Guild Wars 2

“Be careful what you wish for, ANet may give it to you,” they said.
We wished for build templates.
We got build templates… predefined build templates.

— Oh, so it’s Imbued Shaman now. Lemme slot in Medic’s Feedback, Glamour Mastery and Warden’s Feedback so that I can safely rez those wannabe zerkers at level 50. Too bad I do not have enough slots for Mender’s Purity as well…

• Eeeehp! No, you are not allowed. You can no longer slot in Adept/Master traits in other tiers. Allowing it will make you overpowered and hard to balance.

— I’m way too sleepy and it’s Mai Trin. Lemme trait a bit into Chaos for a safe net, then into Inspiration for reflects, then into Dueling for extra fury or maybe longer blinks or lower CD on Blurred frenzy, and finally into Domination for more phantasm damage and lower CD on GS… Or should I go for Illusions for more illusion spam?

• Eeeehp! No, you are not allowed. You can no longer choose more than 3 trait lines at once. Instead, you will have to take 6-6-6 points into each line, even if everything else is utterly useless (or can even hurt your teammates like clones on dodge in PvE). Allowing it will render content too easy for the build you carefully tailored for this encounter.

— Wow, this 6-2-2-2-2 staff ele build is great! So much power, but great utility and versatility! I love it!

• Eeeehp! Say goodbye to being versatile. For one, the Vital Striking trait has been moved – sorry, merged! – from Adept to Master. And please remember you cannot trait into more than 3 lines anymore, yes. So if you want to get that damage trait, please fully take the healing line.

— Nice, this one small trait in Water will give me a necessary damage boost! It’s nice I don’t have to take extra useless stuff along with it!

• Eeeehp! Traits have been forcefully merged. For example, that offensive Vital Striking trait (Deal extra damage when your health is above the threshold) has been merged with a defensive Aquamancer’s Alacrity trait (Reduces recharge on all water weapon skills). Makes a lot of sense for a staff elementalist camping Fire attunement after the initial rotation, right?

— Ok, so there’s my new character. What this stuff does? Teleport? Good, I’ll take it, I want to travel faster. And this one? Passive effect speed signet? Nice, I’ll take it, lemme just get some skill challenges. Oh, that’s a nice AoE – I can tag more mobs and get more XP! The other skills look kinda useless now – no need to waste time on them at the moment.

• Eeeehp! No, you are not allowed. You can no longer choose what utility skills to unlock first. You will have to grind all through the linear reward track to unlock that one signet, that one teleport and that one AoE – three times until you get to the ones you need. Because reading tooltips and choosing is too confusing for new players, and because full passive signet builds are fun.

Doesn’t it all remind us of something? Oh, right!

The new build system is now “outfits”: there’s no mix-and-match, there’s no variety, there’s no tailoring, you’re just playing what has been defined as “good” by developers.

By locking traits to tiers and reducing the overall number of traits, we’ve made each choice much more compelling.

That’s what they’re saying. But with just a couple of viable options which will be left alive (as always, since “balance” patches happen at best 2 times a year), the new build system won’t be fundamentally different from a Korean MMO grinder of ~15 classes where each does exactly one thing. It is effectively dumbing down the game, taking 90% of the choice which could be too confusing away and replacing it with predefined builds. That way, it is hard to be a bad player when all “choices” are so evident and lackluster.

Why do it? The answer is simple: creating virtual “build presets” means easier (= cheaper in terms of costs) balancing, since the developers can now define what the meta is, and not smart players exploiting the full potential of the class by min-maxing within the system.

Now the question is: is not having a choice “fun”? Is “balance” worth taking stuff away from players, shoehorning them into cloned builds and making buildcrafting boring and bland?

My answer is NO. Honestly, I’ve been disheartened by many decisions over the past year, but this one has a very large chance to actually break the game for me. If I wanted to play a no-customization game, I would’ve chosen one of those free MMOs with preset race-class bindings, preset character body types, preset full-body dresses, 111 skill bars (and cute graphics on top). If I chose GW2 and stayed here, it’s because there are so many options that it keeps me busy for a long time (despite a desperate lack of content) – and once you take all of it away in favour of “streamlining” and making “less confusing” and “more compelling”, I’m out.

