First impressions on the Patch

[Dadnir.5038]

> @Laiboch.4380 said:

> > @Dadnir.5038 said:

> > Well... I think the main point of the balance patch for "PvE" is that most profession's max potential dps have been brought down by at least 10% While the necromancer's max potential dps stayed the same. It might be petty to say it but the reaper's potential is now close to mirage's and warrior's one. Warriors also lost a bit of their monopoly on might sharing which will force group to take more professions that share might. In short, the gap between the necromancer (and elite spec) and the other professions have been reduced a lot. And hopefully to the point that the necromancer end up being welcome in raids.

>

> Yes, and now Druid will fill that spot.

 

Well, it's more like "druid" might have a shot at filling the spot. Druid sure provide healing and might but it's personnal dps is abysmal, I'm not saying that it mean that the might sharing niche will be taken by the necromancer but that the group will be able to easily ask for more might sharing from it's member if they chose a different healing support than the druid. The druid, despite it's ability to share tons of might is no longer a must have profession, spirits and spotter can easily be done by non druid rangers. This open up a lot more group comp diversity than before.

[ZDragon.3046]

> @Lily.1935 said:

> # **Scourge**

> When anet said "Some of the DPS will return" I was skeptical that it would get much of it back. And I was absolutely correct. Their is little to no increase here either and absolutely no changes to put scourge into a valuable support role either so there isn't even that to fall back on. The Decay rate of Barrier starting after 2 seconds rather than 1 is.... Fine, but I'd have rather just had better access and better skills to apply it with. For me, I was of the opinion that the decay rate was fine, but our access to applying it to allies was seriously lacking. This hasn't changed.

>

> The reaper was the primary focus for this patch and now I feel it does compete with the scourge spec, both seem to be on fairly equal footing, but considering that the scourge was still behind in PvE both are still behind. And that's really sad for me to say. Now, I'm not going to just say that there isn't anything good because I think Anet is starting to go down the right path, But they haven't quite figured it out yet.

>

> Hey anet! Let me give you some help. Play magic the gathering. Look at the philosophy of the color black. Black can either be super sustain, stealing life and never dying or Blitz through their own life, hand size and creatures to cause Massive harm. They struggle to do both, and most frequently can't. I keep saying a catch phrase which comes from Magic, and one of the most powerful cards in their modern format. Dark confidant's flavor "Power at any cost." And considering how many games Dark Confidant has killed the user yet is considered worth it you should know just how much black players are willing to sacrifice for power. And that is a good chunk of the player base who mains necromancer in GW2. We are that sort of player who'll bring ourselves down into the red in life, we are the ones willing to put ourselves in harms way for massive gain. We don't have the massive gain and the necromancer is still much too safe of a profession. Let us be Dark Confidant!

 

They didnt even add a "Rune of the Scourge" To the game as of yesterday this is now clearly know they still dont know what direction they want to take scourge. Which means it had some serious flaws during the ideal thought process behind how it would work on its on and with other players. The fact that they dont have a true role for socurge right now is pretty insane now putting that aside.

 

 

> @Crinn.7864 said:

>

> The point is to promote usage of shroud, not the camping of shroud.

>

> idk why this forum has a obsession with being able to camp shroud 24/7

 

Because they allowed that habit to be created from core. With core your dps better comes from the auto attack which is soo slow you need to semi camp shroud to make it feel of any use. This got carried over to reaper naturally as the first things many people did was go bunker with it (which i hated). That being said we have gotten use to a slow drain on shroud. A large portion of the necro player base myself included has a bit of a struggle adapting to the new reaper degeneration on shroud. If i keep my life force above 50% its usually not an issue. The moment i slip up and stay in too long and go below 40% or so its usually hard to recover enough life force to actually make use of the shroud now insane dps with incoming damage.

 

That being said i dont think anything should be changed. Maybe a bit more damage on axe just a tap. Not all of the changes yesterday were focused on reaper core got some interesting tweaks I've been playing around with. While i dont think they would be very viable for ranked play I do find them rather nice and even fun to play casually. Basically if you want to camp shroud now just play core with blood magic, wells or the new grandmaster trait or play core with the reworked signets trait.

