Guild Wars 2

I am afraid that the specialisations will backfire and actually limit my experience. I main an Ele which is a master of versatility and it looks like that the specialisations will offer less gameplay options for me. What I wanted is something that expands the abilities of my class and it sounds like they’ll just limit them because we get only ONE specialisation with HoT release. Thoughts?

I’m a little concerned about this too given the continuous attempts to ‘balance’ the various classes. Honestly, anyone who doesn’t expect certain issues to be overpowered at launch, and then get nerfed to the ground later, hasn’t had much experience playing MMOs.

As far as abilities being limited in game play, we don’t know. But I see where you’re coming from. Woodenpotatoes has told us certain traits will get nixed if we specialize.

Don’t know how accurate that is, but he’s been on the ball so far. Only when we have hands-on experience will we know for sure.

But, on the ranger forefront, I’m not keen about seeing tons and tons of druids either.

all things point towards specializations being an alternative to the base class, not an upgrade. you can still remain an elementalist, or you can specialize into whatever comes for eles, earn some new tricks, and lose some old ones.

BrunoBRS.5178:

all things point towards specializations being an alternative to the base class, not an upgrade. you can still remain an elementalist, or you can specialize into whatever comes for eles, earn some new tricks, and lose some old ones.

I don’t mind “loosing some tricks” but I do mind which one I’ll loose. That’s why I’m a little worried when I hear that initially we will be given only one specialisation.

What I understood is that they are currently releasing 1 specialization but the dev tools allow them to add more specializations later.
Also, after you unlock the specialization you can go back to the regular class template, so all they are giving is 1 more option.

Thaia.5146:

BrunoBRS.5178:

all things point towards specializations being an alternative to the base class, not an upgrade. you can still remain an elementalist, or you can specialize into whatever comes for eles, earn some new tricks, and lose some old ones.

I don’t mind “loosing some tricks” but I do mind which one I’ll loose. That’s why I’m a little worried when I hear that initially we will be given only one specialisation.

ye but if you dont like the loosing the ones you lose, you just switch back to an elementalist, since you can swap out of combat when you choose too

dsslive.8473:

Thaia.5146:

BrunoBRS.5178:

all things point towards specializations being an alternative to the base class, not an upgrade. you can still remain an elementalist, or you can specialize into whatever comes for eles, earn some new tricks, and lose some old ones.

I don’t mind “loosing some tricks” but I do mind which one I’ll loose. That’s why I’m a little worried when I hear that initially we will be given only one specialisation.

ye but if you dont like the loosing the ones you lose, you just switch back to an elementalist, since you can swap out of combat when you choose too

Okay I agree but where is my horizontal progression then?

The horizontal progression is there, you liking it or not may be another issue, but it doesn’t nullify the progression.

Thaia.5146:

dsslive.8473:

Thaia.5146:

BrunoBRS.5178:

all things point towards specializations being an alternative to the base class, not an upgrade. you can still remain an elementalist, or you can specialize into whatever comes for eles, earn some new tricks, and lose some old ones.

I don’t mind “loosing some tricks” but I do mind which one I’ll loose. That’s why I’m a little worried when I hear that initially we will be given only one specialisation.

ye but if you dont like the loosing the ones you lose, you just switch back to an elementalist, since you can swap out of combat when you choose too

Okay I agree but where is my horizontal progression then?

The masteries? From what i understood that is what they aligned with horizontal progression, not specializations, but i may be wrong.

The masteries will be only in the new maps if I read it right, or maybe some of the masteries will be restricted there, but yeah, it is still more horizontal progression.

It’s like a sub class kind of. It doesn’t limit gameplay options, it expands them. And I saw an interview with Colin yesterday where he said this will be how they continue to build on the classes. So we will almost definitely see more specializations in the future. Don’t like the specialization? You can switch back to being a regular elementalist anytime. It should work pretty well.

Thaia.5146:

dsslive.8473:

Thaia.5146:

BrunoBRS.5178:

all things point towards specializations being an alternative to the base class, not an upgrade. you can still remain an elementalist, or you can specialize into whatever comes for eles, earn some new tricks, and lose some old ones.

I don’t mind “loosing some tricks” but I do mind which one I’ll loose. That’s why I’m a little worried when I hear that initially we will be given only one specialisation.

ye but if you dont like the loosing the ones you lose, you just switch back to an elementalist, since you can swap out of combat when you choose too

Okay I agree but where is my horizontal progression then?

Then your class will remain the same as launch and you’ll understand what it’s like to be a Guardian :P

Thaia.5146:

dsslive.8473:

Thaia.5146:

BrunoBRS.5178:

all things point towards specializations being an alternative to the base class, not an upgrade. you can still remain an elementalist, or you can specialize into whatever comes for eles, earn some new tricks, and lose some old ones.

I don’t mind “loosing some tricks” but I do mind which one I’ll loose. That’s why I’m a little worried when I hear that initially we will be given only one specialisation.

ye but if you dont like the loosing the ones you lose, you just switch back to an elementalist, since you can swap out of combat when you choose too

Okay I agree but where is my horizontal progression then?

think of it this way:

up until now, there was only one specialization. with the release of HoT, you’ll get your second one, thus allowing you to choose which specialization (say, ranger or druid) you prefer. later on, more specializations would be added.

Belzebu.3912:

The masteries will be only in the new maps if I read it right, or maybe some of the masteries will be restricted there, but yeah, it is still more horizontal progression.

some of them are worldwide, some are limited to the new maps, but the method of unlocking them is spread through the whole game.

