Guild Wars 2

Scrolls of knowledge are an item that grant a single skill point on use. However, since skill points are leaving us with HoT, what will happen to existing ones?
Should I use all my scrolls right now and get them converted to the new materials, or leave them?
Edit: It didn’t cross my mind at the time, but what will happen to the items we currently buy with skill points? I’m just going to assume that they won’t be purchased with the finite number of “hero points”

Two Questions for tomorrows live Q&A session.

Quote: Old skill points in excess of those earned by leveling and skill challenges will be converted into crafting materials for the Mystic Forge. Items and activities that were previously repeatable sources of skill points will now also provide that same crafting material.

• I have about 5 stacks of the Scrolls of Knowledge.

So with the upcoming Reward Tracks and Elite Specializations, what happens to these. Do they get converted into some new kind of Mystic Forge crafting material or what???

Will it behoove us to consume the scrolls BEFORE the HoT release or hold on to them and let them convert, without having a clue if what they convert to will be something we are interested in pursuing?

• I have about 700 unused Skill Points stocked up on my Main Character alone(over 1000 if you add in my Alts). I do not have all of my skills unlocked because I only unlocked the ones that were pertinent to my play style.

So again, with the new change does it make more sense for us to unlock everything on every character before the change over or wait?

I don’t have access to twitch so hopefully somebody synopsizes tomorrows responses for we underprivileged or technologically chananged.

Edited typo: changed “have twitch” to “have access to twitch”. Its a proxy thing

Just a small thing, but you do have twitch. (It’s like saying you don’t have youtube) Twitch is basically youtube, if the uploads on youtube were live instead of uploads. So it’s just a website. That being said, I’m sure there’ll be transcripts available.

EDIT: Ah, I wasn’t trying to be rude, here. I see now that I misunderstood your intent- my apologies.

They post it for rewatch on youtube, if not on twitch within a week of the stream.

Guhracie.3419:

Just a small thing, but you do have twitch. (It’s like saying you don’t have youtube) Twitch is basically youtube, if the uploads on youtube were live instead of uploads. So it’s just a website. That being said, I’m sure there’ll be transcripts available.

Yes I know, thanks for pointing out my typo.
P.S. I don’t “have access” to youtube either. Dang proxy police.

Maybe we can keep the scrolls for a week or 2 and an NPC can give us the materials for it?
I hope they make a post about things like this beside the twitch.

I’m not certain how I feel about having my skill points transitioned over to mystic forge crafting items. I’m assuming they are referring to the things Miyani currently sells – crystals, philosopher’s stone, etc. Will eldrich scroll and bloodstone shards be among the items the skill point challenges reward? Somehow I doubt it.

What about Augur’s Stones? These aren’t a mystic forge material; however they are purchased with skill points. They are required for ascended crafting, how will we acquire them after this change to skill points? Will they simply cost coin instead? Will they now cost Hero Points? Not enough information in that section imo.

Heropoints are limited by sum of current skillpoints on map + 80, so it definitely can’t cost that.

At a guess, they’ll probably convert skillpoints to philosopher stones, adjust all recipes to allow for this (with some more major changes on asc backpieces where this is currently the only difference in recipe), then allow for augur stones, bloodstone shards, eldritch scrolls and crystals to be bought using philosopher stones instead, which now have to be used in item form rather than character-bound currency form.

But this is a complete guess. We’ll only know if they answer the question during the AMA.

In an interview at MassivelyOverpowered (reference: http://massivelyop.net/2015/04/23/exclusive-guild-wars-2-heart-of-thorns-interview-unwraps-specializations-and-traits/), Jon Peters said:

“If you already have Scrolls of Knowledge and a bunch of existing skill points, you will end up with a lot of crafting material that converts into a new currency that will be used in the Mystic Forge. We will be talking more about how that works and how you acquire that currency in the future.”

That seems terribly vague to me but it sounds like scrolls will become utterly obsolete. Random mats could be very bad, but a new currency… leaves a lot for speculation. Whatever it is, it had kitten well better go into the wallet.