 

Reaper is no longer a oh shoot button that will save you from getting face rolled if you make a mistake.

[Merlin Dyfed Avalon.5046]

> @Kuya.6495 said:

> why is anyone complaining about the condi reaper nerfs? didn't we know like literally months ago that they intended to make scourge the condi spec and reaper the power spec?

 

They took plague sending away from.. *the condition build* Scourge.

Kinda contradictory imo. If they intended that.

But that's just me .. I'm still angry they took my bleeds! chill, blind & sigils from reaper tbh. (pvp)

The synergy (they finally got it right) blind = chill = bleed was beautiful with GS #4 and Reaper traits. focussing on bleed stacks only.. sigh..

At least i still have the pictures :)

 

now more power.. stuff hits harder / faster

meanwhile the fun of playing with add-on conditions: sending, gaining, ripping converting with other necro's is removed.

Seems to me this 'balance patch' they sped up the need for pressing more buttons..removed the sponge/soaking up damage without giving any attrition or defence back,

The profession & weapons stays the same sluggish thing.

 

i feel i can complain ;)

[Dadnir.5038]

> @ZDragon.3046 said:

> They didnt even add a "Rune of the Scourge" To the game as of yesterday this is now clearly know they still dont know what direction they want to take scourge. Which means it had some serious flaws during the ideal thought process behind how it would work on its on and with other players. The fact that they dont have a true role for socurge right now is pretty insane now putting that aside.

 

Well... PvP is not **the** game. PoF's e-spec specific runesets were added to PvP, but they were already available for the PvE and WvW.

[Kam.4092]

Soul Reaping looked better than Blood Magic now, because of the Shroud duration changes. I think Shadow Fiend would be good for Power since the Life Force skill, and since going Soul Reaping would lose out on the Wells Trait.

 

I think Death Perception would be good too in Soul Reaping.

[Oldirtbeard.9834]

> @Kam.4092 said:

> Soul Reaping looked better than Blood Magic now, because of the Shroud duration changes. I think Shadow Fiend would be good for Power since the Life Force skill, and since going Soul Reaping would lose out on the Wells Trait.

>

> I think Death Perception would be good too in Soul Reaping.

 

I seem to be doing well with Blood and wells, I don't want to go glass cannon, besides blood gives decent support.

[Kam.4092]

> @Oldirtbeard.9834 said:

> > @Kam.4092 said:

> > Soul Reaping looked better than Blood Magic now, because of the Shroud duration changes. I think Shadow Fiend would be good for Power since the Life Force skill, and since going Soul Reaping would lose out on the Wells Trait.

> >

> > I think Death Perception would be good too in Soul Reaping.

>

> I seem to be doing well with Blood and wells, I don't want to go glass cannon, besides blood gives decent support.

 

How is Shroud lasting longer, gaining over 1k health, and getting more Life Force from skills glass cannon.

[Lexan.5930]

Awake the pain is a step in the right direction. It's a core necro change, which is what we wanted. Something that we can run with no elite spec reaper or scourge if you like. The change to SoS is interesting. The previous change seemed to be pushing towards reaper so that we could get the extra might (270) in reaper shroud, and even a little in core necro. It's an interesting idea and lets you use signet of vamp and signet of spite out of shroud, then pop in shroud and try to spin to win.

 

I feel like the SoS changes will effect some builds in sPvP and thats about it. I've done some testing on the golem with close to death vs SoS and honestly is basicly a wash. The constant extra 90 power for a full fight of 20% on the end of a 10 million health boss means that your doing say 10% extra the whole fight of just 20% the back 50%. In practice because of the large health pools, close to death wins over SoS, so no change there. But the interplay with signets is interesting to say the least.

