Guild Wars 2

I’ve done some thinking on traits for various classes. I think a lot of us can agree that there are a few traits we wish we had room to use, with other traits in the same line. So far, as we unlock the Adept, Master, and Grandmaster levels, we can place traits of lower quality into these slots higher tiers.

But I was wondering. What if we could assign our traits into any level slot (Adept, Master, Grandmaster), so long as it stayed within the same line it was found in? Would that open up more build diversity, or would it make some classes completely overpowered?

Keep in mind that with what I had thought about, you would still need to progress to a point where you could unlock the different levels, so you can’t get the best Master and Grandmaster traits without putting in the effort to acquire them by levelling up. When you did have them available, you could put them just about anywhere in the line they came from. (ex. Illusionary Persona [Illusions XI] in the Adept slot, when you’re level 80)

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

There are many traits that are balanced by requiring you to put 6 points into that line. Its by design and the game would be completely unbalanced with out it.

Some traits like 20% of X or Y weapon types cool downs are at master rank for balance issues. Forcing choices.

Its a basic balance thing. With out it… everyone would simply slot 2-3 traits that boost there main weapon… and 2-3 of the grand master traits. The game would be completely unbalanced and super power creeped.

I mean would it be good for your build… of course.. You do realize you would have to fight things like… Engi Full Spec granades / Full spec Turret bunker right ?

How it is now is how i prefer. It’s better with the restrictions otherwise all the traits would be balanced around being able to be attainable at 2 trait points which’ll render our GM traits massively nerfed.

What would be nice is the introduction of more adept and master traits though.

sinzer.4018:

How it is now is how i prefer. It’s better with the restrictions otherwise all the traits would be balanced around being able to be attainable at 2 trait points which’ll render our GM traits massively nerfed.

What would be nice is the introduction of more adept and master traits though.

The idea would be that you still have to level to 80 in order to unlock your master and grandmaster level traits. Once you get there, you can place them in whatever slot you want, so long as it’s within the same line. So I if I were a Mesmer, I could have Chaos XI in its adept or master slot, but I would not be able to place it in the other trait lines (Inspiration, Illusions, etc.).

Not sure you are understanding why they are where they are. Its not about leveling. Game balance is aimed at everyone being at 80. Many classes are not all that balanced vs one another until end game. End game balanace is the issue. Really do you think it would be a good idea for people to be able to slot 5 grand masters and 5 and 2 masters ? That is what your idea would allow….

Which is why sinzer is saying if that happened they would have to nerf the heck out of the traits… they would all have to be = in power to tier 2.

The design right now works fine… everyone can have a max of 2 Grand master and 2 master traits up at one time. (the masters having to be from the same line as the grand masters you choose). This allows Anet to balance the possible builds. Does it mean some builds are not possible like the one you mentioned in your op, of course its not possible because it wouldn’t be balanced very well.

sinzer is also right that if you do want more options… the way there is the way anet is already going. By adding more high level traits so you can have more possible builds.

Keyce.8137:

But I was wondering. What if we could assign our traits into any level slot (Adept, Master, Grandmaster), so long as it stayed within the same line it was found in? Would that open up more build diversity, or would it make some classes completely overpowered?

It was like this in the first beta weekend. There was next to no build diversity because all anyone did was pick the 7 most powerful major traits in your profession.

Liink to add build diversity they should get rid of the weapon specific skill idea and allow for those skills to be swapped out as a player chooses. However have a secondary effect if you do use the corresponding weapon. For example, a warrior’s whirlwind ability. One could swap it in as part of a skill build with hammer but sense its a hammer it is used as normal, but if wielding GS or sword it gets a secondary effect of adding a %chance to bleed or crit.

Then just make the whole trait system more of a skill support system based on offensive, defensive, and supportive paths.

This way playsers can play with the skills and they like and build their traits around the skills used and not the other way around which seems to be the case right now.

Any ways thats my theorycrafting 2 cents hope it makes sense as I would love to see this kind of idea implemented. Would making playing more enjoyable to me.

Ultimately GW2 needs more of an emphasis on CONTROL and SUPPORT capabilities and needs to have thousands more possible combinations of builds, and a few hundred more viable build combinations distributed throughout the existing professions.

How can this be done?

1. Make each new ability unique, interesting, fun to use, and watch.
2. Allow people to choose their stats on their gear—> Each individual Major and Minor stats with a few restrictions from a drop down menu. (At least for Spvp with a few rules)
3. Unlink the connections between 2 Stats per trait line, and give players complete freedom in the allocation of their stat points for various Attributes.
4. Create new skills that actually allow someone to CONTROL enemy movements and SUPPORT their allies effectively.
5. Create new traits that are each unique and greatly define builds and fundamentally change their game-play.
6. Many of the traits that are passive or manipulate numbers should be rolled or merged into the basic trait lines for the professions at various tiers.
   This would allow for more unique traits and mechanics to be created for the professions. It also creates less of a need for theory crafting minimal, maximal, and optimal builds. It makes it easier for those that do, too.
7. Roll each weapon’s Auto Attack into an ability that doesn’t have a button, by making them initiated by opposite clicking on an enemy. This opens up a new ability for each profession and weapon.
8. Make several traits that modify the effects of individual abilities.
9. Create new abilities for existing weapons that can be selected similarly to utilities.

These things combined with changes to PvE individual monster mechanics, would increase build diversity. Monster encounter mechanics must be evolved to reduce the necessity of doing damage, and that the control and support roles become vital for success in more encounters. One such encounter is the Ice Elemental in the Dredge Fractal. One without the other will fail to open up a larger amount of viable builds.

Oh god, I would be so horrifically overpowered. Just imagine the infinite crying that an ele with diamond skin, stone heart, and written in stone (that last one only for SoR so that you could just hit it whenever you got a bit too low with no regen loss). You could build full celestial, use a mix of conjures and cantrips, and just never die, ever.