Guild Wars 2

I am at a stage where I want facts, I’m frustrated, I’m wondering:

• Do my efforts to get some skill points and scrolls for easy levelling a new lvl 80 still have any use? If not: why did you change the daily rewards system in the first place?? Why do you punish me over and over for playing the game? Why do you say well this would be a nice way to use when you get to HoT and then change it? I did my best to do fractals and keep capturer so I have 80 ToK, in time otherwise well spend farming dungeons. Now I will get a character and I will need to level it to 80 again, I have 15 level 80’s, I have 9 map completions. Why can’t you just allow me to use my progression.

I want to CONTINUE the game not restart it.

I have soo much questions:

• Do your plans allow freedom of builds like before? you say you are using everything. I doubt so, but I cannot verify it. If not: I do not care for more traits, I want all my build(s) back. All 27 of them maybe a bit tweaked np, but not nerfed or balanced out or BS, I want my characters. Not a bunch of crap making me an instant newbie in a game I loved after I played it 6k hours.

I think it is good you will be removing stats from trait lines, but:
I build armors and gear SPECIFICALLY with trait line stats in mind
I bought rings and trinkets WITH these stats in mind.
My builds which were balanced after 3 years of experimenting will be TRASH!

1. Will I get 2+ years worth of laurels for new trinkets?
2. Am I allowed to change to new trinkets so I can rebuilt when you are done?
3. Will you add the missing stats?
4. Will I get to change all my ascneded armor/weapon pieces?
5. Will I get to change all my 30 exotic armors? and the 100+ weapons?
6. Can I rechoose my runes?
7. If there are big shifts, will I be able to correct these initial changes?

• Don’t go changing everything without decent feedback . I remember a NPE, a Trait change which was FUBAR, and now you are gonna shove this right through our holes?
• WILL YOU MAKE A ROLLBACK TO THE ORIGINAL SYSTEM IF YOU FUBAR IT AGAIN?
• Do we need to wait for 2 years again for traits function?
• Why am I worrying? Do I have a reason for it?

But I first need ALL CHANGES for HOT! You are fundamentally changing the trait system, the attribute system, and therefore balance, rendering all previous made assumptions invalid. ALL of them. GIVE’M TO US!
I do not want to wait till you say -nothing- on your next livestream…
I want a FULL LIST OF CHANGES! INCLUDING ALL TRAITS! For all of us!

You are changing the CORE of the game…. be very aware!

And whatever you do :
Do not THAUMANOVA this!

“But I first need ALL CHANGES for HOT! You are fundamentally changing the trait system, the attribute system, and therefore balance, rendering all previous made assumptions invalid. ALL of them. GIVE’M TO US! "

I doubt they are set in stone yet and anet will not want to release them until they are more confident in them.

If they are now posting this is it, they should make up their minds!

I really do not have any pleasure in seeing all little pieces atm. I want to see a definitive date and play the next part of a game.

I saw a new post: we will have an expansion a couple of months ago , and I moved 60 euro’s from savings to normal account.

It’s several months later, and I have seen beta, which was unfinished,
I have done stronghold which was ok.
I hear so much but I just want 1 thing: I want my download and play it.
I do not want all these sneak peaks, I just want them to deliver the wares. IN FULL.

I do not care for:" Well a healing spec ele can now do this ". I couldn’t care. Cause my healing spec ele does okay, but is not efficient due to the lack of neccesary trinkets, which will be delivered Soon™ when the living story will continue after the bugs have been worked out of HoT after the possible release at a date still to be conceived. Soon™

And If they do not know what they’ll do, it also means we cannot prepare and it will make any and all progressiosn other then saving up money USELESS, until Soon™…

I do not care for: “We’ll be changing all trait sets”, when I am unlocking traits for alts.
Why am I playing if everything I’m doing atm is startiung to feel like a giant waste of time?

You are changing the CORE of the game…. be very aware!

And whatever you do :
Do not THAUMANOVA this!

