Guild Wars 2

This is what I think that masteries could be and I would love:

Example of a Raid Boss mechanics
Imagine this is an instanced raid for 15 players and there’s an enemy boss.

• He can cast an special attack that will throw 15 projectiles to us in an specific moment. That projectiles can’t be reflected by walls of reflect, feedback or other usual skills. That projectiles will also kill every player in 1 hit and they are really hard to dodge (or even impossible). The only way to stop that skill is by using a new skill that we learnt completing X in the magguma jungle and spending mastery points on it. That would give us a skill that would put a big green feedback on the enemy and would make us survive.
• Now imagine that the boss has a really nice armour and we can’t damage him unless we pierce through that armour. The only way to pierce through that is with a certain buff. That buff will be granted upon walking on an area that players can drop because it’s one of the new mastery skills. Same as the previous example, the abbility to drop that areas will be learnt from doing X event and spending mastery points on it.
• The boss might as well put a condition on us, a poison that can’t be cured with usual condition removal, and only players with the skill “cure special poison attack from this boss” can cure other players (not self).

Choose your role – pre-fight group management
With that 3 examples in mind, now let’s say Anet forces us to choose only 1 mastery skill at a time. You will need the green feedback but you will also need the areas to buff players so they can deal damage. Right? And what about the poison? You can’t do it all by yourself! You need a group of friends for it. Lucky for you, that won’t be a problem at all, there is 15 players in the place and you only need some to complete an special task.
You could choose 3 players for the task of curing poison (just in case they get it themselves as well or any of them dies), 2 players for the green feedback to avoid the wipe, and at least 4 for the buff area that will allow other players to deal damage.

• That makes a total of 9 players playing a Trinity Role out of 15 in a Raid fight.

Pros on this system

• It would totally remove the trinity problems by actually creating more trinities. Before the fight, the players would talk to each other and they can actually become anything since we can change masteries if we are not in-combat. Who will have the green feedback? me! And just like that anyone can do it. You don’t need to wait for an specific healer, tank or anything, anyone can become the important role.
• It would also makes events harder and challenging and not a zergfest anymore. No more easy shatterer fights.
• Players would actively choose if they want to be a healer (the ones that cure poison is like a healer more or less), a tank, an interrupter (green feedback) or any other role that Anet wants to deliver.
• Joining a guild would be more neccesary than ever. This is a social game after all, and you would need to communicate with the other members of the fight to make sure everything goes right.

Final thoughs
Later on I did read that masteries could be like WvsW buffs and I was really dissapointing because I interpretated masteries like the examples above.

What do you guys think about? Am I too far from what masteries will be? Colin, i’m also asking you! haha

Wow, that’s cool. I hope it will work like that . It would rock a lot because that would increase the dificult and the strategy.

I’m excited thinking about how it will work. >_<

I LOVE YOU EL REY MAKE ME A CHILD

Wowww. This is actually a brilliant idea. I would LOVE it if they did it like this.

So rather than having actual skill matter in the fight, it would be all about grinding abilities to ez mode the fight?

It sounds like fun but it negates a lot of the logic that Anet has built directly into the game, namely the lack of “trinity” and along with that the ability to break free of a “role” and be mostly self-sufficient. Also, there’s no raids.

Quells.2498:

It sounds like fun but it negates a lot of the logic that Anet has built directly into the game, namely the lack of “trinity” and along with that the ability to break free of a “role” and be mostly self-sufficient. Also, there’s no raids.

Bold part emphasis

Sounds good but how will Masteries apply to Revenants who have a class mechanic built Around changing the utilities and elite skills?

Quells.2498:

Also, there’s no raids.

There is no raids yet.

This is what Mike or Colin said in the PAX: New challenges way beyond anything you have faced before. Also the ultimate group challenge.
Yeah, they didn’t said the magic word, but I could easily expect something like raids with that statement.

Why do raids have to be instanced?!!! The same issues will still happen and mandatory “traditional” trinity is a no no especially since specialisations are supposed to add what we don’t already have. Improve the mobs is must like Silverwastes and conditions go through armor enough power favoritism.

Sagat.3285:

Why do raids have to be instanced?!!! The same issues will still happen and mandatory “traditional” trinity is a no no especially since specialisations are supposed to add what we don’t already have. Improve the mobs is must like Silverwastes and conditions go through armor enough power favoritism.

Raids need to be Instanced for the same reason fractals and Dungeons are.

It’s to create a controlled environment for PvE content, without uncontrolled inputs such as popular numbers in open world.