Most classes have 0-1 viable builds in any given game mode right now. How exactly do you figure that anything could result in less build diversity?

We get 2-3 screen shots and and knowledge that things will change and everyone is losing their kitten. We know traits will change, or shifted around, boost skills, get new traits; no need to flip you kitten without having all the information. What if there is a new Arcane Trait that boosts all elements, instead of having to 2/2/2/2 everything. You don’t know, and neither do I, but geez, wait until we have more info first.

Using a meta build as an example of saying goodbye to diversity. What?

Coldtart.4785:

Most classes have 0-1 viable builds in any given game mode right now. How exactly do you figure that anything could result in less build diversity?

this is far from true.
optimal and viable is two different things
and you can bet after this change there will still be optimal classes and non optimal classes.
removing variety doesnt give you more power, making better traits gives you more power.
you can build better traits without removing traits.

the main advantage to the new system is, there will be less overpowered builds, fewer people with bad builds, and easier to create new traitlines.

the – is there will be less variability, and each traitline brings less to the table.

but nothing about removing options will increase a classes power.

cocowoushi.7150:

We get 2-3 screen shots and and knowledge that things will change and everyone is losing their kitten. We know traits will change, or shifted around, boost skills, get new traits; no need to flip you kitten without having all the information. What if there is a new Arcane Trait that boosts all elements, instead of having to 2/2/2/2 everything. You don’t know, and neither do I, but geez, wait until we have more info first.

increasing your base power does not mean you have more possibilities.
it means you have more power.
lets say they made it so that all traits were given free.
you would be a lot more powerful, you would also have zero variability.

Phys you completely missed what I’m saying. They could include a new trait or adjust an existing one that does THE SAME THING as spreading yourself out over 4-5 lines. I understand the change is cause for concern but our information is minimal and the amount of doomsday Sayers right now is unbelievable.

Obligatory “Can I have your stuff OP?”

cocowoushi.7150:

Phys you completely missed what I’m saying. They could include a new trait or adjust an existing one that does THE SAME THING as spreading yourself out over 4-5 lines. I understand the change is cause for concern but our information is minimal and the amount of doomsday Sayers right now is unbelievable.

Well, we’ll find out if your optimism is warranted tomorrow.

I have very strong feeling Lishtenbird. might be right.

cocowoushi.7150:

Phys you completely missed what I’m saying. They could include a new trait or adjust an existing one that does THE SAME THING as spreading yourself out over 4-5 lines. I understand the change is cause for concern but our information is minimal and the amount of doomsday Sayers right now is unbelievable.

it doesnt matter if your goal is variability, if your goal is more power than it does.

lets say a domination/dueling/illusion based dude would dip into 1 trait line for one effect
and a chaos/dueling/illusion based guy would dip into a trait line that same traitline for the same effect.

even if they merge that trait into some other traits, neither of those builds can ever get that effect any more.

even should they cross merge that trait into say domination, the chaos guy wont have access.

lowering options lowers options, thats just how it works,

keep in mind that the more merged the traits are, the fewer realistic options you have.
clone on dodge for example
anything else they put in that trait teir, cannot exist with a build that has clone on dodge now. So if they merged two adepts and moved it up to master, that can no longer be part of a clone on dodge build.

you dont get more options/specificity from eliminating options, that is simple not possible.

You are now getting less traits to choose from and fewer ways to combine them. This is not “more compelling”. It’s just unfortunate.

This may sound taboo to say, but this new system looks a lot like the changes they made to world of warcraft talents. It seemed great and all when they released it, even though I was one of the players that liked to make wacky builds. However, I’ve stopped playing that game for years now, mostly because it feels too streamlined. A smooth treadmill.