This really nails it for me. I no longer care much about HoT. Every thing they release is making me feel less and less like I want to be part of it. I preodered GW2 for launch. I probably will be quitting it when HoT goes live if the reviews don’t make it out to be bettert than what Anet are currently implying with their mashup of misinformation and frankly half baked sounding new stats system. Anet have exhausted their credit with me, and I no longer trust them to make playable content as they consistantly spoil most things they rework and donot consult their playerbase about what changes are actually WANTED in the game.

We’ll have to see what on the livestream tomorrow. Will it be a bunch of vague answers to our questions or will it be the usual Anet “we can’t discuss that at this time” PR talk we’ve gotten used to for months since the announcement.

I still see light, it flickers….

1. I like the fact the traits are going to be uncoupled from stats, as it will cause more varied builds.
2. I like the fact condition caps will be reworked, and conditions MIGHT actually be viable
3. I like the fact there will be more content
4. I like the fact I will see a new WvW map

I also have big doubts:

1. This is maybe, if it works out and Soon™ at a unspecified date.
2. I already had 40+% of the members of WvW guilds (3 of them all big SFR) say if they have to PvE to be able to play WvW they are gone. I see platinums and higher giving away gold and presents like there is no tomorrow, as they will not be needing it.

I really wonder if developers have any sense regarding feelings in the distinct groups of players

1. Dungeonmasters/Dungeoneers/Speedrunners wonder: Where are our dungeons?, How many? How difficult?
2. WvW-ers wonder: Why do we need PvE events in WvW? Why do they need to be gamebreaking? Why does this need to happen? To suggest an event which will breach gates is ludicrous. We want to play our version of PvP… When events of the living world entered WvW it was an outrage. If we need to play PvE to be able to get traits in WvW we’re gone! Guess it was not completely noticed.
3. PvE-ers wonder: What should we do now? New traits = New meta. how will condition dmg fit into this?

In the end nobody knows anymore….

So you better have something to say! and not SOON™!!

And whatever you do :
Do not THAUMANOVA this!

A few items that I think ANet was clear about that you seem to be confused about:
- In the announcement for tomorrows livestream they said they will show every single trait as it currently is. This will quell concerns about broken builds, and give plenty of time for us to give feedback if a trait we really want is gone.
- They said that skill point scrolls will be replaced with mystic forge materials. They did not mention tomes, those will still work like they always do.
- They mention that a character at level 80 with zero hero points from PvE will be able to use multiple builds. Sounds like you only need to run around doing hero points if you want to unlock 100% (also, note that there are hero points in WvW, so WvW people aren’t getting screwed).

As for my personal opinions, I love these changes. For a few reasons
- Clear improvement over NPE Trait acquisition. You can get the traits you want doing any content.
- More trait points. You get 3 grandmaster traits! This should open up extra builds.
- Streamlining seems like a good idea. There’s too many bad traits currently. Having fewer options will make them easier to balance. If there’s three compelling choices at each level I’ll be happy.
- All utilities will have a type. Extra synergy with traits is great.
- WE GET TO SEE EVERYTHING TOMORROW. A huge data dump to pour over and theorycraft. It’s going to be like christmas.

It kinda feels like they are dumbing things down once again to cater to the lowest denominator.

bloodletting wolf.2837:

It kinda feels like they are dumbing things down once again to cater to the lowest denominator.

They are making the UI and mechanics simpler, cleaner and more elegant, which is great for newcomers and casuals, but they are doing it by stripping away illusion of choice and troublesome features, and by making options more impactful and meaningful, and balancing easier.

Good game design is a lot more than an unreasonable number of filler options.

DiogoSilva.7089:

bloodletting wolf.2837:

It kinda feels like they are dumbing things down once again to cater to the lowest denominator.

They are making the UI and mechanics simpler, cleaner and more elegant, which is great for newcomers and casuals, but they are doing it by stripping away illusion of choice and troublesome features, and by making options more impactful and meaningful, and balancing easier.

Good game design is a lot more than an unreasonable number of filler options.

