Anchoku.8142

a) Necro's next elite spec will be OP and much celebrated/derided: Awesome new weapon that works great. b) Core Necro will be crippled to balance the new elite c) Core Necro will be uncrippled but a core mechanic will be amputated but presented as an improvement while new elite spec will be crippled so new weapon works like core off-hand weapons. d) New elite spec will be crippled in another way while being buffed in an unexpected, unnecessary direction but a previous elite will be nerfed. e) Players are confused and wonder what was the point but PvP and WvW balance churn keeps things lively in those game modes. f) Tool tip updates g) Speculation on next elite spec adds fuel to debate on profession standings

Marauder is good. You can use berserker, too. Necromancer has more ability to trade damage and sustain in traits (and trait lines) than it does with stat's. For example, you can be a berserker Minionmancer with lots of sustain despite the aggressive equipment or be very glassy while equipped with bunker gear. Always think about the trait line interactions before the equipment.

Would be nice if Dhuumfire proc'd on critical hits. Oh, wait... never mind.

Arenanet has little to nothing to fix the PvE issues they created trying to balance WvW and PvP before declaring a split in game mode balance. I do not expect any PvE skill or trait changes before the next expac.

Yes, it seems like Signets were retooled to support very specific builds and functions. Signet of Vampirism favors melee a bit more since 2019 and Signets of Suffering almost belongs in Blood Magic, now. It definitely favors core power melee but healing power is also a larger factor than in the past.

Two things I still want for minions after 8,5 years 1. Double-tap minion skills to kill those that I cannot already kill. Tack the capability onto Death Nova, or something. 2. Minion skins on the BLTP; add a little diversity, please. Maybe dye channels, flags, "clothes" of a sort, something to make them distinguishable.

> @"Drarnor Kunoram.5180" said: > > @"Lily.1935" said: > > > @"MatyrGustav.6210" said: > > > > @"Lily.1935" said: > > > > > @"MatyrGustav.6210" said: > > > > > > @"Lily.1935" said: > > > > > > > @"NecroSummonsMors.7816" said: > > > > > > > Swords is all we need, double sword vampire single target dps duelist, a bit of sustain more mobile than usual necro. > > > > > > > Shield and hammer could be nice options too, ofc shield would be for a true tank spec, hammer idk > > > > > > > But no more shroud less specs or slow heavy hitting bs, cauz that didn't work properly before. Just start with a nice balance concept in mind without have to swing the spec from trash to op and reverse > > > > > > > > > > > > Necromancer has too many sustain traits as it is. Needs to be cut by at least half. We're already too tanky at face value. > > > > > > > > > > > > As for sword I do think it's most likely as well. My speculation comes from it being the most popular option as well as I have a suspicion that Sacrifice is going to be utilized for the next elite spec in some way. Blood bank makes me think this because barrier can be used as the health cost for Health Loss skills. You can test this yourself with signet of Undeath. I actually did by mistake and later tested again to confirm. Although I suspect it wasn't always that way but I can't confirm that. > > > > > > > > > > > > A vampire/bloodmage spec is actually quite a high probability based on my speculation. And sword would be the best option imo. > > > > > > > > > > But what about bone skills, you think theres a chance for tradition Bone and summon skeleton necro spec? > > > > > > > > Shield would be great for bones. But I don't know. It's hard to speculate. Even my speculation is built on thin ice so it could be super wrong. > > > > > > > > Perhaps a bone collector which is sorta a Bloodborn or Dark souls thing. Which could work in a Horror trope. > > > > > > If its a shield i have a feeling we will get to transform into a Bone thing or just summon bone armor for the next shroud mechanic. If its just Bone armor, maybe we could still use our normal attacks, and it would just mitigate damage like a massive barrier. But i dont think the community will be happy with that. > > > > > > Everyone seems to want a Vampire Sword Necro, in which would be really cool. If so i hope its Dual sword to give some options for people to go ???/Sword or Sword/???. > > > > > > > I'd like to see a sword/sword elite spec be extremely aggressive and mobile (but only into battle, not out of it. I.e. leaps/teleports requiring a target ala Steal). Play up that *hunger* angle. Needs to have something to make it more resilient to CC, though. Not being able to kite the new elite like every other Necro build would cost something; sustain, burst, corruption, etc. What would you suggest a fair trade might be that would still keep the elite valuable? > I've had an idea for a trait where each time you're disabled, you get a stack of a buff. Upon hitting 3 stacks, automatic stunbreak. Stacks are not consumed, but have individual durations. End result: the necro can still be disabled when important, but spamming stuns will just make them immune. > This sounds like a passive and somewhat random skill like staff having a 20% chance for its AA to be a finisher. If Arenanet deleted Foot in the Grave, which took skill to use because it also put the player into shroud and started both the invulnerability and stability skills to go on cool down, then a stun break that happens automatically as a reward for taking CC three times quickly is unlikely. > > @"Aplethoraof.2643" said: > > and a new mechanic - perhaps healing reversal/negation/mitigation? > skill that debuffs the target and redirects a portion of their healing to you? Or a trait that's "Enemies you have poisoned have the reduced healing redirected to you?" For example, a target you poisoned has an incoming heal of 100. They get healed 67, as normal under poison, but you get healed 33. > > I dunno, just spitballing. This idea reminds me a little of Parasitic Contagion. Keep spitballing. Sometimes something sticks and other times it inspires ideas and variants that have even more value.

