Has ANY MMO done the Necromancer right?

[vanin]

The first Guild Wars did it well.

[Cyclone Jack]

My question is, has there or will there be an MMO that will provide a 'proper' Necromancer experience? If so, I will go out of my way to acquire this game if its available ASAP.

EQ1 had a very well made Necro class, probably the best that you'll find. EQ2 Necro is OK, but it lost a LOT of flavor compared to EQ1. GW2 Necro is pretty good, especially a good minion master build. Non-MMO, a summoner build in Path of Exile has been quite entertaining and brought back memories of Diablo 2. But yes, generally speaking, most MMOs do a fairly poor job when it comes to Necros.

[Ashnazg]

EQ1 was THE necromancer for me.

Vanguard was a close 2nd. There you could graft stuff onto your main pet, which was fun.

[Forsworn Knight]

GW2's necro is a glorified Warlock. Your pets are made of silly string minus one. The necro is a class where you can summon hordes of undead to fight for you, 6 isnt hordes. Im still waiting for a game that I like to do a proper necro. The minions would be weak, but its the numbers thats the main point.

Basicly all those missions where you get to play as Arthus and raise the dead is the kinda thing I want to do. Deathknights army comes close but they dont last long.

Finally, someone who understands.

For the record, I'm still looking out. I might try out EQ1 though.

[Joyrock]

All of this but no mention of UO?

UO's Necromancer was cool but I still wouldnt say it's the best rendition. Since UO was a sandbox and the skills you pick up are completely at your choosing it fits most inline with D&D's (to me the TRUE necromancer) version of the class. In UO you could pick up (at least how mine was set up when I played a necromage) 120 Magery, 120 Eval Int, 120 Meditation (or 100) 120 or 100 Necromancy DEPENDING PURELY on what spells you wanted to cast. Then fill in the rest of the skills for a total of 720. Not keeping in mind different artifacts you could use to boost your skills in a particular skill; IE; Midnight Bracers? Which I don't think you could meditate through to regain mana. I think the top spells that were used were Pain Spike (before it was nerfed) Strangulate, Wither and Vampiric Embrace. Pain Spike for high burst damage (once again before it got nerfed) Wither to AoE chokepoints (Stack 4 or 5 Necros on top of each other spamming Wither and NO ONE is getting through chokepoints at champ spawns, or great for AoEing down trash mobs at champ spawns). Strangulate to keep an interrupt up on enemy players, and Vampiric Embrace to turn into a vampire, be immune to all poisons minus deadly and for increased mana regen. The only downside to VE was the hit to fire resistance it gave you making you more susceptible to fire based spells like fireball, explosion and flamestrike (if your armor already didnt take into account the hit to fire resist you take by going into VE form.)

All in all, after typing all that, yes, the UO Necro (combined with magery) is a very good example of a true necromancer in a game because once again, to me, there is no such thing as JUST a necromancer no matter what crazy spells game devs make up for it. The best bet of playing one is in DDO (if the class exists to its true form, which is a specialized wizard) or in UO and then EQ1.

I'll copy and paste this from http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Necromancy b/c I don't think anyone clicked the link the first time I posted it.

Necromancy is the school of magic whose spells manipulate the power of death, unlife, and the life force. Spells involving the undead make up a large portion of this school, including animate dead and finger of death.[1] Highly focused on the Negative Energy Plane, most spells from this school drain abilities.[citation needed] This school is the one most associated with lichdom, a process that allows the caster to live (or rather, exist) indefinitely by securing their essence in a receptacle known as a phylactery.[citation needed] A wizard who specializes in the necromantic school is called a necromancer.[2]

In D&D lore, which pretty much commercialized and made popular everything you see in videogames and books today there are Schools of Magic.

They are, in no particular order: (minus alphabetic LOL)
Abjuration
Alteration
Conjuration
Divination
Enchantment
Evocation
Illusion
Necromancy
Transmutation

So when you think of what game gives the best Necromancer think about which game allows you to play a Wizard that can also use Necromantic Spells and once again after typing all that, your best bet is either DDO (not sure if the class is in that game but its based off of the D&D ruleset somewhat) or Ultima Online. Then Everquest b/c it lists and allows everything D&D says a necromancer does MINUS the part of just being a specialized Wizard.

Also in Everquest you used to increase skill in the different schools of magic everytime you cast a spell. When you'd put a shield up or personal armor, your skill in Abjuration would increase. When you summoned a skeletal minion or spectre your skill in Conjuration would increase, etc etc