Are necro's wanted in groups?Follow

In my experience I've only grouped with a few necro's that have either been friends or guildies. In these groups they've performed they're jobs admirably, either being the puller or just the caster mode. But even so I would say that it would be more difficult to get a group than many of the other conventional group classes.

As a beastlord I don't go lfg any more since IMO BL's are in the top 3 of most desirable classes for a group. And I just don't see necro's getting that desirable. I like what necro's can do and believe me I've grouped with awesome necro's but they're in competition with bards, since they have very similar attributes in a group. And in my opinion bards have the edge over necro's in that race unless its situational. In my adventure groups CC is really more a hindrance than a benefit, unless Hard adventures.

This is not to say I have something against necro's its just that in fast groups I'd rather have 5 mellee 1 cleric or just a supremely heave DPS group. But in the long haul groups such as BoT, Tactics and Elementals then necro's are great. Since mobs still drop quickly but necro's will be more efficient. Still prefer bards though but thats because my main alt is a bard. At the end of the day bards are the king soloers, in almost all situations.

Interesting question since I am coming up through the ranks. I play with some friends so I have not had to encounter a possible rejection. I do know from the friends I play with who has original charecters that are level 50+ they feel Necro's are a plus. In fact a 50+ Monk told me when he use to fight he stayed clear of Necro's due to the nastiness of the spells as they get past 20. They are teaching me exactly what everyone has said in the other posts about being support. I give them strength while I leach from what we are fighting. I also will cling them at the very end to ensure they do not run off and aggro another group. Mind you we are a small group but you have to learn somewhere among friendly participants. Typically I do very little fighting except with my pet. Since I can bind whem many cannot I sacrifice being killed to ensure the melee's live especially if binding points are critical. If it works like you plan no one is killed so experience in leveling really isn't an issue.

edit: grrr double post

Edited, Tue Jan 13 15:49:25 2004 by Jarlo

Shamans. The real power of necro mana regeneration lies in the fact that shamans have to cast a spell on themselves to get their HPs back, while necros can suck the HPs out of a mob.

A lot of the posts in this thread are written from the perspective of lower level necromancers. For what it's worth, things are a lot different at level 65. On LDoN missions, I usually don't even mem DoTs on normal level missions. I send in my pet, then nuke, mind wrack, and (when needed) snare. In Mistmoore, Guk, and sometimes Miragul's, I sometimes slow and mez.

Screaming Terror is completely worthless at high levels, and it has a high resist rate and short duration that limits its usefulness at lower levels. However, necromancers get an undead mez at level 63, which is the first time that necros become sought after as CCers.

Mind Wrack does not give everyone in the group 900 mana. It costs 600 mana to cast (before reductions for specialization and focus items), and gives everyone in the group 75 mana per tick for four ticks.

Are necro's wanted in groups... Well I think generally yes. They kick butt. As mentioned above, they are the best or second best soloing class in the game (competing with bards).

Necro's do all kinds of things, but mainly just kill stuff and fast. Plus they have a pet... I think they would be plenty dangerous without a pet, but the pet just adds another lvl of coolness.

Okay, now to the bad part. And that is that Necro's are so powerful, and such good solo'ers that many that I have grouped with don't do well in a group.

I grouped with a necro on an LDoN when I was lvl 25. The first thing the necro said when we entered the zone was I could do this by myself... and I half believed him. Now this would seem to be a good thing right? Well, not really, he was acting like he was soloing, by just doing what ever he wanted, pulling, mezzing, and sending his pet off to kill while the group was fighting another. The problem was/is when a necro screws up or things go bad they can feign death and all is good. In a group, they ***** up... people die. (well, chars die, same thing tho, hehe)

Another necro I used to group with often, is actually a friend (sorta) of mine. He is board to death in groups. He does things just to keep busy, to have fun. Otherwise he will pull when other members of the group are not ready. To sit in the same real life room with him is amazing... he is so board when grouping. It is so slow and unappealing to him.

With that said, I think Necro's are a great addition to the group, but I am not sure a group is the best thing for a necro. As long as the necro realizes that it is going to be different than soloing, and the rules and expectations are not the same as soloing, things will be good. But necros (as with most other chars) don't or shouldn't do the same type of playing in a group as they do when soloing.

[quote]Well my thing is why would you want to group besides the fact of different senery and more fun too. But other than that necros are THE best soloers in the game [end quote =P]

Thanks for the false information... Necros are the 2nd best if that. BARDS own necro's... Sorry but its true. Wait, i am not sorry =P.


I LOVE NECRO'S!!!! They rock. I love having them in group. i am gonna list the reason why =-P with a little.

1. They can ghetto mez!!! This line of spells saved my Rangah *** 1000 times =P.

2.Their dots are unmatched just about. (65 lich killed my with virtue at level 56 in an arena with 1 dot. my cleric friend put a pumpy heart on me and i still died fast. It was crazy to say the least.

3. THEIR PETS DO EVERYTHING. BS, DW, Spells, Proc, the list goes on and is even is more extensive with AA's!

4. Snare is always good

5. They get awesome mana regen. Mana for HP's with a good regen is awesome.

6. They FD, I see more and more necro's pulling every week. Its crazy.

7. They can give their mana to other. CLERIC saver =P

Must i go on?

I'll go a little further and state that most people won't seek out a necromancer until they see the necromancer do some cool stuff. I know this thread is full of stories about the necromancer who was pulling, DoT'ing, using his pet, mezzing, twitching and then feigning death to drop all the aggro but most necros I've grouped with used /pet attack and then did their nails or something. A well played necro is a nice asset but a "typical" necromancer is no more useful than a wizard, mage or other DPS class. In fact less so since it's wasted potential where with a wizard or a mage you're pretty sure they're going to nuke and use pets to their full advantage since that's pretty much all they do.

LDoN has changed that somewhat since classes like necros and bards are expected to do more now than they were when groups were sitting on the side of a hill in the Overthere or whatever. But they still remain a class that's only really sought after when you know it'll be played to its full potential, unlike warriors, rogues, etc where you pretty much assume the guy can noodle out "backstab" and you don't worry so much about what caliber of rogue you'll get.

Generally getting groups is not hard, granted for hard LDoN necros may not be the obvious choice for DPS, but at lower levels necro are very nice in groups, especially in areas with undeads.

At 60 a necro with DC is probably best DPS class in POV.

On raids necro's have a few niches that are also quite nice.
Group with 5 clerics or 5 wizzies and keep a mob with mana near for endless mana for group. Mindwhack is 75 mana / tick for 5 ticks to everyone in group (not 900 like previously stated) recast of 1 min, which you can keep it on about 50 pct of the time.
Puller of course, take a few lessons from a monk about mob behavior when you can no longer rely on snare, FD combo.
Raid savior FD when things go to hell in a handbasket, rez cleric when camp is clear.
COTH establishment (my personal favorite) with 2 DA run through 100's of angry mobs to safe spot and FD, have mage dragged in and rez him.

Lol, Aknok. So which is, you let the group wipe rather than pump the cleric? Or, you expect the cleric to let the casters die rather than "waste" mana on them.

Oh, isn't a Necro a caster? I seem to remember healing their butts once or twice in the past.

What were you doin in a group without a chanter?! We rule! YAY!