Elrey.5472:

Quells.2498:

Also, there’s no raids.

There is no raids yet.

This is what Mike or Colin said in the PAX: New challenges way beyond anything you have faced before. Also the ultimate group challenge.
Yeah, they didn’t said the magic word, but I could easily expect something like raids with that statement.

You mean like a world boss? Because that’s what it will be. Raids would not work in GW2 because there is no trinity. Sooner people accept this the better.

Knighthonor.4061:

Sagat.3285:

Why do raids have to be instanced?!!! The same issues will still happen and mandatory “traditional” trinity is a no no especially since specialisations are supposed to add what we don’t already have. Improve the mobs is must like Silverwastes and conditions go through armor enough power favoritism.

Raids need to be Instanced for the same reason fractals and Dungeons are.

It’s to create a controlled environment for PvE content, without uncontrolled inputs such as popular numbers in open world.

I don’t believe GW2 follows your logic. Just bring your usual squad/guild, bosses don’t really change based on numbers I see instanced as more videos to show speed runs. When I hear GW2 I think open community and group I just don’t see them going instanced way based on what they are aiming at. Dungeons and Fractals have a cinematic/lore aspect but we will see.

I dont like the idea of forcing masteries to be required for fights. They should be doable without, but at much greater difficulty.

“The boss might as well put a condition on us, a poison that can’t be cured with usual condition removal, and only players with the skill “cure special poison attack from this boss” can cure other players (not self).”

but if mastery system works like this way , u do realize that’s just a cheapt way to build another hard role with the cost – - -totally wiping out profession skills and traits To add this , you actually remove more stuff from gameplay wise

BrotherBelial.3094:

Elrey.5472:

Quells.2498:

Also, there’s no raids.

There is no raids yet.

This is what Mike or Colin said in the PAX: New challenges way beyond anything you have faced before. Also the ultimate group challenge.
Yeah, they didn’t said the magic word, but I could easily expect something like raids with that statement.

You mean like a world boss? Because that’s what it will be. Raids would not work in GW2 because there is no trinity. Sooner people accept this the better.

dungeons would not work in gw2 because there is no trinity…………
logic????

as long as bosses dont have extremely high autoattack damage and on top of that high attack speed tanks wont be needed.
and healers arent needed because people can heal and defend each other with waterfields, personal heal skill and defensive boons.

raid bosses arent interesting because they are bound to a trinity, they are interesting, challenging and difficult to beat because of their mechanics.

the sooner people like you accept that they are wrong the better.

Good idea. There are quite a few frameworks they can work on to elaborate GW2-styled RAIDS (big group challenges). +1

NoTrigger.8396:

BrotherBelial.3094:

Elrey.5472:

Quells.2498:

Also, there’s no raids.

There is no raids yet.

This is what Mike or Colin said in the PAX: New challenges way beyond anything you have faced before. Also the ultimate group challenge.
Yeah, they didn’t said the magic word, but I could easily expect something like raids with that statement.

You mean like a world boss? Because that’s what it will be. Raids would not work in GW2 because there is no trinity. Sooner people accept this the better.

dungeons would not work in gw2 because there is no trinity…………
logic????

as long as bosses dont have extremely high autoattack damage and on top of that high attack speed tanks wont be needed.
and healers arent needed because people can heal and defend each other with waterfields, personal heal skill and defensive boons.

raid bosses arent interesting because they are bound to a trinity, they are interesting, challenging and difficult to beat because of their mechanics.

the sooner people like you accept that they are wrong the better.

And most machcanics work well because of the trinity. World bosses are GW2 version of raids. They are fun, but regarded by most as easy. And it’s mostly down to ANet can only use certain machcanics dew to the lack of trinity. An this is a great thing as everyone can try it. Raids inherently split the player base. And we all know why that is. It’s bad enough when you see people saying you need 5KAP before they’ll let you join a dungeon party. And I personally think raids would be a bad move for the community.

BrotherBelial.3094:

NoTrigger.8396:

BrotherBelial.3094:

Elrey.5472:

Quells.2498:

Also, there’s no raids.

There is no raids yet.

This is what Mike or Colin said in the PAX: New challenges way beyond anything you have faced before. Also the ultimate group challenge.
Yeah, they didn’t said the magic word, but I could easily expect something like raids with that statement.

