Curse

MSecorsky · Apr 19, 2007, 09:40 PM // 21:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nekretaal

Epidemic, in addition to its pitiful range also causes an Aoe scatter on aataxes. Using it on Aataxes is a good way to get a balanced group wiped.

How strange... I've never had that happen.

gone · Apr 19, 2007, 09:47 PM // 21:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by MSecorsky

Actually, there are so many mez secondaries because of the mesmer energy management skills available.

EXACTLY...which is why mez as a primary is...LoL...which is why I printed the farce to begin with...

now tell me which of those 20 skills you use as a primary mez. since it's all about e-mamgement Vs. skill Vs. Mobs. Also, how many of them do you place on a bar-set at one given time?

Gargle Blaster · Apr 19, 2007, 10:09 PM // 22:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by MSecorsky

Mesmers have some of the best energy management in the game.

Sky, you seem to think mesmers should not be buffed... but your conclusionary comments on my post and the one above do not help that point of view.

Lets compare energy management to that of a mesmer...
Mesmer - inspiration - line of skills that take up skill slots with an average of +5 conditional energy and 30 sec of recharge time (also note not all of them help with energy management.)

Ranger - each skill costs 66% less energy with expertise
Necro - Soul Reaping - under going changes... but there is still no need to take up any skill slots.
Warrior - adrenalin
Monk - about even with mesmer --note: a bonder's e-management is nuts
Ele - energy pool is big enough for most mobs in pve and glyphs help alot

----
inept is an ok build for a mesmer. -- is it better than a SF ele? or an SS necro? for PvE the answer is clearly no.

Sky, i want a reason to have a primary mesmer. Right now us people that play primary mesmers like a good challenge... Yea they can be good - but in pve they have no roll thats better than the other classes.

MSecorsky · Apr 19, 2007, 10:49 PM // 22:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by flubber

EXACTLY...which is why mez as a primary is...LoL...which is why I printed the farce to begin with...

now tell me which of those 20 skills you use as a primary mez. since it's all about e-mamgement Vs. skill Vs. Mobs. Also, how many of them do you place on a bar-set at one given time?

Three or so... in FoW... with Inspired hex and Power drain being a couple staples. Usually Guilt (domination line) as well.

Energy is practically never an issue.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gargle blaster

Sky, i want a reason to have a primary mesmer. Right now us people that play primary mesmers like a good challenge... Yea they can be good - but in pve they have no roll thats better than the other classes.

Because mesmers can do things no other classes can. I, for one, enjoy those little moments in the FoW when I deliver over 1200 - 1400 armor ignoring damage in about a second and a half to the mob the tank has aggroed. Give me that little warm and fuzzy feeling.

I'm not saying mesmers don't need a "buff"... I just hope it doesn't violate what it means to be a mesmer and turn them into ele-light.

Ensign · Apr 19, 2007, 11:42 PM // 23:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karlos

1) With regards to Soul Reaping, it was working fine in PvE and PvP for nearly 2 years.

This is factually incorrect.

Soul Reaping has been a demonstrable problem since roughly six months after the initial launch of Guild Wars. That was roughly when the initial versions of Soul Reaping powered Blood Spike started to become prominent in Tombs. That build consisted of a bunch of Necromancer/Monk blood spikers, powered by an Oath Shot spirit spammer. That build, along with iWay (which, incidentally, took advantage of insane Soul Reaping engines as well) thoroughly dominated Tombs up until the release of Factions. Versions also made a nuisence of themselves in GvG...Bloodspike on fire was an early version of 'dumb 8v8 build on Jade' that did reasonably well, but not well enough to upset the highest levels of GvG play - hence, it was spared any nerfs.

As of Factions Soul Reaping went absolutely insane, with the introduction of asymmetrical spirits. This peaked with FoC spike in the middle of the GWFC qualifier season, EW winning the second tournament on the back of that archtype. That led to Soul Reaping from spirits being halved, as well as a bunch of peripheral nerfs, that didn't really solve the problem with the archtype - but it did push it out of the top rungs of competitive play once again.

Nightfall comes, we get even more skills, and go through even more iterations of Soul Reaping powered, hyper defensive spike builds. First we get the Jagged Bones / Spirit hex pressure build, which lasted until the JB nerf - after that, SB/RI hexes/spike, powered on a spirit field. Both were dangerous builds for high level tournament play. Even after nerfs, you still see the same sorts of Soul Reaping archtypes - mostly, Icy Veins spikes these days.

