Crikk.3854

No infusion, but there is the "I'm rich you know" title that you can buy for 1000 gold if you want to brag about being a whale. https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Contract_of_Patronage

Hardstuck guild operates in both NA and EU. They are extremely helpful. If you sign into their discord, you can just watch for an LFG or post there and you should be able to get a group that can carry you (if necessary). https://hardstuck.gg/

If you need tomes, just do some PvP. I've got over 500 stockpiled and I only play about every 4th or 5th season. As for shards... I get about 99% from levelling and I usually forget to use boosters and food. Last time I checked, I had over 13000. If you're running out of shards constantly, I'm guessing you either aren't playing enough PvE (I find it fastest for XP) or you're doing way too much stat swapping. If you need shards... Pick a toon and a build, stick with it and do map completion in some zones with Food, Utility and any boosters/banners you can find. If you have Black Lion statuettes, there's a booster you can get with them that stacks with other boosters.

Appreciate trying to find solutions, but... There are so many reasons to be on the map other than the meta: Ah, there's my next story step! *yoink* WTH? Ah, the last POI/Vista I need for map completion is just over... *yoink* WTH? Finally got max fishing stacks, let's see if I can catch... *yoink* WTH? Almost got my daily quota of jade, there's the last node I need to mine... *yoink* WTH? Almost done with Canthan daily... Just 1 more Naga to slay, and there it... *yoink* WTH? Sorry, it's an absolutely terrible idea to teleport unsuspecting players somewhere they don't want to go. I don't mind the meta and have successfully done it twice. My problem is that I rarely get a 2 hour block of time and when I do there are other things that are a priority for me. Same reason I've only done the Mordy meta a few times. It's just Too kitten Long. If they moved it to an instance, it'd still be too long, unless it was only the final fight and then people would show up just for that with zero buff stacks. The "best" solution is probably a mechanism for squad commanders to open a new/exclusive instance of a map which auto-adjusts max squad size to the max map population and then let the community handle it from there. Public maps would be generally non-meta, do what you want. People wanting to run the meta would have to use LFG and look for a commander with a private instance.

Really? Have you not studied one iota of human history? I'm sure when European colonizers landed in North and South America the initial reaction of the inhabitants was "They've got guns and we're still using spears and stone axes... That's totally unbelievable!" Also... Are you actually playing GW2? Before any expansion, we took down Zhaitan from an airship with giant laser cannons! Yeah, airship, not spaceship, but still... (And yes, I fully acknowledge that that particular fight has its share of controversy.) I get that this isn't a direction that some people want to go in - and that's fine. But for every person who complains, there's an equal number who can't wait to play and are very excited to see it. As long as they give a reasonable explanation via lore, I'm personally okay with it. If you're not, well.. Lots of other games out there.

