Guild Wars 2

I’ve seen several times in chat that Scrolls of Knowledge will be leaving the game when HoT is released. Is this urban legend, or has some official/semi official announcement been made concerning the issue?

They said it on the overview live stream, and also in the related blog I believe.

- Skill challenges (the blue chevrons scattered across world zones) will be replaced by Hero challenges (same thing, different name) and will give Hero Points rather than Skill Points.

- Hero Points will be finite. They will be retroactively rewarded according to character level and number of Skill Challenge unlocks. Skill points currently gained by other methods will not translate. Currently purchases/acquired traits will not translate; you will spend your stash of Hero Points in the new system.

- Excess skill points (beyond those from leveling and skill challenges) and unused scrolls as of the change will become a new wallet-held currency that can be spent on Mystic Forge items. I think they’ve implied that the scrolls will still drop in some form, but will become the currency instead of a consumable skill point.

- If you have a level 80 with 65 skill challenges complete you will be in the ballpark for full unlock of all core specializations. You will need more skill challenges to collect the Elite Specialization line. Based on the preview of the system, that’s … 35 or 40 more done? I’m working on getting one of each profession to at least 100 skill challenges and will tweak that as we get more hard info.

- This will happen before HoT’s release. The exact timing is not yet known.

- Consuming your skill scrolls now seems unwise (assuming they cannot be used to buy anything but MF mats anyway … there might be some other use I don’t know of that will vanish come the change). Unless you absolutely need a trait to use between now and whenever this goes live, you’ll lose the investment, or it will just become excess anyway.

I don’t agree with Donari’s conclusions.

• All skill points are already a currency.
• What’s changing is that those acquired in excess of points via leveling or hero challenges are getting converted into a wallet-stored currency.
• ANet hasn’t hinted that anything else is changing.

The future currency of formerly skill points will be used for mystic forge items, which is exactly how skill points are used today. There might be a greater selection and the costs might change, but that can happen regardless of the currency moving to the wallet.

tl;dr I can’t see any reason not to consume most of the scrolls now.

However, I am reluctant to spend skill points today on traits, because ANet hasn’t explained whether those points (or the required gold) will be refunded or otherwise made available in some other way.

Instead, I’ve eaten most of the my scrolls and have been using up some of them at the mystic forge, not because I think there’s any rush, but because there’s little reason to hoard them now.

My takeaway is this:

I have 2 stacks of the scrolls, which I should keep as they are.

Several characters have many skill points over those needed for their skills, most coming from rollovers after 80. (i.e. reaching level 80 100 or more times after the first time). These may or may not be gone after HoT release. Making sure they have every skill available, whether I want them or not may be a use for them, but may not.

I’ve been there, done that. However, some 80’s, fully geared and actively playing, have less then 50% of the map completed. I should seek out undone skill challenges and do them as they may carry forward in the special catergory of skill points earned via skill challenge, thus helping reach elite via Hero points.

Correct any of the above that is outright incorrect.

Thanks.

There is no reason to save skill point scrolls unless you plan on using them on a new character before the changes go live. All skill points in excess of the completed skill challenges and those that would be awarded from leveling will be converted to the new wallet currency. You lose nothing by using the scrolls and gain storage space.

Storage space is a good reason to eat ‘em up. I just figure I can eat them any time I like, but I can’t un-eat them. Plus if I have them converted to skill points on my alts I might feel tempted to buy skills I don’t have yet, and that would be a waste. All my main PvE alts have all their skills open as it is. Further, seeing the stacks gives me a better idea of how many for sure extra points I have as compared to totting them up across 15 alts and wondering which came from scrolls and which from skill challenges/leveling.

But yeah, they’re gonna turn into the new currency whether they are in scroll form or used for an alt. It might not be as unwise as I suggested to nom ’em up.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

tl;dr I can’t see any reason not to consume most of the scrolls now.

However, I am reluctant to spend skill points today on traits, because ANet hasn’t explained whether those points (or the required gold) will be refunded or otherwise made available in some other way.

You wont get refunded. You dont get refunded if you buy the trait and later on go complete it’s unlock requirement. You dont get refunded for the trait books you bought before THIS change took place. Why would you get refunded now?

