Guild Wars: Character Profession Primary attribute

[TriggerHappy]

You have still failed to explain what you would do if someone, heavens forbit, stripped you off enchantments?

I continue to fight. That's the entire reason for the extra energy pool to exist. So I can continue to fight until my enchantements can be recast. As I explained in the previous post, it's a safety net.

Or applied a skill like Spirit Shackles to your E/Ranger?

Hehe, had that done to me a few times. Marksman's Wager cancels it out (5 lost, 5 gained) on my El/Ra, and on my Ra/Ele I continue to gain energy, since each shot returned more than shackles took away (Dec weekend, when Wager got improved).
But what I'd usually do is just not use a bow for the few seconds it takes me ask a friendly monk (over comms) to remove the hex from me. I kept casting spells, which aren't affected by spirit shackles.

The point is, Soul Reaping provides a similar (But obviously lesser) benefit, since its.. An uncounterable passive. And, please, stop diverting the issue into saying how your skills can emulate the effect - we're comparing primary attributes, for <insert diety here>'s sake.

No, the point here is that Soul Reaping provides nowhere CLOSE to the options that Energy Storage or Expertise do. What is more useful?

Elementalist/Ranger vs Necromancer/Ranger

Elementalist/Mesmer vs Necromancer/Elementalist

Ranger/Mesmer vs Necro/Ranger

All of those combinations on the left provide much better energy recovery/management options than a Necromancer Primary with his Soul Reaping. And they do so without investing attribute points into a superfluous, uncontrollable and highly situational passive effect.

Why take a Necro Primary and invest into Soul Reaping and get no other benefit from it than the passive bonus, instead of taking a Mesmer primary OR Secondary, investing into Inspiration Magic and being able to use Mantra of Recall? Investing in Inspiration Magic also allows one to use skills like: Spirit Shackles, Energy Tap, Ether Feast, Power Drain and Spirit of Failure. What does investing in Soul Reaping do for you again ..?

Why chose a Necro Primary over an Elementalist primary, when you got twice the energy pool and multitudes of options to refill it?

It's no wonder there are thousands of threads asking for improvement to Soul Reaping usage for PvP. Thousands of posts coming to conclusions that the Necro primary is pretty much THE worst primary profession in Guild Wars. It's because they're right. We are not comparing primary attributes here. We're comparing energy recovery options. Which is what Soul Reaping is, an energy recovery option. There is no comparison between Sould Reaping in that role and Inspiration Magic/Marksman's Wager/Energy Storage+Ether Feast.

That was the reason for disagreement in my first post. That there are much better options to recover energy than taking a primary Necromancer and investing into Soul Reaping. I couldn't care less if it seems like the perfect primary attribute on paper. Nothing in Guild Wars works in a vacuum.

So far, I still don't see how Energy Storage has provided such an exceptional benefit, beyond the initial burst of 30 mana

That's unfortunate, I've explained it several times now. Energy Storage provides a higher energy capacity that can be re-used multiple times with the right combinations of skills. An character combination that relies heavily on energy usage has it's damage output increased by as many times as he can refill that energy pool during a fight.
Spend 60 energy on spells? Now refill them and spend it again. Refill it and spend it yet again. The D2 analogy would be having to rely on natural mana regeneration before starting to unload your high damage/high mana cost spells versus drinking a mana potion and doing same alot faster.

- you say that Wager recharges ~40 energy, while Ether Lord keeps your bar completely full.

*cough* Keeps it completely full ... after fully draining it you mean?

Ether Lord
Description: You lose all energy. For 5-9 seconds, target foe suffers energy degeneration of 1-3, and you experience energy regeneration of 1-3.
Energy Cost: 10
Activation Time: 2 Seconds.
Recharge Time: 20 Seconds.
Linked Attribute: Inspiration Magic. Increases duration and energy degeneration/regeneration.
Skill Type: Hex Spell.

I'm sorry, why would I want to lose 60-70 energy just to get 175% energy regeneration for all of 9 seconds (woohoo?)? There are alot faster ways to restore one's energy supply without loosing all energy to begin with. Mantra of Recall is a MUCH better way, if you're insistent on using a Mesmer's energy recovery skills.