Shattered Kingdoms

Actually, because you engaged Rajjin Waxx's group the NPC script activated and killed all the NPCs in the room putting me on the front rank. I'm lucky that you didn't think to bash me before I went ethereal, because I was a sitting duck.

We've already gone through this though. Even if I had known ahead of time that you were in front of the paladin, there is absolutely no way I could have gotten to him before he holy words twice and kills all my undead unless you're afk. You can heal 40% of your HP in between each round with spam eat mistletoe, meaning that I'd have to deal, on average, 70% of your HP a round in order to kill you in 2 rounds. (If I don't kill you before the first holy word, my undead damage goes through the tank the round after). But according to you, doing 50% or more of an MR barb's HP in one round is OP.

Normally I'd be inclined to pull out the old "if you're the only one complaining, then maybe it's you and not everyone else," but one thing makes this situation a little distinctive: Edoras is the only necromancer. As a result, he's the only one qualified to talk about it from that perspective. I think at this point the only thing we all agree on is that we wish more people would roll necromancers so that they could make an informed, honest opinion on the class... but until that happens, I'm of the opinion that the one man playing the class is entitled to singlehandledly rebut every response and posture every potential issue about this balance change that ultimately affects his character's capabilties. And if that bothers you... well, this is gameplay, so I'll stop there.

On topic, however, the changes (and recent logs and over-the-shoulder evaluation of the only resident necromancer) have me pretty solidly convinced that the RP of a necro needs to undergo an immediate shift to reflect this coded change. Necros are, as jerinx said, pretty balanced now, so they should no longer endure the RP stigma that they were previously subject to. They should no longer be the overarching nemeses of evil, but instead just another bad guy that may or may not be feared by either his "friends" or enemies, because that's what the changes seem to have intentionally driven them to be.

What is this RP stigma?

Only Nashirans and lighties hate necros. For obvious reasons.

Nightwing, I might agree with you that the "one person playing necromancer" has the most qualified opinion if that one person made constructive comments instead of filling the forums with an ocean of tears.

Looking through his recent posts which now contribute over 1% of his total, I see about 1/3 tears, 1/3 sarcastic replies to sarcastic people, and 1/3 constructive commentary.

While I definitely agree that the numbers should be inflated upwards, I can sympathize a little when it's you against the world. It'll also be very interesting to see how well you responds when the nerf-hammer turns on you in the other hot thread.


And I know I've always RPed with necros with a "don't trust 'em any further than they can throw you" attitude even as a darkie, and as a lightie it's death on sight. If you're going to set them up to be balanced, then that shouldn't be the case.

What reality are you living in where a paladin can instantly BoG three controls in the 1.5 rounds (if that) it takes a necromancer army to kill a buffed store pet? Paladins do not always 1-shot controls. You're talking about this like it's a foregone conclusion, but you're so incredibly wrong. You're also ignoring all of the other things the necro could be doing instead of "order all", and the fact that he will STILL escape ethereally or with a recall even if everything goes horribly wrong, because BoG won't do anything to a barghest.

These many pages of histrionics have been amusing, but not really productive. Must this alluvion of QQ continue to drown out legitimate discussion?

In the last few pages, I have failed to see anything but reactionary responses. Where are the "Wights are nice, but giving them daffodils to children as they pass would be a great addition to making necromancers seem like good guys!" suggestions? I am fairly well certain that the "necromancers got nerfed" line of thought has been beaten to death and raised as a zombie just to prove this. Making SUGGESTIONS on these changes will go to strengthening them. I am 99.999...% sure that continuing to complain will keep the class as it is. Just a crazy hunch on my part.

Edoras, paladins are supposed to be the bane of necros, so I would really like it if you would stop using paladins as an example of why necros suck now. How about you give an example using a more common class like barbs, mercs, priests, or sorcs and tell us all why necros suck compared to those classes. I'm talking about in a 1v1 scenario here, I don't want to hear why necros suck because they can't steamroll 2 tribunal characters grouped up who have holy word and bolt of glory.

He can't do that.

First, you can't legitimately carry three controls and a full undead army. Even if you had the concentration, the mana drain would obliterate that plan in about 10 minutes.

Second, I'm pretty sure that if you spam BoG you can pull 5 in 2 rounds -- maybe only four, but I'm pretty sure that the casting time is right at or just under half a round -- but it's been a long time since I've played a pally, so like most of you I am now speaking out of inexperience.

Third, your pet can (and should) have GM sanctuary and armor -- and realistically, haste and perhaps magical vestments as well, which means that it is only taking damage from three controls for one round (because all three will fall before the second combat round with good timing). At that point, the necromancer's damage has dropped by 85% -- and most likely his animates aren't hitting you anyway: since even if he did bother to order them they'll all bounce off of sanc, having literally zero willpower; and the only thing with which he could possibly use to disable at that point is his storebought pet.

Nice use of the thesaurus in that last paragraph, though.



As I said before, I'm still flailing to come up with changes that balance the necromancer in the way I think is best: by widening the gap between the prepared and unprepared. While I could come out and say "the overall HP / DPS of animates should be increased" that doesn't actually do anything but favor the unskilled / underprepared player, which has traditionally been the antithesis of an "advanced" class like the necromancer. I personally think that unskilled or underprepared necromancers should drop quickly, but a well-oiled army should slice through enemies like a warm knife through buttah.