Kumion.7580:

In an interview at MassivelyOverpowered (reference: http://massivelyop.net/2015/04/23/exclusive-guild-wars-2-heart-of-thorns-interview-unwraps-specializations-and-traits/), Jon Peters said:

“If you already have Scrolls of Knowledge and a bunch of existing skill points, you will end up with a lot of crafting material that converts into a new currency that will be used in the Mystic Forge. We will be talking more about how that works and how you acquire that currency in the future.”

That seems terribly vague to me but it sounds like scrolls will become utterly obsolete. Random mats could be very bad, but a new currency… leaves a lot for speculation. Whatever it is, it had kitten well better go into the wallet.

kitten it.

I agree, it had better freaking end up in the wallet if it’s a new currency.

This is one of my two big worries. I know they can’t give us details until they are finalized, but this vagueness of what to do while waiting just kills me inside.

To put things in perspective, I have 500+ skill point scrolls in the bank and eight character with varying amounts of skill points. Some of those characters are sitting on 300 or more, some not. I’m scared of the idea of receiving random Mystic Forge Crafting Ingredients.

I definitely need Augor Stones for Ascended Armor, but bloodstone shards for lengendaries… I don’t know how many, if any, lengendaries I want. Eldritch Scrolls I’ve only ever used so far for completing collections, but some of the skins do look tempting. And while I’ll occasionally use Philosopher Stones and Crystals, I never use a Siege Master Guide.

Basically, I’m scared of things going to either extreme. I don’t need all my skill points converted into the highest denominator, bloodstone shards, but at the same time don’t want the lowest denominator in bulk. I could make a lot of decisions right now, but goals like lengendaries are long term things I shouldn’t be impulse buying for months before I start gathering the other materials. I know I can’t be the only person in this boat; others in this thread have said as much just in different words.

I can prebuy my Augor Stones at least, but I really need to hear on the Q&A tomorrow if we are getting a currency rather than a lottery. I don’t need the weight of whether or not I should buy Bloodstone Shards I may never use on my already anxiety riddled brain.

My guess is that they simply want to seperate skill point that we use to unlock skills while we level up and skill points that we use to buy crafting material for the mystic force.

At first I though that this new stuff would be a currency equal to skill point. But now I believe that it will just replace all the item we can buy with skill point. Let call this new crafting material MA for Mystic Agent.

1 skill point = 10 MA

Recipe that need stuff that you can buy with Skill point will now use this MA.

1 Philosopher’s Stone will now be 1 MA
1 Crystal will now be 6 MA
1 Siege Masters Guide will now be 10 MA
1 Augur’s Stone will now be 200 MA
1 Eldritch Scroll will now be 500 MA
1 Bloodstone Shard will now be 2000 MA

Obviously now you have a problem because you can’t put 500 or 2000 MA in one spot for the Mystic forge. Maybe you can still trade MA for Eldritch Scroll or Bloodstone Shard. Or they change the value of Philosopher’s Stone and Crystal and they change the recipe that need those, but that would need more work for no reason.

If they are going to give us crafting scrolls instead of skill point scrolls from now on, and we don’t touch the mystic forge to craft, because unless you do that as a job you are likely to lose gold, then those scrolls are going to be even more worthless.

At least I could save them up and use them on a new alt, like my Revenant.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

If they are going to give us crafting scrolls instead of skill point scrolls from now on, and we don’t touch the mystic forge to craft, because unless you do that as a job you are likely to lose gold, then those scrolls are going to be even more worthless.

At least I could save them up and use them on a new alt, like my Revenant.

This is an issue. What do players that barely, or never, use the mystic forge, but have large numbers of excess skill points get?

They said some time ago something along the lines of “skill points won’t be earned when you level up after lvl 80 since the masteries take over, but instead will be earned from doing challenges”. Something like that. So the hero points won’t be finite, if by doing those challenges we gain them. This is only deduction and speculation, we won’t know for sure until they tell us, though. Seems reasonable, though.

