Harsh attitude towards summoners from others.

[Resurgence]

How am i supposed to play a summoner when the very core skills of my class are rendered useless by cries from party members telling me to desummon my minions? Am i doomed to solo my entire career or just bow down subserviently and let others dictate to me how i should play?

I mean, this game is more than 7 years old, now. Im not trying to put anyone down, but just how long has it been since they last upgraded their computers? How come i dont lag when necros summon entire armies around me despite the fact that i play on a laptop?

I apologise for sounding so arrogant, but in actuality, im simply furious. I just came out of a game in which i was partied with 3 others for Izual in hell. All three of them gang up on me and start chiding me for being such a 'noob' for summoning, and for the duration of the entire game, i was called a noob and an idiot for actually picking a summoner for my role.

I verbally lashed back at one of them, who admitted to being a 13 year old boy. The funny thing is, i cant recall being so moronic when i was 13, so im going to isolate his ignorance to him alone. But what about the two others? And in fact, EVERY game i step foot into, im not allowed to summon, be it in Chaos Sanctuary, WS K or otherwise.

And if i refuse to desummon, the party is simply broken up to exclude me from it, or i'm made hostile, and im tired of getting into a fight in every friggin game i step into.

Anyone else at all experiencing this?

[Mad Mantis]

Anyone else at all experiencing this?

Welcome Newcomer to The Darkness. Grab a brew (http://www.holland-at-home.nl/images/bier.jpg) and feel free to raise some corpses.

Do a little search and you'll find lots of tales of this. Usually Skellies are valued in the beginning of a ladder and after that people start to whine.
Most Necros just say: "**** 'em" and keep their minions. You could always just wait for a particular bad monster pack and then unsummon all your minions and let the party wipe. Or create a build specifically designed for lagging out other people.

What you can also do is say that they should upgrade their PC and get rid of the 56k modem, or switch to 2D mode instead of 3D.

[GotFriana]

How am i supposed to play a summoner when the very core skills of my class are rendered useless by cries from party members telling me to desummon my minions? Am i doomed to solo my entire career or just bow down subserviently and let others dictate to me how i should play?

No, most people s attitude in Bnet is poor to begin with, so dont let that affect you too much. On the other side, look at your party, the weak will always apreciate your minions, ranged will apreciate your minions, and in most cases experienced players will love your curses at the right time. As I see it the problem is when you can bring up too many minions and there are other effects (curses, auras) on screen it can even be difficult to distinguish friends and foes. About the lag its something that comes from the beginning of the game and all people carry on repeating it year after year. I ve found if you join a game and keep an army of skelletons say 10 or 11 skellies people dont complain, its when they start seeing revives that they start yelling, to level my necro in most baal runs I ve joined the usual spam was "no revives, no revives, no revives". I know you may feel frustrated because you are forced to keep your skills tammed in a way but if you think about it if the rest of the party is killing too you dont really need your full army that and your curses and CE should allow you to play comfortable in party games.

[Resurgence]

GotFriana, i would be inclined to agreed with you, but EVERY game so far has resulted in them shouting 'No skellies' and 'No minions!'. Im more of a skellymancer, and at any given time, i can have over 30 skellies and magi up alone, without even considering revives.

But in the game, i made THREE skellies and was told to desummon immediately. The problem is that if i retort in baal games, they'll simply not allow me to party up in the subsequent games.

And the general attitude on these forums is in VAST contrast to that which you find in general pub games. Most people playing this game seem to be extremely childish and want instant gratification in games. Not to mention the terrible English communication skills, which normally wouldnt bother me if people didnt use what little English they knew to condemn and insult you.

Ive been playing WoW for quite awhile now, and just got used to the generally more vibrant and vocal population, and logging into a pub game in D2 now does a number on my upchuck reflex.

Some examples of chat logs:

"PP"
"PP"
"PP"
"PP"
"PP"
"PP"
"MyBalls-Freeze has left the game"

"Nigro, Dudu, baba"...How is Nigro an abbreviation for Necro when they have the exact same amount of letters? And the latter two just sound like something an infant would come up with.

A lvl 90 is sparing time to rush people. Not ONE of them thanked him, but all managed to order him around with 'TPTPTPTPT', 'HELP' when he explicitly stated he's going on a coffee break outside Duriel's chamber (that didnt stop them from going in regardless) and then finally logging off in his face when baal was down.

And then there's my personal favourite - "Noob necro".

It really does seem at times that this game harbours the lowest scum of humanity as a playerbase. Again, i apologise for seeming condescending, but what is one to expect when people turn back the clock all the way to the era of the neanderthals and start grunting and poking at one another?

