From the AMA with the Devs.

[Kanto.1659]

Sorry – it is NOT intended that stacking multiple shades compounds their effects. We’re going to make changes while keeping a close eye on the power of the Scourge across game modes and adjust it over time accordingly. Frankly, the Sand Shades were one of the most controversial (and dangerous!) mechanics we added with the Path of Fire Elite Specs.

Incoming boyz.

[Muchacho.2390]

Not surprising...

[Mordaredrom.9162]

Let's hope they compensate with something else and do not let the dps stay below all other classes like the reaper, when they nerffedthe the horrors build (and have done nothing for helping reaper since)

[Ara.4569]

No power reaper questions were answered.

[Kam.4092]

RIP 3k-4k of our DPS

[Exciton.8942]

I said so on reddit earlier this week and got downvoted like mad by dellusional players.

[Zenith.7301]

@Ara.4569 said:No power reaper questions were answered.

Most class questions were not answered. Only scourge and weaver received direct acknowledgement.

Mirage wasn't even touched, and it and spellbreaker by far are the worst PvE elite PoF specs.

[Kam.4092]

Also this will be just DPSing with like one Shade out now right?

[Aravind.9610]

correct me if im wrong, but is this not why they nerfed the number of targets on each shade? and now they are saying that shade stacking itself is unintended?

[Exqq.7451]

@Kam.4092 said:RIP 3k-4k of our DPS

That still puts us at 33-35k. More than acceptable. And honestly, it makes shades work as intended.

Edit: Also, this will kill Power Scourge, since about 20%'ish of the dps is achieved by condi from multi shade stacking, so... :(

[vicious.5683]

Now I'm happy I didn't buy POF.

[Kam.4092]

@vicious.5683 said:Now I'm happy I didn't buy POF.

Comments like this never make sense to me. It's basically missing out on a lot of content just because a small nerf. The Shade tooltips describe them not benefitting when stacked, and the top 5 classes/builds need a nerf for the health of the Meta. Scourge happens to be one of them.

If you really wouldn't buy an expansion over one small change, then I don't get why you'd even be playing now.

[Brighteluden.2974]

@Exqq.7451 said:

@Kam.4092 said:RIP 3k-4k of our DPS

That still puts us at 33-35k. More than acceptable. And honestly, it makes shades work as intended.

Edit: Also, this will kill Power Scourge, since about 20%'ish of the dps is achieved by condi from multi shade stacking, so... :(

Cool, so it'll put us below every other condi class yay...I can't wait.

[Kam.4092]

@Brighteluden.2974 said:

@Exqq.7451 said:

@Kam.4092 said:RIP 3k-4k of our DPS

That still puts us at 33-35k. More than acceptable. And honestly, it makes shades work as intended.

Edit: Also, this will kill Power Scourge, since about 20%'ish of the dps is achieved by condi from multi shade stacking, so... :(

Cool, so it'll put us below every other condi class yay...I can't wait.

Those will be nerfed too. Anything above 35k is too much. Especially for Firebrand.

[Brighteluden.2974]

@Kam.4092 said:

@Brighteluden.2974 said:

@Exqq.7451 said:

@Kam.4092 said:RIP 3k-4k of our DPS

That still puts us at 33-35k. More than acceptable. And honestly, it makes shades work as intended.

Edit: Also, this will kill Power Scourge, since about 20%'ish of the dps is achieved by condi from multi shade stacking, so... :(

Cool, so it'll put us below every other condi class yay...I can't wait.

Those will be nerfed too. Anything above 35k is too much. Especially for Firebrand.

Knowing from past experience. We'll be gut down to uselessness while the other classes receive only minor changes. I've mained necromancer since guildwars 2 launched and I'm already familiarized with the nerf necro protocol. Don't me wrong I already knew a nerf was in the works since yes we're apparently too strong in Spvp/WvW but it's also going to effect us in PVE which in reality we're about balanced when it comes to that area of the game. Ah, well was fun while it lasted .

[vicious.5683]

@Kam.4092 said:

@vicious.5683 said:Now I'm happy I didn't buy POF.

Comments like this never make sense to me. It's basically missing out on a lot of content just because a small nerf. The Shade tooltips describe them not benefitting when stacked, and the top 5 classes/builds need a nerf for the health of the Meta. Scourge happens to be one of them.

If you really wouldn't buy an expansion over one small change, then I don't get why you'd even be playing now.

I'm not supporting a game anymore that constantly nerf your favorite class into oblivion. It happened with necromancer at beta weekends, it happened to Reaper soon after HOT release and it will happen to Scourge now. You think it's gonna be a small nerf, well, it's not. Experience tell us that, and compensation buff will never arrive.Good luck.

[Substatic.6958]

I'm slightly glad. Other than Death Knight of WOTLK, I've never seen such a bigger FOTM mmorpg class as Scourge. This is due to Scourge being incredibly powerful in all game modes and several other Elites just being utterly rubbish. Seriously 1/3rd of every 50man squad (Bounties) is a Scourge. It's one of the (if not THE) best spvp, wpvp, solo, and raid spec. Meanwhile there is clunky trash like Holosmith, Dead-eye, Renegade, and Mirage out there that are maybe good in only 1 game mode - if that.