I am curious myself on the skill scrolls, I have some 5-6 stacks of them and I’d like to know if I should consume them now or if it’s okay to sit on them till after expansion hits. Too lazy to turn them into gold, but maybe I’ll get off my kitten and start doing it anyway, I have several thousands skill points as it is now across all chars and skill scroll stacks…

“Old skill points in excess of those earned by leveling and skill challenges will be converted into crafting materials for the Mystic Forge. Items and activities that were previously repeatable sources of skill points will now also provide that same crafting material.”

Quoted from part 2 of the specialization blog post. Somewhere in those posts they also refer to it as “new magic forge currency”. To me, it sounds as if our excess skill points will stay the way they are now, only with another name (and probably icon) and restricted to trading with the forge trader exclusively.

Whether to use the scrolls now or wait, I have no idea. There are open questions about that conversion that will hopefully be answered in the AMA later today.

MashMash.1645:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

If they are going to give us crafting scrolls instead of skill point scrolls from now on, and we don’t touch the mystic forge to craft, because unless you do that as a job you are likely to lose gold, then those scrolls are going to be even more worthless.

At least I could save them up and use them on a new alt, like my Revenant.

This is an issue. What do players that barely, or never, use the mystic forge, but have large numbers of excess skill points get?

What do you do with your excess skill points today, if you do not use the MF?

I’m predicting that there will be a rush of Mystic Forge crafting/promotion in the next few weeks. This should be an interesting time for speculators…

Or will they still be useful after this trait update? Yes I understand that skill points are being turned into account currency I’m more wondering if they (scrolls of knowledge) will suddenly turn into hero point scrolls, also which one will be worth more to me assuming that I can get a character to 80 in about 30 seconds using tomes of knowledge.

They’ll be turning into currency for mats for the forge. Hero points will only come from leveling (one per level gained, to 80), and doing skill challenges. Scrolls are transforming just like excess skill points, as far as I can tell.

Seems like there’s no longer a reason to use scrolls.

From what I gather after the update you get all your hero points only from your character level and how many actual skill points you earned doing challenges in the world.

I wouldnt mind an official confirmation about Tomes though. Will they ONLY be useful for leveling now? currently they can be turned into skill points, but that system is leaving

What exactly are these MATs though…..

TheFool.4589:

What exactly are these MATs though…..

Exactly.

So far I think they’ll be the same mats you can currently buy with skill points. The “new” thing they went on about was the currency because they don’t have a name for it yet.

I could be wrong. I’m still in need of a very clear statement on exactly what the skill scrolls will become and what they will buy, so I can figure out if I want to use them before the change or wait.

I especially would like to know if they’ll have any non-MF use as I barely use the thing.

Donari.5237:

So far I think they’ll be the same mats you can currently buy with skill points. The “new” thing they went on about was the currency because they don’t have a name for it yet.

I could be wrong. I’m still in need of a very clear statement on exactly what the skill scrolls will become and what they will buy, so I can figure out if I want to use them before the change or wait.

I especially would like to know if they’ll have any non-MF use as I barely use the thing.

If I could buy T 6 mats with them, then by all means. If it’s garbage like the current stuff then screw that..their mystic toilet has done jack wieners for me.

Correction, up until level 80 at least ToK will work the same, would presume SoK as well, but once you hit level 80, they won’t work as expected. However, any existing skill points above what is needed for core unlocking will be converted to the new currency. The new currency will become part of the wallet, and will most likely be used for at first, the stuff you buy for the Mystic Forge with SP now, however, they said in the future it could be used for other things. My suggestion is to use all the ones you have now….make sure all of your current characters have all skills unlocked…that way, what ever skill points you have left over get converted to the currency.

can anet clarify this stuff…

Zaklex.6308:

make sure all of your current characters have all skills unlocked…that way, what ever skill points you have left over get converted to the currency.

It sounds like you want to do the opposite, since aquiring skills through the tracks will be different, saving the skill points would be a more sound investment in some ways.

Skyfall, after 80 we’ll be gaining “mastery points” after 80, I believe they did say that “hero points” were different.