The illusion of choice? You mean like being able to wear tank armor with zerker trinkets/traits or the other way around? What troublesome features? All I see is Anet once again dumbing the game down for players that don’t want to take the time and thought to properly build their character. I will reserve my final judgment until it actually launches but if what they have done in the past is any indicator this is going to end up being a mess and screw over veterans.

I usually go for anti-casual but this is good on paper, if there is no content from any mode to support a combination it is as good as dead there is a limited amount of what can be useful. If they could also look at old weapons it would be a + also mechanic of the base professions especially necro.

Fun should equal to efficiency not no one is stopping me so I choose that one.

if they can change ‘6 adept traits but only 1 ever ever ever gets used’ with ‘I have to make a meaningful choice between these three because I only get one’, that’s only an excellent thing.

There wasn’t anything written anywhere about tomes of knowledge, it was all about scrolls of knowledge !!!

Those two items are NOT the same.

I fully expect Tomes to continue working even in HoT so if I choose to insta-level my revenant I can always do so.

Tomes not working is one change I would NOT accept !!!

Leveling was fun the 1st three or four times, I got nine level 80’s now.
I’ve done all the normal leveling I can stomach, for this game’s lifetime.

And what part of the TOS says that they won’t change anything drastically, that they won’t destroy builds? That your expensive choices today will be mailed to the appropriate departments with magically known reasoning for said choices (you chose them intentionally and not for the skin)? There have been people complaining that stat bonuses were tied to trait lines. And that several traits were useless. These changes are in direct result of those people. Are they supposed to not get what they want just because it negatively affects you?

If armor and/or weapon changes are drastic as a compensation for the loss of stat bonuses on traits, they have in the past for drastic armor changes, given the affected armors a drop down menu to choose the new permanent stat. So there may be something like that done, but not a guarantee.

That being said, I don’t blame you for worrying that your armor and weapon choices may be drastically different with the new trait system.

wow, such drama, many whines.

I get it, I don’t want all my progression to be lost either, but I highly doubt it will be this big of a problem. the pve meta will stay at zerk/assassin. I’m really glad for the changes because I hope mesmer will get his traits merged and shifted around in a way that allows him to be on par with other classes and not be dead last in terms of damage. as well as several other classes which now had to go into minor traits for dps losing out on another major etc. it always felt like a giant waste.

the pvp and wvw metas will probably shift around quite a bit, but exaggerations like ‘all my gear will be useless’ sound petulant instead of valid criticism. everyone will need some time to adjust, so yes, at the beginning lots or most people will try to recreate their current builds and will have 100 points missing here and there and instead get points in other categories. and yes, in wvw you might need to change 1-2 parts of your gear if you have a very specific goal in mind (i.e. getting crit chance somewhere. though who knows, maybe you instead get easy access to fury and don’t even need it.).

pvp will be hit the hardest due to the lack of armor mixing, but the funny thing is, you didn’t pay for that gearset. you can change your amulet any time you want. the meta will change and that’s a good thing.

if you were good at your class before, then you will adjust automatically, we had major changes before and adjusted (i.e. empowering mantras move. I hate it, but I still play my mesmer). if you think you won’t be able to play your class because some traits change, then a 100 points here or there won’t make a difference.

I only agree that I want more information, and we’ll get it, in time. I’m fairly confident they will list all changes before HoT goes live and they will test it to make sure the most obvious choices are balanced. and once it’s life there most definitely will be broken or overpowered builds and they’ll have to adjust those. if this new setup helps them fix/balance faster then I’m all for it. balance always took ages and reducing this time could only help. it will probably take at least half a year after launch until balance returns, and yes, that can be annoying. or, alternatively, you could just enjoy the time and try out new builds. soon enough it will be again at ‘only metabuilds’ for dungeons and a few different wvw and pvp builds which get played, while the rest is never used.

If they’d just bring back the amulet with jewel conecept in pvp it would fix nearly anything..

I will adjust to a new builds, because I need to. But I find my expereince is no longer valid for creating builds, I swapped builds on the fly when running, I will need to re aquire all this info. 3 years of experience with the game will help into making decent decisions BUT I do need some way of working it all out.

