I was wondering, will we ever have the chance to play a necromancer-like hero in the 4th Edition? I know, some necromancy-for-players-stuff has alredy been released in Dragon/Dungeon, but I'm asking for a true necromancer. Will we ever see a new implement specialization for a necromancer wizard? Or maybe a new shadow-power class (like the assassin)?
Except, of course, you can just have your character take a bunch of necrotic powers, re-skin some summons, and call yourself a necromancer.
That said, there probably will be an actual necromancer class at some point.
I hope so. Necromancer was always one of my favorite classes, hopefully well get a shadow based Necromancer in Core. Theres a few 3rd party books with Necromancers that aint too bad. Im lookin foward to see what WotC will do with it. I always liked Shadow Adepts from the Forgotten Realms setting too. I liked too see them updated for 4e too, hopefully they dont get merged into one, Im hopin to see a distint diference between Necromancy and Shadow casting, even though they both would be Shadowfell Powered.
I'm betting we will see a full Necromancer class in PHB4, the one that will give us the Shadow power source classes.
In the future, to avoid topics like this, please refer to the pinned topic on frequently asked questions. Necromancers are discussioned in that FAQ.
Except, of course, you can just have your character take a bunch of necrotic powers, re-skin some summons, and call yourself a necromancer.
That said, there probably will be an actual necromancer class at some point.
If I had a gold piece for everyone who said "Oh just reskin...".....I mean why not just have only 4 classes - fighter, wizard, thief, and cleric and "reflavor" for the rest of the classes that people want.
Fighters could be reskinned into Paladins, Rangers, Barbarians...
Wizards could be reskinned as Warlocks and Illusionists and Summoners
Thief could be reskinned as Assassins and Rogues
Clerics could be reskinned as Druids
The point to the original post was to say "it would be nice if they would make a necromancer class, not it would be nice if we were allowed to reskin existing material."
The necromancer is LONG OVERDUE and no amount of "oh just reflavor it" crap is going to change that.
Your example gives two cases of reskinning officially supported, the Illusionist and Summoner, both were in arcane power as builds of wizard. This is likely the same treatment necromancer will get, and even so in the meantime the reskinning is the only option
The FAQ at the top of this page. TLC's Future Release Newbie Guide/FAQ - aka. The what happened to x? Thread.
Here you go:
I'm sure they know that people want Necromancers. That's why we had an article on Necromancy around when Open Grave came out. And it's very likely that they'll be in PH4, with other Shadow classes. It's not a concept that should be an Arcane Class, and it fits well with the fluff for the power source alongside what was revealed with the Assassin.
the wizard with some Dragon magazine fluff can pull off the class
No you can't - there aren't nearly enough "necromancy" spells to pull off a "necromancer"
Without reflavoring existing powers, at least. But that might not be a perfect solution for everyone.
I'd be very surprised if the Shadow source wasn't featured in PHB4, since it's got more unique concepts that easily come to mind than the Elemental source. The necromancer seems like it would be a sure thing then, since it fits the power source and is a popular option which isn't already represented by other classes.
There might be a necromancer build for the Wizard as well, once Arcane Power 2 comes out. It's debatable whether that leaves enough room for a dedicated necromancer class, but then again the battlerager build for the Fighter didn't end up replacing the Barbarian.
Really? Too bad in Wizards essentials they have already stated that Necromancy was death magic
and let's not forget my favorite....
And Shadow Magic, ie the Shadow Power Source, is one form of Death Magic.
Except, of course, you can just have your character take a bunch of necrotic powers, re-skin some summons, and call yourself a necromancer.
That said, there probably will be an actual necromancer class at some point.
The necromancer is LONG OVERDUE and no amount of "oh just reflavor it" crap is going to change that.
That's a matter of opinion. I'm quite good without them, except to serve as villains (which, obviously, doesn't require PC stats).
Necromancers seem to be in the category of having a small, but very loud, fanbase.
I find that a hybrid summoner wizard/dark pact warlock makes a necromancer nicely.
Man, people need to chillax.
They need to have something to put in the PHB4. Necromancer makes for a nice ace up their sleave. Plus, as has been stated ad nauseum here, it will likely harness the upcoming Shadow power source.