This may be a step in that direction for gw2. I love the build making system. However, many classes are limited in their choices. I’m actually playing engineer mostly these days due to the immense build diversity. I can make a new build every week and have fun. I really hope A-Net considers the implication of reducing the number of choices we make. If the choices don’t give the same feeling that the current traits give, then I don’t want this change. Currently, it feels like you can adapt to the world by changing a few traits, see a hard champion you want to solo, switch 3-4 traits, and a few utilities, some gear and go to town. Roaming wvw and encounter another player when camp clearing, pull out, drop combat, and switch an essential trait and utility to face this profession. It is fun (would be more fun with build templates), but this is not what we meant if it reduces actual choices.

We’ll see soon enough how the changes will be. I’m very excited to hear about it, but I’m with a few people in saying for the first time in years, I’m considering stopping my time in gw2. If these changes turn into boring obvious choices that don’t allow players to find creative and spontaneous ways of impacting their combat, and the strategies they would employ, I’m out.

Good luck A-Net, this is a big change. But I’ll hold faith for now, since you made this game in the first place that I adore, and I’ve gotten a few people into it as well. For them, traits seem to be nearly impossible to understand, so I can see the reasoning for this change, but don’t take away what makes us veterans love traits.

Amount of build diversity postpatch pre-HoT: 5C3*9(3C1) = 270 possible builds.
Amount of build diversity postpatch post-HoT: 6C3*9(3C1) = 540 possible builds.

Amount of build diversity now for a 662 combination alone: 5C2*3C1*6*9*11*6*9*11*6 = 63,510,480 possible builds. There are a lot more ways to split 14 points among 5 lines, however…

Basically how i see it is that; players builds will be focused on a specific style of game play e.g. a ranger can either be a trap ranger, signet ranger, Beast-master ranger or power ranger. These are pretty much already in game but are somewhat mixed since its hard to get a perfect build for each individual one, but with the new trait system i suspect it will be possible to get all the trap orientated buffs or all the signet orientated buffs. The stat combination, runes and sigils we use will probably be the only major difference between the players of these almost predetermined specializations and to me that isn’t enough.

Of course i can be completely wrong and specializations will be even more diverse although from what i have read/seen it seems like i wont be playing a very unique build for much longer.

Perhaps Anet should just make 3 set-in-stone (non-configureable) builds for each profession that you can choose from, give each of these builds a unique name and advertise to the masses that “now there’s 27 professions!”

I’m sure everyone will gobble that up: “even more choice now!”

If you are wondering why this does not matter, read this post
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/If-your-favorite-trait-stopped-working
Apparently traits are not powerful, not important, barely noticeable. So it does not matter.

All is vain.

Anet really dislikes player customization because it leads to builds and gameplay that the devs have not thought of. The trait line changes is very much in line with that thinking.

And we’ve seen evidence of this before: the change in rune bonuses made it so that if you don’t use all the runes from a single set you’d lose a ton of stats; mix-and-matching runes was forced out of the game. Less variety and options for the players, but Anet got what they wanted in less build diversity.

So Guild Wars is getting the NGE experience now? Interesting, but that is the industry trend – remove all advantages for thinking people in games.

Lord Kuru.3685:

Perhaps Anet should just make 3 set-in-stone (non-configureable) builds for each profession that you can choose from, give each of these builds a unique name and advertise to the masses that “now there’s 27 professions!”

I’m sure everyone will gobble that up: “even more choice now!”

Actually this new system looks like it will be much better balanced than the old one. A game that is easier for the devs to balance can lead to better content too.

Harper.4173:

You are now getting less traits to choose from and fewer ways to combine them. This is not “more compelling”. It’s just unfortunate.

However a lot of those traits you can choose now are nearly useless.

Lishtenbird.2814:

— Wow, this 6-2-2-2-2 staff ele build is great! So much power, but great utility and versatility! I love it!

Wow, now people are calling stacking as many damage modifiers as possible “versatility”…

Think it’s a bit too early to be judging, but I do have to say it’s a little concerning we’ll be locked into traits selections per tier, because more than one of my characters double up on Adept/Master traits because available Master/Grandmaster traits are too specialized or utterly useless.

Here’s to hoping the new traits won’t be Antitoxin Spray-level of useless.

