sauruman
11-29-2005, 08:51 AM
Lets start simple.
Modifying the top ten list will go thusly.
Phase 1- Remove any items in the top ten list we feel have been addressed with a no from SoE, or we don't want there any longer. This is the purpose of this thread. Post WHY you don't like a specific item, but don't suggest a replacement for the particular item in this thread. This is to keep this thread managable and readable, as it will be posted in THREE places, on eqlive, eqnecro, and necrotalk. Please consider the poor correspondent! There will be other threads to the end of replacement class issues, post that information there! We nec's are diverse, and I'll try and do my best to make sure I hear from each of you your various concerns.
Phase 2- Debate replacing these items on our top ten list. I welcome your suggestions in this regard- don't be shy! Open a thread! Don't be shy opening polls etc. But if you vote in these, be prepared to say WHY in your reply, because thats what I'm interested in. Open it with the subject of the proposed class issue in the title line, and an explanation in the body of the thread. Try and get as specific as you can in your suggestions. I'm not asking for exact values, but some specifics would help us get a feel for where your coming from.
EXAMPLE if your not happy with Willful Death working only 25% of the time, a class issue item replacement might look like: Increase the frequency Willful Death fires from 25% to 90% to increase our survivability in raid situations where we are expected to survive, and give us increased pulling utility. This could come through increased aa pricing, or through a short duration triggered ability (like a disc), but we would seriously like a quick fix to the FD being broken problem, and thus far Willful Death hasn't been that fix.
Phase 3- Constant changes. This list won't ever be in stone. I can submit this list to Ky on a monthly basis and will do so as we change priorities or issues get resolved. In fact a fluid class issues list is the best idea, because it will signal ever more so that we are alive and kicking, and have some terrific ideas. Ky commented the necro class correspondent application received three times more applications then the other recent class correspondent apps. They know how active our community is. Lets keep this lively debate going, even if its to the drone of a war drum. Keep it civil over there at EQlive, but feel free to speak a little more bluntly on necrotalk and eqnecro.
Why this method? The community feels many of these issues have either been fixed or are just plain silly. We also have a vacant number 10 on the class issues list- this must be remedied! We can keep up with the times by modifying this list frequently. If we don't pick strong, good items for the class issues, they possibly won't get the play we like, and no change will come with the request.
Some have said the purpose of this list is to placate the community. Most of us know better, however. As your correspondent, I won't rest till the issues we decide upon are in the right hands for future changes. If this list gets ignored, we'll consistantly reiterate our concerns and as a last resort modify the list to issues that are addressable. I'll make sure to relate to you any upcomming changes to the list so we can modify it accordingly. I'll do my best to remain impartial in some of the more divisive issues, while adding my own input when we discuss among the community. Just because I post a suggestion or idea on a thread doesn't mean THAT is what I will be submitting to SOE.
Some notes when opening new treads for suggested class issues replacement:
1) Is the issue a bug? If so, send me a PM or open a normal thread alerting the community. That gets solved in a different manner.
2) Has this issue been directly addressed? I.E. the lack of dot spell haste and dot mana preservation in recent expansions is an intended shift in development policy, answered in developer correspondences over on eqlive.
3) Itemization. We can more proactively address these concerns seperate from class issues lists. Yes, I know demi-plane of blood items need work. Lets get talking about these things, but not in this thread!
As a final note before we begin this discussion, keep in mind we all come from different paths of Everquest. If your raiding potime, txevu, Vishi, hatchet or nothing right now right now, please consider adding this information to your posts. This isn't so we can berate you. Its so we can understand your perspective, and your needs as a necromancer in this situation. All necromancers aren't created equal, and have far from similar needs. One guild might use a necro for constant twitching, another guild might use them simply as rezbots. Or they can use you like mine does, FOR DPS (I made a funny!) If you don't tell us these things, we won't have a clue!
Here is the current top ten list, last updated by Sissl (we miss ya bud, thx for the hard work!!!). Post your thoughts, I'll chime in a little later so as to minimize my biasing the conversation initially.
Necromancer
Section 1: DD vs. DoT parity and balance.
#1 - Parity of DoT Crits (Currently being evaluated) - Most likely this will be considered as part of the class re-envisioning
With Omens of War, the DoT casters got AA to bring them in line with the “non-specialized” DD casters (Mages, Druids etc.) However, just like Wizards happen to be specialists in, and undisputed masters of Direct Damage type spells, so do Necromancers feel that they should fill the same role for Damge over Time spells. Either a clarification that SOE does not feel that Necromancers are specialists in the same way that Wizards are, or address this disparity (an innate chance to crit, and an AA tier that catches Necromancers up to Wizards in terms of % chance to crit). Also the AA Destructive Fury does not currently affect DoT crits, only DD crits. Necromancers feel that either making this AA affect both types of Damage (preferred) or another AA line for DoTs would be appropriate.
