Guild Wars 2

I just logged in after about three weeks of having taken a break, and apparently the UI display for the skill and traits section has changed dramatically. Everything looks so confusing, now.

Why can I only have three core specializations up at a time? My current build (which I spent a ton of time working on, mind you) requires me to have points put into the Virtues trait line, but since I only have room for three trait lines (or specializations of whatever) I have to leave one out :/ What gives? How do I fix that?

Have certain traits been outright eliminated? Where the heck is Blind Exposure? Where’s Powerful Blades? And what’s with Hero points? Are those Skill points? Is that what we’re calling them now?

I don’t even know where to start, since I mostly used visual memory to remember how to organize things, and now the entire UI has changed. Terrific.

And they switched the god kitten Radiance and Valor icons? WHY??? Literally what was the point of that?

There was a massive re-balancing this week and traits were merged, removed, added or changed. This is the result of the new specialisations system they communicated on the homepage a few months back approx

The changes were also connected to the upcoming elite specialisation coming in the expac, since one of the 3 full lines you will be able to take will be an elite trait line which will alter the way your class plays. This is just the early implementation to give themselves extra time for balances.

If you visit the most recent patch notes, you can read the final iterations that were put into the game, If you have any particular feedback, there are official threads in this subforum, but also ones in the profession subforums being collated by the forum reps.

To directly answer 2 of your questions;

Hero points are skill points now. Your excess became a currency called spirit shards which for the mystic forge crafting mats

Yes, you can have only 3 full trait lines. You can no longer take bits from any given line

Are some builds ruined, though? Cause that’s what it’s starting to look like. I can’t find half the traits I was using, since they either have different names or have been taken out altogether. This is ridiculous. So, essentially, a big chunk of the metagame was thrown out the window.

What were they thinking?

Opinion is divided. No doubt some will be ruined, but conversely many new ones have popped up, some superior than older ones.

As for diversity, there are divided opinions again. SOme say we have less options, but more viable options, heralding an improved system. Some say we have limited options and are cursing the changes. I’ve found many more options for me personally, but for a better overview of the discussion there are a lot of threads around you can read up on. I’d especially check the Guardian forum if that’s a particular concern

Here’s the nearest thread on the discussion https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Why-limit-us-to-3-trait-lines/first#post5225694

All MMO’s do this periodically to try and keep balance in check.