Please give us a keyring…
(edited by skullmount.1758)
I was under the impression that people wanted NEW SKILLS that they could go out and earn. Instead, they’ve given us a system where we have to go out and unlock the same old traits we already had. New Grandmaster traits are nice and all, but for levels 11-79, they don’t matter.
iirc, this is the way traits were supposed to be implemented (go do a certain thing out in the world, battle this master to unlock it). They decided to change it to what we currently have, and now they’re putting it back in (which I’m glad they are, gives us something else to do other than just click and unlock).
I do kinda agree with the nerf aspect though. Leveling is going to be a bit more of a pain now. You still get the trait point ever six level till 30, correct?
Won’t/Don’t we still have access to the minor traits (ones we don’t get to change, the ones at 5 points currently) up until level 30 where we get the first set of traits we get to choose from?
Also, with only 14 traits to allocate it won’t be so click-heavy anymore.
But how else will I give my finger a work out. Opening stacks of stuff isn’t enough to strengthen them I need more clicking options
(edited by skullmount.1758)
I think the changes are for good, even for new players.
If the related activities are well chosen, unlocks can make the levelling process much more interesting and those players that just want to have an “end-game charater” ASAP can just unlock the desired traits on the profesion trainer.
For veteran players, the ability to reset traits on the fly is just a huge improvement.
Pls wait at least until friday and the ready up livestream before giving rude comments about the patch, you don’t know how exactly everything will play together.
You seriously can’t expect that when they post this information now can you? You may as well say to the devs who posted this info to not post it until nearer the time etc etc. Cause and effect, that’s how things work. :P
For example, imagine having the best trait locked behind Liadri without offering an alternative.
That would be awesome. I would love if they did this!
I really think you are blowing it out of proportion. Leveling is relatively fast in this game compared to most other mmo’s and the majority of time spent playing a char is most likely not going to be leveling(assuming they don’t get bored and quit) Now I’m not saying I really like this specific change, but I understand partly why they are doing it.
The base of your point is correct in that leveling will become less rewarding from lvl 11-30, but I honestly never really felt like getting to lvl 15 or even 20 was all that much of a difference being able to assign a couple trait points that didn’t do much anyways.
On the other change in how traits are acquired, I think it is a really great change. This game needs more reasons to see all the beautiful landscapes and events hidden around and this should do that. This is the change that makes the other part much easier to swallow.
OP, I am glad you have X number of hours a day to go out and work on all these trait books. But someone like me who works more than they play the game I like the fact they always add an option for things to just be purchased with gold. Wish other companies would learn that this method works.
Only in GW2 will people complain about being given multiple ways to unlock things.
Options are good.
No need to FORCE people to do things. I’ll do the content unlocks when it’s content I enjoy, I’ll buy the others.
and completely kitten pvp players?
Why would you only do PvP in a game that has so much more?
Are there people that only did PvP in GW1?….oh wait yeah you could make a PvP only character. Seems boring to me, but to each their own. Maybe they’ll bring that change too at some point that if someone wants to do nothing but PvP they can make a character that cannot leave the PvP area but has everything unlocked traitwise.
Pls wait at least until friday and the ready up livestream before giving rude comments about the patch, you don’t know how exactly everything will play together.
Where did anyone give rude comments about this new change.
Options are good.
No need to FORCE people to do things. I’ll do the content unlocks when it’s content I enjoy, I’ll buy the others.
Exactly, but this always happens that is why you will never please everyone. Someone always has a ‘better way to handle things’ idea. Such is the way of the internets.
I love the idea of horizontal progression unlocked by actually doing content in the game world…I love that it will be easy for them to add a greater variety of traits for players to choose from. This system is definitely a step in the right direction.
This isn’t really horizontal progression, though. It’s more of a horizontal digression. It’s taking an existing feature of the game’s vertical progression, and locking it behind a barrier that you have to overcome or bypass. Outside of those Grandmaster traits (which you can’t see until level 80), there’s nothing actually new here.
Maybe there’s an appeal to that that I just don’t get. So many people seem happy with the idea, and I don’t see why.