 

Awake the pain with reaper is great for shroud burst damage with all that extra ferocity and actually helps with a good choice beetween it and axe. Say your in sPvP and you want to be burst damage, well you can either take the extra power damage and have everything (shroud, wells, GS skills) and axe skills all benefit from the extra power damage. OR you could spec axe damage trait, pressure them down with regular skills and wells, then wait for that sweet 50% and with close to death unload on them and kill them to the ground.

 

For raids, this allows for some changes per fight. Say your doing gors, sab or KC, well your gonna be taking awake the pain for sure. All that extra power damage in melle, why would you use axe? Now say your doing VG and your team needs an extra on green the whole fight, well axe has 900 range, go greens and just axe and wells to do damage.

 

So basically for pve awake the pain vs axe is kind of a choice between melle or range.

 

Oh and have you tried power scourge with awake the pain and the new desert shroud? thing hits like a truck. only 1000 per hit less than well of suffering, but half the CD and 1 more hit plus conditions. so you can axe 2 with DSS going at the same time, or drop well and it plus ghastly breach and thats a lot of aoe damage. Gonna need to try this out with greivers to see what i can make of it.

 

**EDIT**: ok so just did some quick testing, auto attack and attack 2 only, 25 might, quickness, 25 vuln, no food, full ascended zerker gear, axe trait is a DPS increese if your only using auto attacks and staying at range. So yes if your using axe exclusively and you want those meaty axe 2, then yes you want to take the trait. Dagger melle auto and 2 with awaken the pain is still better dps, so for a raid fight where you would want overall damage on everything up over a 5 minute fight then you'll want to take awaken the pain. Unless your say doing deimos and need to be range basicly 60% of the fight, then maybe go axe trait.

[Dadnir.5038]

> @Lexan.5930 said:

> Awake the pain is a step in the right direction. It's a core necro change, which is what we wanted. Something that we can run with no elite spec reaper or scourge if you like. The change to SoS is interesting. The previous change seemed to be pushing towards reaper so that we could get the extra might (270) in reaper shroud, and even a little in core necro. It's an interesting idea and lets you use signet of vamp and signet of spite out of shroud, then pop in shroud and try to spin to win.

 

Well, I'm gonna disagree with you, sure the result feel like the necromancer gained a lot but in reality, what we got is that we still have SoS as a trait that promote passive gameplay and we lost an almost altruistic trait to the selfishness of the necromancer. So yeah, I think that SoS is now fonctionnally good but have a terrible design and that changing _rending shroud_ from a trait that benefit your whole team to a trait that only benefit yourself was a terrible idea. Still it work but that's not what I call satisfying changes.

[Meetshield.1756]

Axe is for PvP.

Might Stacks are for PVE/WvW.

Weapon Dependant buffs to WvW players are limiting as they have 2-3 minutes of sustained fighting against multiple players and a single target weapon like axe is really only good for 1 skill, even if everyone loves the Axe 2 Skill, it doesn't compare to Gravedigger in damage or utility.

 

So the trait complaint you have is really just asking for 10% more damage. Lets see where we stand on the DPS meter after Qtfy tests Power Reaper before we ask for more damage.

 

The shroud decay was nerfed to make you use Life Rend chain to sustain your shroud, and prevent abuse of Shroud with power burst in PvP. So Power Reaper is a PVE Spec. He can take Signates for 180 extra power and 1% LF per second regen which will likely allow him to maintain shroud while auto attacking, and use the other Reaper trait to burst up his shroud after a Chill spin.

 

The change to Scourge clearly indicates it is a support class. Extending Barrier Up-Time, and increasing DPS on the F5, which is where the Damage on Scourge comes from, outside of the Torch and Punishments. Until Qtfy actually makes a build for it and tests the DPS we can't say how much DPS is gained, and where we stand in comparison to other specs. All of the QTFY numbers are reduced by atleast 10% if not more, and Scourge has a distinct advantage in healing while doing condition damage.

 

Also don't discount the Power DMG boost to Desert Shroud. It is now comparable to AXE 2, in damage with 1 less attack, and it hits 5-10 targets. The hardest thing will be to decide which Stat Set to pick from. Zealots for PVE raid Support, or Shaman's or a Combination? maybe marshals..

