Curse

Lishy · Mar 05, 2011, 08:01 PM // 20:01

I decided with the update finally to the 7 heroes, it is time I created a new Prophecies character for the purpose of simply enjoying the storyline from start to end. I am left with a difficult decision however: My last character slot can only go to Necromancer or Elementalist.

Assuming the only heroes I will have access to will be mercenaries until I can clear the campaigns in order of Prophecies and Factions, which profession would you say would be a better choice for a casual story experience? Note that I will be playing in NM, but not have access to Eye of the North and Nightfall skills until I have progressed to those campaigns.

In other words, which profession should I choose in NM with mostly Henchmen for a heavily "lore-based" playthrough with lots of questing?

instanceskiller · Mar 05, 2011, 09:08 PM // 21:08

Both would be very good for a heavily lore based playthrough. If you are going to play through prophs just for the "purpose of simply enjoying the storyline from start to end", and play it in nm, then I would go for the ele, as they are quite fun when their damage isn't mitigated so much. Normal modes the only place they can shine nowadays. Both are good choices though, and each has some good skills in prophs, so it's really up to you. If you are going to do hard mode stuff, go necromancer.

wilebill · Mar 05, 2011, 11:52 PM // 23:52

Ditto instancekiller. I went through Prophecies with an Ele/Mo back when the game was new, just released in fact. Ele Ward Against Elements is going to come in very handy in Ring of Fire. Secondary Monk can keep Alesia alive and later Mhenlo and if hench monks are not spending all their mana on themselves, they do a good job of keeping the rest of the group alive. Then too, in NM the Ele was just a lot of fun.

Xsiriss · Mar 05, 2011, 11:52 PM // 23:52

Elementalists are straight up damage dealers with nothing subtle about them, and are useful in pretty much every circumstance. As a necro you generally have to do some thinking/research as to the foes your facing to be effective and then it's mainly about debuffs and subverting enemies. So the question is do you want to be a damage slinger or would you prefer to crack enemies more gradually, playing the cracks rather than the hammer.

Shayne Hawke · Mar 06, 2011, 12:03 AM // 00:03

It seems to me that necromancer and elementalist are fairly equal in power in the early stages of the game and all through Prophecies, but I feel that the necro gets much more powerful near the end of things.

Near the end of the first campaign, you can pick up Aura of the Lich and SS, which are both elite skills that you can gear good necro builds around. AotL will be especially helpful once you hit Cantha and would like to have a MM for missions like Vizunah Square. It only goes up from there as you get AP from Cantha, Necrosis from Elona, and FH! from the North to round out yourself an AP caller build for Discordway.

Meanwhile, if you had chosen elementalist, you will probably hit your peak power once you get SH or SF from Elona, but you must also consider that once you start fighting Destroyers, you won't be doing as much with your high damage Fire magic.

Personally, I'd go with a necro.

LifeInfusion · Mar 06, 2011, 01:09 AM // 01:09

Necro 110%.

The first skills you have access to are minion skills and barbs, enfeebling blood and friends (curses line).

Quote:

Note that I will be playing in NM, but not have access to Eye of the North and Nightfall skills until I have progressed to those campaigns.

Why? You don't have Nightfall skills.

i.e.:
no Searing flames, Invoke Lightning, Blinding surge, Ether prism ; glowing ice, glowstone, glowing gaze.

And then when you hit hard mode... you can laugh at stuff dying quickly.

The only places eles are strong are Prophecies up to Kryta/Maguuma Jungle, Istan, Shing Jea, and places where they have less than 40 armor to elemental damage (1.4x listed damage). You can get listed damage with eles , on casters , in areas before Maguuma Jungle even in hard mode because the mobs aren't boosted over that level 24/25 point where caster armor becomes >60.

3* creature level + armor bonus, so anything > level 20 in general will be taking 90% or less (70+armor = 84%)

Lishy · Mar 06, 2011, 03:53 AM // 03:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by LifeInfusion

Necro 110%.

Why? You don't have Nightfall skills.

I still have e-tomes. I just want to play the campaigns in a canon order.