OP, I am glad you have X number of hours a day to go out and work on all these trait books. But someone like me who works more than they play the game I like the fact they always add an option for things to just be purchased with gold. Wish other companies would learn that this method works.
Why would you rather do the same old things than go out in the world to do other new things? The vendor would remove content for casual people too, not to mention avoid livening up the world a bit for people still leveling.
If you want to keep farming dungeons that’s fine, that’s your choice, but don’t hide behind the guise of a casual player.
For example, imagine having the best trait locked behind Liadri without offering an alternative.
Which would be great! Why is this a bad thing, when Lyssa is now something that is hardly ever done, basically only when the worldtrains are there? Imagine that events like that would be done on regular intervals because people would actually get meaningful rewards from them.
(edited by Rangersix.1754)
with the dyes being available only in the gem store and grind increasing it smells very much like China. I do not like this one bit. If they successfully implement everything they will lose me as a customer. Screw it, there are many other MMOs that I can be playing.
Where did they say that dyes will only be in the Gemstore now?
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Features-Patch-15-4-14/first
Read the Q/A. They are taking a really bad direction with the game.
Thanks for that.
Eh, yeah. Can’t say I agree with the unlocking skills by level, or the pulling of dyes (unless they add the ability to craft all colour dyes, and not just basic ones OR give the option to unlock the dye you want).
I like the direction this is taking us. It will add more diversity and a fun feel to how we build our characters.
The thing that interests me most is the direction of the new traits. They definitely arent afraid of giving professions unique abilities to better define their class. A turret engineer should be able to defend a point versus ranged attacks better than just about any other character. I can think of alot of utility for that in all three game modes.
As others have mentioned already though, I think these changes make build templates almost mandatory. The idea of changing builds between fights in fractals or dungeons to maximize efficiency is not an attractive or fun prospect. Hopefully this is something they are working on getting into the April 15 update.
They have to give an alternative method. They can’t force people into doing dungeon, PvP, hard solo content, etc. It would only cause even more problems. In a system where everyone is meant to be at relatively the same power, not offering an alternative would simply be unfair.
For example, imagine having the best trait locked behind Liadri without offering an alternative.
This. It will only cause people to say they are now forced to play in a way they don’t want to play.
I am wary about this, and I am waiting to see how it works, but I’ll be really annoyed if each trait cost anything near even 1g. It only costs a few gold now to unlock the whole of the grandmaster tier, so paying a lot more than that per trait? No thanks. But, making people complete dungeons etc … well, that does sort of go against the “play you want to play” philosophy they spout (and I really don’t like to use this term lightly as I think it gets abused a lot). I would think eventually, I could see a lot of people just “not being bothered” and walking away, which I don’t want to happen.
I personally don’t mind the changes (I have 5 scrolls of knowledge(insta 20) and 15 skill tomes for my tengu ranger), for new players it does seem like a grind though. Between level 1-30 the only progression is low end gear (meh) and weapon/utility skills. I guess this an attempt to slowly ease new players into their professions introducing fewer mechanics at a time. Personally in my leveling experiences, past level 40 I found the levels pretty redundant(except for exploration which can grow boring on the 3rd-4th alt). Maybe a habit being a gw1 player, I find lots of levels unneeded. I enjoy this new trait acquiring system, maybe we’ll see a system to unlock additional weapon skills.
For discussions sake, does anyone have any alternative solutions to acquiring trait points, or would you prefer they simply revert the new leveling system for traits?
I think it will have a positive impact on a lot of newer gamers, especially casuals. Devs said that many players simply never ever had their traits set, so the fact that players will have a lot more time to learn UI and game mechanics along with a more engaging trait acquisition method can actually solve the problem.
As for older players with alts… Well, leveling is boring anyway, but knowing game mechanics will probably compensate the amount of time added by traitless levels. The expensive-for-newcomers-but-cheap-for-veterans trait purchase system solves a lot of problems; and if more ways of acquiring tomes of knowledge (maybe, in exchange for skillpoints?) are introduced, the game will become more alt-friendly.
I love the idea of horizontal progression unlocked by actually doing content in the game world…I love that it will be easy for them to add a greater variety of traits for players to choose from. This system is definitely a step in the right direction.
