Why was Plague changed to Plaguelands?

[Merlin Dyfed Avalon.5046]

Have been away for a while.

Was wondering why this was changed.

 

Considering it was the one elite with a real use after power/zerk got crushed.

 

The one elite that has some use to necromancer changed into a passive condition automation.

Why would balance team drop:

-Stability

-The one counter to melee trough blinds.

-The one ability that could close gaps to ranged 'projectile based' classes.

-Destroy projectiles trough poison (now obsolete)

 

Why was this implemented exactly?

To what purpose?

 

[Svarty.8019]

The[ patch notes ](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Game_updates/2017-05-16#Necromancer " patch notes ")say, "we've long felt that the Plague elite was lackluster and was in need of a rework".

[Merlin Dyfed Avalon.5046]

Svarty!

Did skill became more useful after the rework for anyone in competitive mode?

I'm trying to find a use for it ..

[Galmac.4680]

The necro was too powerful with that. ... oh wait, no.

The necro had too much stability. ... Wait, no.

Don't know.

[Dadnir.5038]

Because we were saying that _Lich form_ was bad and the fact that it was a transformation made it even worse, so they changed _plague_ into _plagueland_ and kept _lich form_.

 

The real reason being probably because they wanted to give some sense to the fact that the skill was a corruption and weren't satisfyed that they had to back down from the self bleed on each tic. _Plagueform_ was a testimony of the failure of _master of corruption_ design and so they felt that it needed to be changed.

 

Still, I would have been overjoyed if they had done something like this to _lich form_. This isn't a skill that i'd regret (especially the huge green design which really make no sense as a "lich").

[Svarty.8019]

> @"Merlin Dyfed Avalon.5046" said:

> Svarty!

> Did skill became more useful after the rework for anyone in competitive mode?

> I'm trying to find a use for it ..

:) Point defence, I guess. It might be ok in PvP.

 

But really the new power is more lacklustre than the old one. Another ironic development.

 

[Merlin Dyfed Avalon.5046]

> @Svarty.8019 said:

 

> But really the new power is more lacklustre than the old one. Another ironic development.

 

 

My zerker gear hasn't left my bank since HoT. :)

 

 

[Caccis.9087]

Plaguelands is THE condi damage elite?

[Svarty.8019]

> @Caccis.9087 said:

> Plaguelands is THE condi damage elite?

 

Yep, but everybody has access to the "not standing on THAT" ability.

[JustDemons.4358]

the change from plague to plaguelands is even more bizzar now that we have the scourge elite spec ultimate which does exactly the same but better (lower cd, higher dps, spikier) and to make this point of view even funnier.. they reworked lich form to shit so that u have absoultuly 0 elite skills on a core necro (i run litereally sylvary ulti if i am in wvw and im on core necro)... On a power necro (reaper) the plagueland deals more spike dps then anything else.... i repeat: A CONDI ULTIMATE DEALS MORE DPS ON A POWER NECRO THEN A POWER BASED ULTIMATE... that was the ultimate "what the fuck" moment in my life.

[Lahmia.2193]

> @JustDemons.4358 said:

> the change from plague to plaguelands is even more bizzar now that we have the scourge elite spec ultimate which does exactly the same but better (lower cd, higher dps, spikier) and to make this point of view even funnier.. they reworked lich form to kitten so that u have absoultuly 0 elite skills on a core necro (i run litereally sylvary ulti if i am in wvw and im on core necro)... On a power necro (reaper) the plagueland deals more spike dps then anything else.... i repeat: A CONDI ULTIMATE DEALS MORE DPS ON A POWER NECRO THEN A POWER BASED ULTIMATE... that was the ultimate "what the kitten" moment in my life.

 

Plaguelands is much higher damage if the foe stays in for the entire duration. Ghastly Breach is just better for pvp situations because of the boon corrupt and foes are unlikely to stay in for the duration (since plaguelands has a much higher ramp up time). I do agree that making another elite that is mechanically the same (create an aoe at your feet that pulses over time) was a silly idea.

I'm still in favour of removing Lich Form and replacing with the power equivalent elite of Plaguelands, aka an elite that is basically just a pure dps increase.

[Zero.3871]

plague gave us stability and sustain-> so anet nerfed it...

lich form skill 5 was really useful with its boonremoval -> anet deleted that and now no one is playing the lich

 

necro mustn't have usefull weapon skills, also mustn't have useful elite on core class...

 

finally i saw many changes about the years that removed more and more stability on necromancer (e.g. the nerfs against RS3 finally deleted nearly 80% of stability of that skill out of the game). while all necros was wishing for more stabi, anet nerfed it again and again. after RS3 was already destroyed, they took the next useful sustain,stability skill....and that was plague. so they nerfed it. thats the whole reason.

 

but yaaay, next tuesday its the next balance patch! han its again a day where not only mirages are collecting SHARDS, also necromancers are collecting Shards....shards of their dreams and hopes xD.

[Zoltreez.6435]

> @Zero.3871 said:

> plague gave us stability and sustain-> so anet nerfed it...

> lich form skill 5 was really useful with its boonremoval -> anet deleted that and now no one is playing the lich

>

> necro mustn't have usefull weapon skills, also mustn't have useful elite on core class...