You mean like a world boss? Because that’s what it will be. Raids would not work in GW2 because there is no trinity. Sooner people accept this the better.

dungeons would not work in gw2 because there is no trinity…………
logic????

as long as bosses dont have extremely high autoattack damage and on top of that high attack speed tanks wont be needed.
and healers arent needed because people can heal and defend each other with waterfields, personal heal skill and defensive boons.

raid bosses arent interesting because they are bound to a trinity, they are interesting, challenging and difficult to beat because of their mechanics.

the sooner people like you accept that they are wrong the better.

And most machcanics work well because of the trinity. World bosses are GW2 version of raids. They are fun, but regarded by most as easy. And it’s mostly down to ANet can only use certain machcanics dew to the lack of trinity. An this is a great thing as everyone can try it. Raids inherently split the player base. And we all know why that is. It’s bad enough when you see people saying you need 5KAP before they’ll let you join a dungeon party. And I personally think raids would be a bad move for the community.

no trinity = even more interesting mechanics. just saying. you can copy paste every mechanic from other MMOs into gw2 and make it work. except afk facetank patchwerk style bosses.

and raids would be a good move for the community. because there would be a reason for guilds to exist in PvE.

“I’d Like it” is in no way the same as “A good idea” (or admittedly a bad idea).

Every sign in every point of the development of GW2 has been pointing away from traditional instanced raids, and the failures of Wildstar probably aren’t making the concept any more attractive.

It’s not impossible of course, but I wouldn’t bet on it, and no amount of “What’s good for me is good for the community” projection will change their decision.

I wouldnt say forcing everyone to play with people they dont know for challenging content is a good idea either. I dont play MMO’s to play with strangers. I play them to play with friends and guildmates. I really hope we have something which isnt more Wurm and Tequatl. Because there are a lot of players that like playing with just their small groups or guildmates.

Wildstar had good raids. It was the rest of the game which caused the game to fail.

spoj.9672:

I wouldnt say forcing everyone to play with people they dont know for challenging content is a good idea either. I dont play MMO’s to play with strangers. I play them to play with friends and guildmates. I really hope we have something which isnt more Wurm and Tequatl. Because there are a lot of players that like playing with just their small groups or guildmates.

Wildstar had good raids. It was the rest of the game which caused the game to fail.

I’ll absolutely admit I’m speculating, but their treatment/reaction with dungeons only reinforces my position I think.

Maybe as a copromise position, they’ll mastery-gate content with the lore masteries instead of the skill masteries. If there’s a world boss that you need to speak old High Hylek to get to, which is then made easier by the combat masteries, it’s a potentially great balancing point between the players needs.

You’re making content then that people need to specialize to get to, which gives early on exclusivity, and the increased difficulty of doing the content without the combat masteries should please the racing/hard private content types….

BUT It also means more and more people will have access as time goes on, and more and more people will have the skills that make it easier.

~~~

So, under that theory, they both keep the things that the raid people really want and make it so that as the encounter ages near-universal accessibility is maintained.

Yeah thats kind of what i am expecting. But im not really a fan of it simply because after a certain point i am going to have to deal with strangers coming in and influencing the content I want to experience. As someone that is looking forward to new challenging encounters to solo. If its all open world, this is going to be very frustrating for me.

I look at it as a ’what’s going to please the most people and alienate the most people?’ Trying to leave my own feelings out of it, I’m guessing that the desire to do this stuff without interference is going to be a lot less than the desire to get people into the content.

Well it hardly requires much effort to implement methods for both sides to get what they want. I dont think this is an issue that should be us or them.

spoj.9672:

Well it hardly requires much effort to implement methods for both sides to get what they want. I dont think this is an issue that should be us or them.

My argument would be that any instanced environment is a MUCH larger investment and has a natural exclusionary effect.

They have, to please the competitive/raid eager players, to build an entirely new environment, and substantially QA it so that exploits are at a minimum or nil.

Additionally, it can all be a bust. So few people run aetherpath that even with reusing elements of the TA map and only designing the encounters, they likely think of it as somewhat a bust.

The other thing I’d argue is that the goals are mutually exclusive. The difference between accessibility of instanced and non-instanced multi-group content is simply enormous, just due to the logistics of building a raid. Instancing off raid content is basically a huge barrier for most of the players, so unfortunately, I think that your needs and the needs of the players in the far situation are in fact mutually exclusive in this specific case.

~~~

Edit: I’d go back to the aether thing too, I’d bet money that that experience taught them not to listen to the ‘hardcore dungeon players’ words as compared to their actions. They gave them harder content with some exclusive achievements and skins and the participation is abysmal.

