Necromancer Skill: Stalking Blastbones VS Grave Lord's Sacrifice.

Shadowbinder7

To add to everything mentioned in this thread, which as a long term player for years, I have to agree with… why if any change has been made to Necromancer class has it not been to make all the other lacklustre skills more utilisable for dps as well as healing and tanking.

And even more so. What hasn’t this weakest performing class been given a class source of major brutality/sorcery or major prophecy/savafery, or both?

Why instead has the blastbones skill which was actually the best performing aspect of the necromancer class, been given a rework? These are all the obvious questions every player who’s touched necromancer is wondering.

If the devs reading this refuse to reply, it says a lot about the so called “play how you want” style when the changes being made this patch are to skills in classes that aren’t even needed, while much deeper restrictive issues such as magicka and stamina cost of skills and pigeon holing of playstyles has been ignored.

The devs need to understand that simply doing what you want without careful planning thought and reasoning, and listening to the wants and needs of the majority of regular player base is going to hurt the game progressively more until it eventually dies.

Huge changes are clearly possible to the combat system, so I believe I speak for many players when I say the developers need to start strongly considering revamping their combat system to be more flexible and varied (like on Arcanist, letting skills scale with highest resource for example) and stop making weird over imaginative ideas that just don’t work fluidly in gameplay.

Sorry for the long rant but this needs to be said. If the devs responsible for combat are reading this: you have a lot of work to do to save and balance both pve and pvp combat for all classes and all play styles! Not just the most popular or ones devs enjoy. All classes

StarOfElyon

Stalking Blastbones

Blighted Blastbones just feels like dog dooky compared to Stalking. And honestly, healing (especially Warden healing) is so cracked that I can't tell that defile is having an effect at all!

Kalle_Demos

Stalking Blastbones

Shadowbinder7 wrote: »

To add to everything mentioned in this thread, which as a long term player for years, I have to agree with… why if any change has been made to Necromancer class has it not been to make all the other lacklustre skills more utilisable for dps as well as healing and tanking.

And even more so. What hasn’t this weakest performing class been given a class source of major brutality/sorcery or major prophecy/savafery, or both?

Why instead has the blastbones skill which was actually the best performing aspect of the necromancer class, been given a rework? These are all the obvious questions every player who’s touched necromancer is wondering.

If the devs reading this refuse to reply, it says a lot about the so called “play how you want” style when the changes being made this patch are to skills in classes that aren’t even needed, while much deeper restrictive issues such as magicka and stamina cost of skills and pigeon holing of playstyles has been ignored.

The devs need to understand that simply doing what you want without careful planning thought and reasoning, and listening to the wants and needs of the majority of regular player base is going to hurt the game progressively more until it eventually dies.

Huge changes are clearly possible to the combat system, so I believe I speak for many players when I say the developers need to start strongly considering revamping their combat system to be more flexible and varied (like on Arcanist, letting skills scale with highest resource for example) and stop making weird over imaginative ideas that just don’t work fluidly in gameplay.

Sorry for the long rant but this needs to be said. If the devs responsible for combat are reading this: you have a lot of work to do to save and balance both pve and pvp combat for all classes and all play styles! Not just the most popular or ones devs enjoy. All classes

I agree. It's very clear that these changes were not very well thought out and so the very detrimental results are not surprising. Lets not forget that in week one of PTS that with GLS it was impossible to create corpses at a distance, effectively crippling the Necros corpse system. Massive oversight. The solution, forcing the use of Skulls wasn't, didn't seem to have much thought put into it either. This is necessary with a game with so many moving parts but in this case the time and effort was clearly not there. One has to wonder why go through the changes at all if the end results are worse by every measure.

Alaztor91

Stalking Blastbones

Kalle_Demos wrote: »

I agree. It's very clear that these changes were not very well thought out and so the very detrimental results are not surprising. Lets not forget that in week one of PTS that with GLS it was impossible to create corpses at a distance, effectively crippling the Necros corpse system. Massive oversight. The solution, forcing the use of Skulls wasn't, didn't seem to have much thought put into it either. This is necessary with a game with so many moving parts but in this case the time and effort was clearly not there. One has to wonder why go through the changes at all if the end results are worse by every measure.

They even put this on the Patch Notes, but they seem to miss the part where you only spend 1 GCD casting Blastbones every 3 seconds vs 3 GCD casting Flame Skull 3 times. The ''3 second cadence'' similarity only applies if you spam Flame Skull(buffed by GLS) and nothing else lol.

