Changes to the Necromancer Epic 2.0 in the August 2020 Update

Discussion in 'News and Announcements' started by Aristo, Aug 11, 2020.

  1. Kase Augur

    What? I just rolled my first necro ever 2 weeks ago. My intent is to go thru all content from 85 and up solo vs my regular boxing, and Im having great time doing so. I finished my Epic 2.0 in the first 2 days and love it! I can actually play without a group and no boxing! The epic helps. Plus the fact its the best looking epic imo in game... NOW your telling me I lose all this PLUS now I have to do the Epic Request just to get an aug for the appearance to top it off? In addition, the amount of time-effort put into an epic is HUGE(assuming you do it pre-heroic character) and should be a reward on every epic forever. The name EPIC alone implies well it's EPIC! If this trickles into other classes epics then whats the point of even doing them anymore? Instead of nerfing necros epic why not upgrade others to also include "forever" goodness??
  2. feigntrain Elder

    At least Necros get a focus effect on their 2.0. Beastlords are still waiting to get one.
  3. Kase Augur

    You would equip a Beastlord epic if it did? 23 delay 38 damage?
  4. I-WANT-IT-NOW Augur

    No one has issue with him adjusting the damage back or is claiming current necromancer dps is fine. If any of the burn them down folks care to look there was a ton of outcry to not do the revamps and he ignored it. Changing the epic at this point without carrying some or most of the critical rate forward with new AA entirely changes the class and only makes it harder for him to put necros where he wants.
  5. Chanaluss Can spell Doljonijiarnimorinar, Iqthinxa Karnkvi

    I remember proposing this very thing back at Fan Faire 2009. better late than never, i suppose.
  6. Andarriel Everquest player since 2000

    LOL epics for most classes been useless for years glad for the change finally! now get over it.

    Andarriel
    Funky, Skuz, smash and 1 other person like this.
  7. Quedan New Member



    Completely agree ... short sighted from the Dev team .. Either all should have had some use .. or none.
    Its a fix thats been LONG overdue
  8. zleski Augur

    Often in game design it's desirable to open the play space because if there's only one "correct" way to play the game, then people will play it that way and lead to a stale metagame environment because of that lack of diversity. In that way I understand the decision here and as a high level Necromancer I also understand that using my 2.0 epic is the only correct way to play.

    The current end game is very focused around the best items for the best stats with the best augs. Anyone can go to raidloot and see what the best items are and that's what people will be holding.

    We will have this same problem in two months with Necromancers instead focusing on the one single best handheld items for stats. Those of us who choose to use Deathwhisper have made a conscious choice to hold it over the best ToV item because it's worth it to us to lose out on thousands of mana, stats, health and AC for the added damage. We're not engaging in melee combat (getting riposted for 47k sucks).

    Fundamentally I feel there's a disconnect between the goal of diversifying the metagame and the implementation. Like it or not, holding Deathwhisper has been the correct way to play the class for more than a decade and making this change with a week's notice is leaving the players of the game with a sour extra-gaming experience. That is, it isn't the video game itself that's responsible for forcing us to change our weapon, but something outside.

    I do not understand the hastiness of this and lack of engagement with the player base to ensure a smooth transition to the desired state. Many others have called for an expansion to the Critical Affliction AA line to make up for the change. Some, I'm sure are thinking about more favourable ways to gradient the change so players aren't left in a lurch after working hard for the achievement.

    I'd also like to see some kind of roadmap about the class. My Necromancer was created in June of 1999 and after a long break I returned to the game this past June to complete my Epic 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0. In that time I've already been nerfed once because my DoTs don't stack like they used to, and now I'm going to lose out on even more damage, which will make me less attractive to groups. This serves to reinforce the stereotype that Necromancers are loners. We have no meaningful group buffs, other classes have comparable or better DoTs, debuffs and pets. (boo hoo, woe is me, right?)

    My last concern is around the concept of balance. There will always be a (real, or perceived )"best" class or "most damaging" class. Who is allowed to hold that position and why? What are the vision statements for each class? What guides the balancing efforts between each class?

    To summarise, I think opening up the diversity is a good thing, but in this case the execution is falling short and leaving a lot of players feeling shortchanged. I'm not going to cancel my account (again), nor am I going to rage and play a different class. I really love playing my Necromancer because I like the concept of the class, and there are funny roleplaying moments.

    We're speaking out because we care deeply about the game, our class and the playstyle. I'm sure many people don't have the right words to express why it's a problem, but that shouldn't take away from the impact of the feedback. Other people clapping their hands that other people are upset about these changes ought to take a long look in the mirror because that's pretty low behaviour.
    Grove and Kase like this.
  9. CatsPaws No response to your post cause your on ignore

    [quote="Kase, post: 3955182, member: 431227" PLUS now I have to do the Epic Request just to get an aug for the appearance to top it off? [/quote]

    Where was this mentioned? That you have to do the other quest to get the appearance aug? You mean its not going to look like it used to? Otherwise we have always had to do the Epic Request to get additional weapon augs to make any weapon look like epics
  10. Kase Augur

    Where was this mentioned? That you have to do the other quest to get the appearance aug?[/quote]

    There's been a quest for this for long time...A Epic Request from the high elf in felwithe
  11. Ecos New Member

    My understanding of necro damage is limited to level 105 as I play on Phinny. The damage disparity between necro and everyone else is very real and I'm happy to see this change coming. Now just consolidate the "necrotizing wounds" line of dots. =)
    Venau and Skuz like this.
  12. Deux Corpse Connoisseur

    In the history of EQ I'm pretty sure the necromancer class is the all-time leading class for volume of nerfs
  13. feigntrain Elder


    If it had a decent focus or proc, why not? Name a beastlord usable 1 hand weapon in OoW or DoN that has a better ratio than that. I'll wait. Even up to DoDH only Cryptwood Tonfa and Twinfang beat it. The real issue is the lack of a usable focus or proc. A weapon with a worse ratio that has a good proc is going to be better for beastlords since they don't even have Double Attack yet at that point in the game but can crit on procs.
  14. Deux Corpse Connoisseur

    It would be nice if the dev team actually asked necromancers about this fwiw. If they wanted to eliminate this as a perpetual effect, then my humble suggestion would be to make this a click effect from inventory that stacks with our COA robe, DOT crit AAs, etc with an appropriate cooldown timer. Replace the useless group tap skeleton that pretty much dies instantly.
    Emarra likes this.
  15. Password1234 Augur

    It's a shame that the necro epic had to go all the way from "required" to "useless" in one shot like this. I think changing it to work as a clickable effect like others said would put it in the "occasionally useful" category like a handful of others.
    Emarra likes this.
  16. Ibudin Augur



    No one was forcing a necro to use it, if they wanted to output the max dps they could, you used it. Just like our shield from EOK, we still use it, no one is forcing us, its the best DPS for the slot as a raider.

    As far as the change, ...meh we had a good run. I'm tired of being number 1 always.
  17. Razorfall Augur

    Good. No item should have to be essential for that amount of time.
    Coagagin, Skuz and Andarriel like this.
  18. smash Augur

    It was mentioned when the epic request task got out, you cannot get the task unless you got epic 1 or 1.5 or 2 or 2.5.
    So been there a long long time
  19. Evurkvest Augur

    Guess this is the beginning of the end to all the now usefull epics. Going to miss the SK one more tbh.
  20. Dhurgan Augur

    Let's see some unbiased parses with and without the epic.
    Coagagin and Skuz like this.