[medgar]

hahaha you just summed up my thoughts on online players completely, nothing condescending about it. I tend to just play alone and use b.net solely for trading purposes since I swear I get dumber just being around these morons.

[lendial]

well if its a baal game, just sit back and relax because theres usualy 3 hammers and a sorc in everyone. the throne room also gets really crowded and combined with blizzard/meteor your minions will surely crash or lag.

for non baal gaming(which is rare if with the power to grush/rush and engima) just reduce summons.

d2 has the most terribly online pub community ive ever seen. dont let it suprise or get you down.

[Marzuk]

I honestly think you need to evaluate exactly what your summons are doing, and summon accordingly. I have a summoner that I have fun playing, but honestly I get a bit irritated when someone comes in and just has to summon 15 skeletons / mages and a bunch of revives. It does cause me a bit of lag, and if you are a melee character finding anything to hit becomes a pain in the rear.

I found that my skeletons did very little (even at a higher level) in baal runs, and I was better off using some curses and some CE.

[King Of Cold]

Well, its refreshing to hear that someone has brought this subject up.
I myself have a level 91 Full Summoner. At a given time I can have upwards of 55 summons at a time. I have heard many of the complaints you've listed so far.

I'll enter a baal game for example, party up, take the tp to the throne, summon Clay Golem, and revive two witches. Instantly I am told "No summons, No summons" By a low level 76 character, who is not the runner I might add. Which is then followed in unison by the whining crys and pleas of the party. I have also become annoyed by this general attitude towards necros. For example a druid can have his wolves, his oak, and his ravens, yet none say a word. If anything a party in baal will complain first about a druids cane before his summons.

I have also been excluded from parties, hostiled , and spammed with messages from adolesecents who couldnt find their own home on a world map. I must agree that some of the players who play with us on D2:LOD are some of the most moronic and idiotic people I have ever had the chance to speak with. I am not saying that proper grammar is a necessity, but when asking a question and typing the following:

"Wat " <-- with no question mark.

Is something I'm sure we have all seen far too often. Unfortunately I am taken aback when I meet someone of moderate intelligence while playing.

I find that the overwhelming hostility towards necros could partially be due in fact to the high volume of Good Game pk necros, who lay waste to nubcakes on the regular. For example, a good Bone/Summoner or Poison/Summoner hostiling an entire Chaos game and laying waste to the entire group repeatedly. I doubt that this has improved our overall image to the populace on Bnet. It's not as if I myself haven't thought of something like that myself, in fact I will be doing so quite soon, yet Im sure it doesn't help our image.Nevertheless, what do they expect when all we necromancers hear are the incessant whines of children
"No minions" "Don't summon" "Retard Necro" "Fag necro" "Lol Summoner"
"Noob Necro" etc,...

Frankly I think it is just desserts..
I myself wear an enigma, and I'm sure any good game necromancer worth his weight in sojs would do the same. As long as the summoner gathers his minions with a single teleport, and focus' them on the enemies which he/she wishes to kill there really shouldn't be any problem.Yet, as we all know whiners will whine. I certainly dont go around telling a Fire sorc not to cast meteor, or a Ice sorc not to cast Blizzard.Im pretty sure the only thing even remotely close would be my telling a melee character to remove thier torch in throne.

Well, to sum up my reply, I guess the only other thing I can say is that the whining will never cease, children follow by example and the ignorant are ignorant due to thier own decisions. :fortuneteller:

[Reticent Drappa]

I myself do not play as a summoner, however, I have played them before,
and I have heard complaints about summons from those that can barely type.
Although I haven't played as one myself lately (been trying out many different character ideas). My best friend plays as a summoner often with me(King Of Cold).
He can have 55 summons going at a time (skellies, mages, revives) but typically he has around 40 going. This does not effect my playing (eg: 'lagg' ) in any way.
In fact, it makes things much easier on many different fronts.

The only problem i could ever imagine with mass summons is simply:
"Where am I?" haha.
:grin:

I also find myself frustrated with the general populace on D2. Therefore i tend to play solo, and lvl up in private baal games with close friends.
I must say, it's always a treat to enter a baal game run by a summoner, and to have people type the usual, "dont summon" remark, only to be followed by the necromancer retorting with:
"My Game, *****." :D

[Resurgence]

In response to Marzuk, most of the incidents have occured outside of baal's throne room. This is because i rarely bother to even summon in there anymore as the paladins and sorcs take everything down before i can even cast a couple of CEs followed by a curse. Many of the incidents, therefore, are occuring in other places.

