Game Updates: Traits

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Cam Ron.4170

Cam Ron.4170

Just got the trait from the temple of grenth mission after about of week of logging on to check if it was up .

My problem with the new trait system, other than the fact that it completely sucks, is that so many of them require multiple people. I can’t just decide I want to spend time unlocking a trait- no I need to wait for an even to activate, or get a party together to do a dungeon. as most of you know, dungeons are completely kittening dead. I was LFG for story mode for one of the dungeons for over an hour- NOT 1 BITE. if you’re going to make running a completely dead dungeon instance the requirement for unlocking traits, at least scale down the enemies based on party size so I can solo it in under 4 hours.

They’re also way too kittening expensive to buy. 1.5 or 3gold + skillpoints for the GMs? SMD anet, you just assured yourself 1-2 less character slot purchases from me.

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Cam Ron.4170

Cam Ron.4170

So spend the 10 silver and 2 skill points to unlock your blue trait. Problem solved. For blue traits especially it’s not that much.

Soon you’ll accept anything if you keep accepting the little things. Don’t you have any principles.

I have principles. However they don’t extend to spending some in game gold on something that once cost me in game gold anyway. My principles are you know about more significant things than the price of a skill in a game.

But let’s be reasonable. The trait books used to cost what? 16g? And no skill points. That was a walk in the park compared to what it is now. When I was a new player, I had no gold, or very little. And not enough skill points to get skills AND traits. I feel very sorry for new players now. They ARE at a severe disadvantage, whether they realize it or not.

What? no! The trait books were like 3.5 total I forgot. The GM was 2 gold, the master one was 1 gold, and the other one probably 10 or 50 sivler.

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Guhracie.3419

Guhracie.3419

The GM tier was 2g, the master tier was 50s and the adept tier was 10s to unlock, prior to the April 15th patch.

“Be angry about legendary weapons, sure, but what about the recent drought of content?”
-Mike O’Brien
Because we can’t be angry about both?

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: ozmaniandevil.6805

ozmaniandevil.6805

OK, sorry, it’s been so long that I thought it was like 1g, 5g and 10g respectively. LOL Obviously this new travesty has carried on so long I can’t even remember the “good times” now.

Isle of Janthir – Knights of the Rose (KoR)

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: ShadowDragoonFTW.3418

ShadowDragoonFTW.3418

The GM tier was 2g, the master tier was 50s and the adept tier was 10s to unlock, prior to the April 15th patch.

Yup. I recall saving up for forever to get the GM book … thinking that I could skip the master tier and save a little money. It was so expensive at the time, I had to sell the GM book to buy the Master tier book. :-| That’s what the currency game used to look like, folks. Selling your soul for your third tier Traits.

Baelyyrn [Zero Brigade]
Mechanist Gregory [BEER]
Arondight Unfading [ZB]

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: PookieDaWombat.6209

PookieDaWombat.6209

Page 4. OK. Well, I guess since its not a bug its fallen by the wayside again. Problem is, even after the NPE stuff is hashed out, this trait problem (and it IS a problem) is still going to be here. Question is, how many players (new and old) will be here after having complained about this issue?

[OTR] – Greck Howlbane – Guardian
Soraya Mayhew – Thief
Melissa Koris – Engie – SF for Life!

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Brtiva.9721

Brtiva.9721

Personally, the trait system as it is, has stopped me dead in my tracks. While I will log on to play my 80s, I lost a lot of interest. The direction of the game feels very different to me, the trait change being the chief cause of this for me. There are some other things I am not thrilled with but the traits are a killer for me.

So, since the patch which changed the traits system, I have played much much less and stopped making alts.

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Gregori.5807

Gregori.5807

I think they may have nerfed the Scrolls of Knowledge droprate or its bugged. Out of the last 31 bags I have opened I got… zero. Out of about the same number, my wife got… 2. I hope its bugged or we just have had some bad luck.

If this is true, the trait issue is going to get vastly worse for new players.

I managed to level a Guard to 80 under this system and got full traits. I did it mostly by doing the tasks, including things like waiting weeks for something to be available and pestering guildies and friends for help.

Aside from being a miserable experience, I used Scrolls of Knowledge due to bugged events, things like the Overgrown Grub, things I needed now but were too high level for me to get, etc.

The trait messup itself was bad but not that bad because I thought they would realize how horrible it is fix it relatively quickly. How it has been handled has gone beyond horrendous.

