Guild Wars 2

So, with the recent blog from Anet ( https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/traits-unleashed-forty-new-traits-and-more/ ) we know one grandmaster trait for each class and, arguably more importantly, that resetting traits can be done anywhere for free as long as you’re not in combat.

First, I’ll list a short synopsis of the announced traits, all of which are Grandmaster level.

Elementalist – Aquatic Benevolence: (unannounced line) 25% Healing + to other allies.
Engineer – Fortified Turrets: Inventions | 4 second reflect on turrets when placed. AoE seems approx size of Sanctuary by guardian.
Guardian – Force of Will: Honor | +300 vitality.
Necromancer – Unholy Sanctuary: Death Magic – Separate “boon” that functions exactly the same as Regeneration.
Mesmer – Power Block: Domination | Interrupted skills with cooldowns are placed on a 10s cooldown (up from 5s).
Ranger – Read the Wind: Marksmanship | Longbow arrows move twice as fast.
Thief – Invigorating Precision: Critical Strikes | 5% of damage from crits is returned as healing to you.
Warrior – Dual-Wield Agility: Arms – 10% increased attack speed when wielding offhand axe, mace, sword.

Honestly, it seems the only announced trait that may show any use in dungeons is the Warrior one, if it can bring axe autoattack damage high enough to warrant the extra 5 in Arms.

More importantly, in my opinion, is the fact that you can change traits on the go, seemingly in dungeons. That means if you have an engineer running their grenade build and for a specific fight you need reflects more than you need vulnerability, they can pop 30 points into inventions on the run and swap to a few turrets. Bad example, I know, but I think this will have some impact on how dungeons are done, especially at the higher end.

Yeah, the traits announced so far seem pretty underwhelming. The good thing is that it’s just a preview and (hopefully) the unannounced traits are a little more useful/build changing.

Yeah. This will open up many options. The question will be will they prevent you from switching inside instances. Because I can see that happen just to spite us. xD

well ill likely take that 30 point death magic new trait just so i can invinci MM the things out otherwise ill consider death nova again. Still my biggest hope is for the beast mastery grandmaster trait… this traitline needs a heavy damage booster.

I’m excited that I’ll have an easier time swapping between Hammer and GS builds on my guardian. If only Gendarren fields had a trait trainer… (that wasn’t behind a cash shop/living story gate)

10% attack speed is quite lackluster for a grandmaster trait. But I guess they won’t rest until every top dps build involves spamming skill 1.

Wethospu.6437:

10% attack speed is quite lackluster for a grandmaster trait. But I guess they won’t rest until every top dps build involves spamming skill 1.

Guardian hammer build isn’t very far from being top DPS, is it?

Oh yeah, found use for it. You can make sword offhand block bit less!

If thief trait has no CD then it can be used to fully heal you during fgs rushes in order to proc those scholar runes. Unfortunately, It’ll be a direct competitor to Executioner which grants 20% to foes below 50%. Imo the new grandmaster has its uses but it’s not better than current grandmaster trait we use.

Mesmer trait is definitely targeted for PvP. I can see it being used in PvE only if that trait allowed mesmers to ignore those stacks of defiant…

The signet can already full heal you with fgs rush so its kind of a pointless trait. It will be something people maybe take in pvp or wvw not pve.

Wethospu.6437:

Oh yeah, found use for it. You can make sword offhand block bit less!

Lol that’s why I often choose not to use timewarp in critical situations and get yelled at because of it. TW lowers the duration of your evades/blocks and lowers the duration of iWarden reflects if they gain the haste buff.

Instances trait switching would make speed records with certain classes so much better though! Then I can switch armor, major traits, weapons AND trait points

Oh yeah, before planting a banner first retrait for regen!

Wethospu.6437:

Oh yeah, before planting a banner first retrait for regen!

Weth knows what’s up

Sanderinoa.8065:

Instances trait switching would make speed records with certain classes so much better though! Then I can switch armor, major traits, weapons AND trait points

When you come to think about it, it’s really sad we have come to this. Where the most engaging/challenging part of the game is actually managing and swapping stuff around while rushing between encounters and not the actual encounters themselves.

This has opened my eyes once again.