The statement that Soul Reaping has not been a problem for nearly two years is flat out wrong. It has been a problem for at least 3/4 of that time, to varying extents, with only kludgy, symptomatic treatments to address those problems used each time. Plenty of people knew about it, played with it and against it for well over a year.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karlos

Soul Reaping off of spirits was the mistake, because it allowed the party to MANUFACTURE energy.

This is 100% correct.

The problems with Soul Reaping began when it was no longer limited by scoring kills or taking deaths, and started to become a controllable engine.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karlos

So, for 2 years you left necromancer energy management broken, and decided to fix it now?

Welcome to the business world. Anything that can be overlooked, will be as long as there are other, more pressing concerns. Having to rush additional chapters out the door to fulfill contractual obligations counts.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karlos

2) With regards to Mesmer, the class is extremely powerful.

In PvP, certainly. In PvE however I could not disagree with you more. The strengths of the Mesmer are all precision tools. These are not relevant in general PvE combat against trash mobs, where nothing is important enough to warrant precision tools...and against boss fights, Mesmers have been specifically neutered by special abilities that make mes effects much less effective. Similarly, the pace of PvE works against the Mesmer. The class' best abilities are mostly invested and take time to really show their effects, ala edenial and degen. When battles don't last long, the Mesmer is significantly less effective.

Anyone who says that the Mesmer is an objectively strong profession in PvE is simply wrong. I have played with some very strong players on Mesmer, and I can say with confidence that those players would have been much more effective on a different profession, with stronger PvE tools available to them.

Peace,
-CxE

Nekretaal · Apr 20, 2007, 12:00 AM // 00:00

So what does it say about the necromancer skillset that pre-nerf soul reaping was not a concern for most of the history of guild wars in high level pvp, was never a concern outside of spirit manufacturing builds (or jagged bones), and that the concern could be abated by minor skill tweaks?

Karlos · Apr 20, 2007, 12:27 AM // 00:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ensign

The statement that Soul Reaping has not been a problem for nearly two years is flat out wrong. It has been a problem for at least 3/4 of that time, to varying extents, with only kludgy, symptomatic treatments to address those problems used each time. Plenty of people knew about it, played with it and against it for well over a year.

The problems with Soul Reaping began when it was no longer limited by scoring kills or taking deaths, and started to become a controllable engine.

We seem to be agreeing on the root causes. I think ANet should have nerfed the ability to manufacture energy through Soul Reaping by killing your own stuff. Therein lay the issue.

From a programmer point of view, the issue of whether getting 13 energy back for killing an enemy monk (i.e. Blood Spike) is a RADICALLY different issue than getting 13 (or 6) energy back from tons of pets/minions/spirits that my own team keeps spewing out there.

To use your own analogy, the solution was a business world solution, i.e. so the bottom line is that all these people keep finding ways to exploit the energy gain off allied creatures... Fine: We'll just cap it for them! So there!

It's not thought out, and it penalized the original definition of soul reaping. i.e. if I kill three monsters at the same time with my brilliant SS placement, I'll get penalized for it, cause I'll only get back 13 energy, instead of 39. This is unfair especially that necromancers have very little in the way of energy management otherwise.

I know that this is now metigated by Signet of Lost Souls... Still, a perfectly placed Echo SS/RH combo costs around 50 energy would be nice to get a kick back of 30-40 energy as the energy management for it. The question of whether 30-40 as kick back is too much is NOT answered by paying back a fixed 10-13 energy even if you spent 60 energy taking out 4-5 monsters.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ensign

In PvP, certainly. In PvE however I could not disagree with you more. The strengths of the Mesmer are all precision tools. These are not relevant in general PvE combat against trash mobs, where nothing is important enough to warrant precision tools...and against boss fights, Mesmers have been specifically neutered by special abilities that make mes effects much less effective. Similarly, the pace of PvE works against the Mesmer. The class' best abilities are mostly invested and take time to really show their effects, ala edenial and degen. When battles don't last long, the Mesmer is significantly less effective.

Anyone who says that the Mesmer is an objectively strong profession in PvE is simply wrong. I have played with some very strong players on Mesmer, and I can say with confidence that those players would have been much more effective on a different profession, with stronger PvE tools available to them.

