Questions for Necromancers and Ritualists but all are welcome to reply - Guild Wars Forums

VivaValiente · Dec 29, 2011, 07:01 PM // 19:01

Hey everyone. I am researching and writing a piece about Guild Wars 1 and paying special attention to death and dying within the game. Since Necromancers and Ritualists are the roles who seem most associated with powers of manipulating the dead/spirits., I would like some of your thoughts on your experiences in guild wars. (I'm aware that not all necros and ritualists concentrate on manipulating the dead and spirits. I'm also aware that these things vary depending on which extension you play). Anyone who has played as a necromancer or ritualist (or both) before is also welcome to share their thoughts!

Questions for Necromancers and Ritualists:

1. Why did you choose your profession specifically?
2. What are some of the positive benefits about being able to work with spirits or manipulate minions?
3. Has playing this role changed your perception about death or the dead in the game?
4. How is the storyline/narrative as a Necromancer or Ritualist unique, different, or meaningful for you?

Questions that all players can answer:

1. What is your attitude towards dying in the game? (i.e. how does it make you feel?)
2. Would you prefer that Guild Wars never had death in the game? Why or why not?
3. Does dying make the game a challenge for you? (as in when you're completing a quest and continuing with your storyline)
4. Are there any positive aspects to dying? Does it help the game become more interesting (in a quest, by yourself, with your guild, or party, etc)?

No one has to answer all questions. If anyone else has any other thoughts, please share! I would very much appreciate honest and straightforward answers. Thanks!

Eronia · Dec 29, 2011, 07:28 PM // 19:28

1. I liked the idea of being able to raise an army of minions which would protect me as well as damage everything around me.
2. They provide a shield, do damage, and are renewable.
3. No
4. I found that the most interesting thing in the story was the social taboo of studying minion making with the necromancer Vereta iirc. It seemed to me like the Guild Wars world knew of what was possible through the power of manipulating death but was afraid of that power too.

1. Dying makes me angry, especially if I could have prevented it.
2. Definitely not, no death makes the game much less realistic and imo less fun.
3. Dying for me is not so much of a challenge but I run into issues the most when I have to protect an NPC and they die.
4. Sometimes I use death to get from one point to another, as in to get back to a resurrection shrine that I don't want to walk to.

Good luck on your piece.

Olle · Dec 29, 2011, 07:45 PM // 19:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by VivaValiente

Questions for Necromancers and Ritualists:

1. Why did you choose your profession specifically?
It was the first character i made, i kinda liked the "dark side" of the necromancer, and the proffession seemed quite mystic.

2. What are some of the positive benefits about being able to work with spirits or manipulate minions?
Since the minions in Guild Wars are dumb as...yeah, they dont have any great benefits other than being great meatshield.
Spirits are better than minions, but i still want to actually CONTROL my minions, not raise them and let them go berserk on an ranger whilst the monk is keeping him alive.

3. Has playing this role changed your perception about death or the dead in the game?
Not really, but reading the lore about Grenth and the Underworld surely made me think the of the necromancers as more than just an proffession.

4. How is the storyline/narrative as a Necromancer or Ritualist unique, different, or meaningful for you?
noone likes death, necromancers do,therefor, noone likes necros.

Questions that all players can answer:

1. What is your attitude towards dying in the game? (i.e. how does it make you feel?)
I get a bit frustrated because i know i really shouldent be dying in this easy game after 6 years.

2. Would you prefer that Guild Wars never had death in the game? Why or why not?
No, dying is the best way to show you that you are doing something wrong. also necromancers wouldent be in the game if there were no death's

3. Does dying make the game a challenge for you? (as in when you're completing a quest and continuing with your storyline)
yes it does, as i said, if my party wipes, i know im doing something wrong& changes has to be made.dying is good

4. Are there any positive aspects to dying? Does it help the game become more interesting (in a quest, by yourself, with your guild, or party, etc)?
As above, you need to die to be able to improve.
No one has to answer all questions. If anyone else has any other thoughts, please share! I would very much appreciate honest and straightforward answers. Thanks!

some good, but a bit wierd questions ^^

urania · Dec 29, 2011, 08:00 PM // 20:00

A) why ppl choose them.
1.
nec: hexes are OP and fairly easy for the msot part, foul feast+plague sending carries in pvp, sr used to be broken as hell in combo with mm and spirit spam, minions are izi-mode pve and broke pvp a few times even.
rt: as with minions, spirits are lol izi pve, weapon spells are unstrippable and hence too good not to take, party heal is good, item spells are strong, their ability to support the team offensively and defensively, and at the same time shutdown melees with blind spam (all of those 3 on one bar) or chunk out big damages with spirit str is just silly. as a matter of fact, even rts can choose to summon minions since they will benefit from some of their spawning spells)

2. in pve, spirits and minions are your meat shield because most of the teams will wipe to HM mobs hitting unprotted targets (lord forbid pve monks would bring prots). both also represent e management. but besides being meat shields they also deliver big damage (in small packets) which can be further enhanced with some hexes (barbs and its rt alternative for spirits). oh and st shelter spam>HM.

in pvp, minions only make an appearance when OP (old jagged bones says hi, old mm factories say hi), otherwise you'll only be seeing RAers being 'aggroed' by them. hence, they're fairly useless, unless they're a hex after-effect.
the thing with spirits is that ppl tend to treat them like minions in pve and just leave them alone-tha's one of the reasons why some rt bars are very strong, especially if they resolve around those few vital spirits (destruction, bloodsong, life). kill the spirits and they'll only be half as effective if the bars resolve around them.

in pve, they're meat shield, can be kept up forever as long as you're killing, they're e management (sr, channeling/spawning spells that give energy/e-regen for spirits within earshot).

3. dying in gw doesnt matter (in pve). in pvp, it depends on the situation.

4. why care?

B) about GW

1. idc as long as its not in a situation that will prove highly annoying if i'd die (e.g. running over half the map to get to the designated place again) or will end up in a loss in pvp.

2. gw2 dealt more closely with that issue.

3. only if im facing good opponents in pvp. pve barely matters because it's just a bunch of OP AI going rampage.

4. positive effects: strategic dying before timer in pvp (be it RA, CA, HA or gvg) is something immensely important in pvp. dying alone when you aggroed a huge mob or two rather than running over to your team and have them wipe along with you is another good example of strategic dying.
negative effects: if you do not act as listed above in such and similar situations.

Star_Jewel · Dec 29, 2011, 08:33 PM // 20:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by VivaValiente

Questions for Necromancers and Ritualists:

1. Why did you choose your profession specifically?

The ritualist always seemed interesting to me -- it was my second or third character. There's a lot of power in the class (this was before the spirit buff) and they're very pretty.
It took me a while to warm to necromancers. I always ran with necro heroes and felt kind of redundant in PvE. I mostly did MM in PvP. It wasn't until much later that I made a PvE necro to do LDoA, since that seemed like a pretty logical death-loving profession to death level with.

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2. What are some of the positive benefits about being able to work with spirits or manipulate minions?