I wish i was that optimistic, when i saw the ranger changes i was like “oh kittens, more bearbows”

Quickfoot Katana.8642:

Sanderinoa.8065:

Instances trait switching would make speed records with certain classes so much better though! Then I can switch armor, major traits, weapons AND trait points

When you come to think about it, it’s really sad we have come to this. Where the most engaging/challenging part of the game is actually managing and swapping stuff around while rushing between encounters and not the actual encounters themselves.

This has opened my eyes once again.

Well I’d say there is nothing wrong with quickly adapting to every encounterin between them… In the meantime we can keep on trying to improve boss kills. Speedclears have never been about beating hard content, it’s always been about beating it the best way possible, which is what this change can start allowing.

yes, finally a trait to help my ranger. All those bosses kept sidestepping and evading all my arrows =(

Quickfoot Katana.8642:

Sanderinoa.8065:

Instances trait switching would make speed records with certain classes so much better though! Then I can switch armor, major traits, weapons AND trait points

When you come to think about it, it’s really sad we have come to this. Where the most engaging/challenging part of the game is actually managing and swapping stuff around while rushing between encounters and not the actual encounters themselves.

This has opened my eyes once again.

Wait What? Slow down speedy Gonzales. A preview is speeking about being able to switch trait around and right away its : Oh kitten game, its only trait switching and nothing else in the game. WTF.

Thaddeus.4891:

Quickfoot Katana.8642:

Sanderinoa.8065:

Instances trait switching would make speed records with certain classes so much better though! Then I can switch armor, major traits, weapons AND trait points

When you come to think about it, it’s really sad we have come to this. Where the most engaging/challenging part of the game is actually managing and swapping stuff around while rushing between encounters and not the actual encounters themselves.

This has opened my eyes once again.

Wait What? Slow down speedy Gonzales. A preview is speeking about being able to switch trait around and right away its : Oh kitten game, its only trait switching and nothing else in the game. WTF.

Where did I ever said that?

It’s just the impression you get from seeing extremely skilled people like Sanderinoa happy for that change. That’s how low we have gotten, where we don’t expect anything anymore and we are just dogs waiting for them to throw a piece of bone.

Like I said before, currently there’s more challenge/dynamic to this game in in-between encounters than the actual encounters themselves.

For Leveling toons:
They might be less welcome since people expect them to not have the needed traits unlocked with the new trait-system. How-ever there’s already a mindset that people either love helping lower levels or those who refuse to have any of them in their party. In short; They’re already in a worse position than 80s, I don’t think it getting a bit worse will impact much.

For PuGs:
I think the ability to respec, for free, anywhere you like is a great move for PuGs in dungeons. Many builds that are fun and good to play in PuGs can too easily override eachother, like:

- High Might/Vulnerability stacking builds, think Engineer, Necromancer and Elementalist, who can now easily respec to a higher DPS with less buffs options if needed.
- Permanent Buff maintaining builds such as Guardian Hammer with permanent Protection and Elementalist with Persisiting Flames for permanent Fury.
- Non-stacking trait-buffs such as Empower Allies and Spotter.

For SC/Orginized Groups
Very little to no change. The new traits might prove useful enough to adjust the new meta-builds, especially with the incoming zerker changes aswell. But within a day to a week or so we’ll have our new metabuilds and the teams will make sure they reach those valuable Might/Vulnerability stacks and perma Fury/Swiftness (for running) and everything will be back to how it always has been.

As a Pugger, I’m quite pleased.

kitten I wont be able to run 14/14/14/14/14 anymore wth anet let me play how I want :P

Warrior can solo run corrosive light without having to step outside to retrait. That will be nice.

An interesting question might be, wether they will make the retraiting for different encounters “mandatory” opposed to simple “optimisation”.
Although I stated this overly simplistic it still opens up room for thought. Will we for example see more things like the husks in the three-headed wurm encounter?
Small note for those unfamiliar with the encounter: The husks are highly resistant to any form of direct damage which gives conditions room to work their magic.

As I said “mandatory” is actually a too strong word maybe, but I think you get the idea.
The only problem then might be that retraiting alone won’t be that effective without the proper gear. And that could open a whole new can of worms like in “lf 1 necro must be able to respec/gear for condi for boss x” or similar nuggets.