CameraBeardThePirate

Stalking Blastbones

Alaztor91 wrote: »

Kalle_Demos wrote: »

I agree. It's very clear that these changes were not very well thought out and so the very detrimental results are not surprising. Lets not forget that in week one of PTS that with GLS it was impossible to create corpses at a distance, effectively crippling the Necros corpse system. Massive oversight. The solution, forcing the use of Skulls wasn't, didn't seem to have much thought put into it either. This is necessary with a game with so many moving parts but in this case the time and effort was clearly not there. One has to wonder why go through the changes at all if the end results are worse by every measure.

They even put this on the Patch Notes, but they seem to miss the part where you only spend 1 GCD casting Blastbones every 3 seconds vs 3 GCD casting Flame Skull 3 times. The ''3 second cadence'' similarity only applies if you spam Flame Skull(buffed by GLS) and nothing else lol.

This is the most glaring oversight.

Ricochet Skull is trash. You do not have the globals as a Necromancer to spam 3 Ricochet Skulls every time you need a corpse. In PvE you're generally very DoT oriented, and in PvP Necro is rather buff intensive (moreso if you're using GLS). Blastbones required 1 out of every 3 casts to have consistent AoE damage. If you were to apply the same cadence to the GLS-buffed Skull (one of every 3 casts) you would only get a burst proc every 9 globals. Between all your short duration buffs, HoTs, and DoTs, you simply do not have enough globals to keep consistent AoE damage with the AoE Skull.

Kalle_Demos

Stalking Blastbones

Alaztor91 wrote: »

Kalle_Demos wrote: »

I agree. It's very clear that these changes were not very well thought out and so the very detrimental results are not surprising. Lets not forget that in week one of PTS that with GLS it was impossible to create corpses at a distance, effectively crippling the Necros corpse system. Massive oversight. The solution, forcing the use of Skulls wasn't, didn't seem to have much thought put into it either. This is necessary with a game with so many moving parts but in this case the time and effort was clearly not there. One has to wonder why go through the changes at all if the end results are worse by every measure.

They even put this on the Patch Notes, but they seem to miss the part where you only spend 1 GCD casting Blastbones every 3 seconds vs 3 GCD casting Flame Skull 3 times. The ''3 second cadence'' similarity only applies if you spam Flame Skull(buffed by GLS) and nothing else lol.

As CameraBeardThePirate points out...A glaring oversight. Why was this skill allowed to get to live on such a state?

C_Inside

Stalking Blastbones

Nearly 200 votes now and almost 7 pages of discussion on the topic. Only 1 single person has tried to argue that Suckrifice is good and his argument boiled down to "Suckrifice would've been good if it was a completely different skill.". It's safe to say that literally no one likes the new morph. No one will ever use it and everyone just wants Stalking Blastbones back.

@ZOS_Kevin @ZOS_GinaBruno clearly the issue with the new skill is one that many people care about so I think it's high time you folks stopped with the silent treatment.

Kalle_Demos

Stalking Blastbones

Some coverage by cooperharley on the Necromancer and general lack of communication.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=DRDEesp8ZSA

Deimus

Stalking Blastbones

What Pete Hines said about Robert's mentality on the 10 year anniversary stream needs to be fully embraced and adopted into ZoS' core philosophy.

If there's a problem your first thoughts should be How are we going to fix it? How are we going to address the players complaints? and How are we going to make it better?

GLS doesn't reduce the complexity or demand of the Necro rotation which was the stated goal, and it doesn't fix any of the pain points for the class that so many players have noted. Please end the wall of silence and communicate your intentions for the class going forward.

My 2 cents for changes that I believe will make the class feel more cohesive thematically and practically while granting an engaging playstyle.

Grave Lord Tree

Flame Skull I'll start by saying I love the animation for this skill, and hope it never goes away. The GLS boost to this skill should be a part of the Flame Skull skill itself have the 3rd cast create a corpse and deal AoE damage, but I'd also tack on undodgeable to the base skill like Warden's Cliff Racer dive used to have.

Sacrificial Bones Would perform like the old skill where it runs and explodes on the target enemy. After the initial AoE blast all enemies hit will be afflicted with a 10 second DoT that will have two larger ticks. Each of the larger ticks will create a corpse and in total will deal 10800 damage over its duration which is the equivalent of 3 blastbones so over the course of 12.5 seconds you'd have 4 "blastbones" with one cast. For 10 seconds after Sacrificial Bones hits its target increase all damage from Necromancer skills and DoTs by 5%. Increased Magicka cost to 4500 and if the DoT doesn't find a target the bone fragments return to the caster restoring 1500 Magicka.