~~On Blackgate since Beta~~
80s: Necro x2, Ranger, Warr, Guardian x2, Ele x2, Mes, Thief

(edited by Gregori.5807)

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Bagnasty.1687

Bagnasty.1687

I’m level 79 and about 90% to Level 80. So I roll into the Thief re-trainer to buy a master trait I need. I am unlocked at Master trait level and have several Master traits both unlocked and in use.

The Trainer tells me I should come back when I have more experience and I am unable to access any traits whatsoever.

More experience? I have leveled in the game with this toon to almost level 80!!! Are you kidding me?

Between this and locking the diving goggles for advanced characters I’m at my wits end and ready to park this game for a while.

The September update has got to be the LEAST thought out build that has ever been released here. Absolutely no consideration for the tens of thousands of us who have Level 80 toons that are locked out of content that’s been available for over two years.

Semper Fi!
LtCol USMC Res. Ret.

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Zaiteki.3265

Zaiteki.3265

I can’t agree with the above people any more fully. GW2 is a great game to bounce in and out of, but now with these locked traits, I have pretty much given up most desire to play. Level 30+ and the only way to more quickly open traits on my alts that my mains do is by doing specific quests that I have to open a Wiki page to find out about, and that are ~10 levels higher than where I am? Ridiculous and very NOT FUN. People play games to have fun, and in this case, the devs who approved this have gone the precise opposite direction. If you think that being hamstrung is fun, boy, you should give the ole “programming with boxing gloves” a try. When you are ready to retire, you can remove your boxing gloves and THEN you can use all ten fingers.

I and many others have paid for the game and multiple extra slots with real money, and this is how you reward customers? By slapping them in the faces and removing the fun? At least you have people telling you this is bad. Even Microsoft has realized that Windows 8 was a stupid idea and are removing loathed “additions.”

This is pages upon pages of people who actually care enough to comment. How many more will you need, Devs, or is this simply another case of “Well, they will just do what we say and they’ll get over it”? We don’t have to get over it. We can choose not to play. Fewer players, more ghost-town of a game, less interactivity, more games on the horizon. That’s how you lose customers.

(edited by Zaiteki.3265)

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Frostfang.5109

Frostfang.5109

Suggestion (dont know if this have been suggested Before).

  • If u unlock a trait by doing the EVENT required to unlock it, let it be a permanent and accountwide unlock!
  • If u unlock a trait by buying it – let it be personal(only for that character).
Kima & Co

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Delta Blues.8507

Delta Blues.8507

I guess they really needed a way to eliminate some gold from the game because the only other reason why someone could think the trait change would be any good would be through havy drug abuse and/or being a sadic kitten

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: IKaikiasI.1932

IKaikiasI.1932

I played the game for two years. I loved it.

For 3 months I uninstalled the game, because I thought the game is broken.

Today I discovered this thread and you know what? I still don’t regret my decision.

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Leodious.5671

Leodious.5671

The trait system is absolutely horrible. I started a new guardian, in part to see what all the fuss was about and to see the NPE too, and in part because I was tired of looking at a norn.

It’s terrible. I have a level 80 guardian, so I thought I would notice any problems or benefits more by playing that profession. I had to wait for that inkeeper to start the chain to kill Lord Ignius just to get something really basic. I’m level 54 now and I can’t access Master traits. What?!

Now, I feel like have to go get some traits before I actually can access the Master tier. I’ve got some Adept traits I can stand, so I wanted to get Radiant Fire, Zealous Blade, or Powerful Blades. So now I have to go farther through the personal story, which is annoying to wait for a level 70 instance to get it, or I can go into WvW and befriend some other species?

I don’t know anything about that, and I have absolutely no desire to do WvW. And even if I did, I wouldn’t be concerned with winning the war, and so would be a liability to everyone else on the map. I did go and find the Hylek camp. Nothing was happening. We owned pretty much everything. I sat around for a few minutes, but got frustrated. I didn’t want to be there, I didn’t want to be waiting for something. I didn’t want to be PvPing. I usually don’t. It was not fun at all.

This is terrible, and it limits what I can do, and what I feel like I need to spend my time doing. This is not playing the way I want. I know most games say that in the hype interviews before release, but with Guild Wars, I’ve always felt it was the case. No longer. I have to go do things I don’t want to do just to be able to have access to the things I want, that I’ve used for years. It’s horrible design. It’s obviously horrible design. Maybe if there were more freedom in how to unlock traits, but as it stands, it is just intensely frustrating.

I’ve told more than one person that this is the best MMO I’ve ever played, and bought the game for some of them to try. Some of them stayed. I know one person doesn’t make a big difference, but word of mouth is powerful, and a few thousand people like me make a difference. The gameplay is still the best I’ve ever seen.