Quote from Specialisations part 2:
Hero Points will be limited, and they’ll be earned strictly through what are currently called skill challenges (these will become known as hero challenges) and leveling up. A level 80 character that’s done none of the hero challenges should be able to unlock more than enough skills, specialisations, and traits to make several unique full builds. A single character who’s done a fair amount of the hero challenges should be able to unlock all of the core specialisations, skills, and traits. PvP players won’t have to worry about unlocking anything, as all skills and traits will be automatically unlocked upon entering the Heart of the Mists.

I think the hero points we get from levelling up are from 1-80, while post-80 we’ll get mastery points instead.

New currency to replace skill points that will be in the wallet. You get them from champ bags and other sources. This currency allow you to buy crafting mats that used to require skill points.

http://dulfy.net/2015/04/24/gw2-specializations-ama-livestream-notes/

So basically no change except they are no longer used to buy skills.

Since we dont have any Skillpoints what will happen with scroll of knowleged.

Scrolls of knowledge will be converted to something that can be used with/in the Mystic Forge, possibly something that can be used to buy items that used to be bought with skill points.

They said on stream it will be converted to a new currency that will be in the wallet. Currently skill points have two functions. Purchasing mystic forge materials and learning new skills/traits. The new currency will take on the former function. Hero points will take on the latter one.

Will we get new items that give hero points for playing SPvP or find them in player loot bags in WvWvW?

If not, it would be a huge nerf to progression via PvP avenues.

Eponet.4829:

Will we get new items that give hero points for playing SPvP or find them in player loot bags in WvWvW?

If not, it would be a huge nerf to progression via PvP avenues.

Unlocking all skills and traits (except elite specializations like Druid) will require 465 hero points. You get 400 by getting to level 80. The other 65 you will have to obtain through hero challenges (currently skill challenges). As far as we know, pure PvP or WvW players will have to go into PvE to unlock everything since there are no skill challenges in PvP and very few in WvW.

You should still get tomes of knowledge in PvP. Those can be used to level up to level 80 and you will get Hero points that way. They said that a level 80 leveled by tomes alone will have 400 Hero points, enough to unlock most all skills and have several builds unlocked.

And that should be changed. I dont see the point in running with 11 of my chars through hero challnges over and over to unlock the last skills and traits i had alrdy previously. They should at least make something for the older players to get all skills and traits without the pain of herochallenges. This game is alrdy 3 years old. Dont see the point in doing old stuff for old things in a new disguise. And this is the third time they change trait system. Its should be enough. i just want my char at 80 and play new challanges not old one.

Deaths.9165:

And that should be changed. I dont see the point in running with 11 of my chars through hero challnges over and over to unlock the last skills and traits i had alrdy previously. They should at least make something for the older players to get all skills and traits without the pain of herochallenges. This game is alrdy 3 years old. Dont see the point in doing old stuff for old things in a new disguise. And this is the third time they change trait system. Its should be enough. i just want my char at 80 and play new challanges not old one.

With 9 PvP-leveled alts (and 10 more in the works) I absolutely agree.

65+ skill challenges don’t sound like a big deal, but that stuff adds up. I am not looking forward to 25-50% map completion (times 19) at all.

Arcadio.6875:

Eponet.4829:

Will we get new items that give hero points for playing SPvP or find them in player loot bags in WvWvW?

If not, it would be a huge nerf to progression via PvP avenues.

Unlocking all skills and traits (except elite specializations like Druid) will require 465 hero points. You get 400 by getting to level 80. The other 65 you will have to obtain through hero challenges (currently skill challenges). As far as we know, pure PvP or WvW players will have to go into PvE to unlock everything since there are no skill challenges in PvP and very few in WvW.

Pure PvP players wouldn’t have to care because everything will be unlocked in PvP.

Khisanth.2948:

Arcadio.6875:

Eponet.4829:

Will we get new items that give hero points for playing SPvP or find them in player loot bags in WvWvW?

If not, it would be a huge nerf to progression via PvP avenues.

