Bring back the Pve Reaper

[SoulGuardian.6203]

There's an update coming soon, so I'd like to take the opportunity, if it's not too late, to ask the devs if they could please make Pve Reapers good again, like they were before the last nerf.

 

The reason I put pve and nor in general;

It's because I really don't know how it performs in pvp as I don't do pvp, and hardly ever use it in wvw.

 

One thing I did notice a lot, is when I did use it once, it kept being pulled off shroud.

This is why?

 

In pve too... happens constantly; reaper being pulled out of Reapers Shroud.

 

Can you guys please fix this.

 

I used to farm lws3 maps a lot with my previous reaper, which then became a Harbinger. 

So I made a new reaper.

Went farming again in lws3 maps.

It's constantly being pulled out of shroud.

It doesn't hit for nowhere near as much damage as it used to.

 

I understand if some cry babies considered reaper to be Overpowered in pvp because they didn't wanna face them... but please ANet, restore Pve reaper.

 

I do WvW a lot, but mostly with ranged classes. 

Usually reaper isn't my first choice for wvw so I don't have the experience or knowledge like Hardcore Reapers do to say.

I don't know what pvpers would say.

 

But I do know this, Reaper in pve really sucks nowadays. 

 

Please restore reaper to its original glory.

Make it a great force again.

 

 

Edited September 25, 2022 by SoulGuardian.6203

[kharmin.7683]

Only if it comes with more cowbell.

[SoulGuardian.6203]

@kharmin.7683 

You funny person you. 😂

You stll caught the :

Quote

Spoiler

Food

 

Typo, before editing.

Did you not?

Edited September 25, 2022 by SoulGuardian.6203

[Shadowmoon.7986]

Next update is a pvp wvw focused one, with the only pve change is a slight nerf to mech. Maybe nov might have fixes to reaper and DH in pve. The good news is the dev who dumpstered reaper no longer is with the company.

[SoulGuardian.6203]

50 minutes ago, Shadowmoon.7986 said:

Next update is a pvp wvw focused one, with the only pve change is a slight nerf to mech. Maybe nov might have fixes to reaper and DH in pve. The good news is the dev who dumpstered reaper no longer is with the company.

Cool.

If that's the case, it is good news then.

I really enjoy playing reaper.

 

I even tried to get my brother to play Guild Wars 2, showing him what Reapers could do and what an amazing Elite Spec it was.

 

 

Edited September 25, 2022 by SoulGuardian.6203

[Arianth Moonlight.6453]

3 hours ago, Shadowmoon.7986 said:

The good news is the dev who dumpstered reaper no longer is with the company.

was that person one of those old ArenaNet employees obsessed with pushing Mesmer down our throats or just some random who had no idea what a Reaper was?

[Fotizzile.2041]

Counter point, we shouldn’t have to rely as heavily in being in shroud as we do. My suggestion is reworking the auto attack on greatsword so it isn’t so slow and more rewarding to use. Tbh all our greatsword abilities should be modified so it doesn’t feel so clunky outside of shroud.

 

i like the great sword weapon and hate how reapers try so hard to always be in shroud. Shroud should be a bonus and big damage state yes but outside of it should t feel so bad as well. 
 

let us feel good using great sword in pve so our state in shroud doesn’t feel so important that half the time ur playing reaper u feel sooo much weaker 

[Dadnir.5038]

1 hour ago, Fotizzile.2041 said:

Counter point, we shouldn’t have to rely as heavily in being in shroud as we do. My suggestion is reworking the auto attack on greatsword so it isn’t so slow and more rewarding to use. Tbh all our greatsword abilities should be modified so it doesn’t feel so clunky outside of shroud.

 

i like the great sword weapon and hate how reapers try so hard to always be in shroud. Shroud should be a bonus and big damage state yes but outside of it should t feel so bad as well. 
 

let us feel good using great sword in pve so our state in shroud doesn’t feel so important that half the time ur playing reaper u feel sooo much weaker 

I must admit that GS AA speed is indeed the thing that I hate the most on reaper (closely followed by gravedigger).

[Fotizzile.2041]

It’s always advised not to use The AA on greatsword on all builds regardless if ur doing pvp, pve, or wvw u use 2-5 and weapon swap or shroud. 

