Dark Age of Camelot had one of the more fun and unique takes on Necro. Original Everquest pre-nerf Necro was the literal embodiment of a god of death. I'd also throw DAOC's Bonedancer in there, they weren't called Necro's but they were very much Necro's.
In War - Victory. In Peace - Vigilance. In Death - Sacrifice.
I reinstalled AoC about a week ago but it's been years since I played and will have to relearn how to play my lvl 62 Necro. I have no idea what any of the spells/skills do now.
In similar cases (return after a longer period) I used to roll a new alt, just to get back in the "saddle".
Necro doesn't use the combo system, so you don't need to worry about muscle memory at least Still, a quick playthrough of Tortage would help a lot with memory jogging.
Classic EQ one was the best though the dot nerfs have pretty much made them useless for raiding now , or at least they were the last time I played.
The Age of Conan one was 2nd for me. Mainly because it was the one necro you could play with or without a pet. The less pets you had the more power went to your spells. Games always seem to have fair amount of content where pets are just not viable. Especially in boss fights where AE takes them out quick. Which left your character feeling weak. In Conan , without pets , I was able to parse high enough to be asked back for raids. Rather than be excluded like you can be in other games.
I wish my ESO Necro had the spells that the D3 Necro has, to be honest. Even as a new D3 player I find having the 7 skellys permanently following me to be more like how I picture a Necro. In 26 levels I have never had to use the healing potion at all, and now I have the spell to convert corpses to Essence drain and the health leech spells I cakewalk the missions... so far, at least.
I reinstalled AoC about a week ago but it's been years since I played and will have to relearn how to play my lvl 62 Necro. I have no idea what any of the spells/skills do now.
In similar cases (return after a longer period) I used to roll a new alt, just to get back in the "saddle".
Necro doesn't use the combo system, so you don't need to worry about muscle memory at least Still, a quick playthrough of Tortage would help a lot with memory jogging.
A new alt is always a good idea, you're right. I noticed I only seem to have two "activated" characters out of my roster though, so I'm not sure if I could even create a new alt and be able to play it. I haven't looked at the game since (too busy) but I presume I'll have to pay to reactivate my other characters.
I suppose I could just make another free account and practice on that, so I may give that a whirl soon.
I posted this on the system discussion but this one is also talking about the same thing so I will repost it here.
The Everquest Necromancer was reviled almost everywhere. This class in Everquest meant your choice of diety and race were limited and the whole social structure in Everquest supported the idea that you were a loathsome thing that did not deserve anything less than death. You were killed on sight making selling to any vendor out in the world a real difficulty.
You could spend ages trying to get the people to like you and creep into towns via the tunnels or sewers or other hidden places and still be unfortunate enough to run into some denizen that will slaughter you immediately. Life for a necromancer in Everquest supported the overall disgust the people felt for you. Even among the evil races your own guild was often hidden away from the main paths and you had to travel far to get your new spells and abilities. Even in your own little sphere of evil there were residents that shunned you. It really makes you feel all alone on the path you have chosen.
This in turn gave you very cool spells and a pet that you raised after collecting bones and summoning them forth. You could of course get some hapless new player in exchange for gold to collect them for you and even persuade them to sell things for you for a cut of the profits.
The spells you got were not only for fighting, the great thing about Everquest is that they had spells for some classes that were pure fun like speaking through your skeleton and scaring the aforementioned newbie into farming your bones for you. They can heal, give mana to group members and had various forms of crowd control that literally turned them into dungeon masters.
No other game gives you the complete Necromancer experience that Everquest did which also included the way the world treated and interacted with you. Most other games allowed Necromancers to go anywhere and behave like any other respectable class.
A new alt is always a good idea, you're right. I noticed I only seem to have two "activated" characters out of my roster though, so I'm not sure if I could even create a new alt and be able to play it. I haven't looked at the game since (too busy) but I presume I'll have to pay to reactivate my other characters.
I suppose I could just make another free account and practice on that, so I may give that a whirl soon.
Yep, former players can only play (activate) two characters for free, and if you have more then it's either subscribe or buy more slots...
Luckily, as you said, it's a f2p game so only takes a few minutes (especially if the client is already installed) to set up a throwaway free account for the test run - you can even keep it for later as a vendor/bank alt
Hmm, I have had a great time with the D3 Necro, although I've only had the game for a couple of days. It cuts through mobs like butter, but maybe default mode is like Easy mode?