Algreg.3629:

So Guild Wars is getting the NGE experience now?

Oh they apparently have a NGE with ever change they implement.

you go from

present builds with 12 choices *5 with 15 possible minor traits (75)
allowing a total of 14 minor and major choices in 5 traitlines

to

basic builds with 9 *5 + 15 minor traits (60)
and when unlocked:
advanced builds with 9 *6 + 18 minor traits (72)
eventually allowing a total of 16 traits in max 3 lines.

Which shows us you’ll be removing 15 traits PER PROFFESSION (read 8*15 total=120) and add 12 with an ADDED trait line (the expansion will add -24 traits)????

Which seems to limit our choices as you’ll force us to use 3 trait lines no longer 5…???

Build diversity? No, it’s about regaining -CONTROL- cause we should be PvP-ing!!
And you do not have a balanced PvP. Which is ruled by engi’s using turreets vs condi users as the condiusers cannot kill the turrets, which has to do with game mechanics, not trait lines.

I hate PvP…. I do not care for PvP
I love the fact I kill people with my bunny finisher when they killed somebody with a shark, phoenix or a dragon finisher.

In the end it will be unbalanced again. cause people will take a calculator and just calculate the numbers, and if there is no diference there is always a bonus for AOE specs and so on, just because they can hit more….

If everybody can do 100 dmg we wil just look for the ones who can hit more targets…

It’s posts like these that make anet devs not want to update us on what they’re working on.

Eos.6951:

It’s posts like these that make anet devs not want to update us on what they’re working on.

ANet: Guys, here’s what we’re going to do.
Players: This is a bad idea, we do not want it that way.
ANet: Okay, next time we’ll just roll out that bad idea without asking you.
Players: ?!

Lishtenbird.2814:

Eos.6951:

It’s posts like these that make anet devs not want to update us on what they’re working on.

ANet: Guys, here’s what we’re going to do.
Players: This is a bad idea, we do not want it that way.
ANet: Okay, next time we’ll just roll out that bad idea without asking you.
Players: ?!

Lol exactly.

The entire point of a beta test is to TEST if the change is worth implementing, 0 beta no chance game blows up players find a new game.

If the company hides from negative feedback they’ve failed as developers, the game won’t live if they look to draw on positive only because that gets us no where.

Diversity is confusing to new players therefore it needs to be removed…

Tank.7821:

Diversity is confusing to new players therefore it needs to be removed…

Yeah they are confused and use bad useless traits and builds. Diversity for the sake of diversity isn’t good for any game.

Sometimes I get the impressions some players are using hundreds or even thousands of different builds on daily basis. I use only around 10 each day.

maddoctor.2738:

Tank.7821:

Diversity is confusing to new players therefore it needs to be removed…

Yeah they are confused and use bad useless traits and builds. Diversity for the sake of diversity isn’t good for any game.

you cant get real diversity with out having options some people dont like. lowering the amount of options does not intrinsicly increase the quality of options.

people are mistakenly linking having less options to having better options. There is no coorelation between number of options, and how good your options are.

Lishtenbird.2814:

…

I feel depressed. I get the feeling you’re close to 100% right about this.

Not sure if it was mentioned in the posts but do we know if we are able to respec our hero points on the fly?

vectorfox.6894:

Not sure if it was mentioned in the posts but do we know if we are able to respec our hero points on the fly?

We can’t respec skill points. So I assume you can’t respec hero points. You wili be able to respec traits, specialisations and utility skills out of combat.

Belenwyn.8674:

vectorfox.6894:

Not sure if it was mentioned in the posts but do we know if we are able to respec our hero points on the fly?

We can’t respec skill points. So I assume you can’t respec hero points. You wili be able to respec traits, specialisations and utility skills out of combat.

So can we unlock everything with the finite hero points or will we be missing out on stuff?
I hope there is no permanent/no going back unlock stuff.

People performing the calculations should remember that in the new system as proposed, there is no decision to be made as to the extent to invest in a given trait line; you are fully committed to only three. There is no more 02615 or 10463 or even 46040. You will be 6-6-6, or, to put it another way: You have A B C D E (F). Choose three.

