Wail of Doom

Spell. All foes within earshot have their attributes reduced by 3...8 for 6...10 seconds.
Energy 10
Cast 1/2
Recharge 45

Change it. The current spec is so pathetic it's unusable by anyone.

PvE:
Trivial mobs are trivial. Scary mobs are less scary for 10 seconds.

PvP:
For 10 seconds, with no drawback, all foes in earshot don't do damage, don't prot and don't heal.

It's like Team Arenas doesn't exist.

Oh wait.

For 10 seconds, you win Guild Wars.

To be constructive.
You might as well be asking that Wail of Doom gets split for PvP and PvE.
Your suggestion is too powerful for PvP and probably PvE too.

If your asking for something overall for the entire skill, be more reasonable, earshot range is far too much the 45 second recharge is of little consequence.

That's just a starting point. I was hoping someone else in here with a creative mindset would tweak it a little and start a chain brainstorm. That's typically how good ideas get refined.

Change it from "all foes in earshot" to "target foe". I think in that situation it becomes a usable elite skill with the other changes I suggested. Or maybe keep it as "all foes in earshot" and simply change it so attributes decline by 2...4. I think either one of those would make it more balanced.

How about...
10e, 2 sec cast, 10% hp, 25secs recharge
"Target foe has all attributes lowered by 2...8 for 5 seconds. All Adjacent/nearby foes have their attributes dropped by 1...4 for 5 seconds"

That's ridiculously OP from a PvP standpoint. Something needs hit here, either in the attribute loss (down to something meager like 0...3), AoE (a single target, perhaps with adjacent range), duration (0...4 seconds), or casting time (two to four seconds).

the pvp version is great how it is, under used yes, but its balanced (probly why its not abused)
imo wail of doom has some awesome capabilites in euro spikes for gvg/HA and in RA it works great on a curse bar because if your use it on a monk he can't heal for much at all for the time its on him, or if you are under loads of pressure you can put it onto an assassin as he uses his chain etc to reduce pressure. all in all its a balanced skill for PVP so any changes to it imo should require a split.

remove the hp sac or reduce recharge to 10sec again

Only the latter would really do anything. I don't see anyone really caring about anything less than a 20% health sac (hell, even BiP at a 33% has seen use in PvP).
Putting the recharge to 10 might make it see in use in PvP I suppose, but it was only ever favoured in TA. I don't know how useful of a skill it is in GvG or if the current Necs would prefer it over their usual choices of elites.

I suppose an AoE in PvE might make me think about putting on a hero more, but then it's a ridiculous skill.

its like a ranged blackout basically, weaker but less drawbacks to compensate

I still see it in RA. And it's still a damned nuisance!

Keep this skill tamed

I wouldn't touch it in PvP.
It's fine as it is.


But in PvE it could have an extra conditional effects, like:
- Also affect adjacent foes if target is under 50% HP.
- Lasts 0...1...1 extra second for each condition and hex in target foe.

I think it would be best to split the skill for pve/pvp with your suggestion for similar reasons as others. I don't know about pvp but in pve it's quite a no brainer I think. You don't use it. If it was an aoe or had a longer duration it might have something, but as it is, it doesn't.

I think your suggestion would make it a viable option for pve and making it within earshot makes it fit in with the skill name, "wail". However, I can't help but think it might be a little too powerful? even for pve. It's practically like a party wide invulnerability skill for 6...10 seconds as earshot range will most likely affect all aggroed enemies, making them a joke for that duration. This makes it indirectly a Shadow Form for the whole party essentially. Worse, it could fill the role of the old aegis chain but would probably be stronger.

My suggestion would probably be to keep the earshot range to make it fit in with the skill name but also give it a death wail theme? Basically give it a huge health sacrifice like Holiday Blues, 50% or maybe even more. To further stop it from being abused you could have a soul reaping requirement like 10-12 soul reaping? I have one more suggestion to limit the power of your skill change idea but I'm not sure if it would kill it. My idea is to also add exhaustion. Personally I think it won't kill it as it would be the only nec skill to cause exhaustion and with it's long recharge, it will be gone by the time soul wail recharges. It would also fit the death wail theme as having such a strong death wail should be pretty exhausting. This might seem like a lot of restrictions but it's not really. It's not uncommon I don't think, to run 10 soul reaping especially for a skill that can shut down whole mobs. This leaves it with only two restrictions really, even then, they shouldn't be too bad. Even with the large health sacrifice it shouldn't be that risky as enemies will find it hard to kill you even with 50% of your health gone if their attributes are next to nothing. Exhaustion is also not too bad as it will be the only nec skill to naturally cause it and soul reaping will help counterbalance the loss.