I’ve complained about the camera since before release. But I’ve almost gotten used to it, now. But this too? These seem like things that anyone who actually plays the game would understand immediately are a terrible idea.

Now I’ve heard the best part of the personal story has been removed. I still love this game, but it seems clear to me that each feature update is making the game worse, and removing freedoms. I know it’s just a game, but still it makes me sad.

(edited by Leodious.5671)

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Snowmoon.1758

Snowmoon.1758

50 pages of this, and still nothing being done to this stupid Trait system.

Anet, anet, why do you keep making all these stupid decisions????

Why anet why???

Staunch Supporter of Mounts in Guild Wars 2. Gimme mah Fluffeh White Bunneh!!!
Give us Mounts, Anet! Pretty Please with Chocolate, Whipped Cream, Cherry and Mayonnaise? d^_^b

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: felessan.9587

felessan.9587

I went through and tried three trait unlocks last night: Dredge Commissar, Lord Ignius and Branded Devourer Queen. I’ll be darned if all three weren’t bugged at some point. After five hours, I had finally found a working copy of Dredge Commissar (and about a billion people waiting for the chance at something that costs 160 gold). Still no luck on the other two.

On the plus side, we finally own the entirety of EB, so I managed to actually rally five players and kill that Overgrown Grub! Hooraaay!

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Brtiva.9721

Brtiva.9721

Oh, well. Just checking back to see if anything has developed here.

I don’t really expect a reversion to the old system which I enjoyed, but I still check in. So…no more alts still for me.

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Einlanzer.1627

Einlanzer.1627

They needed to use this system for new skills, not traits. Doing it with traits was the lazy way out and they deserve the backlash it’s getting.

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: eyestrain.3056

eyestrain.3056

Repeating:
I do not want to and probably will not experiment with builds while this trait system is in place.

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: RiverSong.5067

RiverSong.5067

I think i understand the intention. They wanted to fix the trait system and make the game all better. However doing so they rushed the players.

A good trait system is nice to have if you don’t have one. If you have one minor changes or new traits can be interesting. But it’s not what it’s about…

It’s really about the week old account with his level 5 ranger who crafted his first bow with mats he gathered. This player will be playing for a while still. The 2 year veteran with all classes to 80 is burnt out and logs in just to hang with his guild crowd. He might be quitting you anytime for the next minecraft. Any hopefully you’ll replace him with 2 week old accounts because he’ll tell people there about the fun he had in Guild Wars 2.

My webpage:
pages.videotron.ca/madfang4/

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Zaiteki.3265

Zaiteki.3265

RiverSong, I don’t disagree with you entirely, however, there are many people who have one or two level 80s and really enjoyed being able to play with their traits all along the way, including the last 20 levels. There is a joy in leveling alts and playing the same zones differently due to different class mechanics. However, that falls incredibly flat when all of a sudden you’re slammed up against a level gate that wasn’t there before.

As I’ve said, I’d love to play my alts (I only have a single level 80, a Necro), but this new game system is incredibly insulting and, as however many have said before, just plain not fun. The traits are un-intuitive to find their unlock locations (unless you go off-game to a wiki), and many are higher level than where you’re able to safely explore. So, you don’t get a chance to play with trait combinations at all, and you don’t have real freedom to enjoy swapping them out until max level. This may have been thought out around the boardroom table, but at some point, when you have fifty pages over five months of players screaming about how much they absolutely loathe this change, it’s an almost incompetent amount of arrogance on the part of whichever Dev/Manager/Whatever to tap ash off of their cigar and say “Let them scream, I don’t care, I have their money, and if it’s not fun, then forget about them. We’ll get new players who won’t remember when the game WAS fun.”

It’s a very very poor business model to thumb your noses at the people who WANT to purchase and support your product. It’s not very difficult for this many people to make a great deal of noise on various social media, review, and discussion sites about how much people should certainly not waste their time and money on a game where the Devs quite obviously either have zero power to remove a detestable change or zero inclination to do so.

(edited by Zaiteki.3265)

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Illysharia.7286

Illysharia.7286

RiverSong, I don’t disagree with you entirely, however, there are many people who have one or two level 80s and really enjoyed being able to play with their traits all along the way, including the last 20 levels. There is a joy in leveling alts and playing the same zones differently due to different class mechanics. However, that falls incredibly flat when all of a sudden you’re slammed up against a level gate that wasn’t there before.

