Guild Wars 2

Hi All,
This is my first post here. I’ve been lurking for quite a while, reading a lot of the posts, and I may very well go back to lurking! I generally don’t get involved in forum posting as it usually ends up in disagreements and is pointless, but I did want to clear my mind and get some thoughts out.

Heres the TLDR: “I think the skills system in GW2 is quite weak and because of it I have effectively given up on the game”

I have played GW1, GW2, and have a subscription to WoW. You could call me almost a casual to all of these games.. but what I want to focus on is how fun the skills are to use, which is a major part of the gameplay.

Let me get straight to the point:

GW1:
The skills are one of the best features of the game. Soooo many skills and synergy between them, with the right builds making or breaking how you performed. I never ever researched builds and would sometimes sit in an outpost for hours looking through my skills, changing around my skill points, and then testing it out to see how it did.
I understand that there were a lot of useless skills, and that balancing became an issue, but kitten , unlocking, buying, and capturing skills from bosses was so much fun and gave you a sense of progression for your character that you didn’t get from upgrading gear.
I played a mesmer and LOVED watching an enemy caster and hitting them with a cry of frustration!!!!!

GW2:
Before the game was released I read about the game having 10 skills on the bar and I was excited because it was two more than GW1 which meant more possibilities… but then i found out that 5 would be tied to your weapon. I instantly thought “Uh oh that sounds bad… wont that get boring? Its ok though because there are still 4 more skills and an elite, so overall there will still be more fun and variety compared to GW1”

In reality though, I think it is much worse. The skills from 5-9 are basically heal and utility and arent exciting to use (i play a warrior btw.. my only character at 80) plus an elite but the elites seem much weaker than in GW1

The boredom comes from just fighting normal enemies, which should be fun. Sure, you can move and dodge (the dodging is good), but im using the exact same patterns with no variations. Theres no resource to manage and no random procs which make things differ.. im just using a new skill when it comes off cooldown. You often don’t even need to be very efficient and master your rotation, because the autoattacks are so powerful that not using a skill and just autoattacking doesn’t hurt you too badly.
I feel the same regardless of the weapon that i choose. The fighting isn’t exciting, its just an enemy with a big health bar that slowly goes down..

World of Warcraft:
Ok so you cant move around as well as in GW2 and you can’t roll..
But other than that there are more useful skills. Lets say you are a DPS. Yes, sometimes there aren’t that many different skills you are using to deal damage… but you generally have resources to manage and the skills contain random procs which mixes up the battle.
You will be happily doing a rotation then things proc which mixes up what you’re doing. To me, it feels exciting when you get lucky procs which help you defeat the enemy faster. The point is, it MIXES UP the battle a little bit which I don’t feel in GW2.
Nevermind the awesome utility skills in WoW which to me, seem much more useful than their GW2 counterparts.

Conclusion:
Loved GW1 skill system (loads of skills that synergise with each other)
Love World of Warcrafts skill system in a different way (less skills compared to GW1 but all are available and generally fun to use)
With GW2, the potential is there with the 10 skills slots, but the skills aren’t fun to use and the first 5 are locked into your weapon

RECOMMENDATION:- Each weapon slot 1-5 has THREE alternate weapon skills that can be put there!!!!
I assumed the game would be like this from the start. If i could select from a possible list of just 3 different skills for each of the slots(ie: 15 total skills per weapon) then loads of possibilities would open up and I would love to come back and try it out.

Main reason why the weapons do not do that is cause of how much work it would take to implement and ensure it is balanced for every case. GW1 sure had a lot of skills but was a balance nightmare for the dev team. Even still they are balancing it and since they split into PVE and PVP in GW1 it has been nothing but a headache to them. They stated way back when GW2 was released why there is less skills.

Alternate weapon skills that you can swap out seems like something they almost have to add in an expansion or patch. The current state of skills the way they are now will just cause people to eventually get bored. There’s only so much you can do with the trait lines as well so you’re generally stuck playing the same way over and over.

Not sure what they’ll eventually end up doing, but I’m positive they’re going to have to add in some new skills somehow. It will certainly create more of a balance headache for them though.

the ammount of skills we have in GW2 is nice simple and easy to master.

once you learn the class mechanic and what weapons / kits / atunements give u the best advantage for the fights you have ahead iys really nice to use.

this game is not for every one. but id rather have 10-14 skills (im an engineer i have f1-f4 skills) then have 40-50 skills covering half my screen like in aion or wow or rift etc.

these low ammount of skills also lead to a nice smooth and clean UI and no cluttering of skills which alot of the time areonly used for 1 time in a fight due to loong cooldowns.

so all in all i like this gw2 skill system. its easy simple and does not clutter my UI

Actually there’s another reason skills are tied to the weapons.

