Guild Wars 2

I wasn’t sure where to post this but then i saw some posts related to crafting, so i guess here is fine as well.

Now, i won’t go into whiny mode and tell you my 100 reasons for not liking the current game and its crafting system. Instead, i will try to give an idea about improving it a bit which could add some fun into it.

The subject :
The predefined stats system on weapons/armor/accessories/everything.

The problem :
Too many real world combinations, not enough in-game combinations. Too many names, not enough choice for each kind (zealot on everything except ascended weapons? why?).

The solution :
Remove the static stats pre-selection system, add player chosen stat system.

How does it work :
Currently, the number of stats on an item, that i know of, is 3, 4, 7. All divided into major and minor stats. Major having more points than minor.

The idea is to change insignias so that instead of predefining what type of stats will be applied to an item (ferocity, conditions…), it only adds a predetermined number of major and minor stats slots. The choice of the stats will be left to the player at craft time.

Exemple :
When the player presses the craft button, it will prompt him for a choice. The choice will be stat types for each of the slots added by the insignia (kinda like the current crafting of bags work with holding runes predefining how many slots the bag will have). The stat points will be distributed based on the weapon quality and level. It would also have a checkbox so the player can choose to apply the stats to all the following items they will craft if they are crafting in bulk.

Why is it better :
This way, players would be able to change stat configurations to their own need and character builds, without going outside the predefined limits. If allowed, they might also choose the same stat for all the slots, breaking the standard a lot, but enabling the creation of custom and special builds.

Ok, this is my 2 cents on the current crafting system, beside everything else that was already said by many others. The last part that allows players to choose the same stat on all slots is simply a wish, so you may ignore it.

Nah. Not needed. The last thing this game needs is people running pure power builds and running around nuking things. Additionally, if you cant figure out what sort of set to use for a character, even accounting for the fact that you can run a mix of pieces to get the stat combo you want.

Well, as i said, it was a wish.

Also, i can very well figure out the compromise of stats for something close to what i want, BUT it isn’t what i want. Also, every time a new map is added to the game, the kitten ed grinding of the new materials in the new maps for the new combinations is annoying (Southsun, HoT maps).

Aidan Savage.2078:

Nah. Not needed. The last thing this game needs is people running pure power builds and running around nuking things. Additionally, if you cant figure out what sort of set to use for a character, even accounting for the fact that you can run a mix of pieces to get the stat combo you want.

How would we nuke things? The max possible dps with pure power builds would still be lower than the crit on a berserker build.
And I don’t understand what you said in the last sentence, because the structure of the sentence hints to a conclusion that you never gave.

Not a good idea, and I’ll tell you why.

GW2, unlike GW1, is a game with extremely important gear stats. Wheras in GW1, the primary effectiveness of a character came from attribute point changes, GW2 builds are far more about the gear than the traits, with skill selection (and thus weapon selection) being equally important in both.

GW2 is, however, like GW1 a game in which gear progression isn’t a primary mode of advancement. Unlike most games with gear stats being the most important source of character power, GW2 doesn’t simply add more powerful gear with new content releases.

This places Arenanet in an interesting position. How do you add value to new equipment for players that are already happy with their cosmetic look?

This is where stat prefixes come in. While they are technically sidegrades, the release of new prefixes opens up potential new build possibilities and ways for people to tweak builds without also requiring players to chase them in a never ending vertical gear progression system.

In your proposed system, what further wrinkles could they add to equipment as the game moves forward other than skins? With HoT they codified boon and condition duration as stats specifically so that they have more to play with in their current model, and they showed a willingness to even further play with the stat pie on gear.

The current system has potential for a ton of growth. They could release some 2 stat pieces, single stat pieces, there are still a lot of triplet pieces they haven’t gone with, and so on.

When so much of your game is about loot acquisition, you need to ensure people have reasons to find new loot valuable when you implement it. New runes and sigils are a great idea (and I think they could really get some mileage out of different sized rune sets or other non-6 slot upgrades) but for core gear stats, in your system, all gear in new content would only be valuable for its cosmetic appearance, in turn forcing arenanet to spend a lot more time and effort on cosmetics.

I’m not saying the shouldn’t spend more effort on cosmetics. They should. The amount of new cosmetics in HoT was really sad. However, cosmetics can’t be the only compelling reason to acquire new gear in a game where gear means so much to characters.