LucianDK.8615

Seems like they want to force out dps scourges from WvW, they being too over represented. It feels like they are trying to push scourges wholly into a support role, ie barrier bot.

I can only believe they flubbed it and its bugged. Just like the world boneskinner was.

not to forget all the trolls dropping vendors on chests or other interactables. So many times trolls have dropped vendors on the huge chests in the Tarir meta rewardphase.

> @"Randulf.7614" said:

> > @"LucianDK.8615" said:

> > Definitely an underwhelming fight, the easiest of the 3. Only missed gold on first fight due to people being unable to pay attention to the torches.

>

> What torches? Our fight was straight dps and a couple of cc breaks

Didnt you see the torches around the fight arena? The tooltip said that the boneskinner would be hindered by them, and it would regularilly send shadows out to extinguish them, and you had to relight them. Quite alike the Shadow of the Dragon fight in the final ls2 episode.

Definitely an underwhelming fight, the easiest of the 3. Only missed gold on first fight due to people being unable to pay attention to the torches.

Used the indestructible pvp dummy to be able to keep attacking without the target dying on me.

> @"ZDragon.3046" said:

> > @"LucianDK.8615" said:

> > > @"ZDragon.3046" said:

> > > > @"LucianDK.8615" said:

> > > > But this is from a -single- enemy. The shroud lasting long enough for it. Having incomming lifeforce from kills would lenghten it even further.

> > > You can get quite alot i know that at base without the signet on a single enemy you can get 2 guaranteed soul spirals and maybe 3 soul spirals just off of what the auto chain + Reapers onslaught does alone.

> > >

> > > Basically all im saying as avid user of SoS + Undeath is that i think people are going to "Over estimate" what this patch did to its passive vs what it already could do. Because its not something that was commonly used by any means in most builds by most people. So its easy to look at it from that perspective and think its "kinda wild" when really its not that big of a deal :P

> > >

> > >

> >

> > I think you are missing that we also get a longer uptime on our autoattack, before we have to drop shroud. This is with pve in mind.

>

> Im not at all i understand how you are looking at it but i just look at it differently because i use undeath for different reasons. I use undeath for pretty much pvp / wvw only

>

> in pve its not optimal to sit in shroud longer than the duration of soul barbs (or not too much longer than that) anyways which makes it pointless for pve imo unless you just prefer that play style there will be only a few case situations where its kind optimal to stay in shroud longer than that 10 seconds at least if you follow a dps rotation. Even if you dont follow a rotation in most cases its just generally not good to sit in shroud for the duration it takes you to complete 6 soul spirals.

>

> In pvp its a benefit because it in a way gives you more hit points via shroud meter.

I said the testing was with fear of death, which gives up soul barbs. For lulz I tried adding blighters boon on top. 7 soul spirals on 1 lifeforce bar, and halfway to 8.

> @"ZDragon.3046" said:

> > @"LucianDK.8615" said:

> > But this is from a -single- enemy. The shroud lasting long enough for it. Having incomming lifeforce from kills would lenghten it even further.

> You can get quite alot i know that at base without the signet on a single enemy you can get 2 guaranteed soul spirals and maybe 3 soul spirals just off of what the auto chain + Reapers onslaught does alone.

>

> Basically all im saying as avid user of SoS + Undeath is that i think people are going to "Over estimate" what this patch did to its passive vs what it already could do. Because its not something that was commonly used by any means in most builds by most people. So its easy to look at it from that perspective and think its "kinda wild" when really its not that big of a deal :P

>

>

I think you are missing that we also get a longer uptime on our autoattack, before we have to drop shroud. This is with pve in mind.

> @"ZDragon.3046" said:

> > @"LucianDK.8615" said:

> > Decided to do some testing.

> > Full berserker gear on my reaper and no buffs of any sort.. Taking Signets of Suffering to empower Signet of Undeath, as well Fear of Death. Trying it on the practice dummy with Infusing Terror/Terrify as the fear source, I was able to have six soul spirals from a single lifeforce bar. Though that would be without taking any damage, and no aditional incomming lifeforce from kills.

>

> Already a doable thing if you have enough targets in pve as the 3rd part of the auto chain graints life force if you have enough enemies with high hp and you dont take damage just using your auto attack can keep your shroud meter quite high. Signet of sufffering is a minor bonus tbh. good but minor > @"KrHome.1920" said:

> > > @"misterman.1530" said:

> > > > @"KrHome.1920" said:

> > > > I messed around with signet necro too a few times. Basicaly the only reason I gave up was plague signet which kills you when traited right in the moment an ally shows up.

> > > >

> > > > Unfortunately plague signet is generally one of the better signets necro has. So the trait turns it into the opposite and hurts that otherwise quite viable build.

> > > >

> > > > I was talking about something else: 1% LF degeneration combined with some high vita+toughness build (paladin) will frustrate your target more than ever before.

> > >

> > > It will frustrate them more. Instead of insta-downing us in one hit, a DE will now take 2, maybe 3 hits before they kill us. That's an "improvement"...I guess (?).

> > You don't die quickly when you cast spectral armor before entering shroud on paladin gear. I am doing this for years now even in zerg fights. And the benefit of the healing signet active in shroud is something I would not underestimate. You have basically a constant healing source.