• Grave Lord's Possession This morph would also apply Minor Cowardice to targets in the AoE blast while granting the caster Minor Courage for 10 seconds. If the DoT is cleansed prematurely one of the larger ticks will automatically trigger.

Boneyard I'd keep this skill the same with one exception. Desecrate the ground at target location for 10 seconds applying "Touch of the Grave" a sticky DoT that attaches to all enemies who enter the desecrated ground dealing 3080 Frost Damage over 10 seconds. If a corpse was consumed on cast Touch of the Grave deals 30% more damage. An ally standing in the graveyard can activate the Grave Robber synergy, dealing 2249 Frost Damage to enemies in the area and healing for the damage done.

Skeletal Mage First thing I would do is increase the tooltip damage by 50% from 462 to 693Shock Damage every 2 seconds I'd do the same for both morphs. The second thing is adding Major Brutality/Sorcery to the skill in one of two ways while the minion is active, or when slotted on either bar. The final change is adding this skill to the list of controllable pets.

Shocking Siphon This is probably my most controversial idea for a Necromancer rework. I like the idea of the tethers and think they are visually great, but hamper mobility immensely unless the Necromancer becomes the focal point of the skill. So I would remove this skill and replace it with:
Flesh Atronach Created to do your bidding the Flesh Atronach will deal 500 Shock Damage to an enemy (Will be controllable). If this ability is recast while active the Atronach will do a slam attack on targeted enemy dealing 1000 damage and an stunning the target for 2 seconds (unblockable). While slotted on either bar increases your damage done by 3%. Requires three corpses to cast and remains until killed or dismissed. Does not leave a usable corpse.

• Conductive Stitching This morph will turn the slam into an AoE giving a 4 second snare to additional enemies around the target, and will increases the duration of the stun and snare by 10% per corpse in the area up to 30%.
• Putrid Flesh Converts the Shock damage to 600 Poison Damage. When killed or recast instead of the stun ability the Atronach will explode for 3000 Disease Damage. The explosion can consume up to 2 corpses within 8 meters, each corpse increasing the damage by 25%. If recast you will be able to direct where the Atronach goes to explode.

Bone Tyrant Tree

Death Scythe I'd add a scaling execute to this skill and its morphs to deal up to 300% increased damage to enemies under 40% Health.

Summoner's Armor I'd increase the duration of this morph from 20 seconds up to 30 seconds. Recasting corpse generating abilities after they have been active for 10 seconds drops a corpse regardless, and Necromancer already has so many short timers to juggle. So in a minion centered playstyle it will alleviate the feeling of being a buff simulator.

Disdain Harm While a Bone Tyrant ability is active gain Minor Resolve and reduce the damage you take from DoT abilities by 15%.

Bone Totem I would move the buff to increase your minion's damage and healing by 500 from Empowering Grasp to the Totem and its morphs while active and lower the potency from 1000 to 500. Thematically the totem is there to enhance yourself and allies while cursing your enemies so if a move is going to buff your minions this should be the one to do it. My other reason is getting your minions in the Empowering grasp effect is extremely difficult and unreliable, but taking the difficulty into account I cut the buff in half for the totem.

Grave Grasp Another really cool visual skill, but not very useful in application. I would change the ability to be placed manually, and have a larger consolidated area split into 3 zones. The Outer ring will snare, immobilize in the middle ring, and stun in the center. Applying Minor Main to enemies in all 3 zones.

• Ghostly Embrace Skeletal hands stun target for 3 seconds and immobilize enemies within 3 meters of the target. Enemies in the area are afflicted with Minor Maim and Minor Mangle. If the target is immune to cc it takes 1200 Frost Damage instead.
• Empowering Grasp Still grants Empower and reduces the cost, but the minion buff is moved to Bone Totem.

Living Death Tree

Expunge Give the ability cost reduction of 3% the on either bar treatment for this skill and its morphs.

Spirit Mender Increase the healing of mender and both morphs by 30% and change the duration for the base skill and the Spirit Guardian morph from 16 seconds to 20 seconds.

Restoring Tether I would change how the tether works. Either it ignores LoS between the corpse and the caster as it's a spiritual construct not a physical one, or if it must break from LoS the heal will radiate from the corpse and caster each at 50% reduced potency and will automatically reconnect once LoS is established again.