[Polar.8634]

On 9/25/2022 at 3:15 PM, SoulGuardian.6203 said:

reaper being pulled out of Reapers Shroud.

Did not notice it becoming weaker in PvE. Can you link your build?

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

6 hours ago, Fotizzile.2041 said:

It’s always advised not to use The AA on greatsword on all builds regardless if ur doing pvp, pve, or wvw u use 2-5 and weapon swap or shroud. 

The bulk of greatsword's damage is loaded into the autoattack chain just like any weapon, and you need the Chill effect to maintain damage uptime. You should be doing three auto chains every time you drop your Shroud, and you absolutely should not be sitting in Shroud until it runs out or you lose DPS.

 

Edited September 26, 2022 by Mariyuuna.6508

[SoulGuardian.6203]

6 hours ago, Polar.8634 said:

Did not notice it becoming weaker in PvE. Can you link your build?

 

Can you tell me how I do that? 

 

---

 

I'm not sure if its interrupts, knock downs/back , dazes...

Something is making Reaper come out of shroud, even a few seconds after I activate it;  which is something that never used to happen.

 

Unless, I'm using a different traitline than my first one; which I don't think it is.

I know I didn't use spite. 

So we can cross that one out.

 

I think I was using Blood, Death Magic, Reaper.

I changed DM to curses on this one because I found that it wasn't performing as well as it used to.

I remember going for stacks of carapace and prioritise shroud upkeep.

 

But there have been so many nerfs that I got lost in the way. 

 

I don't remember no more the exact build I use to have.

Think I was using either berserker or soldiers.

Sigil of torment and ice.

For chilled duration and CD.

 

Also remember recovering health and cleanse conditions while in shroud. It does not happen no more.

[Polar.8634]

8 hours ago, SoulGuardian.6203 said:

Can you tell me how I do that? 

use this link http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/ and replicate what traits and stats you use in game. possibly i would not throw you some premade build since you dont ask, but look how to improve what you have already. By the way link website is convenient to do it yourself, you can easily find what boons go from where and work on that. i dont mind lend a hand tho

Edited September 27, 2022 by Polar.8634

[Axelteas.7192]

18 hours ago, Mariyuuna.6508 said:

The bulk of greatsword's damage is loaded into the autoattack chain just like any weapon, and you need the Chill effect to maintain damage uptime. You should be doing three auto chains every time you drop your Shroud, and you absolutely should not be sitting in Shroud until it runs out or you lose DPS.

 

It's funny because what is obvious in the video is how pathetic the damage is in greatsword compared to shroud. I prefer a build focused in generating vital force the faster possible and stay in shroud most of the time. Until Anet doesnt rework the clunky greatsword, people be abusing Shroud.

[Warscythes.9307]

31 minutes ago, Axelteas.7192 said:

It's funny because what is obvious in the video is how pathetic the damage is in greatsword compared to shroud. I prefer a build focused in generating vital force the faster possible and stay in shroud most of the time. Until Anet doesnt rework the clunky greatsword, people be abusing Shroud.

You don't camp shroud because soul barb is a thing. You need to constantly shroud dance to maximize your dps and that's completely fine. The reason why the damage seems high in shroud is because you want to have your wells and greatsword 4 tick inside it with the modifiers which is why it seems high. There is no change that would make this not the case unless they take away shroud's damage modifiers. 

[eutha six.5647]

Farming lws3 maps is cake with power reaper using staff and wells, with heal, "rise" and :chilled to the bone" you have about 8 aoes- drop all and that group will die fast- and the aoes pop back up fast on staff- try it- shroud is only my "oops, made a mistake" button as it gets in the way of throwing aoes all over the place. The staff is seriously underrated-

[samsar.9152]

I agree with that to make reaper better in pve, and also buff its damage so  ppl don't have to say it is one of the worst classes as DPS in instanced group content. 

[Nephalem.8921]

How can you bring something back that was never there in the first place?

Reaper was always only decent in open world because of the might and quickness. Was always lacking compared to other specs if those buffs were present which are ALL specs now with the jade bot things.

Watch them buff power harbinger because two healthbars are just too strong...

Meanwhile specter can do 35k while outhealing some pure healers and having a much higher shroud.