Furthermore, builds today have the choice of 6 traits at the adept level, 10 at the master, and 13 at the grandmaster (and we use these options). A 6-point line today can feature some several hundred combinations of traits (6*9*11 is 594, but that includes repetitions; someone not in a hurry can provide the actual number). A given trait line in the future will have 27 permutations.

I think that Loboling above hit it on the head. The difference is that WoW had mathematically-demonstrable, indisputable optimum builds for defined roles. Skill/Trait election was an empty exercise. GW2 was a more nuanced game. I keep trying to see things in a positive light, but I see the changes and keep hearing: “Thinking is hard! Our players are stupid! This will be fun and exciting and fun!” Please don’t let us down, GW2.

phys.7689:

maddoctor.2738:

Tank.7821:

Diversity is confusing to new players therefore it needs to be removed…

Yeah they are confused and use bad useless traits and builds. Diversity for the sake of diversity isn’t good for any game.

you cant get real diversity with out having options some people dont like. lowering the amount of options does not intrinsicly increase the quality of options.

people are mistakenly linking having less options to having better options. There is no coorelation between number of options, and how good your options are.

It’s not a mistake. Less options available can be more easily balanced, so less options can also be better options.

maddoctor.2738:

phys.7689:

maddoctor.2738:

Tank.7821:

Diversity is confusing to new players therefore it needs to be removed…

Yeah they are confused and use bad useless traits and builds. Diversity for the sake of diversity isn’t good for any game.

you cant get real diversity with out having options some people dont like. lowering the amount of options does not intrinsicly increase the quality of options.

people are mistakenly linking having less options to having better options. There is no coorelation between number of options, and how good your options are.

It’s not a mistake. Less options available can be more easily balanced, so less options can also be better options.

wait what?
since when taking away options from players is better?

Ocosh.5843:

People performing the calculations should remember that in the new system as proposed, there is no decision to be made as to the extent to invest in a given trait line; you are fully committed to only three. There is no more 02615 or 10463 or even 46040. You will be 6-6-6, or, to put it another way: You have A B C D E (F). Choose three.

Furthermore, builds today have the choice of 6 traits at the adept level, 10 at the master, and 13 at the grandmaster (and we use these options). A 6-point line today can feature some several hundred combinations of traits (6*9*11 is 594, but that includes repetitions; someone not in a hurry can provide the actual number). A given trait line in the future will have 27 permutations.

I think that Loboling above hit it on the head. The difference is that WoW had mathematically-demonstrable, indisputable optimum builds for defined roles. Skill/Trait election was an empty exercise. GW2 was a more nuanced game. I keep trying to see things in a positive light, but I see the changes and keep hearing: “Thinking is hard! Our players are stupid! This will be fun and exciting and fun!” Please don’t let us down, GW2.

But how many of those choices were actually viable and playable builds? It’s the same debate as the GW1 vs GW2 skill system, sure GW1 had way more skills, but the amount of viable and “good” builds wasn’t as high as someone might expect with so many skills available.

Yeah everything is slowly being moved to cookie cutters. It’s like SWG all over again… why do devs insist on completely destroying their own games…

Tank.7821:

Diversity is confusing to new players therefore it needs to be removed…

That’s what it looks like, but what it actually is when you look closer is a lot of traits that can easily be done away with by adding them to the skill itself, and lotsa traits no one uses removed. Until I see a full list of changes I can’t tell if this system is worse or better.

maddoctor.2738:

Ocosh.5843:

People performing the calculations should remember that in the new system as proposed, there is no decision to be made as to the extent to invest in a given trait line; you are fully committed to only three. There is no more 02615 or 10463 or even 46040. You will be 6-6-6, or, to put it another way: You have A B C D E (F). Choose three.

Furthermore, builds today have the choice of 6 traits at the adept level, 10 at the master, and 13 at the grandmaster (and we use these options). A 6-point line today can feature some several hundred combinations of traits (6*9*11 is 594, but that includes repetitions; someone not in a hurry can provide the actual number). A given trait line in the future will have 27 permutations.