Undead Confederate Increase your Health, Magicka, and Stamina Recovery by 100 for each minion you have active. Sacrificial Bones, Skeletal Mage, Spirit Mender, and Flesh Atronach each count as a minion.

Thank you for reading.

alpha_synuclein

Stalking Blastbones

I didn't like the look of the changes when they were announced, but I took my time to give it an honest try, both on dummy and in content (decently optimized trial group). Here are my thoughts, from PVE perspective.

With GLS:
1. I get less damage than before.
I am aware that GLS might still not buff everything that it's supposed to be buffing, but the fact that we have not fully functional skill several weeks after the update is not exactly an argument in it's favor...

2. I'm supposed to get buffs to class abilities and DoT's.
Sounds nice. But other clasess have multiple buffs that can be precasted, work instantly on cast or completely passively just for slotting. Heck, recently some of them got improved to work while slotted on either bar.
Necros got a buff that:
-cannot be cast out of combat
-have a time delay AND a travelling distance
-while travelling is susceptible to killing, CCs and LoS (yes, it's mostly a pvp thing, but still...)
That is beyond absurd...

3. I'm supposed to have an easier rotation.
Well, yes and no. And this part is what suggests to me the most that this change was made based on someones vision on how necro is supposed to be played versus how players are actually using it already. Especially when it comes to group PVE, where necro is primarily support DD with EC. By transferring the range corpse generation to skull I'm forced to specific spammable and practically glued to the main target if I don't want to end up proccing Siphon into the abyss. Which makes skill that is clunky and already quite annoying to use even more annoying. Even if it's slightly easier, I don't feel like it's worth it.

And a subjective touch. With GLS being 20 sec long I get the generic DoT/DoT.../spam until DoT's end rotation. Which feels exactly that, generic. I get why it can be more appealing to a new and/or casual player who either cannot tell the difference because they didn't try other classes yet or don't like the skill/skill/BB cadence, but besides the corpse management mechanic this cadence was the thing that made necro playstyle distinctive and unique. And I enjoyed that, so I resorted to Blighted.

And with Blighted:
1. I get less damage than before...xd
And the before was not particularly impressive, especially in comparison to the new shiny beamers...

2. I get a debuff that is useless in PVE.

3. Coming back to how necro is actually being used in group PVE, I'm running EC/MK setup. 2 sets of light armor. With stam spams being the strongest options currently available, resource management is weird.

Yes, you might have made things easier for players that will pick-up necro for a casual gameplay, but this could easily be done without negatively affecting the currently popular and useful playstyle. I would really like to hear some reasoning behind how the rework was implemented, besides what was stated already.

C_Inside

Stalking Blastbones

Kalle_Demos wrote: »

Some coverage by cooperharley on the Necromancer and general lack of communication.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=DRDEesp8ZSA

Agree with pretty much everything stated in the video. Sweeping changes need to be discussed with the community and iterated on if need in order for them to be accepted. Or completely abandoned if it's clear that the community is not accepting them. Not like what happened here or back in U35. You know? U35? The update where ZOS stated they'd improve their communication in the future? @ZOS_Kevin @ZOS_GinaBruno the same communication that you are not delivering?

Kalle_Demos

Stalking Blastbones

alpha_synuclein wrote: »

I didn't like the look of the changes when they were announced, but I took my time to give it an honest try, both on dummy and in content (decently optimized trial group). Here are my thoughts, from PVE perspective.

With GLS:
1. I get less damage than before.
I am aware that GLS might still not buff everything that it's supposed to be buffing, but the fact that we have not fully functional skill several weeks after the update is not exactly an argument in it's favor...

2. I'm supposed to get buffs to class abilities and DoT's.
Sounds nice. But other clasess have multiple buffs that can be precasted, work instantly on cast or completely passively just for slotting. Heck, recently some of them got improved to work while slotted on either bar.
Necros got a buff that:
-cannot be cast out of combat
-have a time delay AND a travelling distance
-while travelling is susceptible to killing, CCs and LoS (yes, it's mostly a pvp thing, but still...)
That is beyond absurd...

3. I'm supposed to have an easier rotation.
Well, yes and no. And this part is what suggests to me the most that this change was made based on someones vision on how necro is supposed to be played versus how players are actually using it already. Especially when it comes to group PVE, where necro is primarily support DD with EC. By transferring the range corpse generation to skull I'm forced to specific spammable and practically glued to the main target if I don't want to end up proccing Siphon into the abyss. Which makes skill that is clunky and already quite annoying to use even more annoying. Even if it's slightly easier, I don't feel like it's worth it.