First off, just in case anyone form ANET reads this: I release all claims to any ideas or anything that might be considered "IP", etc. If you use anything here, I will not sue or ask for any compensation at all! I'll just be eternally grateful (and maybe a little bit smug). 😄 Secondly, sorry, but this is going to be long. I really hope you read it though! I've said elsewhere that I feel like Harbinger is lacking an identity and seems kind of directionless at the moment. There are no compelling reasons to play it and lots of reasons not to. So for my make-believe-probably-will-never-happen-in-any-form design, I wanted to focus on this quote from the wiki: "The harbinger borrows a dash of old west gunslinger, and mixes it with a splash of wandering apothecary, expressed by their elixir skills and related support traits. The result is a fast-paced, frenetic combat style that rewards skill, risk, and biting off exactly as much as you can chew (but no more) while subverting the traditional, more methodically-paced gameplay of Necromancer." I also wanted to really emphasize the "high risk, high reward" playstyle. In some cases, the risk is going to be taking on Blight, in other cases, the risk will be via extended cooldowns which present an opportunity risk of "I might not have this skill available when I need it". So without further ado, here's how I would change the Harbinger! Baseline Notes I'll cover this more in traits, but I would revert Blight back to 2% health hit with a max of 25 stacks. There will be much greater usage of Blight (adding, removing, gaining benefits from having it). As an added risk, if you take on Blight for any reason that pushes you over the maximum allowed, extra stacks are converted to Poison. (So if you were at 20 and used an elixir that added 10 stacks, you'd go to 25 stacks of Blight + 5 stacks of 1 second Poison.) Pistol I wouldn't actually do much here. However, since Specter borrowed a lot from Necro, it gave me the idea of borrowing the "stealth attack" from Thief, so I would add one thing: While under the effects of Stealth, Pistol Skill 1 changes to "Death Shot". Fire a single bullet coated with Blight at a single target. This bullet does <high> damage, inflicts 5 stacks of Vulnerability for 5 seconds and Fears the target for 2 seconds. If you have 10 or more stacks of Blight, the target is also Poisoned for 5 seconds as you apply some of the contagion to the shot. You become revealed for 5 seconds. Ideally, I'd really like to see Offhand Pistol added too. If it were added, some suggestions would be: Pistol 4 - Trick Shot - Evade backwards while firing a bullet that Blinds your foe Pistol 5 - Blighted land - Fire a bullet at your feet that creates a small field of corruption (150 diameter). For 5 seconds this field acts as a Dark field for blast finishers and destroys projectiles crossing it's threshold (including any the Harbinger tries to fire out of it!) Elixirs In general, I had an idea of "what if elixirs refined Dragon Magic from jade to grant beneficial effects, but then could grant a secondary effect by harnessing Shiro's magic/rage that formed the jade in the first place?" With this as the main theme, all of the elixirs have an immediate beneficial effect (at zero Blight cost), but then flip over to a secondary effect that you can use for a Blight and added cooldown cost. These secondary effects tend to be a little more powerful, but that's because they have the "high risk, high reward" theme and come with a downside. Note: all elixirs are now "drink only" with no throw component. A couple do add a movement ability so there is a ground targeted aspect, but it's not quite the same as Beta 4's version.) Healing slot - Elixir of Promise: This elixir does a base, moderate heal and grants both Regen and Vigor (3~5 sec). It them flips over to a skill (useable for the next 5 seconds) that will convert all condis on you into boons. However, using this flip skill will add 2 stacks of Blight per condi converted. (e.g. Cripple + Vuln + Torment + Poison == 8 stacks of Blight added). In a worst case, if you had all 14 conditions, this would result in 28 stacks of Blight, which would mean 25 stacks + 3 stacks of Poison if you had zero Blight to begin with! (If conversion is too strong, the secondary effect could just remove the condis, but then I'd lower the Blight cost to 1 stack per condi removed.) Utility #1 - Elixir of Risk: This elixir applies Might and Fury. It then flips over to "Shiro's Rage". This skill allows you to do a 600 range leap (blast finisher). Upon landing, you cause an echo of the magic that caused the Jade Sea to form. All foes within 600 radius around you take ~500 damage and are knocked back 300 units. If you have 5 or more stacks of Blight when you use this skill, foes are knocked down (1s) after they are knocked back. You gain 10 stacks of Blight and the cooldown on the base utility is extended by 10s regardless of how much Blight you had. Utility #2 - Elixir of Anguish: This elixir taps the lifeforce of those near you. Gain Resolution (5s). Inflict Cripple and Poison (1 stack, 3 s) to all foes within a radius of 600 units. For each target struck, gain 5% life force. This skill then flips over to "Shiro's Anguish" for 3 seconds. Activating "Shiro's Anguish" applies Chill and Torment to foes within a radius of 600 units. You gain 10 Blight and the cooldown of the elixir is extended by 10 seconds. Utility #3 - Elixir of Bliss: Break Stun and gain Resistance. It then flips over to "Emissary's Protection" for 5s. Activating this grants you Aegis and Resolution (5s). Using this adds 5 stacks of Blight and extends the cooldown by 5 seconds. Utility #4 - Elixir of Ignorance: This elixir applies 3s of Stealth and 3s of Swiftness. It then flips over for 3s to "Shadow Blink". Teleport to any spot within 600 range and gain Quickness for 2s. Stealth is extended by 2s. However, you gain 5 stacks of Blight and if you move, you leave a visible (glowing green) trail that Poisons any foes that touch it. (Reward, you stay stealthed and could run a poisonous circle around somebody. Risk: you can still be targeted by AoE, you took on Blight and they now know where you are if you move!) Utility #4 - Elixir of Ambition: Gain every boon. (recharge is baseline 45s, adjust boon duration accordingly). It then flips over to "Contagious Blight" for 5 seconds. Activating this skill will apply all damaging conditions on (up to 10) foes within a range of 900 units. Using this adds 10 stacks of Blight to you and doubles the cooldown of the Elixir to 90 seconds. (Rational: for a Support build to be effective and desired in groups, you'll need a shorter cooldown on the elite or nobody will ever post "LF Support Harb" anywhere. However, as it's kind of two elites in one, if you use the secondary skill, there's an