Guild Wars 2

One of the most loved announcements behind Heart of Thorns is, hilariously, a non-feature – the removal of the current, awful trait locking system in exchange for a new design that is (hopefully) better designed and more conducive to what Guild Wars 2 is going to be.

Now, one question that I don’t think has been touched on much is the matter of compensation. Is there going to be any recompense for gold spent on the current system? Will there be an incentive to go out and unlock traits now in preparation for the expansion? Will trait unlocks now even have meaning moving into the new system, assuming it even locks traits in any tangible way at all?

These are issues and should probably get some discussion so that the transition into the new system won’t be as controversial as the one from the original system to the current one.

I don’t think you’re going to get compensated for any gold you spent. That would be silly. You’ve gotten what you paid for, the use of the trait. You’re not being cheated of anything.

I seriously doubt it as you got what you paid for already. Besides, they didn’t (nor should they have even considered) give any compensation to people when they changed the armor repair from having a cost to being free. This is very similar.

I dunno, maybe they could take another leaf from gw1 and make it so the ‘profession trainers’ were scamming players for their gold and have been ‘appropriately punished’, refunding gold spent on traits. similar to the one forgotten who kept extorting players for gems.

Highly unlikely we’ll see refunds for gold spent. Nor should we, imo. They didn’t refund trait books when they phased those out either. So, in a sense, the precedent is already set.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Highly unlikely we’ll see refunds for gold spent. Nor should we, imo. They didn’t refund trait books when they phased those out either. So, in a sense, the precedent is already set.

it would still be hysterical to receive a letter in the mail ‘regarding the lawsuit against skill trainers worldwide’

Carlin Sanders.3587:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Highly unlikely we’ll see refunds for gold spent. Nor should we, imo. They didn’t refund trait books when they phased those out either. So, in a sense, the precedent is already set.

it would still be hysterical to receive a letter in the mail ‘regarding the lawsuit against skill trainers worldwide’

Oh yes, that would be hilarious…

Although, we could still see something like that and still not get a single copper back.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Highly unlikely we’ll see refunds for gold spent. Nor should we, imo. They didn’t refund trait books when they phased those out either. So, in a sense, the precedent is already set.

As a disclaimer, I’ve spent very little on the new system. As a liberal estimate, I’d say 10g, tops. It matters very little to me.

That said, this is not in the same league as the trait manuals at all. Trait manuals had a total value of just over 3g per character to unlock all traits. Under the current system, you could spend up to 43 gold and 360 skill points per character, if you were so inclined. No doubt there are some players who have done so, and they would have every right to be furious if that much gold and that many skill points were suddenly invalidated.

Duke Blackrose.4981:

Is there going to be any recompense for gold spent on the current system?

If there is, will there also be any recompensation for the time and effort I spent into unlocking the traits out in the world? What about all the time I wasted on my ele stalking the stupid grub in eb to unlock evasive arcana, or on my little ranger all alone against the eb ogre camp to unlock spotter? What about my mesmer that had to play the personal story to Fort Trinity to unlock deceptive evasion? How about the horrific pug my guardian had to endure in HotW story mode to unlock pure of voice?

What? You think there’s no reason for me to get recompensation for playing the game? Then please explain to me why you should be recompensated for using a shortcut that effectively makes you skip playing the game???

Duke Blackrose.4981:

As a disclaimer, I’ve spent very little on the new system. As a liberal estimate, I’d say 10g, tops. It matters very little to me.

That said, this is not in the same league as the trait manuals at all. Trait manuals had a total value of just over 3g per character to unlock all traits. Under the current system, you could spend up to 43 gold and 360 skill points per character, if you were so inclined. No doubt there are some players who have done so, and they would have every right to be furious if that much gold and that many skill points were suddenly invalidated.

I’ll be one of the slightly peeved players unfortunately. Having levelled perhaps 8 characters on the new system, gaining the traits for free would have been far too time consuming to be an option for me so I ended up spending what must be 100, perhaps 200 gold on traits alone.

I wouldn’t expect to receive any money back as compensation, but this change is being released much later than it should have been.

Rasimir.6239:

What? You think there’s no reason for me to get recompensation for playing the game? Then please explain to me why you should be recompensated for using a shortcut that effectively makes you skip playing the game???

He didn’t say that. In an ideal world, people who went the long way in getting the traits would receive the gold it would have cost to purchase it as compensation.

Not that any of us are likely to get anything, but in a sense we’re all in the same boat when it comes to how poorly the trait system was revamped due to high gold costs and some traits being an absolute pain to unlock through playing.

Duke Blackrose.4981:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Highly unlikely we’ll see refunds for gold spent. Nor should we, imo. They didn’t refund trait books when they phased those out either. So, in a sense, the precedent is already set.

As a disclaimer, I’ve spent very little on the new system. As a liberal estimate, I’d say 10g, tops. It matters very little to me.

That said, this is not in the same league as the trait manuals at all. Trait manuals had a total value of just over 3g per character to unlock all traits. Under the current system, you could spend up to 43 gold and 360 skill points per character, if you were so inclined. No doubt there are some players who have done so, and they would have every right to be furious if that much gold and that many skill points were suddenly invalidated.

Oh I’m sure there are many that have done so; however, that was their choice to make too. They could have gone out into the world and done at least part of the assorted tasks to reduce that cost.

Beyond that, it’s not like they didn’t get something for that cost. They have the use of the trait they desired. If they want a refund for that trait, then it should be removed and they should have to reacquire it under whatever the new method may be. Seems only fair from my perspective.

I’m not sure how much gold I’ve spent on traits personally. I’ve bought several, including a couple of the new grand master. I’ve also gone out and ‘earned’ several through the current acquisition method. I didn’t really keep track which ones came from where on which characters. shrug It wasn’t important.

Look at it this way — I bought the game at full price, just before the big sale. I don’t get a refund of the money I paid.

ekarat.1085:

Look at it this way — I bought the game at full price, just before the big sale. I don’t get a refund of the money I paid.

Depending on how long “just before” was, you probably could have gotten a refund, though you would have needed to start a new account. I’ve heard of them even refunding gem store purchases that have gone on sale the next day.

Obviously purchased traits however will not be refunded. They’ll also likely give a fair warning in the same way they did when they initially changed them. I doubt they’ll majorly change the system however and instead simply make them easier to acquire, like skill challenges.