Guild Wars 2

We’ve now all had a chance to see how the new Specialization system works first hand. We also know that only the third Specialization slot will be able to hold an Elite Specialization line, and it unlocks last. (Level 71, I believe.)

Having now seen it in action, and knowing about at least three of the Elite Specs, I have to ask: Why use the third slot, where a character is nearly finished before it unlocks?

Is there any downside to having it use the first slot instead? It seems to me that it would make leveling the character more interesting, as you’d have access to new things while leveling. It shouldn’t be unbalanced in any way, at least no more than a high level Elite Spec coming down to lower level areas would be.

I guess I can understand why they want you to have a level 80 to unlock access to it. It means that, in theory, you have a working knowledge of the base class and how it plays. (Though that’s not always true, some people can level to 80 without leaving the tutorial now.) Once it’s unlocked, though, why not allow its use at lower levels for any further characters of that class you care to create?

its mainly to prevent more then 1 one Elite specialization. This is moot because we only have one coming up; but all future expansions will be using Elite specs in lieu of a new class.

Elite specializations are meant to be endgame progression. Allowing new players to access them would increase the complexity and overwhelm them, plus they might cost more.

Assuming there’s actually a story behind them, I doubt you’ll even be able to unlock them before 80. Rather than simply making it available with HoT, I would expect that access to them would require completing a certain story step.

As for alts of the same profession, there’s really no reason to not make that unlock account bound, except for the fact that it’s meant to be endgame character progression. In the future, there may also be cases where an elite specialization simply isn’t possible prior to 80. For example, if they implement a new weapon type, they can save resources by making it for level 80s only.

starlinvf.1358:

its mainly to prevent more then 1 one Elite specialization. This is moot because we only have one coming up; but all future expansions will be using Elite specs in lieu of a new class.

I’m not asking for it to be in the first AND third slot. Just the first INSTEAD OF the third slot. So, we’d still only be able to equip one.

Healix.5819:

Elite specializations are meant to be endgame progression. Allowing new players to access them would increase the complexity and overwhelm them, plus they might cost more.

I’ve never liked “endgame progression”, especially when it’s something that’s endgame only because someone decided that it should be endgame without any lore or logic to back it up. It just disregards the leveling process, and encourages people to rush to max level for the “real game”.

Can they come up with some lore reason why you can’t be a Druid or Reaper before level 80? I’m sure they can, but I don’t think it would make much sense. Especially not with how they’re introducing the Revenant.

I do agree with the “it may cost more” part, though. If it does (and that track may very well cost more than the normal ones), then giving access to it to lower level characters might create some problems.

Palador.2170:

starlinvf.1358:

its mainly to prevent more then 1 one Elite specialization. This is moot because we only have one coming up; but all future expansions will be using Elite specs in lieu of a new class.

I’m not asking for it to be in the first AND third slot. Just the first INSTEAD OF the third slot. So, we’d still only be able to equip one.

Healix.5819:

Elite specializations are meant to be endgame progression. Allowing new players to access them would increase the complexity and overwhelm them, plus they might cost more.

I’ve never liked “endgame progression”, especially when it’s something that’s endgame only because someone decided that it should be endgame without any lore or logic to back it up. It just disregards the leveling process, and encourages people to rush to max level for the “real game”.

Can they come up with some lore reason why you can’t be a Druid or Reaper before level 80? I’m sure they can, but I don’t think it would make much sense. Especially not with how they’re introducing the Revenant.

I do agree with the “it may cost more” part, though. If it does (and that track may very well cost more than the normal ones), then giving access to it to lower level characters might create some problems.

I don’t think you need to have a “lore” reason when you can just have a logic reason.

As your elite skills are the most complex skills, so you learn them at a higher level, the elite specialization is a harder specialization.

Why does it take more time to be a brain surgeon than a physical therapist? Because one require more work.

Considering the elite specialization adds a new play style to each profession, one would think you’d learn the base profession and then add the additional knowledge. It’s like anything else. You can’t really specialize until you know the general subject you’re specializing in.

Well considering that you can’t unlock elite specializations until level 80, I don’t think it particularly matters which slot it is equipped to….

As for lore reason? The also logical reason above (credit to vayne) works perfectly. Namely that it is an “elite” specialization which would infer some sort of mastery of your core profession.

This is strictly a user interface thing. The third slot might as well be the first slot on the list. The only thing that matters is that you can only equip 1 elite spec.

Once you are level 80 the order of your specs doesn’t matter.

1st – 3rd slot are the exact same thing when you’re not talking about elite specs. Just like how each spec has 3 traits you can choose from, and they are all available at once so thinking of them as a progression is completely moot once you are at level 80. Instead of making trait choices a line connected with bolts of lightening they could’ve just as easily made it a circle with 6 points on it. 3 for the minor traits and 3 for the selectable traits.

Not sure why anyone would mention lore when talking about something that is strictly a user interface issue.

If you talk about lore regarding the trait selection window you might as well be trying to figure out the lore of the log-in screen or the lore of the mouse cursor.