don’t see the point of your complaint since as it is even a Dolyak could easily dodge them.

P.S. Erroneous tooltips always an indication of the state of neglect for any class in any MMO.

Well ok, in my opinion the Necromancer can be played sufficiently well despite big amount of issues/bugs it has by skilled players traited for AOE conditions. (I am of the opinion that the necro is the most difficult class to play well, my alt mesmer is a party for me in comparison)

In namesake I stopped calling it a Necromancer since with practically unusable minions/ridiculous fear/life stealing meh.. Plaguebearer fits more as a description for the profession, more then anything else. One of ANet’s biggest fails, I’m sorry ANet!

“but we do need a lot of work done to bring it in par with the “best” professions in the game.” Source?

Silence, silence everywhere, can you hear it my friend?

Forget minions and imagine they never were as the many other necro, you may start enjoying the necro a little better…. or level an alt mesmer or guardian like myself, now those get some lovin’ ^^

Sheobix.8796:

Ramiah.5648:gere

you kidding me? I HATE playing my Mesmer. Sure, it’s really incredibly fun for short bursts in certain battles, but the basic mechanics of the class annoy me to no end. No consistent run speed buff, summons tied to a creature and that wipe as soon as the enemy is down, long recharges on any of our AOE, and a lack of it to begin with. Honestly, Necromancer is a JOY to play when I run one. I level more quickly as I can get to events/hearts faster, I die less because I can hit Death Shroud and either finish off enemies, or run like the screaming banshee I become. I can summon my minions whenever I want, not just when an enemy is around and alive. AOE is fantastic with Marks/Wells.
Oh kitten it, I think I just convinced myself to play a necromancer…
I see what you did there Sheobix, you evil genius.

bwahahaha

necro has its quirks, but it is very fun to play.

The necro is a joy to level (to a point) not to play in general.. you can only understand that at end game, won’t go in it here.

But what is this talk of animosity between Necros nonsense?! I think it’s a long way over dramatic coming from OP to say that. By all means everybody should get their info and play as they feel and enjoy themselves.

Nobody should impose anything, afterall if you decide to go with a build which kills you twice as much, nobody is coming to do your repairs or makes your group stop and stare at you going pew pew without doing any damage, nobody is going to smooth talk you out of the awkward moment if not yourself.

Fact remains that the Necro technically is down one viable build (with variations), others may argue differently more or less but at the end of the day just because people point out weaknessnes and shortcomings doesn’t mean they are antagonising themselves, it’s really infantile to arrive to such conclusion imo.

grave of hearts.7830:

Pretty much i expect anet to make every other class happy and just toss the leftovers and bread crumps to necros (if any are left).
Lets hope they prove me wrong.

They won’t

To be fixed in next patch…