This is mostly personal perception in my view. I played my Mesmer through all 3 campaigns and she is now quite easily my second favorite character after my ele. The ease by witch she slice through mobs is amazing (with hero support, no doubt - Olias as MM and 2 SF eles alleviate damage concerns), compared to even my warrior or my ranger (whom I admittedly play very little) or even my necro.

What she offers to me is a way to damage and disrupt the enemy. This becomes irrelevant in places like Kryta and Kourna and most of Kaineng City... However, once the stakes get higher, she outshines most of my other chars, even my ele. This, I admit, is also personal perspective.

To me, the characters I love the most in PvE are the ones who can administer the most control on the battle field. PvE is not about creatively carrying out that Discord build that can do damage somewhat close to SS, it's about taking out foes as efficiently as possible and with as much control as possible over the events as they unfold. An effective PvE build can't be one where there's a chance the whole thing can unravel if foes act in a certain way.

As such, my favorite characters are my ele (as Air), my Mesmer (Domination/Insp) and my Ritualist (Rit Lord) because they can effectively control an enemy mob (not just one guy) with their tools. I know not everyone plays the game like I do nor enjoys the same things I enjoy in the game... But if you're faced with a group of tough potatoes (RoT Demons in the Domain of Fear), there is no class that will give "control" over them (all of them, not one foe) than Mesmer even now, in it's PvE-powerless state. Do you agree?

Dim Luffs To · Apr 20, 2007, 01:12 AM // 01:12

hmmmmmmm

so, lets start by me saying that i have no problem with anet or gaile grey, however.

Mesmers are a gvg class. When you say mesmers work in pvp you mean that mesmers work in gvg. because they sure as hell dont work in ha.

Mesmers used to be one of the most popular and versatile classes in HA, however now they are next to useless. Mesmers are designed for mid to long term battle in which they can efficiently apply pressure to the opposing team. However thanks to kill count maps being introduced to ha, any pressure builds or character builds based off pressure are significantly nerfed. If you walk into any particular Obs mode match i would be willing to bet that in most cases at least 2 of the builds are gimmick fotm builds.

The closest thing people get to pressure now adays is R/W thumpway. SF is overpowered. Paraspike still pwns lots. And only the very best balances stand a chance against the fotm spike builds.

So basically, dont bother buffing mesmers, because all your doing is pissing off another round of HA'ers and provoking people to start a new fotm mesmer spike build. To think anet learned its lesson when spiritual pain spike was around....

jayce · Apr 20, 2007, 01:50 AM // 01:50

ok i have had some time to hash-out Soul Reaping in its current state. as a long time veteran of the necromancer, i do not like SR in this form. its not nearly as effective as it once was. this 5 second timer just won't do, especially since my only energy mangament skills are all conditional. before anyone suggest other types of skills from secondary professions, i am necromancer and only a necromancer. i do not need secondary skills and i do not want them hindering my primary skills. i have played this way since GW went live and im not changing now. but instead, im having to carry 2, sometimes, 3 energy management skills just to cover the costs of my most deadliest builds.

i understand that SR is in need of a change. and gstricto's proposal, whose post happened to beat me to the punch, is quite similar to my own. i have never been a fan of any type of energy regeneration as opposed to spike increase of the SR effect. it makes about as much sense as top 20 GvG monks runing Healing Breeze over Infuse Health. but since most are in agreement that SR is just a tad bit too rewarding, i decided to cave in and go with the breeze, but making it appear spike-like with the effect.

Soul Reaping
For each point of Soul Reaping, you gain 1...4..6 Energy Regeneration for 2 seconds whenever a creature near you dies. You gain half that amount and duration for Spirits.

please note that i do not care if the effect is stackable or not. but if it is not stackble, then as soon as the duration is over and something else dies, then i had better be counting regeneration pips again.

with any change in SR i also believe that, at the very least, Signet of Lost Souls should be into a Core Skill. i believe that all necromancers (including Factions) should have an option of their own when it comes to an energy managment skill.

thats about as far as im willing to go with SR. i expect something in return if asked to give a little more.

