GUEST BLOG - Warlocks and Necromancers: Comparing World of Warcraft and Guild Wars 2

(Staples, 2013) ©2014 Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
(Kotaki, 2012) ©2014 ArenaNet, LLC. and NC Interactive, LLC. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Today we have a guest blog from one of my classmates, Kelley Hallmann. You can find her blog about Bearded Dragons at http://beardeddragons-whattoexpect.blogspot.com/.

Despite the release of similar games, World of Warcraft remains the powerhouse of massively multiplayer online role-playing games. ArenaNet's Guild Wars 2 has not reached WoW's massive number of active players, but is arguably its greatest competitor. The Necromancer class of Guild Wars 2 is the Warlock's spiritual sister. Both the warlock and necromancer are personifications of death, and they are masters of the dark arts. We will be comparing the two classes for those who are looking to make a transition from GW2 to WoW, or vice versa. To add some perspective, the warlock is WoW's fifth most common class of eleven classes, while the necromancer is GW2's sixth most common class of eight classes.

Minions

A warlock, in general, may only use one minion at a time, but they are readily available no matter what skills the warlock has selected. Since warlocks are considered a “pet class,” they are normally dependent on having their minion alongside them, and will choose the minion that best matches their situation. Necromancers may have up to five different minions at a time, but their summons are limited by a cooldown timer. Players may choose to fit their play style entirely around minion control, but this is the least popular of the major necromancer builds.

Weapons and Armor

Warlocks may use staves, daggers, one-handed swords, wands, or unarmed combat.  A warlock’s spells remain the same regardless of their weapon choice, but their weapon choice is carefully selected to best match their desired stats. Necromancers may use staves, axes, daggers, wands, and war horns. In Guild Wars 2, a player’s weapon choice will depict their available skills, so different necromancer builds will use only certain weapons. They both may only use the lightest tier of armor set in their respective game.

Specializations

Warlocks have three specializations to choose from: Affliction, Demonology, and Destruction. Guild Wars 2 does not have a "specialization" game mechanic, but players can adapt their chosen weapons, armor, and skills to drastically change their play style, similar to a specialization. The three most common builds for a necromancer can revolve around applying conditions, direct damage dealing, or mastery of their minions. A warlock specialized in Affliction would mirror a necromancer condition build; Destruction is equivalent to a necromancer’s direct damage dealing build; Demonology would be a warlock’s closest specialization to a necromancer’s minion master build.

 

References

Staples, G. (2013). Gul'dan [Image]. Retrieved from http://us.battle.net/wow/en/media/artwork/wow-characters?view=artwork-guldan2&keywords=guldan

Kotaki, K. (2012). Necromancer [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/professions/necromancer/ 

Necromancer – GuildWars2.com. (n.d.). GuildWars2com RSS. Retrieved April 24, 2014, from https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/professions/necromancer/

Necromancer. (n.d.). - Guild Wars 2 Wiki (GW2W). Retrieved April 24, 2014, from http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Necromancer

Warlock. (n.d.). Wowhead. Retrieved April 24, 2014, from http://www.wowhead.com/class=9/warlock

Warlock. (n.d.). WoWWiki. Retrieved April 24, 2014, from http://www.wowwiki.com/Warlock

World of Warcraft®. (n.d.). Warlock. Retrieved April 24, 2014, from http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/class/warlock

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