Guild Wars 2

For convenience again in this official thread: copy pasta

I’m going to ask here the questions, which I think are the questions, which most people want to know simply:

1) What is the Name of the Thief Elite-Specialization?

• Which Weapon will that Elite-Specialization add to the Thief?
• How will that Elite-Specialization change the Game Mechanics of the Thief? Still Stealing, or something different and if no, how does it work?

2) What is the Name of the Engineer Elite Specialization?

• Will the Elite-Specialization or in general HoT fix the Hobosack Issue of this Class?
• How will that Elite Specialization change the Gameplay Mechanics of the Engineer?
  Still the Toolbelt Skills, or something different and if no, how does it work?

3) What is the Name of the Warrior Elite Specialization?

• Which Weapon will that Elite Specialization add to the Warrior?
• How will that Elite Specialization change the Gameplay Mechanics of the Warrior? Still Adrenaline, or something different, and if no, how does it work?

4) What is the Name of the Guardian Elite Specialization?

• What Weapon will that Elite Spezialization add to the Guardian?
• How will that Elite Specialization change the Gameplay Mechanics of the Guardian?
  Still Virtues, or something different, and if no, how does it work?

5) What is the Name of the Elementalist Elite Specialization?

• What Weapon will that Elite Specialization add to the Elementalist?
• How will that Elite Specialization change the Gameplay Mechanics of the Elementalist?
  Still Attunements, or somethign different and if now, how will it work?

6) What is the Name of the Necromancer Elite Specialization?

• How will change the Elite Specialization the Gameplay Mechanics of the Necromancer? Still Death Shroud, or somethign different, and if no, how will it work?
• Will HoT fix finally the incredible A.I Bug of the Necromancer’s Minions to make Minions again more useful, instead of lettign them be canon fodder that just stands around and doesn’t attack on its own initiative due to that A.I. bug?

7) How will change the Rangers Elite Specialization the Gameplay Mechanics of the Ranger? Still Pet Control, or somethign different and if no, how will it work?

• Will Rangers ever be able in GW2 to become true Beast Masters, that can control more than 1 Pet at the same time? Like 2-3 at the same time to perform something cool like Pet Combo Attacks?
• Will HoT add new tameable Pets for the Ranger, like for example Toads, Anacondas, Crocodiles, Tarantulas and other jungle specific creatures? Rainbow Phoenix as something rare, nostalgic and exotic to be found in the Jungle??

8) What is the Name of the Mesmer Elite Specialization, will it be the most expected Chronomancer?

• How will the Elite Specialization change the Gameplay Mechanics of the Mesmer?
  Still Shattering Clones, or somethign different, like Time Aspects fitting for a Chronomancer based on the Past, the Present, the Future and the Chaos Principle/Fate?
• What was the reason behind the decision to give this Elite Specialization a Shield and not for example use Daggers instead or give them even a completely new Weapon Category, like Whips, Halberds or Glaives or even perhaps Scythes to torn rifts between dimensions of time aspects??

9) What is the Name of the Elite Specialization of the Revenant?

• How will the Elite Specialization change the Gameplay Mechanics of the revenant?
  Still Legendaries, or something different, and if no, how will it work?
• Which weapon will the Elite Specialization add to the Revenant?

• Will you be able to unlock every specialization for a given profession on a character even if there are more added in the future?
• How are mystic forge recipes handled that require ingredients from Miyani you formerly bought with skillpoints?
• How can you get stats like boon duration or condition duration if they are removed from the trait lines?

What happens to hoarded skill point scrolls? For example, will we be able to use them for our new Revenant characters or will they automatically be obsolete and get turned into mystic forge fodder?

I’ll just leave this here… XD

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Skills-Traits-Refund

How will current characters who have all traits/skills unlocked be impacted? Will every character have to do every skillpoint to get up to speed?

[casually deletes older post]

Topics merged; a tidier version of my question can be found downthread here

Will there be any changes to the functionality of Necromancer Minions come the expansion, or more importantly will some of the more frustrating pathing issues associated with them be getting looked at?

Will transformations (Moa, Lich, Plague) still put all Minions on Cooldown?

The blog post mentions new means of utilizing Life Force, are there any specifics concerning this change that you are allowed to disclose, such as will they be tied to the core traits or will this be tied to the as of yet unnamed Greatsword necro speciliazation?

Can we expect any changes to the Bloodmagic traitline? In particular health syphons and how they’re still obsolete as a class mechanic?

The blogpost also mentions that Focused Rituals will be getting removed. Is this trait geting replaced with something else?