Edited September 30, 2022 by Nephalem.8921

[SoulGuardian.6203]

1 hour ago, Nephalem.8921 said:

How can you bring something back that was never there in the first place?

Reaper was always only decent in open world because of the might and quickness. Was always lacking compared to other specs if those buffs were present which are ALL specs now with the jade bot things.

Watch them buff power harbinger because two healthbars are just too strong...

Meanwhile specter can do 35k while outhealing some pure healers and having a much higher shroud.

I see what you mean.

 

But there was something about reaper that felt powerful. 

I don't know if it was my build that probably played a part in it.

I can't quite put my finger on it. 

It literally used to send shivers down my spine.

 

But now, after the nerf, that feeling just isn't there.

Now it's like, what on earth is this?

Foes able to interrupt shroud?

That can't happen!

Oh, but it does.

 

I keep asking ANet every so often that instead of nerfing overpowered or over performing classes, improve the ones that are underpowered. 

 

Why keep nerfing classes?

Codes? Values? Variables?

Is there a limit of DPS, Healing, etc?

 

What can a downgrade of 0.5% can do that an increase of the same value on other subpar classes can't do better?

 

Why not implement the same system that GW1 has?

Meaning NPC foes will keep raising level up until a set limit.

So say in level 80 areas, local foes can even go up to level 82 or 83.

That way there are no strict limitations to classes.

Is it that complicated to do that?

If a world boss has a health pool and other stats that no one ever could possibly solo.

When the majority of champions cannot be soloed.

What's stopping ANet from improving worse classes?

I'd surely would like a feasible and logical explanation that I could fathom about this.

Values are not set on stone. 

Of course there are limitations on every game, but considering what I just mentioned about champions and world bosses; the limitations are extremely high in this case.

[Dadnir.5038]

On 9/27/2022 at 8:28 AM, SoulGuardian.6203 said:

I think I was using Blood, Death Magic, Reaper.

And you felt powerful playing that? Excuse me but you were literally playing the tankiest traitline combination you could play on the necromancer. Know that since the game release, it's widely acknowledged that building for offense usually yield better result than focusing on passive defense in OW PvE.

If you played BM/DM/Reaper, you were likely to have a minionmaster build. I doubt that any of the recent tweaks really impacted such gameplay in OW. If you die faster, it's an issue with positioning and if you feel like your damage have lost a bit of their edge it can only come from you since a minionmaster's damages output only benefited from the various tweaks (fury give you more crit chance than before and GS/staff got some number buffs so you're likely to have higher crit chance than ever and deal higher damage with your various weapons).

If you were playing some kind of dark knight without a focus on minion, I can only suggest you to build a bit more offensively.

[SoulGuardian.6203]

48 minutes ago, Dadnir.5038 said:

And you felt powerful playing that? Excuse me but you were literally playing the tankiest traitline combination you could play on the necromancer. Know that since the game release, it's widely acknowledged that building for offense usually yield better result than focusing on passive defense in OW PvE.

If you played BM/DM/Reaper, you were likely to have a minionmaster build. I doubt that any of the recent tweaks really impacted such gameplay in OW. If you die faster, it's an issue with positioning and if you feel like your damage have lost a bit of their edge it can only come from you since a minionmaster's damages output only benefited from the various tweaks (fury give you more crit chance than before and GS/staff got some number buffs so you're likely to have higher crit chance than ever and deal higher damage with your various weapons).

If you were playing some kind of dark knight without a focus on minion, I can only suggest you to build a bit more offensively.

Only on very rare occasions played MM with Reaper.

 

I did say that "I think" That's what I was using.

I don't remember. 

Besides DM is not solely focused on minions. 

It does have other traits.

Only the top line focuses on minions.

 

I was using a staff for long range, if the situation demanded.

I'm using Axe and Focus with this one.

 

The reaper did felt powerful at the time.

So much so in fact that I asked myself a couple of times if the Reaper could be killed.

Felt almost invincible. 

If I may say so, my first Reaper was never defeated once as far as I can remember. 

Its health never dropped bellow an alarming level. Nothing that was ever even worrying at any point.

 

 

[Dadnir.5038]

1 hour ago, SoulGuardian.6203 said:

Only on very rare occasions played MM with Reaper.

 

I did say that "I think" That's what I was using.

