Harbinger Feedback Thread [Merged]

[Ukon Cairns.9160]

actually feels a bit worse than beta 1, only just realized now, how am i supposed to stack blight if all my blight sources also remove blight now?  also kinda missing the passive heal but keeping that woulda been miserable with all the skills dumping blight now. 

will likely share more thoughts later. 

[SinisterSlay.6973]

New feedback for revised Harbinger.

 

 

MUCH BETTER.

Went from unfun thing to really fun and ready for some serious build tuning.  And the potions being throwable makes a huge difference.

 

Did my usual hydra test.

Damage was.... meh.  But went from actual chance of dying from the glassiness to accidentally effortless between the betas.

I didn't have time to try and optimize the build for more damage.  But even what I got was quite enjoyable.

Edited December 3, 2021 by SinisterSlay.6973

[Lily.1935]

I've already expressed the issues with the spec in great detail in another post so I'll keep this short. You should read that post though as I highlight the issues with how it works now using math to show why removing blight is bad.

 

But a few points I'll repeat.

 

1.  You should have access to utility skills in shroud. Harbinger shroud isn't a second health bar and shouldn't be treated as such. Don't make it a second health bar either, that would only compound issues.

2. Blight shouldn't be able to be removed. It causes a lot of calculation issues and fights the spec's mechanics which I've pointed out in great detail.

3. Elixirs need to do more on both their offensive side and utility side. Aegis and vigor should be available through the elixirs for example to promote more active defensive.

4. Traits absolutely need more interaction with blight. Having 2 nearly identical traits is not enough and boring design. 

5. Traits shouldn't be near copies of each others, there should be more uniqueness to them to promote wildly different play feel.

[Urgot.9084]

As some people said Traits are really weak designed they need more classifactions and more gameplay changes.

here my Idea: Split into DPS Support/BoonShare/Duelist.

 

Also Blight Needs a more effects like kalla. New Blight: 1.5% Max Hp Reduce  0.2%Strike Damage 0.2%Condi Damage. at 25 Blight

we have 37.5% Max Hp reduce  5% Stike Damage 5%Condi Damage..

 

 

 

Traits: ( 1 for Dps line , 2 for Support/Boonshare line, 3 for Duelist line)

 

Major Adept 1 :  (10s) Removing/Stealing Boon or Stun/Fear/Daze  foe grants you Vigor(4s)

                               Under effect of Vigor gain 50 Power 100 Expetise.

 

Major Adept 2:   Elixir skills also grant their boons to nearby allies

                              Reduce Recharge Time of Elixirs by 20%

 

Major Adept 3:  Each Blight Reduce incoming Stike And Condtion Damage

                             Blight: 0.25%    (max 7.5%)  

 

 

 

Minor Master  :  Gain Increased Vitality : 100.   Reaching 15 Blight Drink a Elixer: Grants Vigor(5s) Regenation(3s) (40s cd)

 

 

 

Major Master 1:  First attack or next attack after dodge apply  Poison Nova  (3s cd)  and Grants Vigor(3s)

                               Vigor is Less effective on you (25%)

                               Under effect of Vigor your attacks Poisen (icd 1.5s)

 

Major Master 2:  New Buff up to 10 tragets (only During Combat): now cap for Boonduration and Condiduration is 110%.

                               Gain 10% Boon and Condi Duration.

                               Quickenss you apply is now 5% more effective.

 

Major Master 3: Entering Shourd Grants Stability(3s).

                              Blight Now reduce per stack only 1% Max Hp but no longer grants increased Damage.

                              Removing or Consuming Blight Heals you. 1 Blight Heals 110(0.12).

 

 

 

Minor Grandmaster:  Gain life force when you enter Harbinger Shroud. 

                                       Reaching 25 Blight Drink a Elixer: Grants Might 5 (5s) Fury (3s) Protection (3s) (cd 75s)

 

 

 

Major Grandmaster 1:  blight Effects are increased:

                                         2% Max Hp Reduce  0.5%Strike Damage 0.5%Condi Damage. at 25 Blight

                                         we have 50% Max Hp reduce  12.5% Stike Damage 12.5%Condi Damage..

                                        Dark Barrage  Changed to Dark Touch

                                        Dark Touch: Fire one bolt of tormenting energy, piercing all enemies in line.