As it stands now, skill points arent hard to come by, they never were, unless you were sub80 across all your characters.

the skill scrolls yeah doesn’t matter if you consume now or not. Another thing to note thoguh is the tomes of knowledge, these will NOT be usable by characters at lvl 80 anymore(this was officially said in a dev video (forgot which exactly though, think it might have been the 4h one that went over all the core class changes)), so you should not save anymore of these than you plan to actually use to lvl up any new characters you make, if you have more than you need, it would be best to use them now on your maxed chars, so as to convert them to skill points and thus get the new currency out of those as well.
While i dont remember them saying it specifically about writs too, i kinda assume the same would apply there, and thus you can do the same for them, only save any you need to lvl chars

Basandra Skye.4031:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

tl;dr I can’t see any reason not to consume most of the scrolls now.

However, I am reluctant to spend skill points today on traits, because ANet hasn’t explained whether those points (or the required gold) will be refunded or otherwise made available in some other way.

You wont get refunded. You dont get refunded if you buy the trait and later on go complete it’s unlock requirement. You dont get refunded for the trait books you bought before THIS change took place. Why would you get refunded now?

As it stands now, skill points arent hard to come by, they never were, unless you were sub80 across all your characters.

I think I might have given you the wrong impression. I said I’m reluctant to spend on traits now because ANet hasn’t given their plans. If instead, they announced today that there will be no compensation, then I would change from being reluctant to being certain that I wouldn’t spend.

The reason I think they might offer some sort of refund is that they did so for dye unlocks (one might even have gotten a ‘replacement’ limited-edition color) and offered refunds for some skins that got converted into tonics.

In any case, this doesn’t change the fact that there isn’t any particular reason today to hoard skill point scrolls.

Still some confusion here. Are skills being reworked? I thought I understood traits were being reworked, but saw nothing on skills. Therefore I don’t understand why I should not fill in the blank spots in the skill tree, even if I don’t really like them. I have far and away enough surplus of skill points not earned by skill challenges to purchase anything I might need for the forge. I’ve already made a couple of dozen ascended items, and don’t see so many more in the future that I can’t get augur stones.

Michael.9403:

Still some confusion here. Are skills being reworked? I thought I understood traits were being reworked, but saw nothing on skills. Therefore I don’t understand why I should not fill in the blank spots in the skill tree, even if I don’t really like them. I have far and away enough surplus of skill points not earned by skill challenges to purchase anything I might need for the forge. I’ve already made a couple of dozen ascended items, and don’t see so many more in the future that I can’t get augur stones.

Some skills appear to be getting reworked, some mechanics are changing, some traits are changing in ways that will alter how skills will get used.

But we were discussing the fact that currently there are two ways to unlock traits:

• You can perform a task in Tyria, anything from completing a puzzle to completing a zone to story mode.
• You can spend gold and skill points.

So in effect there are three questions that people have had:

• Should I consume my SP scrolls now?
• Should I unlock skills now?
• Should I spend SPs/Gold to unlock traits now? (Or do the tasks? or just wait for the new system.)

I agree there’s no reason to wait to unlock skills: anything unlocked today will, one way or another, be unlocked when the new system goes live. I also think there’s no reason to wait to consume SP scrolls (and only a small matter of deciding which toon should “eat” them).

The answer to the third question doesn’t have as strong a consensus. Some think there is no chance that ANet will refund any SP or gold spent to unlock traits; some are convinced they will. I’m agnostic: I have no idea if they will or not, so I’m reluctant to spend now. OTOH, it could be months before we get specializations/hero points; I don’t expect that everyone can afford to be without critical traits indefinitely either.

What about Bloodstone Shards, Eldritch Scrolls, Augur’s Stones, Crystals, Philosopher’s Stones, and Siege Masters Guides? How will those be purchased going forward, or are they no longer going to be required for forge crafting? What about any of those already on someone’s account?

KyreneZA.8617:

What about Bloodstone Shards, Eldritch Scrolls, Augur’s Stones, Crystals, Philosopher’s Stones, and Siege Masters Guides? How will those be purchased going forward, or are they no longer going to be required for forge crafting? What about any of those already on someone’s account?

For your answer, either read the blog again or read above. However if you want the quickest of answers, skill points beyond those being translated to Hero Points are being turned into currency. That currency will be used to buy things, such as what you are talking about.

As for hoarding, I have no overriding use for them, so “hoard” them in case some use comes up. With a possible gap somewhere, I have all the skills opened on all 8 characters that I can reasonably play, including some that are specialty and I’ll likely forget to switch them in when the occasion arises, just banging on through with what I have up by force of habit. Most things can be cleared in less that top end gear and skill sets.

