Some Necromancy feedback
Some quick points, and then onto the main difficulty I have with necromancy as regards the fun of the skill.
I’ve not got a proper chance yet to evaluate the damage and mod changes to the necromancy minions because of lack of current gear, and that I never unlocked past 60, but they seem to be somewhat better damage wise. I therefore can’t say too much about it at the moment.
I think the zombie summon changes were good, and that works well now. (again not sure about the damage aspect)
The provoke undead skill is similar to the animal handling Monstrous Rage skill in that it lacks a tactical nuance, and by that I mean mostly that you should just use it always when it’s ready to use, the only reason not to use would be opportunity cost over another skill. They are not bad skills but there isn’t much variety in how you can use them. I’ve not seen all the mods yet so this may not always be the case.
My main bugbear with necromancy is the dead pet problem. There has been feedback on this before, but I’ve not seen anything to explain why it should stay the way it is, or I’ve missed it. It would be good to have some feedback on this.
The main problem is that most people, I assume will, like with animal handling, make a build around using necromancy skeletons. When your pets die two things happen: You lose damage output and you loose part of your build theme, and it feels like quite a pain when it’s not so easy to re-summon. In particular when you are with a party, or at some place nowhere near a graveyard.
The graveyard mechanic is great, as is the gravestone mechanic. I wonder if we could have some feedback on this as to why the pets could not be re-summoned more easily. Some solutions perhaps could be (just throwing out examples):
- A timer of say 1 hour when you can re-summon pets, before you have to then find a graveyard
- Some summoning item you make at graveyards that can only be carried in limited quantities.
- Pets can re-summon but are weaker.
- Rend some of your health to re-summon a pet
- If you yourself die, then you are allowed to re-summon once.
- Allow summoning of creatures you have not summoned previously unless you visit a graveyard
There are many possibilities without changing any fundamental aspect, I think a fair few people find the dead necromancy pet problem a bit annoying as it currently stands.
On being a dead player with necromancy pets:- If you die, your pets continue to exist in the world, and (especially if there is a re-spawn wait in effect,) your pets get beat up in front of you, which is contrary to the animal handling behavior. I think this really should work similarly as for animal handling where your pets de-spawn on your death.
The slightly odd thing is that Animal Handlers can bring their pets back to life quite easily, and their team mates these days, yet a necromancer specialized in undead dealings can’t seem to complete. With the exception of course - of the zombies. There is a certain core about being able to summon your skeletons and when it’s difficult I think it kills the mood, and in previous situations I’ve switched out to another skill, and to be fair It’s become one of my less favorite skills party because of this.