Guild Wars 2

It’s begun, it’ll go 4 hours. Here is the order of discussion.

Two new questions based on the stream that I think won’t be in the General Questions section since they are based on info in the stream:

- For those without enough points for every line and skill, can skills be re-picked as easily as traits? Ie if you spend a lot of points on, for instance, the Cantrips skills, then realize you wanted a different skill set, can you sell off Cantrip skills to get points back for the other set?

- Since Rangers won’t be throwing traps like grenades, will that affect the ghost rangers in AC?

edit: Uh .. the General Questions got dropped, so I sure hope you’ll at least give text answers to the queries in this thread that people posted since you said you’d answer them in the AMA. I hung on through Ranger and Warrior, neither of which I play, waiting for that section.

/weary

I’m trying to reserve as much judgement as possible for now. But I feel I have to say something about Necromancer Bloodmagic traitline. That has always been our week point, and I don’t see anything in here still to make a build around. Please take another look at this. Give me reason to start in Bloodmagic and say “I have a starting build here, now what can suppliment it?”

Personally I’d love a true and designed siphon build. Not siphons as something to just maybe add to something else. But if you can think of something else, I’m all ears.

One important question from people running lots of higher level fractals: Is there a chance that with poison stacking and not affecting the % healing effectiveness with each additional stack, you’ll take a look at fractal agony stacks and adjust those as well?

…..le sigh………………“ask me anything” turned into “here’s what we’re going to tell you”.

Granted there was lots of good things….just maybe, possibly, just a tab bit much messing around which caused topics to linger on longer than they should. That in turn resulted in the general questions…the ask part…to be dropped.

By the looks of it, a core feature of my build on my elementalist (elemental atunement + Evasive arcana ) is now gone. My build will be even more kittened when the stats and trait-lines get split and stats become solely armour-based. I do hope I can still be running around with my d/d and my current build when this drops and not having to conform to the staff-meta.

I have run nonstandard builds since the beginning betas and have gotten used to using minor traits such as armored attack to reinforce my power. Now that most of these have been, according to the stream, incorporated into major traits taking away other somewhat useful traits, my question is why even bother using any toughness/vitality traits at all?

This one steam, has in essence destroyed every build I have made in the last two years with this change, and I will now just become a clone of every other <insert X class here> when and if I decide to play the game that is. If your intention was to give us more choice you have failed terribly. I can see having to make a choice between buffiing X weapon/skill and Y weapon/skill as a major trait, but this change just makes me want to start naming all my characters with the 6 6 0 0 6 prefix.

The necro changes are garbage. The necro community has been offering feedback and ideas for years now, and you give us….this ? Its a slap in the face.

Kisai Hikaru.1052:

By the looks of it, a core feature of my build on my elementalist (elemental atunement + Evasive arcana ) is now gone. My build will be even more kittened when the stats and trait-lines get split and stats become solely armour-based. I do hope I can still be running around with my d/d and my current build when this drops and not having to conform to the staff-meta.

The trait and stat split shouldn’t affect build at all if people vary armor pieces more. Less pieces of one armor type (lets say Zerk) will give same bonus as full set now, letting you devote a couple pieces to fill the role your trait stat boost.

After watching the AMA,I can see that the system will be a lot worse than I thought
it could be.It’s a major dumbing down of the game in the fashion of all the previous changes done to it.3 choices per trait quality and 3 trait lines….it’s not as bad as WoWs
non skill trees,but give it a few years.Now they consolidated to 9 traits per trait line.
Someday each line might have one big trait.So E sporty!
That,and the fact that lvl 80 toons with all the traits unlocked
will be stripped of their traits,and will have to grind hero points….
No no no.
Oh well…can’t say I didn’t see this coming but hope dies last.
I’ll just wait it out in WvW without buying the Xpak until CU goes live.

