I'd like to respond to an earlier post about why there don't seem to be many very high (shall we say 55-60) level necros. The suspicion being that necros are not much chop on raids and in the high end game. My own view is that necromancers are not viewed as an essential (and in many casses not even desirable) grouping class for raids. Just looking at raids:

Essential Classes:
Sturdy tanks are essential (to take the hits and pull the mobs - WAR, MNK, RGR (Nice damage guys!), SK, PAL), clerics are essential (to heal, buff and rez), shamans are (pretty much) essential (to slow and buff), enchanters are essential (for crowd control - and man do they get a rough deal sometimes ;P),

Likeable classes:
Rogues for damage dealing, scouting and CR and the occasional pick locks, Wizzies for their ports and for massive damage dealing (if you want exp a rogue + wizzy group owns), Mages are nice and sometimes considered essential for CoH (i.e. summoning late arrivals to the rest of the raid party) plus they and their pets pack a whallop, druids are nice for their ports and their buffs, snares and fairly decent DoTs, Bards make great pullers and have sensational area effect spells to heal, buff and degrade the mobs.

[I can't commment on Beasts because I don't know enough about them]

So where does this leave the Necros? Non essential (definitely true in raids - they are not percieved as essential even though they can in fact save the day for everyone....see below) - nice or desirable? Well they SHOULD be but often are not perceived to be. Before addressing this lets firstly look at why they should be desirable......here's why:

Because their pets can deal excellent damage and are expendable, because they can drain HPs from mobs and pass them on to group members by healing them for minimal mana, because they can buff the group's STA, STR, AC, HP (heal 720 over time) and mana (instant 300 mana) at the same time as debuffing the mob by a corresponding amount....if you have the right spells (NB with enough AA points this can extend to buffing/healing/manaing up EVERYONE in a certain radius....can you say "NICE!"), because they can DoT mobs in medium to long term fights for BIG damage, because they can charm undead mobs (which, as well as crowd control, adds another damage dealer to the group - and a very good one (those skeles in the Ring of Fire in Acrylia make great pets;P)), because they can snare, FD pull and in dire situations (when aggroed) cast Harmshield to avoid death, because they are likely to survive when many will not and can then exp rez the clerics or if necessary summon corpses, they can restore mana to others and seldom need mana or healing........'nuff said.

So why are they not essential or in many cases seen as desirable? Several reasons:

(1) they are often played poorly by players who are drawn, at least initially, to the lure of power. Also because many won't have played in groups and will have soloed a lot - though in my experience any necro who makes it past 54th level should know his or her stuff.

(2) the necromancer is a "low visibility" class. It does not have one obvious and defining role to play in a raid situation (though many would say it's to give mana - grrr). A necros DoTs do massive damage but go largely unseen (unlike the swing of a weapon or blast of a DD) - NB Splurt, Pyro and Vex (best done in that order or Splurt won't stick) on a mob (about all you'll manage before it dies or aggroes you) will do about 55 damage per SECOND (yes not per tick per second).....while your pet clobbers away and you heal the Main Assist or another using Shadowbond (and remain on full heal due to the Vex).

(3) the necromancer is often viewed as more trouble than he/she is worth (often caused by poor players...) e.g. pets causing trains when warping through walls or wandering off (use instant clickable invis on Circ of Shadows or Summon companion if in doubt), DoTs making mez impossible, injudious use of fear, casting Ignite Bones and turning the mob into a skelle (for some reason this really pisses the tanks off ;P) and even for using awesome powers like charm undead (eg I have been asked NOT to charm undead on a raid (even when attacked by about 10 undead mobs at once) because the tanks found it "confusing" when they couldn't hit the mob I had taken as my pet (despite my message to chat channel) - NB tip to those tanks = at least it's not hitting you mate and if you look you'll see it's hitting another mob...for more damage than you can likely do ;P).

So the above are some of the reasons why there aren't many high level necros. Another main one being that, although easy to play generally and to level up to a point, they are hard to play well - right up there with enchanter on the difficulty front in my view. But if you can do it, if you can take the prejudice and show people your skills you will love it. If you want your group to get the exp and right to loot and you are with a wizzy and or rogue then YOU WILL - stack AS MANY DOTS as you can - when summoned cast Harmshield/Quivering Veil and casually stroll away from the mob until it's aggro is off you and/or FD and get up after a while - some people like to group with me because they have often found me to be a beacon for exp (and yes I know that is not the main aim of raids but it sure is a bonus ;P). USE your Bond of Death/ Vex and heal your group (it saves the cleric a lot of mana - and if you can whack in some nice group buffs as well.

Lastly, the glory of being a necromancer can be very great indeed. Once, in the Plane of Hate (at the top of the ramp to the second level) my guild was beset upon by A LOT of undead - roughly 20 people died and only me, one other guildy who was a rogue (which is curious), and 2 mobs remained. Every one was starting to talk about a nasty CR in guild chat since the clerics had been butchered. I charmed one undead mob and sicced it on the non undead one - dropped a Shadowbond on the rogue and asked him to back off and let my new pet take the heat. Then Bond of Death on the unfriendly mob and my pet owned it but with few Hps remaining itself. Then dropped charm, FD while rogue attacks and jump up and tap and DD like mad until it died. Then I resurrected one of the epic clerics..........and the day was saved. No other class could have done this.

I've played for 3 years - always the same character (since I play a lot less than most at maybe only 10 hours per week do to work and RL generally) - it has been a long hard road but when you do a good job as a necro you own. Good players of all classes are starting to recognise this - in fact anyone at very high level who says necros suck very likely isn't a well informed player. It is no mistake that some of the most powerful guilds (e.g. Triton) are led by necros (good work lads!). So get out there and play a necro if you dare just don't play your necro like a monkey ;P

Falrinth Twysted
57 Dark Elven Defiler
Second Age
Cazic Thule