would you rather major traits be universal?
No.
You’re supposed to go into a traitline for the traits, not the stats. Your stats are supposed to come from your gear.
And if you implement something like this, it’ll only be a matter of time before people start asking for the same for minor traits. And then asking for the ability to do something ridiculous like choose to have 1 Major trait instead of 2 minors.
The downside would be imbalance. As proof of this, look at the number of builds that get specific major traits for their builds. Things like Healing Shouts, Berserker’s Power, Mug, Meld with Shadows. Also look at how many builds are using 30 points into a trait line and not using either of the Grandmaster traits in that line.
(edited by Olba.5376)
While I’m not sure the OP’s idea is the way to go, traits need an overhaul. Why are some trait lines consistent with regard to weapons and types of skills (i.e., the traits to buff weapon x are all in the same line) while other weapons and skill types are spread all over the class’s trait trees? This makes some trait lines inherently superior to others. Also, why are some minor traits useful and some terribad (5 points can get you regen at 90% health or a short-lived minion that is more trouble than it’s worth)?
The trait system seems like it was a work in progress whose progress was interrupted by launch.
I remember a lot of builds during BWE were 5 or 15 or 25 in traits because the majors weren’t usually good enough to want three of them. So I’m glad its different now. However, some of the tier 1 and 2 major traits are incredibly underwhelming.
User was infracted for being awesome.
I remember a lot of builds during BWE were 5 or 15 or 25 in traits because the majors weren’t usually good enough to want three of them. So I’m glad its different now. However, some of the tier 1 and 2 major traits are incredibly underwhelming.
Some are underwhelming, while others, such as Forceful Greatsword or Shadow’s Embrace are key players to specific weapon sets or playstyles.
While I’m not sure the OP’s idea is the way to go, traits need an overhaul. Why are some trait lines consistent with regard to weapons and types of skills (i.e., the traits to buff weapon x are all in the same line) while other weapons and skill types are spread all over the class’s trait trees? This makes some trait lines inherently superior to others. Also, why are some minor traits useful and some terribad (5 points can get you regen at 90% health or a short-lived minion that is more trouble than it’s worth)?
The trait system seems like it was a work in progress whose progress was interrupted by launch.
In most of the offensive cases, the spreading of the traits is directly related to balancing. In some cases, such as Tactics for Warrior, synergetic traits are clustered together to make a specific type of traiting more appealing.
I’m not saying that the trait system is perfect as it is, but I can definitely see a philosophy behind them.
The downside would be…what?
Everyone switching to the same OP build?
The way it is it’s manageable, too many choices and it gets too hard to balance from a development standpoint. Otherwise I’d favor a skill tree system or an open skill system w/o levels… though sadly this isn’t a sandbox. GW2 is one of the few themeparks I like… well maybe the only themepark I like currently….. over the past 7+ years. yeah..
I kind of like the idea of being able to swap out one “second stat” (I don’t want to call them minor since most are far from it) from two trait lines that you are using to any stat from one you’re not. Maybe have it so that you can only do it to one trait line that is maxed out so a 30/30/10 build would only be able to swap stats in the line with 10 points and one of the two 30s, but a 5/5/20/30/10 build could change everything except the 30.
Or another way could be:
From 70 trait points you have 140 stat increases. You are allowed to swap the stats for 40 trait points (80 stat increases) from anywhere, in increments of 5 trait points (10 stat increases). This would potentially mean having builds that have a trait line with 30 points invested into it and has four different stats being raised.
That probably makes more sense to me than anyone reading this…
Dragonbrand – Reforged Vanguard [ReVa]
Kyxha 80 Ranger, Sokar 80 Necro
Niobe 80 Guardian, Symbaoe 45 Ele
Kyxha 80 Ranger, Sokar 80 Necro
Niobe 80 Guardian, Symbaoe 45 Ele
They tried this in beta, before the trait change, and it didn’t work. There are always going to be more powerful traits and those are the ones everyone used, because they didn’t have to sacrifice anything to use them. Build variety went down, not up.