Jayce Of Underworld

------------------------------------------------

Animate Soul Lich
Energy: 25
Cast: 3
Recharge: 0

Elite Skill. Animate a level 1...14 Soul Lich
at your location and you lose all energy. You
suffer -1 energy regeneration for each Soul Lich
you control. Whenever a Soul Lich you control
deals damage, you gain 2 energy.(Soul Reaping)

draxynnic · Apr 20, 2007, 03:38 AM // 03:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by MSecorsky

(Ineptitude/Epidemic combo on Aatxes)

Actually, if you're going for condition spread, using Blinding Surge lets you maintain better coverage, and adds the option to throw Enervating Charge into the mix. Of course, the Mesmer probably has more support skills than the air elementalist and Ineptitude certainly does more damage to high-armour foes than BS, but still...

The problem with using Epidemic-based builds as a basis for using Mesmer primaries is that Epidemic generally works much better as a secondary profession skill - Mesmers don't have much in the way of skills that inflict conditions (only Ineptitude and Phantom Pain come to mind), and with Epidemic being unlinked it's so easy to put it on a class that does have more conditions to offer (a Ranger with BHA and Apply Poison, for instance, can cover a group with Daze and Poison with one arrow and a casting of Epidemic when it hits).

Now, if Mesmers could have some way of inflicting Daze...

Improvavel · Apr 20, 2007, 03:42 AM // 03:42

The problem of SR in PvP is an hardcase.

They could have solved it long ago by not allowing energy to be gained from spirits and allied creatures/minions.

Incidently, that would also have killed the use of SR in PvP.

Thats why they tried this solution.

And theres no point saying it was because PvE imbalance only, although it existed, cause noone believes it.

This upsets PvE for different reasons.

1st is the fact people dislike changes, and changes to their favourite classes, specially when they make them weaker wont get any cheering.

2nd, the change causes randomness. I choose when to use a Gole, a E-drain, OoB, etc. I dont know when SR will trigger. A fraction of a second can be the difference from a +13 or +7 or +0. Thats annoying to an extreme.

PPl can say use e-mag. I already incorporate SoLS, sometimes Gole, OoB or some inspired hex.

But still the purpose of being a necro is to use SR as e-mag. A.net knows it, I know it, you know it. Thats why SR didnt have linked skills.

As for those MM that have problems (other than stupid timing causing SR activation being wasted), I recomend dropping their heal areas and any clone of it. You dont need it. And if you dont need to bring rebirth or other hard rez, drop monk completly.

MM can use only BotM to heal their minions, and use one or more of the following:blood renewal, SoLS, vampiric minions, taste of pain, eat a minion with taste of death, run lich aura as the elite, ask the monk to throw at you a orison or a rof, or if they dont want to waste energy a sig of devotion or rejuvenation; as self healings.

Edit: And how could i forget feast of the Dead, used on Golem or in Shambling horror for a heal with no sacrifice. TT

Shattered Self · Apr 20, 2007, 11:19 AM // 11:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by gstricto

Charles Ensign already addressed the soul reaping issue many months before this shoddy fix was implemented.

He argued that instead of the lump energy gain that soul reaping traditionally has, it should be returned via energy regen pips.

The benefits are three-fold:
A) Lump gain often causes deaths to be wasted in the case of a necro with full energy.
B) Already present game mechanics allow for a cap that is already fixed across all classes i.e. 10 pips of energy regen.
C) Old teams powered by deaths would still have to wait for the energy regen to catch up to their requirements instead of it being readily available all at once.

In order to flesh out his theory, let us make a sample model of a new system of soul reaping and do some math with it.

Under my proposal for a revised system, allow soul reaping to give 1 pip of energy regen per every death. This pip of regen will last for X seconds where X is the necromancers soul reaping attribute. Keep the mechanic where spirits count as a half benefit.

Single death circumstance (assuming 10 soul reaping attribute):
Old System: 10 energy
Current System: 10 energy
Revised System: (1 pip / 3 seconds) * 10 = 3.33 energy

So far we aren't looking too favorably at this revised model under base cases, let us revise it again.

We all know very well that ANet is a fan of diminishing returns, so let us say that the base death from soul reaping gives +3 pips instead of +1, and every death afterwards counts as a +1 pip.

Single death circumstance (assuming 10 soul reaping attribute):
Old System: 10 energy
Current System: 10 energy
Revised System: (3 pip / 3 seconds) * 10 = 10 energy

Ah, our base cases now line up.