The “whew, at least they go into the wallet and I don’t lose them” factor isn’t very great, as I’ll have way more than I’ll ever use at the mystic forge. Yes, I understand the mystic forge as well as the use of augur stones for ascended. Therefore “eating them” doesn’t have a bad connotation, as the wallet will still be overfull of the new item. I doubt Miyani will get any new products to sell and even more doubtful they’ll be out of reach of the new wallet. Converting them to skills gives some possibility of using them for some purpose other than wallet fodder. Maybe some of the skills will become useful.

So the only attention I need to pay is harvesting skill challenges on my characters.

Since the purpose of the OP was to get resolved whether or not scrolls were leaving, and what if anything I should do about it, this thread has focussed up my thinking.

Thanks for the well written answers.

I’d use my scrolls now, but I don’t feel like clicking that much so they’re sitting in stacks on an alt awaiting conversion to the new currency.

I’m pretty sure they HAVE stated that existing skill points (and items that give skill points) will become some sort of currency to obtain Mystic Forge materials after the patch. Nothing they have stated indicate you will gain any advantage by using all your scrolls nor will you loose anything by NOT using them before the patch. I’m pretty sure their goal is to give NO advantage or disadvantage in either case.

To answer the OPs question: Yes, they are going away, but you will not “loose” them….they will be converted to something you can buy Mystic Forge materials for and I seriously doubt there will be any difference between using them all now and holding them until the patch drops.

Actually I think skill unlocks will also be using Hero Points and what you unlock now won’t specifically transfer.

http://dulfy.net/2015/04/23/gw2-specializations-part-two-reward-tracks-and-elite-specializations/

“Skill and trait unlocking is transitioning into a new system. Profession reward tracks are packages of skills, traits, specializations, and items that will make up the new unlock system. Rather than completing specific content for specific unlocks, everything will be unlocked by spending Hero Points on these new reward tracks.”

So I still won’t buy my missing utilities unless I really need them for immediate game play.

GummiBear.2756:

the skill scrolls yeah doesn’t matter if you consume now or not. Another thing to note thoguh is the tomes of knowledge, these will NOT be usable by characters at lvl 80 anymore(this was officially said in a dev video (forgot which exactly though, think it might have been the 4h one that went over all the core class changes)), so you should not save anymore of these than you plan to actually use to lvl up any new characters you make, if you have more than you need, it would be best to use them now on your maxed chars, so as to convert them to skill points and thus get the new currency out of those as well.
While i dont remember them saying it specifically about writs too, i kinda assume the same would apply there, and thus you can do the same for them, only save any you need to lvl chars

Completely useless on a lv80 seems a bit silly there. Should at least be the equivalent of a scroll.

GummiBear.2756:

the skill scrolls yeah doesn’t matter if you consume now or not. Another thing to note thoguh is the tomes of knowledge, these will NOT be usable by characters at lvl 80 anymore(this was officially said in a dev video (forgot which exactly though, think it might have been the 4h one that went over all the core class changes)), so you should not save anymore of these than you plan to actually use to lvl up any new characters you make, if you have more than you need, it would be best to use them now on your maxed chars, so as to convert them to skill points and thus get the new currency out of those as well.
While i dont remember them saying it specifically about writs too, i kinda assume the same would apply there, and thus you can do the same for them, only save any you need to lvl chars

can anyone else confirm tomes of knowledge being unusable by 80’s after the new system is implemented? I’d h8 to lose all those unused skill points stacked inside the tomes…

Donari.5237:

They said it on the overview live stream, and also in the related blog I believe.

- Skill challenges (the blue chevrons scattered across world zones) will be replaced by Hero challenges (same thing, different name) and will give Hero Points rather than Skill Points.

- Hero Points will be finite. They will be retroactively rewarded according to character level and number of Skill Challenge unlocks. Skill points currently gained by other methods will not translate. Currently purchases/acquired traits will not translate; you will spend your stash of Hero Points in the new system.

- Excess skill points (beyond those from leveling and skill challenges) and unused scrolls as of the change will become a new wallet-held currency that can be spent on Mystic Forge items. I think they’ve implied that the scrolls will still drop in some form, but will become the currency instead of a consumable skill point.

- If you have a level 80 with 65 skill challenges complete you will be in the ballpark for full unlock of all core specializations. You will need more skill challenges to collect the Elite Specialization line. Based on the preview of the system, that’s … 35 or 40 more done? I’m working on getting one of each profession to at least 100 skill challenges and will tweak that as we get more hard info.

- This will happen before HoT’s release. The exact timing is not yet known.

- Consuming your skill scrolls now seems unwise (assuming they cannot be used to buy anything but MF mats anyway … there might be some other use I don’t know of that will vanish come the change). Unless you absolutely need a trait to use between now and whenever this goes live, you’ll lose the investment, or it will just become excess anyway.