opportunity risk incurred in the form of the extra cooldown time.) Traits Okay, now the big section... In general, the Major Adept traits are "Defensive" options. The Major Master traits are "Offensive" options. Finally, the Major Grandmaster traits will each focus on being a master of one element of the spec: Blight, Elixir usage or Gunslinging. The "top row" of traits is focused on Blight -- mitigating it's effects and using it as a dark source of power. The second line remains focused on elixir usage and support. The third row is focused on pistol usage and movement. Power/Condi splits are largely removed from the traits. Minor Proficiency - You can wield pistols. (Personally, I'd like to see dual pistols, but that would be asking a lot.) Minor Adept - Death Shroud is replaced with Harbinger Shroud. Gain 1 stack Blight / second spent in Shroud. Blight decays at 1 stack / second outside of Shroud if in combat, or 5 stacks/sec if out of combat. Strike damage is increased by 1% per stack of Blight. Condition damage is increased by 1% per stack of Blight. Blight lowers your maximum health by 2%/stack. If you take on more than the maximum stacks you are Poisoned for 1 second per stack of Blight over the limit. Major Adept #1 - Protective Shroud - While you have 5 or more stacks of Blight, you drain life force (1%/sec) and convert it into healing (500 * 1.x * Healing Power Coefficient). If you are at max health, no life force is lost. Major Adept #2 - Refined Elixirs - Elixir skills now remove 5 stacks of Blight when used. (Does not apply to the "flip" skills, these still add Blight.) Major Adept #3 - Quickening Blight - Your endurance regen is increased by 2% per stack of Blight. Your movement speed is increased by 1% per stack of Blight. Major Master - Alchemic Vigor - Gain increased vitality (this stays the same) Major Master #1 - Contagious Blight - Gain ferocity based on vitality. If you have 10 stacks of Blight, pulse a 300 unit aura around you that applies Vulnerability to foes. If you have 15 stacks of Blight, the aura also Cripples foes and if you have 20 or more stacks of Blight, the aura also applies Torment. Major Master #2 - Twisted Medicine (as is - gain concentration based on vitality, share boons from elixirs) Major Master #3 - Implacable Foe - Gain expertise based on vitality. You can shrug off one movement-impairing condition per interval (10s cooldown). If the cooldown isn't activated, this will negate one incoming condition. If it is on cooldown, then one movement-impairing condition is cleansed when the cooldown expires. Minor Grandmaster - Corrupted Talent - Gain life force when you enter Harbinger Shroud (this stays the same) Major Grandmaster #1 - Master of Blight - The effect of your Major Adept trait is increased by 50%. (Endurance regen is 3%/stack, movement is 1.5%, Elixirs remove 8 stacks or Blight, healing is 750 base) You are no longer Poisoned if you accumulate more than 25 stacks of Blight. Shroud cooldown (F1) is reduced 20%. Major Grandmaster #2 - Master of Elixirs - All elixirs grant 1 stack of Stability for 3 seconds when you use them. (If you have Twisted Medicine, this stability is also applied to allies.) Elixir cooldowns are reduced by 20%. Major Grandmaster #3 - Master Gunslinger - Pistol skill cooldowns are reduced by 20%. Pistol range is increased to 1200. Gain Alacrity (3s, self-only) when you enter combat or exit Shroud. Shroud Skills 1, 2 and 5 are okay and I'd leave them "as is". For Devouring Cut, I would change the "if you're above the Blight threshold" to be "Apply Fear (2s) to foes in the area when you land if you have 10 or more stacks of Blight". Voracious Arc I would just get rid of the "remove Blight" part. I think that the above changes provide ample opportunity to play the Harbinger in a variety of ways. I've tried to emphasize the "high risk, high reward" playstyle, while leaving a pathway for a support build that is more conservative. The spec should have more defense than it currently has without having so much so that it becomes "no risk, high reward". I thought the "heal from life force" in Beta 1 was actually a good thing, even if the original numbers made it a tad OP. So I'd like to see it restored via a trait. That way, players who find it annoying can simply choose some other option and those that liked it can still use it. By having it only kick in above a Blight threshold, players are encouraged to play the "high risk, high reward" game and it becomes more of a "risk mitigation" tool instead of an outright "build sustain mechanic". Similarly, if you choose the movement-based trait instead, the player is rewarded with better kiting ability in exchange for the lowered health pool that Blight brings with it. In both cases, Blight plays an active role in the usage and serves a purpose other than "lowers health". Obviously, numbers might need to be adjusted for some things to balance it all out, but I think that overall this version of the spec encourages meaningful choices. Despite the serious drawback of a lowered health pool, having high Blight stacks would now also bring with it a lot of rewards. (Sorry, but the "double damage" from 300 to 600 that got added to elixirs in Beta 4 does not in any way encourage one to pile on the Blight!) The power/condi increases were removed from the Grandmaster and Adept traits because they've now been made baseline for the spec, scaling with Blight. This also allows greater flexibility with mixing/matching traits to increase build diversity. (You no longer have to say "well, I want to be condi, so I guess its the bottom three traits only.) Support would be best served taking the middle row all the way across, but they could opt for a different Adept trait. This version of the spec is now definitely skewed towards ranged play; however, Contagious Blight provides an interesting option for anyone daring enough to go melee. Also, I think it's more evenly split between Power and Condi, although condi will likely perform better than pure power. A hybrid build would obviously be the best choice for damage, but your defense will suffer and your DPS while dead is zero, so... Although my personal play is mainly PvE, I've tried to consider some of the things that PvPer's and WvW players have mentioned and taken them into consideration. Some of the changes (like having a Stealth elixir) were added specifically to address some of their concerns. I realize that odds are, absolutely none of this will make it into the game. 😞 But I hope ANet at least reads this and considers the explanations for some of my recommendations. As the spec stands right now, my guess is that about a month after release, Scourge will still be the most popular Necromancer spec, Reaper will be in second, Core will come in third and a handful of novelty seekers might be using Harbinger.

