Guild Wars 2

From the March 27th “April 2014 Feature Pack” pre-release notes:

“With the coming feature build, you’ll be able to respec your traits anywhere in the world without returning to a profession trainer. To make the deal even sweeter, you won’t ever have to pay to reset your traits! We think the cost hinders experimentation and takes away from the fun of experimenting with builds in PvE, so we’re removing it entirely.”

Ok, that’s a welcome change. I suggest going one step further, though, and implement the trait template system that existed in the original Guild Wars. Allow players to create a build and then save it to a template slot.

Now the detractors are going to say, “Hey, just be thankful they’re allowing us free trait resets and don’t ask for anything more. Poor ArenaNet has it’s hands full with other stuff and needs to make money. Asking for more free stuff is counter-productive.”

To which I would respond:

1) If you don’t realize that ArenaNet met their budget projections with box sales at launch, then you are incredibly naive about how businesses are run. Every penny generated from the gem store is pure profit and is in no way, shape, or form required to meet their operating expenses.

2) My suggestion – if done right – can be monetized in a way that’s a win-win; thus giving ArenaNet an incentive to pursue it. As much as I would like to see free and unlimited save slots (as existed in the original Guild Wars), I’m not that naive; they will want to find a way to make it generate income. Fair enough.

So here’s what I suggest: implement it the same way the bank tab and inventory system was implemented. Give players X slots for free (either per character or per account) to which they can save their build templates. Then sell template expansion slots on the gem store for players who want to save even more builds beyond the base free slots.

Lastly, add a build template interface to the hero panel allowing players to save, load, and delete templates. Doesn’t need to be anything fancy. The original Guild Wars had a fairly simple interface, yet was a great QoL feature that players loved. The restriction that builds can only be switched while out of combat would still apply.

Do these things and it’s a win-win for everyone. With the coming free trait system in its current form, there’s no monetization involved. Why not have it make money for you instead, ArenaNet, while giving players an even better QoL improvement at the same time? If there’s money to be made off of it, I’m sure the motivation, time, and effort can be found to implement this before the Feature Pack is released.

Was thinking the same thing.

“now if only I could save them, and maybe even bind them to a set of keys for fast swapping”

I’d pay cash for that personally =) even without a free slot to begin with.

Could even have an option to tie skill sets to the builds, so you have a Citadel of Flame setup, a CoE setup, and an Arah setup, etc.

Jerus.4350:

Could even have an option to tie skill sets to the builds, so you have a Citadel of Flame setup, a CoE setup, and an Arah setup, etc.

I don’t see why not. The original Guild Wars saved specific skill bar set ups; really shouldn’t be that hard to do the same in GW2. Have it be all-inclusive; when a build is saved, it remembers your trait point allocations, the specific traits selected, your utility bar set up, and the armor, trinkets, and weapons equipped at the time the build is saved.

If, at a future date, you no longer have a particular piece of armor, trinket, or weapon in your inventory that was saved as part of the build, it simply won’t equip anything in that slot rather than causing the entire build template to throw an error.

It’s really easy.
Just create 1 2 3 4 5 tabs at the top of the UI right beside the Refund Trait button.

I would instead like to suggest, if they ever implement templates, to have a separate Underwater traits template at the very least. Some traits are completely useless in underwater combat such as increased sword damage(no swords underwater) or minions. Having to switch traits every time you take a dive isnt fun.

I would love to have this feature in-game, and I support the idea of unlocking further tabs with gems. Some additional revenue for Anet, a lot more convenience for us!

I already suggested this idea in another topic and so I agree that it should be added. =) This system does wonderful job in some other games(like TF2) and it will be even more useful in Guild Wars 2, especially after this update.

(Of course I’d like this to be a free option like in Guild Wars, but if not) I would also pay for this feature as it would save sooo much time swapping builds!

“1) If you don’t realize that ArenaNet met their budget projections with box sales at launch, then you are incredibly naive about how businesses are run. Every penny generated from the gem store is pure profit and is in no way, shape, or form required to meet their operating expenses.”

What an incredibly naive statement to make.

Do you ignore the salaries of all those involved in making the game? How about the artists who design all the skins? The programmers who have to program special-use items, like the instant trait resetter or the RT pass? How about map designers for special areas like RT or the ship?

You make it seem like these items come out of thin air and are available on demand when the gem shop team says so.

In accounting we call these direct and indirect costs (and I haven’t even discussed the other salaries, such as supporting staff, CS teams, security, IT, e.t.c).

You conveniently ignore the latter to supplement your points.

Vol.7601:

“1) If you don’t realize that ArenaNet met their budget projections with box sales at launch, then you are incredibly naive about how businesses are run. Every penny generated from the gem store is pure profit and is in no way, shape, or form required to meet their operating expenses.”

What an incredibly naive statement to make.

Do you ignore the salaries of all those involved in making the game? How about the artists who design all the skins? The programmers who have to program special-use items, like the instant trait resetter or the RT pass? How about map designers for special areas like RT or the ship?

You make it seem like these items come out of thin air and are available on demand when the gem shop team says so.

In accounting we call these direct and indirect costs (and I haven’t even discussed the other salaries, such as supporting staff, CS teams, security, IT, e.t.c).

You conveniently ignore the latter to supplement your points.

~3 million box sales.

Assume ArenaNet sees $40 per sale.

~$120,000,000.oo in sales.

~$50,000,000.oo to make the game.

Assume investors saw their investment returned to them +30% profit = ~$65,000,000.oo

~$120,000,000.oo – $65,000,000.oo = $55,000,000.oo

Assume ~300 employees with an average annual salary of $50,000.oo = ~$15,000,000.oo per year

$65,000,000.oo / $15,000,000.oo = 4.33 years (the amount of time ArenaNet can survive off the revenue generated from box sales alone without a single penny from the gem store).

I haven’t ignored anything nor does it appear I’m the one being naive.

This mantra of “poor ArenaNet…they need our gem stores sales to survive…won’t you please give to a worthy cause” is a complete and total fallacy. No business worth their salt would sink $50,000,000.oo into a product and then wing it on a hope and prayer that micro-transactions would keep them afloat.

Accountants – real accountants – would have run all their analyses and priced GW2 box sales at exactly the point they expected would pay for the development of the game, reimburse their investors + some profit, and provide operating income to stay in business for several years. Believing anything other than this is the true definition of naivety.