They take a lot of heat off by providing a distraction in group and solo play.

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3. Has playing this role changed your perception about death or the dead in the game?

The guy who got me into the game tried to push me to try necros a lot sooner than I did, but I wasn't really wild about their "supernatural" appearance. I played around with various looks and discovered I could make a rather "normal" looking necro....but by the time I was embracing the class, I was also fully on board with embracing the deathly "gothic" look.

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4. How is the storyline/narrative as a Necromancer or Ritualist unique, different, or meaningful for you?

Their devotion to Grenth makes them rather cool, since Grenth is a cool dude. I also like the mystical qualities of the ritualist that seem to tie to RL tribal mysticism.

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Questions that all players can answer:

1. What is your attitude towards dying in the game? (i.e. how does it make you feel?)

I've gone for the Survivor title(s) practically since I started playing, so I have an aversion to dying in the game. Even characters that are not/no longer striving for the title, I feel a pang of guilt when they die. The deaths counter makes this worse.
My LDoA would have been a good way to get over that, but they added the Pre quests as soon as she started death-leveling.

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2. Would you prefer that Guild Wars never had death in the game? Why or why not?

As opposed to what? Calling it "down" or "unconscious" or whatever, instead of "dead"? Or just not being penalized for failing with any time outs at all?
Nah. Death serves a purpose. And it's not a big deal for it to be called "death" since "death" in games means so little ever since the earliest games.

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3. Does dying make the game a challenge for you? (as in when you're completing a quest and continuing with your storyline)

Really annoying when ruining a run for Legendary Survivor.... A minor inconvenience when questing or trying to run somewhere. In PvP, it's just an expected part of the game.

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4. Are there any positive aspects to dying? Does it help the game become more interesting (in a quest, by yourself, with your guild, or party, etc)?

It can get you to a res shrine across a zone quicker than running there. A corpse can provide quite a boon to a necro who will use it for a minion or a well. In some forms of PvP, I'm sometimes begging for a nicely-placed body to drop a well on.

Hanok Odbrook · Dec 29, 2011, 08:34 PM // 20:34

1. Why did you choose your profession specifically?
Primarily because I wanted to have at least one character for from each Profession. I chose Necro earlier than others because of the minion aspect of it. Rit was just because that was one of the new profs and I wanted to see how it played.

2. What are some of the positive benefits about being able to work with spirits or manipulate minions?
One of the primary benefits I saw from being or having a Minion Master in the group was that the minions can be used as meat shields and a distraction while PvEing. Rit can be the same way, depending on the spirits chosen. I have one Rit that is primarily offensive with only the PvE spirit skill, while the other acts as a secondary spirit healing source to my Hero Monks, but can still deal out adequate damage.

3. Has playing this role changed your perception about death or the dead in the game?
My perception about death in either event really hasn't changed. From a gameplay standpoint, having the MM or SS in a party has made completing the game a lot less frustrating due to the benefits mentioned above.

4. How is the storyline/narrative as a Necromancer or Ritualist unique, different, or meaningful for you?
Due to the design of the game, there's not much difference from a storyline or narrative point of view when picking one profession over the other. Main differences are your starting area and some of the quests you can (or can't) do because of it. I don't RP my characters too much, so the differences just come from the small changes I need to make in tactics when playing the game with each of my characters.
~*~*~
1. What is your attitude towards dying in the game? (i.e. how does it make you feel?)
It's pretty much a PIA. I come from the old school RPG where dying had bigger consequences (like loss of the character completely), but it was much harder to actually die while playing a game. So I have always played the game in "Survivor" mode (long before the title even came into being), because to me, dying=failure. In the beginning, I even cringed when my Henchies and later, Heroes would die.

I think that too often it is now used as an artificial means to create difficulty in a game instead of having any real significance. I remember playing the Auto Assault beta, and found it refreshing that you didn't actually die in the game, only got a "time out" while your vehicle was air-lifted back to a repair depot to get fixed. I heard that the FPS game Prey was similar in fashion. It's one of the few changes in GW2 that I liked - much harder to die and a lot less annoying (DP, et al.) when it happens.

2. Would you prefer that Guild Wars never had death in the game? Why or why not?
I always thought the Death Penalty should have been eliminated. Pre-Searing was much better as it didn't have DP. However, as much as I would like to say that it would be nice to remove dying completely, there still needs to be some consequence for failure to keep some kind of excitement and thrill in battle. If we were to remove character death completely, without having some other sort of penalty, it would make fighting pointless and unexciting. I think that dying and having to respawn at a nearby shrine is good enough - just get rid of the DP altogether. And as Olle said, if there was no death in the game, then the Necromancer would need a major re-design as much of their skills rely on corpse exploitation.

3. Does dying make the game a challenge for you? (as in when you're completing a quest and continuing with your storyline)
In the early days of the game, yes - but more from a point of frustration rather than being challenging. The missions in each of the three main campaigns make you start from the beginning if your group wipes - there was no way to save progress so you could skip over the parts you could beat to get straight to the point where you had failed before.

Again, for the most part, like in HM, UW, FoW, and those other areas where wipes (or DP) kick you completely from the area, just makes it seem too much like an artificial device devs fall back on to create a challenge when they can't think of any other way to do it. I liken it to a game that advertises something like 20 hours of gameplay, when in reality there is only 10 - but when you reach the final part of the game you are forced to repeat those 10 hours because of some artificial contrivance created by the devs - like needing a certain item to continue that did not spawn until you reached that point and now you have to go back to get it, and amazingly enough, all the mobs you already defeated are respawned too!

4. Are there any positive aspects to dying? Does it help the game become more interesting (in a quest, by yourself, with your guild, or party, etc)?
As I mentioned, since fighting is the bulk of the game, some type of consequence for failure is needed to maintain some level of excitement in all the fighting that needs to be done. If some other mechanism could be implemented to perform the same purpose without having to rely on character deaths and having to re-grind areas like I mentioned above in terms of the missions, then I would be interested in seeing how that would be implemented.

Hanok

Chthon · Dec 29, 2011, 08:40 PM // 20:40

I think your questions all share an underlying misconception that everyone feels a philosophical or emotional impact from in-game death and death-related professions. All lot of us don't; We tend to view such things as little or nothing more than game mechanics and tactical issues. You're likely to get (and you've already gotten) answers that are more concerned with game mechanics or gameplay tactics than with the topics it seems you're actually interested in. I suggest you rephrase your questions to be more clear about their focus. Otherwise you're going to continue to get answers like "strategic dying right before the rez timer in RA/CA/HA/GVG is a good idea," or "dying is the only only way to get teleported past the wall in Dunes of Despair," or "when my PUG has a terrible player, I like it when the monks just let him/her die so I can make another minion."