[Anchoku.8142]

I tend to agree with the assessments written here. However, Necromancer did not receive any hard nerfs, despite the change to shroud consumption. That is better than I expected.

 

Moreover, the nerf to camping shroud could set the stage to additional buffs. I am sure no one missed the exclusion of Death Magic from the balance update. Unholy Sanctuary was unchanged so I hope that it means a more extensive review of the trait line is planned or in progress.

 

Necromancer has lost much of its original meaning and theme as other professions developed counters or passive resistances to this profession and mobs with similar soft CC defenses and condition damage. The extra boon corruption Scourge brings helps regain balance rather than perpetuate the trend of increasing impotence. There is more to do but I see Scourge and the shroud changes as steps along a path toward refocusing Necromancer on its original design themes of boon hate, condition-based defenses, and powerful AoE.

 

I do not think turtling in shroud was ever intended as a play style. Shroud was meant for absorbing a burst of damage. More than an expansion and a few patches will be necessary to rebalance for short term, tactical shroud use.

[JustDemons.4358]

pov from power necro/reaper: I do get, that faster LF decreasing is good to not be a Shroud/DS Camper.. The Problem is in WvW solo/small scale roam and pvp u even have **less survivabilty**... a power necro is squishy and i get bursted down in a few secs after i come out of Shroud/DS the first time.. the 7 second CD for shroud beeing removed in an earlier patch + faster LF decrease + worse LF generation makes fighting even more impossible in brawling situations. the DS dmg is the sicnificacn tho. still we need **survivabilty**, every other class can out-susustain us by hitting immunes button... still so lame.

 

i see the patch as a wash, not as a buff.

[Zero Solstice.9754]

> @Lily.1935 said:

> So I really hate to be negative after recieving quite a bit of buffs that were geared toward PvE, however I do have to say that the changes although they seem like a lot are actually quite conservative in the long run.

>

> # **Power and Reaper**

> There is a conflict of interest in how the traits here are aligned. I decided to test the changes out and although the DPS on the reaper has a net gain the gain isn't honestly as much as you might think. While you gain Awaken the pain to increase power you lose the bonus from Axe mastery. A conflict that pushes you to take Awaken the pain every time since its just going to be a stronger increase overall. Although its a nice trait and I think its absolutely needed it competing with Axe is sorta a bit of a killer for me. The reaper also has the same problem as Scourge now in that they don't genorate life force quite fast enough to take advantage of where most the buffs are placed. So although they have about a 30% DPS increase while in shroud taking into account the decay rate along with that its likely closer to a 10% increase, which is far less impressive. Now that's just a rough estimate but in testing I found that the increase was marginal at best.

> The Signet trait is also more Gimmicky than actually useful. Going from a solid PvP trait to a bad PvE trait to a still bad PvE trait it just doesn't have the impact it needs to really push its use. I thought I might be able to be cute with Signet of Vampirism but it doesn't seem to be that effective.

> One thing I'd like Anet to change on this is make the decay rate of shroud be based on your base health and not a flat percentage which could allow for some more interesting shroud play with reaper. It would mean their DPS would be abysmal out of shroud but that would be the pay off because as it stands right now, not much has changed.

>

> # **Scourge**

> When anet said "Some of the DPS will return" I was skeptical that it would get much of it back. And I was absolutely correct. Their is little to no increase here either and absolutely no changes to put scourge into a valuable support role either so there isn't even that to fall back on. The Decay rate of Barrier starting after 2 seconds rather than 1 is.... Fine, but I'd have rather just had better access and better skills to apply it with. For me, I was of the opinion that the decay rate was fine, but our access to applying it to allies was seriously lacking. This hasn't changed.

>

> The reaper was the primary focus for this patch and now I feel it does compete with the scourge spec, both seem to be on fairly equal footing, but considering that the scourge was still behind in PvE both are still behind. And that's really sad for me to say. Now, I'm not going to just say that there isn't anything good because I think Anet is starting to go down the right path, But they haven't quite figured it out yet.