There are many reasons that people give for why nobody does it, but if I were their producer it would look like a pretty clear case to me.

The reason aether failed was because they didnt listen to us. Weve given plenty of good feedback based on that disaster. So they should now know not to make that mistake again. We asked for new explorable dungeons. They removed one and gave us a story dungeon with the difficulty of an explorable path to replace it (Pretty obvious removing a path is going to cause bitterness). Only that particular story dungeon had even less replayability than the original ones due to the timegates, unskippable cutscenes and fun first time only puzzles. And yes it is a pretty clear case as to why it failed. It was poor design and implementation.

So on top of causing bitter resentment for taking away a path they also failed to implement a truly replayable and rewarding replacement. Also weve given loads of feedback to fix aether so it becomes more replayable and they still havent touched it. All it takes is a few skip buttons and making some doors open while dialogues plays instead of after it finishes. And a slight reward buff.

Also they dont have to create new instanced environments. They can simply add a private instance system. Or some kind of lock out using the mastery system to prevent unwanted players from joining the fight at any time. For example a mastery skill is required to open a door to a boss but once a group enters noone else can enter after it closes. So basically people have a small window to enter a fight and then any late arrivals have to wait till the fight is over and try the next attempt. Theres nothing to stop someone sneaking in. But it allows groups atleast some mid fight protection from unwanted interference.

I’m often left with the idea (and not just in MMO’s) that what players think they want and claim to want and what they actually will enjoy are very very different. This isn’t something you can safely say to any individual directly of course, but as a general rule I think it’s accurate to say there’s a gap there.

~~~

On the private instances, leaving technical and timer questions aside, in one sense it would be win-win, but I think that’s another philosophy thing, so I don’t expect to see it. It would still make it far to easy to go to ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’, so I suspect they’ll skip it.

And again, it’s a system that benefits people in guilds that can make the private instances at the cost of those that can’t. It’s benefit to one group, at the cost to the other.

~~~

Still, I should apologize we’re going offtopic into an area of discussion that’s been seriously beaten like crazy over the course of the last several years. As far as the group content in HOT goes, I wouldn’t expect private instances or ‘make your own’ instances.

Although, gotta admit, there’s also guild hall functionality, maybe they’ll have a “Danger Room”/Boss arena. ><

Gyler.8150:

So rather than having actual skill matter in the fight, it would be all about grinding abilities to ez mode the fight?

this, no more need to discuss masteries that would work like the op’s suggestion.

spoj.9672:

snip

Also they dont have to create new instanced environments. They can simply add a private instance system. Or some kind of lock out using the mastery system to prevent unwanted players from joining the fight at any time. For example a mastery skill is required to open a door to a boss but once a group enters noone else can enter after it closes. So basically people have a small window to enter a fight and then any late arrivals have to wait till the fight is over and try the next attempt. Theres nothing to stop someone sneaking in. But it allows groups atleast some mid fight protection from unwanted interference.

I feel this would be a bad move. and new open world boss will probably be on a timer. So if you miss the start you have to wait till the timer resets. And let’s face it. When the expansion launches people will be at diffrent places. Locking content behind having to do something with no way around it is bad. If a mastery is needed to gain access. Then the raid/world boss should be in a place where you would need it to get there. Not a mastery that you might not have yet but have the boss where everyone can get to. I personally feel that world bosses are the way to go. As a lot of people get to try it and learn how it works at the same time. Locked raids will have players only wanting to group with people who have already done it. Leading to people who get restricted from doing it, we all know this happens, is happens with dungeons. I personally don’t want to pay for the expansion and then be limited by other people on what I can play in the expansion because a small number of people want raid content for them. If people want raid content so much they should beg ANet to make it in to a guild challenge. That way, if you want to do it, join a big guild and have at it.

BrotherBelial.3094:

spoj.9672:

snip

Also they dont have to create new instanced environments. They can simply add a private instance system. Or some kind of lock out using the mastery system to prevent unwanted players from joining the fight at any time. For example a mastery skill is required to open a door to a boss but once a group enters noone else can enter after it closes. So basically people have a small window to enter a fight and then any late arrivals have to wait till the fight is over and try the next attempt. Theres nothing to stop someone sneaking in. But it allows groups atleast some mid fight protection from unwanted interference.