VivaValiente · Dec 29, 2011, 08:58 PM // 20:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chthon

I think your questions all share an underlying misconception that everyone feels a philosophical or emotional impact from in-game death and death-related professions. All lot of us don't; We tend to view such things as little or nothing more than game mechanics and tactical issues. You're likely to get (and you've already gotten) answers that are more concerned with game mechanics or gameplay tactics than with the topics it seems you're actually interested in. I suggest you rephrase your questions to be more clear about their focus. Otherwise you're going to continue to get answers like "strategic dying right before the rez timer in RA/CA/HA/GVG is a good idea," or "dying is the only only way to get teleported past the wall in Dunes of Despair," or "when my PUG has a terrible player, I like it when the monks just let him/her die so I can make another minion."

I don't hold that everyone feels a philosophical or emotional impact. That's why I asked that everyone be straightforward and honest. I am very aware that many people do not care about death or don't even speculate that death has anything to do with their professions. But I have ran into plenty of people who do. I'm just trying to investigate what death in this game might mean to all players, period-whether it be via game tactics or not.

The fact that people talk about game mechanics and gameplay tactics in conjuction to these questions on death, or that they bring up gameplay action period, tells me then that death does play into the structure of the game. This, I find, valid enough to learn about.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Chthon

I suggest you rephrase your questions to be more clear about their focus. Otherwise you're going to continue to get answers like "strategic dying right before the rez timer in RA/CA/HA/GVG is a good idea," or "dying is the only only way to get teleported past the wall in Dunes of Despair," or "when my PUG has a terrible player, I like it when the monks just let him/her die so I can make another minion."

I'm not looking for any particular answers either. I provided certain questions certain implications, sure. But it's up to the responders to destroy any of those implications. If death isn't particularly meaningful to someone, then they should respond as Urania clearly responded on several questions with either "I don't care" or "death doesn't mean anything in GW".

HigherMinion · Dec 29, 2011, 09:11 PM // 21:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by VivaValiente

Hey everyone. I am researching and writing a piece about Guild Wars 1 and paying special attention to death and dying within the game. Since Necromancers and Ritualists are the roles who seem most associated with powers of manipulating the dead/spirits., I would like some of your thoughts on your experiences in guild wars. (I'm aware that not all necros and ritualists concentrate on manipulating the dead and spirits. I'm also aware that these things vary depending on which extension you play). Anyone who has played as a necromancer or ritualist (or both) before is also welcome to share their thoughts!

Questions for Necromancers and Ritualists:

1. Why did you choose your profession specifically?
2. What are some of the positive benefits about being able to work with spirits or manipulate minions?
3. Has playing this role changed your perception about death or the dead in the game?
4. How is the storyline/narrative as a Necromancer or Ritualist unique, different, or meaningful for you?

Questions that all players can answer:

1. What is your attitude towards dying in the game? (i.e. how does it make you feel?)
2. Would you prefer that Guild Wars never had death in the game? Why or why not?
3. Does dying make the game a challenge for you? (as in when you're completing a quest and continuing with your storyline)
4. Are there any positive aspects to dying? Does it help the game become more interesting (in a quest, by yourself, with your guild, or party, etc)?

No one has to answer all questions. If anyone else has any other thoughts, please share! I would very much appreciate honest and straightforward answers. Thanks!

1. I chose Necromancer because it had a punk style. Being able to manipulate multiple allies seemed like a bonus. I started out when you could spam Bone Fiends forever and have 20 of them pwning.

3. It has changed my perception in the sense that a death is an opportunity to deal more damage to the opposing team, whilst also giving them a chance to create minions/wells against me (if they have those skills) and alter the outcome if I target badly.

4. The storyline as a necromancer makes my actions instantly feel devilish and evil. Slightly wrong.

5. Dying is necessary... If there wasn't a mechanic for death, then you'd just be able to win with an empty skill bar and 0 defensive skills...

Reformed · Dec 29, 2011, 09:42 PM // 21:42

1. A friend persuaded me to make a necro for minion mastery, I've always hated it. Found OP curses and never looked back. Have had multiple ritualists and they exist solely for farming.

2. Both can contribute significantly to defense and offense making them more desirable and easier to work into a group.

3. With the way Anet clearly designed both minions and spirits to be mindless and expendable, not really. They are basically cannon fodder.

4. I consider GW to be below average in the story department so it's never been a particularly compelling aspect of the game to me.

1. You don't really get punished for 'dying' so it's more of an inconvenience.

2. Indifferent to it really...for plot purposes it helps produce a sense of compassion for NPCs. Mechanically you could call it anything you want since the player character is apparently incapable of actually staying dead by any means except being bored with life at some point in the near future.

3. It can be at times a constant irritation especially when a particular hero or group member you need alive is targeted by the AI. It can also border on unfair during the various NPC escort/protection quests in the game.

4. You can make it interesting by intentionally leaving moderate death penalty on the entire party. Some builds reward it such as the 1hp BiP.

BladeDVD · Dec 29, 2011, 11:00 PM // 23:00

Questions for Necromancers and Ritualists:

1. Why did you choose your profession specifically?
Necro seemed like a powerful profession and I was failing at being a good sin and my friends wanted me to try another profession. For the Ritualist, it was because I created one of each profession available.

2. What are some of the positive benefits about being able to work with spirits or manipulate minions?
Death Nova and SoS are fairly overpowered damage wise (for the effort and skill required) and they attract enemy AI attention relieving pressure on my heroes.

3. Has playing this role changed your perception about death or the dead in the game?
Only in the sense that some skills need exploitable corpses to work.

4. How is the storyline/narrative as a Necromancer or Ritualist unique, different, or meaningful for you?
Profession didn't affect the storyline/narrative for me, except that some professions do PVE better than others with my play style.

Questions that all players can answer:

1. What is your attitude towards dying in the game? (i.e. how does it make you feel?)
It's an inconvenience when it keeps me from something I want to do. How frustrated I get depends on how tired and irritable I already am and how many times I die due to my own stupidity or not realizing what was actually killing me.

2. Would you prefer that Guild Wars never had death in the game? Why or why not?
I prefer death being in a role playing game as long as you can be brought back to life. Penalties for mistakes makes you learn faster, but you don't want something that stops all progress, just delays it, or only sets you back a reasonable amount of time.

3. Does dying make the game a challenge for you? (as in when you're completing a quest and continuing with your storyline)
Well, usually if you die it means you made a mistake or didn't build your bars correctly, so yes, but given that you can usually be resurrected and continue on, it's not anywhere near the biggest challenge in the game.

4. Are there any positive aspects to dying? Does it help the game become more interesting (in a quest, by yourself, with your guild, or party, etc)?
It helps you learn faster because it tells you when you've messed up without necessarily halting all progress. It also provides opportunities to laugh at or commiserate with friends given the situation.

Xenomortis · Dec 29, 2011, 11:18 PM // 23:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by VivaValiente

Questions for Necromancers and Ritualists:

1. Why did you choose your profession specifically?
2. What are some of the positive benefits about being able to work with spirits or manipulate minions?
3. Has playing this role changed your perception about death or the dead in the game?
4. How is the storyline/narrative as a Necromancer or Ritualist unique, different, or meaningful for you?