Aenaos.8160:

After watching the AMA,I can see that the system will be a lot worse than I thought
it could be.It’s a major dumbing down of the game in the fashion of all the previous changes done to it.3 choices per trait quality and 3 trait lines….it’s not as bad as WoWs
non skill trees,but give it a few years.Now they consolidated to 9 traits per trait line.
Someday each line might have one big trait.So E sporty!
That,and the fact that lvl 80 toons with all the traits unlocked
will be stripped of their traits,and will have to grind hero points….
No no no.
Oh well…can’t say I didn’t see this coming but hope dies last.
I’ll just wait it out in WvW without buying the Xpak until CU goes live.

Yup I knew this form the blogs last night alone, but since the ama I made an I told you so thread and have stubborn people huffing at it cause they don’t want to admit when something is bad and being forced on us https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/I-didn-t-want-to-say-it-but-post-spec-stream/first#post5001383

Random question: what will be done with the antitoxin heal skill? It’s available to all players and doesn’t fit any skill families…

So they said on the stream they would look into traits they forgot or if they totally destroyed the spirit of certain builds people were running.
Was just wondering if I should post my feedback here of if another threat is better for this.
Because there is definitely a very important thief trait for me that was just gone without proper alternative.

I’m planning to compare complete builds to show why losing a trait is a problem. Best place is probably the HoT board or the specific profession sub-forum.

Nike.2631:

I’m planning to compare complete builds to show why losing a trait is a problem. Best place is probably the HoT board or the specific profession sub-forum.

I’d say the profession subforum or even general discussion, since they did confirm that this system will be going live before HoT ships.

Essence Snow.3194:

…..le sigh………………“ask me anything” turned into “here’s what we’re going to tell you”.

Granted there was lots of good things….just maybe, possibly, just a tab bit much messing around which caused topics to linger on longer than they should. That in turn resulted in the general questions…the ask part…to be dropped.

Yeah, I have to say that I was disappointed to hear that.

Still have no idea how the skill point conversion will work or whether it’s worth it to spend/save my skill point scrolls. Still no idea on partial character transitions (level 80 with minimal map completion but many skills/traits unlocked through scrolls/leveling). Still no discussion on equipment.

My first question (“what’s a ‘fair amount’?”) was answered, so I’m thankful for that. Just seems like this AMA was poorly time managed if the actual questions weren’t even touched.

Just in general, I found it odd that some weapon traits stayed while many went away completely. I think I would prefer an all or nothing approach weapon traits. My basic recommendation would be to have one trait include a buff each weapon (doesn’t have to be the main focus of the trait) but have none of the 20% recharge weapon traits that are common in the game currently.

Overall it seems interesting.

However, concerning the elementalist:
When is the last time you guys saw someone used lightning hammer or ice bow in PvP and have great success? Why nerf it? Are you nerfing it just for PvE?

All the conjure weapons needs buffs not nerfed… Specially the useless Fire Axe and Magnetic shield.

Is there any chance to watch this somewhere , for the ones that could not watch on twitch?

Xillllix.3485:

Overall it seems interesting.

However, concerning the elementalist:
When is the last time you guys saw someone used lightning hammer or ice bow in PvP and have great success? Why nerf it? Are you nerfing it just for PvE?

All the conjure weapons needs buffs not nerfed… Specially the useless Fire Axe and Magnetic shield.

Funny, I just had this very convo, since the nerf to FSG, I very rarely see it get used now, unless its for mobility, im not saying its not used, but its should def not be an elite skill, they will completely destroy ice bow and hammer so that no one uses it anymore ( and I don’t even run an ele ) they should just remove skills like this from the game and replace them with new skills that are viable.

I hope anet does take the feedback they get from this before pushing the update, because if enough people get burned from this update, they may not have many people left to buy HoT.

Anuket.2860:

Is there any chance to watch this somewhere , for the ones that could not watch on twitch?

http://www.twitch.tv/guildwars2/c/6594135

But I’d like to read a summary.