This isn’t really horizontal progression, though. It’s more of a horizontal digression. It’s taking an existing feature of the game’s vertical progression, and locking it behind a barrier that you have to overcome or bypass. Outside of those Grandmaster traits (which you can’t see until level 80), there’s nothing actually new here.
Maybe there’s an appeal to that that I just don’t get. So many people seem happy with the idea, and I don’t see why.
I think people are happy that we are finally getting to change our traits for free etc and are taking this as one and the same thing and that we can’t have one without the other. :S
Yes I’m happy about that side of it, but for new players I do worry. I have all classes at lvl 80 and I got them all there by completing their world completes. I can say things will def be a bit harder without those trait line bonuses, especially in these dead maps… I really don’t know why so many people can’t see this, maybe they all run on just one warrior class and faceroll everything or forgot how things are at lower levels.
For example, imagine having the best trait locked behind Liadri without offering an alternative.
That would be awesome. I would love if they did this!
It would be, but it would also directly separate the player base depending on the power of the trait. Imagine not being able to take X class to dungeons because you weren’t capable of soloing the encounter on that class, although you could do it on another.
If they were to implement new traits without an alternative source, and they actually might do this at first, the traits would have to eventually be given an alternate source, say a month later. That would be acceptable.
For discussions sake, does anyone have any alternative solutions to acquiring trait points, or would you prefer they simply revert the new leveling system for traits?
Only revert the unlock levels, ie. first trait point would now be at 15, get one each fifth level until 80. Master traits would unlock at lvl 40, grandmaster at lvl 60. Everything else about the new system would remain as they’ve said.
I think you missed some parts of the article…
Nothing is changing for current level 80’s. you keep all your current unlocked traits. Only new characters will have to earn them. Also we are getting new skills. Each class is getting 5 new traits, not replacements or reworks, brand new.
Trust me, I read the whole thing. Twice. And yes, I mentioned that the new traits may be awesome.
But I have a lot of characters, I play which one I’m in the mood for, and I tend to not change their builds around very much. At first glance, the “unlock your traits through deeds” idea seems great for them, as it means I don’t have to do all the tasks with each of them.
However, not all of them are level 80. Most of them will be nerfed, and nerfed hard by this change. Most of them will take a huge hit on stats and lose useful traits until I can re-earn them at the new, higher level. The same will go for just about any non-80 character.
Players should feel pushed into playing level 80 or go home. Taking the nerf bat to levels 11-79 is NOT an improvement.
[Edit] And yes, I’m aware that I will already have the major traits unlocked on my existing characters and not have to do events or dungeons to earn them.
(edited by Palador.2170)
I love the idea of horizontal progression unlocked by actually doing content in the game world…I love that it will be easy for them to add a greater variety of traits for players to choose from. This system is definitely a step in the right direction.
This isn’t really horizontal progression, though. It’s more of a horizontal digression. It’s taking an existing feature of the game’s vertical progression, and locking it behind a barrier that you have to overcome or bypass. Outside of those Grandmaster traits (which you can’t see until level 80), there’s nothing actually new here.
Maybe there’s an appeal to that that I just don’t get. So many people seem happy with the idea, and I don’t see why.
Giving people more to do at max level is never a bad thing. When there’s already a ton to do, but no real incentive to do it…adding incentive is a good idea. Giving people more variety in experiences, and more variety in build choices is good. Making a system which allows for the easy addition of even more variety in the future…even better.
It’s a game. Playing it isn’t a “barrier”… it’s the whole point.
The old system required you to pay 10 gold to get your grandmaster major and minor traits. This new system allows you the choice of paying gold for the traits, or doing content. It’s better all the way around.
For discussions sake, does anyone have any alternative solutions to acquiring trait points, or would you prefer they simply revert the new leveling system for traits?
1. Keep it as it is
2. Make the traiting faster, not slower. If 5 traits will now be one, instead of awarding 5 do award 1. Start awarding them as early as it was currently (level 11) and finish faster. I don’t see any reason to limit the players.
