by Dragoth » Sun Dec 26, 2010 1:22 pm
This is exactly how i feel about it Splork, thanks for responding.
The main thing im always sceptical and concerned about and i have voiced it here already - is immortals making changes to something based purely on the code, without playing the class and without knowing its ins and outs.
It is extremely hard to put together every little detail when you simply look at the code as opposed to when you play the class. When you look at a pet code, you look at it out of context if you will and its hard to judge exactly how it falls into place.
For example, summoning 4 wraiths may seem like dandy business (max hp winners and max damage winners at level 6 avatar), but to summon and buff all 4 wraiths ( stone skin,bless aegis) would take 400 mana. Then as a necro you need to sanc juju and self for an additional 80mana and dont forget wraithform which is another 80 mana! So thats a whopping 560mana spent just to prepare for a run for which you now have 50mana left to heal yourself.
Alright, you may say that i can choose to regen some of the mana after summoning wraiths.
So now lets look at the time required to do everything, 2x40+ animate undeads last 600 seconds +-%5:
80 seconds: To summon 4 wraiths and buff them all and to change back into regen gear ( that is with using aliases for quick eq changes and buffing undeads ).
240 seconds: Regen 400 mana at 100mr ( Ne/dr ), god help all other classes that want to use summon undead pets.
40 seconds: Change into AC gear, sanc self, sanc juju, wraithform self, checking any spells that might need to be recasted before the run.
A total of 360 seconds at perfect execution to start a run at nearly full mana minus self and juju buffs. This leaves me 240 seconds to finish my run before undead crumble. Because necros rely on hitting fat and slow hitting mobs for exp, 4 ticks is enough for maybe 4 mobs, so how on earth am i supposed to make exp? If i start killing low hp hard hitting mobs then one of my wraiths may die and i have to switch into undead gear ( 20 secs ) summon and sanc and bless wraith ( 20 secs ) change back into AC gear (20 secs) and now i have 3 minutes to kill anything and my wraithform will fade away in 60 secs ( Wraithform lasts 120 secs +-20 with enhancement attune). So maybe I shouldnt buff my pets you say ? If i dont buff my pets then they will simply die after 1-2 mob and i need to change gears, summon pets, stone skin/bless them and change back again which eats away at my mana (each wraith costs 55 mana to summon+20mana to stone skin/bless) and my wraithform timer.
How would someone looking at the code know all this ? He wouldnt, all he would look at is pet stats and then pass judgement using it, where it doesnt even come close to painting the picture of what those pets mean in retrospect.
Someone who never played a necromancer and who doesnt consult any of the necromancer players will never be able to make a worthwhile decision or a notable change simply because there is soooo many things that should be in balance.
To me personally, the current system works fine because most of the pets compliment each other in some way or another and let me explain why. I have a different pets for different situations - for long runs i choose to summon 2 banshees and a wraith because even though they deal less damage than 4 wraiths i need less mana to buff them and banshees survive much longer than wraiths so i dont need to stop my runs and make new ones. For short runs i make wraiths because they deal more damage and for boss runs i farm corpses and make liches as they last 1200 secs and allow me to fully buff everyone and start the fight with extra full mana. So all the pets are currently utilized by me and if anything were to change i would obviously lose out on on either of those scenarios.
So what is lacking at my level that i would personally change ? Utilization for Vilewights, they dont fit inside any of my scenarios and are simply useless. Would also be nice to have my animate/summons last longer than what they last by default since im so many levels above their required level, but not really holding out for it.
The only thing that bothers me a little is that after talking with wimpy his 4 wraiths were the best combo up untill 7x40 where he got 3 banshees, even though he had bonesnarls and phantoms added to his pet lists a 5x40 and 6x40, and i find 4 wraiths of little use even at my level since they drop so fast unless buffed, which takes alot of mana and time.