VBENGR.3406

Manifest Sand Shade: Reduce shade duration from 20 to 8 in PvE only. This terrible decision was mentioned in the stream but is not listed in the forum post. This is going to KILL dps Scourge which is already in the bottom tier of dps in PvE content. You're trying to preemptively fix a problem that you are creating by not correctly addressing the issue of Alacrity application. Instead of this terrible change, the adjustment should just be to make scourge's boon and barrier application only effect 5 targets. Just make the maximum target cap 5. Alacrity problem solved without ruining the other variation of the class. No other class can still affect 10 people, Scourge does not need to be able to. Just make it 5man.

I've played nearly 2,000 hours on my Necromancer and over 6,000 hours across all my characters. Most of this is focused on PvE, completing story, map completion, achievement hunting, and raiding. These are my thoughts with this bias in mind: -Positives- 1) I like the departure from the classic unkillable playstyle. Reaper and Scourge both have insane survivability. The Harbinger actually feels distinct in the set. Its trading in that survivability for something else. However, Negative #1 follows up on this. -Negatives- 1) The Harbinger does not feel like its getting enough reward for its risk. The traits allow you to focus on Power, Boons, or Condi, but none of them are good enough. 1a) The condi build is quite strong, but since it is condis that means it takes longer to kill lower health targets. You need to ramp up every time you focus a new target. While your health remains lowered due to the corruption, you are starting off each fight weaker and weaker. 1b) The power build just does not have the damage, neither base necro nor the pistol are geared toward bursty power damage. Which is what you need to have in order to kill targets and survive with your lowered health pool. 1c) The boon build does not do enough. To take the boon build you give up too much damage from either other build to make it worthwhile. There isn't enough in this option to make it worth taking over any other boon provider, it doesn't bring anything unique to this role. 2) Elixirs are boring. They do not provide any meaningful use like many of the other necro utilities. You drink them, and that is all. There are not lasting effects from them to make use of. It does not feel fun to use an elixir over the other skills the base necro can utilize. They also do not feel like they match the spirit of a necromancer. The preview of the Harbinger talked about making no clean kills. Well, the Elixirs do not reflect this. They simply do not match the imagine of using noxious, corrosive bullets. 3) Elixir art does not fit. The art style has clearly changed, and on its own that isn't bad but the elixirs sitting on the necro bar next to the other skills look very out of place. They don't have the same aesthetic feel to them. 4) The pistol has no identity. It does not do anything for a power based build and is outclassed by scepter for a condi build. There's just no reason to use the pistol at all. -Suggestions- 1) Power Build: Remove it. We don't need to have a power, condi, and boon path for every specialization. The power is so lackluster here, that its far better to simply remove it and give the condi or boon paths more options to play with. Let the options be between what kind of conditions you want to use or how to use them. Maybe one path can make use of torment and another prefers poison. Or one path aims for steady application of condis over time and the other prefers to apply many at once before waiting for a cooldown. 2) Boon Build: Add some form of healing. At the moment, the Harbinger's healing output is entirely selfish. This means that if you want to spec into a boon build, you cannot do anything else. The other boon roles all can provide something else that the Harbinger cannot. Boon Firebrands, Scrappers and Mesmers provide either healing or damage on top of the Quickness. If the Harbinger wants to fill a niche, then it needs to bring something more to table than just quickness. 3) Elixirs: The elixirs could be so much better if they provided some outward effects rather than just some minimal boon application. Drinking an elixir could cause the Necro to begin letting off some sort of harmful energy. Perhaps after drinking an Elixir, the Necro radiate negative energy within a certain radius, pulsing conditions for a short duration. Another Elixir could be one meant to be thrown rather than consumed, similar to a vial of acid that causes harmful effects to the creatures in the area it lands. These types of Elixirs are much more interesting and impactful in a fight than simply getting a boon or two. If the Harbinger has harnessed its powers to use corrosive bullets, why can this corrosive power not also apply to Elixirs? TL;DR - Remove power traits, make elixirs feel more impactful, pistol's damage is subpar.