Out of mild curiousity, has your overall outlook on the Necromancer been changed over the last 2 years. In the beginning, the design team seemed interested in making the Necromancer ‘the attrition class’. A class that once you’re engaged with, is impossible to get away. Considering how this design philosophy for the Necromancer is largely a failure (the Necromancer is the hardest class to disengage with and simultaneously the easiest class to disengage from), how do you intend to move forward with the class come the expansion. Will you be revisiting this design philosophy or do you intend to rework the Necromancer to fill a different role than you originally set out to do?

The blog states thus"Old skill points in excess of those earned by leveling and skill challenges will be converted into crafting materials for the Mystic Forge. Items and activities that were previously repeatable sources of skill points will now also provide that same crafting material."

For clarification:

• Are the mystic forge materials mentioned the same items that Miyani currently sells for skill points?
• If yes, how will things like Eldrich Scrolls, Bloodstone Shards, and Augur’s Stones be obtained after this change?
• Assuming skill point scrolls are one of the ‘items’ that will give a MF crafting material, will what we get from them be random or will they all give the same material (ie all crystals)?
• If random, will it be limited to the single point value items (crystals, stones, seige guides)?

• Since you’re going to be giving some of us a kitten load of MF materials, could we a material storage tab for them please? (with a spot for things like blade shards, pretty please)

Copy pasta’ing my comment from another thread with a little editing:

How will the new armor ratings be calculated?

PURE DIFFERENCE: This is not how the gear levels are currently calculated. For ease of discussion, let’s say the current percentage gap in armor rating between exotic and ascended translates out to a flat 10 additional armor. Regardless of how it was calculated originally, if they take this difference and carry it over into the new system there is absolutely no change in the difference between exotic and ascended.

PERCENTAGE: Is how gear levels are currently calculated. For ease of discussion, let’s say the gap between exotic and ascended is 10%. Then let’s say ascended currently gives 300 armor rating. That means exotic is 270 and the gap is 30. Let’s say ascended is buffed to 500. That means exotic is 450 and the gap is 50. So the gap has technically grown by 20.

I don’t really care either way; I cautiously think working with larger numbers justifies continuing to calculate using percentages and giving a little bit bigger of a spread from Basic to Ascended, since they’ll all have higher armor ratings than they currently do. But I think it’s an interesting little point to have them clarify if they are able.

I just ask that ya’ll adhere to the “ask me ANYTHING” format and not cherry pick questions of little salt.

The biggies:

1) Do you have any plans to grandfather characters who have unlocked traits and skills without doing skill challenges? Or are these characters simply a casualty of this rework, and require earning again what they’ve already earned?

2) Will we get information on the skillpoint conversion into the new material far enough in advance to make decisions about whether we should spend skill points before HoT launch or hold on to them?

And the not-so-biggies:

3) Will traits continue to be level gated or could I conceivably take a low level character out chasing hero challenges to get access to specializations and traits early on?

4) Will the Hero challenges in areas under level 13 remain in the game and will characters under level 13 still be locked from accessing them?

5) Are there still “on-kill” traits in the new system? If so, will they ever be fixed to work in instanced content?

With excess Skill points being converted to Forge Mats, will we get to choose which Mats and will those Mats get their own spaces in the collectables Bank?

I have stacks of skill point scrolls and a few chars with a lot of extra skill points, I was saving up for my next legendary purchase, and don’t want to flood my bank with Mats I have no intention of using. Example If I want all Siege Master Guides can I do that? If I need one Bloodstone Shard and 5 Augur’s stones, 15 Cyrstals, 30 Philosopher’s Stones Etc?

If a char already has all skills unlocked will it remain so in HOT?

Sin.1827:

Will we have trait templates?

Pretty sure they have recently answered this.

And the answer was, “Not at this time.”

SKILL POINTS:

You are converting preexisting skill points to mystic forge materials.

-What specific materials are you providing us with?

-When you phased out glory, will you have a similar phase out with skill points? So that individuals with THOUSANDS of skill points can decide the best course of action with them prior to you changing them to materials which we might not want or need.

-I and so many others have paid gold and skill points to unlock traits on MANY of our alts; how are you dealing with this? How are we going to be compensated? Will these traits be “unlocked” in their equivalent after the patch? Or will we need to unlock them again?

-How do we get superior siege?