And a subjective touch. With GLS being 20 sec long I get the generic DoT/DoT.../spam until DoT's end rotation. Which feels exactly that, generic. I get why it can be more appealing to a new and/or casual player who either cannot tell the difference because they didn't try other classes yet or don't like the skill/skill/BB cadence, but besides the corpse management mechanic this cadence was the thing that made necro playstyle distinctive and unique. And I enjoyed that, so I resorted to Blighted.

And with Blighted:
1. I get less damage than before...xd
And the before was not particularly impressive, especially in comparison to the new shiny beamers...

2. I get a debuff that is useless in PVE.

3. Coming back to how necro is actually being used in group PVE, I'm running EC/MK setup. 2 sets of light armor. With stam spams being the strongest options currently available, resource management is weird.

Yes, you might have made things easier for players that will pick-up necro for a casual gameplay, but this could easily be done without negatively affecting the currently popular and useful playstyle. I would really like to hear some reasoning behind how the rework was implemented, besides what was stated already.

I agree with everything in this post except for things being easier for casual gameplay. I just don't see it. Having to initiate combat, cast GLS, delay, and then cast Skulls thrice to initiate the Necro's corpse mechanic, this is assuming one's definition of 'casual' gameplay includes at least sometimes delving into class mechanics, all for less damage is not easier than things were before. There are no upsides that I can see.

ClevererHail6

Stalking Blastbones

Played it off and on for a while. I had just come to like the class before changes. I still do now that I understand its strengths. It needs very minor changes, I’m not sure why the entire gut of the original ability was done.

Aldoss

Stalking Blastbones

Closing in on 200 unique votes and we've maintained a 90% consensus the entire way against this change (even higher when you consider at least 3 of those votes are trolls).

This "buff", for all the drawbacks that have been listed numerous times, barely tickles in pvp. It made an already hilariously bad class even more of a clown show. It makes degen go from a 3-400 avg tick to a 350-500 average tick.

The class needed a lifeline 3 patches ago, but what the devs threw each patch for the last two years was either a bucket full of water containing indirect nerfs, or weighted vests that made treading water even more difficult.

They won't even talk to us about it.

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_Kevin I assume you're in Amsterdam still having a blast. I'm happy for you. @ZOS_MattFiror spoke about how successful ZOS has been financially over the last decade. I think that's great, too. I want this game, and the studio by extension, to succeed. However, mine and my wife's wallet have been closed since U35 and patch after patch comes with more action that distances you from our wallets again.

I hope you'll consider revisiting your silent treatment. Words are free, but they could potentially inspire and motivate those who hear them.

I hope to hear something when y'all are back. Your players deserve it.

alpha_synuclein

Stalking Blastbones

Kalle_Demos wrote: »

I agree with everything in this post except for things being easier for casual gameplay. I just don't see it. Having to initiate combat, cast GLS, delay, and then cast Skulls thrice to initiate the Necro's corpse mechanic, this is assuming one's definition of 'casual' gameplay includes at least sometimes delving into class mechanics, all for less damage is not easier than things were before. There are no upsides that I can see.

True, but non of those things matter much when you're roaming through a delve.

mariliaribas

Stalking Blastbones

The fact that we don't not even get a single comment on this is completely absurd. And honestly the bad changes combined with the lack of communication completely kills the joy of the game for me, I don't even have the energy to enjoy the anniversary event. Why would I, when my class was reduced to utter and complete trash?

Wolf_Eye

Stalking Blastbones

Kalle_Demos wrote: »

alpha_synuclein wrote: »

I didn't like the look of the changes when they were announced, but I took my time to give it an honest try, both on dummy and in content (decently optimized trial group). Here are my thoughts, from PVE perspective.

With GLS:
1. I get less damage than before.
I am aware that GLS might still not buff everything that it's supposed to be buffing, but the fact that we have not fully functional skill several weeks after the update is not exactly an argument in it's favor...

2. I'm supposed to get buffs to class abilities and DoT's.
Sounds nice. But other clasess have multiple buffs that can be precasted, work instantly on cast or completely passively just for slotting. Heck, recently some of them got improved to work while slotted on either bar.
Necros got a buff that:
-cannot be cast out of combat
-have a time delay AND a travelling distance
-while travelling is susceptible to killing, CCs and LoS (yes, it's mostly a pvp thing, but still...)
That is beyond absurd...