>

> Hey anet! Let me give you some help. Play magic the gathering. Look at the philosophy of the color black. Black can either be super sustain, stealing life and never dying or Blitz through their own life, hand size and creatures to cause Massive harm. They struggle to do both, and most frequently can't. I keep saying a catch phrase which comes from Magic, and one of the most powerful cards in their modern format. Dark confidant's flavor "Power at any cost." And considering how many games Dark Confidant has killed the user yet is considered worth it you should know just how much black players are willing to sacrifice for power. And that is a good chunk of the player base who mains necromancer in GW2. We are that sort of player who'll bring ourselves down into the red in life, we are the ones willing to put ourselves in harms way for massive gain. We don't have the massive gain and the necromancer is still much too safe of a profession. Let us be Dark Confidant!

>

> # _**"Greatness at any cost!"**_

>

> Edit: Got the Quote wrong, fixed at the end.

 

Don't forget though that Bob has some pretty serious deckbuilding constraints. Your typical Jund plays maybe one Tasigur or similar card and nothing else because to maximize the effectiveness of Bob, you need to minimize the total chances that his incremental value leads to overall greater loss. Necromancer is somewhat similar in its own way, where we're more or less forced to build the class in specific ways so that our drawbacks don't constantly bust our own skulls open. I dig the comparison that you're making, but it's flawed in a couple of ways; saying that Necromancer is "too safe" of a profession depends on viewpoint, because I'd say that it's much riskier than most other class options that have better mitigation, better mobility, and better damage, however it is "safer" in the sense that it's generally pretty easy to live and deal damage as a Necromancer when you're less experienced as compared to any other class you may be equally experienced with.

 

Timeless flavor text, though :+1:

[Svarty.8019]

> @Maunzi.3764 said:

> Stop whining because of patch notes, test it in the game. It performs much better than you think it does.

 

Tested and confirmed. Power Reaper is super-weak compared to where Condi was.

 

> @Kuya.6495 said:

> why is anyone complaining about the condi reaper nerfs? didn't we know like literally months ago that they intended to make scourge the condi spec and reaper the power spec?

 

You find the quote and we'll see how explicit it isn't.

[Lily.1935]

> @"Zero Solstice.9754" said:

> > @Lily.1935 said:

> > So I really hate to be negative after recieving quite a bit of buffs that were geared toward PvE, however I do have to say that the changes although they seem like a lot are actually quite conservative in the long run.

> >

> > # **Power and Reaper**

> > There is a conflict of interest in how the traits here are aligned. I decided to test the changes out and although the DPS on the reaper has a net gain the gain isn't honestly as much as you might think. While you gain Awaken the pain to increase power you lose the bonus from Axe mastery. A conflict that pushes you to take Awaken the pain every time since its just going to be a stronger increase overall. Although its a nice trait and I think its absolutely needed it competing with Axe is sorta a bit of a killer for me. The reaper also has the same problem as Scourge now in that they don't genorate life force quite fast enough to take advantage of where most the buffs are placed. So although they have about a 30% DPS increase while in shroud taking into account the decay rate along with that its likely closer to a 10% increase, which is far less impressive. Now that's just a rough estimate but in testing I found that the increase was marginal at best.

> > The Signet trait is also more Gimmicky than actually useful. Going from a solid PvP trait to a bad PvE trait to a still bad PvE trait it just doesn't have the impact it needs to really push its use. I thought I might be able to be cute with Signet of Vampirism but it doesn't seem to be that effective.

> > One thing I'd like Anet to change on this is make the decay rate of shroud be based on your base health and not a flat percentage which could allow for some more interesting shroud play with reaper. It would mean their DPS would be abysmal out of shroud but that would be the pay off because as it stands right now, not much has changed.