-It seems like we need hero points for build flexibility and the only way to get them is to get to 80 and “hero” (skill point) challenges in pve maps. I am sure there are many wvw players as well as individuals who have multiple characters (not just 2 or 3, but 10+ alts). To stay competitive access to build flexibility is important. It seems like we are being forced to engage in pve to open up build flexibility. To achieve maximum build flexibility am I forced to pve for hero points? Or will there be an alternative method of obtaining maximum build flexibility through wvw methods? Currently if I want to unlock all my traits I simply pay the gold and skill points (not a problem as I have heaps of skill point scrolls). I and many others are perfectly okay with this, and we do NOT want to spend hours of pve doing all the little tasks to open up our builds (especially with multiple alts, it would be incredibly repetitive, and mind-numbingly boring). Great that you have a “free” way of opening up traits for newer players or those that enjoy pve, but there’s no need to punish individuals with multiple alts or those that have been playing a long time with more resources.

Rather than ask about details, I want answers to overarching issues:

1. Will characters under the current system who have already unlocked traits/skills get to keep them, or is everything zeroed and reassigned based on the number of skill points completed? Otherwise certain builds used by people with low world completion % will completely break the moment the patch hits.

2. When is this happening? The blogpost implies it will phase in BEFORE HoT and HoT will simply tag on an additional specialisation/skill line/weapon etc to this system, but when can we realistically expect this to be?

3. Given that allowing 18 traits instead of the current 14 will throw balance out of whack, will there be a open beta to test trait balance under these new conditions?

4. Will WvW-exclusive players be forced to world-explore in PvE in order to use their desired build in WvW? At the moment they can unlock by paying directly, but if it’s going to be tagged to PvE map exploration…

5. Are these new mystic forge items a currency in the account wallet, a token, or what? What happens to skill point scrolls?

6. Can adept/master traits be selected using the higher tier trait slots?

What will be grandfathered in? For example, an existing L80 character with all skills and traits— will that character get to keep all its progress/unlocks or will it need to back up and do a bunch of chevrons to bring it back to its current progress completion?

Another example, when everyone starts their new Revenants, will the new characters need to complete all the map chevrons in addition to attaining L80 in order to unlock all the things? OR will the account’s already-attained map completion mean new characters have access to specializations when they reach L20?

My hope is that current skill points in excess of the 79+world completion points will be turned into Mystic Coins and that instead of skill point scrolls we’ll get mystic coins. Those coins then will be used as currency to purchase items from Myani as well as their current uses.

Q: Will the mystic forge material we get be an existing item or something completely new that you don’t know what to call it yet?

Q: Can you tell us exactly how many skill points each character will retain? And what happens if that character doesn’t have enough skill points to cover what they’ve earned?
> Will you automatically get one hero point at level 1 so that at level 80 you would get 80 points total from leveling?

The guardian’s specialization was referred to as being a “crowd pleaser”, any elaboration for this?

With the removal of stats in the traits, can we expect more stat-combinations made available on gear?

Boon duration and Condition duration: Currently you can get up to 30% from traits, but Giver’s gear is a bit wonky. Namely, no Ascended versions and the boon duration is tiny.

Since gearing for these stats doesn’t really work, how is this being handled with Specializations?

Man, I’d lose my kitten if Beast Specialization allowed me to control two or more pets out at the same time. I’m all over that mess!

Space.8053:

Are you ever going to be happy with the core mechanics of your game or are you going to keep ripping them up every couple of months or so? Why should I invest time in this game to re spec my characters when these changes are so frequent?

The last change to traits was a disaster, why should we get excited about this change?

You can leave whenever you want.

Kumion.7580:

What happens to hoarded skill point scrolls? For example, will we be able to use them for our new Revenant characters or will they automatically be obsolete and get turned into mystic forge fodder?

I’m curious about this too. Did a little research. Seems they’ll be turning into Mystic Toilet fodder of some kind.

Joy.

After the change of the runes in sPvP (forcing everyone to have only 1 set of runes) and the new Specializations System with only 3 active specialization (instead of the current system where a player can put points in all 5 specializations at the same time if desired) and what seems to be (so far) a locked adept/master/grandmaster trait system (forcing players to choose only 1 trait for each tier), I would like to ask ArenaNet what are their thoughts about build diversity and can’t help but wonder if we should expect more customization options to be taken away again in the future.

Will the unlocking system for specializations be character or account bound?

I for one, would appreciate account bound unlocking, as I have multiple characters in each of the game’s professions. Repeating unlocking mechanics on a per-character basis gets real tedious, real quick.

Space has a point. Over the last three years we’ve gotten big changes that are presented as “a foundation” to build the game in the direction that ArenaNet would like to go. At some point, it gets hard to live in a house that keeps digging up and relaying the foundation. The house itself never seems to get very far in construction.

I asked this on the wrong thread to re-posting it.

The question I have is will I still be able to pick 2 master traits instead of a grandmaster trait in the same line. I.e Indominable Courage and Absolute resolution in the virtues trait line or will the new system only allow one major trait of each tier?

