Guild Wars 2

So we just got hit with the big bertha of teasers and while I think it’s all genius and about time that we had these kind of updates, it brings up an issue that I’ve had for a while. We don’t know everything yet and there’s obviously more to come with in the Ready Up, but the one thing that concerns me is. . .

PvP amulets, as always. So if we’re heading towards separation of trait lines and stats, what’s going to happen to PvP amulets? The easy answer is the same as PvE, where the amount of stats given by each amulet is increased like it will be with PvE armor. But that doesn’t help my stat distribution. In PvE we can mix ‘n match individual pieces of different stat types but PvP is obviously more limited, especially since we got rid of the jewel system. PvE won’t have this problem but PvP relies on being able to balance your stats with your trait lines and the amulet you choose.

Our diversity will revolve around the diversity of the amulets, of which we don’t even have all of the stat distribution types from PvE yet. Even if we did, is that enough? If dreams came true we’d be able to customize amulets, not that difficult seeing as amulets stick to a straightforward setup with a couple different tiers of values that can only exist in certain ways. Assuming that will never happen, I wouldn’t be surprised to see an increase in celestial play for people that want compromise and distributed stats.

more below, don’t get your kittens in a knot

But is limiting stats like this a bad thing? Well I’m excited to see what happens because limiting doesn’t have to be kittenuming we’re onboard, a build’s role will revolve more around what amulet they choose. Taking a look at something like burst guardian, a normal setup runs 0/1/6/6/1, giving 300 ferocity, toughness, vitality, and healing power. And is normally run with a zerker amulet. Assuming the trait points are just pushed over to the amulet, the build would end up trading multiple defensive stats for offensive stats and put more meaning into the decision to run an amulet we’ve labeled with the word ‘berzerker’. By instead running valk, an amulet that compared to zerker trades an offensive stat for a defensive stat, you might expect these two types of medi guards to play differently once more of the stats are coming from the amulets. Right now we have a decent number of amulets, some of which are kinda meh, but only a few of them are used popularly. I think after HoT we’ll see some more build diversity specifically because of limitations. A shout guard running cleric’s used to hit like a summer breeze because of the same 0/1/6/6/1 (or similar) distribution but will we see more of those defensive stats instead in the power minor stat coming from the cleric ammy?

So before anybody goes crying to their kittens, it might actually be worth trading our ability to balance trait and amulet stats because we don’t really factor in what stats we’re getting from traits as much as we think we do. We choose traits because we want to use a certain set of utilities or weapons. As long as we have quality amulets, it’ll all be fine! He says in a wavering tone

But now that that’s out of the way we can get to one of my actual problems. We all have trait lines that involve stats not given by any of the current or foreseeable PvP amulets. Namely condition duration, boon duration, and the stat pertaining to our profession mechanic. This problem applies to both PvE and PvP. What’s happening to these? Poof? Adiós? Say?nara? I don’t particularly care much, a lot of times builds end up with like ~5% of some of these things and it feels useless anyways.

Hopefully we get some more info from the Ready Up but it seems like the focus is elsewhere. Any speculation is welcome, and if any dev wants to comment on if the above is what direction PvP wants to be taken in then by all means.

I make this thread because you know the meta lemmings are THIS close to throwing themselves off the cliff

Don’t forget about that AMA ;o
PvP-focused specializations questions thread