Guild Wars 2

Pof should have been an opportunity to clarify traits line and roles.
Basically almost every classes have one spec dedicated to power (direct damages), one to condi, one to support, one to tank (control & survival), and one to a specific class feature (pets for ranger, virtues for guardian, weapon switching for warrior …). And of course one and soon 2 elite spec.
However in overall and especially for some classes (thief, engineer …) the link between trait lines and roles are very blured, in some cases a trait line seems aimed to 2 roles or a trait line seems totally irrevelant and useless.

This is why I expected PoF would bring these changes :
- Each class have now one trait line clearly dedicated to one role, with minor traits very suitted for the aimed role and with major traits permitting role “crossovers”.
- Each weapon is now clearly suitted for one role (or 2 roles for the two hand weapons)
- Each class have now one “vanilla” elite specialization which is granted to the players at level 1
- Elite spec aren’t linked to a role, their purpose is to bring and replace class features (“this elite spec bring pets, but this bring tool kits, and this make you a shapeshifter …”)
- You have now inevitably one elite spec and two non elite spec.
- There are now 8 attributes : 2 for each role. Power and Precision for DPS, condition damage and expertise for condi, vitality and thougness for tanking, concentration and healing power for support. Ferocity is now granted through traits, like quickness.

What do you think ? Is it too late to expect these modifications ?

I really like this idea and wish this was how things were in the game. Ive always felt traits were a mess and while they have been improving, they still arent up to scratch IMO. Having dedicated lines for each build would make things much more organised, clearer to new players, and easier to balance.

However I do see some issues. Mainly that this would remove alot of the build crafting and unique options traits allow for. We would see every power build taking the same line ect which is unoriginal and boring. I think this is worth the trade off, especially if traits are more specialized within lines, but many people would not.

For POF Its well too late to expect any major overhauls to traits. But perhaps in the future something similar to this will happen.

i am not sure why you would expect Anet to go into a heavy role perspective when they’ve done so much to avoid having a clear defined role setup (which is also what is coursing the majority of the balance issue’s. there is good reasons role setups was and is the norm).

i highly doubt we will see clear roles, even if anet wanted to it would take a complete revamp of their entire class and build system to make it functional, which i dont see them doing as many players would be dissatisfied with any change in this aspect.

when that is said; as with every other aspect of GW2 i would like clear direct information without having to use hours on doing research from thirdparty sites for the information i Need. but this is an issue with basicly every feature in GW2 so i am absolutely not surprice that information on new stuff would be very vague ^^

While I am on the train for a more clear customization of the playstyle I dont think that your classification will work. For example “Condi” might fill all the 3 other roles DD, Tank and Support by itself. (Bleeding and Fire are Damage Condis, Weakness and Vulnerable more support orientated and Protection and Stabillity lets you tank more)

Also having a fixed corsett on the main part of your customization system might influence build crafting really badly.

So I would much prefer to see that kind of playstyle categorization on the weapons… So that each class has at least one weapon combi that does normal damage, condi, support, cc etc …

While there are some classes which have such kind of clear categories most of the weapons are still a mess, like having 4 skills with normal damge and one with bleeding and so on.

For the Traitlines I would rather like to see a categorisation into the “Holy Trinity” (Damage, Support, Control – not Tank, Healer, DPS) because they are the main playstyles I think we should focus on (with Survivabillity/Tanking beeing a part of Control).

Totally disagree with the OP.

I would like to see the opposite, with more balanced approach to healing and dps throughout the classes. This is what makes gw2 so unique in the first place, only raids have changed this a little and maybe 1 or 2 high lvl fracts. The problem was people just focusing on dps with other builds being a little unneeded so they attempted to add more diversity, I think they overshot it a bit. What would be better imo would be a little more party focus based on what boons you can share and bring to the table, if each class had there own, all of which are equally as desirable, bang goes any class feeling obsolete.