1. Necromancers are cool
2. More bodies are good; slamming a wall of stuff into the enemy is a good path to success.
3. Not really. The mechanics of the Necro reinforce the notion of momentum when things start dying, but that notion was always there. I suppose those same mechanics work the other way, potentially helping reverse a bad situation, but that almost never happens.
4. They kill shit just like the other professions (although I guess they're better at it than some). I don't roleplay.

Quote:

Originally Posted by VivaValiente

Questions that all players can answer:

1. What is your attitude towards dying in the game? (i.e. how does it make you feel?)
2. Would you prefer that Guild Wars never had death in the game? Why or why not?
3. Does dying make the game a challenge for you? (as in when you're completing a quest and continuing with your storyline)
4. Are there any positive aspects to dying? Does it help the game become more interesting (in a quest, by yourself, with your guild, or party, etc)?

1. I think 'bugger'. It generally means I made a mistake and I take it as such. In PvP it's sometimes more complicated but often it comes down to mistakes somewhere along the line, but not necessarily your own (although I almost certainly made them).
2. Death is a failure mechanic. Such a mechanic is necessary, the label is arbitrary.
3. This game isn't generally challenging in PvE. With the game design as it is, if you couldn't die there would be absolutely no challenge and everyone could do everything without any effort at all.
4. The mechanic is a good one, but I don't concern myself with finding positive aspects to my own failures other than the reinforcement of the message 'don't do that again you lazy git'.

Markaedw · Dec 30, 2011, 12:53 AM // 00:53

Questions for Necromancers and Ritualists:

1. Why did you choose your profession specifically?
My necro is neither my first nor my favorite, it's just the one that has the most playtime and got the most invites to the Prophecy elite areas.
2. What are some of the positive benefits about being able to work with spirits or manipulate minions?
The biggest advantage is the numbers, with a squad of 10 minions and 8 spirits it's very easy to overcome a bad pull even in hard mode. Minion also distract in PvE and PvP where the minions are being attacked leaving more important targets alone
3. Has playing this role changed your perception about death or the dead in the game?
As a necro; death, even a team mates death, is useful as wells or as minions. IE: when I first started, I used a minion/well combo build. There was one group with a member that spent more time dead than not. Whenever they died I would use their corpse as a minion or as a well. At the end if the mission I joked that they at least served me "well".
4. How is the storyline/narrative as a Necromancer or Ritualist unique, different, or meaningful for you?
Necros lore wise are no more or less unique than any other Prophecy character, we all have our patron god and that's that. Rits on the other hand are unique in that their power and history predates the current pantheon. Their power comes from their ancestors and not any god.

Questions that all players can answer:

1. What is your attitude towards dying in the game? (i.e. how does it make you feel?)
It happens, sometimes a lot, it is like any other learning experience. Figure out what you did wrong, don't do it again and come back and kill them harder next time. Vengeance is always fun.
2. Would you prefer that Guild Wars never had death in the game? Why or why not?
No, sometime when I play "Oblivion" I use god mode, that becomes boring, the threat of failure is what makes any game exciting.
3. Does dying make the game a challenge for you? (as in when you're completing a quest and continuing with your storyline)
Yes, especially when it's an escort mission and you have to keep a suicidal Leeroy alive.
4. Are there any positive aspects to dying? Does it help the game become more interesting (in a quest, by yourself, with your guild, or party, etc)?
When it is planned, yes. IE, one strategy for killing Duncan the Black involves a player sacrificing themselves for the use of a necro skill. Holding agro to avoid a mission party wipe and subsequent mission failure. A necro contagion dying to capture a Jade Quarry. A monk with no energy dieing to get back in battle to heal Gunther with full energy.

lorazcyk · Dec 30, 2011, 01:15 AM // 01:15

1. Why did you choose your profession specifically?
I have a Ritualist. It's my 3rd favorite profession, after Mesmer and Monk.
I like that I can switch to many different roles. If I feel like healing, I can do that. Protect others, summon offensive spirits, aid my allies with weapon spells... if I get bored, I get to try something different.

2. What are some of the positive benefits about being able to work with spirits or manipulate minions?
With offensive spirits, they're great for making a barrier between your team and the enemy. You can position them strategically, but ofcourse, they also do a ton of damage.
With defensive spirits, you can even take the spot of a protection monk or imbagon. It does a really good job. Spirits like Earthbind can also have their uses. In Hard Mode, isn't it great to be able to knockdown foes for 4 seconds? It really could make an earthshaker warrior or an earth elementalist more powerful than they are by themselves.

3. Has playing this role changed your perception about death or the dead in the game?
I don't have any thoughts about that. Maybe the fact that it's so easy to make enemies die? Pew pew :P

4. How is the storyline/narrative as a Necromancer or Ritualist unique, different, or meaningful for you?
Unfortunately that's not empathized in Guild Wars! I really like the thought that Ritualists shield their eyes so they are more in tune with their spiritual surroundings. I wish that each profession's quirks were shown in the story.

1. What is your attitude towards dying in the game? (i.e. how does it make you feel?)
When I'm responsible for healing and protecting my team mates, it makes me pretty upset that I couldn't save them, though that's not always my fault.
In general, my attitude towards dying is to learn from my mistakes.
In PvP it's unavoidable, I won't even go there :-) You can use death strategically too, which can be fun.

2. Would you prefer that Guild Wars never had death in the game? Why or why not?
That can't be right. If enemies are capable of dying, I don't see why you wouldn't.

3. Does dying make the game a challenge for you? (as in when you're completing a quest and continuing with your storyline)
Ofcourse it does! It makes the cogs in your brain work pretty hard sometimes :P The adrenaline pumping, when your team makes a mistake and you're doing your best to get through a difficult match.
And making the enemies die is a good challenge too! Specially in PvP, where you must outsmart other players. It's exhilarating when you can kill a team that you know is much more skilled than you!

Zebideedee · Dec 30, 2011, 01:57 AM // 01:57

1. God they are sexy, female, male Necro's are wierdos (kidding)

2. I'm Curses (BiP sometimes), handy minions before I found out about henchies.

3. No, I love zombie films. but like I said I'm curses so hmmmm.

4. thought it was the same for everyone?

Back to 1 again, ok...

1. I've died a little shy of 9000 times, it's a game.

2. No

3. The only time it's annoying is when things outwith your control makes the party wipe ie. all you and heroes still alive and going strong then some stupid npc (who you can't res?????) dies.

Sorry, was quoting someone, I'm sure you get the point though!

Bloss · Dec 30, 2011, 11:14 AM // 11:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by VivaValiente

Questions for Necromancers and Ritualists:

1. Why did you choose your profession specifically?
2. What are some of the positive benefits about being able to work with spirits or manipulate minions?
3. Has playing this role changed your perception about death or the dead in the game?
4. How is the storyline/narrative as a Necromancer or Ritualist unique, different, or meaningful for you?