As a slight buff, maybe have the skill cause bleeding, which would still fit in with the skill name as the death wail could cause enemy eardrums to bleed.

In summary-

Wail Of Doom:
Spell. All foes within earshot have their attributes reduced by 3...8 for 6...10 seconds and begin bleeding for 5...15 seconds. You are Exhausted. 50% failure chance unless Soul Reaping 10 or more.
Energy 10
Health sacrifice 50%
Cast 1/2
Recharge 45

If I may then into this constructive refinement.

I'd offer a different route.
For PvE.
Target foe and foes adjacent target foe have their attributes reduced by 0...6. for 2...6 seconds. Target foe and foes nearby are weakened for 10 seconds
10% health sacrifice.
5 energy
15 recharge
The game is meant for a variety of people, and a 50% health sacrifice, with a 45s recharge and exhaustion just likely will not fit in with anyone, it looks nasty.

then make it 3/4 s cast.

no no no. Wail of Doom is brilliant as it is, you are just not using it properly. Pve does not need more powercreep.

Theory-crafting; suppose you have a necro with 600 health and you see an ele or a boss casting a spell which will hit hard. Lets say the spell will hit for 120 damage (meteor or whatever), but in pve this is probably much more. You cast Wail of Doom on this spell caster immediately, because hey, it is only 1/4 casting time. You will lose 60 health casting Wail of Doom and the spell will now only hit for 15 damage or so. A highly worthwhile elite when used properly. I am quite suprised I don't see wail of doom used more often to shutdown the elite bosses.

However, we all really take Wail of Doom to screw over monks, hehe. In RA, a lot of monk have will cast patient spirit and then word of healing.. and after the recharge four seconds they will do the same again. Four seconds of wail of doom is the perfect amount of shutdown to keep a monk from catching a spike. Without holyviel, the monk has no chance of doing anything really constructive in this time.

No, it is different.

Using RA as an example again, it is very predictable seeing a R/Me run up to the monk (to use a touch skill of course, guess which one). The smart rupters will know this and stop Blackout. Wail of Doom cannot be rupted at 1/4. What makes Wail of Doom actually very useful is that is it a spell, not a touch skill. There is no time to waste running up to the monk, just immediate shutdown whenever the spike comes.

The only skills the monk can effectively use while Wail of Doom are up are: Dolyak signet, shield bash & etc and also the hex and condition removal skills. These isn't a problem, wail of doom most importantly stops the monk from redbarring. I love it when monks waste energy trying to heal.

This is all without the drawback of shutting yourself down, you can still keep attacking. Wail of Doom is brilliant. xD

Bolded the operative word you seemed to miss.

Did you miss the part where monks waste energy casting spells? or that it doesn't take 1 second to cast?

You misunderstand me. You quoted her and disagreed, explaining why WoD is good due to its range when she already stated that its range is a plus.

You missed my point. This is why I explained monks, or anyone, will waste energy casting neutered spells. Also, the spell is very immediate & on demand, unlike a 1 second casttime touch skill.

While I can understand how my suggestion could be considered nasty, I don't really see how it won't fit with anyone. I think a skill with such a powerful and wide aoe effect should have heavy penalties especially if it can single handedly change a losing battle. Then again, it's probably because I think there are just a tad too few "heavy" spells. "Heavy" spells as in spells with powerful effects and similarly heavy limitations such as meteor, Aura of the Lich and similar. I used to really want lots of powerful spammable skills but in the last few months I have started to think that now those skills lack oomph. Regardless I don't think your suggestion is bad but I think it may lean a bit toward being overpowered. It should be knocked up to 10 energy really.

I understand that. Those points aren't in conflict with what she said though. There was no need to quote her.

This skill does not need changing. For PvE shutdown has always been underpowered besides from niche use (who brings shame, diversion, blinding flash, into PvE?). And in PvP this skill sees use for reasons already mentioned.

What you're saying is... Let make every mesmer/necro hex in PvE AoE.

aaand then we can use 4 necros in pve to own almost anything with a single skill =/

The only thing i don't understand: Why are Wail of Doom and Atrophy on different Attributes? One reduces the Prim-Att to 0 and the other reduces all Atts to 0 so both skills should be in the same Attribute (i suggest Soul Reaping to prevent secondary Necros from using both skills).