Basically what it says on the title. The falloff of summons in Diablo titles always rankled so I’m hoping the more purposeful gameplay of Wicked lends itself to a design centered around an specialized summon (lich, dreadknight, vampire, reaper, etc.) and spells tailored for buffing them and tenderizing enemies. The clip posted on necromancers a ways back didn’t really give much flavor as to specifics so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
The necromancer isn’t coming with 1.0, so we’ll have to wait to see how it will turn out like, if it even ends up being released.
I know the class is very much still on the lathe. That’s why I’m winkingly hopeful a dev will see the comments. A guy can dream, right?
Bump for visibility.
Expanding on my earlier posts I gave some thought beyond the Diablo reference I made before. I had to go way back to find examples which really fit the point I was trying to make about persistent, impactful summons and how they feel from a gameplay and feel perspective.
Back in the EQ days, the first time you summoned a Spectre or busted out the staff of elemental mastery you felt like a BOSS. A slayerdroid in Anarchy online, infernals and dreadlords in WoW. Powerful summons were a tangible manifestation of your characters potency. Many (most?) games since have seen summons relegated to a quantity over quality early-mid game consideration with severe late game falloff, or a burst damage skill not unlike any other DPS a caster class may use, either way not an integral part of the classes identity. I’m winkingly hopeful the final design of the Wicked necro class will bring the Summoner archetype back to life.