I feel this would be a bad move. and new open world boss will probably be on a timer. So if you miss the start you have to wait till the timer resets. And let’s face it. When the expansion launches people will be at diffrent places. Locking content behind having to do something with no way around it is bad. If a mastery is needed to gain access. Then the raid/world boss should be in a place where you would need it to get there. Not a mastery that you might not have yet but have the boss where everyone can get to. I personally feel that world bosses are the way to go. As a lot of people get to try it and learn how it works at the same time. Locked raids will have players only wanting to group with people who have already done it. Leading to people who get restricted from doing it, we all know this happens, is happens with dungeons. I personally don’t want to pay for the expansion and then be limited by other people on what I can play in the expansion because a small number of people want raid content for them. If people want raid content so much they should beg ANet to make it in to a guild challenge. That way, if you want to do it, join a big guild and have at it.

Im not talking about world bosses. Im sure anet realises world bosses dont provide real challenge as a single player has very little impact on the fight.

Honestly though, Spoj, I’m not sure why you think your (frankly rather unusual) needs are something Anet would possibly think are something worth any non-trivial amount of dev work.

I’m not trying to be nasty, and maybe I’m misunderstanding, but ‘extrmeely hard large group content that can be done privately with smaller groups’ doesn’t hit a very large demo.

Im not sure what you have against small group content. And im not sure why you feel the need to devalue my opinion at every turn. Besides anet have stated HoT will bring new challenging group content. Now we dont know for sure what that means. But when they say “group” I think of party sized. Im just expressing what I think would be the minimum of what I hope they have planned. If you notice im not actually demanding them to make any of my suggestions happen. Im simply speculating on what we might get. Call it hopeful optimism that they are finally giving players like me some stuff.

Also I dont see whats unusual about about wanting content that isnt zergable and is done just by smaller groups. Theres a very large amount of people that like that kind of content. Proof can be seen by how many people still do dungeons and fractals despite them being rather neglected.

I’m not trying to be nasty, and maybe I’m misunderstanding, but ‘extrmeely hard large group content that can be done privately with smaller groups’ doesn’t hit a very large demo.

You are misunderstanding me. Im not saying tailor it to small groups. Im saying just give guilds private instance options. This still tailors it for the full demographic world bosses are already aimed at but in addition allows private groups to tackle it without pug interference (thats increasing the demographics the content is aimed at with only a minor additonal mechanic). People think you need huge numbers for tequatl and Wurm. But id love to try it with say 10 or less per wurm head. Unfortunately we cant stop pugs joining.

Thats the misunderstanding then!

And I apologize, my writing style is kind of aggressive ><

Private small-group content is a very different beast than large group content, and a lot of the potential problems go away in that case.

I’m not a fan of private guild instances though, it’s very anti-community. That being said, I’m getting a stronger and stronger feeling that something related to this will be in the guild hall stuff, so maybe they will do it.