                            Damage :1800 (4.5)

                            6x Torment (3s)

                            3x Poisen (4s)

                            Number of Hits:1

                            Number of Targets: 5

                            Pierces

                            Range: 1500

 

Major Grandmaster2 : Entering Shorud Grants Around you SuperSpeed(3s) and Quickness (5s)

                                         Blight also Grants 0.2% Boon Duration per Stack. (max 5%)

 

                                         Vital Draw No longer deals Damage or suspending.

                                         Vital Draw is now Waterfield and Duration 50%increased

                                         Vital Draw Pulsing(6x) now boon to you and your allys

                                         Protection 1.5s

                                         Regenation  1.5s

                                         Might 4s

                                         Resistance 1.5s

                                         fury 2s

 

 

Major Grandmaster3: Entering Shorud grants Aegis(5s) and Stunbreaks

                                        Leaving Shroud Consumes Now Blight and grants Boons Depends How much Blight Consumed

                                        5: Might 3 (4s)

                                      10: Swiftness (7s)

                                      15: Protection (2s)

                                      20: Resolution (3s)

                                      25: Resistance (2s)

                                      Voracius Arc Now has 2 Recharge and Removes 1 Condi on hit.

 

[BlueTurtle.9263]

If life force no longer drains as in the first iteration, then Corrupted Talent should probably be changed.

 

If the desire is to have a power trait line on this spec, more attention needs to be given to support that build, otherwise scrap it and focus on condition damage.

Wicked Corruption should be changed to something else besides more strike damage per blight stack. Currently, if taking a power build, one gets more damage from taking Vile Vials with the vulnerability application.

While the traits and some skills can support a power build, the shroud is entirely geared toward condition damage. This also makes the grandmaster trait feel pointless in taking as a power build doesn’t even want to go into shroud with this spec. Either shroud needs to be more power based initially and then can have a trait taken to make it more condition focused or the power traits should try to ignore or reduce the reliance on shroud rather than copy the condition traits. 
As a random idea regarding the above, maybe the condition build can focus on building up life force to enter shroud and the power build can focus on sacrificing life force (and shroud) to heal the player like the first iteration. Basically making the condition version a risk vs reward build and the power version a bruiser build.
 

On another note, I think there’s a bug with the blight consume mechanic. Maybe I didn’t understand it entirely but it seemed whenever it consumed blight it reduced the blight stacks briefly but then immediately added them back, like a net change of 0 with no additional stacks rather than reducing them. Not sure if that was intent or not but the description needs to be clearer if it is.

[Fda.6279]

I'm gonna say exactly the same thing I said during the first beta event because nothing has changed :

I let other more advanced player discuss about the new spec in terms of damage, sustain, etc.

I'll only say that mechanics are super boring, I main necro since the beta and have literally zero interest in this new spec, it brings nothing interesting and just doesn't feel like a necro spec (don't try to be as original and out of the box you can be, just create specs that expand core mechanics, don't try to bring a completely new class to existing ones, now almost any class can do everything, this is not interesting in my opinion).

 

And please I'll say it again, the elixirs icons look terrible, please work on that, I can't be the only one that find they look like placeholders for the actual real icons.

[kroof.5468]

Heyo team -- now popping into Harbinger's thread. Loving the dialogue around Beta 4 -- I should come to the forums more often.

Here is my general reaction, followed by a specific section going over more detailed thoughts: [PVE] 

 

General: The Harbinger was missing a lot of that "fun/interest" in Beta 1, and the changes in this beta definitely lead it down a better path. However, the changes bloat and confuse the kit with the alterations to elixirs. Additionally, the Blight Threshold can offer more interesting design, specifically with traits, so I hope to see more emphasis on this. 

Last point about Elixirs that I also felt in Beta 1 -- the Elixirs' damage mechanic and Blight generation should be split, and only usable while in shroud. Allowing the Elixirs to be used while in Harbinger shroud would be spec defining, as a Death Shroud has never allowed utility skills to be used, and could add the layer of strategy that Harbinger is currently fumbling around with. 