Apocalypse.5289:

But I’d like to read a summary.

http://dulfy.net/2015/04/24/gw2-specializations-ama-livestream-notes/

lordkrall.7241:

Apocalypse.5289:

But I’d like to read a summary.

http://dulfy.net/2015/04/24/gw2-specializations-ama-livestream-notes/

Thank you, sir :p

This is to those who watched the live stream and might be able to reply.

I did not watch as I can never figure out when it is. Every time I follow their twitch link there’s nothing running. I’m not used to using twitch (just as I dont use twitter and stuff) at all and also the time zones makes me never having been able to catch any GW2 live stream. Also ANet are really slow on putting it on youtube. Takes day for ANet to put it on their youtube channel. I rather watch something when it suits my time-table rather than drop everything else and sit at a specific time someon else have chosen for me. Probably the reason i never watch regular TV anymore (that and the fact it’s mostly some kind of docusoap crap) but thats just me. :-)

So it It seems general questions got dropped from the stream. Although there was this dedicated thread on the forums for submitting questions but instead they decided what they felt they wanted to tell us. At least according to comments on the forums like:

…..le sigh………………“ask me anything” turned into “here’s what we’re going to tell you”.

Anyway, I have read some comments on official forums from people who did watch it that seems to verify what I feared. Comments like:

That,and the fact that lvl 80 toons with all the traits unlocked
will be stripped of their traits,and will have to grind hero points….
No no no.
Oh well…can’t say I didn’t see this coming but hope dies last.
I’ll just wait it out in WvW without buying the Xpak until CU goes live.

That was acctually one of the things I wanted to ask.

If this is a real observation, it means we who are lvl 80 wont get our skill points converted to hero points to spend but have to regrind all those hero points to unlock traits, specialization tracks and to get slot skills back etc. Can you confirm this if you watched the stream?

I thought at least they would see how many skillchallenges we had done on the maps and then give us the same amount of hero points to spend on the new traits and specilaization tracks etc system.

Do we really have to regrind all those old skillchallenges (renamed as hero challenges)?

The skill challenges that you have completed will give you Hero Points retroactively. Those that you have not completed will need to be completed.

Ratphink.4751:

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

From the blogpost:

“For example, the necromancer’s wells will all become ground targeted and the trait allowing ground targeting will be removed. "

lordkrall.7241:

The skill challenges that you have completed will give you Hero Points retroactively. Those that you have not completed will need to be completed.

Thank you for that quick response! :-)

I’m glad to hear that. I for one have have never bothered with world completion as I’m not really interested in Legendary weapons. I find most of them both ugly and silly looking. No real incentive for me to do World completion except a little star beside my name.

Many times I have thought I will do it but having to go back and do all those hearts in some areas has just put me off.

However I have done many skillchallenges to unlock slotskills (heals, utility, elite). I would be really bored if i had to go out and regrind all of those just to unlock what I already had unlocked.

lordkrall.7241:

The skill challenges that you have completed will give you Hero Points retroactively. Those that you have not completed will need to be completed.

The Dulfy summary didn’t really specify that either. Made me even more confused. All that said was:

http://dulfy.net/2015/04/24/gw2-specializations-ama-livestream-notes/

“•Hero Points – You get some from leveling (400 pts). Old skill challenge will give you them as well (220 pts in total). You ned 465 to get everything so you just need to do 65 skill challenges to get all the core ones (not elite). Anyone who has world completion completed will have more than enough.”

It also says:
“•Unlocking all 5 core lines will cost you 300 hero points, this will give you 100 points remaining to spend on skills (assuming you havn’t done any hero challenges).”

So not even saying 465 there but 300 so very confusing.

Then it says:
“•Every skill has been placed into a category. So when you into Cantrip training you will get all the Cantrips by spending an additional 35 points.”

Even more confusing.

It doesn’t say retroactively anywhere there. That text could just mean that LvL 80’s get 400 and “only” have to do 65 hero challenges (known as old skill challenges) on top of that to unlock all core ones.

Saying old skillchallenges could just mean that they reffer to hero challenges that now is called skill challenges NOT necessarily that we will be rewarded retroactively for the ones we have done.

