FalconKyule
Dalayan Beginner
I have noticed on a spell data site, and from speaking with people in game, that the necro snare line goes from useful to completely out of wack. Just like on live. I know this server is different from live and I know things work differently but there are many fundamental things which remain, like efficiency.
I'll start by discussing the best snare necros have on SoD - Dooming Darkness. It's a lvl 29 necro spell for those that don't know about necros. It's fast casting, decent mana cost and a good snare effect. No necro should use any other snare other than this one, on live(until the lvl 63 snare) or on SoD. On SoD server this is even more of the case that Dooming Darkness is more useful than SoD's highest necro snare - Embedding Darkness. Emedding Darkness is slow casting, high mana cost, long lasting(only good point) and decent snare.
Necromancers in SoD, just like live, are all about efficiency. Self-efficiency to be exact. No necro, or any necro really worth their own in solo or even group content, would use a snare that needs such a long time and high amount of mana to cast. If a snare breaks, the necro, in a solo setting, will want to resnare ASAP! A six second casting time will most likely spell doom for the brave, but stupid, necro. While in a group setting if the necro is pulling, or is simply the only one with a snare, and the snare breaks during the last rounds of a fight where the mob is running... and oculd attract adds... you want the mob snared NOW! not in 6 seconds. A duration lasting almost twice as long is not a justification of this, it's a bonus that isn't even needed.
As I stated before, efficiency is what a necromancer is all about and should be put foremost in the mind when designing spells for them. Necros are soloers to the core that can bring a lot to a group setting. When we use a snare we don't use our snares for damage, that's just a small bonus, we use them for what they are, a snare. Seeing as we don't use them for damage, the damage can be small to insignificant, such is the case with Dooming Darkness, we need our snares to be useful and efficient. A faster casting time and a lower mana cost compared to our other DoT spells helps us kill our mobs more effectively and helps keep the spell line itself balanced.
My suggestion is to do exactly what live did - implement(or at least change Embedding Darkness) a snare that is more inline with Dooming Darkness, but set for a higher level. SImplay changing Embedding Darkness to a casting time of slightly faster than Dooming with twice the mana cost of Dooming along with the duration of Dooming and reducing the damage EMbedding does(say down to even just 50/Tick) would put the spell line back in place as a great tool and would not make necromancers any more powerful. The only downside to doing such a thing is that necromancers might solo a bit more and would also make necromancers better for pulling for groups when no monk or sk are available.
here are the stats of the two spells I have talked about;
Dooming Darkness
Mana- 120
Casting Time - 4 seconds
Duration - 1.5 minutes
Embedding Darkness
Mana- 425
Casting Time - 6 seconds
Duration- 2.4 minutes
And this is what a good suggestion for the change
Embedding Darkness(or a new spell at lvl 65)
Mana- 250
Casting Time- 4 seconds*EDIT*
Duration- 1.5 minutes
I'd much rather use a faster casting time with a shorter duration than a snare with a ridiculous casting time and high mana cost.
Reasons for this -
1. Faster casting snare means less deaths for when a snare wears off when you are aggro kiting.
2. More efficient mana-wise. remember necros are all about self-efficiency
3. We don't use snares for damage, we use them for snare.
4. Any necromancer that would even get to test this spell out will tell you he'd rather use this than what is currently the 'best' necromancer snare.
5. It's sad when a lvl 29 spell beats out a high end spell in all areas.
Ex Animo
Melshard
*EDIT* I meant to put a 4 not a 3 in the seconds section of the proposed spell. I changed this before reading the replies. Reason for makign it 4 seconds is to factor in focus effects that make you cast faster. SOrry for the mistake on that, Typo Demon strikes again.
I'll start by discussing the best snare necros have on SoD - Dooming Darkness. It's a lvl 29 necro spell for those that don't know about necros. It's fast casting, decent mana cost and a good snare effect. No necro should use any other snare other than this one, on live(until the lvl 63 snare) or on SoD. On SoD server this is even more of the case that Dooming Darkness is more useful than SoD's highest necro snare - Embedding Darkness. Emedding Darkness is slow casting, high mana cost, long lasting(only good point) and decent snare.
Necromancers in SoD, just like live, are all about efficiency. Self-efficiency to be exact. No necro, or any necro really worth their own in solo or even group content, would use a snare that needs such a long time and high amount of mana to cast. If a snare breaks, the necro, in a solo setting, will want to resnare ASAP! A six second casting time will most likely spell doom for the brave, but stupid, necro. While in a group setting if the necro is pulling, or is simply the only one with a snare, and the snare breaks during the last rounds of a fight where the mob is running... and oculd attract adds... you want the mob snared NOW! not in 6 seconds. A duration lasting almost twice as long is not a justification of this, it's a bonus that isn't even needed.
As I stated before, efficiency is what a necromancer is all about and should be put foremost in the mind when designing spells for them. Necros are soloers to the core that can bring a lot to a group setting. When we use a snare we don't use our snares for damage, that's just a small bonus, we use them for what they are, a snare. Seeing as we don't use them for damage, the damage can be small to insignificant, such is the case with Dooming Darkness, we need our snares to be useful and efficient. A faster casting time and a lower mana cost compared to our other DoT spells helps us kill our mobs more effectively and helps keep the spell line itself balanced.
My suggestion is to do exactly what live did - implement(or at least change Embedding Darkness) a snare that is more inline with Dooming Darkness, but set for a higher level. SImplay changing Embedding Darkness to a casting time of slightly faster than Dooming with twice the mana cost of Dooming along with the duration of Dooming and reducing the damage EMbedding does(say down to even just 50/Tick) would put the spell line back in place as a great tool and would not make necromancers any more powerful. The only downside to doing such a thing is that necromancers might solo a bit more and would also make necromancers better for pulling for groups when no monk or sk are available.
here are the stats of the two spells I have talked about;
Dooming Darkness
Mana- 120
Casting Time - 4 seconds
Duration - 1.5 minutes
Embedding Darkness
Mana- 425
Casting Time - 6 seconds
Duration- 2.4 minutes
And this is what a good suggestion for the change
Embedding Darkness(or a new spell at lvl 65)
Mana- 250
Casting Time- 4 seconds*EDIT*
Duration- 1.5 minutes
I'd much rather use a faster casting time with a shorter duration than a snare with a ridiculous casting time and high mana cost.
Reasons for this -
1. Faster casting snare means less deaths for when a snare wears off when you are aggro kiting.
2. More efficient mana-wise. remember necros are all about self-efficiency
3. We don't use snares for damage, we use them for snare.
4. Any necromancer that would even get to test this spell out will tell you he'd rather use this than what is currently the 'best' necromancer snare.
5. It's sad when a lvl 29 spell beats out a high end spell in all areas.
Ex Animo
Melshard
*EDIT* I meant to put a 4 not a 3 in the seconds section of the proposed spell. I changed this before reading the replies. Reason for makign it 4 seconds is to factor in focus effects that make you cast faster. SOrry for the mistake on that, Typo Demon strikes again.
. Otherwise the increased duration of embedding seems really interesting to me , in an open zone it's excellent. I don't think this point will be discussed anyway, even if necros already had some spells nerfed in duration for increased dmg (Disease based I think).