Guild Wars 2

I was thinking it might be a good idea at some point to uncouple the elite spec from the associated utilities and the new weapon unlock. Tying all three together makes sense in some ways, but it strongly favors builds featuring the elite spec. It would be nice if we could use the utilities and the new weapon without having to actually use the specialization.

I’m sure this would go along with some other changes to traits to balance things out again. Whenever the “showcase” period is over, of course.

Im not sure I understand your proposal here. Uncoupling two thirds of an elite spec would render having an elite spec and all the work invested into it, almost pointless.

Even if they did, many of the weapons and utlities rely on the traitline to be worthwhile using. Why uncouple them and degrade their effectiveness?

The problem as I see it is that you essentially make the elite spec mandatory. Unlike the other specs, if I don’t take this one I lose the class gimmick, 5 utilities, and 1 weapon type. That’s a lot harder to give up than the specialization itself and I see no reason why it must be this way.

Also, thinking ahead, what happens when the next elite spec comes along? Another weapon type, 5 more utilities, and a new class gimmick? Are they going to rework the old specs to feature the same?

AliamRationem.5172:

Also, thinking ahead, what happens when the next elite spec comes along? Another weapon type, 5 more utilities, and a new class gimmick?

Actually, that’s exactly what we expect with future elite specs. The choice of which elite you run is a trade off. Its about making choices. The elite lines are a “package” that changes your class into something slightly more than what it was; however, you can only be one specialty with all that it entails. In the long run it “should” help keep some potential power creep issues in check, but we’ll see.

AliamRationem.5172:

Are they going to rework the old specs to feature the same?

I’m assuming you’re asking are they going to change the core lines to have some weapon or skill locked to them? So you can’t use that weapon and skill set if you don’t take it? I doubt it. They’d have done it with the revamp of the system, and from what they said when they introduced “specializations,” locking was something special to elite specs for assorted reasons.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

AliamRationem.5172:

Also, thinking ahead, what happens when the next elite spec comes along? Another weapon type, 5 more utilities, and a new class gimmick?

Actually, that’s exactly what we expect with future elite specs. The choice of which elite you run is a trade off. Its about making choices. The elite lines are a “package” that changes your class into something slightly more than what it was; however, you can only be one specialty with all that it entails. In the long run it “should” help keep some potential power creep issues in check, but we’ll see.

AliamRationem.5172:

Are they going to rework the old specs to feature the same?

I’m assuming you’re asking are they going to change the core lines to have some weapon or skill locked to them? So you can’t use that weapon and skill set if you don’t take it? I doubt it. They’d have done it with the revamp of the system, and from what they said when they introduced “specializations,” locking was something special to elite specs for assorted reasons.

Ahh, so they intend to add more “elite” specializations, which will be mutually exclusive? That makes more sense. With just the one it’s a bit awkward, since you lose out on a lot of power/utility by not taking the elite spec, even if one of the other specializations would be a better fit if only taking into account the traits themselves.

That should work, as long as it’s balanced properly.

AliamRationem.5172:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

AliamRationem.5172:

Also, thinking ahead, what happens when the next elite spec comes along? Another weapon type, 5 more utilities, and a new class gimmick?

Actually, that’s exactly what we expect with future elite specs. The choice of which elite you run is a trade off. Its about making choices. The elite lines are a “package” that changes your class into something slightly more than what it was; however, you can only be one specialty with all that it entails. In the long run it “should” help keep some potential power creep issues in check, but we’ll see.

AliamRationem.5172:

Are they going to rework the old specs to feature the same?

I’m assuming you’re asking are they going to change the core lines to have some weapon or skill locked to them? So you can’t use that weapon and skill set if you don’t take it? I doubt it. They’d have done it with the revamp of the system, and from what they said when they introduced “specializations,” locking was something special to elite specs for assorted reasons.

Ahh, so they intend to add more “elite” specializations, which will be mutually exclusive? That makes more sense. With just the one it’s a bit awkward, since you lose out on a lot of power/utility by not taking the elite spec, even if one of the other specializations would be a better fit if only taking into account the traits themselves.

That should work, as long as it’s balanced properly.

It looks like the plan is to release a new Elite Spec for each profession upon the release of every expansion. Right now it’s kind of odd because there’s only one, but as more get released it’ll make more sense and actually be an incredible source of build variation

Honestly id rather they release elite specs in the store kind of like how rift sells classes in the store, that way we can get them all now and have more choices. Thats just my opinion though.

AliamRationem.5172:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

AliamRationem.5172:

Also, thinking ahead, what happens when the next elite spec comes along? Another weapon type, 5 more utilities, and a new class gimmick?

Actually, that’s exactly what we expect with future elite specs. The choice of which elite you run is a trade off. Its about making choices. The elite lines are a “package” that changes your class into something slightly more than what it was; however, you can only be one specialty with all that it entails. In the long run it “should” help keep some potential power creep issues in check, but we’ll see.

AliamRationem.5172:

Are they going to rework the old specs to feature the same?

I’m assuming you’re asking are they going to change the core lines to have some weapon or skill locked to them? So you can’t use that weapon and skill set if you don’t take it? I doubt it. They’d have done it with the revamp of the system, and from what they said when they introduced “specializations,” locking was something special to elite specs for assorted reasons.

Ahh, so they intend to add more “elite” specializations, which will be mutually exclusive? That makes more sense. With just the one it’s a bit awkward, since you lose out on a lot of power/utility by not taking the elite spec, even if one of the other specializations would be a better fit if only taking into account the traits themselves.

That should work, as long as it’s balanced properly.

Yes, it’s a bit strange right now with just one. But we’ve been told that they are working on the next expansion already, and they’ve told us that elite specs are something we’ll see with each expansion. I’d go find the super long specializations discussion they had on twitch when they first introduced the system where they explain their thought process on elites and only being able to use one at a time so on and so forth, but I’m lazy.

Ryou.2398:

Honestly id rather they release elite specs in the store kind of like how rift sells classes in the store, that way we can get them all now and have more choices. Thats just my opinion though.

No thanks, I’m not interested in paying piecemeal for specializations. That very much goes against the no pay-to-win philosophy that I love about GW2

I wish we could do cross-class stuff instead of taking an elite spec or consolidating core class (doing vanilla builds).

I would like to see a Core Elite Spec instead. That way, I can just switch from Warrior or Berserker.