Guild Wars 2

Serophous.9085:

Now, is anyone gonna comment on the engi wielding a two handed hammer (wtb mace so I can use The Fixer though ) with DRONES flying around him?

No need for a Mace. There’s nothing quite like beating people over the head with: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/File:The_Ugly_Stick.jpg

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

Still comes down to a choice between using something or not using something.

Choosing the new Stronghold PvP mode means playing it (obviously :P ), but choosing Conquest doesn’t mean “not doing any PvP”. Why should it be any different for the new profession specializations?
They are the same: we get a new option where we only had one, and you can’t use both at the same time. Using one over the other sounds very like the definition of “choice” to me.

It would only seems that way if they made the decision of adding skills/traits/weapons instead of replacing them. But after all the time they took to talk about the absence of vertical progression, it seems like a very, very far fetched hypothesis.

Shinzan.2908:

They might just be getting the system ready now so they can add more specializations later.

This is what I came to say. The PAX announcement made it pretty clear “this is where we’ve decided to take skill progression”, the single specialization is a start in this brand new project but I have no reason to doubt we will have more options in the future. Its very possible they were afraid to offer too much (even if its just two) right away so they can keep an eye on things like balance.

They were suggesting that taking on a specialisation will turn your character into something completely new with an entirely new playstyle, not just an upgrade to what you were before.

If true, then one per profession is very substantial, effectively adding ten new classes to the game, each individually far richer than what can pass for a ‘class’ in some modern MMOs these days.

What we have at the present time is far too vague to make a value judgement about.

In the video, he said that changing a specialization will change some of the core class mechanics.

Which means it very well could be your choice is original class or the one specialization. But I have to admit, I’d be disappointed if there weren’t at least two specializations.

I don’t see the words “completely different” on the Heart of Thorns info page.

In fact I see “transform your profession into something new” which is a claim that has a pretty low threshold to justify – since just having a new weapon meets that criteria.

I think this model should be called mini expansion.

1 prof. 1 specialization per prof. 1 region.

I mean it’s all good stuff but it’s less than I would traditionally expect so far.

TurtleofPower.5641:

I think this model should be called mini expansion.

1 prof. 1 specialization per prof. 1 region.

I mean it’s all good stuff but it’s less than I would traditionally expect so far.

You do not know how many zones there will be in the region. Nor do you know how big those zones will be.

We also don’t have any official statement that there will indeed only be one specialization per profession.

It is a bit early to claim that it is too little when all we have is basically the announcement that it exists.

lordkrall.7241:

We also don’t have any official statement that there will indeed only be one specialization per profession.

On the other hand I can look at a Class Team that can’t even manage one balance pass every six months and pretty much know that 1 specialization per class is all I should be expecting at HoT’s launch.

They may surprise us, but misplaced optimism is misplaced.

lordkrall.7241:

Aye, adding one spec per profession might actually be a rather smart idea. In order to see if the system works out well. It would be quite a waste to spend months making 2-3 specializations and then end up with it not really working well in the game at all.

Better to give it a try with one each and add more in the future if the system works out as planned.

This. Plus, if you are losing something to gain more, it really is a choice: the original or the change.

And it allows them to do a global test to see what they will have to fix before they release more specializations.

I still want at least two though lol

Nike.2631:

I don’t see the words “completely different” on the Heart of Thorns info page.

I do see something similar in the transcript of what Colin said on the livestream, however:

… a new heal skill, a new elite skill, a new set of utility skills, and most importantly, new profession mechanics that fundamentally change the way the ranger plays if they turn into a druid.

That could be anything from six slot skills, a new weapon skill, and losing access to command skills for something else, right up to whole swathes of skills getting replaced. and effectively ten new classes, as I said earlier.

What it’s guaranteed to be is more than FFXIV is getting in terms of classes from their expansion.

lordkrall.7241:

TurtleofPower.5641:

I think this model should be called mini expansion.

1 prof. 1 specialization per prof. 1 region.

I mean it’s all good stuff but it’s less than I would traditionally expect so far.

You do not know how many zones there will be in the region. Nor do you know how big those zones will be.

We also don’t have any official statement that there will indeed only be one specialization per profession.

It is a bit early to claim that it is too little when all we have is basically the announcement that it exists.

This.

There’s a metric ton of speculation being done off of something that’s not even up to the dignity of a leak.

I can see a case for there being only 1 spec per, but we simply don’t know, just like we don’t know that there’s only going to be 1 zone.