Now to move on to a more average example:
Single death circumstance (assuming 10 soul reaping attribute and within a 1 second span):
Old System: 20 energy
Current System: 10 energy
Revised System: ((3 first death + 1 consecutive death = 4 pip) / 3 seconds) * 10 = 13 energy

As we can see, the death is not completely wasted, but it isn't nearly as broken as the old system. Additionally, the necromancer would have to wait a full 10 seconds to see all of that energy gain. This delay beautifully offsets the spammability of spells.

Most extreme example:
EoE death circumstance (assuming 10 soul reaping attribute, within a 1/4 second span, 15 enemies die):
Old System: 150 energy
Current System: 10 energy
Revised System ((3 first death + 1 per consecutive death = +6 pip [cap]) / 3 seconds) * 10 = 20 energy

Again, looking much better than the current system, and much more reasonable than the old system. But something doesn't sit right, with that many deaths, why would a necro get less than half their energy back?

If the first death counts as a +3 regen, and the second death counts as a +1 regen, 3rd = +1 and so on... A maximum of four deaths is all this system can account for.

Solution? Queue up deaths after the cap has been reached. If a necromancer hits their +10 regen cap under this system, make the duration of that effect last 1 additional second per extra death. Again, this is a clearly diminishing return.

1 pip for 10 seconds = 3.33 energy
1 second extra of +6 regen = 2 energy
Clearly, the overall net gain is lower, but the deaths don't go to waste.

Let us take another look at the EoE example under this second revision:
Old System: 150 energy
Current System: 10 energy
Revised System ((3 first death + 1 per consecutive death = +6 pip [cap]) / 3 seconds) * (10 seconds + (9 additional deaths)) = 38 energy

This is looking exceptionally nice right now. We get credit for all deaths on the battlefield, but not nearly as much as the old system.

This would be complex and sheer fun to code, I know completely that ANet has the power to do it. The system accounts for flaws in the previous two implementations.

Give it a stack to follow:
1st Death = +3 pips of energy regeneration
2nd Death = +1 pip of energy regeneration
3rd Death = +1 pip of energy regeneration
4th Death = +1 pip of energy regeneration
5th Death = +1 second duration of the +10 regeneration (only when the necro is capped at +10 regeneration)

So if something dies, the necro gets +3, something else dies 4 seconds later, they will enjoy a few seconds of +4 until the first death's timer has worn off upon which time, it will return to a +3 regen.
If lots of things die, the first timer and second timer, etc will get extended by additional deaths to account for any deaths beyond the first four.

Look familiar? It doesn't appear to me to be any different than a stack where pointer control is based on timers. Any death is +1 to the stack, a timer wearing off is a -1 to the stack. Depending on where on the stack you are, cascade the benefits down the chain.

Very little difference between this and hex/condition/enchantment stacking on a player. What's not to love?

Any ANet employees who come across this, please give it serious consideration, just because I'm a single poster in the din of a forum doesn't mean I can't be right.

ANet, please consider this.

Nekretaal · Apr 20, 2007, 01:03 PM // 13:03

Early testing suggests that Mesmer and Necromancer are in sorry shape for hard mode.

Shame on anet for releasing hard mode with two classes that are broken!

As for the poster who said that epidemic doesnt cause AoE scatter... it does. It falls into the same category of skills like fireball and flame burst meaning that intermittent uses of epidemic will not scatter, but multiple uses will cause scatter. Also, epidemic used on a team that is also using skills like fireball and flame burst will cause scatter.

Bottom line: epidemic has no purpose on a balanced team and will cause aataxes to scatter unless the rest of the team is inefficient, entirely consisting of single target spikers. It falls under the same one-use aoe rules that many other skills do.

Lynnrose · Apr 20, 2007, 01:49 PM // 13:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by jayce

Hi everyone. I've been playing this game for a long time but fail to comprehend how energy management and the use of synergistic secondary skills works. Because I am stuck in that mindset, I refuse to adapt to a game mechanics balance ANet recently implemented. Please look for me when I'm PUGging in PvE . . . I'll be the one with the self-gimped skill bar.

fixed your post

Series · Apr 20, 2007, 08:20 PM // 20:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nekretaal

Early testing suggests that Mesmer and Necromancer are in sorry shape for hard mode.

Shame on anet for releasing hard mode with two classes that are broken!

Two? I think you forgot Paragons.