I guess ANet was more clear on the RETROACTIVE part in the stream then?

lordkrall.7241:

The skill challenges that you have completed will give you Hero Points retroactively. Those that you have not completed will need to be completed.

Good. That is a relief.

I’ll just got grind out the remaining SPs on my main account alts. That shouldn’t take but a couple of days…. :\

No Fix/Change to Last Refuge? Why does it feel like Anet actually goes out of their way to purposely ignore the most hated trait in the game at this point? I know they like to troll on stream sometimes but that was too much.

Only other thing so far I majorly disliked for Thief was Ricochet and IP not being usable together~ wasn’t really a lot of P/P love overall. The rest was pretty cool though.

Phille.7684:

lordkrall.7241:

The skill challenges that you have completed will give you Hero Points retroactively. Those that you have not completed will need to be completed.

The Dulfy summary didn’t really specify that either. Made me even more confused. All that said was:

http://dulfy.net/2015/04/24/gw2-specializations-ama-livestream-notes/

“•Hero Points – You get some from leveling (400 pts). Old skill challenge will give you them as well (220 pts in total). You ned 465 to get everything so you just need to do 65 skill challenges to get all the core ones (not elite). Anyone who has world completion completed will have more than enough.”

It also says:
“•Unlocking all 5 core lines will cost you 300 hero points, this will give you 100 points remaining to spend on skills (assuming you havn’t done any hero challenges).”

So not even saying 465 there but 300 so very confusing.

Then it says:
“•Every skill has been placed into a category. So when you into Cantrip training you will get all the Cantrips by spending an additional 35 points.”

Even more confusing.

It doesn’t say retroactively anywhere there. That text could just mean that LvL 80’s get 400 and “only” have to do 65 hero challenges (known as old skill challenges) on top of that to unlock all core ones.

Saying old skillchallenges could just mean that they reffer to hero challenges that now is called skill challenges NOT necessarily that we will be rewarded retroactively for the ones we have done.

I guess ANet was more clear on the RETROACTIVE part in the stream then?

The 300 is for the 5 core trait lines. Skill unlocks are also via Hero Points. Thus, the difference between core trait unlocks @ 60 points x 5 lines (300) and full core unlock (465) means it would take 165 points to unlock all core skills. That’s assuming they don’t tweak the numbers between now and live. How they’re dividing up the costs of skill unlock remains a mystery, as 35 does not divide evenly into 165, and professions have 5 categories plus healing plus elites and (7 × 35) = 245.

Doggie.3184:

Only other thing so far I majorly disliked for Thief was Ricochet and IP not being usable together~ wasn’t really a lot of P/P love overall. The rest was pretty cool though.

I understand. I liked the combination myself. However, I’d rather see the kind of meaningful choice and opportunity costs in Thief Critical Strikes Grandmaster than the dreck I see in Guardian Honor Adept, where my reaction is, “I suppose I’d be better off taking the one I don’t want the least.”

“The core specializations changes are coming before HoT, elite will come with HoT”
Does that mean people withtout HoT won’t have access to Elite Skills anymore ? I just can’t believe that !?!

No. They won’t have access to the Elite Specializations.

Acinonyx Rex.8609:

“The core specializations changes are coming before HoT, elite will come with HoT”
Does that mean people withtout HoT won’t have access to Elite Skills anymore ? I just can’t believe that !?!

I think they mean actual specializations, not the stuff we already have. Meaning we’ll still have access to all the current traits and skills. The NEW STUFF attached to the new specialization system (meaning the stuff that gives you new weapons and skills/traits we haven’t seen before) will come with the expansion.

Acinonyx Rex.8609:

“The core specializations changes are coming before HoT, elite will come with HoT”
Does that mean people withtout HoT won’t have access to Elite Skills anymore ? I just can’t believe that !?!

Elite specializations != Elite skills.
The elite specializations are the things they simply called specializations before, such as the Druid for Ranger.