#2 - Lowering of DoT resists (Part of the proposed first pass with class re-envisioning posted on EQLive on 3/14/2005)
In order to attain adequate DPS, DoT spells must be stacked, and in a timely manner (i.e. as close to the start of a fight as possible). Resists can affect Necromancers in 2 ways:
DoT spells incur a penalty that is greater than the lost time a DD resist entails, as we lose not only the time / opportunity to stack more DoT spells on (the same as Wiz lose) but also lose time in which our spell takes effect (less ticks elapse) which DD spells do not worry about. In a fight, time means more to a Damage over Time caster than any other equivalent damage dealing class. Many classes have methods to “front-load” their damage (e.g. Kyv Strike line) – shorter fight lengths are a DoT caster’s enemy, not friend. It is a unique challenge for DoT casters that as they improve and progress through content such as Anguish or Tacvi, that the proportion they contribute to a group lessens as their guildmates get extra gear, rather than increases. Their actual contribution may increase (i.e. they generate more DPS), but their DPS gains have the potential to be proportionately less than their guildmates, if the fight shortens to the point where one or more DoT spells are not completing, or are not running long enough to be comparable to swapping that DoT out for a nuke cast, which is the least efficient / effective way Necromancers can deal damage.
Encountering Mobs that are highly resistant to certain types of magic will again affect a class that is DoT dependant more than it would a DD caster or melee for that matter. A DD caster that encounters a mob that is resistant to all but one line can pick the best / most efficient spell of that line and chain cast it, perhaps taking somewhat of a hit in DPS due to it not being his most efficient spell. A DoT caster usually must stack multiple DoTs across several different resist lines in order to attain anywhere near his max DPS. Being forced to stack backwards within the same line of resists has a very large detrimental impact to a DoT caster’s dps, often forcing the caster to go back to spells he had 15 levels below his current level. Solutions to this include making DoT spells innately less resisted than DD spells, (see above, was #5) or to add more resist lines so that necromancers have increased flexibility when choosing lines to stack, such as a new cold resist DoT (Currently being evaluated). Note that this may not be an effective solution as many current mobs are highly resistant to ALL lines except for one.
Closing thoughts
The original vision of the way that Damage over Time spells work in game, versus Direct damage spells in many ways does not apply to the way that the game works anymore (especially at high levels / highly geared characters). The shift that occurred during Planes of Power towards shorter nastier fights, with clerics healing faster, wizards nuking harder, rogues stabbing for bigger hits, and mobs hitting like Mac trucks, and dying relatively quickly did some good things for the game. The game is faster paced now. People are less inclined to think of long, boring slog-fest encounters. However, to a certain extent, a baby is being thrown out with the bath water. DoT spells were originally more efficient and more damaging, with the trade off that they took time to take effect. With the time meter shortened so much recently, most DoT spells do not run full duration -- with the notable exception of the horror line, and even that does not always do so -- making them at best equal to, and often less efficient than an equivalent nuke. What keeps Necromancer DPS still very good in group fights is only the fact that we usually have the mana regeneration to spend mana wastefully and flagrantly so. What used to be the downside of DD casters (lack of endurance, they could burst DPS, but lacked ability to sustain that for very long) has been substantially lessened because of huge manapool sizes and the proliferation of mana regeneration, and the reduced duration of any one fight. This is so much the case that mana drains have been placed into many raid level encounters to artificially lower the endurance of all caster types. These manadrains are such that you either must cure yourselves (curing usually done on clerics first, damage casters second) or spend the mana on DPS before the drain removes it for you. Again the efficiency of Damage over time is mitigated by the raid design, and the ability to dump your mana into damage before it’s drained dry has the edge going to DD casters. The entire mechanic of Damage over time, I suspect needs addressing.
Section 2: Necromancer utility
#3 - All classes need some reason that makes them desirable in a group situation aside from “just” DPS. Historically Necromancers have enjoyed a rather large tool chest of utility spells. Please consider ways of expanding on / keeping the traditional necromancer utility lines. Some suggestions put forward by the community are below, but please do not consider yourselves constrained to, or limited by these ideas. The most popular ideas are in their own # on the top 10 list. (Currently being evaluated) - Most likely this will be considered as part of the class re-envisioning
* Revisit the requirements of Essence Emeralds, or look at the ease of acquiring emeralds given the mature playerbase – Many players are finding it difficult to acquire the emeralds now and are finding themselves forced to create an alt just for the purpose of sacrificing it.