 

Specifics: 

Harbinger Shroud/Elixirs: 

These recommendations are to increase Spec definition and allure. The trait "Alchemical Vigor" should be changed to allow Elixirs to be used in Harbinger Shroud, utilizing their damaging effects. The Harbinger Shroud would essentially allow Elixirs to have their "toolbelt" options, or rather act more like Druid Glyphs. 
Non-Harbinger Shroud: Elixirs should revert back to previous form where they are not throwable, baseline. These Elixirs focus on self boons, and allows Harbingers to rid themselves of Blight if they use it at certain Blight Thresholds. 
Harbinger Shroud:  Now, any Elixirs being used in their utility slots would flip over to their aggressive form. These Elixirs would be throwable, and would require aim. These Elixirs would function to burst Blight onto the Harbinger, and would deal more damage at certain Blight Thresholds. 

Non-Harbinger and Harbinger Elixirs would share a cooldown, forcing decision making. 

 

Traits 

"Alchemical Vigor Mastery" - No longer grants Vitality. Now allows slotted Elixirs to be used in Harbinger Shroud in an aggressive fashion. 

 

"Wicked Corruption" - Buff to revert back to the +1% Strike Damage increase per Blight. This is the only feature of this trait, and feels so much worse to use when "Septic Corruption" not only increases condi damage, but also adds more ways to apply conditions. 

"Vile Vials" - With the concept of Harbinger Shroud Elixirs -- Using Elixirs slows enemies around you. Using Shroud Elixirs applies Vulnerability to enemies struck by the Elixir. (2s Slow. 3 Targets. 5 Vuln (5s). 5 Targets. -20% cooldown reduction). 

 

"Twisted Medicine" - Same trait, but now adds the throwable feature to base Elixirs to apply boons in the area of impact. 

"Dark Gunslinger" - In addition to the current trait, Vicious Shot would apply an additional packet of damage to the first target hit, if the bullet bounces. (100 damage) [Just throwing this idea out there.] 

 

"Cascading Corruption Doom" - Name change to keep thematic cohesion of "corruption" usually used to describe condition damage.  Remove pulsing damage area in Harbinger Shroud. Keep Power increase. Now, leaving Harbinger Shroud while at a Blight Threshold summons a shadow column at your location, which collapses after a duration, dealing damage, weakening, and fearing enemies. (Blight Threshold: 20. 600 Damage. 2s Fear. 3s Weakness. 240 Radius. 3 Targets. 1.5s Delay. 15s Cooldown.) 

"Deathly Vital Haste" - Gain Vitality. Pulse short Quickness to allies while in Harbinger Shroud. Leaving Harbinger Shroud at a Blight Threshold will cause a jade breeze to expand around you, granting allies Quickness based off of Blight. (+180 Vitality. +1s Quickness, 3s delay. Blight Threshold: 15 stacks.+1s Quickness for each Blight (Max 25s Quickness). 300 Radius. 5 Targets. 20s cooldown)

"Doom Corruption Approaches" - Gain Condition Damage.  Using Vital Draw at a Blight Threshold now empowers it, tearing at you enemies with Poison, Torment, and Confusion. (+180 Condition Damage. Blight Threshold: 15. 3 Poison, 2 Torment, 1 Confusion per pulse) 

 

Thus concludes my general and specific thoughts. Take this where you may, and best of luck leading up to EOD! 

Edited December 3, 2021 by kroof.5468

[Lems.2654]

I wish the regen was back as well as the old potion system

[Rym.1469]

As always, PvP perspective, but I will sneak into some PvE feedback as well;