Quickfoot Katana.8642:

Thaddeus.4891:

Quickfoot Katana.8642:

Sanderinoa.8065:

Instances trait switching would make speed records with certain classes so much better though! Then I can switch armor, major traits, weapons AND trait points

When you come to think about it, it’s really sad we have come to this. Where the most engaging/challenging part of the game is actually managing and swapping stuff around while rushing between encounters and not the actual encounters themselves.

This has opened my eyes once again.

Wait What? Slow down speedy Gonzales. A preview is speeking about being able to switch trait around and right away its : Oh kitten game, its only trait switching and nothing else in the game. WTF.

Where did I ever said that?

It’s just the impression you get from seeing extremely skilled people like Sanderinoa happy for that change. That’s how low we have gotten, where we don’t expect anything anymore and we are just dogs waiting for them to throw a piece of bone.

Like I said before, currently there’s more challenge/dynamic to this game in in-between encounters than the actual encounters themselves.

You’re kinda late to the party. Just sayin’. It’s not like we got “low” just after this trait change. This is actually one of the few things that have been positive changes in months, and it accompanies a 20% damage nerf to zerk builds, thus making everything even longer and painful than it already is (hello hotw, hello dredge); so not even a completely positive update.
Personally, I try to be happy when they release a new gem store armor set. That’s all I have to be positive for and look forward to.

I thought it was a 10% dmg nerf and not 20%

The 10% is, if I read it right, soley from the loss of some critical damage modifier.
The fact that you lose more damge because you can’t stack bloodlust and then switch weapons reduces damage further. I guess that is partially what deSade referred to. Although that alone won’t make an additional 10% difference I believe (though admittedly I don’t have any numbers to confirm this presumption). But maybe we overlooked something else he has noticed.

That’s surely a polite way of saying I’m dumb O.o
The damage loss increases dramatically if you take into account the buffs that a decent zerker player with a full zerk party will have. There’s a thread about this on the general discussion… I’ll have to redo the entire reasoning from the beginning to check if he kitten ed somewhere but too lazy to do it atm.

As a thief I am pretty excited about getting +200 power for dungeon boss fights!

deSade.9437:

That’s surely a polite way of saying I’m dumb O.o
The damage loss increases dramatically if you take into account the buffs that a decent zerker player with a full zerk party will have. There’s a thread about this on the general discussion… I’ll have to redo the entire reasoning from the beginning to check if he kitten ed somewhere but too lazy to do it atm.

Um, not really, no. More like a way of saying that I didn’t read that particular thread and that I forgot to consider scaling when you take buffs into consideration. And expressing general curiosity at what I might have overlooked.
I could blame the amount of alcohol I consumed yesterday for overlooking that (or general stupidity on my behalf). I do however blame it on the alcohol that my choice of words was probably a bit unclear as to what I actually meant.

I apologize if I offended you. That was never my intention.

Man, man, this is the internetz and I’m a rugged, pustolous and smelly troll with an extremely high regen effect. Don’t worry about me, be yourself.
What offends me right now is the direction this game is taking, the new dyes, the absence of SAB and the lack of mushrooms in my dinner.
Not necessarily in this order.
Now tell me, how am I supposed not to sleep through dungeons if they keep adding hp bags and lowering damage?

Try playing drunk, like they suggested in another thread.
The impediment to reaction time and the fact that you start considering things funny even if they are not might help.

Captain & PUG isss dilleeshuuussss… XD

I think somebody mentioned my calculations thread from the balance forum. The reasoning I used in that thread is simple: ANet declared that the DPS loss on full zerk set is about 10%. They weren’t neccessarily lying, they just didn’t count in critical chance higher than roughly 50% (at which the nerf is about 11%). However, that’s the overall DPS loss. You lose way more critical damage than that (in fact the more organized you are the more critical damage you lose), and ofcourse the more critical chance you have, the more you will feel the lowered critical damage in terms of damage output.

And it turns out the estimated loss is closer to 17% including the stacking sigils on a fully buffed party than 20%, but it’s still quite a lot (estimated because changes to banner of disc. and similar stuff are not known yet).