1. I have enjoyed both professions only because I'm interested in all professions the game has to offer, I sticked with it since they can both run very different builds, from minion master, to healer, to spirit spammer. Etc.
2. They are a nice distraction for monsters, especially in hard mode this saves a lot of energy. For ritualist it also provides nice damage and support for heals (e.g. mend body) and for minions they deal tons of damage by dying.
3. Not really. In PvE dying matters a little as minion masters, but for other roles you get ressed really fast and work away the DP in no time.
4. Quite sure all dialogues are the same after the tutorial, so not really.

Quote:

Originally Posted by VivaValiente

Questions that all players can answer:

1. What is your attitude towards dying in the game? (i.e. how does it make you feel?)
2. Would you prefer that Guild Wars never had death in the game? Why or why not?
3. Does dying make the game a challenge for you? (as in when you're completing a quest and continuing with your storyline)
4. Are there any positive aspects to dying? Does it help the game become more interesting (in a quest, by yourself, with your guild, or party, etc)?

1. In PvE dying doesn't matter to me at all, except maybe as minion master after losing my minions or as adrenaline based warrior, because I lost my adrenaline and adren-gaining skills (e.g. enraging charge) are recharging. In PvP it usually sucks, but can be blamed on yourself most of the time, but sometimes handy depending on the situation.
2. I think death is an important part of the PvP gameplay. I could go in on tactics that involve dying or killing at the right time, but doubt you're interested. In PvE it used to matter a lot (it's boring to lay death on the ground,) but now you get rezzed fast and usually wipe the mob anyway.
3. Staying alive is sort of a challange, but not too difficult due to minion masters, prot spells, good heals, but always considered when forming a team. So in a way it adds a challange. How do we stay alive with these professions and how do we still kill fast/complete the mission etc.
4. In PvE an unyielding aura can give you back all your energy, but so does walking to the next mob so doubt it has a lot of positive aspects. But in the GvG aspect of the game it matters a lot. Not only the dying/killing, also whether you ressurect or not. For example if someone gets killed right before base-ressurection he/she can bring a new flag and the 'flagger' can help out the team. (There many more situations, but once again doubt it will help you) I think in PvP it adds a lot, mainly negative for the death person, but with the right timing it can be useful.

Over-all I think death is a very good aspect in the game and even though being dead isn't a lot of fun since you can't use your skills or move, I wouldn't want it to be gone. How-ever if there's compensation (e.g. something like being half-dead or something in gw2 or even being banished by Shiro) I wouldn't mind going without.

Goodluck, hope it helped

drkn · Dec 30, 2011, 12:31 PM // 12:31

Quote:

1. Why did you choose your profession specifically?

* they can summon creatures to do my bidding - kill my enemies and protect their master from harm;
* lots of death-connected spells have nice animations in various games, so they're quite an eye candy, too;
* death spells, in most games, are quite destructive, manipulating the very essence of enemies' lives, and that's both cool and strong, game-wise;
* they have a lot of armour-ignoring damage, as well as quite good utility skills;
* some female armours are really cool and sexy (though nothing can beat mesmer's clothes <3)

Quote:

2. What are some of the positive benefits about being able to work with spirits or manipulate minions?

I hate dying in games. I hate even getting damaged, so i nearly always play casters, dealing damage and supporting their teammates from a safe distance. When playing games like Alice: Madness Returns, i'm dodgy as hell, usually wasting much more time avoiding enemies than killing them, just so i'm not hit at all. I try not to lose my Aku-Aku in Crash Bandicoot.
And so i don't like being hit in Guild Wars. Having minions and spirits - even when playing another character, but using a necro or rit hero - makes me feel safer. It's not only preventing my team from wiping, making mobs ball up easier and adding a lot of damage - it lets me manipulate the battlefield from a distance.
Let me just straighten it up a bit - i do not cry when i get hit, i often even get myself killed in games when i see a benefit or need in it - no problem, at all. But i'm an avid gamer and, to that, a kind of perfectionist, and it also shows in my tendency to avoid any harm for the character i'm controlling. It feels like an additional achievement if i manage to beat something without even taking damage. If i don't, no big deal.

Quote:

3. Has playing this role changed your perception about death or the dead in the game?

Not really.
It was monking that made me think more about the dead in GW. I mean, i'm a lore junkie and i love to read about the world's mechanics, not necessarily the game's, and it was monk's resurrection skills (and res skills in general, to lesser extent) that made me think how death works in Tyria. Why can't we resurrect Langmar? How can we resurrect in the Mists? How does it, precisely, work?
Well, we have no idea and i am aware that we are very much limited by the game's mechanics (so no resurrection for Langmar, sadly, 'cause she has to stay dead, whilst our characters can die 10k times and still get up again...). But yeah, it made me think.
On the topic of rits, i did wonder about the spirits. Summoning and binding spirits, to be precise - how does it work? What are those spirits, whose? Can one of those summoned spirits be the one of Langmar or Rurik?

Quote:

4. How is the storyline/narrative as a Necromancer or Ritualist unique, different, or meaningful for you?

There's no difference for professions, afaik.
However. Togo's sacrifice made more sense since he was a ritualist (again, why Mhenlo couldn't just res him?...). Livia's necromanceness made her likely to look for the Scepter of Orr. Although why MoW is a necromancer, lore-wise, no idea...

Quote:

1. What is your attitude towards dying in the game? (i.e. how does it make you feel?)

I try to avoid it, but not at all cost, and i never rage or get annoyed after dying in a game. Sure, if it's 86th try at some mission, and i wipe yet again, it gets annoying. If i'm close to finishing UW HM but die and wipe because of lagging, it feels unfair and pisses me off a little. Same goes if i die because the healer went AFK without saying anything. But 'normal' dying, like when i overaggro? No problem, shit happens.
I even ate stacks upon stacks of DP sweets for my sweet tooth title, using the BiP death trick, so my main char has about 11k deaths right now.
If i die/wipe because of my own error, i always try to learn from it and improve my build/tactics. I don't mind losing/dying in other games, either - i don't really get annoyed if i lose 10 matches in Tekken in a row. Sure, everyone prefers to win and feel rewarded, but then again it's playing that's more important (unless going for a certain trophy/achievement/title, and dying constantly is only impeding you from getting it, wasting time because you have to do thing x over and over until some random things favour you).

Quote:

2. Would you prefer that Guild Wars never had death in the game? Why or why not?

No - lack of death mechanics would require a lot of changes in the game itself. I can't fathom ANet removing player's deaths from the game, just like that, without changing anything else. And the required changes would be game-breaking.
It also adds to the ease of suspension of disbelief. Dying is a major factor in all games, as well an important element in the real life, and makes the unreal, virtual worlds a bit more believable.