I think that Loboling above hit it on the head. The difference is that WoW had mathematically-demonstrable, indisputable optimum builds for defined roles. Skill/Trait election was an empty exercise. GW2 was a more nuanced game. I keep trying to see things in a positive light, but I see the changes and keep hearing: “Thinking is hard! Our players are stupid! This will be fun and exciting and fun!” Please don’t let us down, GW2.

But how many of those choices were actually viable and playable builds? It’s the same debate as the GW1 vs GW2 skill system, sure GW1 had way more skills, but the amount of viable and “good” builds wasn’t as high as someone might expect with so many skills available.

GW1 pvx wiki got almost 200 builds for PvE only.
Gw2 metabattle has 10-20 builds.

tramwajarz.2369:

maddoctor.2738:

phys.7689:

maddoctor.2738:

Tank.7821:

Diversity is confusing to new players therefore it needs to be removed…

Yeah they are confused and use bad useless traits and builds. Diversity for the sake of diversity isn’t good for any game.

you cant get real diversity with out having options some people dont like. lowering the amount of options does not intrinsicly increase the quality of options.

people are mistakenly linking having less options to having better options. There is no coorelation between number of options, and how good your options are.

It’s not a mistake. Less options available can be more easily balanced, so less options can also be better options.

wait what?
since when taking away options from players is better?

Taking away options nobody ever used is actually making the game better. Also, you are seeing it as them removing options, I see it as them adding more options and removing others. Having 3 trait lines at maximum can easily make new builds and options available.

maddoctor.2738:

tramwajarz.2369:

maddoctor.2738:

phys.7689:

maddoctor.2738:

Tank.7821:

Diversity is confusing to new players therefore it needs to be removed…

Yeah they are confused and use bad useless traits and builds. Diversity for the sake of diversity isn’t good for any game.

you cant get real diversity with out having options some people dont like. lowering the amount of options does not intrinsicly increase the quality of options.

people are mistakenly linking having less options to having better options. There is no coorelation between number of options, and how good your options are.

It’s not a mistake. Less options available can be more easily balanced, so less options can also be better options.

wait what?
since when taking away options from players is better?

Taking away options nobody ever used is actually making the game better. Also, you are seeing it as them removing options, I see it as them adding more options and removing others. Having 3 trait lines at maximum can easily make new builds and options available.

also killing all the options you could use with 1-3 points put in trait lines now, predefining builds in core design

tramwajarz.2369:

maddoctor.2738:

Ocosh.5843:

People performing the calculations should remember that in the new system as proposed, there is no decision to be made as to the extent to invest in a given trait line; you are fully committed to only three. There is no more 02615 or 10463 or even 46040. You will be 6-6-6, or, to put it another way: You have A B C D E (F). Choose three.

Furthermore, builds today have the choice of 6 traits at the adept level, 10 at the master, and 13 at the grandmaster (and we use these options). A 6-point line today can feature some several hundred combinations of traits (6*9*11 is 594, but that includes repetitions; someone not in a hurry can provide the actual number). A given trait line in the future will have 27 permutations.

I think that Loboling above hit it on the head. The difference is that WoW had mathematically-demonstrable, indisputable optimum builds for defined roles. Skill/Trait election was an empty exercise. GW2 was a more nuanced game. I keep trying to see things in a positive light, but I see the changes and keep hearing: “Thinking is hard! Our players are stupid! This will be fun and exciting and fun!” Please don’t let us down, GW2.

But how many of those choices were actually viable and playable builds? It’s the same debate as the GW1 vs GW2 skill system, sure GW1 had way more skills, but the amount of viable and “good” builds wasn’t as high as someone might expect with so many skills available.

GW1 pvx wiki got almost 200 builds for PvE only.
Gw2 metabattle has 10-20 builds.