I do -NOT- run PvE meta builds on 10 characters, and have speed run builds on 5…
I do -NOT- run WvW meta builds on 13 characters, and use a roaming wvw build on 2.

Leaving me 8 chararcters which run build I like, but are not perfect, they are likely to get a HUGE boost, but I cannot foresee.

All support builds I run will no longer have toughness forced down their throats. or vitality, BUT they will be instantly be glass, Which may seem nice for a PvE perspective, but it is horrendous with WvW in mind where I NEED the toughness, and/or some vitality..
I have 8 sets of ascended zerk rings 2 sets of sinister, 2 sets of rampager,1 set clerics, 2 sets rabid, 1 set soldiers,1 set celestial, 1set nomads , BUT I can’t use several sets -fully- anymore as I will need toughness and vitality for the 7 character running WVW builds… at least to some degree…. which were rewarded in the trait lines, and will need to be buffered in trinkets as I have some ascended armors… and forging NEW ONES will be way to expensive.

I really wonder if things will change a lot and if builds going to loose a lot of modifiers. If I look at my elementalist I have +10% dmg modifier at least 8 (!) times when running a dungeon build with food in dungeon… This comes from VI traits in all 4 traitlines, scholar runes and sigil of night, slaying sigil and dungeon food…. I understand this needs some balancing, but I do not want to, I use water attunement, earth, lightning and fire. I use arcane skills…., and due to the fact i use skills from all trait lines I use attunement swap several times in combat…. I really do not understand why I should be bound to 3 trait lines atm… I think a fully capable elementlist should be using all 4 attunements…

I really want to know If I should invest into more rings for 15 characters to allow for my stats

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

I am at a stage where I want facts, I’m frustrated, I’m wondering:

I think it is good you will be removing stats from trait lines, but:
I build armors and gear SPECIFICALLY with trait line stats in mind
I bought rings and trinkets WITH these stats in mind.
My builds which were balanced after 3 years of experimenting will be TRASH!

1. Will I get 2+ years worth of laurels for new trinkets?
2. Am I allowed to change to new trinkets so I can rebuilt when you are done?
3. Will you add the missing stats?
4. Will I get to change all my ascneded armor/weapon pieces?
5. Will I get to change all my 30 exotic armors? and the 100+ weapons?
6. Can I rechoose my runes?
7. If there are big shifts, will I be able to correct these initial changes?

• Don’t go changing everything without decent feedback . I remember a NPE, a Trait change which was FUBAR, and now you are gonna shove this right through our holes?
• WILL YOU MAKE A ROLLBACK TO THE ORIGINAL SYSTEM IF YOU FUBAR IT AGAIN?
• Do we need to wait for 2 years again for traits function?
• Why am I worrying? Do I have a reason for it?
  *

This is my biggest concern. So many hours, mats, gold, skill points, etc. spent farming stuff to make my character balanced just right. It reminds me when they nerfed confusion on the Mesmer by 50%. My condition set build was useless, so I had to start over. But now, this threatens every single class and every build. Now, I have ascended armor, weapons, and trinkets for my characters. 8 characters I regularly play with. I’m very nervous.

They said in one of their posts that they will be buffing the stats of armor a lot, and that should make up for a large amount of lost stats, but that is total bull. The stats in my armor compliment the stats in my traits. If you get rid of the stats in my traits, then I will need to re-adjust my armor, trinkets, and weapons appropriately.

Don’t get me wrong, I always hated the idea that stats coincided with triats, and this will free up builds. Someone mentions implementing a reset where all your armors, weapons, and trinkets would have a drop down menu allowing you to choose new stats. I think that would be absolutely necessary. How to implement that with pieces that have sigils, runes, or agony things in them, hopefully, that could just be dumped into our inventory to sell or re-use.

This doesn’t even address the outrageous cost of extracting runes from ascended armor or weapons. Will I have to just take a loss on that as well if I have to put new ones in them? This is not whining, it is a very large, real concern.