Someone mentioned that a lot of players are running untraited and that’s why they made the change. The thing is when you started the game you were told how to do traiting and you were alarmed every time you had an unspent trait point. It’s not more complicated than in other MMOs. If people can’t learn to trait now, they won’t be any better at it with the new system either.
As for older players with alts… Well, leveling is boring anyway, but knowing game mechanics will probably compensate the amount of time added by traitless levels.
And thats why leveling should be made even more boring ?
I just wonder if that will also have impact on mobs. Do they have also traits ? I just always had the feeling that somewhere around lvl 12-15 the mobs started to get much harder than the lower mobs. Now if players get even weaker will those mobs also get weaker because of missing skills / traits or proportionally harder ?
I know a lot of people who have been through the 11 and 14 scenario and I think that changing the way traits work is going to be awesome. It will really help new players get the most out of their builds without hurting themselves unknowingly.
And when you talk about getting bored, you have to remember your first days in gw2. Getting to level 30 isn’t about trait points. It’s about learning your weapons, unlocking all of the new skills, and deciding how you play the game. There is a lot that new players have to learn, which is why it will be much easier on them in the long run.
And this new trait anywhere option is going to be great for someone who caries around multiple armor sets ^.^ Now we just need a saved build option like gw1!!! The more this game can reflect that one, the better it will be =)
Oh, so the game needed more reasons to make leveling alts less attractive.
Whatever.
And when you talk about getting bored, you have to remember your first days in gw2. Getting to level 30 isn’t about trait points. It’s about learning your weapons, unlocking all of the new skills, and deciding how you play the game. There is a lot that new players have to learn, which is why it will be much easier on them in the long run.
I have leveled multiple level 80s and trust me it is very much about traits. For one thing without them early on you’re severely kitten. Which really slows the leveling down.
Looks like they’re finally finding a way to reimplement skill capping from GW1. It’s not the same but it’s a start.
I love it! huge patch.
The best thing for me about these changes? That you can obtain traits playing specific dungeons, doing some tasks… love it
I do kinda agree with the nerf aspect though. Leveling is going to be a bit more of a pain now. You still get the trait point ever six level till 30, correct?
Won’t/Don’t we still have access to the minor traits (ones we don’t get to change, the ones at 5 points currently) up until level 30 where we get the first set of traits we get to choose from?
Incorrect.
You’ll start acquiring points at level 30, when the adept trait tier is unlocked, then you’ll earn one trait point every six levels until level 66, when you’ll start earning two trait points at a time.
We’ll get our first new-style trait point (worth 5 of the current ones) at level 30. That’s when we’ll get our first minor trait. Level 36 is when we’ll get either a second minor trait, or our first Adept trait (if you have one unlocked).
I love the idea of horizontal progression unlocked by actually doing content in the game world…I love that it will be easy for them to add a greater variety of traits for players to choose from. This system is definitely a step in the right direction.
This isn’t really horizontal progression, though. It’s more of a horizontal digression. It’s taking an existing feature of the game’s vertical progression, and locking it behind a barrier that you have to overcome or bypass. Outside of those Grandmaster traits (which you can’t see until level 80), there’s nothing actually new here.
Maybe there’s an appeal to that that I just don’t get. So many people seem happy with the idea, and I don’t see why.
Giving people more to do at max level is never a bad thing. When there’s already a ton to do, but no real incentive to do it…adding incentive is a good idea. Giving people more variety in experiences, and more variety in build choices is good. Making a system which allows for the easy addition of even more variety in the future…even better.
It’s a game. Playing it isn’t a “barrier”… it’s the whole point.
The old system required you to pay 10 gold to get your grandmaster major and minor traits. This new system allows you the choice of paying gold for the traits, or doing content. It’s better all the way around.
If this was simply unlocking new traits/lines via killing x boss or doing x content yes I would agree with you. But that simply isn’t the case. This is going to make things slightly harder for lower lvls in my experience/opinion. They will simply NOT have that extra healing from a trait at lvl 60 now, or extra stealth for x amount of time now until the very end – lvl 80.
Tbh I am wondering if this is all in aid of a possible incoming increase to lvl cap, that would certainly explain some of this..