Quote:

3. Does dying make the game a challenge for you? (as in when you're completing a quest and continuing with your storyline)

Depends.
In the beginning, when i started playing GW with quite-shitty-then mesmer, i tried to avoid dying (lost my Survivor on the first char ever only at Verata). This included thinking about improving my build (i used a necromancer secondary for minions - i figured out, early in the beginning and without using Guru or the wikis, that minions are good for soaking damage and keeping my team safe). But then again, after a while, after getting better at the game, i didn't really die in the usual circumstances. After some time - and especially now - even hard mode with heroes is not a threat.
Then again, when i was vanquishing Kessex Peak and Majesty's Rest, i did wipe a few times and had to change my builds accordingly, so yeah, it was kind of a challenge to kill Verata and Rotscale. But more of a patience thing rather than skill or correct build - just aggro slowly, proceed slowly, kill slowly, focus on the most important targets, set up and preprot before aggroing...

Quote:

4. Are there any positive aspects to dying? Does it help the game become more interesting (in a quest, by yourself, with your guild, or party, etc)?

Well, there are some in-game benefits in dying. Sometimes in Factions you can just wipe to get resurrected at a much farther shrine, making it possible to go somewhere really fast for a small cost of 15% DP (which is easily removable). Sometimes it's better to just wipe (so sometimes i had to willingly run into a mob and die) and regroup rather than resurrect using skills and get even more DP.
There's also that leeroying element, which might sometimes be fun when out with guildies. Overaggroing on purpose, and threating your teammates with dying, is actually something fun to do sometimes, especially when you're pretty sure the team will survive, but then there are those 20 mobs running at them, whoah - it's about the threat of dying, not actually dying.

edit @ down:

Quote:

Rit - was one of the last classes I played. I created an SoS type Rit shortly after they first reduced the cast time for spirits (before they became common)

Sounds hipsterish of you. Fun thing is, me (mes) and my friend (rit) used spirits back when they had those long cast-times. He set his spirits, we flagged our heroes and then i just aggroed the monsters using a longbow, then hid behind the spirits. Then - Summon Spirits. Worked just as good.

Quaker · Dec 30, 2011, 02:14 PM // 14:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by VivaValiente

Questions for Necromancers and Ritualists:

1. Necro - Minion Masters are a very useful component of a group. After Heroes arrived, my Necro became an SS type damage dealer. Sorry, no special thing to do with death or dead things, just body blocking and damage.
Rit - was one of the last classes I played. I created an SoS type Rit shortly after they first reduced the cast time for spirits (before they became common)
2. Nothing specifically to do with dead spirits. It's just a game mechanic. It could just as easily be unicorns and fairies.
3. No.
4. It's not.

Quote:

Questions that all players can answer:

1. Don't mind, and only care because of the DP.
2. 'Death' in the game makes it a bit more useful to play well to avoid the DP. If 'death' didn't have a DP, it wouldn't matter.
3. No.
4. Yes, it's often the quickest way to respawn the entire party.

P.s. - It's just a game - for me there is no real connection to actual "death". As I said, it's just a play mechanic.

Dec 29, 2011, 07:01 PM // 19:01	#1
VivaValiente Pre-Searing Cadet Join Date: Oct 2011 Profession: R/	Questions for Necromancers and Ritualists but all are welcome to reply Hey everyone. I am researching and writing a piece about Guild Wars 1 and paying special attention to death and dying within the game. Since Necromancers and Ritualists are the roles who seem most associated with powers of manipulating the dead/spirits., I would like some of your thoughts on your experiences in guild wars. (I'm aware that not all necros and ritualists concentrate on manipulating the dead and spirits. I'm also aware that these things vary depending on which extension you play). Anyone who has played as a necromancer or ritualist (or both) before is also welcome to share their thoughts! Questions for Necromancers and Ritualists: 1. Why did you choose your profession specifically? 2. What are some of the positive benefits about being able to work with spirits or manipulate minions? 3. Has playing this role changed your perception about death or the dead in the game? 4. How is the storyline/narrative as a Necromancer or Ritualist unique, different, or meaningful for you? Questions that all players can answer: 1. What is your attitude towards dying in the game? (i.e. how does it make you feel?) 2. Would you prefer that Guild Wars never had death in the game? Why or why not? 3. Does dying make the game a challenge for you? (as in when you're completing a quest and continuing with your storyline) 4. Are there any positive aspects to dying? Does it help the game become more interesting (in a quest, by yourself, with your guild, or party, etc)? No one has to answer all questions. If anyone else has any other thoughts, please share! I would very much appreciate honest and straightforward answers. Thanks!

Dec 29, 2011, 08:00 PM // 20:00	#4
urania Forge Runner Join Date: Apr 2006 Guild: vD Profession: Mo/	A) why ppl choose them. 1. nec: hexes are OP and fairly easy for the msot part, foul feast+plague sending carries in pvp, sr used to be broken as hell in combo with mm and spirit spam, minions are izi-mode pve and broke pvp a few times even. rt: as with minions, spirits are lol izi pve, weapon spells are unstrippable and hence too good not to take, party heal is good, item spells are strong, their ability to support the team offensively and defensively, and at the same time shutdown melees with blind spam (all of those 3 on one bar) or chunk out big damages with spirit str is just silly. as a matter of fact, even rts can choose to summon minions since they will benefit from some of their spawning spells) 2. in pve, spirits and minions are your meat shield because most of the teams will wipe to HM mobs hitting unprotted targets (lord forbid pve monks would bring prots). both also represent e management. but besides being meat shields they also deliver big damage (in small packets) which can be further enhanced with some hexes (barbs and its rt alternative for spirits). oh and st shelter spam>HM. in pvp, minions only make an appearance when OP (old jagged bones says hi, old mm factories say hi), otherwise you'll only be seeing RAers being 'aggroed' by them. hence, they're fairly useless, unless they're a hex after-effect. the thing with spirits is that ppl tend to treat them like minions in pve and just leave them alone-tha's one of the reasons why some rt bars are very strong, especially if they resolve around those few vital spirits (destruction, bloodsong, life). kill the spirits and they'll only be half as effective if the bars resolve around them. in pve, they're meat shield, can be kept up forever as long as you're killing, they're e management (sr, channeling/spawning spells that give energy/e-regen for spirits within earshot). 3. dying in gw doesnt matter (in pve). in pvp, it depends on the situation. 4. why care? B) about GW 1. idc as long as its not in a situation that will prove highly annoying if i'd die (e.g. running over half the map to get to the designated place again) or will end up in a loss in pvp. 2. gw2 dealt more closely with that issue. 3. only if im facing good opponents in pvp. pve barely matters because it's just a bunch of OP AI going rampage. 4. positive effects: strategic dying before timer in pvp (be it RA, CA, HA or gvg) is something immensely important in pvp. dying alone when you aggroed a huge mob or two rather than running over to your team and have them wipe along with you is another good example of strategic dying. negative effects: if you do not act as listed above in such and similar situations. Last edited by urania; Dec 29, 2011 at 08:06 PM // 20:06..