Oranisagu.3706:

wow, such drama, many whines.

I get it, I don’t want all my progression to be lost either, but I highly doubt it will be this big of a problem. the pve meta will stay at zerk/assassin. I’m really glad for the changes because I hope mesmer will get his traits merged and shifted around in a way that allows him to be on par with other classes and not be dead last in terms of damage. as well as several other classes which now had to go into minor traits for dps losing out on another major etc. it always felt like a giant waste.
Which is purely a PvE view, as both PvP and WvW used more then power/precision/vitality… and there the system was way more balanced due to the need for traits other then +10% dmg times fill in number here
the pvp and wvw metas will probably shift around quite a bit, but exaggerations like ‘all my gear will be useless’ sound petulant instead of valid criticism. everyone will need some time to adjust, so yes, at the beginning lots or most people will try to recreate their current builds and will have 100 points missing here and there and instead get points in other categories. and yes, in wvw you might need to change 1-2 parts of your gear if you have a very specific goal in mind (i.e. getting crit chance somewhere. though who knows, maybe you instead get easy access to fury and don’t even need it.).
I hope this will change a lot, but WvW used quite a lot of defensive trait lines and people made builds so the were balanced. removing 200 or 300 vitality and gaining 74 is not a compensation is it? it will cause a 1.2-2.2k drop in HP, same for armor, nice I can trait hammer truly offensive now in PvE, but my build in wvw requires full respec…

pvp will be hit the hardest due to the lack of armor mixing, but the funny thing is, you didn’t pay for that gearset. you can change your amulet any time you want. the meta will change and that’s a good thing.
Bring back Amuet+ Jewel, done

if you were good at your class before, then you will adjust automatically, we had major changes before and adjusted (i.e. empowering mantras move. I hate it, but I still play my mesmer). if you think you won’t be able to play your class because some traits change, then a 100 points here or there won’t make a difference.
nice to lose 3000 HP PERMANENTLY in WvW and say: well it’s just a scratch. Of course I can fit in other trinkets but it is not like they come free or instant.

I only agree that I want more information, and we’ll get it, in time. I’m fairly confident they will list all changes before HoT goes live and they will test it to make sure the most obvious choices are balanced. and once it’s life there most definitely will be broken or overpowered builds and they’ll have to adjust those. if this new setup helps them fix/balance faster then I’m all for it. balance always took ages and reducing this time could only help. it will probably take at least half a year after launch until balance returns, and yes, that can be annoying. or, alternatively, you could just enjoy the time and try out new builds. soon enough it will be again at ‘only metabuilds’ for dungeons and a few different wvw and pvp builds which get played, while the rest is never used.
Yes, SOON, enjoy your ascended armor whie it lasts…

To the devs:

THANK YOU!

Weyrd.2794:

“But I first need ALL CHANGES for HOT! You are fundamentally changing the trait system, the attribute system, and therefore balance, rendering all previous made assumptions invalid. ALL of them. GIVE’M TO US! "

I doubt they are set in stone yet and anet will not want to release them until they are more confident in them.

I’m seeing this too, they haven’t released much and nothing is complete yet so I would wait.

Honestly I’m glad they did this, it’s time for them to fix the games problems and this was one of them that flew in the face of the so called diversity and roles that never existed in PVE in the first place post Nov 2012. I would say actually that I’d prefer that they remove ALL stats from gear entirely because they can do it there has been multiple precedents for such a thing and to make gear completely 100% cosmetic in the first place. If they truly wanted to live up to their no grind no gear treadmill philosophy that would be where I’d start that way people wouldn’t have an advantage just because they happened to have a lucky account that didn’t crap on them when RNG was in play.

That’s my thing. I think it would be an immense improvement personally if they made stats all level and on the characters themselves except for legendaries they can keep stats and keep them switchable. That would be fine.

The trait lines were long overdue however, and I don’t think they’ve gone far enough to remove the old problems like gear stats and the lack of roles and the grind we’ll see what happens next however.