The thing that bothers me the most about shroud 3 and 4 is actually the Blight removal. I mean, in beta 1 the point of shroud was to build up Blight for that "high risk, high reward" damage. But now, I can go into shroud and if I use skills 3 and 4 to close, I wind up with less Blight than when I started??? Took my a while to figure out why my max Blight seemed to be about 10. 😝 And if you're not trying to max Blight to max damage, why even play the spec? As I said elsewhere, they're basically encouraging you to *not* ever use skills 3 or 4. The whole spec is just such an aimless mess right now. Beta 1 version (even with lame "press button, get boons" elixirs) was just so much better (in my opinion).

I've been maiming a Power, melee Reaper since Hot. It's so tanky (even with zerk stats) that I find it hard to play other profs! Damage output is very good to. I had been hoping Harbinger would be good just so I could have a change of pace, but it's so all over the map that it doesn't do anything well right now. So if you only have the points to unlock one, I'd unlock Reaper. Still have plenty enough time to unlock enough points to unlock Harbinger on release if you want to. I'm just hoping they go back to the drawing board with it and/or take some of the advice from players and that Eod release Harbinger is very different than beta 4 Harbinger.

Necromancer Player (NP): So, I hear there's finally a Support spec for Necros, eh? Harbinger Spec (HS): Oh great... yet another player who's going to go play Specter. NP: ... HS: Oh, you meant me? Well, about that... If you take the right traits, yes, you can share some boons with other players, provided you can hit them with ground-targeted elixirs. NP: And... what else? HS: Um, that's it. Oh, and in the latest incarnation, they upped the cooldown on the elite to 90s, making me even less desirable as a support option. NP: But... that means Guards with their instantaneous shouts and Warrior with their banners will still do a better job than me, right? HS: Afraid so. Oh, and did I mention that if you trait for Support, you'll still need to deal with the Blight mechanic even though you'll get almost no benefit from it! NP: But... it doubles the damage of the elixirs if there's an enemy in the blast when I target another player, right? HS: Sure... Instead of 300 damage, you'll do 600. Congrats. I'm sure that will turn the tide of battle. NP: So nobody is going to post "Wanted: Support Harb" in LFG for anything, are they? HS: Afraid not. NP: Okay, so, if support is out, how about doing a Ranged Power Build? HS: *eventually stops laughing* Yeah, you could, but this is really a condi build. I mean, did you look at the traits and skills? Seriously, if you want Ranged Power, play Core or Reaper with an Axe. Same range as Pistol, by the way. NP: But, Scourge already does ranged condi.... I do it better, right? I mean, I have a real shroud! HS: Well, not exactly. Yes, you have a real shroud in that you get different shroud skills, but like Scourge, your life force isn't a secondary health pool, it's just a timer for how long you can stay in shroud. And not only is life force not a secondary health bar, the longer you stay in shroud, the more Blight you'll pick up, which lowers your health pool maximum. So even if you're not actively taking damage, you'll be harming yourself. NP: But, taking on Blight, there has to be some advantage, right? HS: If you choose not to go Support, you can get a small damage buff to either Power or Condi in exchange for the max health loss. But my Beta 4 incarnation lowered the bonus. And, if you use Shroud skill 3 or 4 you'll lose Blight so either you don't use 40% of your skills, or you're not going to max out the bonus anyway. And yes, those skills will do double damage, but again, we're not talking about big numbers here so don't get too excited, okay? NP: Any more bad news with a ranged build? HS: Your grandmaster traits will be next to useless too. You'll get a buff to either your Power or Condi stat, but then you'll pulse an aura around you when in Shroud. If you're playing as a ranged spec, this aura won't matter because, well, you're at range. NP: Alright then, if I pulse an aura around me in shroud and I don't do anything better at range than Scourge, how about I go melee! HS: You do realize your spec's weapon is a Pistol, right? Be that as it may, sure, let's say you equip Daggers and go toe-to-toe. You'll want to avoid going into Shroud. NP: Um, why? Oh, wait... Because I'll pick up Blight which will lower my max health which will be deadly because my life force isn't a secondary health pool, right? And I'm guessing that I don't get Aegis or a boost to my dodge or stealth or any of those things that squishy professions typically get to make up for their low health, right? HS: Exactly! Did I also mention that like Core and Reaper, you can't use your utility skills in shroud, which means that when you're in shroud you're just one hard CC away from a death sentence? Because if you get knocked down or stunned, you can't do squat about it and your foe will be chipping away at your actual health bar while you wonder