It seems a natural extension of the kind of chalenges they want to put into the halls, it’s just whether they’re wiling to break what reads to me as their stand on private instances (which seems to be ‘no for a multiple of technical and social reasons’) in order to make richer guild functionalty.

~~~

As to why I denigrate your positions, it’s an exercise in how I look at these things. I try my kitten dest to do it to myself too. In my case, I’m always trying to ask *"If I get out of my own shoes and look at it as a member of the development team, especially a high level designer or a producer, how is this going to look to me?"

Leaving aside raids, I’m definitely amongst those that would like to see a ton more small-group content. I make it a point to try to separate what I want from what the game needs, because they’re different.

Of course it causes trouble when I try to apply that kind of logic to other players, because it comes off as “Well your opinions don’t matter!” That’s not really my intent, I think the trick of stepping out of our own POV’s is key to making these discussions useful and interesting.

If the players wouldn’t want raid with roles and such… Tequatl wouldn’t die every single time. The torrets wouldn’t be used and the people wouldn’t take that role.

It’s working and it’s working flawlessly almost all the time. The reason that it does work is because the reward is good enough. If Anet put something like my examples (remember that were only examples, and it could be just 1, not 3 of them in a fight) and they add a good reward, i can guarantee you that it will work. And I bet my account on that.

Oh yes, we’re definitely getting acclimated to raids, I like teq, I also like greater jungle wurms, but there are issues with that in an open instance. Which is why I really like that guilds can do them at their own time, via a super expensive, influence-wise, guild mission thing. i hope the new maps also have such features.
As for the “raids” themselves, I don’t think role will really matter too much, but rather, more importance on groups doing tasks to lead up to boss(es).

Horrible. Just horrible.

‘Mastery’ should mean more than “I spend this point to do this one extremely narrow, specific thing that has one use in one fight and does me absolutely zero good anywhere else so that I’m forced to find thirty-nine other guys and spend an hour coordinating who takes what 98% pointless skill to clear this one boss.”

I’m already put out with how many boss encounters we have that boil down to “the weapons you’ve trained with for the entire game are useless against this boss’ armor/shield, but here! Take these SPECIAL ROCKS something drops and huck them at his face and that shield will come down in no time!” The point of the Mastery system and this hardcore challenging content should be mastery - learning how to use your tools, earning powerful new tools, and actually developing the talent and ability to cope with hard, unforgiving enemies.

The concept of “Pull Lever A to activate Environmental Weapon B so as to disengage Boss Shield C, while ensuring that Field D is in place to stop Boss Wipe Attack E” is not challenging or masterful. It’s insulting.

DevilLordLaser.8619:

Horrible. Just horrible.

‘Mastery’ should mean more than “I spend this point to do this one extremely narrow, specific thing that has one use in one fight and does me absolutely zero good anywhere else so that I’m forced to find thirty-nine other guys and spend an hour coordinating who takes what 98% pointless skill to clear this one boss.”

I’m already put out with how many boss encounters we have that boil down to “the weapons you’ve trained with for the entire game are useless against this boss’ armor/shield, but here! Take these SPECIAL ROCKS something drops and huck them at his face and that shield will come down in no time!” The point of the Mastery system and this hardcore challenging content should be mastery - learning how to use your tools, earning powerful new tools, and actually developing the talent and ability to cope with hard, unforgiving enemies.

The concept of “Pull Lever A to activate Environmental Weapon B so as to disengage Boss Shield C, while ensuring that Field D is in place to stop Boss Wipe Attack E” is not challenging or masterful. It’s insulting.

This summarizes my feelings pretty well.

DevilLordLaser is spot on.

DevilLordLaser.8619:

Horrible. Just horrible.

‘Mastery’ should mean more than “I spend this point to do this one extremely narrow, specific thing that has one use in one fight and does me absolutely zero good anywhere else so that I’m forced to find thirty-nine other guys and spend an hour coordinating who takes what 98% pointless skill to clear this one boss.”

I’m already put out with how many boss encounters we have that boil down to “the weapons you’ve trained with for the entire game are useless against this boss’ armor/shield, but here! Take these SPECIAL ROCKS something drops and huck them at his face and that shield will come down in no time!” The point of the Mastery system and this hardcore challenging content should be mastery - learning how to use your tools, earning powerful new tools, and actually developing the talent and ability to cope with hard, unforgiving enemies.

The concept of “Pull Lever A to activate Environmental Weapon B so as to disengage Boss Shield C, while ensuring that Field D is in place to stop Boss Wipe Attack E” is not challenging or masterful. It’s insulting.

+1 /15charrs

DevilLordLaser.8619:

Horrible. Just horrible.

‘Mastery’ should mean more than “I spend this point to do this one extremely narrow, specific thing that has one use in one fight and does me absolutely zero good anywhere else so that I’m forced to find thirty-nine other guys and spend an hour coordinating who takes what 98% pointless skill to clear this one boss.”

I’m already put out with how many boss encounters we have that boil down to “the weapons you’ve trained with for the entire game are useless against this boss’ armor/shield, but here! Take these SPECIAL ROCKS something drops and huck them at his face and that shield will come down in no time!” The point of the Mastery system and this hardcore challenging content should be mastery - learning how to use your tools, earning powerful new tools, and actually developing the talent and ability to cope with hard, unforgiving enemies.

The concept of “Pull Lever A to activate Environmental Weapon B so as to disengage Boss Shield C, while ensuring that Field D is in place to stop Boss Wipe Attack E” is not challenging or masterful. It’s insulting.

I agree with your assessment, but I think that the basic kernel of the OP’s idea has potential, though it would need to be designed with your point in bold. One of the examples we have already been given for masteries is being able to tear off the bark of powerful Mordrem. As long as the mastery mechanics are broad enough to what people are doing anyway (e.g. hang-gliding, mushroom hopping, bark-ripping, etc.), then there’s room to turn these into interesting dungeon mechanics that diversify combat roles in unique ways. This is not necessarily something that I want, but I could see how . My major critique to the OP is the assumption that this should become a new trinity, as if three was the magic number. Why a trinity? Why not just two combat roles? Why not four, five, or six? Or how about just one person who is capable of performing this mastery?