Guild Wars 2

I play each class and enjoy doing so because of it’s diversity. My main being a Warrior, i run Greatsword mainly, but recently i found that i like playing hammer from time to time. That got me thinking; Why can’t we swap traits quickly, just like weapons/armor/jewelry.

Whenever i wish to switch from a Greatsword to a Hammer, the traits are completely different, and you have to refund trait point to get Hammer to work more effectively.
But then an hour alter, my guild does a dungeon run, where Hammers are not really good on a warrior, and so i have to switch back up again. This consumes silver, but it’s mainly the time and effort it takes to switch that makes it feel very restricted.

I understand this could be OP, as people in WvW would first be bashed with a hammer and suddenly be spiked by a Greatsword, with full effectiveness. But maybe a 10 minute swap on Re-traiting would solve that?

Right now, the only option is to make a second warrior, but then where does it end?
30-40 characters?

Discuss.

As a player of Guild Wars 1, I think the solution could be quite simple.
All ArenaNet has to do, is to implant the same system they used in Guild Wars 1, the build template system, being able to save builds as templates.
I believe the counter you described would suffice to make this system not OP, (the 10 minute cooldown on the swap), they could even make the swap cost silver, as it currently does to swap traits.

Sidenote: I find it strange that Guild Wars 1 already had solutions for the problems currently in Guild Wars 2, examples being the problem you described, and the issues with overflows (which was solved in Guild Wars 1 with the district system, which allowed you to select which ‘overflow’ you wanted to be in. This system was way more userfriendly and allowed it for pre-made groups to be easily in the same ‘overflow’. But I am really getting out of topic here).

most people only need a couple of variations. ie dungeon set/ WvW set .. so you really don’t need more than a few characters. Which is how most people manage the trait/armour swapping system.

They did have something which you could change your traits at anytime without visiting the trait trainer. They removed it from the gem shop. I don’t think people should be able to re-trait on the fly.

When you select a trait it should have some meaning of to which weapon or skills you would need for what your wanting to do. If you’re going to do a dungeon etc you can always change before and after you finish by visiting a town which you may have to do anyways to stock back up on tools or go to bank. It really doesn’t take a whole lot of time. You don’t need to make a whole new character because it wouldn’t be any faster by you having to switch characters so you can get the traits you need.

Pointless inconvenient barriers to promote gem store items.

Did anyone of you play Guild Wars 1?

UnseeN.4928:

But maybe a 10 minute swap on Re-traiting would solve that?

I don’t think it needs a cooldown, but you should be limited in where you can do it.

imho: only cities and spawn areas, once you venture out into a zone you are locked in.

This has been pointed out several times and no one knows why they won’t to that.

The initial idea was ‘play the way you want’. Trying different builds and playstyles with the same profession/class is something which kept me playing GW1.

With the rather annoying armor acquisition and the fact that you need several armor sets for maximum effect with different builds completely destroyed that. Even ‘grindy’ games like WoW (as ArenaNet called them) offers dual skill system and the change of armor is not needed since stats remain the same.

Are we playing the same class here? Because I play GS/Hammer warrior and the traits are not mutually exclusive.

The hammer trait is under the Defense line. The two greatsword traits are under the Strength and Arms lines. I run 0/20/20/0/30 and I’ve got the reduced recharge traits for hammer and GS active at the same time. No need to retrait.

That said I agree with the premise that a more convenient method of retraiting would be nice.

The instant re-trait already is implemented in PvP mode. It’s just not available in PvE. A cynical person might assume that was because they (used to) offer a retrait token for sale in the cash shop. Now that’s gone, it’s a little unclear what plans they may have to continue to extract value (sales) from the absence of the feature outside of PvP.

it’s really not that time consuming to switch traits. like at all. <2 minutes, if that.

Kalarchis.8635:

Are we playing the same class here? Because I play GS/Hammer warrior and the traits are not mutually exclusive.

The hammer trait is under the Defense line. The two greatsword traits are under the Strength and Arms lines. I run 0/20/20/0/30 and I’ve got the reduced recharge traits for hammer and GS active at the same time. No need to retrait.

That said I agree with the premise that a more convenient method of retraiting would be nice.

Maybe he wants a good GS build and a good hammer build, not play a low hybrid one.
GS builds are 30/25, hammer ones are 0/10/30/0/30, with some twik if you want.

Instead of zoning to the capital’s, approach the skill trainer, refund traits, and manually click everything in place each time i want to switch, I’d prefer something similar to Guild Wars 1’s saved templates.

Having saved templates with a cooldown on retraiting (to prevent OP builds) would be perfect imo.

When i play GS, i want 100% damage, not <99%.
When i play Hammer, i want 100% CC/defensive, not some hybrid trash build.
No offence.

None taken. What works for me doesn’t work for you and that’s ok