> >

> > # **Scourge**

> > When anet said "Some of the DPS will return" I was skeptical that it would get much of it back. And I was absolutely correct. Their is little to no increase here either and absolutely no changes to put scourge into a valuable support role either so there isn't even that to fall back on. The Decay rate of Barrier starting after 2 seconds rather than 1 is.... Fine, but I'd have rather just had better access and better skills to apply it with. For me, I was of the opinion that the decay rate was fine, but our access to applying it to allies was seriously lacking. This hasn't changed.

> >

> > The reaper was the primary focus for this patch and now I feel it does compete with the scourge spec, both seem to be on fairly equal footing, but considering that the scourge was still behind in PvE both are still behind. And that's really sad for me to say. Now, I'm not going to just say that there isn't anything good because I think Anet is starting to go down the right path, But they haven't quite figured it out yet.

> >

> > Hey anet! Let me give you some help. Play magic the gathering. Look at the philosophy of the color black. Black can either be super sustain, stealing life and never dying or Blitz through their own life, hand size and creatures to cause Massive harm. They struggle to do both, and most frequently can't. I keep saying a catch phrase which comes from Magic, and one of the most powerful cards in their modern format. Dark confidant's flavor "Power at any cost." And considering how many games Dark Confidant has killed the user yet is considered worth it you should know just how much black players are willing to sacrifice for power. And that is a good chunk of the player base who mains necromancer in GW2. We are that sort of player who'll bring ourselves down into the red in life, we are the ones willing to put ourselves in harms way for massive gain. We don't have the massive gain and the necromancer is still much too safe of a profession. Let us be Dark Confidant!

> >

> > # _**"Greatness at any cost!"**_

> >

> > Edit: Got the Quote wrong, fixed at the end.

>

> Don't forget though that Bob has some pretty serious deckbuilding constraints. Your typical Jund plays maybe one Tasigur or similar card and nothing else because to maximize the effectiveness of Bob, you need to minimize the total chances that his incremental value leads to overall greater loss. Necromancer is somewhat similar in its own way, where we're more or less forced to build the class in specific ways so that our drawbacks don't constantly bust our own skulls open. I dig the comparison that you're making, but it's flawed in a couple of ways; saying that Necromancer is "too safe" of a profession depends on viewpoint, because I'd say that it's much riskier than most other class options that have better mitigation, better mobility, and better damage, however it is "safer" in the sense that it's generally pretty easy to live and deal damage as a Necromancer when you're less experienced as compared to any other class you may be equally experienced with.

>

> Timeless flavor text, though :+1:

 

Safe as in there is not that much risk in killing yourself on necromancer. Except with Blood is power. (Which is under powered for what it does). We do blitz through life force but I really want to see more risk than that for our damaging builds.

[Obtena.7952]

> @Crinn.7864 said:

> > @Obtena.7952 said:

> > I'm very disappointed that Anet didn't see that all the traits they changed to increase DPS conflict with already existing DPS traits ... or that no one would figure out they gave less shroud uptime where they put most DPS increases. Anyone that thinks any of this is good hasn't been paying attention to their own complaints.

>

> The point is to promote usage of shroud, not the camping of shroud.

>

> idk why this forum has a obsession with being able to camp shroud 24/7

>

 

Where did I say anything about camping vs. usage? Perhaps your reading into something I haven't said ... ever. In addition, when did ANYONE ever complain about shroud usage? If they did, it was in the context of lacking damage as an overall class complaint. That complaint is STILL VALID ... Again ... I don't think people are remembering their main complaints about Necro; you people just got 'squirrelled' into forgetting what it was that made this class struggle in PVE ... but OK, you go get excited about reaper shroud power buff ... for the BRIEF time you can use it; sounds like a screw over if you ask me. I'm personally not affected ... but the people that are just got played pretty hard.

[Oldirtbeard.9834]

> @Kam.4092 said:

> > @Oldirtbeard.9834 said:

> > > @Kam.4092 said:

> > > Soul Reaping looked better than Blood Magic now, because of the Shroud duration changes. I think Shadow Fiend would be good for Power since the Life Force skill, and since going Soul Reaping would lose out on the Wells Trait.