• The elephant in the room I don't see people talk about is that Harbinger kit gets neutralized by projectile destruction and reflects. And you can do nothing about it. Elixir tosses, pistol and pretty much all the pressure of Harbinger Shroud (1 and 2 are majority of HB's damage) get killed by any projectile destruction, rendering this quite glassy spec totally useless for the duration. If Ele casts Swirling Winds on point you can cast some marks, that's about it as far as pressure goes. Habringer has no extra access to unblockable effects. Virtuoso situation, but perhaps even worse.
• The Harbinger mobility was one of the main things that made it feel different to other necromancer builds - not anymore, really. Cutting all the extra mobility by 1/3rd did it no favours - HB's ability to kite opponents or dip out of bad fight was hurt by this by a fair bit.  It's not even like Harbinger abusing max range kiting is optimal, both the Shroud auto attack and #2 are less effective at max range due to how often they miss moving targets - they don't have homing like Death Shroud auto.
• While I expressed that steady % life force conversion healing wasn't healthy for PvP before because it promoted being a weird Shroud-less bunker, I didn't mean remove it altogether and give nothing in return. I thought the life force conversion was a nice twist on the mechanic and it flipped how Harbinger handles pressure compared to other Necro specs. It was just too passive and didn't promote or require keeping up high Blight to be effective.
• Life Force generation doesn't matter much anymore - the grandmaster minor was there so the previous version would work, now it just gives you a resource you overflow with already.
• With no healing and less mobility, Harbinger needs some extra defenses, because it gets absolutely dumpstered when looked at. Preferably something tied to a cooldown and, this time, promoting keeping up Blight. Like a F2 cooldown that gives temporary strong LF conversion and/or heavy damage reduction in exchange for LF and it's cooldown ticks down a lot quicker for each stack of Blight you have.
• Personally I'm let down with the current route of removing Blight instead of leveraging it like the designed low-HP builds in GW1 did - there's no lack of inspiration there and to see not even a glimpse of the famous 55 hp Monk abilities. Harbinger doesn't embrace the theme of lowering it's HP. Some Blight interactivity was added in the form of Blight removal, but it's pretty basic and I think you could be a lot more creative with it...
• ...however, it's the final beta so I guess we will have to settle on removing Blight as a mechanic rather than going after it. As noted before, how many stacks of Blight we have has to be clearly visible - it currently isn't.
• On Traits - nothing has changed. Power line is still a waste of trait slots, Elixirs still eat up two trait slots, Grandmasters are still uninspired pulses for a spec that doesn't want to stay in fight. Only difference is you nerfed the modifier trait and it now has anti-synergy with Blight removal (I believe people still dont even use Shroud 3 and 4 on golem benchmarks).
• On Elixirs - they got better (with the exception of the heal elixir- why remove Vigor from a glass cannon?), but are nothing groundbreaking as far as creativity goes. Some boon removal, few conditions, damage, that's it. Doesn't affect their viability - elixirs that were useful in Beta 1 are still useful, ones that were not still are not. Tosses are also entirely destroyed by projectile blocks.
• On Shroud - too much of it's power is still located on spamming autoattack. Shroud 3 and 4 got Blight interaction and allow to burst people even harder with insane amounts of Torment. I wished for Shroud 3 to perhaps interact with the autoattack in a post after Beta 1, but it's just fire and forget. Shroud 5 now works like a delayed trap, I don't know if this was intentional.
• This elite specialization suffers from lack of skill expression, again. Some of it went away with life force conversion removal, but in general, the only skillful part of Harbinger is staying alive. Dealing damage, utilizing mechanics and skills is an afterthought, you press few things on cooldown and spam Shroud autoattack most of the time. What it also translates to is this thing is boring as f in PvE. Now we are at this weird point where Harbinger gives up the simplicity and tankiness of Reaper and Scourge, but it doesn't get any more complex mechanically - so it doesn't appeal to people who liked the two mentioned specs, but it doesn't appeal to people who were looking forward to more mechanically advanced Necro spec either.

Overall, after the last changes I feel like Harbinger would need two more beta tests worth of changes and feedback, but we are at the last beta. It's certainly the least finished Elite spec I've tried this week and I hope you guys and girls can make it more fun and cohesive for the release.

xoxo

 

 

Edited December 3, 2021 by Rym.1469
.

[LucianDK.8615]

Regarding Harbinger getting shut down by reflects/projectile destruction. The Virtuosu have the exact same problem.

[Tachenon.5270]

After searching this topic for the word 'GREEN', I see I'm not the only one who isn't a fan of the bilious, noxious, overbearing neon GREEN of blight. Which somehow I didn't notice the first time around. Maybe because I only briefly tried it with a tiny little asura. This time, though, I tried it with a tall, slender, graceful fashion conscious sylvari, and there's no not noticing it now. I have to wonder, why would the devs tone down the Untamed but leave this eyesore intact? What is behind their obsession with GREEN? And another thing! When the blight gets going it looks like my grim, gritty, foreboding sylvari Harbinger of, like, Death, or Disease, or Doom, or whatever, is wearing big fuzzy slippers. GREEN ones!