>

> finally i saw many changes about the years that removed more and more stability on necromancer (e.g. the nerfs against RS3 finally deleted nearly 80% of stability of that skill out of the game). while all necros was wishing for more stabi, anet nerfed it again and again. after RS3 was already destroyed, they took the next useful sustain,stability skill....and that was plague. so they nerfed it. thats the whole reason.

>

> but yaaay, next tuesday its the next balance patch! han its again a day where not only mirages are collecting SHARDS, also necromancers are collecting Shards....shards of their dreams and hopes xD.

 

but but but... we are "Strong Support" !....... and ... and.. we have Shroud !!!!

 

yeah..... screw this class.... devs need to pull their head out of their........ so they actually see wtf they are doing with this joke of a class....

[Crazy.6029]

[https://youtube.com/watch?v=8BoJSbyq5xw] The Devs are like Opie, I think he can explain it best :)

[Sublimatio.6981]

plaguegrounds was one of the best changes necromancer ever got. it was a big dps-gain for non-sylvari before take root nerf.

[ZDragon.3046]

not sure what the real reason as to why they changed it but i wont complain about it. It was not a bad change if you run a condi build. The only thing i miss about plague form is that you could use it to tank and make plays when you didnt have shroud or any way to defend it was useful for buying some time while your enemies burned through cc or key skills then you could pop out at any time and make your move. That being said golem is meh lich form is now meh chill to the bone could have been awesome if they let it work like icebow 5 use to but nope so its just ok ish..... now scourge elite is meh i guess if you get a fool to stand it it its ok..

 

would have preferred a signet elite or something though personally... I think... necro in gw1 had a skill that ripped all your foes boons did a shit ton of damage and caused foes to take damage when they tried to apply new boons over the next little while i think It would be nice to se necro get tha... oh wait they gave it to spellbreaker (warrior) basically in aoe form :cry:

[Drarnor Kunoram.5180]

Honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing Lich Form get replaced with a version of the old Lich Form 5.

 

Make it a 600 range PBaAoE that damages and removes all boons from enemies, removes all conditions from allies, and have it grant 1% life force per condition and boon removed, 75 second cooldown. That's a good Spectral elite.

 

What's unfortunate is that the new Lich Form 3-5 are great skills, but because of the rediculous cast time of Lich Form on top of the cast time of these skills, it's just not worth using them. Hell, I'd take the current Grim Specter alone as an elite!

[Anchoku.8142]

Plague did close to zero dps and rarely "saved" anyone caught out of position.

It was a transform that locked out all other skills and utilities, had no mobility to aid in escape, and would not affect anything with Defiance.

 

You can all relax, though, because well of Darkness is still available.

[Meetshield.1756]

Its because of PVE. Plague was useless in PVE. You can't break your condi rotation to go into a plague form for 20 seconds... Plague was a Defensive Utility to give necros a something like a Blink back to tag in WvW.... Without it, Core Necro has very little option to escape from zergs, and honestly Necro never really had much options. They pay for their ability to farm lots of bags, with their ability to die on a regular basis and give up their bags.

 

So the change was made cuz anet doesn't understand WvW, and specifically Necromancer's role in WvW.

[Rashagar.8349]

Personally I miss it because it was fun.

My general response to getting in too much trouble was "kitten you I'm a cloud".

I know people were happy when it got changed (I don't know which people mind you, the pve dps heads maybe?) though honestly I haven't really used it since.

[Lahmia.2193]

> @Rashagar.8349 said:

> Personally I miss it because it was fun.

> My general response to getting in too much trouble was "kitten you I'm a cloud".

> I know people were happy when it got changed (I don't know which people mind you, the pve dps heads maybe?) though honestly I haven't really used it since.

 

I hated it for being a transform and a niche, just like almost every other transform in game.

[DreamyLove.8947]

the change is ok, but it kill the old thing about follow the player or stab

 

i will like to see if add one of these back or both

[Rashagar.8349]

> @Lahmia.2193 said:

> > @Rashagar.8349 said:

> > Personally I miss it because it was fun.

> > My general response to getting in too much trouble was "kitten you I'm a cloud".

> > I know people were happy when it got changed (I don't know which people mind you, the pve dps heads maybe?) though honestly I haven't really used it since.

>

> I hated it for being a transform and a gimmick, just like almost every other transform in game.

 

I don't really know what gimmick means in this context. I don't know how transforming into a poison cloud is more of a gimmick to you than making skeletal hands erupt from the ground or the visual effect of reaper shroud, but regardless, no accounting for taste.

[Lahmia.2193]

> @Rashagar.8349 said:

> > @Lahmia.2193 said:

> > > @Rashagar.8349 said:

> > > Personally I miss it because it was fun.

> > > My general response to getting in too much trouble was "kitten you I'm a cloud".

> > > I know people were happy when it got changed (I don't know which people mind you, the pve dps heads maybe?) though honestly I haven't really used it since.

> >

> > I hated it for being a transform and a gimmick, just like almost every other transform in game.

>

> I don't really know what gimmick means in this context. I don't know how transforming into a poison cloud is more of a gimmick to you than making skeletal hands erupt from the ground or the visual effect of reaper shroud, but regardless, no accounting for taste.

 

Yeah I meant niche. My bad will edit. In short, transforms are all visual and relatively limited usefulness. I much prefer what we have now, which is a skill that can be useful in all game modes.

[jalmari.3906]

lich and plague were useful for power necros so they made them useless