I evaluate and am in full control of my summons (enigma). Yet people whine. Is it really my fault that they're playing on a 286 in this era? And should i even consider caring when im 'requested' in such a hostile manner?

[boodah]

One option is to create or join a 'necro' game, i.e. 'necro lvln'. Or get a game going by posting on these forums.

[Mperor]

Well, I personally just summon sparingly when it's a baal run - maybe 4-5 skellies, with a golem. Hardly effective, but I just have them around as meat shields while I stand back.

You get exp. by Corpse Exploding anything that others kill, thus, you can get massive exp just as well without any summons at all. :D

[bruticus]

well written thread.

if i'm in someone else's baal runs, i'll summon/unsummon as they "allow" for it. i've played with runners that allow for full summons, and some that allow just clay golem, and some in between (6 skellies, clay only).

definately love it when i'm running a chaos game in hell and some lvl 40 char starts with the "unsummon skellies" spam. i was running CS for a guy who needed some leveling in pub, and a random party member started with that, even though i'm the only one killing anything. i tp back to town, and when i start seeing people dying, only then do i return to save the day. of course i opened the Lord de Seis and Ventar seals right on top of the spammer. =) juvenile of me? of course!

[Resurgence]

But did he deserve it?

OF COURSE! :D

[Ed from Russia]

Frankly I never use my summoner for multiplayer. I use one for MF and now and then get one to run the Hell Forge (and on the way get a few socketing quests).

I rarely enjoy playing MP anymore, unless it's with people I know. If you just enter a Ladder MP game there seems to be no game plan (like: pallies and barbs in front, sorcs and necros in back) or strategy. And people come and go when they like. I prefer playing with friends and getting through a couple of quests all together.

I've have thought about a Necro character for MP-ing. Without skellies but with (a few) revives, with CE and Dim Vision, and with points in curses.

Here's what I sometimes do when people don't like my minions: I revive some gloams to really piss them off.

[zodwizard]

Hi.... I guess I'm in the minority. I had a level 90 Skellimancer last ladder season who had no problems with people complaining about my summons. Hell, they loved how fast the enemies went down, covering their own tail.

The only real bad mannered instance was when I was running Chaos Sanctuary in Hell Difficulty for the first time. I left the game open and was immediately joined by two pallies, a sorceress, a druid, and an assassin.. all around 69th to 73rd level, whereas I was 83. I invited them to party and none of them joined. It was my game and they wanted me to unsummon my army... 24 skellies, clay golem, and revives (8 or 9 i think... blunderbores, too).

To add insult to injury, they broke up into small groups and refused to party with me. So I said okay, I'm solo. All of them died 3 or 4 times within a couple minutes. My necro soloed the level with no deaths, and took down big D. What did I get for killing D and giving most of them the quest? Here's a sample:

"Hacker."
"Where can I get maphack?"
"Only noobs play a summoner."
"Anybody can do it while cheating."

And it didn't get much better after that. This wasn't a group of friends, which would have been understandable. It was a group of people that hadn't met and went their own seperate ways, telling me how to run MY character in MY game.

But like I said, this is the only instance. Most people appreciated the help my summons provided, even in baal games with 8 players. I think the only reason for 'necro hostility' is the same reason some people dislike Hammerdins.. they're a powerful build that can handle 'difficult' areas easily... cheesy is one word I've heard used to describe both builds.

Just my 2 cents... there's all kinds out there, I guess.

[bruticus]

What did I get for killing D and giving most of them the quest? Here's a sample:

"Hacker."
"Where can I get maphack?"
"Only noobs play a summoner."
"Anybody can do it while cheating."


if this is the only instance, you're definately in the minority, i'd think. incidentally, does anyone really need maphack for Chaos? :laugh: some people's children, i tell ya.

[boodah]

if this is the only instance, you're definately in the minority, i'd think. incidentally, does anyone really need maphack for Chaos? :laugh: some people's children, i tell ya.

Other great areas for map hack-

Duriel's lair
Kurast Causeway
Durance of Hate level 3
Arreat Summit
Throne of Destruction
The World Stone Chamber
:dunce:

[zodwizard]

Other great areas for map hack-

Duriel's lair
Kurast Causeway
Durance of Hate level 3
Arreat Summit
Throne of Destruction
The World Stone Chamber
:dunce:

LOL... My thoughts exactly. Forgot the ruined Temple in Act 3 Kurast, though:rolleyes:

[TheMilkMan]

My summons do 10k a pop and i get 15 so thats 150,000 dmg a pop so i just tell them that then they shut up