As I’ve said, I’d love to play my alts (I only have a single level 80, a Necro), but this new game system is incredibly insulting and, as however many have said before, just plain not fun. The traits are un-intuitive to find their unlock locations (unless you go off-game to a wiki), and many are higher level than where you’re able to safely explore. So, you don’t get a chance to play with trait combinations at all, and you don’t have real freedom to enjoy swapping them out until max level. This may have been thought out around the boardroom table, but at some point, when you have fifty pages over five months of players screaming about how much they absolutely loathe this change, it’s an almost incompetent amount of arrogance on the part of whichever Dev/Manager/Whatever to tap ash off of their cigar and say “Let them scream, I don’t care, I have their money, and if it’s not fun, then forget about them. We’ll get new players who won’t remember when the game WAS fun.”

It’s a very very poor business model to thumb your noses at the people who WANT to purchase and support your product. It’s not very difficult for this many people to make a great deal of noise on various social media, review, and discussion sites about how much people should certainly not waste their time and money on a game where the Devs quite obviously either have zero power to remove a detestable change or zero inclination to do so.

50 pages, almost 2,500 posts and over 120,000 views. Working on a half year’s effort of feedback.

So much for Chris Whiteside’s grandiose statements of improved communications.

Seriously, if there was a perfect example of how it was Us vs Them, it’s this thread. You are correct, it is contempt and arrogance. It is the only plausible excuse to justify how this mess has continued unchanged for so long.

As per your last paragraph, I’m in that bracket of someone who actually wants to play the game again. I uninstalled shortly after these changes went through, and have been waiting for 1) a reasonable response aside from requests for yet more feedback and 2) changes to make this mess at least palatable. Neither of those has happened, and so they will not get any financial support from me. I also can’t speak positively about them on other gaming sites given how this is playing out.

So..still waiting.

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Allelya.6830

Allelya.6830

OK, looks like paragraphs are too hard to understand. I’m going to demonstrate this trait unlock nonsense into simple conversation between veteran player and new player. New player is very casual, and play only on weekend for 3 hours each. He currently has 20g in his wallet.

Vet player: Hey what build are you running?

New player: oh, it’s 6/6/1/0/0

Vet: oh that old (blah) build. You should try the new 0/0/1/6/6 meta build. It’s really good!!

New: Ah ok, brb unlocking traits.

(ONE MONTH LATER)

New: yay, I finally got the traits for new meta!

Vet: Hey, long time no see. We are now playing 0/6/6/1/0. It’s newest meta build. You should try it! It’s amazing!

New: ………..How long did it took for you to unlock all traits T_T?

Vet: Oh, all of them were available and free to swap as we level before the feature pack.

New: ………..Sorry, I gotta go now cya later.

(New player uninstalls GW2)

I hope you can understand how bad all these are. The part that truly demolished the new player is knowing that he got ripped off by this change because he did not join the game earlier.

Yeah, while I enjoy the game I don’t know if I could recommend it to any of my friends in its current state. New players just have so much grinding to do now before they can reasonably keep up with vets.

One thing I don’t think arenanet considered is how this affects new players going into wvw and dungeons. The trait changes seriously weaken low level players and its painful to try WvW pre80 now. Or to hop into dungeons at 35. These changes make it much harder to group up with my friends and have them fairly contribute.

Hop into dungeons at 35? Who does that? No one. Since I started playing this game, it’s level 80 or get out of my party. The trait system and dungeon mechanics relating to the traits and class abilities available at individual dungeon levels all needs a serious fix.

Delvien – d/d Elementalist – Gates of Madness

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: sorudo.9054

sorudo.9054

OK, looks like paragraphs are too hard to understand. I’m going to demonstrate this trait unlock nonsense into simple conversation between veteran player and new player. New player is very casual, and play only on weekend for 3 hours each. He currently has 20g in his wallet.

Vet player: Hey what build are you running?

New player: oh, it’s 6/6/1/0/0

Vet: oh that old (blah) build. You should try the new 0/0/1/6/6 meta build. It’s really good!!

New: Ah ok, brb unlocking traits.

(ONE MONTH LATER)

New: yay, I finally got the traits for new meta!

Vet: Hey, long time no see. We are now playing 0/6/6/1/0. It’s newest meta build. You should try it! It’s amazing!

New: ………..How long did it took for you to unlock all traits T_T?

Vet: Oh, all of them were available and free to swap as we level before the feature pack.

New: ………..Sorry, I gotta go now cya later.

(New player uninstalls GW2)

I hope you can understand how bad all these are. The part that truly demolished the new player is knowing that he got ripped off by this change because he did not join the game earlier.

Yeah, while I enjoy the game I don’t know if I could recommend it to any of my friends in its current state. New players just have so much grinding to do now before they can reasonably keep up with vets.