Do you want to count the available number of builds using all different combinations for GW1 and GW2? Which percentage of the available builds in GW1 is that 200 and which percentage of available builds is 10-20 for GW2?

tramwajarz.2369:

maddoctor.2738:

tramwajarz.2369:

maddoctor.2738:

phys.7689:

maddoctor.2738:

Tank.7821:

Diversity is confusing to new players therefore it needs to be removed…

Yeah they are confused and use bad useless traits and builds. Diversity for the sake of diversity isn’t good for any game.

you cant get real diversity with out having options some people dont like. lowering the amount of options does not intrinsicly increase the quality of options.

people are mistakenly linking having less options to having better options. There is no coorelation between number of options, and how good your options are.

It’s not a mistake. Less options available can be more easily balanced, so less options can also be better options.

wait what?
since when taking away options from players is better?

Taking away options nobody ever used is actually making the game better. Also, you are seeing it as them removing options, I see it as them adding more options and removing others. Having 3 trait lines at maximum can easily make new builds and options available.

also killing all the options you could use with 1-3 points put in trait lines now, predefining builds in core design

And giving you more options for said builds since you will get access to the entire trait line for free. Even those builds that use 4 or 5 trait lines can see a benefit from the new system.

An example of a build that uses all 5 trait lines is the Staff Ele dps build, I made a post about it on another thread:

Current Staff Elementalist dps build:
6/2/2/2/2, getting all damage modifers and in general doing only damage.
V/VII/XI, VI, VI, VI, V total damage modifiers: 40%
With the new trait system I can get
6/6/6/0/0, get more survivability (GM Earth traits for “free” without affecting your DPS), have the same damage modifiers. It’s 40% with Enduring Damage over Vital Striking
So I will be losing Blasting Staff but gain access to many new abilities, will apply more vulnerability, get Access to GM Air trait, for example Tempest Defense for an extra damage modifier with a Frost Bow while I can choose between Diamond Skin and Stone Heart, based on the encounter for extra defense. All while keeping the same, if not MORE DPS than the old build. It’s a boost (can be a big one too) for a Staff Elementalist
I’m sure if you try you can modify any build to be better with the new system.

So yeah even a build that uses all 5 trait lines will see a big boost with the new system and open up many many choices.

In GW2 all builds are viable because the game is based on “everybody wins” principle.
There will always be 1-3 OP/optimal builds for every profession in every game.
The problem is players cry about being forced to play one way or another by other players while now arena net is doing the same thing.

tramwajarz.2369:

In GW2 all builds are viable because the game is based on “everybody wins” principle.
There will always be 1-3 OP/optimal builds for every profession in every game.
The problem is players cry about being forced to play one way or another by other players while now arena net is doing the same thing.

Arena net is opening new builds. You can get the exact same result of the current meta builds with a little tweaking, like my 6/6/6/0/0 replacement for the 6/2/2/2/2 DPS Staff but also have access to a great variety of NEW options. The new build has open traits slots for experimentation that don’t have anything to do with DPS, allowing the Elementalist to do the same damage as the current build while also having a variety of defensive options available.

So same DPS and more options for survival, how is that not good?

maddoctor.2738:

tramwajarz.2369:

maddoctor.2738:

phys.7689:

maddoctor.2738:

Tank.7821:

Diversity is confusing to new players therefore it needs to be removed…

Yeah they are confused and use bad useless traits and builds. Diversity for the sake of diversity isn’t good for any game.

you cant get real diversity with out having options some people dont like. lowering the amount of options does not intrinsicly increase the quality of options.

people are mistakenly linking having less options to having better options. There is no coorelation between number of options, and how good your options are.

It’s not a mistake. Less options available can be more easily balanced, so less options can also be better options.

wait what?
since when taking away options from players is better?

Taking away options nobody ever used is actually making the game better. Also, you are seeing it as them removing options, I see it as them adding more options and removing others. Having 3 trait lines at maximum can easily make new builds and options available.

Apparently much of those “removed options” are actually just being moved to the skill too~ which is one thing that interest me the most as hopefully venoms wont suck anymore without traits because they attach the traits to the skill. All this panic could be for nothing~ this is why they shouldn’t drag out info so much. :P