Sometimes I feel like they're just trolling us.

[TwoTongues.5163]

Harbinger is still just a slightly better feeling core necro with far less utility. Reaper is still far better at power builds and has its shroud to tank, Scourge is still just as good if not better at condi application and has built in self and group support. Core necro still has actual build synergy with it's traits and has the abilty to control fights and hold points. Harbinger really doesn't do anything at all. It has been repeatedly said that this was meant to be high risk high reward. When I see that statement now, i read it like I would a clickbait title on youtube. " The all new Harbinger is high risk high reward, click here to see why! ". Then you click and you feel lied to.

 

Pick a direction. Boon share is a non starter and so is power in the Harbinger kit. At this point, do your jobs and figure those out or just scrap them. If you aren't going to allow access to the very uninspired potions while in shroud, you need to change the interactions with skills in shroud. Literally all we get is a half second stun and a 3 second float that you can RP walk out of because the cast time is so long and the tell is as obvious as a slap in the face. No interactions with chill, no interactions with fear. You are led to only use 2 skills in shroud across all builds. The movement skills were decent, now it's just annoying to use them.

 

As far as potions are concerned, it's pretty clear to me that you've hit a wall with them at this point in time. May as well just add an effect of some sort, a puff of smoke that matches the colour of the potion icon and add whatever arbitrary sound effect you want. Right now potions are boring and forgettable across the board. Just do something like this and call it a day, give us something flashy to look at like the plebs you seem to believe us to be.

 

And just like I said in the Bladsworn feedback......................... The cats out of the bag when it comes to power creep. We are pretty much a decade in to the game and course correcting now is too little too late. Maybe, just maybe, you might want to look at how players interact with NPCs in fights. Maybe you should be getting creative with that instead of creating enemies that you can just auto attack down and then nerfing all damage because the 10's of thousands of target dummies that exist in PVE take too much damage.  Again, just like I said in the BS feedback forum. Maybe I belong in the group of players with an over developed sense of entitlement. I can put my hand up to that. Here's the thing though. Between the over 3 year absence on communicating a single thing about alliances, The very spotty balance passes, The hilariously poor communication ( up until recently and I do commend you all for that ), getting gauged for build templates and the like, and the botched IBS fiasco. I'm just cynical now. I just don't trust you guys anymore.

[Rebexii.8253]

Harbringer is a good concept, it's a strong spec for quick kills but lacking survivability.  I take issue with the default build when mixed with the elixirs feel quite boring, not sure how the other animations are or the range of skills for other classes, I only try what I main outside of beta. Let me also add that it is a nice ranged spec but unlike other professions I feel you end up in melee range quickly, the alternative for this would be a minion build but the elixirs become obsolete and some of them are great.

I like it but it's no where near perfect.

 

[Bale.3851]

Harbinger is already obsolete / DOA. After playing in for 14h in pvp with every possible setting its clear that reaper and even core are better roaming builds than this hot pile of garbinger. Sure the extra mobility is fun but you know whats fun to? Playing specter. If you are looking for a mobile necro specc take specter. Power / condi / support you name it you get it. Harbinger feels not finished in the slightest. Even beta 1 was better than what we have now. A clear backdraw. Maybe im just salty after seeing my favorite class butchered, but why is it that thief gets everything with specter necro was told they cant have cause they have a damage absorbing shroud?? May tell me that...

 

TL;DR Revert the changes on harbinger and start from there or just start from zero idc. The iteration right now is bad in every possible way pvp wise (guess in PVE its the same).

[Urshuk.2467]

TBH i love it, feels amazing ❤️

[Bale.3851]

tbh and u can enjoy it if you want a faster paced necro on range. But the moment you try to play competitive in pve / pvp you will face a wall of tears.

[Zewix.6093]

I unfortunately didn't play harbinger in the first beta but even without playing it back then I notice a big loss in damage and survivability. It went from one of the highest dpsing specs to probably one of the worse out of the new and that is without bringing much to the table to begin with. It needs either some of it's damage back or something to make it worth bringing to a group or else it's going to be incapable compared to other specs. Also tried some 1v1 with a friend against most of the other specs and while it is capable of dealing damage it's also very squishy, but then again my build wasn't well optimized for pvp.