One thing I don’t think arenanet considered is how this affects new players going into wvw and dungeons. The trait changes seriously weaken low level players and its painful to try WvW pre80 now. Or to hop into dungeons at 35. These changes make it much harder to group up with my friends and have them fairly contribute.

Hop into dungeons at 35? Who does that? No one. Since I started playing this game, it’s level 80 or get out of my party. The trait system and dungeon mechanics relating to the traits and class abilities available at individual dungeon levels all needs a serious fix.

and that’s the reason why they should ether fix the level scaling in it’s correct way (so even ascended/legendary gear is still at masterwork rank lvl 35 in AC) or make all dungeons lvl 80-only.
i currently can’t stand dungeons because they are nothing more then arena’s with spamallot enemies on veteran rank or higher, GW1 dungeons are much better because there a dungeon is less about killing overpowered enemies and more about actually solving a dungeon. (that, and all dungeons are LVL 20-only unless you wanna try your luck)

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: ShadowDragoonFTW.3418

ShadowDragoonFTW.3418

I’ll agree with them needing to fix dungeon scaling. I remember getting my first character to the level where I could run Ascalonian Catacombs for the first time.

I got obliterated. The party barely made it past the first room, and we even had a couple people at higher levels than the rest of us. Then again, this was way back, right after launch. I haven’t done any dungeons on low-level characters since, so I don’t know how the scaling is right now in comparison.

Baelyyrn [Zero Brigade]
Mechanist Gregory [BEER]
Arondight Unfading [ZB]

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Scientia.8924

Scientia.8924

Until this is fixed:

1. Not going to create any new characters
2. Not going to spend any $ on gems
3. Not going to participate in open world PvE
4. Not going to recommend this game

I will, however, continue to farm Edge of the Mists and world bosses for Scrolls of Knowledge (and rare skins, fun for me actually). The current trait system is boring, tedious, and it’s pretty atrocious how long Anet has been playing the waiting game on us.

What if HoT turns out to be the Mordrem Invasion event, x100?

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Kuldebar.1897

Kuldebar.1897

To put it simply, what should have happened:

  • The standard Traits, ie. the core Traits, should have been left as they were in regards to how they were acquired. (This is not to say the Traits for various Professions don’t need tweaking and fixes, of course!)
  • New Traits should have been introduced into the game, and those Traits would be tied to various well chosen content gated activities or achievements.

Thus allowing the player to acquire the Core Traits more or less as intended while serving up some “Elite” Traits that would inspire the Player to tackle some fun challenges.

(edited by Kuldebar.1897)

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: ozmaniandevil.6805

ozmaniandevil.6805

I agree with you Kuldebar. I don’t think anyone would have had a problem had this actually happened.

Isle of Janthir – Knights of the Rose (KoR)

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: PookieDaWombat.6209

PookieDaWombat.6209

To put it simply, what should have happened:

  • The standard Traits, ie. the core Traits, should have been left as they were in regards to how they were acquired. (This is not to say the Traits for various Professions don’t need tweaking and fixes, of course!)
  • New Traits should have been introduced into the game, and those Traits would be tied to various well chosen content gated activities or achievements.

Thus allowing the player to acquire the Core Traits more or less as intended while serving up some “Elite” Traits that would inspire the Player to tackle some fun challenges.

sadly thats what a lot of people thought was going to happen, and then it never went that route. :/

[OTR] – Greck Howlbane – Guardian
Soraya Mayhew – Thief
Melissa Koris – Engie – SF for Life!

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Guhracie.3419

Guhracie.3419

The lock on the “Communicating With You” thread is pretty much the icing on this cake, and it’s not the kind of cake you want to eat.

“Be angry about legendary weapons, sure, but what about the recent drought of content?”
-Mike O’Brien
Because we can’t be angry about both?

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: ShadowDragoonFTW.3418

ShadowDragoonFTW.3418

@Guhracie – locking the Communicating With You thread made sense. That topic was getting HUUUUUGE, and the conversation was all over the place.

The thought is that a lot of the topics from there should be in their own threads, where the ideas can be addressed more directly.

But, by all means, jump the gun and insist that they’re doing it just to shut people down from talking…

Baelyyrn [Zero Brigade]
Mechanist Gregory [BEER]
Arondight Unfading [ZB]

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: CrashTestAuto.9108

CrashTestAuto.9108

The lock on the “Communicating With You” thread is pretty much the icing on this cake, and it’s not the kind of cake you want to eat.