Based on the image below, I am assuming the answer is no. If that’s the case it seems like we are limiting build diversity by streamlining it rather than keeping open options.

https://d3b4yo2b5lbfy.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/1aa49HeroPanel_ScreenshotSkillEquip4.jpg

Kumion.7580:

What happens to hoarded skill point scrolls? For example, will we be able to use them for our new Revenant characters or will they automatically be obsolete and get turned into mystic forge fodder?

This is my question as well. After being given these for so long it was pretty safe for players to assume we would be able to farm these for a new race or profession or both. To announce this well after the announcement of the Revenant is irritating. Why wouldn’t a lot of us start farming these in preparation? I wasted a lot of time it seems and it all could have been easily avoided with a word from ArenaNet.

How are the current traited condition and boon duration trait effects going to be adapted to this new system. Currently the traits offer an alternative to gearing for those specs, is this to be removed?

How is the new elite specializations as well as changes to all the classes traits ect, going to fit in with the original game. IE dungeons and fractals, WvW.

Are bosses being scaled for this?

Since people will most likely ask most questions I have in mind, I will ask the silliest:

Will Elite specializations get their own “profession” icon?

I would be happy to see other icons, to really separate the main profession and the elite specializations

Andred.1087:

Space.8053:

Are you ever going to be happy with the core mechanics of your game or are you going to keep ripping them up every couple of months or so? Why should I invest time in this game to re spec my characters when these changes are so frequent?

The last change to traits was a disaster, why should we get excited about this change?

You can leave whenever you want.

Great reply, real insightful.

I think they are valid questions. I tinker with builds / stats a lot and decided to invest in ascended armour and weapons a few months ago. These have non changable stats attached to them and are picked for the delicate balance with my trait stats. Now I’ll have to rebalance everything again. Just like the ferocity patch. Time and effort I don’t have anymore. I can handle skill changes / trait changes because thats balance. What I dislike is core mechanics like say damage being overhauled again and again for no reason.

The trait system we have in place has been panned for months so I don’t see why Anet should get a free pass this time around. Levelling is a nightmare and that got through testing so why should I expect this to be any different?

I guess you are right, best to not give feedback and just leave.

Will the proposed specializations favor the Zerker meta or are they designed to diversify play?

Will specializations give players more build control or further limit the number and types of builds available in the game?

Like many players I have been planning to insta-level a Revenant in the expansion using tomes for levels and scrolls for skill points. Without being able to use the scrolls for hero points will I be able to create a viable and useful character on the day of release? That is, will the hero points from just hitting level 80 be enough to unlock specialties and skills and make the character viable immediately?

Did you look at the smaller player base of core WvWvW players that like group fighting or roaming? Alot of players don’t enjoy PvE or the sPvP as much in this game, but love being able to fight other smaller groups and sometimes even zergs of the smaller size. These new changes seem to really discourage veteran WvW players from being able to roam or even “zerg bust” effectively because of the heavy loss in our effective stats. Also a lot of the dueling builds and roaming builds lose a lot of the customization and adjustments that are made to tackle other classes.

My Questions are all for Thief Specialization;

What is the new Thief specialization and what new weapon does it get? What are it’s weapon skills and new traits/slot skills?

If the new Thief specialization is not Main-Hand Torch Arsonist do you think it’d be a great thing to add after Thief’s 1st new specialization?

Will the new trait system remove or change the Shadow Arts minor trait: Last Refuge?

Will many of the Venom traits for Thief be moved the the Utility skills themselves instead of relying on traits such as Potent and Quick Venoms?

Will there be more traits and playstyle options that focus on Thieves who choose not to use Stealth and prefer pure mobility?

Q: Will Hero Challenges award both a Hero Point and the new MF material?

Because if they don’t, then we should be out doing all the skill challenges we can before HoT. A skill challenge done now means a Hero Point later, plus a skill point that will be converted into a potentially valuable material.

You stated that Elementalist base attunement cooldowns will be reduced to account for the removal of stats from specializations. In that same train of thought, does this mean:

• Ranger pets will receive +%stats to all their stats to make up for not having the Beastmastery stat?
• Necromancer baseline Life Force Pool will be larger?
• Mesmer shatters will receive similarly lowered cooldowns?
• Warrior Burst skills will receive similarly lowered cooldowns?
• Guardian Virtues will receive similarly lowered cooldowns?
• Thief Steal will receive a similarly lowered cooldown?
• Engineer Toolbelt skills will receive similarly lowered cooldowns?

By “similarly lowered cooldowns”, I mean lowered by the same base %.

