Guild Wars 2

After reading the latest blog, I’m a bit excited that we’ll be getting a version of GW1’s dual profession setups.

• Guardians will have a Ranger secondary by way of Longbow and Traps.
• Necro will have Warrior secondary by way of Greatsword and Shouts/Stances (/speculations).
• Rangers will have Elemantalist secondary by way of Staff and spells (/speculations).
• Mesmers will have Chronomancer secondary (GW:Utopia canceled class).
• Engineer will have Guardian secondary by way of Hammer and summons.
• Etc.

It probably would have been so much better if we were able to select our own Specialization, instead of having it set per profession. At least this will open out more game play options.

Not really a valid comparison, because we’ve only seen two so far, and only DH looks like it’s giving ranger skills to a different class.

Chronomancer has Necro Wells, but is in no way similar to the necro.

And I doubt the Necro elite will be very similar to Warriors (hopefully they get some life-drain and strong power damage)

If you ask me, it’s more like ToR’s advanced classes than it is like GW secondary professions. It’s an expansion/upgrade to the existing professions in which they will be getting access to a new weapon, a few new skills, and a replaced profession mechanic, not access to the full skill set, attribute possibilities and cross-profession synergies possible in GW.

TheRealShaunsred.4928:

Chronomancer has Necro Wells, but is in no way similar to the necro.

Continuum shift/split is like an improved version of spectral walk/recal and flesh worm(mostly walk recal though).

Yup I definitely agree. If it was a specialisation, they would take one aspect already part of the class and push it to an extreme. As shown with the guard it was given things nothing to do with the class but suddenly makes complete sense if you think of it as simply dual professions.

I don’t think this gives any sense…

Chronomancer as Necro? why? because of wells? well is just a name describing skill mechanic (some AOE skill with over time effects), it doesn’t have anything to do with Necromancer…

Necro and Warrior? you don’t even know if greatsword will be melee, we could say it’s Necro and Mesmer, because ranged greatsword… or Necro and Guardian, because Guard can use GS too (and shouts)…

Ranger and Ele? because of staff and spells? so every caster is now ele, right?

Engineer and Guardian? because of hammer and summons? so Guardian is already Warrior and Necro, because of hammer and summons or?

this is just a nonsense, you just try so hard to find something what isn’t there… they are just making skills more consistent to work better with new runes, that’s all, same skill types doesn’t mean they are mixing classes, skill types doesn’t define a class, they define mechanic of given skill, so it’s easier to learn what it does, that’s all…

It’s not mechanically the same thing but it is GW2’s answer to dual professions. At least with specializations they can limit the level of customization in order to preserve balance among the professions. GW1 was so convoluted with the number of profession combinations and skills, achieving equal balance among the professions was nearly impossible back then.

That said the earliest roleplay comparison you can draw is with the way Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition reinvented the class system. You had the option of the Dual-Class or Multi-Class where you combined two or three professions into an equal hybrid. Then you had the option of the Class Kit where you could slightly tweak a base profession by incorporating specific elements of other professions or create new mechanics. For example in Dungeons & Dragons the Mage class had the option to be “kitted” into the Chronomancer or the Ranger class had the option to be “kitted” into the Justifier which is similar to the Dragonhunter.

Smooth Penguin.5294:

• Guardians will have a Ranger secondary by way of Longbow and Traps.
• Necro will have Warrior secondary by way of Greatsword and Shouts/Stances (/speculations).
• Mesmers will have Chronomancer secondary (GW:Utopia canceled class).

I think that’s more a matter of the Chronomancer being well designed, and the Hunter being badly designed.

Chronomancers got a shield, a weapon that isn’t strongly linked to any specific profession. They also got wells, but the definition of a “well” is something incredibly vague – what is it? An AoE effect that pulses? A lot of skills that AoE effects that pulse and they are not wells (including the mesmers themselves). Which means, the Chronomancers are able to use mechanics seen in other professions while keeping their own identity.

Hunters, in other hand, got a bow, a weapon that is strongly linked, thematically, to rangers. They also got traps, a skill type that is also strongly linked to rangers (despite not being exclusive to them). Traps are also far narrower a concept than wells – wells have a vague definition, but traps do not.

The result is that the Hunters feel like a Ranger rip off. Even the name, when you ignore the dragon-“high level” stuff, is basically a rip off – “hunter” is used in MMORPGs as the name of the archetype rangers belong to (just as “rogue” is used in MMORPGs as the name of the archetype thieves belong to).

We know Necromancers will get a greatsword. Many people speculate that they will also get shouts, and that the unique skill mechanic will be adapted so it powers an attack skill, much like adrenaline for Warriors. While it’s mostly speculation, it suggests that the Necromancer specialization will also be a poor warrior’s rip off, instead of being something with its own identity.

I hope the guy who designed the Chronomancer has worked on more specializations. But it feels like ArenaNet has revealed the best as the first one.