For everyone who talks about necromancers, I will put this here as an example of why necromancers are hilariously worse than a warlock:
A GM necromancer's undead vs. level 12 cockroaches in the sewers of exile:
Quote:
A log of Tarconus + Vinoria forcing Surrit + Deamuce + undead army to recall in a single round of combat
In under a round, they are all dead, yet the cockroaches survive for another HW. They would have had more uses in the past with them not being capped, but now? Animated undead are 100% useless for PVP other than as a distraction - anyone who says otherwise is either a liar or has an ulterior motive to keep them nerfed.
A 30 second code fix to this would be simple: buff wraith HP 25-35%, remove dispel from affecting them OR uncap the amount once again. You don't need them stupid-powerful like the days of old, but a necro should be able to fight better than a sorcerer can. Lathron is worth 8 wraiths in a fight easily, and won't run away when a HW or two is cast. What other real damage spells do necromancers even possess other than undead? FoD - That's it. Energy drain is the only other alternative and it is the easiest to resist of all the necro's spell set. Sorcs get to choose from petrification, acid blast, and even colorspray. Why on earth play a necromancer when a sorc is vastly superior in PVP, has awesome utility, and can't be bolt of gloried to boot?
Till then a necro must:
1) Rely on shrink/enlarge, enchant weapon, armor/resists for each undead to prep -- all of which necromancers do not have
2) Do it all under an hour (when the undead fall back to the ground)
3) In a fight resist the 90000 ways you can kill a necromancer in under 2 rounds: direct hits, circlestab/backstab, holy word suddenly leaving him in front rank (all animates/controls dispelled), arrows/ranged, spells, etc etc
4) Finish the fight before 2 holy words can be cast, in this case there are even scrolls of holy word. Why not make a bolt of glory staff while we're at it?
No other caster has to worry about this defense AND offense to boot because they all get some form of protection, whether its mirror image or etherealform or stoneskin or ironguard or ...and the list goes on and on.
FoD is far too easy to resist and that's a whole other topic. Necromancers are a joke and that is precisely why no competent player has made one in the past several years that anyone actually was afraid of.
Seriously, name me a power-horse necromancer in the last 2 years who was more vicious to face than someone like Pilnor, Vaalim, or Baba?
Edit: Just to preempt, I know you can get some of these things via scrolls or wands, but my point is that no other class has to do so much preparing, rely on so many others, and still get absolutely decimated in 2-3 rounds of combat.
I challenge Dulrik himself to make a necromancer and try to kill Baldric's dwarf, Tarconus. If he can succeed in doing this, I will relent that necromancers are perfectly balanced. This isn't because I'm being :smug: it's because I don't think many folks understand how difficult/silly it is to be a necromancer. But then again, I also think the same way about warlocks now too.
So this maybe moot.
And there's nothing in his afterlife thread about necros being OP.
There are some big names who have talked about necros being too strong, though. Tragonis, Algon, (I think) Jerinx, and Ardith come to mind.