Series · Apr 20, 2007, 08:27 PM // 20:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lynnrose

fixed your post

Because being a jerk is a great way to prove your point.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ensign

This is 100% correct.

The problems with Soul Reaping began when it was no longer limited by scoring kills or taking deaths, and started to become a controllable engine.

Yup. Scoring kills and taking deaths isn't a problem, but when you can easily manufacture things to kill (spirits) and use them for your energy, things start to go bad. Hopefully Anet comes up with something that actually fixes this.

jayce · Apr 21, 2007, 01:03 AM // 01:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lynnrose

fixed your post

assumptions is the mother of all @#$% ups. are you a @#$% up? you know nothing about me to justify correcting my post.

your time would have been better spent if you responded to my suggested fix of SR rather than my opinion about the SR nerf, which i find funny that you even believe that its somehow balanced now. but hey, thats your opinion, and your welcome to it.

perhaps if you spent as much time as i have as a necromancer, then you could understand what i posted. i never mentioned that i don't use energy management skills. in fact, i said that i sometimes use up to 3 energy management skills (all of which are necro) just to use certain builds in this so-called balanced game mechanic form of SR.

now you can find me in fort aspenwood, kurzick side, where as a casual gamer, i have acquried almost my last 500k experience points without turning in a drop of factions. and if you are lucky, i might actually take some time out of runing amber to show you first hand some of my self-glimped skill bar.

Jayce Of Underworld

------------------------------------------------

Animate Soul Lich
Energy: 25
Cast: 3
Recharge: 0

Elite Skill. Animate a level 1...14 Soul Lich
at your location and you lose all energy. You
suffer -1 energy regeneration for each Soul Lich
you control. Whenever a Soul Lich you control
deals damage, you gain 2 energy.(Soul Reaping)

explodemyheart · Apr 21, 2007, 02:02 AM // 02:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nekretaal

Early testing suggests that Mesmer and Necromancer are in sorry shape for hard mode.

Shame on anet for releasing hard mode with two classes that are broken!

You must be absolutely crazy. I finished Vanquisher for Old Ascalon with Olias and Norgu in an hour with 0 deaths, it was an absolute breeze.

Just because you can't figure out how to make them work doesn't mean they're broken.

RG_Necro · Apr 21, 2007, 02:42 AM // 02:42

All I'm going to say about the Soul Reaping problem is that I hope the solution isn't to try to distract us from the problem with something new and shinny in hopes we forget about the problem.

Yes, I'm a tab not happy.

Lynnrose · Apr 21, 2007, 05:41 AM // 05:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by jayce

assumptions is the mother of all @#$% ups. are you a @#$% up? you know nothing about me to justify correcting my post.

your time would have been better spent if you responded to my suggested fix of SR rather than my opinion about the SR nerf, which i find funny that you even believe that its somehow balanced now. but hey, thats your opinion, and your welcome to it.

perhaps if you spent as much time as i have as a necromancer, then you could understand what i posted. i never mentioned that i don't use energy management skills. in fact, i said that i sometimes use up to 3 energy management skills (all of which are necro) just to use certain builds in this so-called balanced game mechanic form of SR.

now you can find me in fort aspenwood, kurzick side, where as a casual gamer, i have acquried almost my last 500k experience points without turning in a drop of factions. and if you are lucky, i might actually take some time out of runing amber to show you first hand some of my self-glimped skill bar.

You said yourself that you are choosing not to use any secondary skills. There are multiple such skills that would absolutely complement a necro bar. By choosing not to take advantage of those skills, you are truly gimping your bar. That's not an assumption -- it's a fact based on the very words in your post.

I actually don't believe SR is balanced. In fact, I think it needs to be changed so that it doesn't trigger at all from the death of spirits (and perhaps even minions). By releasing a spirit-generating class in Factions without thinking things through, ANet created a PvP balance problem that has been exploited in multiple gimmick builds (as Ensign has already pointed out). This fix feels more like a clunky stopgap than a good fix, but it's better than how it was when necros had absolutely no concern about energy in many situations. That type of broken mechanic creates a lazy class of players and renders PvP far less enjoyable. Those who choose not to adapt to the changes are only hurting themselves and those who group with them.

Thanks for the invite to Ft. Aspenwood. I know that's serious business, but PvE Luxon/Kurzick faction means nothing to me.