> > >

> > > I think Death Perception would be good too in Soul Reaping.

> >

> > I seem to be doing well with Blood and wells, I don't want to go glass cannon, besides blood gives decent support.

>

> How is Shroud lasting longer, gaining over 1k health, and getting more Life Force from skills glass cannon.

 

Because I get more health from Blood, Vampiric Aura and Transfusion provide small group support?

[Baldrick.8967]

Tried playing my normal power necro build in wvw. The nerf to shroud totally ruins any gain from increased damage on the skills- as most of the time you can't even get through more than one or two and shroud is gone and you're rooted with 10000 conditions putting you on the floor.

 

I'm sure it's wonderful for bosses, general pve stuff and even spvp, but for wvw it's like Anet saying 'play scourge or gtfo'.

[Drarnor Kunoram.5180]

Pretty sure one of the main reasons Power Necro hasn't been viable in PvP is because it has issues surviving, more than its damage.

 

As a somewhat related note, Reaper is now 100% the opposite of an attrition profession.

[Maxzero.4032]

> @Dadnir.5038 said:

> > @Maxzero.4032 said:

> > > @Dadnir.5038 said:

> > > Well... I think the main point of the balance patch for "PvE" is that most profession's max potential dps have been brought down by at least 10% While the necromancer's max potential dps stayed the same. It might be petty to say it but the reaper's potential is now close to mirage's and warrior's one. Warriors also lost a bit of their monopoly on might sharing which will force group to take more professions that share might. In short, the gap between the necromancer (and elite spec) and the other professions have been reduced a lot. And hopefully to the point that the necromancer end up being welcome in raids.

> > >

> > > As for "PvP", changing the reaper into a glassier spec might end up being a pretty good balance idea... Well, I would have tone down the GS and change some of it's skills to balance things but... let's not complain. Scourge on another hand remaining mostly unchanged might be that the spec is where anet want it to be or most likely that they lacked time to really work on it.

> > >

> > > The necromancer as a whole benefit a lot from the patch. Even if axe got the short end of the stick (objectively, axe wasn't nerfed at all) and _Plague sending_ lost a lot of it's power.

> > >

> > > On a side note, _Spitefull spirit_ got even more boon corruption... Anet... Please stop it now...

> > >

> > > I'm not convinced by the change on _signet of suffering_ and I feel that scourge would have needed more change to really separate scourge dps and scourge support but, their is hope, after all, they did a lot of work on reaper and that's huge. Now, if they could realize the same kind of work on Death shroud for the next balance patch, giving an identity to this shroud by balancing a bit it's skills, I would be delighted.

> >

> >

> >

> > Guess who is wearing my ascended viper gear now?

> >

>

> Let's not talk about large target, competitivity on small target is already a huge leap for a necromancer.

 

Even on small box its hitting well into the 30s.

 

Freaking Mesmer lol!

[Kam.4092]

> @Oldirtbeard.9834 said:

> > @Kam.4092 said:

> > > @Oldirtbeard.9834 said:

> > > > @Kam.4092 said:

> > > > Soul Reaping looked better than Blood Magic now, because of the Shroud duration changes. I think Shadow Fiend would be good for Power since the Life Force skill, and since going Soul Reaping would lose out on the Wells Trait.

> > > >

> > > > I think Death Perception would be good too in Soul Reaping.

> > >

> > > I seem to be doing well with Blood and wells, I don't want to go glass cannon, besides blood gives decent support.

> >

> > How is Shroud lasting longer, gaining over 1k health, and getting more Life Force from skills glass cannon.

>

> Because I get more health from Blood, Vampiric Aura and Transfusion provide small group support?

 

Not trying to say your view is wrong. Soul Reaping is just more DPS I think now. Soul Reaping was already better for solo play. I personally don't really look at Vampiric Aura as good Support.

 

When you say you get more health, I'm guessing you're talking about the Life Siphon.

