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Necros and Fear | |
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When the Necromancer was first introduced, "Fear" was a condition unique to this class. This fit perfectly with a profession touted as the "Master of Death" and felt totally appropriate that no other profession would be allowed to inflict this condition. In my opinion, it added significantly to the "feel" of the class.
Fast forward to today; "Fear" is no longer unique to the Necromancer. That was a big disappointment as it took something away from the profession. I understand all the "balancing" arguments, etc.; but I see no reason why "Fear" couldn't be left as a condition unique to the Necromancer. The other professions could have been given conditions or effects unique to them to maintain this balance while avoiding the watering-down effect broadly disseminating "Fear" had on Necromancers. There are no less than four other professions and one racial skill capable of inflicting fear on foes. Compare this to "Confusion", for example; only two other professions outside of Mesmer can cause "Confusion".
Regardless, I know this situation isn't going to change; the other professions now have access to "Fear" and it's here to stay. However, even in this situation, the Necromancer could still be recognized as the "Master of Fear" by making their version of it the most effective. Unfortunately, that is not the situation we're presented with. To illustrate:
- Mesmer --> Staff --> Chaos Storm --> 1 second (but with the potential to be applied multiple times) --> all foes within the field --> every 30 seconds
- Warrior --> Shout --> "Fear Me!" --> 1 - 3 seconds (range dependant) --> all foes within range --> every 80 seconds
- Ranger --> Shark --> Fear --> 2 seconds --> single foe --> every 40 seconds (but only underwater)
- Thief --> Stolen Skill --> Skull Fear --> 3 seconds --> nearby foes --> every 45 seconds
- Norn --> Become the Wolf --> Snarl --> duration unknown --> foes (unknown if this is all foes within range, only those in front of you, etc.) --> every 10 seconds
- Necromancer --> Death Shroud --> Doom --> 1 second --> single foe --> every 20 seconds (but only while in Death Shroud; dependant on not only recharge time but having sufficient Life Force, as well)
- Necromancer --> Death Shroud (underwater) --> Wave of Fear --> 2 seconds --> all foes in front of you --> every 25 seconds (but only while in Death Shroud; dependant on not only recharge time but having sufficient Life Force, as well)
- Necromancer --> Staff --> Reaper's Mark --> 2 seconds (recently increased from 1 second) --> all foes within the mark --> every 45 seconds
As this list demonstrates, Necromancers - who should rightfully be the most effective at inflicting "Fear" - are only in the middle of the pack. Their "Fear" lasts 1 to 2 seconds; a Ranger, by contrast, can apply it for 2 seconds, as well, and a Thief and Warrior have the potential to apply it for 3 seconds! The fact that two of the Necromancer's three "Fear"-causing skills affect multiple targets isn't even in their favor; with the exception of the Ranger version of "Fear", all of the other professions and racial skill inflict "Fear" on multiple foes, too.
Now, I realize that there's more to it than this. Some (not all) of the Necromancer's "Fear"-inflicting skills recharge faster than the other professions' skills. For those that do, though, they have a secondary dependancy on having sufficient Life Force available to enter Death Shroud to cast "Doom" or "Wave of Fear". The one "Fear"-inflicting skill that the Necromancer has available to them at all times (provided they equip the proper weapon; it's not even a utility skill like some of the other professions' skills), "Reaper's Mark", has a 45 second recharge. In terms of recharge time, this puts the Necromancer more or less on parity with the other professions; again, there's no clear advantage for the Necromancer.
To address this disparity and return Necromancers to their rightful position as "Masters of Fear", I suggest one or more of the following:
- Decrease the recharge time of a Necromancer's "Fear"-inflicting skills to give them the shortest recharge as compared to the other professions. This does not apply to the Death Shroud-dependant skills "Doom" and "Wave of Fear" as those are already balanced by requiring sufficient Life Force to enter Death Shroud in the first place.
- Increase the duration of "Fear" inflicted by a Necromancer to at least equal the longest duration "Fear" inflicted by the other classes. Based on the above list, this would mean increasing Necromancer-inflicted "Fear" to 3 seconds.
- Decrease the duration of "Fear" inflicted by the other professions to equal the longest untraited duration inflicted by the Necromancer; currently this is 2 seconds. By achieving parity in the duration, this puts the Necromancer on top due to their shorter recharge times for "Doom" and "Wave of Fear", at least.
- Either change an existing Necromancer utility skill so that it now causes "Fear" or add a new utility skill to accomplish the same thing. Aside from the Death Shroud-dependant "Fear"-inducing skills, the Necromancer's only other "Fear" skill is tied to a weapon. If the Necromancer wants to reliably inflict "Fear" outside of Death Shroud (what with it's dependancy on Life Force), their only choice is to use a staff to place a "Reaper's Mark". What if the player doesn't want to play a staff Necro? Then they're out of luck and can only access "Fear" via Death Shroud.
- Some of the other professions, by contrast, have continual access to a "Fear"-inducer via a utility skill; regardless of what weapon they're using. Why not do the same for the Necromancer? I realize this would make "Reaper's Mark" irrelevant if a group "Fear" utility skill were added to the Necromancer's arsenal. Simple solution: make the new utility skill/change to an existing skill target a single foe. Then, of course, someone will point out that doing so will make "Doom" irrelevant. Simple solution: "Doom" now affects all adjacent foes, nearby foes, or all foes in front of the Necromancer (making it function the same as "Wave of Fear") rather than a single foe. This balances nicely:
- "Reaper's Mark" is an AoE "Fear" skill. It has a longer recharge than "Doom" but no dependancy on Life Force.
- "Doom" also affects multiple targets but is not quite on par with Reaper's Mark in this regard due to affecting a smaller radius or cone and not being ground targetable. It's also limited by its dependancy on Life Force. However, it's balanced by having only a 20 second recharge.
- New "Fear" utility skill. Affects a single target. Its shorter recharge compared to "Reaper's Mark" (and perhaps even equal to "Doom") combined with being a continually-accessible utility skill makes it competitive with the other "Fear"-inflicters, however.
I'm not looking to make the Necromancer overpowered in their use of "Fear"; I'm simply looking to achieve parity with the other classes who also inflict "Fear" and to return to a state in which this condition is iconic of the profession. I'm fine with other classes inflicting "Fear"; I just want Necromancers to be the undisputed masters of it.
Thank you for reading.
Guild Wars 3 perhaps 21:58, 13 August 2012 (UTC)