What really confuses me is that, at this point, this seems like it MUST be a command from above. This big an issue, that is basically universally hated (even the people I tend to think are a bit white-knight-y have spoken against it), and no word at all despite the “increase” in communication. But, assuming this is an order from above, why was it made? The new system puts people off buying alt slots and recommending the game to others. Even if we assume that there’s some bizarre logic that it will attract new players, account-bound unlocks would have the same effect, without turning everyone else away.

How is not making the unlocks account bound financially sensible???

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Amon.5042

Amon.5042

I’ve recently leveled up 5 characters to 80. They were lying dormant on lvl 20ish from pre-traits, pre-NPE times. I did it because of Edge of the Mists which has been very enjoyable.

I don’t understand how great, liberating content like EOTM and an excellent iteration like the improved luck mechanics can coexist with very unfortunate decisions that restrict gameplay.

I’d be crazy to create any more characters right now. I had a taste of the good stuff and of its potential for improvement. The current direction greatly degrades the quality of this game.

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Gilosean.3805

Gilosean.3805

Chiming in to say that the new trait system is complete BS. There’s no way I’m making a new alt like this. Thankfully I’d already made the alts I wanted, they got the unlocked traits for pre-existing characters (AFAIK – if that’s not true I won’t bother leveling).

If the new unlocks were account wide, I could understand that change. But putting level gates and gold gates on essential gameplay features on a per character basis? What on earth were they smoking? Besides the dollar bills they’re assuming are going to roll in from people buying gold to buy traits?

This change makes me mad because:
1) It makes the game much more tedious for everyone
2) It means that new characters are much less powerful than old ones
3) It kills build experimentation in a game that already suffers from focus on meta builds
4) If ANet is willing to gold gate an essential feature like traits, what else will they do it to?

All of these make me less interested in spending time and money on GW2. I have stopped recommending it to friends, and have started steering people away from it.

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Infernia.9847

Infernia.9847

To put it simply, what should have happened:

  • The standard Traits, ie. the core Traits, should have been left as they were in regards to how they were acquired. (This is not to say the Traits for various Professions don’t need tweaking and fixes, of course!)
  • New Traits should have been introduced into the game, and those Traits would be tied to various well chosen content gated activities or achievements.

Thus allowing the player to acquire the Core Traits more or less as intended while serving up some “Elite” Traits that would inspire the Player to tackle some fun challenges.

That’s exactly what I thought was going to happen as well. And I stated so, I can’t even remember how many pages back in this thread.
There are a lot of great ideas in the thread but it’s size has become so large that it’s hard to dissect them out to even list them.
I still say the devs should be put in a room and made to create a new character and level it completely to 80 while unlocking all the traits. When they finish that one they have 4 more to go.
Then they can decide what they think about that experience is fun & potentially gives them more freedom to build a character. (Especially when they come across bugged events required to obtain a trait).

Blackgate : Level 80 Ranger, Necro, Guardian, Warrior
Devs: Trait Challenge Issued

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Einlanzer.1627

Einlanzer.1627

To put it simply, what should have happened:

  • The standard Traits, ie. the core Traits, should have been left as they were in regards to how they were acquired. (This is not to say the Traits for various Professions don’t need tweaking and fixes, of course!)
  • New Traits should have been introduced into the game, and those Traits would be tied to various well chosen content gated activities or achievements.

Thus allowing the player to acquire the Core Traits more or less as intended while serving up some “Elite” Traits that would inspire the Player to tackle some fun challenges.

They should have actually done this with skills, not traits. Or perhaps both, but doing it with only traits was taking the cheap route, and it’s made worse by the fact that they changed existing systems to accommodate it.

All they needed to do was leave the trait system exactly as it was, then start introducing skills that could be acquired through events at the level cap. It would been a little bit more work, but it would have been worth it. They wouldn’t have caused a horrible backlash by trying to fix something that wasn’t broken and that literally nobody complained about, and they would have had event rewards that were compelling enough to make the chase satisfying.

(edited by Einlanzer.1627)

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Vayne.8563

Vayne.8563

So spend the 10 silver and 2 skill points to unlock your blue trait. Problem solved. For blue traits especially it’s not that much.

Soon you’ll accept anything if you keep accepting the little things. Don’t you have any principles.

I have principles. However they don’t extend to spending some in game gold on something that once cost me in game gold anyway. My principles are you know about more significant things than the price of a skill in a game.

But let’s be reasonable. The trait books used to cost what? 16g? And no skill points. That was a walk in the park compared to what it is now. When I was a new player, I had no gold, or very little. And not enough skill points to get skills AND traits. I feel very sorry for new players now. They ARE at a severe disadvantage, whether they realize it or not.