3. I'm supposed to have an easier rotation.
Well, yes and no. And this part is what suggests to me the most that this change was made based on someones vision on how necro is supposed to be played versus how players are actually using it already. Especially when it comes to group PVE, where necro is primarily support DD with EC. By transferring the range corpse generation to skull I'm forced to specific spammable and practically glued to the main target if I don't want to end up proccing Siphon into the abyss. Which makes skill that is clunky and already quite annoying to use even more annoying. Even if it's slightly easier, I don't feel like it's worth it.

And a subjective touch. With GLS being 20 sec long I get the generic DoT/DoT.../spam until DoT's end rotation. Which feels exactly that, generic. I get why it can be more appealing to a new and/or casual player who either cannot tell the difference because they didn't try other classes yet or don't like the skill/skill/BB cadence, but besides the corpse management mechanic this cadence was the thing that made necro playstyle distinctive and unique. And I enjoyed that, so I resorted to Blighted.

And with Blighted:
1. I get less damage than before...xd
And the before was not particularly impressive, especially in comparison to the new shiny beamers...

2. I get a debuff that is useless in PVE.

3. Coming back to how necro is actually being used in group PVE, I'm running EC/MK setup. 2 sets of light armor. With stam spams being the strongest options currently available, resource management is weird.

Yes, you might have made things easier for players that will pick-up necro for a casual gameplay, but this could easily be done without negatively affecting the currently popular and useful playstyle. I would really like to hear some reasoning behind how the rework was implemented, besides what was stated already.

I agree with everything in this post except for things being easier for casual gameplay. I just don't see it. Having to initiate combat, cast GLS, delay, and then cast Skulls thrice to initiate the Necro's corpse mechanic, this is assuming one's definition of 'casual' gameplay includes at least sometimes delving into class mechanics, all for less damage is not easier than things were before. There are no upsides that I can see.

My two Necro toons are alts and pretty much exclusively used for overland content (so I'm using them "casually").

I still switched out this skill for something else, because it was too annoying even when casually hanging out in overland. Mobs in overland die much easier just from spamming the cemetery AOE and then flame-skull-ing them to death.

Kalle_Demos

Stalking Blastbones

Aldoss wrote: »

Closing in on 200 unique votes and we've maintained a 90% consensus the entire way against this change (even higher when you consider at least 3 of those votes are trolls).

This "buff", for all the drawbacks that have been listed numerous times, barely tickles in pvp. It made an already hilariously bad class even more of a clown show. It makes degen go from a 3-400 avg tick to a 350-500 average tick.

The class needed a lifeline 3 patches ago, but what the devs threw each patch for the last two years was either a bucket full of water containing indirect nerfs, or weighted vests that made treading water even more difficult.

They won't even talk to us about it.

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_Kevin I assume you're in Amsterdam still having a blast. I'm happy for you. @ZOS_MattFiror spoke about how successful ZOS has been financially over the last decade. I think that's great, too. I want this game, and the studio by extension, to succeed. However, mine and my wife's wallet have been closed since U35 and patch after patch comes with more action that distances you from our wallets again.

I hope you'll consider revisiting your silent treatment. Words are free, but they could potentially inspire and motivate those who hear them.

I hope to hear something when y'all are back. Your players deserve it.

I play all Classes and so have several characters to fall back on. Sad about whats been done to my Necro but I really feel for Necro mains. I remember when the Necro was one of the most requested additions to the game. To think that there are players with multiple Necros who bought the game and then purchased the Class for that experience only to have it decay in their hands. Play as you want, right? Right!?! I do not envy Zos' task but silence on this issue is becoming unacceptable.

IncultaWolf

Stalking Blastbones

The next pts cycle starts April 15th. I expect to see some changes/minor tweaks to sacrificial bones among a few other things perhaps. Major brutality/sorcery attached to the skeletal minion and execute scaling on scythe would be amazing. I just wish the devs would communicate or say something.

Again we don't expect all these issues to be fixed immediately, most of us just want confirmation that the team is aware necro needs some love. I did see that some of the new scribing abilities include the ability to generate and consume corpses with class mastery scripts, which should be fun to play with.

Urvoth

Stalking Blastbones

IncultaWolf wrote: »

The next pts cycle starts April 15th. I expect to see some changes/minor tweaks to sacrificial bones among a few other things perhaps. Major brutality/sorcery attached to the skeletal minion and execute scaling on scythe would be amazing. I just wish the devs would communicate or say something.

Again we don't expect all these issues to be fixed immediately, most of us just want confirmation that the team is aware necro needs some love. I did see that some of the new scribing abilities include the ability to generate and consume corpses with class mastery scripts, which should be fun to play with.

