Guild Wars 2

Please revert to the previous traiting systemwhere you could choose between all lines and not just three. Changing them was a horrible idea made for the convenience of noobs supposedly. I suspect it was done so the balance team can more easily control what the role of each class should be. We have seen this with Reaper. They designen Reaper as a zerg build and when players started to tweak the build and made it a powerful roaming/PvP build it was nerfed as punishment. Choosing from all lines will return the power of self destiny to the players and get away from cookie-cutter builds.

DaVid Darksoul.4985:

Please revert to the previous traiting systemwhere you could choose between all lines and not just three. Changing them was a horrible idea made for the convenience of noobs supposedly. I suspect it was done so the balance team can more easily control what the role of each class should be. We have seen this with Reaper. They designen Reaper as a zerg build and when players started to tweak the build and made it a powerful roaming/PvP build it was nerfed as punishment. Choosing from all lines will return the power of self destiny to the players and get away from cookie-cutter builds.

I feel this is not true, because sites like metabattle have builds on there, there will always be cookie cutter builds. It’s a fact. If you want the best out of a class, you really only have the 3 lines with a “tweak” here and there. The old system was just a min max dream, but most where so obvious, that really there was no original build. Every time I think I’ve made a build that is my own, I have a look on metabattle and the like, and I’ve made the same, or close to build that is on there. Build diversity is dead. Out side of PvE at any rate, a non meta build in PvP will underperform, so unless you are god like, or fighting someone your just better than, running a non meta build will get you killed time and time again.

Build diversity is a lie. It always has been. Unless a build that’s 99% the same counts as diversity.

Build diversity in GW2 is as much how you play a build as the build itself. Besides, the old system only offered the appearance of greater diversity. It had fewer useful traits, more situations in which there was a must-have trait, and lots and lots of combination of traits/skills that made no sense. I’m sure there were more potential useful builds than there are now, but I don’t see it as being more diverse for all that.

The current system is a lot easier to use, to swap on the fly, and to teach. I’d hate to go back to the old system.

I disagree. I had both condi and power builds which were different from the metas which performed very well, and they would incorporate the new elites quite nicely.

The old system had too many crappy traits. The current one hasn’t completely solved that problem but at least it is an improvement.

Well I disagree with you. The old system was garbage compared to know. And the new one is also easier for new players getting into the game.

No way, the new one is much better. I hated the old one when the traits were tied to certain stats I didn’t even need for my build…

No! Not just no! Heck, no! Not just heck, no! OMG, no! Not justOMG, no! Kitten, no!

The new way to acquire traits is way better. While they could revert the way traits are assigned once gained, but not the method to get them, I believe that opportunity costs are good for games. I think having to make hard choices makes for a better build system. Sure, I had a build or two that cherry picked a couple of Adept traits, and lost that capability. I can live with that. Unfortunately, neither iteration of traits (with some exceptions) really nailed the idea that traits later in the line ought to be better. Thus, cherry-picking could and did result in not really having to make as many hard choices. Under the current system, I’ve had to make some.

I honestly haven’t seen a huge difference between the two, to me it feels like the exact same system with a different name and a less user friendly GUI.

DaVid Darksoul.4985:

I disagree. I had both condi and power builds which were different from the metas which performed very well, and they would incorporate the new elites quite nicely.

So you build was completely different, like 50% different? The old system you didn’t really have “choice” when spec’ing. You had the good an ok, and one that was never used. The only thing that equals diversity now is your weapon choice. I had a Norn warrior that rocked a mace/shield and a Hammer from level 1-80. I had such an easy time killing mobs, I might not have been fast as killing them, but I took way less damage, and never got downed by normal, veteran or Elite mobs. While the GS warriors next to me where asking to be rezed.

i reckon they didnt do it for player related reasons but to make it easier to balance and create new traits

In the old system you always went either 30/20/20 or 30/30/10 anyway with very few exceptions so I don’t really see the complaint.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

the old system …only offered the appearance of greater diversity. It had fewer useful traits, more situations in which there was a must-have trait, and lots and lots of combination of traits/skills that made no sense.

This is why the new trait system is superior. Let the old one stay dead.

Sarrs.4831:

In the old system you always went either 30/20/20 or 30/30/10 anyway with very few exceptions so I don’t really see the complaint.

There is one specific instance where the old system is better. You put 30 points in and if the grandmasters suck you could pick one of the lower tier traits instead. However that isn’t really a case of one system being superior to the other but a problem with crappy higher tier traits.

I would prefer a mix of the 2 systems. Let us go 30/30/30 still but also allow us to use more than three traits. Sure most would still go with 3 grand masters but some of us really want more choice and to dabble. We came to GW2 knowing its more limited than GW1 but it still had more choice than most MMOs. We’d like more of that choice back. Allowing more than 3 lines would not affect any of you that prefer the new system as is. You could still go with 3 grand masters and I’m sure newbs would probably go 3 grand masters also. As that would be the most direct and obvious choice.