I don't remember. 

Besides DM is not solely focused on minions. 

It does have other traits.

Only the top line focuses on minions.

 

I was using a staff for long range, if the situation demanded.

I'm using Axe and Focus with this one.

 

The reaper did felt powerful at the time.

So much so in fact that I asked myself a couple of times if the Reaper could be killed.

Felt almost invincible. 

If I may say so, my first Reaper was never defeated once as far as I can remember. 

Its health never dropped bellow an alarming level. Nothing that was ever even worrying at any point.

Indeed, DM isn't only for MM, however, pairing it with BM if you aren't playing minion is a bad choice. You'll want to either pair it with soulreaping in order to build carapace stack through dhuumfire and unyielding blast or curse.

If it's really been a long time since you used it and you use a build that lean on Wells, the issue might be that Wells no longer leach life throught vampiric ritual that's been replaced by blood bank. In this case you need to adapt your gameplay to the peculiarities of blood bank... etc.

All in all, it's a matter of adaptability of the player himself. The reaper isn't frail, it's pretty sturdy in fact, you just have to make a coherent build that exploit the strength of the necromancer within the framework of the reaper.

[Aktium.9506]

Rework the Reaper traitline.

• Chilling Nova: Triggers on Combo finishers with no ICD instead of its current effect. Can crit again.
• Decimate Defenses: Now also increases the effectiveness of Vulnerability by 50% for yourself
• Deahtly Chill: No longer inflicts Bleeding, instead triggers a Strike damage hit every time you inflict Chill. No ICD, 1.5x modifier.

Additionally

• Executioner's Scythe: Changed the Stun to Freeze instead.

Edited October 1, 2022 by Aktium.9506

[Radina.6057]

9 minutes ago, Aktium.9506 said:

• Chilling Nova: Triggers on Combo finishers with no ICD instead of its current effect. Can crit again.
• Decimate Defenses: Now also increases the effectiveness of Vulnerability by 50% for yourself
• Deahtly Chill: No longer inflicts Bleeding, instead triggers a Strike damage hit every time you inflict Chill. No ICD, 1.5x modifier.

I wouldnt change Chilling Nova. Its one of the reasons why Reaper is doing a "good" job at AoE. 

 

Buffing Reaper could be done by tweaking Cold Shoulder. Its 15% more damage right now. Buff that by as much as needed. Additionally, tweak the Greatsword numbers of everything but the autochain and we are basically done. If Anet would walk the extra mile and actually change Necro Power weapons to something that is worth switching to, more complex rotations could evolve.

 

Reaper has good traits that work well together. That spec would do great as a single target, with great AoE potential, with the downside of being completely melee locked. The pure damage numbers are the issue.

 

 

[Dadnir.5038]

2 hours ago, Aktium.9506 said:

Chilling Nova: Triggers on Combo finishers with no ICD instead of its current effect. Can crit again.

Objectively you can't allow it to trigger on all kind of combo finisher. Which would leave us with trigger on leap finisher only. Which is basically: "trigger on shroud#2"

2 hours ago, Aktium.9506 said:

Decimate Defenses: Now also increases the effectiveness of Vulnerability by 50% for yourself

Basically a 12.5% damage mod on top of 50% crit chance? The crit chance would have to be reduced. But, yeah that's a good way to make the trait competitive.

2 hours ago, Aktium.9506 said:

Deahtly Chill: No longer inflicts Bleeding, instead triggers a Strike damage hit every time you inflict Chill. No ICD, 1.5x modifier.

Nope! Just no! DC is a good condition damage option and shouldn't be given up for yet another strike damage option that would end up not dealing critical damage for the good sake of PvP. Do you even realize how much damage soul spiral would end up doing with such suggestion? You'd have the whole PvP forum brandishing pitches and forks to burn reaper at the stake while PvE players wouldn't even glance at the trait because it's not worth losing 300 ferocity from reaper onslaught.

2 hours ago, Aktium.9506 said:

Executioner's Scythe: Changed the Stun to Freeze instead

Again, the PvP forum would burn in anger if this happened. Best thing that could happen to executioner's scythe would be for it's damage to come back while the stun is replaced by a daze. The ideal solution would be to give a stomp effect to the skill to justify it's name.