Guild Wars 2

I want to talk a bit about what masteries are to me, then I’ll put my suggestions down below. I want to hear what other people think about this too. Am I insane? I won’t know till other people tell me.

Masteries look to be what I’ve been waiting for. Didn’t get to try em out much in the beta cause I only got one point and unlocked gliding. But, I did read each of the masteries in each track and some of the later masteries in some tracks didn’t sound powerful enough to me. That is what I feel is the issue. It’s probably cause I haven’t played through the content that makes them relevant, but still I think that they are missing something big.

Masteries are supposed to be this mechanic that allows progression past 80 without a level cap increase. To me they are succeeding greatly at that. Another thing mentioned in the talk surrounding masteries is the fact that there is supposed to be a clear difference between playing the content without them, and playing the content with a whole track mastered. And right now, I think that is where some masteries are lacking. I’m mainly talking about map traversal in this post since I don’t know what role the other lore tracks are playing in the content and I haven’t seen all the content they are releasing. Gliding is the one that is doing well in this aspect. But, take the Itzel lore track for instance. It introduces the mushroom bouncing mechanic. After completing it what do I have? I can bounce on shrooms, get a couple vendors, eat some speed shrooms, eat some skill shrooms, fight a champion each day, and get to some previously locked areas. These are great perks, yes but they won’t change how I play the content much. Yeah, I can run faster. Already drowning in swiftness as is on my guardian. I will grab the gliding and bouncing shrooms asap so that stuff will be usable on the first play through. Skill and speed shrooms are great but the buff will probably last less than a minute. The Champion might drop some good loot but that’s not effecting map traversal, and unlocking new areas is awesome and will change the traversal (especially if they are shortcuts [lookin’ at Dark Souls]), but none of the masteries change the core mechanic of mushroom bouncing.
This also goes with my feeling that the final mastery in the track doesn’t really feel powerful enough. For instance: Adrenal Mushrooms “Learning to eat these mushrooms tweaks your adrenal glands, giving you a surge of adrenaline and instantly refreshing your skills” Yeah that’s cool and all and I’m looking forward to getting it, but to me that doesn’t feel like something that proves I’m a master of mushrooms. It doesn’t convey my skill with using mushrooms or how much effort I put into getting that mastery. See what I mean?

Regardless, I would like to see a seventh mastery called the Elite Mastery in each track that takes double plus a little more of the points that 6th one takes and grants some very very powerful mastery. It should take a long time to unlock and to master. It would act as a sort of finale/one final push I feel the mastery system sorely needs. It would be the mastery that proves without a doubt that a player has mastered that ability or set of skills. It should also give cool rewards upon completion of a challenge that requires said elite mastery to complete. It should definitely give and achievement and a title(that’s a given). But there should be a third or fourth reward on top of the title and achievement. Things like an exclusive glider skin or a frog backpack skin or some other passive perk should be included as well. My ideas are included in the mastery track section.

The final thing I feel is missing is: more requirements for unlocking the masteries on which I spend my precious few points. These are simple additions and would only take a little checkbox/achievement tracker type thing beneath the mastery itself to tell players what they need to do. I feel masteries should be obtained with a combination of three things.

The first two can be done side by side. So you can get credit for bouncing on mushrooms while doing events and adventures for the experience needed.
-You should have to train the mastery of your choice with experience.
-Use the previous masteries a certain number of times or in certain ways.
-After those two things are done it should unlock and allow you to drop points on it.
Only after all the points have been put in should a player gain the ability the mastery provides.

Edited: Re-worded some stuff to make what I’m trying to say more clear.

I’ve changed some of the current masteries to reflect my suggestions below.
Examples:
[Glider Mastery]

¹ Gliding Basics – (381,000 exp. to unlock)
¹ Updraft Use – (635,000 exp. to unlock)
² Lean Techniques – (1,143,000 exp. Use 5 updrafts, and glide for 2,500 meters to unlock)
³ Stealth Gliding – (2,413,000 exp. Use 15 more updrafts, and glide for another 5,000 meters to unlock)
⁵ Advanced Gliding – (4,191,000 exp. Use 25 more updrafts, and another 10,000 meters of gliding)
⁸ Ley Line Gliding – (8,128,000 exp. Complete a certain gliding race/obstacle course adventure on gold to unlock)
¹⁸ Glider Master – (~15,000,000 exp. Use 40 more updrafts, complete all the gliding adventures on gold to unlock.)
Become a master of the glider. Every maneuver is second nature to you, even diving. Dive to gain momentum and release to fly through the air faster and further than ever before.
(Putting all the points in gives the player an achievement for completing the mastery track, but they still must prove themselves a master of the skill for the title. Players must complete a gliding-based jumping puzzle that you can only reach with ley line gliding and requires diving to complete. This grants the jumping puzzle achievement and the mastery track title, as well as a dope mastery exclusive glider skin that changes your glider NOT your backpack.)

{I pulled this straight from the batman games. Not gonna deny that. Players would hold shift or control to dive and release to swoop forward and up for a second or two before returning to normal glide mode}

[Itzel Lore Mastery]
¹ Bouncing Mushrooms – (381,000 exp.)
¹ Itzel Language – (635,000 exp.)
² Blazing Speed Mushrooms – (1,143,000 exp. Bounce on 15 mushrooms. Talk to two Itzel merchants and see what they are selling to unlock.)
³ Itzel Poison Lore – (2,413,000 exp. Eat 20 speed mushrooms, talk to all important Itzel villagers in a village to unlock.)
⁵ Itzel Leadership – (4,191,000 exp. Bounce on 30 more mushrooms. Defeat all contenders in the Itzel fighting pits except the champion to unlock)
⁸ Adrenal Mushrooms – (8,128,000 exp. Eat 40 speed mushrooms. Complete the hardest mushroom-based race/obstacle course adventure on gold.)
¹⁸ Mushroom Master – (~15,000,000 exp. Use 50 bouncing mushrooms. Complete all mushroom based adventures on gold to unlock.)
Become a master of mushrooms. You can bounce with the best. Learn to position yourself perfectly for a second bounce that propels you higher into the air. Gain more horizontal momentum while jumping and learn to chain jumps from mushroom to mushroom.
(Players receive an achievement for completing the mastery track, but no title. They must prove they are a master for that. Players must then complete a mushroom based jumping puzzle that requires skilled use of the three mushroom types to complete. This grants the jumping puzzle achievement and mushroom mastery title, a mushroom mini, and highlights useable mushrooms on the player’s screen.)

{This is ripped from a mechanic in many platformers, most famous of which being Mario, called the ground pound. Mechanically, a player would jump on a shroom and when they reach the height of their jump arc they get another prompt to ground pound. This throws the player back at the same mushroom and gives them an even higher jump arc after hitting the shroom a second time. A player could also interact with a mushroom and move their character towards another after hitting it. They must be close enough and at the right height to chain to the next shroom, but a second prompt should appear to allow them to chain the animations. One could easily see a maneuver being: Ground pound to get the extra height, then move towards another mushroom and chain to the normally out of reach mushroom.}