Honestly, at this point I’d like a full reversal back to Stalking and the GLS modifier added to the skelly summons like where it should’ve been in the first place. Minor tweaks aren’t enough to save the class.

Alaztor91

Stalking Blastbones

It would be kinda sad if the Scribing skills with the Corpse Generation/Corpse Consumption effect end up being better than the actual Necromancer class skills.

IncultaWolf

Stalking Blastbones

Urvoth wrote: »

IncultaWolf wrote: »

The next pts cycle starts April 15th. I expect to see some changes/minor tweaks to sacrificial bones among a few other things perhaps. Major brutality/sorcery attached to the skeletal minion and execute scaling on scythe would be amazing. I just wish the devs would communicate or say something.

Again we don't expect all these issues to be fixed immediately, most of us just want confirmation that the team is aware necro needs some love. I did see that some of the new scribing abilities include the ability to generate and consume corpses with class mastery scripts, which should be fun to play with.

Honestly, at this point I’d like a full reversal back to Stalking and the GLS modifier added to the skelly summons like where it should’ve been in the first place. Minor tweaks aren’t enough to save the class.

Oh I'd prefer a full reversal back to stalking as well, it's just that it's highly unlikely to happen

C_Inside

Stalking Blastbones

Alaztor91 wrote: »

It would be kinda sad if the Scribing skills with the Corpse Generation/Corpse Consumption effect end up being better than the actual Necromancer class skills.

Imagine paying for a class only to find out you need to pay even more to actually make it good. That would be a super scummy thing to do. Considering we're talking about the company that removed the most damaging skill necro had and then ignored all the feedback the community gave them, instead deciding to double down on their nonsensical decision, I'd say we have like a 70% chance of waking up on patch day for Gold Shower Road and realizing they've nerfed necro again and that you need spell scribing to revert said nerf.

@ZOS_Kevin @ZOS_GinaBruno This would be a good time to hear your input on this new concern that has popped up.

Kalle_Demos

Stalking Blastbones

is issue is becoming unacceptable.

Urvoth wrote: »

IncultaWolf wrote: »

The next pts cycle starts April 15th. I expect to see some changes/minor tweaks to sacrificial bones among a few other things perhaps. Major brutality/sorcery attached to the skeletal minion and execute scaling on scythe would be amazing. I just wish the devs would communicate or say something.

Again we don't expect all these issues to be fixed immediately, most of us just want confirmation that the team is aware necro needs some love. I did see that some of the new scribing abilities include the ability to generate and consume corpses with class mastery scripts, which should be fun to play with.

Honestly, at this point I’d like a full reversal back to Stalking and the GLS modifier added to the skelly summons like where it should’ve been in the first place. Minor tweaks aren’t enough to save the class.

Agree. I'm not as cynical as other posters and believe that Stalking can be restored. GLS has been a failure by every measure. I'm sure even Zos can see that by now. At the end of the day, they are still trying to sell a product. As I've said before, trying to sell a Class, only one of three that can be purchased, that is widely regarded as inferior and even broken isn't going to fly forever. There is a financial incentive to ensure that what they are trying to sell is viable.

DarkAgentZer0

Stalking Blastbones

Kalle_Demos wrote: »

Which do you prefer?

I’m ngl, I ALMOST bought some crowns while they were on sale the last week. But once I logged in and saw how they MASSACRED my Magcro with this skill change I closed the game.

Devs WTH was the point in the swap if the skill still behaves the same? I don’t want to swap to a green stamina version of blastbones that does blight. I want my magika hitting ability that was the only thing going for Magcro. Devs in this game make some of the oddest mistakes I’ve ever seen. They didn’t even change the behavior of the skill. And now it will take them 2+ years just to re-re-work the skill and prob change it back to how it used to be. Just do it sooner and save Necromancer mains the headache cuz at this point I’m taking the skill off.

The buff is laughable, and my flame skulls hardly hit for more damage. If my flame skull isn’t going to do damage akin to blastbones, then yal should know you messed up devs. Seriously, it’s just getting sad…

DarkAgentZer0

Stalking Blastbones

Urvoth wrote: »

Alaztor91 wrote: »

Idk how could anyone find Grave Lord's Sacrifice to be a better skill when compared to Stalking Blastbones. BB had/has(Blighted BB still exists) issues but GLS is even worse:

-''In-combat'' requirement to cast.
-Self-buff effect relies on the Skeleton jumping to your player character so the effect gets delayed at best and completely negated at worst.
-Forces you to use Flame Skull as a spammable to get the full effect from the buff. Spamming Flame Skull also causes sustain issues because it doesn't activate the Reusable Parts passive.
-Flame Skull minigame doesn't really makes the rotation easier when compared to BB minigame.