I’ve complained about the new trait system for a long time. That has nothing to do with the response I gave. Someone accused me of having no principles over skills in a game. Aside from the fact that I’ve been vocally against how the trait system was implemented, it’s an irrelevant statement.

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: ozmaniandevil.6805

ozmaniandevil.6805

So uh… can we get the developer to come back and give us an update on this? That would be really appreciated. Whether that be “it’s taking a while, just be patient”, or “you know, we looked at it and tough, you’re stuck with the new system”.

Many many players are either not playing now or have toons or slots sitting there, waiting… and waiting… and waiting… for some news on this. So, what’s happening?

Isle of Janthir – Knights of the Rose (KoR)

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: duckideva.6358

duckideva.6358

I posted this on the NPE thread…since that thread actually seems to get some attention from the Reds, but his has been my experience trying to level an alt under the NPE and current trait setup:

I started a new character at the NPE launch. I’ve gotten her to 49, playing has been slow, and I’ve started not logging in every day anymore.

I got caught by the lvl 29 bug, which sucked. Clearing all of Snowden map only gained me a quarter of a level.

Because I was trying to experience it like a new player, I’ve been trying to avoid spending gold/skill point scrolls that a new player wouldn’t have.

I’ve been clearing maps, trying to get traits, and hoping to be in the map if someone starts the group events I need to get the traits I actually want. So far, no luck. I’ve unlocked a couple, but both of the adept traits I want are at the end of large Champ group events that never seem to happen.

At level 49, I’ve got 30% map completion, have cleared 6 maps plus cities, have done all of the story quest I’m allowed to do…and I still don’t have the traits I want. Could I buy them? Certainly. But it is not something a new player could do. Even if the cash isn’t a barrier at that level, the skill point cost certainly is. New characters are still trying to buy elite skills that cost 30 skill points.

On the plus side, crafting my own armor has kept up with my level, a thing which I never had happen before. I always outleveled my crafting skill so fast that most of my skills stop at around 200. But this time, I’m crafting level appropriate gear. I don’t know if that’s because crafting has been amped up, or because leveling is going so slowly. But it’s a good thing, because two of my 4 PS chapters have dropped gear I can’t wear/equip/wield. So, yeah…no loot from mobs, no coin rewards for quests, and loot I can’t salvage, wear or sell. Yay.

I must say, I’ve been tempted to just hop into eotm and get to 80 and get it over with so I can farm levels for skill points to buy traits, so I can play around with the character, but I’m trying to do it like a new player…who I don’t think would have any idea about the karma train on the edge.

And frankly just the fact that “get it over with” has become part of my mindset about the game is probably why I’m not logging in as much. It just feels frustrating to have all these locked traits, and all these impossible tasks required to get them.

I’m loving the character, I just wish I’d started her before April, because I really, really, really hate the trait system, and I am not sure how much longer I can keep forcing myself to jump through hoops to unlock core components of the character.

Cruella LaDucki: Have corpses, will travel
Torwynd Trueheart: Here I come to save the day!
NSP – Quak Resident Duchess L’Orange

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: PookieDaWombat.6209

PookieDaWombat.6209

I’m going to use this free trial weekend to get a look at the NPE and Traits from the position of someone who literally is starting the game with nothing. We’ll see how it goes and how my knowledge of the game might affect that experience.

[OTR] – Greck Howlbane – Guardian
Soraya Mayhew – Thief
Melissa Koris – Engie – SF for Life!

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Guhracie.3419

Guhracie.3419

It only just occurred to me how the changes to the personal story have impacted trait acquisition. I should start listing my personal story missions on LFG so uplevels can join and get their traits. I mean, it was always unreasonable to have the story missions so much higher than the traits warranted, but now you either have to be at or higher than those levels, or you rely on the hope that someone will let you in on their story.

What a waste of a previously good system.

“Be angry about legendary weapons, sure, but what about the recent drought of content?”
-Mike O’Brien
Because we can’t be angry about both?

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: duckideva.6358

duckideva.6358

Oh man, I hadn’t even thought about people who were like lvl 70, but had already finished the story quest before the patch. How would they go about getting those traits unlocked? The PS can’t be replayed, right?

Cruella LaDucki: Have corpses, will travel
Torwynd Trueheart: Here I come to save the day!
NSP – Quak Resident Duchess L’Orange

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Palador.2170

Palador.2170

Oh man, I hadn’t even thought about people who were like lvl 70, but had already finished the story quest before the patch. How would they go about getting those traits unlocked? The PS can’t be replayed, right?