I just hope the Necro nerfs are done responsibly (separate pvp/pve) and other side of the coin of (garbage elites) mentioned above are buffed.

(P.S. No stacking will make Scourge gameplay and rotation smoother.)

[Ryouzanpaku.1273]

hmmm maybe Sand Savant will become more reliable option...

All praise eternal king Palawa Joko.

[mazut.4296]

@Kam.4092 said:RIP 3k-4k of our DPS

That will be acceptable. i expect twice as much... There is no way around, we are going down as usual...PS: I don't understand the stacking complaint?! The Sand Savant is an implemented stacking. Whats the problem with stacking 1 shade+ the player? Because stacking more then 1 shade is only good against stationary boss enemies and only because of Sand Soul and Sadistic Searing. How are this so powerful?! I don't see the problem...

[mazut.4296]

And more from the AMA, something that is just controversial to the scourge design..."Scourge being unable to maintain 3 shades at once was a design choice. Keeping 3 shades up at once is intended to be a temporary boost to coverage before returning to 1 or 2 shades for a time. Shorter periods of increased coverage allows us to put a little more power into the skills themselves."Scourge was introduced as Area control spec, but they quickly realised its to powerful and they took that option away by making only single shade up at all time... really... why don't you invite testers, where is your q&a???

[Ravezaar.4951]

@Kam.4092 said:

@vicious.5683 said:Now I'm happy I didn't buy POF.

Comments like this never make sense to me. It's basically missing out on a lot of content just because a small nerf. The Shade tooltips describe them not benefitting when stacked, and the top 5 classes/builds need a nerf for the health of the Meta. Scourge happens to be one of them.

If you really wouldn't buy an expansion over one small change, then I don't get why you'd even be playing now.

For some who ONLY plays PvP & WvW the balance changes, Elite Specs are THE CONTENT, alot of us who never do any PvE and yet buy Expansions cause we want the latest for our Class. So imho his comment made sense and I felt the same on several occasions, even to the point I left the game after the dissapointment of Reaper.

[Kumouta.4985]

guess condition reaper is going to be back or I need to spend a lot of the gold I don't even have on turning into a support scourge.

[felincyriac.5981]

Well now we wait for the next expansion for out short moment in the spotlight, before being sledgehammered into the ground.

[Kam.4092]

@mazut.4296 said:

@Kam.4092 said:RIP 3k-4k of our DPS

That will be acceptable. i expect twice as much... There is no way around, we are going down as usual...PS: I don't understand the stacking complaint?! The Sand Savant is an implemented stacking. Whats the problem with stacking 1 shade+ the player? Because stacking more then 1 shade is only good against stationary boss enemies and only because of Sand Soul and Sadistic Searing. How are this so powerful?! I don't see the problem...

Even if it is like 6-8k, I'd rather play Scourge over the horrible mess that Reaper was. It won't get nerfed that hard though. I hate that Combo Field shit. Call me optimistic, but I don't think it would be a super hard nerf. They mentioned that balancing Shades would allow more damage from other areas. Maybe they would be nerfing stacking, but reducing the Demonic Lore ICD. Who knows? With us being without Death Shroud, it means we can't be nerfed too hard. I'd expect things like Demonic Lore having the ICD removed to compensate, or buffing the Burning from Sadistic Searing. I don't see Scourge being destroyed, just because Shades didn't work like the community wanted them to.

Either way, I'm not going to rage nonstop. There's too many people that think nerfs create end of the world scenarios, which make no sense. Nothing forces you to switch classes, it's your own choice. I really wish more people just enjoyed games, instead of always wanting to be the best/near top tier always. Reaper was usable in Raids, and people still cleared fine.

The GW2 community really takes benchmarks too seriously as well. It's easy to clear Raids without even hitting near what a "meta" group should hit. You can even clear without 100% Quickness uptime, etc. The [qT] guild doing the benchmarks even says this. Also, pretty much every player, but a select few can even hit those benchmarks. It's more about what a class is capable of in a maxed out situation. These numbers should never decide what a person enjoys. People that truly enjoy Necro will stay Necro like I will.

Also for PvP/WvW, too many expect a class to carry them. A Damage nerf doesn't equal completely helpless, etc. A lot of this is just mental stuff driven by a toxic community.

I expect to get hated on in replies to my post, but to me it's just how I feel. I'm annoyed that so much of Scourge's damage is from Shades, because it limits the spec on heavy movement fights. I'm fine with nerfing stacking, and buffing our damage in other ways. They basically said they'd be doing this in the other AMA replies about Scourge.

Also remember when they nerfed Scourge before PoF even launched. Everyone was raging and said we'd be shit, but we ended up being the best Elite. Look at this as an example of how the Necromancer community overreacts to any mention of changes. Scourge will never be below Reaper.

I'm just going to enjoy the game like always.

[Kam.4092]

@Kumouta.4985 said:guess condition reaper is going to be back or I need to spend a lot of the gold I don't even have on turning into a support scourge.

This isn't going to make Condition Reaper better.