Shared Training is my idea of a new mastery that would change the trait system.
I noticed that since the release of HoT all profession are beginning to share more types of weapons and skill types. So this mastery would work by having different classes share their experience in using skills and weapons types they all use.
For example Warriors and Rangers can use Longbows, Elementalists and Rangers(Druids) can use Glyphs. If 2 different classes in a team both use traits related to the same weapon/skill then shared training would kick in and they would gain additional buff to those weapons/skills.
So if the Warrior is using “Burning Arrows” and the Ranger uses “Lead the Wind” they now gain additional buffs by sharing their knowledge, so instead of having 20% faster recharge rate they instead both have 33%. Same goes for the Glyphs, if the Elementalist is using “Inscription” and the Rangers(Druids) is using “Verdant Etching” their Glyphs will also have 33% faster recharge rate instead of 20%. They could also gain some additional boosts apart from faster recharge rate, but I’m not going to invent every effect on the spot, if my idea were to be implemented I would leave the ballancing to ANET. But I will explain some other things like what happens if 3 or more classes share a skill/weapon type or what happens if 2 party members are same class.
Well if you have 2 Warriors in a team and they both use a Greatsword and both have “Forceful Greatsword” activated nothing happens – they are same class so they don’t have any knowledge to share among one another. However if we have 2 Warriors with “Forceful Greatsword”and a Guardian who has “Zealous Blade” then all 3 will have 33% faster recharge. Now if only 1 warrior is using “Forceful Greatsword” while the other isn’t then the one who isn’t has normal recharge rate. I’ll write it down to make it more simple:
Warrior A with “Forceful Greatsword” has 33%
Warrior B without “Forceful Greatsword” gains no benefit
Guardian with “Zealous Blade” has 33%
But now what if we have a Warrior, Guardian and Necromancer(Reaper) in the party and each is using their Greatsword related trait? Well the for ballance reasons Shared Training would give no additional bonuses in such a situation, however all 3 classes would need to have their trait activated to gain the Shared Training buff. Same goes if we go to the extreme and have a Warrior, Ranger, Guardian, Mesmer and Necromancer(Reaper) all use a Greatsword and each of them uses their Greatsword related trait. All 5 have 33% faster recharge and additional bonuses, if 1 of them does not use their trait they will have normal recharge rate while the other 4 have their bonuses.
So of course a party could just have 4 Warriors and 1 Guardian and all 5 have the buff too. However there are many other skill types and weapons that could create combinations with other classes for more powerful team builds.
In other words we would no longer select skills, weapons and traits based only on our role but also on our party formation.
And yes I know there is one problem – Engineers and Revenants share no skill type with anyone. But the shared Training could works with any “relatable” traits, like those that have effects when reviving, boon and/or condition bonuses, dodging, falling damage.
There would always be something a specific class can add to the team.
Right I’m done and ready to get ridiculed by others.