what's happening. NP: So... if I want to play melee, I should stick with Reaper or Core? And if I want to play Support I should be a Scourge, or a Specter. Ranged Condi is my best bet, but it's debatable if I'll be any better than any other Spec, all while making myself more vulnerable, right? HS: Yes, now you're catching on! NP: All this begs the question: Who's going to play this spec? HS: Damned if I know. *sad face* On a serious note, I really want to like Harbinger. Not that I'm getting bored with Reaper (sorry, just couldn't gain a taste for Scourge), but I was really hoping to have something cool to play around with in the expansion. I was mystified when Pistol was announced, but I was willing to try it out. By the end of Beta 1, I was actually starting to like Harbinger. However, the changes made for Beta 4 didn't really address the issues (elixirs are slightly less boring now, but they still don't feel very good) and in a lot of cases, the changes have made things worse. I'd much rather have the Beta 1 version over the Beta 4 version at this point. Which means that all of my feedback and suggestions from Beta 1 still pretty much apply. I'll adjust them slightly to account for the changes in Beta 4. - Just stop pretending that this spec is going to be useful for Support. Please. Running Core, using Staff, vampirism and Unholy Martyr from Blood and Wells would probably be just as effective and way more survivable. - If you want a "high risk, high reward" spec, make that baseline. The damage bonuses from Wicked Corruption and Septic Corruption should be moved to Dark Disciple. Or, lose Alchemic Vigor and create a new trait there for the damage buffs. And increase it to 1% or 2%. The current 1/2% is laughable. - Remove the Blight removal mechanic. Seriously, with the damage increase being a pitiful 1/2% per stack, if I want to maximize my DPS, the last thing I want is to remove Blight. Which means that I should not use Shroud 3 or Shroud 4 and the elixirs are either used point-blank (which, on a ranged build, means that they're effectively just "press button, gain boons" again) or the elixirs won't even make it onto my bar. - There's a quote on the wiki page about the lore for Harbinger which says "The result is a fast-paced, frenetic combat style that rewards skill, risk, and biting off exactly as much as you can chew". The Beta 4 iteration has moved a long way from this by dropping the Vigor from the heal and lowering the range of Shroud 3/4 to 600. I'd like to see this quote remain true. So here's some options: Assuming the damage increases become baseline, this frees up two Adept traits. Have one trait become "Quickening Blight - Your endurance regen is increased 2% per stack of Blight on you" and the other become "Vampiric Blight - your attacks steal health based on your Blight Stacks" (for example: (50 * Blight Stacks) * coefficient based on Healing Power)). This gives players a meaningful choice on how they want to help themselves survive and has the added bonus of making Blight more meaningful. Drop the "remove blight" from Shroud skills 3 and 4. It doesn't help, it hinders things. The point of going into Shroud is to build up Blight for the damage buff, so losing it while you're shroud is just... why? Elixirs... where to start. Well, if we can agree on forgetting about a "support build", then we could turn one of the traits (Vile Vials, maybe?) into a "Using an Elixir removes Blight instead of gaining it". Actually, if you took suggestion #1, this would work quite well as a compliment. Elixirs could go back to being "drink it to gain Blight". However, they'd still be boring if all they did was gain you boons, so back to one of my beta 1 suggestions: have them do something like Engi elixirs in addition to the boons. I get it if you don't want to just copy things like the shrinking elixir, but you could do something like "Belch of Flies -- drink an elixir to gain <boons>, then spit out a cloud of flies at all foes in a 450' cone that do damage based on your Blight level and inflict Poison/Torment/Bleeding". Another idea: "Ink Elixir: drink an elixir to purge conditions, then spit them out to inflict Blindness on foes in front of you". For the elite, I would love to see another transformation type elixir. "Elixir of Etherealness - Become a ghost for 10 seconds. This functions like El's Mist Form, however, you leave a trail that causes Fear in any enemy that touches it and puts Protection (or maybe Resolution?) on any player that touches it. At the end of the transform, gain all boons". I think that Harbinger has a lot of potential. But right now it just feels like an aimless mess. It's trying to do too much and as a result, it's not doing anything particularly well. With the wide range of options that already exist across all of the other classes and elite specs, there's just no compelling reason to play Harbinger. There's something else (often even another Necro spec) that does the job as well, if not better. When I played Specter in Beta 3, I was really sad because I couldn't help but think "wow, they've made Thief into a better necro than Harbinger is right now".