Neckrowmansirs eat viagra and summon bone minions that eat flesh and suck brains. The most perverted class ever. 
Then there is the upcoming shadow source, which no we don't know when it's going to be in a book, that should give us more undead loving options.This is pure conjecture. The original poster admits it himself (or herself) when they state "which no we don't know when it's going to be in a book".
What's pure conjecture? That the Shadow power source will be out in the future? We know the source exists (assassin) and the only source to get the axe (so far) was Ki. If it exists, it will have future book support unless they decide to axe it in the future and whether or not they will do that is conjecture.
Then again I guess all this doesn't satisfy the "NOW, NOW, NOW, NOW, NOW!" reflex.
Dude, if they canceled the shadow power source. I'd have to eat some nerdserker rage pills and rampage all over this forum. I'm looking forward to the shadow power books, damn it jim!
1000 posts, yes, but by how many different posters?
Small? There are over 1,000 posts talking about necromancy. I would hardly call that small.
Meh, I'm pretty sure that we had at least one thread about Dragonlance that had around that many posts by itself, and Dragonlance fans are still considered to be a small but vocal group(who don't seem to be getting what they want anytime soon).
P.S. Just because there are over 1000 posts which mention the necromancer, does not mean that there are over 1000 posts which contain support for the necromancer.
Dude, if they canceled the shadow power source. I'd have to eat some nerdserker rage pills and rampage all over this forum. I'm looking forward to the shadow power books, damn it jim!
Since they have released the assassin I find it hard to believe they will axe the shadow source now.
The only reason they axed the Ki source was that the concepts in it weren't uniting ideas, but were united by a geo-political box of Asianess. Shadow has no such bounds. Considering the themes for Shadow are well developed, and exemplified through the Assassin article, it's sure to be in for the future.
Similarly, Elemental has been stated to be well developed. There's no reason that either of them will be axed, especially Shadow since Assassin's release.
What does this mean in context? Necromancer almost certainly is on it's way. They've said it time and time again that it will likely come, more fully, as a Shadow class (in Races & Classes, and then again in the Necromancy article in Dragon).
What is annoying is people demanding for them NOW. If we had everything NOW, Wizards would fall out of business, because there wouldn't be anything for the FUTURE. Necromancers will come, it will just be a while. So we can wait, and be happy that 4e is going to last quite some time.
It kind of reminds of the 6th edition release of Warhammer. Of the new army books the Wood Elves were the last one. They even released a whole NEW army before the wood elves got their book! The wailing and gnashing of teeth of wood elf lovers was off the charts because it wasn't being done NOW.
Dragonlance and Necromancers haven't gotten to that stage yet... but it might. 
EDIT: Forgot that this makes at least 1,001 or so posts that mention necromancer but it's neutral in tone.
It kind of reminds of the 6th edition release of Warhammer. Of the new army books the Wood Elves were the last one. They even released a whole NEW army before the wood elves got their book! The wailing and gnashing of teeth of wood elf lovers was off the charts because it wasn't being done NOW.
Dragonlance and Necromancers haven't gotten to that stage yet... but it might.
EDIT: Forgot that this makes at least 1,001 or so posts that mention necromancer but it's neutral in tone.
In the context of D&D, what happened with the Wood Elves for Warhammer would be like WotC releasing new classes in the PHB, but skipping over, say, the Wizard. I really don't think there is much else that could happen that would be even close to that. (People could bring up the fact the Druid and Bard did not see play until PHB2, while we saw new classes in PHB1, but they aren't as integral to the game as the Wizard is). Thus far, the settings WotC has released or is going to release are classic settings (except Eberron, but how could they go wrong with Eberron?), if WotC passes over some of their classic settings on a consistent basis, people might get upset.
When it comes to dragonlance, I'v pre-ordered upset. Twice. 
Not to say I'm not WOOHOOing my ass off about darksun. But when wotc release 4e DL, I'll have all three of my favorite settings. DS, DL and EB.
Necromancer almost certainly is on it's way.
This.
I'd find it hard to belive that they won't do a necromancer. It'll probably just come out with the other shadow classes.