Feedback talk:User/Venom89/Necromancer, gw2
+ 1. Support. I do like the dark, shadowy energy, green "vibe" of the Necromancer's skill casts. However, certainly a little more "oomph" would be welcome per the OP's suggestion. I think part of the problem is - being dark - they don't contrast as well against the background as the Elementalist's and Mesmer's bright, sparkly, showy skills.
This isn't to say I suddently want to see every Necromancer skill shifted to a bright lime green, though. Perhaps keeping the current animations but with shadowy green beams of death streaming from the Necromancer or their weapons when casting their skills would help. As it stands now, many of a Necromancer's skill animations occur at the target location without any indication that they came from the Necromancer. This leaves a bit of a disconnect which leads to that underwhelming feeling. The Necromancer knows they cast a skill, but it isn't as visually evident that they cast the skill.
There may be an advantage to this in a large group, however (and was maybe even by design). With many of the Elementalist and Mesmer skills, there's no mistaking where they're coming from; just track the sparkly beams and particle effects back to their source. The Necromancer skill animations, by contrast, are a little more "stealthy" (for lack of a better word). There's no visual effect which allows an enemy to track the skill back to the caster; especially if the Necromancer is able to lose themselves in the crowd. This offers some - limited - utility, I guess.
Wells definitely need a boost to better differentiate them from Marks and from one another. It would be really nice to see some tweaks to their animations that unmistakably identifies each Well for what it is. That was even the case in GW1. I know they all had some visual tweaks to help differentiate them; but they were so subtle as to be lost in the larger green circle of the Well (especially in the heat of battle). "I" - as the casting Necromancer - usually knew what Well was which; but for anybody else it was just a giant, green, pulsating circle. Running into it and mousing over the effect indicator near the skill bar was usually the only way for a player to tell what kind of Well it was.
As for the minions, I do think the Bone Minions look sufficiently creepy. There's something about a small, darting critter running at you at full speed that magnifies the threat; especially if it's had the flesh skinned off its skull. At first, its diminutive stature makes it easily dismissed; until they swarm and get closer and closer. Or maybe I'm just suffering from Christopher Walken Syndrome (fast forward to 0:50 and listen through 1:26).
As for the Blood Fiend and Flesh Wurm, I'm split. I would have preferred to see the Bone Fiend look more like the GW1 version rather than being a skeletal Devourer. The reason the GW1 version worked so well is it wasn't an analogue of anything else in the game; it was a totally unique creature. Since it had nothing to compare it to, that ups the creepiness because there's no pre-existing mental framework in which to contain it. Also, anything that's been beheaded but is still attacking you is scary. The GW2 Bone Fiend, by contrast, is just a Devourer skeleton; which - since we already know what Devourer's look like - leaves one with a, "Meh..." feeling. I guess the same could be said of the Flesh Wurm, too; but being a writhing, serpentine critter it has a little more inherant creepiness than the Devourer/Bone Fiend.
The Shadow Fiend is a nice departure from the norm. What I don't like about it, though, is it's supposed to be an ethereal, non-corporeal, miasmic, cloud-like monster. As such, it's "body" should be in constant, swirling motion. Though there is an attempt to mimic the look of such a creature, it's body is not in motion; it's a static mass of black tendrils which - though they pulse in a narrowly confined region - lacks any internal swirling gaseous movement. This may have been a purely technical compromise to cut down on the resources needed to render it. Still, I would have liked to see it be more "cloud-like" or - at the very least - a mass of swirling nightmare rather than the more static version that exists now.
My disappointment with the Jagged Horrors can be read in one of the "Additional Reading" links below. I won't repeat it here.
The Flesh Golem is a Butterface; everything "but-its-face" works for me. With that big, derpy overbite, all I keep seeing in my mind's eye is this (fast forward to 1:00); can't help but chuckle every time I see a Flesh Golem. I would have been just fine with the GW1 Flesh Golem ported over to GW2.
Additional Reading:
- Necro pet's UGLY (be sure to read the discussion tab as well)
Guild Wars 3 perhaps 20:35, 22 August 2012 (UTC)
