Harbinger Traits

[DragonFury.6243]

Harbinger traits are the most uninspiring trait for an elite specialization i have ever seen from a build craft point of view .

aside from most of the trait being a flat stat increase/stat conversion the default auto select up for power dmg middle for support and down for condi dmg is just a bad design .

this is creating problems because if you want elixir rechage then you are locked to the support line (losing the 25% dmg modifier) if you want pistal skills rechage trait you are locked into the condi dmg line .

additionally the lack of a grand master trait that fundamental change the espec .

now compare that to scourge and reaper traits that has more of a general purpose trait for lifeforce grain/condi cleanse /sustain /dmg with a grandmaster trait that change the espec (Sand Savant /Feed from Corruption/Blighter's Boon/Deathly Chill)

blight as a mecahnic for harbinger is very good mechanic it is what the necro community has been asking for (remove the passive tankiness of the class for significant gain in dmg or support)

blight problem now is that it has zero intaction with the espec outside of the 25% dmg increase 

my suggestions to improve to the harbninger :

1-make elixir interact with blight (same a holo utility interact with heat mecahnic) something like added benfit if used with enough staks of blight that will add depth to the blight mecahnic .

2-remove both adept trait that increase dmg now its baseline (blight decrease hp pool by 2% increase dmg by 1%) because you shouldnt be taking risk with zero rewards and replace them with a general purpose trait that can benefit any build 

3-add grandmaster trait that change the espec like blight now dont decrease your maxium HP pool now it decrease you health by a set amount (which is interesting) or a grandmaster trait that change shroud skill 3 into terrifying retreat ( fear around you and evade backward then the skill flips back to the original dash) for compitative game modes

Side note the power harbinger with struggle due to lack of a proper melee weapon on core necro

so we have 2 options either pull the plug and remove the power traits and replace them general purpose traits that may benefit condi or support builds or rework main hand dagger into a proper close range melee weapon

 

Edited August 16, 2021 by DragonFury.6243

[Inexplicable.4165]

I agree that the traits feel rather lacklustre. I like some of your ideas but really I'd be happy with anything that's less boring than we got. Here's my idea for a GM trait:
 

 

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

Personally I think that Blight by default should offer some benefit with the first tier of traits augmenting it further.

 

Perhaps it should boost critical hit chance by 0.5%-1% per stack? 

[The Boz.2038]

Imagine this crazy idea:
Each stack of Blight reduces your maximum health by XY% (personally, I feel 2% might be a tad too much), your outgoing damage by ZY% (0.5% might be the right number here), and Life Force healing by ZX% (about 2x of the XY). That way the spec enters a unique push-the-tempo out-last playstyle that remains (very) vulnerable to burst damage, but can utilize oppressive damage mitigation conditions (blind, weakness, cripple, and CC) to prolong the dance.

However, there should *really* be more interaction with Blight, more tools to dump it or suppress it or something, before anything else.

[SeTect.5918]

My idea for traits would be to give the 360 vit trait 1-2 bonuses.
with blight the vit of it is 180 and thats really really sad.

Maybe something like this:
Blight gains sth special for each 5 stacks on u (up to 15 stacks):
over 5 stacks of blight: gaining 0.5% crit chance for each blight stack that u have. (The first 5 stacks do not count, means: max 10% crit chance boost)
over 10 stacks of blight: gaining 1% damage reduction for each blight stack that u have. (The first 10 stacks do not count, means: max 15% dmg reduction)
over 15 stacks of blight: Gain 0.5% life force for each blight stack you grant yourself. While being in shroud, you have access to your utility skills.

More on I would reduce blight from 2% per stack hp loss to 1%.

We will ofc see how it goes on tomorrow and i ll test it in fractals and if the healer wont be able to hold on with the dmg i get, i will create a topic and will make suggestions or whatever.

Makes people not being afraid of having a lot of blight stacks and avoids my prediction of getting 1hits in fractals everywhere ("ha ha")
That would surely sth new imo and yea.
 

Edited August 16, 2021 by SeTect.5918

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

I can see the HP loss going to 1% in competitive play, but then CMC was rather flippant over it, so we'll have to see.

When I run Harbinger I'll be running things like Apothecary or Sentinel with it (WvW mind you).

[Galmac.4680]

And that new elixier heal skill heals me for some small amout of health points, but also applies blight that shrinks my health. Doesn't make sense to use that for me.

Edited August 16, 2021 by Galmac.4680

[Asum.4960]

I'd like a 0.5-1% Damage reduction per Blight Stack for Alchemic Vigor and/or a reduction of Blight to -1% HP per Stack, so at least the spec doesn't get oneshot by stray mechanics or random cleave constantly. 

Compared to Reaper, Harbinger loses 69% extra Health through Shroud, which has an innate 50% damage reduction baked in, on top of another 50% Health reduction via Blight (~46.000 effective HP on Reaper vs ~11.000 effective HP on Harbinger as baseline, aka Reaper has well over 400% more HP than Harbinger - how much damage is Harbinger supposed to do over Reaper/Scourge to make that worth it?).  

That is on top of any further Vitality taken also being reduced by 50% in effectiveness, cutting investing into defensive stats to compensate for low HP in half as well, reducing it's HP below that of low HP professions, without their build in compensations.

12-25% damage reduction might sound like a lot on paper, but it's pitiful compared to what Shroud or Barrier + Blood as Sand provides (as well as Aegis, Prot and various other mitigations on other specs), and with Necro being designed entirely around soaking damage as only defense, still would leave Harbinger exceedingly squishy, especially to getting bursted. 

 

The 0.5 second evade and extra movement skill as well as likely higher DPS are definitely nice to have and warrant a decent (and welcome) innate tankyness tradeoff, but what we've seen seems way too punishing for any potential gains it could have while still being build around the core of Necro. 

 

As for the Traits, yea the Adepts and Grandmasters are pretty boring an passive, but I appreciate the built in build variety at least. With the limited selections GW2 provides there will always be a clear DPS trait etc out of three, them being positioned in clear lines imo isn't a downside. 

I do wish the Grandmaster's had been something more creative than Desert Shroud.2 though. 

 

The Elixiers are imo far more bland, lacklustre and problematic.

Edited August 16, 2021 by Asum.4960

[CratZII.5872]

I feel we would already go a long way with all minors giving something that scales with blight. Because blight is something you really can't avoid while playing as a harbinger the trait for elixirs seems like it can never be taken because you have to choose either of the traits that give some payoff for having blight. 

 

I hope Anet did not design elixir necros to never enter shroud at all and completely ignore the class mechanic. 

 

My suggestion is to give the elixirs trait also a concentration boost for each blight stack. Then it would have some synergy with elixirs boon theme. And would also ensure blight always gives us some advantage, but you have to choose which benefit you want to build around.