Unlocking all skills and traits (except elite specializations like Druid) will require 465 hero points. You get 400 by getting to level 80. The other 65 you will have to obtain through hero challenges (currently skill challenges). As far as we know, pure PvP or WvW players will have to go into PvE to unlock everything since there are no skill challenges in PvP and very few in WvW.

Pure PvP players wouldn’t have to care because everything will be unlocked in PvP.

As has been the situation so far – right now, all skills and traits are unlocked in PvP, and yet ANet deliberately added skill scrolls to reward tracks (as well as WvW champ bags, of course). PvP and WvW players were specifically enabled to level their characters in PvP/WvW and unlock all skills for PvE – now this is being changed back. Why?

I level all my alts in PvP, but once level 80 I do gear them up for PvE in case I want/need to use a specific one in a dungeon, fractal or living story achievement run – and so far I have been able to do that without completing up to half of Tyria’s maps with each one of my alts, inlcuding my already existing ones.

Arcadio.6875:

. As far as we know, pure PvP or WvW players will have to go into PvE to unlock everything since there are no skill challenges in PvP and very few in WvW.

I would assume there’s some WvW method coming. Could be on the new borderlands maps for example. We don’t know yet. They didn’t confirm there won’t be any way to get more HP there.

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

As has been the situation so far – right now, all skills and traits are unlocked in PvP, and yet ANet deliberately added skill scrolls to reward tracks (as well as WvW champ bags, of course). PvP and WvW players were specifically enabled to level their characters in PvP/WvW and unlock all skills for PvE – now this is being changed back. Why?

That is not the situation so far. All the new grandmaster traits and heal skills that were added had to be unlocked if you wanted to use it in PvP. All those unlocks will no longer be necessary for PvP.

The only one that really gets the short end of the stick is WvW(I am not really surprised …).

Based on how they handled changing Transmutations Stones/Crystals to the Transmutation charges currency, I’m betting post-Specialization update any unused skill scrolls will give you the new MF currency when used instead of a skill point.

Also, I think they mentioned that you get about 80% of the Hero points you need to unlock everything (at least for the Core Specializations and skills) simply by leveling. (Based on the summary on Reddit/dulfy, it’s right now 465 hero points to unlock everything, and leveling will get you 400)

Foefaller.1082:

Also, I think they mentioned that you get about 80% of the Hero points you need to unlock everything (at least for the Core Specializations and skills) simply by leveling. (Based on the summary on Reddit/dulfy, it’s right now 465 hero points to unlock everything, and leveling will get you 400)

Excluding elite specializations (sub classes). Those will require more hero points. I currently have 7 level 80s that barely even left their home city, that’s kitten (repetitive) skill challenges to catch them up to even where they’re now. (Not to mention my other characters who I planned to level through PvP)

TheFool.4589:

What exactly are these MATs though…..

I wonder if they will be untradable crap just like all the bloodstone dust, dragonite ore etc. I have stacks of the stuff clogging up my inventory.

I hope not.

MikeE.5947:

TheFool.4589:

What exactly are these MATs though…..

I wonder if they will be untradable crap just like all the bloodstone dust, dragonite ore etc. I have stacks of the stuff clogging up my inventory.

I hope not.

Since we can’t trade skill points I imagine that this new MF “currency” will be account bound as well.

Ok from what they said in Twitch during the 4 hr length spread about traits.
*Was that skill scrolls will become some sort of mat, what we don’t know somewhat vague.
*That the current items on the mystic forge vendor will be a new currency they were also vague on this didn’t have a solid answer or name for it. But this new currency might drop from champ bags.

• Nothing said about WvW siege that you need currently skill points for.
  *Tome of knowledge will only get you to lvl 80 beyond that they will not help you on mastery track come HoT.

I think you’ve turned that around a bit, aryvandar. Not that I’m crystal clear on it either but my impression is the scrolls will become the currency, which will go in the wallet and replace skill points for making Forge purchases of the mats that already exist.

And that means, Behellagh, that it would be no more tradeable than any other wallet currency.

/hushes anyone mentioning gold.

Which is what I said?