> >

> >

>

> Yes but then thats not signet of undeath doing that its spectral armor :P

But this is from a -single- enemy. The shroud lasting long enough for it. Having incomming lifeforce from kills would lenghten it even further.

Decided to do some testing.

Full berserker gear on my reaper and no buffs of any sort.. Taking Signets of Suffering to empower Signet of Undeath, as well Fear of Death. Trying it on the practice dummy with Infusing Terror/Terrify as the fear source, I was able to have six soul spirals from a single lifeforce bar. Though that would be without taking any damage, and no aditional incomming lifeforce from kills.

The tooltip for the Spite trait Signets of Suffering hasnt been updated. It still shows the old 3% lifeforce per 3s. But it gives 6% as intended for Signet of Undeath, which correctly shows on the skill tooltip.

You are saying absolutely nothing about what you think is the problem.

The scourge's party strenght used to be a lot higher as a dps with truly significant barrier ability, but theyve since then taken a big axe to the power of their defensive ability if not going a dedicated healer role. Barrier now scaling with healing power.

Breakbars really need to have a better tutorial since people still struggle with the concept.

Which only grew worser for spectral skills after the loss of the spectral skill cd reduction trait. Most of the skills feels like the cd is just too big for regular use. Which kind of makes it ironic when the upcomming buff to the passive LF regen of Signet of Undeath is starting to look like a better option for LF sustain.

> @"Aigleborgne.2981" said:

> > @"LucianDK.8615" said:

> > Talking about Lich Form. I see on metabattle that its refered to as a burst damage skill. But which is the skills to mainly use from it? The 20s duration makes it hard to get a grip on its abilities.

>

> Summon Madness (skill 4) can do very high damage. It is as good as Grim Specter.

> I do like Lich Form, sure it has its drawbacks but I don't like other core elites. It could be great if lich form was considered as shroud (benefits from traits). It could become OP through.

Perhaps another idea. Lich Shroud. Compared with Harbinger Shroud for Scourges.

Talking about Lich Form. I see on metabattle that its refered to as a burst damage skill. But which is the skills to mainly use from it? The 20s duration makes it hard to get a grip on its abilities.

Yeah, getting eitrite ingots is not really worth the effort with how increasingly worthless they are becomming. I had all the restored weapons in week 1 without buying any.

> @"RisenHowl.2419" said:

> SoU is going to be solid when traited for sustain builds. 6% per 3s=2% per second. Core necro drains 3% per second and reaper drains 5%, with the signet those drop to 1% & 3% per second adding a lot of sustain to shroud

Might be difficult to give up Close to Death for Signets of Suffering. But in theory you could get in more soul spirals as a Reaper, yes? Plus you gain an additional 90 power for Signet of Spite.

> @"Fueki.4753" said:

> > @"LucianDK.8615" said:

> > And the meta is a joke, they really didnt think it through. Everything will be zerged down fast, rendering the essence masteries pointless.

> But do you want Champions to scale up to 100 people? They would one-should players, even with AoEs.

>

>

What im saying is that the essence masteries is pointless in the meta, even if theyve been designed for it. Everything dies so fast that theres no need for them at all.

> @"Dadnir.5038" said:

> > @"LucianDK.8615" said:

> > Got to ask again since I saw no answers, whats the oppinion of the buff to the signet of undeath passive LF regen for PvE Reapers? The gain of 4% is almost 3 times higher than the average gain from Shadow Fiend's Haunt. Before SoU was 2% vs an average of 1.4% from haunt, but which arguably made up for it with burst, a bodyblock and debuffs. But now? Is the passive gain better now?

>

> Probably not, _Shadow fiend_ deal damage while SoU is a totally harmless skill. The reaper is already on the low side when it come to dps potential so losing a source of dps for slightly better LF management is most likely not an option that you want to explore in PvE.

>

> That said, SoU is a nice buff for "support" builds and PvE scourge might benefit from it.

Ah yes, I can see your point there. Thank you.

> @"Fueki.4753" said:

> > @"AgentMoore.9453" said:

> > Just coming back to this now that I've had more time to play around with it.

> >

> > Sadly I was right, and the essence system really _does_ feel more like work than fun. Most often, I'm hit with getting 18-25 stacks of a faction's buff and then losing stacks before I can kill the rest of the mobs needed to get a 30 stack.

> It feels like the amount of stacks were decided exclusively with the meta event in mind.

> During the meta it is extremely easy to accumulate 30 stacks and remain at around 15 minutes buff time.

And the meta is a joke, they really didnt think it through. Everything will be zerged down fast, rendering the essence masteries pointless.

Got to ask again since I saw no answers, whats the oppinion of the buff to the signet of undeath passive LF regen for PvE Reapers? The gain of 4% is almost 3 times higher than the average gain from Shadow Fiend's Haunt. Before SoU was 2% vs an average of 1.4% from haunt, but which arguably made up for it with burst, a bodyblock and debuffs. But now? Is the passive gain better now?

Considering its a necromancer specific animation when staff casting, its seriously unlikely to happen.

I am afraid its a necromancer thing only. And no, not possible.