And when you talk about getting bored, you have to remember your first days in gw2. Getting to level 30 isn’t about trait points. It’s about learning your weapons, unlocking all of the new skills, and deciding how you play the game. There is a lot that new players have to learn, which is why it will be much easier on them in the long run.
I have leveled multiple level 80s and trust me it is very much about traits. For one thing without them early on you’re severely kitten. Which really slows the leveling down.
Yeah .. even on a Warrior it was great when at 20 you could boost your crit with Deep Strike finally at lvl 20.
And for classes like Mesmer, Ele and Engi .. i would maybe have given up if i couldn’t have leveled them in 3-4 different starting areas to maybe 20-30 and then craft 30 levels, so that i could finally make a decent build with enought traitpoints.
This is actually a pretty severe nerf to low levels. Looking at a level 20 alt in mostly green gear (a couple blue pieces), the total attribute points the character has is under 900 (base stats+gear+traitlines). That’s adding up power, precision, vitality, toughness, condition damage, and healing power. There is no investment in +crit, or boon/condi duration, so no need to calculate their point values.
After the upcoming changes to traits, this character will lose 200 of those attribute points (each traitline boosts 2 stats by 10 points per point spent). That’s over 20% loss of attributes/effectiveness, which is the about the same difference as using white gear vs blue gear.
OP, I am glad you have X number of hours a day to go out and work on all these trait books. But someone like me who works more than they play the game I like the fact they always add an option for things to just be purchased with gold. Wish other companies would learn that this method works.
Why would you rather do the same old things than go out in the world to do other new things? The vendor would remove content for casual people too, not to mention liven up the world a bit for people still leveling.
If you want to keep farming dungeons that’s fine, that’s your choice, but don’t hide behind the guise of a casual player.
For example, imagine having the best trait locked behind Liadri without offering an alternative.
Which would be great! Why is this a bad thing, when Liadri is now something that is hardly ever done, basically only when the worldtrains are there? Imagine that events like that would be done on regular intervals because people would actually get meaningful rewards from them.
I just have to say you don’t know who Laidri is do you? She was an epic hard boss like character during the Queen’s Jubilee. You had to solo her, and only a small percentage of the player base was able to beat her. By placing a trait behind her would mean only about 15% of the player base would be able to get said trait. This would be terrible. There is no world trains for her and she isn’t done any more cause she doesn’t exist in game at the moment (she might return next Queen’s Jubilee).
For example, imagine having the best trait locked behind Liadri without offering an alternative.
That would be awesome. I would love if they did this!
And what of the people who would hate it?
As it is, I’ve only stepped in a dungeon 3 times.(2 story modes and failed attempt at TA path 2). As much as I’d like to do more dungeons. I haven’t tried the wurm or Teq yet as I’m not even running full exotic yet.
I don’t want to be forced into it and feel even more behind long term players.(I’m playing catch up as it is.)
(edited by Taygus.4571)
and completely kitten pvp players?
Why would you only do PvP in a game that has so much more?
Are there people that only did PvP in GW1?….oh wait yeah you could make a PvP only character. Seems boring to me, but to each their own. Maybe they’ll bring that change too at some point that if someone wants to do nothing but PvP they can make a character that cannot leave the PvP area but has everything unlocked traitwise.
Why would you run champ trains in queensdale in a game that has so much more?
If someone wants to only PvP then they should be able to do so, forcing a portion of the community to participate in content they don’t enjoy or find meaningfull is just absurd.
Also, did you actually try the pvp in GW1? It doesn’t quite sound like you did.
I, personally, also dislike the idea of having to do specific things to unlock traits. I can see why this change is happening, but I don’t like it and would prefer the unlocking system to remain more similar to how the current system is.
It makes exploration more rewarding and exciting, and creates new opportunities for Anet to add new permanent content in the open world too.
What feels better for you, to get a new sword trait after fighting a swordsman in an epic fight, or to simply “unlock” it via a menu and then “explore” the world for more generic gold/ karma?
This new hunting system greatly enhances the value of exploration and world immersion, something that was lacking in this game.