A whole lot of people don’t know or understand how to make a build at all. They’d go play a game like Guild Wars 1, fail abysmally and then leave the game, because they couldn’t make a build to save their lives. Too many skills and no real structure.

I loved making builds in Guild Wars 1, but I also knew a whole lot of people who went to a website and just used builds there. I also know a lot of people who tried the game couldn’t figure it out and left.

In the end, I find that I require MORE skill to play PvE in Guild Wars 2, because Guild Wars 1 was build wars. You make your builds, you set up your heroes and your skill no longer matters.

PvE in both games (with the exception of the hardest elite areas) is pretty easy anyway. But in Guild Wars 1, it was completely mindless…to me anyway.

I agree I had fun making builds…but that’s not the only way to have fun in an MMO.

Taktaal.1673:

…I think the skills system in GW2 is quite weak and because of it I have effectively given up on the game"…

and

Taktaal.1673:

RECOMMENDATION:- Each weapon slot 1-5 has THREE alternate weapon skills that can be put there!!!!
I assumed the game would be like this from the start. If i could select from a possible list of just 3 different skills for each of the slots(ie: 15 total skills per weapon) then loads of possibilities would open up and I would love to come back and try it out.

do not really go together.

You can’t even begin to compare GW skill system with WoW.

Different beast entirely.

I feel you OP. I hope AN will listen eventually and add more skills to the game and customisable skill bars for weapon. It’s one the main reasons why combat in PvE in this game is so boring, so repetitive. Their idea of easier balancing across PvE and PvP obviously didn’t work, they’re already splitting skills, so what’s the point in having current limited and somewhat primitive system?

krixis.9538:

this game is not for every one. but id rather have 10-14 skills (im an engineer i have f1-f4 skills) then have 40-50 skills covering half my screen like in aion or wow or rift etc.

That is certainly not what the OP is advocating as an alternative. Have you played the original Guild Wars?

these low ammount of skills also lead to a nice smooth and clean UI and no cluttering of skills which alot of the time areonly used for 1 time in a fight due to loong cooldowns.

More skills != UI clutter.

A few points I want to mention:
1. skills should be weapon dependent
Each weapon is used different allowing different skills. Enough said.
2. more weapon skills is awesome
Definitely. The more skills the more variety.
3. alternate weapon skills should be unlocked by using the weapon
Definitely. You keep using a weapon to learn to use it differently. Alternate weapon skills could be allowed to be unlocked at a higher level. Making the higher levels (after 30 if I’m correct) more interesting. Currently levels 30-79 include no new changes except some traits.
4 more skills means more work for balancing but allowing build and trait variety
This is something Anet currently tries to achieve. They want to balance by not forcing a player to use a certain build to be powerful.

About the UI clutter: It won’t be cluttered at all. You have an arrow above your 1-5 skills once you reach level 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 you will be able to swap your weapon skills. They are then saved for this weapon for this weapon set for the entire time.
No UI clutter, no trouble getting confused as newbie and much more.

This has potential as well as more variety.

An idea that I suggested since yesterday and GreenNekoHaunt presented to you

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/suggestions/New-weapon-system/first#post2247702

Feel free to tell us your opinion.

It’s just the way you play it. I actively use all my skills in GW2, and try to make the most out of them. Most have more than one purpose which means using them wrongly can cost me.

In WoW I spammed shadow bolt. That’s it. Oh there were a million other skills but who cared, honestly.

I agree that the skill system of this game at the moment is very boring.

the #1 skills really do need alot of work they are definitely NOT all equalized in the slightest.

Warrior I think has a bit of an easier time when it comes to melee however there could be more done to help enhance the #1 skills on all ranged weapons.

Here’s what I mean.

Colin talked about how swinging the sword became boring in other games yet in this title it’s become boring with the ranged weapons. There are 3 maneuvers per #1 button on each of the melee weapons however there’s only 1 attack on the ranged weapons.

If they implemented a clever 3 sequence attack ability for the #1 slot for EVERY ranged weapon (including engineer kits and the created weapons from elementalists) this would be a huge step towards making it kitten ring to play.

Grenades and bombs need some special care in this setup because bombs don’t really act like the typical melee skills even tho they are a melee range only kit, and grenades #1 attack is the same thing over and over, does fly straight (is thrown over the top of mobs sometimes so it misses too often) and has no builder of it’s own for a finish move.

If they did this for every one of these skills it would improve the game immensely.