Varnoc
01-20-2017, 11:44 AM
Hi, I'm Varnoc, and I'm a Necromancer.
This is a list of things for Necromancy that I want changed in some way. I will be suggesting my own changes, as I don't like to complain without offering alternatives, but they may not be the best solution to whatever problem I'm having with a particular ability. If you feel you've got a better idea or alternative to my thoughts, please feel free to respond.
Skeletons
I'll get right down to it: Skeletons feel kinda blah. Necromancy is supposed to be the class for handling multiple minions at a time, and it's great that you have the option to summon multiple Skeletons at a time, but if you want to play in any near-optimal manner, you'll never use two different kinds of Skeletons at the same time.
This occurs for the simple reason that it's inefficient to mod for two skeletons at once. Why would I take -50% Swordsman Rage and +26 Mage Damage, when I could just take two +26 Mage damage and double it's effectiveness by summoning two instead of one?
As long as we're restricted to a set number of mods on our gear (I.E. we always will be), it will always be better to run two of the same kind of Skeleton to double the value of the Mods you DO have, rather than splitting both your mods, and your mod efficency in half, making you 1/4th as effective as you would otherwise be.
What if we did, in theory, split the mods between two Skeleton types? That means less mod spots are available to augment your other abilities, including the ones that help keep your Undead moving, making them easier to kill off. If you've dumped all your mods into these Skeletons, and they die in the middle of a dungeon, you're kinda screwed (less the Free Summon Skeletal Archer, which does alright, but if you don't spec for archers they're effectively useless) because you've poured all of your mods into making them as useful as simply doubling down on a single type.
Alright, supposing you're on board with the idea, what's to be done about it? The way I see it, there's two options:
Mods that affect Skeletons become more universal.
Reduce the number of Skeletons from 2 to 1, increasing it's stats and mod power to compensate.
Of those two, I'm leaning towards the latter. The reason for this being that it would be much easier to manage just one, tougher pet, rather than two, less durable ones, given the limited control we have over our pets currently.
But Varnoc! Necromancy is supposed to be the muti-pet class! Wouldn't this destroy it's identity?!?
I'm glad you asked!
Zombies
The oft-overlooked "third summon" of Necromancy, I believe that Zombies could fill the "multi-summon" role within Necromancy. Being expendable and plentiful, Zombies could die off here or there and it wouldn't impeded the Necromancer's progress like the death of a Skeleton does currently.
The general gist of this is as follows: The Necromancer and their one Super-Skeleton would be capable of killing the initial creatures in a dungeon, whereupon the Necromancer would raise limited-duration Zombies to really get rolling along, murdering things and acting as disposable meat-shields (as you would expect them to be treated). The total number of Zombies could be limited in two ways:
Soft Cap - Zombies would have their health decay at an ever-increasing rate, making them eventually impossible to maintain through the Necromancer's healing skills. This method can create interesting situations when multiple Necromancers are involved.
Hard Cap - A hard, no more than X Zombies, rule, keeping the current minor health decay. This one's a bit more boring, but more consistent if the Necromancer goes for a longer period of time without killing something, or finding a body.
I prefer the former, given that it would encourage group Necromancy play to a high degree, giving the game just a little more group-interaction.
Under this system for Zombies, however, the ability "Create Super Zombie" would likely need to be removed or re-purposed. The reasoning behind this would be that Zombies are intended to be disposable, and dedicating an entire ability to upgrading temporary pet seems redundant. It could be turned into some sort of super-heal for your solitary Skeleton, given that the regular AoE heals probably won't do much for them.
If you go with a hard cap for zombies though, you could probably keep "Create Super Zombie", as Zombies become a little more permanent so long as you maintain them.
In either case though, Zombies becoming the major "Holy crap that's a lot of minions" of Necromancy makes more sense than Skeletons at this point, and keeps Necromancers engaged in summoning and cycling through bodies, like you would expect of a Necromancer.
Misc.
If we move to a system where only one Skeleton is active at a time, giving us the ability to customize their abilities would be great. How this is achieved could be as simple as purchasing them from a trainer, but the possibilities are interesting. (Skeletal Warrior = Sword, Hammer, Shield) : (Skeletal Rogue = Archery, Knife Fighting) : (Skeletal Mage = Fire Magic, Ice Magic, Mentalism).
Wave of Darkness could use a way to re-direct the taunt effect somehow, being able to direct all the taunting onto your Skeletal Swordsman (Warrior) would go a long way to helping those of us that want to tank with him.
Necromancy Base Bamage increases don't do anything to increase the damage of summons, and for a skill that's pretty focused on summons to deal damage that feels off.
Conclusion
Thank you for reading through my ramblings. I hope something in here spurs some thought, and maybe results in better ideas than those presented here.
(Note to Citan: Spark of Death, Life Steal, Heal Undead, Rebuild Undead, Provoke Undead and Death's Hold all feel much better to use than they did some time back, before the last major skill/mod update, thank you!)