It’s nice on paper, but when it was tried, it didn’t work.
They tried this in beta, before the trait change, and it didn’t work. There are always going to be more powerful traits and those are the ones everyone used, because they didn’t have to sacrifice anything to use them. Build variety went down, not up.
It’s nice on paper, but when it was tried, it didn’t work.
I might not have explained things clearly. I’m not proposing a removal of trait tiers; I’m proposing a removal of train separation. Instead of 12 traits per trait line, I’m proposing 60 traits in one large pool from which we can freely choose the adept, master, and grandmaster traits we want. You would still need 30 points in a line (any line) to slot a grandmaster trait, etc.
What he’s talking about is this:
Currently, Altruistic Healing (apply a boon to allies heals you) is one of the most popular Guardian traits. AH is in the Valour line which gives Toughness/Condition Damage. Empowering Might (land a crit and give Might to allies) is an ideal synergy, especially since it is in the Honour line which increases Vitality/Healing Power. Note that the perfect main stat for those traits is Precision but it is unavailable. If we had a pool of traits to choose from every single Guardian would put 30 points into Radiance (Precision/Condition Damage) and then use AH and EM.
Dragonbrand – Reforged Vanguard [ReVa]
Kyxha 80 Ranger, Sokar 80 Necro
Niobe 80 Guardian, Symbaoe 45 Ele
Kyxha 80 Ranger, Sokar 80 Necro
Niobe 80 Guardian, Symbaoe 45 Ele
They tried this in beta, before the trait change, and it didn’t work. There are always going to be more powerful traits and those are the ones everyone used, because they didn’t have to sacrifice anything to use them. Build variety went down, not up.
It’s nice on paper, but when it was tried, it didn’t work.
I might not have explained things clearly. I’m not proposing a removal of trait tiers; I’m proposing a removal of train separation. Instead of 12 traits per trait line, I’m proposing 60 traits in one large pool from which we can freely choose the adept, master, and grandmaster traits we want. You would still need 30 points in a line (any line) to slot a grandmaster trait, etc.
I understood you perfectly but that’s what led to the problem.
If you have a best trait, a most useful trait, you only need to put 10 points into that tree to use that trade. People were using 10 in each of the attributes to get the best trait from each attribute. No one was speccing far into each tree.
That’s one of the reasons they changed it.
They tried this in beta, before the trait change, and it didn’t work. There are always going to be more powerful traits and those are the ones everyone used, because they didn’t have to sacrifice anything to use them. Build variety went down, not up.
It’s nice on paper, but when it was tried, it didn’t work.
I might not have explained things clearly. I’m not proposing a removal of trait tiers; I’m proposing a removal of train separation. Instead of 12 traits per trait line, I’m proposing 60 traits in one large pool from which we can freely choose the adept, master, and grandmaster traits we want. You would still need 30 points in a line (any line) to slot a grandmaster trait, etc.
I understood you perfectly but that’s what led to the problem.
No, you didn’t. And you’re still not. The system used in the BWEs is not the system I’m proposing.
If i get it right it would be that if i put 30 points into any trait line as a necromancer, i get access to all the 10 GM traits that are now spread across the 5 trait lines. Meaning i would not need to go 30 deep into Spite to get Axe Training, i could go 30 into any of the lines to get it (and or any of the other GM tier traits).
It is a interesting notion, but i suspect the argument is that the traits are on the line they are so as to make it a tradeoff. A tradeoff in that you can’t get both the trait and the 300 attribute points that you feel would make it a “i win” button, but instead spend perhaps 60 points and find yourself without other abilities that would keep you stomping the field longer.
I definitely wouldn’t want this, although some of them need to be shifted around. Like, why are the condition-damage based ranger traps in the precision/critical damage tree? It’s stupid for trap rangers and gives crit-based rangers far less options to choose from. There’s tons of stuff like this.