A net removed damage from skills with control effects, which meant control effects no longer ate large portions of Life Force resulting in a surplus, especially on core necro. That, alone, was a giant boost to Necro's sustain and had to be nerfed. Dagger has always been square solution to a round problem. Feel free to browse the myriad dagger complaint threads for fun to get a sense of Arenanet's apathy.

Because thief and Necro, including their elite specializations, play so differently, they can compliment each other to fulfill a variety of needs. The play-style is very different, though, so switching mind-sets is a challenge but is also rewarding in gaining perspective on balance, counters and tactical differences.

I hope you reported the suspect bots but thank you for letting us know.

Valkyrie and other power-based equipment is cheaper than Berserker if you need to save silver until you can get a full set of exotic berserker a piece at a time. Do not forget to add superior power-based runes. Scholar is typical but you can start with cheaper alternatives until you have full exotic berserker and can add a final set of more expensive runes. It is important to have a full set even while replacing armor pieces because the stat increase is not small. Get sigils and consumables that support power damage, too.

Like everyone else has said, focus on getting into Hero Point trains but do not fret about missing some points here and there; quantity over quality. You can do full map completion later. It is worth it to patiently scan LFGs.

> @"Dadnir.5038" said: > > @"Anchoku.8142" said: > > One other opportunity for an elite Ele spec is the missing elements: Etherial, Light, Dark. Adding, for example, a specialization that flips between dark and light attunements on an e-spec weapon and modifies attunements on core weapons to add dark or light attributes and skills might be interesting. Perhaps the trait line would require choosing between adding dark fields or light fields to core skills not having fields or finishers; i.e., set up for siphons or for condi removal. > > > > Finishing combinations has always been fun for me and is something Ele can do that Necro has little of by design. > > It's not really the ideal subforum to discuss elementalist's elite specs. The issue of your suggestion is that adding a new attunment (whether it replace one or take a 5th spot) is to heavy on skill developpement to be a possible option (For 1 new attunment it mean 15 skills for core weapons, new effects/skills for all 6 glyphs and new effects on quite a few core traits. If you add an off-hand, it's 10 more skills, a main hand 15 more skills, a 2H weapon 25 more skills along with a set of 6 utility skills. Minimum 37 "new" skills, maximum 52 along with tweaks on a lot of traits, the amount of work is stagering). I'm not claiming the idea is impossible but very unlikely. Agree I was getting off track for this forum. Was thinking a new Ele elite would replace 4 F-key elements with max 2, not make 6. Anyway, I'll stop now before getting a warning.

> @"anduriell.6280" said: > > @"Anchoku.8142" said: > > Necro got a lot of love in the last two expacs with power-cleave, corruption-cleave and barrier. While Arenanet may be cautious with cleaves and profession-stacking in the future because of Necro, I can imagine Ele getting some kind of AoE-heavy specialization next. > But the Ele is already a heavy AoE spec. It all depends on the attunement. > > What i would expect for the next expansion is to limit the attunements somehow so they can use only one or two or to replace the attunement system for an energy system. > One other opportunity for an elite Ele spec is the missing elements: Etherial, Light, Dark. Adding, for example, a specialization that flips between dark and light attunements on an e-spec weapon and modifies attunements on core weapons to add dark or light attributes and skills might be interesting. Perhaps the trait line would require choosing between adding dark fields or light fields to core skills not having fields or finishers; i.e., set up for siphons or for condi removal. Finishing combinations has always been fun for me and is something Ele can do that Necro has little of by design.

In open world PvE, you can be a Minionmancer, a chilling Berserker or any other combination. It's all fine.