Hugh Manatee · Mar 06, 2011, 11:53 AM // 11:53

From a story or RP perspective, I think the necromancers have better quests and more interesting lore. For example, once you go past ascalon, you never see much of your ele trainers again aside from their brief "go here nuke this unnamed mob" or "talk to this jerk" quest. But the necro's seem more menacing, more ruthless, and tbh i think more interesting in their back stabbing and treason. Spoiler alert.... 2 of the 4 early necro trainers become your enemies later in the game.

From a power standpoint, Even in NM I'd say necro, minions tear stuff up if you spec right, you got the new minion window to get death nova and oher buffs where they need to be, death swarm is decent to nuke with early on, and there are other options for armor ignoring, just obscene, damage output later on.

Also, the necromancer's soul reaping makes a good chasis for secondary profs, it's very flexible, i think more so then e-storage tbh. The healing options might not be as impressive as the E/Mo prot bonder thing, but it works if you need to fill the roll in non speed clear groups. If you wanted to experience the ele's playstyle you could pop in /e after the desert, and not lose too much effectiveness(in fact you could have a bit of fun with oppressive gaze/virulence and fire). Vice versa, doesn't work out so well because you lose "minion slots" without runes and while the ele's ammo clip is bigger it reloads at a slower rate. Once you hit the expansions soul reaping will outclass e storage for the most part i think(except as said, that ether renewal thing...).

And finally, the evening wear and swimsuit potion of the pagent....

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Elementalist_armor

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Necromancer_armor

Costumes aside, you're going to be looking at your guy or gal for a long time, build them well.

IMO the male ele has only a few really interesting armor sets, mostly they have the same base look: a jacket or coat, trousers, boots and gloves of some sort, only patterned with whatever element they used to block before insignias. You'll have to get tocantha before you get a decent elite 'neutral' option for a suite, but still it will be the same coat>trouser>boots ensemble. Only 2 break this mold(primeval and sunspear) and unless you like the "genie" or "tattered tent corset thing"(which tbh i kinda do) you're SoL. Now this doesn't mean the overcoat+trouser look can't be badass, it is in fact, and the sets at are interesting are really cool especially the vabbi pimp coat and the ancient trench duster wit the steel toed boots, and the parts all interchange well(because they all kinda look the same, just with different cuffs and coat lengths...), and you get the shiny headgears, but still... you'll be looking kinda putzy till you hit mid factions or late NF.

Female ele is kinda sad if you're not horny imo... it's almost all low cut plunging tops, skirts and sluttyboots... Same deal as above(only instead of a 5 piece suit it's a street walker's outfit) sunspear gives you a genie look and primeval has the oversized scafolding corset, ancient is slightly more conservative but not as badass as it's male counterpart... bottom line, you'll be at least halfway through cantha and then some looking like a hooker :/

Necroes are a little more diverse in their armor selections i think, some of it's kinda weird but considering the class it kinda suits a maniac who messes with corpses.

The males get mostly leather bodysuit looking gear, but they also have a few more regal, dracula looking stuff too and some outright freaky stuff, for example, the scar patterns(BTW if you want the body scar patterns, make your guy or gal light skinned, or they won't show up) or the primeval fishboy and ancient witchdoctor looking stuff.

The female necro looks fun to customise, you get a nice array of dresses, pants, tops, gloves and boots/shoes/feet to toy with. the istani and primeval have these little wings on them that i like, and the dresses look either more pretty or more badass then the ele dresses without the outright slut factor(you're still sexy, but less vulgar). And if you're for going all out slutballs you have the scar pattern bikini or elite cabal dominatrix. Kinky.

Anyway, I recently made the same decision TC had to make and I deleted a 3 or 4 year old canthan female ele I had been using as a mini mule for a new prophecies female necro for similar reasons, and I'm having a blast in pre with it. It was a mini mule because I rolled a male ele awhile back to get a shot at survivor(doh...) and I liked the way he looked in his black vabbi pimpcoat. She wasn't as effective as my other characters against the new threats I was facing in WiK, HM ect, I never fitted her with farming crap and such, I would go through with the male ele and not want to repeat the experiences so she collected dust... However on my other, older necro I was kinda having fun, and as said necroes are flexible, you can MM, hex sling, nuke a few different ways, all kinds of fun. I already had 1 or more of the other classes, and figured I could use another necro if I ever got the mercenaries, so I axed the ele for a necro. Goddamit I geek out way the hell to much on this game when I'm having insomnia...