Guild Wars 2

I would love to see this Game getting more Build Diversity through each Class getting 4 new Trait Lines and gettign access to use two more Trait Lines for your Character’s Build.
A Character should have then not only 3 Trait Lines in active usage, but then 5.

Elementalist for example:

• Attunements > Affects and alterates more the Attunement Gameplay in a general way
• Summons > Affects and Alterates more the Glyph, Conjure and Summon Gameplay
• Spell Fusions > Creates reactive Effects when using specific Elements after another
• Sphere Conversions > Creates elemental specific AoE Field Effects when changing Attunements based on your attuned Element and affects its results how thos AoEs take effect on those that are in their range

An Elementalist Build could consist then out of for example:

- Fire
- Air
- Water
- Summons
- Attunements

That way would have our Core Class the Elementalist now a broader build with more variety in it as the amount of variations that the trait System can have now with the increased amount of Trait Lines the Class has now, will exponentially grow as with 5 out of 10 (including specs) lines is more variation possible, than from 3 out of 6 Lines, as each line you can use more, gives with its including various traits you more diversity.

Increase then in also each Trait Line their 3 rows of Traits to now 4 rows of useable traits, and the diversity will become bigger even further.

All classes live currently in regard of Trait Lines massively under their potential if you ask me when looking to the Core Classes.
Sure – Elite Specs will improve the Build Diversity as well, but that is not the same as like improving the potential of the Core Classes by giving them more Trait Lines.
aside of the mentioned example, I’d like to see all other Classes get four more Trait Lines naturally also as well:

Warrior:
- Leadership
- Stamina
- Adrenaline
- Boldness

Guardian:
- Authority
- Dignity
- Justice
- Sternness

Ranger:
- Spirituality
- Senses
- Hunting Instincts
- Camouflage

Thief:
- Escape Techniques
- Disarmaments
- Stealing Mastery
- Dexterity

Engineer:
- Gravity
- Electricity
- Technology
- Reinforcements

Necromancer:
- Dark Magic
- Spectral Magic
- Demonology
- Occultism

Mesmer:
- Alteration
- Disruption
- Mentality
- Will Force

Revenant:
- Atonement
- Reckoning
- Creed
- Surrender

One build is always the best one even if there were 10 trait lines and most will use that :P

And? Thats not the point of this thread. Naturally there will always be some kind of “best build”

The point is, so more Trait Lines there are for each class, so bigger will be the build diversity for each Class, and its also a simple way to rebalance Core Classes over Elite Specs, if Core Classes get more access to Trait Lines, than before and by that define then even stronger all the basics and variations of your Character Build, than ever before.
It would give you also a stronger feeling of character progression, if there would be more trait lines, that can influence the playstyle of your character and we would surely see alot of new interesting builds that would come along with the 5 line out of 10 gameplay, where we were able to use before only 3 lines out of 6 now

Lots of build diversity is awesome in single player games. It is a hellish nightmare in multiplayer games due to the need for “balance”.

I’m fine with very limited build options in GW2. I’d even be in favor of further limitations by removing a large number of stat sets and whole stats entirely.

I’d rather see more class interplay. Like each class has lingering fields that con only be blasted by 2 other classes. It would bring more group diversity.

I think a second Elite path for each class would add more diversity. For example: What if your Ranger doesn’t want to suddenly become a healing Druid at 80? A second option would be great. If each of the nine classes had a second Elite path to pick (where only one would be active in the 3rd trait line), that would certainly add diversity.

The OP’s suggestion could result in several things.

1. With more variables, there would be more options for players to find unintended synergy. This could produce builds that are quite a bit better than other builds, which would not help build diversity at all.
2. A more complicated build system would make balance passes more time-consuming. This would either mean additional devs being assigned to balance, which would detract from other dev projects, or longer times between passes, in a game where ANet is frequently criticized for taking too much time to produce a balance pass as is.
3. The end result of adding two trait lines to builds is highly likely to be more power creep. GW2 is a game where the vast majority of PvE is deemed too easy by some posters. Power creep without increased mob capabilities is going to make that worse. There’s also the effect power creep has on PvP/WvW.

I have a hard time thinking any of that would be good for the game.

Build diversity is unlikely to occur with greater complexity via more options. Build diversity would be better obtained by adding depth to the existing systems by nerfing and buffing to bring different options closer to each other. This is ostensibly what balance passes are for. Finally, as was pointed out above, there will rarely be more than 1-2 builds per profession in a game mode x playstyle meta, no matter how many options there are.

I really like the idea of mutually exclusive elite specs: ie your third trait line can be Druid or [new ranger elite spec], but not both at once. It sort of hearkens back to the days of GW1 with secondary professions. Just so long as the new elite specs don’t so completely stomp the old ones that the old ones become worthless, I think it could be really good for build diversity.

We’ll get more build diversity with the next elite specializations. Just keep in mind that meta is not everything.

Sister Saxifrage.7361:

I really like the idea of mutually exclusive elite specs: ie your third trait line can be Druid or [new ranger elite spec], but not both at once. It sort of hearkens back to the days of GW1 with secondary professions. Just so long as the new elite specs don’t so completely stomp the old ones that the old ones become worthless, I think it could be really good for build diversity.

That’s what I gathered that they were planning on doing with elite specializations.

They aren’t going to offer us four trait lines at once. They have trouble enough balancing 3 lines at a time. And frankly, I’m not sure how it would do anything for diversity. People already run all sorts of builds. Some choose not to because of a false perception that only one build is “viable” — that’s still going to be true no matter how many conceivable combinations of traits and skills there are.