Hi folks,
I haven't been able to log for a couple of weeks and won't be able for another 1.5 due to some exam and holidays (lucky me) so I haven't tested the recent changes to the necro and won't comment on the DPS of the class. What I wanted to address is the recent change done to the mechanics.
In order to up necro's DPS, the damage per tick of some dots have been greatly increased and the number of ticks decreased to 2. I have to say I really hate the idea of this change even without having tried it. The reason is very simple: I am a necro. I want my enemies to suffer from every form of disease, poison and curse imaginable before they die. Therefore I want to be able to put a lot of dots on my target, A LOT! I won't be able to do that now: with such a change, even if the "immediate" DPS (I call immediate the DPS on short fights) will go up tremendously all I will do is cast one dot, cast another one and I'll be back to having to refresh the first one. In a nutshell, I'll become a 2 button class. That becomes very close, way too close to my taste to being a magician with a slightly less powerfull pet, a different color for my spells (they will be green and back instead of red) and FD, but a magician nonetheless.
What is important to note is that these fights don't matter much: we talk about trash mob here. Give me a new poison DD of about 3k-3k5 and I'll be a happy bunny.
As much as I'm appreciate seeing the necro being looked into (thumbs up and contagious hug to all our developpers) I think the changes that need to be done are the oposite to what has been made: increase the duration of our DoTs so that we can stack a lot on the target (I think boss target here). I don't mind (actually I genuinely love the idea) having to stack 10 or more DoTs to have a super DPS. I don't care if I have to remem some during the fight, that's what being a necro is about for me: agility, not rigidity. With the recent changes, I won't be able to do that.
I can only speak for what I've seen or know of which is Ssra that I've done quite a bit and some bosses that my kinnies have started attacking in ToV. What I know is that these fights last a good 5 minutes (not sure how long they will be later in T3+) and I don't want to spend 5 minutes alternating 2 or 3 buttons. To me this is boring and completely anti necro-like.
To summarise, I think these changes close the gap dangerously with another class. Let's not try to make them too much alike, please let keep and praise their diversity. They both have the same role to play (DPS) but in a very different way.
I will let you, fellow wraith, add your own comments and experience to this thread.
Kind regards,
Nagash
Edit: Dammit, I've managed to say it all in less than a 3 pages essay!