Guild Wars 2

Alright, I’ve been noticing that there are a lot of individuals that seem to miss the Trinity system. While I myself do not miss it, I do understand some of the logic. Guild Wars 2 was released with the intention of not being like other MMO’s. Whilst I think they did a excellent job of that. in some areas it is possible that they tried to hard to be different or over-thought it. Some suggest that the lack of a Trinity system takes little to no strategy. while others suggest the contrary. Though I myself do not think that this is the case. Rather it’s two different types of strategy.

Since the dawn of it’s conception the Guild Wars franchise has stood out from other MMO’s in one sense or another. Though it could easily be so much more. Instead of completely throwing out the “Trinity System” which would traditionally consist of a Healer, Tank, and a DPS. I would suggest dissolving it into the new conceptual system currently used in Guild Wars 2. In other words, whilst not required, the trinity does still exist in some fashion. implement it not as a core mechanic but rather an optional strategy. However, don’t make it so that it is most viable either. This way, those of us who prefer the new system, can go without the trinity. and the rest can still have the trinity. Hell for those of us who like new things regardless of how long it makes a task take. make it possible for a team consisting of nothing but healers decently viable as well. Granted nothing but healers might make a 3 hour clear time out of an otherwise 30 minute mission. but some of us, not a lot of us, but some of us find doing things against all rationality and finding a way to make it work to be enjoyable.

I realize that my suggestions may seem unnecessary to some or strange to others. However with the potential I think the Guild Wars Franchise possesses, This would further open the market up for potential players. Those who love the holy trinity, could still have it, those who hate the holy trinity can go without it, and those who dare to be different, can… well… dare to be different.

There is a slight trinity.. warrior = dps, guardian = support/tank. At least these are what these classes excel at.

What i gather is you want flexibility of this system, which is kinda where it is now, any more defined and it would become more “preferred” than optional for most as it would be the “easier” setup. war, guardian mesmer is already a preferred setup as is in many cases. war for dps, mesmer for utility, guardian for support.

I do agree that the attractiveness of no trinity also hurts in the fact that in my limited knowledge, limits the amount of strategy for encounters. Has it’s pro’s & con’s overall.

Trying to go both ways isn’t really feasible. It’s the way of nature for us to take the path of least resistance. That means whatever gives the most efficiency for the least effort will feel mandatory, and will only breed resentment from those who prefer the other way but feel less capable. It’s why people will always kitten about balance.

Personally, I’m in the ‘play another game’ boat for those who want the Trinity, but my bias aside, trying to accommodate both methods of group play will just exasperate the conflict.

Both of you raise valid points, the only reason I brought this post up was I’ve seen a lot complaints come from both ends. I was only trying to bring some food for thought forward on potentially appeasing the minds of both sides. Mainly because if Anet could accomplish such a thing, which I think they can from the wonders they’ve already given us, Guild Wars 2 could be THE top of the market MMO. Though these could also be the ambitious rambling dreams of a Guild Wars fan freak too. either way. it was all merely suggestion and speculation. ^.^

Well, the problem generally with the idea of adding the Trinity is that it requires an overhaul of the game’s design. This is my main bias against it— I’ve nothing against the concept itself, and I like it in the games that have the Trinity setup. It’s just a strange thing to want a game to drastically shift one of its primary design tenets. To me, asking for the trinity is an unreasonable request from a game that intentionally tried to minimize it. That’s like telling McDonald’s it needs fine dining. True, it may open up a wider demographic, but that’s not what its central design tenets are geared toward, and both sides would suffer if it tried.

Whatever game manages to successfully tackle a truly flexible ability system would indeed be a sweet deal. I don’t think it’s the path GW2 should or is capable of taking. Maybe they dreamed of something like it early on, but what they’ve designed now is what they’ve got. They have a solid basis they can improve on and take to the next level, but having a trinity system would require either gutting the current system, or designing a whole new addition from the ground up. They seem to be stretching enough manpower just trying to finalize their initial design goals, nevermind overhauling central gameplay mechanics.

I don’t know if people who seem to hate the game’s mechanics are just overly attached to the Guild Wars brand or the lore or their own gaming hopes and dreams or whatever— but a game is primarily defined by its mechanics, so my gut would tell me to find a new game if I was really in love with the Trinity.

Whilst I primarily agree with you, and generally dislike the trinity myself; I’m not at all suggesting to redo or rebuild the system. but rather find a creative means to improve upon it. An improvement that might in some small way satiate the cravings of those who enjoy the trinity. By no mean do I want to see Guild Wars 2 fully adopt the trinity however.

GW1 wasn’t completely bound a ‘trinity’ system, you had tanks that are capable of healing themselves, or healers that were putting out a lot of damage etc.

The issue with this system, whatever it is, is that its not involved enough, you usually don’t have to think about what your doing, they concentrated on making sure every class is useful, which meant you couldn’t have situations which need a specific approach to be successful, so therefore the enemies capabilities have to be quite simple, they also wanted to make the game more accessible I think, so it would have mass appeal, so the difficulty level is relatively low, you don’t see mass amounts of enemies attacking you at once, which might actually be fun, although I think some classes would be able to deal with that better than others.