And again, just having a staff and its 5 skills will “fundamentally change” how a ranger plays. New ‘profession mechanics’ does seem promising, but the Ranger in particular is an example of how “profession mechanics” can be something you’d rather not have .

There’s what the words mean, and then there’s people projecting their all their hopes into them.

I’m sure it will be cool. I’m also sure people are building expectations completely unsupported by the information at hand.

Nike.2631:

And again, just having a staff and its 5 skills will “fundamentally change” how a ranger plays. New ‘profession mechanics’ does seem promising, but the Ranger in particular is an example of how “profession mechanics” can be something you’d rather not have .

There’s what the words mean, and then there’s people projecting their all their hopes into them.

I’m sure it will be cool. I’m also sure people are building expectations completely unsupported by the information at hand.

That goes both ways. These forums have a definite hate brigade, and there’s already some at work (not meaning you note) going on in depth about how its going to suck and it’s going to fail and how nothing worthwhile is going to come from it, etc. etc.

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People might be setting their expectations too high, but that’s why they’re going t0 release more information as it solidifies. We’ll know very clearly this information well before release. Telling people their expectations are crap because of a rumor started on reddit isn’t good practice.

Also wanting to state this as well the term spec means a different way to play a profession not a profession that gets stronger thus limiting the usage of the class. I’m gonna use WoW as an example where you spec your character it works the same way you don’t get stronger just the game style changes.

This is terrible. Even if it’s the start of a system it should be a bit more in depth than this. They could have at least offered the most demanded weapon sets. My mesmer doesn’t want a shield. He wants to recognized as a phantasm mesmer. No one picks ranger wanting to use a staff. They’d rather have a gun.

I’m fairly sure that we will be getting one specialisation per profession, but I’m cautiously optimistic that switching to a specialisation will result in a radical change, replacing whole swathes of your skills with new ones.

Even the lower bound for this is still huge, however — we’re getting a minimum of something like 130 new skills to play with out of this deal, and there really are current MMOs that could turn that into five full classes, using individually less rich skills into the bargain. Even here, it’s the equivalent of two classes.

Ferever.7014:

Also wanting to state this as well the term spec means a different way to play a profession not a profession that gets stronger thus limiting the usage of the class. I’m gonna use WoW as an example where you spec your character it works the same way you don’t get stronger just the game style changes.

That’s a different term. ‘spec’ in that sense is short for ‘specification’ (or ‘specify’ when used as a verb), and it basically refers to your choices of talents, glyphs, and whatever else it is that WoW characters get these days.

We’re getting something called ‘specialisations’, which are almost, but not quite entirely unlike FFXIV’s ‘jobs’.

So if I’m reading this correctly, there are new classes but you need to lvl up its respective core class first. With the druid we saw it still had a pet so possibly some mechanics are retained.

A little worried they might actually remove weapon options from the new specs to adjust balance between core and new ;-( could make some people rage about no longer useable legendaries.

I think you are WAY overestimating how much specializations alter the base class.

Nike.2631:

I think you are WAY overestimating how much specializations alter the base class.

if its only one specialization then they will have to alter base class quite a bit otherwise everyone would have zero reason not to become druids.

If everyone is “forced” to become druids because it offers Ranger class + more options that’s not specialization, that’s pigeon holed.

The reason not to become a druid could be the costs – off the top of my head -20% HP would be a reason to think twice about grabbing the new shiny.

It is possible to do game design and balancing NOT wrong .

Seriously – spend some time reading this thread. It’s pretty much their road map.

You can just browse the last few pages to get the Studio Design Director’s take-away.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. My guess is that the Specializations will be a way for Arena.net to give us classes flavored to each new region without having to justify a pair of entirely new classes each time like in Guild Wars 1. That’s why we’re getting Druid, because we’re going to Maguuma. That’s also why we’re only getting one right now. They’ll be different enough to give a new feel that you might prefer over the base feel, but not so different that they’re making entirely new classes every time.

He only way this might work is, if you refuse the specialization, you still get a new skill and ability in line with vanilla version of the class. Like recommitting to your original class.

Skips reading everything people posted here cause the spam is real

Just throwing my 2cents here, I would prefer it to be 1spec/prof. I would consider multiple specs per prof a major fail. Took them almost 3 years to balance what we have currently in game for PvP. I don’t even want to imagine the number of years required for balancing all of those specializations if each profession has multiple.