This is a list of things for Necromancy that I want changed in some way. I will be suggesting my own changes, as I don't like to complain without offering alternatives, but they may not be the best solution to whatever problem I'm having with a particular ability. If you feel you've got a better idea or alternative to my thoughts, please feel free to respond.
Skeletons
I'll get right down to it: Skeletons feel kinda blah. Necromancy is supposed to be the class for handling multiple minions at a time, and it's great that you have the option to summon multiple Skeletons at a time, but if you want to play in any near-optimal manner, you'll never use two different kinds of Skeletons at the same time.
This occurs for the simple reason that it's inefficient to mod for two skeletons at once. Why would I take -50% Swordsman Rage and +26 Mage Damage, when I could just take two +26 Mage damage and double it's effectiveness by summoning two instead of one?
As long as we're restricted to a set number of mods on our gear (I.E. we always will be), it will always be better to run two of the same kind of Skeleton to double the value of the Mods you DO have, rather than splitting both your mods, and your mod efficency in half, making you 1/4th as effective as you would otherwise be.
What if we did, in theory, split the mods between two Skeleton types? That means less mod spots are available to augment your other abilities, including the ones that help keep your Undead moving, making them easier to kill off. If you've dumped all your mods into these Skeletons, and they die in the middle of a dungeon, you're kinda screwed (less the Free Summon Skeletal Archer, which does alright, but if you don't spec for archers they're effectively useless) because you've poured all of your mods into making them as useful as simply doubling down on a single type.
Alright, supposing you're on board with the idea, what's to be done about it? The way I see it, there's two options:
Mods that affect Skeletons become more universal.
Reduce the number of Skeletons from 2 to 1, increasing it's stats and mod power to compensate.
Of those two, I'm leaning towards the latter. The reason for this being that it would be much easier to manage just one, tougher pet, rather than two, less durable ones, given the limited control we have over our pets currently.
But Varnoc! Necromancy is supposed to be the muti-pet class! Wouldn't this destroy it's identity?!?
I'm glad you asked!
Zombies
The oft-overlooked "third summon" of Necromancy, I believe that Zombies could fill the "multi-summon" role within Necromancy. Being expendable and plentiful, Zombies could die off here or there and it wouldn't impeded the Necromancer's progress like the death of a Skeleton does currently.
The general gist of this is as follows: The Necromancer and their one Super-Skeleton would be capable of killing the initial creatures in a dungeon, whereupon the Necromancer would raise limited-duration Zombies to really get rolling along, murdering things and acting as disposable meat-shields (as you would expect them to be treated). The total number of Zombies could be limited in two ways:
Soft Cap - Zombies would have their health decay at an ever-increasing rate, making them eventually impossible to maintain through the Necromancer's healing skills. This method can create interesting situations when multiple Necromancers are involved.
Hard Cap - A hard, no more than X Zombies, rule, keeping the current minor health decay. This one's a bit more boring, but more consistent if the Necromancer goes for a longer period of time without killing something, or finding a body.
I prefer the former, given that it would encourage group Necromancy play to a high degree, giving the game just a little more group-interaction.
Under this system for Zombies, however, the ability "Create Super Zombie" would likely need to be removed or re-purposed. The reasoning behind this would be that Zombies are intended to be disposable, and dedicating an entire ability to upgrading temporary pet seems redundant. It could be turned into some sort of super-heal for your solitary Skeleton, given that the regular AoE heals probably won't do much for them.
If you go with a hard cap for zombies though, you could probably keep "Create Super Zombie", as Zombies become a little more permanent so long as you maintain them.
In either case though, Zombies becoming the major "Holy crap that's a lot of minions" of Necromancy makes more sense than Skeletons at this point, and keeps Necromancers engaged in summoning and cycling through bodies, like you would expect of a Necromancer.
Misc.
If we move to a system where only one Skeleton is active at a time, giving us the ability to customize their abilities would be great. How this is achieved could be as simple as purchasing them from a trainer, but the possibilities are interesting. (Skeletal Warrior = Sword, Hammer, Shield) : (Skeletal Rogue = Archery, Knife Fighting) : (Skeletal Mage = Fire Magic, Ice Magic, Mentalism).
Wave of Darkness could use a way to re-direct the taunt effect somehow, being able to direct all the taunting onto your Skeletal Swordsman (Warrior) would go a long way to helping those of us that want to tank with him.
Necromancy Base Bamage increases don't do anything to increase the damage of summons, and for a skill that's pretty focused on summons to deal damage that feels off.
Conclusion
Thank you for reading through my ramblings. I hope something in here spurs some thought, and maybe results in better ideas than those presented here.
(Note to Citan: Spark of Death, Life Steal, Heal Undead, Rebuild Undead, Provoke Undead and Death's Hold all feel much better to use than they did some time back, before the last major skill/mod update, thank you!)