My thoughts after 59 Lvls as a necro - The class, the game, the Nerf.

[Odium]

<DIV> <P>So, after banishing my Warlock to the broom closet after LU13, I rolled myself a Necromancer. I’ve played a Necro in multiple games, but never before in Everquest 2, or everquest 1 for that matter, which I never played at all. I reached lvl 59 Last night and before I hit 60, I thought I’d write my thoughts on the class, the nerf and the game in general. </P> <P>1 – The class:</P> <P>In a word – Fun. I really like being a Necromancer. I really hate living in Freeport, but I’ll put up with a small dark house and annoying NPCs to be a Necro. I love having the pets. I love it when a mob is surrounded by my minions!- My Dogs, My tank, My Zombie, my Servile soul and if I’m in the mood, a swarm of bats. DPS arguments and drumfire pet discussions aside, it just looks cool. I also find the Necromancer is still a bit of an enigma to other classes. Every so often someone in my group yells "who has the cool death dogs"…and I proudly reply "that would be me". Its also great when the healer hits the dirt and suddenly everyone realizes that nobody got a rez feather and the mob is still beating the tank to a pulp….what do we do!!! And then the amazement as the Dark Elf in the corner brings her back to life and casually commands his assassin pet to dispatch the mob. – "We didn’t know you could do that"!! – "Yes, there is much about Necros you do not know, grasshopper". We’re pretty damned useful in a fight too, granted those short ones tend to leave us wondering why we came a long, but give me a mob with some gusto and I’ll have the horde rip it asunder!...ok, some help from the rest of the group is nice too. We’re independent too, If I get AOE’d, don’t worry about me Healer, focus on the tank because that mob is about to get a fist full of Life Tap and I’ll be all good. While the group bashes and other mages cast their flashy spells, I’m back here DOTing away and you might not even notice me……until you pull up the parser and WHOA!....look who is sitting in the top three- if not me, then my pet. "Sure glad you’re here Mr. Necromancer"….. "Of course you are, next mob please". Are we as flashy as a Wizard? No. As animated as an Assassin? No. Do we command jaw dropping bursts of power -? Hardly. But do we get the job done? You bet. </P> <P>2 – The Nerf (ala LU24)</P> <P>Well, I’ve learned that Nerfs are either way worse than you thought or not near as bad as you thought. So, I try not to think about them at all – Just log in after and see what happens. I feel I got bit hard with LU13 on my Warlock, which was a hard one to swallow. I know not everyone agrees, But I feel they took my class, turned it inside out and beat it with an ugly stick. As it happens, I much prefer the Necromancer anyway, so I’ve come to thank LU13 and learned not to judge a Nerf by its forum commentary. I guess we’ll just see. I must admit to being apprehensive about the scout pet changes. Frankie (my pet) is not looking forward to being neutered. </P> <P>3 – The Game In general. </P> <P>I feel it’s a great game, most of the time. I also think some obvious key elements are missing that games that came before EQ have had. Guild halls, Player towns and more variety in clothing are just some simple examples. All in all, given the challenge in balancing and maintaining the integrity of a game as complex as EQ2, I think the DEVs do well. Knowing that I can’t understand all the inner workings and in the knowledge that things are rarely as simple as they seem, I can only trust in the developers to continue to seek feedback from players, and act on it as best as possible. </P> <P> </P> <P>Regards, </P> <P>Odium (and Frankie)</P></DIV>

[MadMikey]

<P>I couldn't agree more to be honest....</P> <P>LU13 and the warlock 'changes' ground my playing to a halt, but after 6 months I came back and started a Necro.   It's the most fun I've ever had playing this game.</P> <P>I've tanked, DPS'd, been the healer and it's awesome.  With regards to the 'nerf'  my attitude is pretty similar, Is my Necro still gonna be a Necro? sure he is.   Was my warlock still the warlock i knew and loved, nope and it's unlikely any nerf on the necro will come close to that.</P> <P>*raises a pint of beer to the necro clas*</P> <P>MadMyky 52 Necromancer</P> <P>Enceladus 52 Warlock</P>

[stgninja]

It's nice to see a positive post like this once in a while.  I even feel like this post deserves a sticky.  Like I've told other people there is so much we can do besides DPS.  Healing, rezzing, tanking, FD, split pull, crowd control skills, computer hacking skills, bo staff skills..etc.  Necro FTW.Bloodlich Deathdisciple the Triumphant70 Necromancer of Crushbone<div></div>

[Truwen]