The question is, what exactly you have to do for that .. fine if it is all soloable, but would be bad if in the end you have to “buy” these skills maybe later from other players because you need to kill champs or do things in Dungeons that nobody else does anymore.
Two things to think about:
The question is, what exactly you have to do for that .. fine if it is all soloable, but would be bad if in the end you have to “buy” these skills maybe later from other players because you need to kill champs or do things in Dungeons that nobody else does anymore.
You can buy traits from a vendor, so if there’s a specific trait you want, but you don’t want to do that bit of content, you can still get it.
Tbh I am wondering if this is all in aid of a possible incoming increase to lvl cap, that would certainly explain some of this..
That … would explain everything.
[Edit] In fact, it bothered me that the “every 6 levels” for a trait point didn’t work out to end on level 80. But if you carry it a bit further, you’ll see that it does end nicely on level 90.
(edited by Palador.2170)
More options is great. You can choose to gain skill and abilities via the old GW1 way (which was awesome getting elite skills) and have a better sense of progression or just outright pay for it. I, personally will enjoy the heck out of earning my major traits.
There should be some sort of achievement for gaining ALL of your major traits through content and not buying. Maybe even a title?
I hope it’s cheaply from the vendor actually.
I have 8 character with full map completion. Another 4 with around 90%. And a few other with some map completion too.
So I do explore. But what do I have to show for. People who just craft to 80, or switch to alt at last boss level much faster than me. Now I’ll be punished again for playing the game normally.
Since in a recent announcement we get finally the option to retrait for free on the fly, it would be nice to get build templates too.
Give 2 free slots and make it expandable with some gem store item up to … idk … 10 slot?
source:
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/announcing-the-april-2014-feature-pack/
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/traits-unleashed-forty-new-traits-and-more/
So with this change leveling up new characters and alts will become even more of an exercise in tediousness than it already is. It’s a bad move, Anet. If you’re going to revamp the trait system, go all the way and iterate from your alpha ideas where each weapon set and skill type had its own set of traits that you could equip independently of each other.
Also, some of the traits they revealed just sound bad. Read the wind? Arrows from ranger longbow should already travel at double the speed they do currently, it shouldn’t be locked behind a grandmaster trait.
I just have to say you don’t know who Laidri is do you? She was an epic hard boss like character during the Queen’s Jubilee. You had to solo her, and only a small percentage of the player base was able to beat her. By placing a trait behind her would mean only about 15% of the player base would be able to get said trait. This would be terrible. There is no world trains for her and she isn’t done any more cause she doesn’t exist in game at the moment (she might return next Queen’s Jubilee).
I’m sorry, I mixed her up with the temple of lyssa event. But why would they automatically attach crucial skills to temporary events anyway. I wouldn’t worry about that.
Tbh I am wondering if this is all in aid of a possible incoming increase to lvl cap, that would certainly explain some of this..
That … would explain everything.
[Edit] In fact, it bothered me that the “every 6 levels” for a trait point didn’t work out to end on level 80. But if you carry it a bit further, you’ll see that it does end nicely on level 90.
I really, really, really hope not. 80 levels is too much anyway, imo. I’d have been fine with 40 – I’m always bored by 40.
All I want is a refund for all the adept/master/grandmaster trait books we’ve bought for all our characters. The rest I guess I can live with.
Tbh I am wondering if this is all in aid of a possible incoming increase to lvl cap, that would certainly explain some of this..
That … would explain everything.
[Edit] In fact, it bothered me that the “every 6 levels” for a trait point didn’t work out to end on level 80. But if you carry it a bit further, you’ll see that it does end nicely on level 90.
It’s one point every 6 levels from 30 – 66, then 2 points up to 80.
You’ll start acquiring points at level 30, when the adept trait tier is unlocked, then you’ll earn one trait point every six levels until level 66, when you’ll start earning two trait points at a time.
Oh, so the game needed more reasons to make leveling alts less attractive.
Whatever.
My thoughts…
“Wow, I actually want to level an alt now! I can feel rewarded for exploring everything again, and grow in strength and ability as well! It’s like Guild Wars 1!”
Amazing how opinions can differ, eh?
So do we get a refund for the trait books we already bought or should we get rid of them as soon as possible?
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