* A component free 93% rez AA that is similar to call to corpse with one use every 72 minutes.
* More options to move / find / summon corpses
* Increased healing capability (some necros miss the health transfer line)
#4 - An upgrade to the mindwrack line of spells (currently being evaluated)
As a side note to this, many necromancers continue to ask for an improvement in the Subversion (mana transfer) line of spells. However this is a very very very controversial subject in the necromancer community. I will however try to cover the rationale behind asking for a better mindwrack spell, and why others continue to ask for improvements to to the Subversion line. Spell costs continue to rise, and necromancers are still being asked to use this line of spells both during raids, and to alleviate downtime. What is ending up happening is that necromancers are spending an inordinate amount of time doing so to the exclusion of their desire to perform their class’s primary role: that of dealing damage. Many necromancers just want a sense of closure to this line, either through making it obsolete through an improvement to mindwrack (the most popular, and hence the request that is put forward) or through an upgrade to the line such that we are not spending long periods of time assisting other characters with their manapool at our expense in both time and effort. (Many have suggested one large transfer with a very very long recast time).
#5 - A new spell added to the screaming terror line, or AA's to make the current screaming terror spell effective on mobs greater than 55, to include current and upcoming content. (Part of the proposed first pass with class re-envisioning posted on EQLive on 3/14/2005)
Necromancers want to retain their group utility and means of filling in for a variety of classes in a pinch. A new mez spell will let us keep this utility that we did have with Screaming Terror. Necromancers feel in no way that a new spell coded similarly to screaming terror that limits us to 1-2 mobs mezzed intrudes on the core capabilities of enchanters and bards. If a new spell is not in the cards, explore other ways of retaining said utility via AA's or some other mechanism.
#6 - Address the fact that Word of Terris is not effective for a necromancer who solos, or who does not have a class who can debuff the mob in their group. (currently being evaluated) - Most likely this will be considered as part of the class re-envisioning
Having a spell line that is completely dependant on outside help from a few specific classes is not characteristic of the Necromancer. While many necros feel that the appropriate adjustment would be specifically to address the MR adjust portion of the spell that was previously reduced from -100 MR to no adjustment, we are leaving the request open for you to consider other solutions to the core issue stated above. Also of note is the lack of undead mobs to charm. For example, of 5 different themes in LDoN, 3 of them are populated with undead, and only 1 theme has undead that are charmable. Also not all instances of that theme have the charmable mob in them. While this is not a class issue, and more a content issue, it deserves mention in this context.
#7 - Improvements to Desecrating Darkness (Currently being evaluated)
There is not much of an improvement to this line that makes it clearly desirable to use over Embracing Darkness. The only difference is a slight increase in DPS, and a corresponding increase in mana cost. A clear reason to consider this spell an upgrade would be one of the following: increased snare %, increased duration, decreased casting time, decreased resist rate. The reason the spell is cast is not for it’s damage component, but for the fact that it is a snare.
#8 - Cosmetic changes (lich illusion / pet model) (Currently being evaluated) - Most likely this will be considered as part of the class re-envisioning
Players have consistently asked for more means to make themselves individually distinctive. Gnomes looking like gnome skeletons, iksar necromancers having the iksar skeleton model, lich models that allow other players to see other wearable items that the necromancer has equipped (tattered robes, or some sort of particle effect / blur filter or some other method of showing lich). Also requests for a new pet model are very common as previously the different shades of necromancer skeleton were a sort of badge of honor showing how much a necromancer had progressed. Getting away from the pale white skeletons to the brown/red skeletons was a sort of rite of passage.
#9 - Pet Upgrades / Pet Focus Scaling (Currently being evaluated) - Most likely this will be considered as part of the class re-envisioning
A. Improve overall pet defense / survivability - particularly on raids pets will get killed by AE affects designed to kill melee in the area. AE DoT's that melee have to have cured, the pet often is not. AE rampage, spiky damage that while painful on melee who have 10K-16K buffed hp, will one shot the pet before any group / AE healing can be applied.
B. Address scaling / focus availability (as noted in re-envisioning notes, this should be forthcoming, but felt this was important enough to necros to mention in top 10). Benefit at the very high end (minion of discord / minion of chaos) seems lacklustre according to many necro posts.