Some more thoughts on elixirs... The flat "gain blight" and the basic "gain boon" are both boring and don't play into the "risk/reward" trade-off thing that I think ANet was aiming for. I was thinking about it some more and came up with another option. When you quaff an elixir, you get an immediate, minimal effect. BUT... the skill then flips over to a "spit it out". As long as you don't "spit it out", the effect continues AND Blight gets applied. If you hit maximum stacks of Blight, a negative effect is placed on you. Example #1: The stun-break elixir could be changed to: Breaks Stun. You gain stealth. You remain in stealth for up to 7 seconds, but each second you stay in stealth you gain 1 stack of Blight. If your total Blight hits 25 stacks you become Revealed for 3 seconds. Example #2: A condi-cleanse elixir would work as: Lose one damaging condition and one movement-impairing condition. Lose one more (random) condition each second after that, but also gain 1 stack of Blight per second. This persists for 8 seconds, or until you "spit it out" (use the flip skill). If your total Blight hits 25 stacks, the condition cleanse ends and you gain 10 stacks of vulnerability for 5 seconds. Example #3: The Heal elixir: Heal for a base amount and gain life force. Gain 2% life force each second afterwards up to 8 seconds, but also gain 1 stack of Blight per second. If Blight reaches 25 stacks, you are poisoned for 3 seconds. Example #4: Gain Might and breath a stream of fire at your foes (like El Dragon Breath). You continue to breath this fire for up to 5 seconds, gaining 1 stack of Blight per second. If you reach max stacks of Blight, you catch on fire for 2 seconds. Example #5: You become a mini-plague cloud. Like El Gaseous Form, but you spread torment to anyone within 120 range of you. While in cloud form you also gain some boons (swiftness, resistence, resolution?). You can stay in cloud form for up to 6 seconds, gaining Blight each second. If you hit maximum stacks of Blight, you lose cloud form and lose all boons. Generally, it would be nice if the elixirs did something besides just "apply boon". And I think a duration-for-Blight tradeoff would work really well with the general ideal of the spec. Quaffing an elixir while under the effects of one already would have to automatically cancel the first. They'd act like stances in that regard. But it would add another dimension to Blight management and give the player more interesting decisions. Should I stay stealthed or spit out the elixir to lose it, but also stop gaining Blight? Should I continue to breath fire even though it'll push me to 25 stacks, because I've got a condi transfer skill queue'd up that I can use to apply a little bit more burning when I hit 25 stacks? There are lots of ways that elixirs could be improved. Doesn't have to be my ideas, but please do something! 🙂