Very true indeed. You seem to have the same attitude as I. In a nutshell roll with the punches. I am not sure what happened in LU13 as I think I was taking a break at that point. My eq2 experience started out as feeling forced to play a class that "augments my group" I started with 2 RL friends and I expressed what I wanted to play and they somehow convinced me that another class that I wasn't the least bit interested in was the choice I wanted to take. Any way that led to me hating the game for a while. I still had a few friends that I had gamed with over the years playing on a different server as I so I picked up DOF,started a necro and loved it from the beginning. It wasn't until recently when I really started to learn the class that I realized the full potential in DPS, healing, group saving, etc. The necromancer class is a complicated class to play right and to play well. I will not have less than adept 3 of my most useful spells...and some fun spells like Control undead...but the spells that I use the most I will elventually have at adept 3 or master 1. This probably wont really be seen till I hit 70 (i am currently 54). In regards to the nerf, I will not quit my character because people think a mere 17% dps loss is substantial enough to kill my play style or the class in general. (correct me if im wrong on the numbers here but htis is what i understoodf rom the posts). I don't think the necro was ever meant to be all powerful. We are very versatile and as such I could care less if they kill my DPS. As long as my tank pet can hold agro and starts taunting more often than not to achieve that end then my spells will do the damage in that regard.-Ganab<div></div>

[Za]

Great posts. I agree that necro is a fantastic class.

[Greenie]

You'd be amazed at how insignificant nerfs seem if you simply ignore message boards.

[Jolemai]

To be really honest, nerfs have never really bothered me that much. I adore my necromancer and will continue to play her for a very long time. <div></div>

[FTL]

<DIV>Agree totally, we will  still be a great class and very much valued and needed in groups or raids <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV>

[RandomCarnage]

Don't quote me, I'm remembering on the fly and haven't gone back to look it up, but wasn't the 17.5% decrease in dps on the dumbfires only?  I believe that total dps will be somewhat lower than this with adjustment to cast timers slowing us down over all,and the dent to our main pet dps hasn't been disclosed yet, as I understood it and is yet to be seen, but for the scout at least is expected to be substantial (far more than 17.5%). /shrug, we shall know soon enough, and the Dev's are unlikely to listen to us anyway (hasn't happened yet), so go with it and adjust to whatever is left of the class on the other side.  Hopefully there will be more master spells available once every second fair weather necro re-rolls a wizzy =) <div></div>

[Za]

<blockquote><hr>RandomCarnage wrote:Don't quote me, I'm remembering on the fly and haven't gone back tolook it up, but wasn't the 17.5% decrease in dps on the dumbfiresonly?  I believe that total dps will be somewhat lower than thiswith adjustment to cast timers slowing us down over all,and the dent toour main pet dps hasn't been disclosed yet, as I understood it and isyet to be seen, but for the scout at least is expected to besubstantial (far more than 17.5%)./shrug, we shall know soon enough, and the Dev's are unlikely to listento us anyway (hasn't happened yet), so go with it and adjust towhatever is left of the class on the other side.  Hopefully therewill be more master spells available once every second fair weathernecro re-rolls a wizzy =)<div></div><hr></blockquote>Well, actually the devs listen a heII of alot better than the players do.The thing is they listen to the data. Then they listen to players suggestions to make the data line up with what they expect. Smart players that want to actually have an impact on what SoE does have to 1st learn to listen to what the devs are trying to do, then you can speak to <b>their</b> objective and not <b>your</b>. I've played several chars that have been nerfed, when you actually talk to them about their objectives and tell them they aren't in line with their own goals, they usually do acknowledge you.

[funkmasterflex]

i'm a total pet class kinda guy. its good for groups, its good for solo and the versitility is second to none.  i love EQ2 and this class and could care less about nerfings or complaints.  ive played the other SOE game and after all those CH nerfings and eventual deletion of the entire profession a dps drop of a few percentage points for one class of pet is nothing at all to worry about.  until they bring MCH back ill be a happy  necro solo'ing machine. 

[subari]

<P>Great post! 100% agree! I'm not concearning if i am on top of a dps-list or not, to be a necro, is to have a solution to nearly every situation that occurs in the game. There ist no other class who is so flexible.</P> <P>Do not concern about raid- or group-dps, the longer a fight lasts, the higher will be our dps compared to other dd-classes. Beeing either a DoT-Class with power without ending, we are the one's that will keep up dps during long hard fights together with rangers and monks. With our heals and lifetap we are capable to give tanks the needed amount of life in the ending of such a fight and our ruined hearts will spend the power needed by other classes or rezz a fallen one. So if they do adjust the dps of our pets, we still are a most effizient caster class, who will fight his way through the realms of Norrath and the Kingdom of Sky, bearing a dark soul and devastating our foes in the sacred name of darkness. :smileywink:</P>