Blastbones was basically untouched since 2019, it was probably the most iconic skill from the Necromancer class. ZOS fundamentally changes this skill after 5 years, and this is what we get?

Exactly, and that feedback was posted everywhere for ZOS to see before it went live. The fact that all the feedback was blatantly ignored just demonstrates ZOS's lack of respect towards the playerbase.

THANK YOU. What’s the point in the PTS if you don’t actually listen to the people holding up your game. They would have been better off just leaving the skill alone (even thought he class needs a buff on all its skills to be up to par with other classes) this was a step in the wrong direction.

dcrush

Stalking Blastbones

Out of curiosity… has ZOS ever admitted they were wrong about a change they made that players did not like?

DarkAgentZer0 wrote: »

Urvoth wrote: »

Alaztor91 wrote: »

Idk how could anyone find Grave Lord's Sacrifice to be a better skill when compared to Stalking Blastbones. BB had/has(Blighted BB still exists) issues but GLS is even worse:

-''In-combat'' requirement to cast.
-Self-buff effect relies on the Skeleton jumping to your player character so the effect gets delayed at best and completely negated at worst.
-Forces you to use Flame Skull as a spammable to get the full effect from the buff. Spamming Flame Skull also causes sustain issues because it doesn't activate the Reusable Parts passive.
-Flame Skull minigame doesn't really makes the rotation easier when compared to BB minigame.

Blastbones was basically untouched since 2019, it was probably the most iconic skill from the Necromancer class. ZOS fundamentally changes this skill after 5 years, and this is what we get?

Exactly, and that feedback was posted everywhere for ZOS to see before it went live. The fact that all the feedback was blatantly ignored just demonstrates ZOS's lack of respect towards the playerbase.

THANK YOU. What’s the point in the PTS if you don’t actually listen to the people holding up your game. They would have been better off just leaving the skill alone (even thought he class needs a buff on all its skills to be up to par with other classes) this was a step in the wrong direction.

The PTS seems to be there to give players the illusion that their feedback is valued.

IncultaWolf

Stalking Blastbones

@ZOS_Kevin @ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_BrianWheeler

https://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/1c0m2e3/why_does_gravelords_sacrifice_have_such_an/

Again, the majority of the playerbase refuses to use Grave Lord's Sacrifice and just swapped to blighted. Your data shows this as well.

I mentioned players who do the highest pve parses even swap to blighted, here's a video showing so, with a very insightful description for those curious.

https://youtu.be/NfS-bdn4gTU?si=Dpj1Fv-9ndnGogim

There's so many things you could do with this buff to make it worth all the drawbacks it currently has. Some ideas such as making it cause your 3'rd cast of skull unable to be roll dodged and or fear on hit. Make it also buff your class healing. If it even kept the original 20% damage buff it had during the pts, I might have considered using it on a few niche builds, but right now it's not worth slotting on any build. I'd prefer just giving us back stalking blastbones and putting this new buff on something like empowering grasp, but if that's just not something that can happen, these ideas would improve sacrificial bones a lot.

We might be seeing some minor tweaks/buffs to Sacrificial Bones/Grave Lord's Sacrifice during this upcoming pts, but players who paid for this class would like some acknowledgement, assurance, and communication from the dev team as well that they have a plan and do intend to improve it and listen to our feedback.

Alaztor91

Stalking Blastbones

Kinda funny that apparently even in a dummy parse scenario people would rather go with Blighted BB instead of GLS. Even though in real content Blighted BB will probably face instances where it gets CCed or takes more time to explode due to the enemy moving away, the logs that I have seen all pick Blighted BB over GLS, which isn't really a surprise considering that GLS shares the same issues of being ''vulnerable'' to CC/LoS.

On a side note, ZOS should seriously change ALL variants of Blastbones to be non-targetable summons like the Skeletal Mage/Spirit Mender. It would not solve any of the LoS or pathing issues related to the skill, but it would instantly solve any issues related to it being Stunned/Knocked Down/Pushed/Silenced/etc. Other than using BB to LoS another player in PvP(if that is even still a thing) there are no downsides to this.

ecru

Stalking Blastbones

Been maining a magcro for a very long time now, very sad to see what zos has done to the class. [snip]

[edited for bashing]