Dec 29, 2011, 08:34 PM // 20:34	#6
Hanok Odbrook Wilds Pathfinder Join Date: May 2005 Location: Tyria Guild: Real Millennium Group Profession: Mo/N	1. Why did you choose your profession specifically? Primarily because I wanted to have at least one character for from each Profession. I chose Necro earlier than others because of the minion aspect of it. Rit was just because that was one of the new profs and I wanted to see how it played. 2. What are some of the positive benefits about being able to work with spirits or manipulate minions? One of the primary benefits I saw from being or having a Minion Master in the group was that the minions can be used as meat shields and a distraction while PvEing. Rit can be the same way, depending on the spirits chosen. I have one Rit that is primarily offensive with only the PvE spirit skill, while the other acts as a secondary spirit healing source to my Hero Monks, but can still deal out adequate damage. 3. Has playing this role changed your perception about death or the dead in the game? My perception about death in either event really hasn't changed. From a gameplay standpoint, having the MM or SS in a party has made completing the game a lot less frustrating due to the benefits mentioned above. 4. How is the storyline/narrative as a Necromancer or Ritualist unique, different, or meaningful for you? Due to the design of the game, there's not much difference from a storyline or narrative point of view when picking one profession over the other. Main differences are your starting area and some of the quests you can (or can't) do because of it. I don't RP my characters too much, so the differences just come from the small changes I need to make in tactics when playing the game with each of my characters. ~~~ 1. What is your attitude towards dying in the game? (i.e. how does it make you feel?) It's pretty much a PIA. I come from the old school RPG where dying had bigger consequences (like loss of the character completely), but it was much harder to actually die while playing a game. So I have always played the game in "Survivor" mode (long before the title even came into being), because to me, dying=failure. In the beginning, I even cringed when my Henchies and later, Heroes would die. I think that too often it is now used as an artificial means to create difficulty in a game instead of having any real significance. I remember playing the Auto Assault beta, and found it refreshing that you didn't actually die in the game, only got a "time out" while your vehicle was air-lifted back to a repair depot to get fixed. I heard that the FPS game Prey was similar in fashion. It's one of the few changes in GW2 that I liked - much harder to die and a lot less annoying (DP, et al.) when it happens. 2. Would you prefer that Guild Wars never had death in the game? Why or why not? I always thought the Death Penalty should have been eliminated. Pre-Searing was much better as it didn't have DP. However, as much as I would like to say that it would be nice to remove dying completely, there still needs to be some consequence for failure to keep some kind of excitement and thrill in battle. If we were to remove character death completely, without having some other sort of penalty, it would make fighting pointless and unexciting. I think that dying and having to respawn at a nearby shrine is good enough - just get rid of the DP altogether. And as Olle said, if there was no death in the game, then the Necromancer would need a major re-design as much of their skills rely on corpse exploitation. 3. Does dying make the game a challenge for you? (as in when you're completing a quest and continuing with your storyline) In the early days of the game, yes - but more from a point of frustration rather than being challenging. The missions in each of the three main campaigns make you start from the beginning if your group wipes - there was no way to save progress so you could skip over the parts you could beat to get straight to the point where you had failed before. Again, for the most part, like in HM, UW, FoW, and those other areas where wipes (or DP) kick you completely from the area, just makes it seem too much like an artificial device devs fall back on to create a challenge when they can't think of any other way to do it. I liken it to a game that advertises something like 20 hours of gameplay, when in reality there is only 10 - but when you reach the final part of the game you are forced to repeat those 10 hours because of some artificial contrivance created by the devs - like needing a certain item to continue that did not spawn until you reached that point and now you have to go back to get it, and amazingly enough, all the mobs you already defeated are respawned too! 4. Are there any positive aspects to dying? Does it help the game become more interesting (in a quest, by yourself, with your guild, or party, etc)? As I mentioned, since fighting is the bulk of the game, some type of consequence for failure is needed to maintain some level of excitement in all the fighting that needs to be done. If some other mechanism could be implemented to perform the same purpose without having to rely on character deaths and having to re-grind areas like I mentioned above in terms of the missions, then I would be interested in seeing how that would be implemented. Hanok Last edited by Hanok Odbrook; Dec 29, 2011 at 08:45 PM // 20:45..

Dec 30, 2011, 01:57 AM // 01:57	#15
Zebideedee Jungle Guide Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: 55?? 57' 0" N / 3?? 12' 0" W Profession: N/Me	1. God they are sexy, female, male Necro's are wierdos (kidding) 2. I'm Curses (BiP sometimes), handy minions before I found out about henchies. 3. No, I love zombie films. but like I said I'm curses so hmmmm. 4. thought it was the same for everyone? Back to 1 again, ok... 1. I've died a little shy of 9000 times, it's a game. 2. No 3. The only time it's annoying is when things outwith your control makes the party wipe ie. all you and heroes still alive and going strong then some stupid npc (who you can't res?????) dies. Sorry, was quoting someone, I'm sure you get the point though! Last edited by Zebideedee; Dec 30, 2011 at 02:03 AM // 02:03..

Dec 29, 2011, 07:28 PM // 19:28	#2
Eronia Frost Gate Guardian Join Date: Aug 2008 Guild: Gadds Little Helpers Profession: Mo/Me	1. I liked the idea of being able to raise an army of minions which would protect me as well as damage everything around me. 2. They provide a shield, do damage, and are renewable. 3. No 4. I found that the most interesting thing in the story was the social taboo of studying minion making with the necromancer Vereta iirc. It seemed to me like the Guild Wars world knew of what was possible through the power of manipulating death but was afraid of that power too. 1. Dying makes me angry, especially if I could have prevented it. 2. Definitely not, no death makes the game much less realistic and imo less fun. 3. Dying for me is not so much of a challenge but I run into issues the most when I have to protect an NPC and they die. 4. Sometimes I use death to get from one point to another, as in to get back to a resurrection shrine that I don't want to walk to. Good luck on your piece.

Dec 29, 2011, 08:40 PM // 20:40	#7
Chthon Grotto Attendant Join Date: Apr 2007	I think your questions all share an underlying misconception that everyone feels a philosophical or emotional impact from in-game death and death-related professions. All lot of us don't; We tend to view such things as little or nothing more than game mechanics and tactical issues. You're likely to get (and you've already gotten) answers that are more concerned with game mechanics or gameplay tactics than with the topics it seems you're actually interested in. I suggest you rephrase your questions to be more clear about their focus. Otherwise you're going to continue to get answers like "strategic dying right before the rez timer in RA/CA/HA/GVG is a good idea," or "dying is the only only way to get teleported past the wall in Dunes of Despair," or "when my PUG has a terrible player, I like it when the monks just let him/her die so I can make another minion."

Dec 29, 2011, 09:42 PM // 21:42	#10
Reformed Jungle Guide Join Date: Aug 2009	1. A friend persuaded me to make a necro for minion mastery, I've always hated it. Found OP curses and never looked back. Have had multiple ritualists and they exist solely for farming. 2. Both can contribute significantly to defense and offense making them more desirable and easier to work into a group. 3. With the way Anet clearly designed both minions and spirits to be mindless and expendable, not really. They are basically cannon fodder. 4. I consider GW to be below average in the story department so it's never been a particularly compelling aspect of the game to me. 1. You don't really get punished for 'dying' so it's more of an inconvenience. 2. Indifferent to it really...for plot purposes it helps produce a sense of compassion for NPCs. Mechanically you could call it anything you want since the player character is apparently incapable of actually staying dead by any means except being bored with life at some point in the near future. 3. It can be at times a constant irritation especially when a particular hero or group member you need alive is targeted by the AI. It can also border on unfair during the various NPC escort/protection quests in the game. 4. You can make it interesting by intentionally leaving moderate death penalty on the entire party. Some builds reward it such as the 1hp BiP.