Feedback, Take 2really long!) Posted my original thoughts about 5 or 6 pages ago... Had a chance to play with it some more (still all PvE) with different stat sets, runes and loadouts. I've also read and thought about all the posts that have been added to this thread. So here's some more thoughts on the basics and some suggestions. Condi vs. Power The Pistol just screams "condi build" with all of the Torment. When I tried power builds, it felt "meh" and I switched to Axe which felt like it put up higher numbers. Both builds are viable though. The condi trait line feels like the better/more advantageous line and I think Harbinger does better as a condi build. Offence vs. Defence and Shroud Blight at low levels (1-10) is basically just a nuisance. You don't get a lot of bang for the hit your life force and health takes. At high levels (20-25) you can feel the difference in your hits, but your survivability also plummets. I found the best strategy was to load up on either Condi or Power and then Vitality and Toughness. For a Power build, Wanderer's seemed to work really well and for Condi Trailblazer's was nice. If you avoid using Shroud and picking up Blight, you can carry a couple of damaging conditions and not even realize it! (I was fighting Destroyers and a couple stacks of Burning, but my health stayed at max!) This was without Blood line or Dolyak runes or Parasitic Contagion which would make survivability even better. I've seen a number of people suggest that Shroud is best used as a get-in, get-out device to use one or two of it's skills at a time. I tend to agree with this. OR, you have to go all-in and build up 25 stacks of Blight and hope you can kill things through the big hits before they kill you. I had success with both, but not using Shroud at all is the easiest. (But also more boring and then why not just play Core?!) Elixirs As many have said, the elixirs are lame. It feels like somebody said "Necros have a stereotype of being bad at support, so how can we fix that? Oh! Let's give them a boon share option." If you're not into doing Boon Share though... lame, lame, lame. There are so many better options in the core skills. Much room for improvement. Traits The Major Adept traits feel like you're forced to choose condi or power or do boon share (with no benefit whatsoever from Blight) which doesn't seem fair so just why? The Master traits are okay, although if you're running a Power build, it's another tick in the "use Axe, not pistol" column. The Grandmaster traits are just weird... Almost everything about Harbinger says "ranged", but then Cascading Corruption and Doom Approaches both pulse an aura around you to harm foes that... should be at range? Deathly Haste seems like the clear winner here regardless of build. Room for improvement. Blight The risk/reward mechanic is fine. But it's annoying that all you can do is apply it and then wait for ticks to disappear. It would be better if it was a little more active. Much room for improvement. Suggestions Blight - As others have said, the increased strike/condi damage should be baseline and not selected from Major Adept traits. Maybe tone it down a little by giving 2.5% health dip up to a max of 20 stacks instead of the 2% up to 25. Health penalty would remain the same, but the max damage would be mitigated (which is fair since you're getting both bonuses now). This would also free up the traits for something more interesting like "Living Dangerously - increase your maximum Blight stacks by 5". Again, this just makes the mechanic more interactive (especially if you take some of the suggestions below). Elixirs - It messes with the Boon-sharing build idea, but changing the elixirs to "do things" other than just apply boons would be a change for the better. For example, the stun-break elixir could function like the Elementalist's Mist Form, temporarily turning you into a mini-plague cloud. The condi-conversion elixir could be modified to convert all condis into Blight (up to max stack of Blight). This could potentially clear 10 stacks of Bleeding, Cripple, 5 stacks of Confusion, some Vulnerability and Burning all in one go, but at the cost of taking on a lot of Blight. Not too different from the current, but more of the interactive risk/reward play. Another elixir might give you "Night Sight", revealing all players within a 900 range to you for a base 3 seconds + 1 additional second per 3 (or 4) stacks of Blight. Again, more risk-reward rather than a straight up "apply boons". Finally, the Heal (at the very least) should be changed to consume all your Blight and do a base heal + bonus heal that scales with the Blight consumed. There's just so much more that could be done with the elixirs... it seems a lost opportunity. Pistol - I'm mostly okay with Pistol. Maybe bump up the Power coefficient a little so Power builds aren't tempted to ditch it for Axe. Changing Weeping Shot to apply Bleeding instead of Torment would also be nice for the variety. (Plus... "weeping", as in drops of blood!) Traits - I've already suggested a change for the Major Adept. If the Blight damage boost is made baseline, then there would be more room for mixing-and-matching in the traits. Changing the maximum stacks of Blight might be a possible Grandmaster Trait if some of the other suggestions to scale things to Blight are used. If not, probably just an Adept. Other possibilities for traits are: - Manifest Blight (Grandmaster) when you reach ## stacks of Blight (15?) coalesce a minion from the cloud of Blight that surrounds you. This minion attacks the nearest foe by throwing a poison dart (minor strike damage + 1 tick Poison for 2 sec). Create another minion every ## (10? 15?) seconds you keep Blight over the threshold, to a maximum of 3 minions. - Neutralizing Blight (Grandmaster, maybe Master?) When you enter Shroud, convert a number of damaging condition stacks into boons equal to the number of stacks of Blight that you currently have. (e.g. If you have 10 stacks of Poison and 6 stacks of Blight, upon entering Shroud you'd have 4 Poison and 6 Regen.) If Master level, maybe == to 1/2 your Blight stacks. - Deathly Bullets (Adept) You coat your bullets with an alchemical mixture that enhances their accuracy. Pistol range increased to 1200. (This would give Necro an alternative to Staff for long range and give Pistol an edge over Axe.) - Blighted Bullets (Adept, maybe Master?) As long as you have at least 1 stack of Blight, your bullets carry the contagion to others. All pistol skills add 1 stack of Poison for 2 seconds. If you have no Blight, this trait does nothing. To summarize, I like Harbinger more the more I play it. However, there's just something about the Blight mechanic and elixirs that feels "off". It feels like it was quickly thrown together with a few good ideas, but a lazy (or short deadline?) implementation that leaves it lacking. If left "as is" for release, I'll probably play it occasionally as a change of pace. If my ideas (even some of them) are used (as-is or just for inspiration), it could replace Reaper as my main. I really think that Harbinger could shine if Blight was made more interactive -- affecting more skills, more options to add/remove it. Give people more decisions about "what is more important -- the risk/avoidance or the reward?" Make Blight the centerpiece of the spec, not just an add-on or afterthought. Go all-in on it!