So, for those of us that haven’t done full map completion, should we try to get as many skill challenges in now for HoT?

Will skill challenges done now pass forward to HoT?

Paulie.6215:

So, for those of us that haven’t done full map completion, should we try to get as many skill challenges in now for HoT?

Will skill challenges done now pass forward to HoT?

Either/or. Skill challenges are changing to hero challenges. For all characters, the amount of hero points you get are based on level + completed challenges.

Paulie.6215:

So, for those of us that haven’t done full map completion, should we try to get as many skill challenges in now for HoT?

Will skill challenges done now pass forward to HoT?

You’ll need to do them sooner or later unless you quit the game so sure why not?
Not like there is much else going on in the game right now.

doomfodder.2906:

GummiBear.2756:

the skill scrolls yeah doesn’t matter if you consume now or not. Another thing to note thoguh is the tomes of knowledge, these will NOT be usable by characters at lvl 80 anymore(this was officially said in a dev video (forgot which exactly though, think it might have been the 4h one that went over all the core class changes)), so you should not save anymore of these than you plan to actually use to lvl up any new characters you make, if you have more than you need, it would be best to use them now on your maxed chars, so as to convert them to skill points and thus get the new currency out of those as well.
While i dont remember them saying it specifically about writs too, i kinda assume the same would apply there, and thus you can do the same for them, only save any you need to lvl chars

can anyone else confirm tomes of knowledge being unusable by 80’s after the new system is implemented? I’d h8 to lose all those unused skill points stacked inside the tomes…

They said that the tomes of knowledge will not advance the Mastery bar however they haven’t said whether they will give the new currency or not. Since they give a level’s worth of experience it might not be possible for them to do that for below level 80 and still give the new currency to the level 80, since they won’t be giving the level 80 exp. I suppose one could make a char whose purpose it is is to use tomes up to level 80, then delete and remake.

http://www.zam.com/story.html?story=35818&storypage=2
The masteries seen in the demo are just the tip of what masteries will be available at launch, and the team will have more surprises for players. We wanted to know if all those consumables, like Tomes of Knowledge and Writs of Experience, would help players unlock all of these masteries faster. The short answer is that they won’t. The experience bar is going away and is being replaced by the mastery training bar. This training bar is in no way tied to experience, but fills up by going out and doing stuff in the world. So any item that gives you experience won’t help you train masteries.

Having anet release more specific details on this would be very nice.

People are concerned about what they should do with their skill points and skill point scrolls. Will it be better to use them to buy legendary crafting materials now or will the amount of skill points per materials remain the same? Will these things be converted in a 1:1 manner? No assumptions can be made here

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Michael.9403:

Still some confusion here. Are skills being reworked? I thought I understood traits were being reworked, but saw nothing on skills. Therefore I don’t understand why I should not fill in the blank spots in the skill tree, even if I don’t really like them. I have far and away enough surplus of skill points not earned by skill challenges to purchase anything I might need for the forge. I’ve already made a couple of dozen ascended items, and don’t see so many more in the future that I can’t get augur stones.

Some skills appear to be getting reworked, some mechanics are changing, some traits are changing in ways that will alter how skills will get used.

But we were discussing the fact that currently there are two ways to unlock traits:

• You can perform a task in Tyria, anything from completing a puzzle to completing a zone to story mode.
• You can spend gold and skill points.

So in effect there are three questions that people have had:

• Should I consume my SP scrolls now?
• Should I unlock skills now?
• Should I spend SPs/Gold to unlock traits now? (Or do the tasks? or just wait for the new system.)

I agree there’s no reason to wait to unlock skills: anything unlocked today will, one way or another, be unlocked when the new system goes live. I also think there’s no reason to wait to consume SP scrolls (and only a small matter of deciding which toon should “eat” them).

The answer to the third question doesn’t have as strong a consensus. Some think there is no chance that ANet will refund any SP or gold spent to unlock traits; some are convinced they will. I’m agnostic: I have no idea if they will or not, so I’m reluctant to spend now. OTOH, it could be months before we get specializations/hero points; I don’t expect that everyone can afford to be without critical traits indefinitely either.

I doubt there will be a refund, but they may make a one-time ‘transition adjustment’ of adding extra hero points based on what you already have unlocked. If they don’t many non-PvE’ers will be screwed since we have lots of characters with skills unlocked by scrolls & xp bars past 80 instead of skill challenges (all of my characters are pre-NPE, so traits where never an issue for me).