Sigils
First, let me start off by addressing a simple one: Sigils, and the obvious disparity between 1 Handed vs 2 Handed weapons.
There’s an extremely easy fix for this, allow each 2 handed weapon to have 2 Sigils.
Secondly, the “On-Kill-Stack” Sigils need some reworking. I know MANY people, including myself will stack Bloodlust to 25 and then bag swap weapons. I see an easy way to solve this issue: If the Sigil weapon(s) are unequipped, the stacks are lost.
Weapon Traits
Play your way! is the battle cry of ANet and GW2. To that end, they’ve made some amazing content and options available, and deserve credit where credit is due.
That being said, I feel weapon traits are counter-intuitive to this theory. Since I main a Warrior, I’ll primarily use examples from the tree I know best, but this applies to ALL classes.
To use Warrior as an example, the following traits exist:
Axe Mastery: +10% Crit Damage while weilding Axe Mainhand
Slashing Power: +10% Greatsword/Spear Damage
Blademaster: 1H Sword critical +10%
Crack Shot: -20% Cooldown, Rifle shots pierce
Forceful Greatsword: -20% Cooldown, Might on crit
Shield Master: -20% Cooldown, +90 toughness
Stronger Bowstrings: Increases longbow range
Burning Arrows: -20% Cooldown, +10% damage vs burning foes
The traits are somewhat of a mess. Some apply to your other skills (axe mastery) while others only help the weapon itself (blademaster). Some weapons require multiple traits. Overall, it’s a big inconsistent, and unbalanced mess.
Here’s my rather radical suggestion to resolve this:
Remove ALL -20% cooldown traits. By default, reduce the cooldowns of all weapons across the board by 10%, effectively, splitting the difference between traited and untraited.
Remove the weapon-specific traits and make them more like a general feature trait. For example, instead of Forceful Greatsword providing might stacks on Greatsword crits, simply make it Forceful Strikes, providing might stacks on Crits regardless of weapon.
This would remove the reliance of certain weapons on certain trees and unlock more freedom to mix and match freely.
Legendary Quests
Everyone wants a Legendary. They shouldn’t be EASY to get, but they also shouldn’t be RANDOM to get. Currently, you either RNG hoping for a lucky drop/mystic-toilet craft… or you drop 800+ gold to buy a precursor.
I am proposing a Legendary quest, where you build your weapon from the ground up. I’ll use the most popular Dusk-Twilight as an example for the sort of quest template I think is reasonable.
Seeking out a Legend – Looming Darkness (Twilight)
Part 1 – The Black Blade
A traditional RPG styled Quest you can activate by talking to an NPC. While on said quest, there is a small chance that “black metal scraps” will drop off any mob. World bosses, vets, and champion mobs have a slightly higher drop rate.
Once 100 scraps are collected, Weaponsmith 100 is required to forge them. “Rusted Black Blade” is created from the scraps, a white quality level 80 weapon with no stats.
Part 2 – Grip of Darkness
Only while wielding the newly created Black Blade, all mobs have a small chance to drop an ancient ornate hilt. This must be placed into the mystic forge along with the Black Blade, 50 Mystic Coins, and and Wine. Created is the Fine (blue) quality version of the Black Blade.
Part 3 – Worthwhile
Wielding (mainhand) the newest version, one must slay a certain number of foes:
250 Veterans
1000 of any type of foe
Doing so will allow the weapon to be double-clicked, upgrading it to a (green) Masterwork quality Black Blade
Part 4 – Nightfall
Wielding (mainhand) the newest version, one must slay a certain number of foes:
75 Champions
15 Legendary Foes/Bosses
Doing so will allow the weapon to be double-clicked, upgrading it to a (yellow) Rare quality Black Blade
Part 5 – Unsealing the Shadows
250 WvW Invaders (enemy players)
Doing so will upgrade the weapon to Dusk, Soulbound.