Guild Wars 2

Hi, I’ve seen a lot of posts on the forum complaining about the changes to the trait system, but nothing about why Anet might have thought these changes are a good idea. What follows is my theory; if you have other ideas, please post them below!

The main aspect of an MMO like GW2 that determines its long-term success and retention of player base is the state of its endgame content. A game with a varied and engaging endgame is most likely to keep players interested for longer. I think this was on Anet’s mind because prior to the megaserver patch the game seemed sparse and underpopulated on most servers. Also, competitor MMOs like ESO and Wildstar are entering the market soon.

Anyway, so Anet has been talking about introducing more “horizontal progression” into the game, which is not a bad idea. This makes sitting at one level (in this case, the later levels) much more engaging for players, since they can distract themselves from the grind of leveling by hunting down trait unlocks that they will be able to use later. The new trait unlock method (do a world event, JP, etc.) is therefore in line with Anet’s vision, as is the Living World. These are both amazing ideas that should stay in the game, imo.

Now, Anet also concentrates the trait unlocks nearer to level cap. This is really the change that gets the most hate, and there are many other posts about its problems already. However, the good implications are as follows:

• Each level-up feels more significant closer to 80. When I leveled my ele, levels 70-80 was the part that felt most like a grind, even with personal story missions, so this is an important achievement.
• Once at level cap, the player doesn’t feel like they are “done.” Instead of placing the last piece into their build that they have already experimented with, they can now explore all of the different builds with GM traits.

Overall, this change makes the later levels less of a grind, and therefore more likely to retain players in the long run. Inadvertently, this also makes the early levels seem like even more of a grind, since the later levels are now the only fun bit of leveling. Players now feel like they need to zip past levels 1-30 in order to get to the interesting stuff. Players feel bad for being at a “low” level instead of proud of how far they’ve gotten so far. Games that can make players feel satisfied with their achievements at every step of the progression system are the ones that will win in today’s MMO economy.

TL;DR: The new trait system makes the later levels much less grindy, but makes the early levels feel like a total waste of time.

Astroplatypus.4573:

• Once at level cap, the player doesn’t feel like they are “done.” Instead of placing the last piece into their build that they have already experimented with, they can now explore all of the different builds with GM traits.

I can guarantee you I will be DONE when I am 80. My lvl 32 warrior is LOCKED in to his traits. I dont have the money or the time to spend doing ridiculous requirements.

Explore different builds with gm traits? Grandmaster XIII 3 Gold coin0 Silver coin0 Copper coin + 20 skillpoints. Thats more than some exotic weapons @ 80.
Heck thats like 3.4ths the price of piece of armour.

HMMM

Trait XIII.png Phalanx Strength (Tactics): When you grant yourself might, you grant 6 seconds of might to nearby allies as well.
Trait XIII.png
Brawler’s Recovery (Discipline): Removes 1 stack of blindness when you swap weapons.

Will I be exploring Brawler’s Recovery? F No. Will I ever get it? “Kill the Corrupted High Priestess” Hell No.

In an effort to save money and time I am locked into a build from now till 80.

Didn’t think to post in the Feedback: Traits thread? I see a thread merge, or lock on the horizon.

I’m curious that you find 70-80 the hardest/grindiest to level, because I find from 65 up the easiest and fastest leveling in the game. 40-60 is the part I always hate the most. There’s so much content geared for the last 10-15 levels, though. I’ve leveled 9 characters to 80 now, for the record.

Anyway, it does not make the final levels worth more or anything of the sort. It just makes it impossible to have anything remotely resembling decent traits at low levels, unless you’re incredibly lucky in how the unlocks fall on your profession. And realistically, it doesn’t make the last few levels less of a grind either, because most of the lower-leveled trait unlocks are very grindy. I’ve done two full world completions now. Map completions are horrible, and not something I’m looking forward to ever touching again for a long time. High level map completions for a single trait is the very definition of grind.

My notes on this:
I have an 80 of every class but not of every race so I have 2 uplevel characters below lvl 30. These characters were most impacted by the loss of traits. The warrior I have especially takes a heavy impact as there are so many powerful adept level traits a warrior can get:
Tactics: run speed with melee weapon: This is a quality of life trait
Signet mastery: also a QOL trait once I get lvl 30.
Leg Specialist: This is so powerful with greatsword or hammer. Not from a pve standpoint but from an “I want to wvw on my uplevel” standpoint.
Dogged march: Yes even my uplevel warrior could be immune to some conditions.

I lost all of this access until what level 50? I particularly miss the QOL traits in the discipline line. My uplevel mesmer also takes a beating for the WvW department but not so much.

My 80s didn’t see any difference other than that the system feels dumbed down. ANET doesn’t have to hold our hands all the time. We can figure a system out. We like to figure systems out. Why can’t I fine tune my traits anymore? Not that I did anyway.

The last note for this is the UI got clunkier. The +/- buttons are nice but the rest doesn’t work out as well as whoever designed it thought it should. There’s a redundant confirmation message when I don’t use the +/- buttons. I have to go to the menu on the left to pick the trait I want in the slot. It doesn’t flow. The old way where the trait hexagons were buttons that showed tiles for what trait to grab was better. I stick by my grades I gave in the other post…
UI: B. It’s like unwrapping the cord off a vacuum cleaner is seen as an upgrade to the retractable cord feature on the previous model.
Nerfing my uplevel: F. These are the new players. Don’t nerf them. Hitting max level is supposed to be a little grindy because once you’ve done it you’re done. I want to get my uplevels’ power back if anything for the quality of life traits they lost.