#10 - TBA
Modifying the top ten list will go thusly.
Phase 1- Remove any items in the top ten list we feel have been addressed with a no from SoE, or we don't want there any longer. This is the purpose of this thread. Post WHY you don't like a specific item, but don't suggest a replacement for the particular item in this thread. This is to keep this thread managable and readable, as it will be posted in THREE places, on eqlive, eqnecro, and necrotalk. Please consider the poor correspondent! There will be other threads to the end of replacement class issues, post that information there! We nec's are diverse, and I'll try and do my best to make sure I hear from each of you your various concerns.
Phase 2- Debate replacing these items on our top ten list. I welcome your suggestions in this regard- don't be shy! Open a thread! Don't be shy opening polls etc. But if you vote in these, be prepared to say WHY in your reply, because thats what I'm interested in. Open it with the subject of the proposed class issue in the title line, and an explanation in the body of the thread. Try and get as specific as you can in your suggestions. I'm not asking for exact values, but some specifics would help us get a feel for where your coming from.
EXAMPLE if your not happy with Willful Death working only 25% of the time, a class issue item replacement might look like: Increase the frequency Willful Death fires from 25% to 90% to increase our survivability in raid situations where we are expected to survive, and give us increased pulling utility. This could come through increased aa pricing, or through a short duration triggered ability (like a disc), but we would seriously like a quick fix to the FD being broken problem, and thus far Willful Death hasn't been that fix.
Phase 3- Constant changes. This list won't ever be in stone. I can submit this list to Ky on a monthly basis and will do so as we change priorities or issues get resolved. In fact a fluid class issues list is the best idea, because it will signal ever more so that we are alive and kicking, and have some terrific ideas. Ky commented the necro class correspondent application received three times more applications then the other recent class correspondent apps. They know how active our community is. Lets keep this lively debate going, even if its to the drone of a war drum. Keep it civil over there at EQlive, but feel free to speak a little more bluntly on necrotalk and eqnecro.
Why this method? The community feels many of these issues have either been fixed or are just plain silly. We also have a vacant number 10 on the class issues list- this must be remedied! We can keep up with the times by modifying this list frequently. If we don't pick strong, good items for the class issues, they possibly won't get the play we like, and no change will come with the request.
Some have said the purpose of this list is to placate the community. Most of us know better, however. As your correspondent, I won't rest till the issues we decide upon are in the right hands for future changes. If this list gets ignored, we'll consistantly reiterate our concerns and as a last resort modify the list to issues that are addressable. I'll make sure to relate to you any upcomming changes to the list so we can modify it accordingly. I'll do my best to remain impartial in some of the more divisive issues, while adding my own input when we discuss among the community. Just because I post a suggestion or idea on a thread doesn't mean THAT is what I will be submitting to SOE.
Some notes when opening new treads for suggested class issues replacement:
1) Is the issue a bug? If so, send me a PM or open a normal thread alerting the community. That gets solved in a different manner.
2) Has this issue been directly addressed? I.E. the lack of dot spell haste and dot mana preservation in recent expansions is an intended shift in development policy, answered in developer correspondences over on eqlive.
3) Itemization. We can more proactively address these concerns seperate from class issues lists. Yes, I know demi-plane of blood items need work. Lets get talking about these things, but not in this thread!
As a final note before we begin this discussion, keep in mind we all come from different paths of Everquest. If your raiding potime, txevu, Vishi, hatchet or nothing right now right now, please consider adding this information to your posts. This isn't so we can berate you. Its so we can understand your perspective, and your needs as a necromancer in this situation. All necromancers aren't created equal, and have far from similar needs. One guild might use a necro for constant twitching, another guild might use them simply as rezbots. Or they can use you like mine does, FOR DPS (I made a funny!) If you don't tell us these things, we won't have a clue!
Here is the current top ten list, last updated by Sissl (we miss ya bud, thx for the hard work!!!). Post your thoughts, I'll chime in a little later so as to minimize my biasing the conversation initially.
Necromancer
Section 1: DD vs. DoT parity and balance.
#1 - Parity of DoT Crits (Currently being evaluated) - Most likely this will be considered as part of the class re-envisioning
With Omens of War, the DoT casters got AA to bring them in line with the “non-specialized” DD casters (Mages, Druids etc.) However, just like Wizards happen to be specialists in, and undisputed masters of Direct Damage type spells, so do Necromancers feel that they should fill the same role for Damge over Time spells. Either a clarification that SOE does not feel that Necromancers are specialists in the same way that Wizards are, or address this disparity (an innate chance to crit, and an AA tier that catches Necromancers up to Wizards in terms of % chance to crit). Also the AA Destructive Fury does not currently affect DoT crits, only DD crits. Necromancers feel that either making this AA affect both types of Damage (preferred) or another AA line for DoTs would be appropriate.