-The heal elixir is great as it is imo, as for the rest of the elixirs they still need some tuning.
-Pistol skills are a bit worse than scepters damage-wise (just comparing the weapons I saw around 1.5k dps difference with viper exotics and a set of krait runes (which favor scepter slightly more because of the bleed duration), it could have some kind of buff but then again the shots pierce/bounce so it's not something major imo. 

I would've made a more in-depth feedback if I had some more time to play and test it out some more, but I can see that others have made solid points already and I am confident you will do your best to release these specs more polished once EoD launches. Having one more elite spec beta would've been healthy for the expansion though.
The spec is fun and feels unique while still having that necro feel to it. Overall I think you did a great job with most of the specs and I enjoyed trying them all out.

[Eddy.7051]

Skills

• Blight Threshold - This concept is counterintuitive. Maintaining blight increases dps (with Wicked/Septic Corruption), yet spending blight past the blight threshold increases the skill damage. It isn't conceptually clear whether consuming or preserving blight will increase dps. I recommend scrapping or reworking blight threshold.
• If blight threshold is reworked, the threshold should be increased from 5 to 10/15 and it could reduce skill cooldown (elixirs) or increase travel distance (shroud skills) rather than increasing damage/condition output. This way, the decision will be between damage or mobility/cc/support rather than being between damage or damage.
• Blight consumption should also scale in effect (20% per consumed blight stack) rather than requiring 5 blight (100% effect every time)
• Elixirs
• I like the ability to control whether you want to increase or decrease blight, but it interacts poorly with Vile Vails support builds who stack with allies and ideally want to minimize blight since they gain no perks from blight. Maybe blight can be consumed for each ally affected (with the idea that the blight is being shared).
• It is also unintuitive for me to remember that initially using/drinking the elixir does not give blight but standing in the splash area does give blight. I am drinking the elixir on its initial use, right? How else am I gaining the boons on its initial use? I would intuitively imagine that both exposures would give me blight, or change it so that I am not drinking or gaining boons on its initial use and I have to be in the splash area to gain the boons along with the blight.
• Icon artwork should be more varied in bottle position and/or shape like engineer elixir icons. The current artwork is too similar and challenging for colorblind folks.

Traits

• Twisted Medicine - If boons are still acquired on initial use rather than having to be in the splash area, the Harbinger should double dip in boons if they are one of the 5 targets in the splash area.
• Power damage row - These traits feel out of place when elixirs apply conditions, pistol skills apply torment, and Harbinger shroud skills apply torment.
• Rework the Wicked Corruption trait to be more defensive (increase toughness, increase movement speed, or reduce condition durations on yourself).
• Replace the ferocity bonus in the Implacable Foe trait.
• Rework the Cascading Corruption trait to be more about CC/non-damaging conditions and high frequency of hits to proc life siphoning and on-critical hit effects (like pulsing 1 second slow, cripple, and minor impact damage every 1.5 seconds rather than every 3 seconds - no stat boost is needed)

Edited December 3, 2021 by Eddy.7051

[ziggamalay.4297]

Harbinger damage is way too low in PvE.... You need to compare it does function directly with scourge...

 

Scourge with viper can do more DPS than harbinger right now.

 

I know 45k in beta 1 was too high but it needs to be 38-41k to be worth it against both scourge and every other DPS spec because the risk reward gameplay can't be justified against safer specializations that can compete with its DPS.

 

If you don't want to raise the DPS of harbae then consider just a strong burst function to justify the blight risk reward gameplay.

 

It this point it just isn't worth it. I love necro and have played since release but harbinger being a simple glass cannon blasty gameplay needs to have the numbers relative to the WHOLE game to justify it.

[Subli.8217]

I feel like the shroud skill 3 and 4 shouldn't remove blight stacks, because it feels like you're nerfing yourself then (you lose %dmg modifiers). Like I would definitely feel discouraged from using those skills because I will lose damage modifier. 

[Bale.3851]

in pve thats true but your damage rotation normally dont contain these 2 spells. Im not saing its good design just mentioning you dont use these skills rotationwise.