So if attunements baseline cooldown is lowered by 20% (same 20 points in Attunements under the current model), the other classes will receive 20% reductions as well.

Similarly, if the cooldowns are reduced by the equivalent of 4 points in the current traitline system, will Ranger Pets’ stats and Necromancer’s Life Force pool be similarly increased to be the same as if they had put 4 points in their respective traitlines?

Thank you.

4 questions:

1. Why are we bound to 3 trait lines….? I used 4 or 5 even before in some builds…
2. I seem to be required to have faith in these changes… I’ll be frank, after initial release of gw2 it took almost 2 years for all traits to work…. How will you guarantee this will not happen to this “change”
3. If I get 3 trait lines for basic builds and I need a FULL line for the alternate proffession… how will this work?
4. Do WvW players need to play PvE to get all traits unlocked?
   If so: you just destroyed WvW. Say goodbye to most if not all HC WvW players.

We know that skill points from scrolls and similar means will be converted. In the blog it refers to the what is is being converted into as a material. In an interview article (granted a less likely source, but still an official interview) that they are converted into a currency. This is a big difference considering my inventory is full of materials beyond the 250 it stores and since I’ve got thousands of skill points and even more scrolls I would simply not have enough room for all of these new materials. If, on the other hand, it is a currency that will go into my wallet, that would make everything ok.

So, the question is, will this be a “material” or a “currency”?

VergilDeZaniah.3295:

Since people will most likely ask most questions I have in mind, I will ask the silliest:

Will Elite specializations get their own “profession” icon?

I would be happy to see other icons, to really separate the main profession and the elite specializations

That is answered here:
http://www.tentonhammer.com/news/guild-wars-2/guild-wars-2-heart-thorns-specializations-and-jon-peters-qa

Spoiler…the answer is yes

How will existing characters be converted to the new system?

I would very much hope that existing level 80 characters will automatically have access to all core specialisations and all skills (except for the new elite specilation skills). Am I right?

Can we get the names of the every Elite Specializations and their preferred weapons. Pretty please? I’ll send a cookie

Can you influence the order in which utility skills will be unlocked?

Ok, so you divide sPvP and WvW, but you don’t bother to divide dungeon/hard PvE content from open world zerging and cart off any PvE dungeon community into general chat.

Will the thieves receive rifle as the new weapon to be part of their specialization? Next is the skills. That’s all I care about.

1. In the phrase, “A single character who’s done a fair amount of the hero challenges should be able to unlock all of the core specializations, skills, and traits.” what constitutes “a fair amount?”
2. Will existing characters who have already unlocked all “core” traits and skills retain those unlocks regardless of how many skill challenges they’ve completed, and will we have to redo any hero challenges that we completed under the old system?
3. With regard to the allocation of attributes based on profession… “Each profession’s attributes will be updated to have half of their functionality be part of a specialization and half of their functionality will be a baseline for that profession.” … does that refer only to the profession-specific attributes like “Life Force Pool” and “Virtue Recharge,” or does it also refer to universal attributes like Power, Precision, Vitality and Toughness?
4. Some (many?) players use the stats from traits to provide stat diversity, and will be forced to carry more gear pieces to accomplish the same thing. Did (or will) ANet consider replacing the stats via trait choice with a stat allocation with similar numbers (i.e., 1400 points, no more than 300 to one stat) rather than putting more stats on gear? If not, why not? If the option was considered, why was it rejected?

So if I understand correctly it is no longer possible to have points in 5 traits lines, like 6/2/2/2/2 (all damage modifiers) for ele? It will also be impossible to have 2 adept traits or 2 master traits equipped? I fail to see how this is an improvement to build diversity.

I’m looking forward to see the new trait lines however and even more the new elementalist elite. I do also like how water traits have been combined.

WHY do you want exchange Skillpoints on toons and in scrolls JUST with Mysticforge mats, which have no banks slot to this day btw, and some unexplained currency we have no idea what we can with it? Why can´t you just exchange them to the hero points you want to introduce?

ShroomOneUp.6913:

WHY do you want exchange Skillpoints on toons and in scrolls JUST with Mysticforge mats, which have no banks slot to this day btw, and some unexplained currency we have no idea what we can with it? Why can´t you just exchange them to the hero points you want to introduce?

Because Hero Points are supposed to be a limited number, per character, obtained only through leveling and what are currently skill challenges. My understanding is that with the new system, being 80 and completing all the challenges should be “just enough” to unlock everything. Which should make them feel more weighty, and give us more meaning in using them.

Something they failed with, with skill points. Skill points in this game have the same issue they do in GW1. They mean nothing because we have oodles of them, and nothing really amazing to use them on.