Guild Wars 2

Q: How do I acquire traits? Are there some traits that can only be “unlocked” after acquiring other traits first? Will trait acquisition be solo or will there be incentives for players to group together to help each other obtain more traits?

A: Traits are acquired through challenges that are specific to each profession. We don’t have traits that require other traits first. Traits are a way for you to develop your character, so it’s important that you be able to acquire them solo. With that being said, earning them certainly doesn’t have to be a solo activity and players are free to help each other as they see fit.

Source

When I first heard about this, I was incredibly excited, and then disappointed when they removed it.

My proposal, similar to that with the skills, is that instead of just giving new Traits in updates (providing that they plan on adding new traits), is that we have to do these profession specific activities (an example they gave was a Warrior would fight a Greatsword Master to get a trait relating to the Greatsword, while an Ele would research ancient arcane tomes to get a Trait relating to their Arcane spells).

This could be done in a number of ways:

• Exploration – The most overarching one, which will apply to most (if not all) of the ways below. Players would have to hunt these Traits down, and while some might be hidden in a buried temple, others might be hidden in plain sight (that drunk guy sitting at the bar there? Yeah, he’s mastered how increase the number of times Hundred Blade hits in a given time).

• NPC’s – As above, see below. There would be NPC’s hidden in the world in which you can learn Traits off in a variety of ways (Warriors could spar in a way specific to that Trait, while Ele’s would find a tome that only that NPC can unlock, and Necro’s have to capture and sacrifice a creature to learn a Trait).

• Items – An instruction manual that teaches you, as a Warrior, how to strengthen your body, making you more resilient to stuns while wearing a shield. An ancient tome that teaches you, as an Ele, how to use the air with your fire spells, increasing their AoE range.

I feel this would bring another sort of character progression that isn’t dependent on gear or power creep (since Traits wouldn’t be any more powerful, but would function to personalise your build more).

Weren’t the trait challenges something that was meant to be in GW2 before the introduction of Levels?

In order for your idea to make sense, there would be even less need to have Levels in the game – wich I agree should be removed – and as consequence, no need to have downleveling either.

I think your suggestion is a great idea that would make the game alot richer and fun.
It’s alot better to fight for everything you gain, rather than it being given to you automatically.

XP should only serve to grant you Trait Points and Skill Points.
But in order to spend those Trait Points and Skill Points, you should have to hunt the
Skills and Minor/Major (and in my other thread, Superior) Traits by beating certain Challenges.

I also made a suggestion regarding Traits that I believe complements this:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/suggestions/Trait-Concepts-Superior-Elite-Stats/first#post651706