[Drarnor Kunoram.5180]

Thresholds as a principle are good, but consuming blight on skill use turns the class from balancing risk vs reward to trying to juggle ever-changing modifiers to be relevant.  It's not fun nor effective.  In addition to the suggestions below, I do want to bring up now that it would be a welcome addition if we had a UI element added like a Skyscale's altitude gauge, but divided into 5 sections to track Blight.  Each full section would be 5 stacks of Blight, letting players easily keep track of their blight thresholds.

 

I do think there should be a method of removing blight from yourself, but it should be done as a method of controlling the risk, not as a payoff or goal.  I suggest making Elixir of Promise the only method of actually removing Blight (maybe Elixir of Bliss as a second option) while all other skills dealing with blight thresholds get the extra benefits, but not remove the blight.

 

The traits of Harbinger just feel awful.  Not only do you have clones of traits (Wicked/Sceptic Corruption, Cascading Corruption/Doom Approaches), but these traits aren't even synergistic to the design of the rest of the specialization.  Add in that Harbinger doesn't care about the size of the life force pool anymore, lacks Fear, and doesn't work with Unholy Sanctuary or Transfusion (though this last one is probably a bug), and traits are a massive, massive issue for the Harbinger specialization.  I'd honestly be in favor of delaying the release of Harbinger until after launch if that is required to get a trait overhaul.

 

Also, please change the Elixir skill icons.  I can't tell which is which.  I only know which ones Promise and Ambition are because no others can go in their slots.

Edited December 4, 2021 by Drarnor Kunoram.5180

[Stand The Wall.6987]

23 hours ago, Lily.1935 said:

2. Blight shouldn't be able to be removed. It causes a lot of calculation issues and fights the spec's mechanics which I've pointed out in great detail.

what?! thats the worst idea ever for pvp/ wvw. it will kill the class lol, unless they change the - vitality part.

[Drarnor Kunoram.5180]

22 minutes ago, Stand The Wall.6987 said:

what?! thats the worst idea ever for pvp/ wvw. it will kill the class lol, unless they change the - vitality part.

I can agree that shroud 3+4 shouldn't remove blight, though.  Removing blight while in shroud decreases your remaining time in shroud.

 

Sure, Shroud may not be any defense at all any more, but you still shouldn't be reducing your remaining time just because you used a skill.

[SunTzu.4513]

Greetings,

 

first of all sry for my typos english is not my native language and i hadn't used it for a while.

 

I play necromancer since the release of HoT as my main class. I mostly do PvE so my feedback is only related to this gamemode.

 

Overall i like the coceptional idea and theme. A high risk/high reward glass cannon with a build in trade off for it's dps wich the player need to manage with the blight stacks. So far so good, but imo the execution is really lacking.

 

The change to the elixirs to be throwable aoe are good, but feels very lackluster to me. Some boons are tied to them but nothing really cool or fun. Also please reskin the elixirs icons. They look really odd and i would love to see their icons looking more like the Harbinger class icon.

 

The blight mechanik in the first beta was way more fun to me. It's curren't design don't get me into the feeling of beeing this super fragile but really hard hitting kind of elixir throwing, self destructive maniac.

 

It does not really feel rewarding to play around with blight. At the moment i feel really fragile with full DPS gear, because necro at itself is really lacking at the selfsustain skills department, but i also not feeling like i do really good numbers on the DPS side. So there is a risk but no reward for me.

 

Pistol still feels like a reskinned/used Engi pistol to me. Why do you not dare to try something new with it? Ranged DPS is a dead concept in this game imo (for PvE) we need to stack on top of each other for boon sharing. Also the pulsing GM Trait is close combat related.

 

So go on to the trait's. Overall i really dilike the every spec should do everything equally. On row condi, one row power dps and one row is for support. Don't do this. It's imo much better if you focusing on one thing to be good per Elite and give us traits to allow us to alternate/change our gameplay within this one thing. I'm also not a big fan of flat percantage increases. The Traits wicked/septic corruption as example should baked in into the blight mechanik. Make the blight mechik the spec defining thing which everything else is build around. For me it feels like i need to choose one of these traits for a proper functionality and rewarding gameplay with blight. That's lazy design for me. Give us options to change our playstyle with traits significantly.

 

I know i have no soloutions offered how to really change the point's i adressed. But for me the whole gameplay of the Harbinger feels just not good at all at the moment.