Ok as no one has posted anything about wraiths I will do it, I will try to keep this constructive and not rant (I am still emotional on this subject).
First of all I have to say I am disappointed with the wraith changes, I am disappointed in the number of wraiths we have been limited to and I am disappointed in the lack of innovation in the wraith tree (I expected more changes).
We have lost so much and gained so little and yes I know these changes were for multiplayers benefit but where are the synergies in wraiths (or necromancer in general) to replace the synergies we got through numbers?
pre 8.3 with number of minions (wraiths) I able to get 40% armour mitigation (4 points empty the graves + 60 minions) and 15k ward (bone curse on all minions timing out to rip blood my minions for ward) this is without talking about damage output.
post 8.3 all those defensive synergies are in the dust and I spend majority of my attention just keeping 8 wraiths up.
Wraith Life time:
This leads me on to wraith life time i.e. how long each wraith lives; I know EHG did not intend for flame/putrid wraiths to last as long as they did (bug) and I did rely on this to get my wraiths to last 32/33 seconds, however, 11/12 seconds is too short even when you take the slow down decay nodes this only increase to 14 seconds and minion health has no effect on wraith life time.
I believe the wraith decay needs to be look at and several ways to combat it introduced.
Wraith Numbers:
Ouch, max 6 and to add insult to injury you can add 2 more that cap by spending 2 skill points, there is no other way to put it other than that hurts.
ok you upped the base quality (damage, health?) however, if we are going for quality over quantity where is the changes in the specialization tree that support that?
The new bleed nodes in the lower right hand side are good (help replace what I lost, I was a 49 wraith bleed build, still 1/5 damage of old) much more is needed in the tree to support quality of minions idea if this is what EHG intends for wraiths.
If wraiths is intended to be a numbers matter minion, covent of souls (increase wraith node) should be moved behing twin souls (permanent wraith node) and made to work with it and max wraiths increase to maybe 20.
Yes I am aware of the unique staff, I have not dropped it a time of posting however, I hate the fact it exists as it dampens my hope EHG will change max wraiths as it stands currently.
Leveling with wraiths:
In order make a better post (more facts/more experience) I leveled a necromancer with wraiths to see how it performs. I found that the damage was decent (about 3 times skelton damage) however, they felt like a seeking damage spell as apposed to a minion spell as again wraith lifetime was very limiting. overall I did not find the experience of leveling with decaying wraith enjoyable however, this could be my bias effecting my enjoyment as I am rather bitter over the changes.
Also of note, generally I was surprised wraiths did not get a VFX update to soften the blow of the changes; normal wraiths are ok visually, however, flame and putrid wraiths look aweful compare to EHG’s recent efforts; when are wraiths getting a VFX’s update EHG?
Overall I feel that the changes to wraiths are a band aid for multiplayers sake I feel like I would have prefered an out of order sign instead (just limit the wraiths and promise to fix wraiths at a later date when you could put the focus on necromancer).
Given what we recieved with wraiths I would have wanted more changes in the tree to support low number wraith synergies both offensive and defensive and this including changes to nodes/passive skills that become good with numbers (so as to support different synergies) if that is what EHG intends for wraiths.
I am going to end this post about wraiths by saying, I am disappointed.