ADDENDUM: I found the difficulty option (still a noob, you see) and raised it one level (+75% reward) and still smashing through mobs with ease. I can go up another level (+100% reward) so I shall give that a try. I've read that there are eventually more difficulty levels available, the further you progress.
So if we are talking Necromancers who can actually summon minions from corpses (dead mobs), then imo GW1 necromancer. Raise them, explode them. Death nova rocks. Not to mention that they actually can look goulish and have the best fitting dance in any MMO.
They are good at pvp and pve. But then GW1 characters are dual class, so any class in that game can be good in pvp.
GW2 necromancers are decent, but you only have a few skills that actually raise minions from corpses. Great in open world pve, but they are not good in any form of pvp.
EQ1 necromancer is cool, but I don't see it as a necromancer. Could've just been called warlock. Same goes for 'necromancer' classes in other MMO's. They play more like warlocks.
So if we are talking Necromancers who can actually summon minions from corpses (dead mobs), then imo GW1 necromancer. Raise them, explode them. Death nova rocks. Not to mention that they actually can look goulish and have the best fitting dance in any MMO.
They are good at pvp and pve. But then GW1 characters are dual class, so any class in that game can be good in pvp.
GW2 necromancers are decent, but you only have a few skills that actually raise minions from corpses. Great in open world pve, but they are not good in any form of pvp.
EQ1 necromancer is cool, but I don't see it as a necromancer. Could've just been called warlock. Same goes for 'necromancer' classes in other MMO's. They play more like warlocks.
Alternatively you could call most Warlock classes Necromancers. Traditionally necromancers deal with not only the dead, death and undeath, but the underworld (demons and spirits), witchcraft, and disease/plague. Most Warlocks in video games are just specialized Necromancers who don't practice the undeath part.
Witches were practitioners of necromancy in the Bible and folklore. Frankenstein was a necromancer who studied death to create his own twisted mockery of life. Demonology has been used interchangeably with necromancy in many myths and fantasy settings.
I see some Non MMORPG's in here that makes no sense. but as far as a good necro class goes GW any of them has nothing they call it a necro class but i've played GW2 and there is no real necro class you get weapons that change your attacks and they aren't that good. as far as Everquest 1 they are the first digital game way back when that did necromancer so they set the bar everquest 2 was fair but no players and it is broken on many levels to allow solo play just to allow the game to be playable since no one really touches it dark ages of chamalot did not age well at all and the game is just meh at best not even sure if you could still play it though i know it wasn't great back when it first came out when i tried it out. beyond that I saw mention of a new game i've never heard of called Project Gorgon i just checked it out and it looks like hot garbage compared to modern games but the machanics are very interesting. so as of this point beyond Conan unchained and the falsely done idea that secret world has a necro class though i played it and figured i could make one or similar to one in game and quickly found out you can't what else would people suggest for a MMORPG that has necro classes don't include any top down games those are garbage i want something i can get into and it holds some way of being able to hold up to the RP aspect if i wanted just a rpg i would do baulders gate 3 or a more action based game like diablo though that one is falling short with the boreing gameplay.
Comments
In War - Victory.
In Peace - Vigilance.
In Death - Sacrifice.
The Everquest Necromancer was reviled almost everywhere. This class in Everquest meant your choice of diety and race were limited and the whole social structure in Everquest supported the idea that you were a loathsome thing that did not deserve anything less than death. You were killed on sight making selling to any vendor out in the world a real difficulty.
You could spend ages trying to get the people to like you and creep into towns via the tunnels or sewers or other hidden places and still be unfortunate enough to run into some denizen that will slaughter you immediately. Life for a necromancer in Everquest supported the overall disgust the people felt for you. Even among the evil races your own guild was often hidden away from the main paths and you had to travel far to get your new spells and abilities. Even in your own little sphere of evil there were residents that shunned you. It really makes you feel all alone on the path you have chosen.
This in turn gave you very cool spells and a pet that you raised after collecting bones and summoning them forth. You could of course get some hapless new player in exchange for gold to collect them for you and even persuade them to sell things for you for a cut of the profits.
The spells you got were not only for fighting, the great thing about Everquest is that they had spells for some classes that were pure fun like speaking through your skeleton and scaring the aforementioned newbie into farming your bones for you. They can heal, give mana to group members and had various forms of crowd control that literally turned them into dungeon masters.
No other game gives you the complete Necromancer experience that Everquest did which also included the way the world treated and interacted with you. Most other games allowed Necromancers to go anywhere and behave like any other respectable class.