#2 - Lowering of DoT resists (Part of the proposed first pass with class re-envisioning posted on EQLive on 3/14/2005)
In order to attain adequate DPS, DoT spells must be stacked, and in a timely manner (i.e. as close to the start of a fight as possible). Resists can affect Necromancers in 2 ways:
DoT spells incur a penalty that is greater than the lost time a DD resist entails, as we lose not only the time / opportunity to stack more DoT spells on (the same as Wiz lose) but also lose time in which our spell takes effect (less ticks elapse) which DD spells do not worry about. In a fight, time means more to a Damage over Time caster than any other equivalent damage dealing class. Many classes have methods to “front-load” their damage (e.g. Kyv Strike line) – shorter fight lengths are a DoT caster’s enemy, not friend. It is a unique challenge for DoT casters that as they improve and progress through content such as Anguish or Tacvi, that the proportion they contribute to a group lessens as their guildmates get extra gear, rather than increases. Their actual contribution may increase (i.e. they generate more DPS), but their DPS gains have the potential to be proportionately less than their guildmates, if the fight shortens to the point where one or more DoT spells are not completing, or are not running long enough to be comparable to swapping that DoT out for a nuke cast, which is the least efficient / effective way Necromancers can deal damage.
Encountering Mobs that are highly resistant to certain types of magic will again affect a class that is DoT dependant more than it would a DD caster or melee for that matter. A DD caster that encounters a mob that is resistant to all but one line can pick the best / most efficient spell of that line and chain cast it, perhaps taking somewhat of a hit in DPS due to it not being his most efficient spell. A DoT caster usually must stack multiple DoTs across several different resist lines in order to attain anywhere near his max DPS. Being forced to stack backwards within the same line of resists has a very large detrimental impact to a DoT caster’s dps, often forcing the caster to go back to spells he had 15 levels below his current level. Solutions to this include making DoT spells innately less resisted than DD spells, (see above, was #5) or to add more resist lines so that necromancers have increased flexibility when choosing lines to stack, such as a new cold resist DoT (Currently being evaluated). Note that this may not be an effective solution as many current mobs are highly resistant to ALL lines except for one.
Closing thoughts
The original vision of the way that Damage over Time spells work in game, versus Direct damage spells in many ways does not apply to the way that the game works anymore (especially at high levels / highly geared characters). The shift that occurred during Planes of Power towards shorter nastier fights, with clerics healing faster, wizards nuking harder, rogues stabbing for bigger hits, and mobs hitting like Mac trucks, and dying relatively quickly did some good things for the game. The game is faster paced now. People are less inclined to think of long, boring slog-fest encounters. However, to a certain extent, a baby is being thrown out with the bath water. DoT spells were originally more efficient and more damaging, with the trade off that they took time to take effect. With the time meter shortened so much recently, most DoT spells do not run full duration -- with the notable exception of the horror line, and even that does not always do so -- making them at best equal to, and often less efficient than an equivalent nuke. What keeps Necromancer DPS still very good in group fights is only the fact that we usually have the mana regeneration to spend mana wastefully and flagrantly so. What used to be the downside of DD casters (lack of endurance, they could burst DPS, but lacked ability to sustain that for very long) has been substantially lessened because of huge manapool sizes and the proliferation of mana regeneration, and the reduced duration of any one fight. This is so much the case that mana drains have been placed into many raid level encounters to artificially lower the endurance of all caster types. These manadrains are such that you either must cure yourselves (curing usually done on clerics first, damage casters second) or spend the mana on DPS before the drain removes it for you. Again the efficiency of Damage over time is mitigated by the raid design, and the ability to dump your mana into damage before it’s drained dry has the edge going to DD casters. The entire mechanic of Damage over time, I suspect needs addressing.
Section 2: Necromancer utility
#3 - All classes need some reason that makes them desirable in a group situation aside from “just” DPS. Historically Necromancers have enjoyed a rather large tool chest of utility spells. Please consider ways of expanding on / keeping the traditional necromancer utility lines. Some suggestions put forward by the community are below, but please do not consider yourselves constrained to, or limited by these ideas. The most popular ideas are in their own # on the top 10 list. (Currently being evaluated) - Most likely this will be considered as part of the class re-envisioning
* Revisit the requirements of Essence Emeralds, or look at the ease of acquiring emeralds given the mature playerbase – Many players are finding it difficult to acquire the emeralds now and are finding themselves forced to create an alt just for the purpose of sacrificing it.