Dec 29, 2011, 11:00 PM // 23:00	#11
BladeDVD Wilds Pathfinder Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Hawaii Guild: Clan Of Elders Profession: N/	Questions for Necromancers and Ritualists: 1. Why did you choose your profession specifically? Necro seemed like a powerful profession and I was failing at being a good sin and my friends wanted me to try another profession. For the Ritualist, it was because I created one of each profession available. 2. What are some of the positive benefits about being able to work with spirits or manipulate minions? Death Nova and SoS are fairly overpowered damage wise (for the effort and skill required) and they attract enemy AI attention relieving pressure on my heroes. 3. Has playing this role changed your perception about death or the dead in the game? Only in the sense that some skills need exploitable corpses to work. 4. How is the storyline/narrative as a Necromancer or Ritualist unique, different, or meaningful for you? Profession didn't affect the storyline/narrative for me, except that some professions do PVE better than others with my play style. Questions that all players can answer: 1. What is your attitude towards dying in the game? (i.e. how does it make you feel?) It's an inconvenience when it keeps me from something I want to do. How frustrated I get depends on how tired and irritable I already am and how many times I die due to my own stupidity or not realizing what was actually killing me. 2. Would you prefer that Guild Wars never had death in the game? Why or why not? I prefer death being in a role playing game as long as you can be brought back to life. Penalties for mistakes makes you learn faster, but you don't want something that stops all progress, just delays it, or only sets you back a reasonable amount of time. 3. Does dying make the game a challenge for you? (as in when you're completing a quest and continuing with your storyline) Well, usually if you die it means you made a mistake or didn't build your bars correctly, so yes, but given that you can usually be resurrected and continue on, it's not anywhere near the biggest challenge in the game. 4. Are there any positive aspects to dying? Does it help the game become more interesting (in a quest, by yourself, with your guild, or party, etc)? It helps you learn faster because it tells you when you've messed up without necessarily halting all progress. It also provides opportunities to laugh at or commiserate with friends given the situation.

Dec 30, 2011, 12:53 AM // 00:53	#13
Markaedw Desert Nomad Join Date: Nov 2005 Profession: N/	Questions for Necromancers and Ritualists: 1. Why did you choose your profession specifically? My necro is neither my first nor my favorite, it's just the one that has the most playtime and got the most invites to the Prophecy elite areas. 2. What are some of the positive benefits about being able to work with spirits or manipulate minions? The biggest advantage is the numbers, with a squad of 10 minions and 8 spirits it's very easy to overcome a bad pull even in hard mode. Minion also distract in PvE and PvP where the minions are being attacked leaving more important targets alone 3. Has playing this role changed your perception about death or the dead in the game? As a necro; death, even a team mates death, is useful as wells or as minions. IE: when I first started, I used a minion/well combo build. There was one group with a member that spent more time dead than not. Whenever they died I would use their corpse as a minion or as a well. At the end if the mission I joked that they at least served me "well". 4. How is the storyline/narrative as a Necromancer or Ritualist unique, different, or meaningful for you? Necros lore wise are no more or less unique than any other Prophecy character, we all have our patron god and that's that. Rits on the other hand are unique in that their power and history predates the current pantheon. Their power comes from their ancestors and not any god. Questions that all players can answer: 1. What is your attitude towards dying in the game? (i.e. how does it make you feel?) It happens, sometimes a lot, it is like any other learning experience. Figure out what you did wrong, don't do it again and come back and kill them harder next time. Vengeance is always fun. 2. Would you prefer that Guild Wars never had death in the game? Why or why not? No, sometime when I play "Oblivion" I use god mode, that becomes boring, the threat of failure is what makes any game exciting. 3. Does dying make the game a challenge for you? (as in when you're completing a quest and continuing with your storyline) Yes, especially when it's an escort mission and you have to keep a suicidal Leeroy alive. 4. Are there any positive aspects to dying? Does it help the game become more interesting (in a quest, by yourself, with your guild, or party, etc)? When it is planned, yes. IE, one strategy for killing Duncan the Black involves a player sacrificing themselves for the use of a necro skill. Holding agro to avoid a mission party wipe and subsequent mission failure. A necro contagion dying to capture a Jade Quarry. A monk with no energy dieing to get back in battle to heal Gunther with full energy.

Dec 30, 2011, 01:15 AM // 01:15	#14
lorazcyk Krytan Explorer Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: guildwiki.org/User:Lorazcyk Profession: Mo/	1. Why did you choose your profession specifically? I have a Ritualist. It's my 3rd favorite profession, after Mesmer and Monk. I like that I can switch to many different roles. If I feel like healing, I can do that. Protect others, summon offensive spirits, aid my allies with weapon spells... if I get bored, I get to try something different. 2. What are some of the positive benefits about being able to work with spirits or manipulate minions? With offensive spirits, they're great for making a barrier between your team and the enemy. You can position them strategically, but ofcourse, they also do a ton of damage. With defensive spirits, you can even take the spot of a protection monk or imbagon. It does a really good job. Spirits like Earthbind can also have their uses. In Hard Mode, isn't it great to be able to knockdown foes for 4 seconds? It really could make an earthshaker warrior or an earth elementalist more powerful than they are by themselves. 3. Has playing this role changed your perception about death or the dead in the game? I don't have any thoughts about that. Maybe the fact that it's so easy to make enemies die? Pew pew :P 4. How is the storyline/narrative as a Necromancer or Ritualist unique, different, or meaningful for you? Unfortunately that's not empathized in Guild Wars! I really like the thought that Ritualists shield their eyes so they are more in tune with their spiritual surroundings. I wish that each profession's quirks were shown in the story. 1. What is your attitude towards dying in the game? (i.e. how does it make you feel?) When I'm responsible for healing and protecting my team mates, it makes me pretty upset that I couldn't save them, though that's not always my fault. In general, my attitude towards dying is to learn from my mistakes. In PvP it's unavoidable, I won't even go there :-) You can use death strategically too, which can be fun. 2. Would you prefer that Guild Wars never had death in the game? Why or why not? That can't be right. If enemies are capable of dying, I don't see why you wouldn't. 3. Does dying make the game a challenge for you? (as in when you're completing a quest and continuing with your storyline) Ofcourse it does! It makes the cogs in your brain work pretty hard sometimes :P The adrenaline pumping, when your team makes a mistake and you're doing your best to get through a difficult match. And making the enemies die is a good challenge too! Specially in PvP, where you must outsmart other players. It's exhilarating when you can kill a team that you know is much more skilled than you!