Tried in PvP only. Read most of the other feedback before trying. As such, I was worried about being too squishy. So I went with Trailblazers stats (except trinkets where were Celestial). Added Dolyak runes for extra toughness and vitality. Spec'd out with Curses and Soul Reaping, taking Vital Persistence so HP were > 32K. Ditched most of the potions because... nothing really good there. Took signet of Undeath (again, because of comments here complaining about Life Force generation). Headed to Auric Basin for the "Pocket Raptor Test". My Reaper doesn't even blink with those things. Tried it once with Scourge and died in seconds. Happy to report that Harbinger can take on two packs of Pocket Raptors while barely breaking a sweat. Took on a Vet Smokescale next. Didn't die quite as quickly as with my Reaper, but I was ticking 3K with Torment at one point and my health bar never went below half. Needs work: - The potions are lame. Well of Power > Elixir of Ignorance (Both break stun. Both have 25s CD. Well is 1/4sec vs. 1/2 sec for elixir. Well affects allies, converts condis to boons and applies Might. Elixir add resistence and Blight.) Why would anyone ever take the elixir over the Well??? - It's hard to see the effect of Blight via the text. I'd much rather have the health ball fill up with dark purple from the bottom to represent unusable health. If you have both Blight and Barrier you'd have Yellow on the top, Red in the middle and then Purple on the bottom. It would just be SO much more friendly. - The tooltips don't update for Blight, so their effect on damage (if you take those traits) is really hard to get a sense of. It didn't really feel like it made any difference (although I'm sure it did?) As others have suggested, doing something with Traits and/or Elixirs to interact with Blight more would make it more interesting. Better than Expected: - Survivability. Partly because I was paranoid and went tanky with Trailblazer's, Dolyak runes, Signet of Undeath and some traits that helped, even with a ton of Blight on me, I felt that I recovered pretty quickly and never really felt like I was in danger. - Damage. Given the focus on tankiness of the build I used, the damage output was still pretty decent. The condis did a good job of melting things. - The rate of fire/recharge of Shroud skills Overall assessment: Personally (your mileage may vary) like it better than Scourge (I'm one of the few Necro players that doesn't like Scourge), but not quite as much as Reaper. But that could change over time. Certainly a nice change of pace. Better than I expected.

I realize that the equipped weapons have nothing/little to do with the class mechanic. However, they could have made the class mechanic "Death Revolver" (or something) whereby you got bullets instead of a life force meter and you could expend those bullets to activate F1-5 skills. Regardless of what weapon you had. Probably would have been more interesting, but we'll see. Just because the weapon and the mechanic don't need to be used together doesn't mean they couldn't have had some synergy. (Take Revenant -- their weapons have synergy with the Legends, but you can still use Hammer without Dwarf and vice versa.) If nothing else, it would have at least justified the choice of Pistol. As it is, the video looks like "This is for Necromancers who have thought of trying Engi but don't want to have more than 1 character". I'm still hoping it's better than it looks, but my first impression is "meh".

Necros already have corruption and tons of condi builds. Since that seems to be what Harbinger does... why??? I guess I'd had my hopes up for a Ritualist kind of spec, either with Spirits or Ashes (kits). So since this is nothing like what I was hoping for, I'm even more disappointed. When I found out the weapon was pistol, and given what they did with Virtuoso, I thought "maybe they'll turn life force into discrete 'bullets' that you fire with the F1-5 skills". Would be sort of like Scourge, but different enough. But... nope. Granted, it's only a roughly 1 minute video clip, but right now I'm finding it hard to get even a little excited. I hope it turns out to be more interesting than it looks. If not, I guess my main will just keep playing Reaper and hope the next one is better.

This. If you do nothing else, just be kind. I saw a random in map chat asking how to get the White Raven ranger pet. So I explained about the Hall of Monuments. Then he asked about HoT pets. I didn't have to, but just for kicks I literally spent the next three hours helping him get pets! It was pretty fun and we lucked into the start of a Dragon Stand meta so I did that for the first time in ages. I'm not going to do this every night, but it's just an example of how you can help the game simply by being nice and helping others.