If they existed before the patch went live (and they’d have to, to be past that story point), then they have all the old traits auto-unlocked. So, unless one of the new Grandmaster traits is linked to the PS (I don’t know, but I doubt it), they wouldn’t have a problem.

Sarcasm, delivered with a
delicate, brick-like subtlety.

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: duckideva.6358

duckideva.6358

Not necessarily. I have a character started after the April trait disaster, but before the September patch of doom. I’m not absolutely sure, because the FPS is so bad right now I can’t log in without frustration, but I seem to recall that she was already up to the Orr part of her personal story, which is past the lvl 70 gate currently put in. IIRC, the traits were added to the PS in the Sept patch, before that, they were geography traits…but again, I may be wrong on that part.

Cruella LaDucki: Have corpses, will travel
Torwynd Trueheart: Here I come to save the day!
NSP – Quak Resident Duchess L’Orange

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Illysharia.7286

Illysharia.7286

To put it simply, what should have happened:

  • The standard Traits, ie. the core Traits, should have been left as they were in regards to how they were acquired. (This is not to say the Traits for various Professions don’t need tweaking and fixes, of course!)
  • New Traits should have been introduced into the game, and those Traits would be tied to various well chosen content gated activities or achievements.

Thus allowing the player to acquire the Core Traits more or less as intended while serving up some “Elite” Traits that would inspire the Player to tackle some fun challenges.

This was pretty much in-line with what the CDI on horizontal progression was talking about. At least, what the players were suggesting. Given how it was executed, I believe the translation to the Dev’s must have been in Klingon.

Regardless. This suggestion is awesome. It’s never going to happen, but it is still what should have happened to begin with.

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: CrashTestAuto.9108

CrashTestAuto.9108

Aaaaaand 2,500 posts basically ignored. I can’t believe all we’ve had so far is “Sorry, wasn’t paying attention there, could you maybe summarise the most superficial changes we could make?”

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Guhracie.3419

Guhracie.3419

With regards to the personal story, I don’t think the 9/9 patch changed anything about your story step. I just mean that it’s now literally gated until you actually hit those required levels, which is just one more bit of tedium in an already awful system.

“Be angry about legendary weapons, sure, but what about the recent drought of content?”
-Mike O’Brien
Because we can’t be angry about both?

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: TrOtskY.5927

TrOtskY.5927

How the new trait system should have worked

> Go to map X and complete Y number of Heart quests

> Go to map Z and complete W number of Vistas

> Complete a total number heart quests across all maps

> Unlock all your tier 2 utility skills on your character

> Kill 1,000 enemies in PvE total

ETC

How it works

> Go to this obscure place and do this obscure quest

> Complete an entire specific map that is at the opposite end of the world to where your character starts

> Go to WvW and kill the absolutely huge boss that takes an entire zerg like 15 minutes to kill

Basically what I am saying is that the direction was ok, but the application was god awful.

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Penarddun.6827

Penarddun.6827

I posted this on the NPE in more depth as a response to another poster, but I wanted to mention it here too since it is affected by the traits system.

Without the personal story staying the way it was, it makes the lack of traits in early level even more obvious. I noticed that since I don’t have a PS mission to occupy my leveling experience, as it only appears every 10 levels, the game has become one big grind to level 80 for me.

I liked being able to try the story at an earlier level, and if I couldn’t get past it, try again in another level. I went back and forth like this a while, and it distracted me from the grind. That is now gone. More and more I feel like I’m playing a broken character. If I could get a scroll to level 80, I would. There really doesn’t seem to be a reason to level alts anymore. I can’t find any fun in it. :/

The way the game is headed, I think for anyone who has owned the game for more than a year and already leveled a character to 80, there should be some way to just insta-level an alt to 80.

(edited by Penarddun.6827)

Game Updates: Traits

in Guild Wars 2 Discussion

Posted by: Tobias Trueflight.8350

Tobias Trueflight.8350

How the new trait system should have worked

> Go to map X and complete Y number of Heart quests

> Go to map Z and complete W number of Vistas

> Complete a total number heart quests across all maps

> Unlock all your tier 2 utility skills on your character

> Kill 1,000 enemies in PvE total

ETC

How it works

> Go to this obscure place and do this obscure quest

> Complete an entire specific map that is at the opposite end of the world to where your character starts

> Go to WvW and kill the absolutely huge boss that takes an entire zerg like 15 minutes to kill

Basically what I am saying is that the direction was ok, but the application was god awful.

I think your system would have been terrible too, for the record. I mean, sure, it doesn’t include the Grub from what I see but . . . still looks bad.

Seeking assistants for the Asuran Catapult Project. Applicants will be tested for aerodynamics.