* A component free 93% rez AA that is similar to call to corpse with one use every 72 minutes.
* More options to move / find / summon corpses
* Increased healing capability (some necros miss the health transfer line)
#4 - An upgrade to the mindwrack line of spells (currently being evaluated)
As a side note to this, many necromancers continue to ask for an improvement in the Subversion (mana transfer) line of spells. However this is a very very very controversial subject in the necromancer community. I will however try to cover the rationale behind asking for a better mindwrack spell, and why others continue to ask for improvements to to the Subversion line. Spell costs continue to rise, and necromancers are still being asked to use this line of spells both during raids, and to alleviate downtime. What is ending up happening is that necromancers are spending an inordinate amount of time doing so to the exclusion of their desire to perform their class’s primary role: that of dealing damage. Many necromancers just want a sense of closure to this line, either through making it obsolete through an improvement to mindwrack (the most popular, and hence the request that is put forward) or through an upgrade to the line such that we are not spending long periods of time assisting other characters with their manapool at our expense in both time and effort. (Many have suggested one large transfer with a very very long recast time).
#5 - A new spell added to the screaming terror line, or AA's to make the current screaming terror spell effective on mobs greater than 55, to include current and upcoming content. (Part of the proposed first pass with class re-envisioning posted on EQLive on 3/14/2005)
Necromancers want to retain their group utility and means of filling in for a variety of classes in a pinch. A new mez spell will let us keep this utility that we did have with Screaming Terror. Necromancers feel in no way that a new spell coded similarly to screaming terror that limits us to 1-2 mobs mezzed intrudes on the core capabilities of enchanters and bards. If a new spell is not in the cards, explore other ways of retaining said utility via AA's or some other mechanism.
#6 - Address the fact that Word of Terris is not effective for a necromancer who solos, or who does not have a class who can debuff the mob in their group. (currently being evaluated) - Most likely this will be considered as part of the class re-envisioning
Having a spell line that is completely dependant on outside help from a few specific classes is not characteristic of the Necromancer. While many necros feel that the appropriate adjustment would be specifically to address the MR adjust portion of the spell that was previously reduced from -100 MR to no adjustment, we are leaving the request open for you to consider other solutions to the core issue stated above. Also of note is the lack of undead mobs to charm. For example, of 5 different themes in LDoN, 3 of them are populated with undead, and only 1 theme has undead that are charmable. Also not all instances of that theme have the charmable mob in them. While this is not a class issue, and more a content issue, it deserves mention in this context.
#7 - Improvements to Desecrating Darkness (Currently being evaluated)
There is not much of an improvement to this line that makes it clearly desirable to use over Embracing Darkness. The only difference is a slight increase in DPS, and a corresponding increase in mana cost. A clear reason to consider this spell an upgrade would be one of the following: increased snare %, increased duration, decreased casting time, decreased resist rate. The reason the spell is cast is not for it’s damage component, but for the fact that it is a snare.
#8 - Cosmetic changes (lich illusion / pet model) (Currently being evaluated) - Most likely this will be considered as part of the class re-envisioning
Players have consistently asked for more means to make themselves individually distinctive. Gnomes looking like gnome skeletons, iksar necromancers having the iksar skeleton model, lich models that allow other players to see other wearable items that the necromancer has equipped (tattered robes, or some sort of particle effect / blur filter or some other method of showing lich). Also requests for a new pet model are very common as previously the different shades of necromancer skeleton were a sort of badge of honor showing how much a necromancer had progressed. Getting away from the pale white skeletons to the brown/red skeletons was a sort of rite of passage.
#9 - Pet Upgrades / Pet Focus Scaling (Currently being evaluated) - Most likely this will be considered as part of the class re-envisioning
A. Improve overall pet defense / survivability - particularly on raids pets will get killed by AE affects designed to kill melee in the area. AE DoT's that melee have to have cured, the pet often is not. AE rampage, spiky damage that while painful on melee who have 10K-16K buffed hp, will one shot the pet before any group / AE healing can be applied.
B. Address scaling / focus availability (as noted in re-envisioning notes, this should be forthcoming, but felt this was important enough to necros to mention in top 10). Benefit at the very high end (minion of discord / minion of chaos) seems lacklustre according to many necro posts.
#10 - TBA