[Oldirtbeard.9834]

> @Kam.4092 said:

> > @Oldirtbeard.9834 said:

> > > @Kam.4092 said:

> > > > @Oldirtbeard.9834 said:

> > > > > @Kam.4092 said:

> > > > > Soul Reaping looked better than Blood Magic now, because of the Shroud duration changes. I think Shadow Fiend would be good for Power since the Life Force skill, and since going Soul Reaping would lose out on the Wells Trait.

> > > > >

> > > > > I think Death Perception would be good too in Soul Reaping.

> > > >

> > > > I seem to be doing well with Blood and wells, I don't want to go glass cannon, besides blood gives decent support.

> > >

> > > How is Shroud lasting longer, gaining over 1k health, and getting more Life Force from skills glass cannon.

> >

> > Because I get more health from Blood, Vampiric Aura and Transfusion provide small group support?

>

> Not trying to say your view is wrong. Soul Reaping is just more DPS I think now. Soul Reaping was already better for solo play. I personally don't really look at Vampiric Aura as good Support.

>

> When you say you get more health, I'm guessing you're talking about the Life Siphon.

 

Yes the life siphon. Supposedly VA helps DPS and Shroud 4 is good for healing people I guess.

[Aetatis.5418]

been doing simple dungeons and t4 fracs now with the new shroud decay.

 

my first impression on golems was "holy, how is it going to work out, can i even get a full rotation without dropping out of shroud".

it was okay on golems, a simple rotation does work and increases the dmg slightly (not even 10% compared to camping GS).

 

reality is... dungeons, fractals. shroud is non-existant. most of the time its enough to press 5 and 3 for breakbars OR soul spiral (sometimes one AA chain).

it almost feels like the incoming dmg-reduction got removed aswell. like seriously - on paper, if you think about it, 3% decay/sec vs 5%decay/sec shouldnt make that huge of a difference. both should be able to get a full rotation done - yet i am not able to.

i thought maybe i need some more practice (definitely the case too!) - but instead of using it offensively in pve... i use it even more often when i screw up and didnt dodge/see a mechanic - and only for that, since i can not get a full rotation done.

something is really weird about that patch oO

[Lily.1935]

> @Aetatis.5418 said:

> been doing simple dungeons and t4 fracs now with the new shroud decay.

>

> my first impression on golems was "holy, how is it going to work out, can i even get a full rotation without dropping out of shroud".

> it was okay on golems, a simple rotation does work and increases the dmg slightly (not even 10% compared to camping GS).

>

> reality is... dungeons, fractals. shroud is non-existant. most of the time its enough to press 5 and 3 for breakbars OR soul spiral (sometimes one AA chain).

> it almost feels like the incoming dmg-reduction got removed aswell. like seriously - on paper, if you think about it, 3% decay/sec vs 5%decay/sec shouldnt make that huge of a difference. both should be able to get a full rotation done - yet i am not able to.

> i thought maybe i need some more practice (definitely the case too!) - but instead of using it offensively in pve... i use it even more often when i screw up and didnt dodge/see a mechanic - and only for that, since i can not get a full rotation done.

> something is really weird about that patch oO

 

What kinda drives me nuts here is that I made a suggestion to have the option to burn through my life force for overwhelming power. But it was supposed to be just that. An **option**. This takes neither the power aspect of it or the option aspect of it. The reaper that is designed to have a really defensive aspect to it no longer has that but neither has the power to compensate. And its not even an option, its mandatory. I want a choice. I want to choose how i play and I really don't.

 

I've mentioned Magic: The gathering on multiple occasions because it has a real choice. The similarities between MTG and GW1 is why I fell in love with the series, but GW2 really doesn't have that and I keep hoping that some day they will. I don't want less choice. I want more choice! But that's a topic for another time.

[Anchoku.8142]

Reaper builds will have to carry more defensive utilities. For example, shouts, especially with Rune of the Reaper, may be used more. Also, LF generation may receive more attention by players. Hmm... If only there was a trait to reduce ICD on shroud.