Gandalf.3516:

It’s like a sub class kind of. It doesn’t limit gameplay options, it expands them. [snip]

Yeah okey but in GW1 I had NINE subclassess (10-your core profession) and I could choose something usefull from them. I don’t think I will have such choice with only 1 specialisation.

guardian.6489:

Then your class will remain the same as launch and you’ll understand what it’s like to be a Guardian :P

Oh so you want to discuss that topic with someone who mains an Ele?

BrunoBRS.5178:

think of it this way:

up until now, there was only one specialization. with the release of HoT, you’ll get your second one, thus allowing you to choose which specialization (say, ranger or druid) you prefer. later on, more specializations would be added.

If that’s the case why don’t we allow players to create Druids straight away?

Thaia.5146:

BrunoBRS.5178:

think of it this way:

up until now, there was only one specialization. with the release of HoT, you’ll get your second one, thus allowing you to choose which specialization (say, ranger or druid) you prefer. later on, more specializations would be added.

If that’s the case why don’t we allow players to creat Druids straight away?

we don’t know if that will be an option straight away, but in GW1, you had to undergo some quests to adopt a secondary profession (at least the first time). the idea being that you need to get used to what your primary can do first. similarly, you can get used to what rangers can do in general, then you can understand better the traeoffs of playing as a druid instead. a lot of the things are shared between the base class and the specializations.

but hey, who knows, maybe you can swap to druids as early as it takes you to get traits.

oh and this:

Thaia.5146:

Gandalf.3516:

It’s like a sub class kind of. It doesn’t limit gameplay options, it expands them. [snip]

Yeah okey but in GW1 I had NINE subclassess (10-your core profession) and I could choose something usefull from them.

99% of possible GW1 specs were utter crap. sure you could run a wammo, but there’s a reason it was a running joke in the community. choice for choice’s sake is pointless. ANet could easily add 70 new traits to each profession, and 68 of them would be so bad no one would ever chooce it. would that really be “adding choice”?

there has been a clear shift between GW1 and GW2 of “quality over quantity”, reducing the amount of potential options but vastly increasing the amount of practical options.

BrunoBRS.5178:

Thaia.5146:

BrunoBRS.5178:

think of it this way:

up until now, there was only one specialization. with the release of HoT, you’ll get your second one, thus allowing you to choose which specialization (say, ranger or druid) you prefer. later on, more specializations would be added.

If that’s the case why don’t we allow players to creat Druids straight away?

we don’t know if that will be an option straight away, but in GW1, you had to undergo some quests to adopt a secondary profession (at least the first time). the idea being that you need to get used to what your primary can do first. similarly, you can get used to what rangers can do in general, then you can understand better the traeoffs of playing as a druid instead. a lot of the things are shared between the base class and the specializations.

but hey, who knows, maybe you can swap to druids as early as it takes you to get traits.

You need to be level 80 to get a specialisation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRIEM_ll6Cc#t=465
Aaaaand…
“When a ranger becomes a druid, they have an entire new set of skills and traits that come available to them. And their profession mechanic changes as well. That’s true with all the specialisations. You actually play the profession differently, not just in skills and traits, but in the CORE MECHANICS of those professions.”
http://www.pcgamer.com/guild-wars-2-heart-of-thorns-interview/#page-2

So there are 2 questions now:
The first one: If the specialisation changes the core mechanics of your profession – why do I need to be level 80 to even pick a specialisation? Why do I have to “master” the ranger to become a druid if it changes the core mechanics?

And the second one: IF I really need to “master” the ranger to become a druid why it sounds like I’ll loose some of this “mastery” to fill a more narrow role in the game (to “specialise”)?

Thaia.5146:

guardian.6489:

Then your class will remain the same as launch and you’ll understand what it’s like to be a Guardian :P

Oh so you want to discuss that topic with someone who mains an Ele?

Yes I do!

Feature pack stuffs

Anet: Alright Eles look at all these awesome new traits, you get one that makes you immune to crits and one that blinds everyone that you burn and we revamped all these skills so the underused ones are awesome now

Eles:

Anet: O Well Guardian is in a good place so here’s a bunch of traits that enhance burning that you’ll never use.

Guardian:

Not to mention you can use almost all your weapons in PvE while I can never seem to find a build where I put down my greatsword!

It won’t backfire.

People need to understand the fact that this is an additional choice for builds in the game.

Losing traits, skills and mechanics is optional, if you don’t like what a specialisation offers, don’t use it. Some day they’ll release another specialisation that may be better suited to your play style. These specialisations are not going to somehow break your class, they’ll just offer an alternative play style.

For example, the ranger suffers from lack of decent condition removal so the druid subclass could theoretically provide traits and skills that improve the rangers condition removal, at the expense of some of their more offensive abilities such as traps. Optional but not necessary.

One of the other most called for changes to rangers is the ability to permanently stow their pet, this system will allow arenanet to add a specialisation that does that and adds some new utilities and traits to bolster the ranger in exchange for the lack of pet.

This is a good thing, try to see it in the long term. More skills, more builds, more fun.

I love how people here say that everything is “optional”. Well buying the game was “optional” too… yet I am an active community member since 2007. Please stop with this “it’s optional” thing – I can see it all over the forums.

Thaia.5146:

I love how people here say that everything is “optional”. Well buying the game was “optional” too… yet I am an active community member since 2007. Please stop with this “it’s optional” thing – I can see it all over the forums.

What are you talking about? Talking about specialisations being optional is the entire point of them being in the game.

The game has 8, soon to be 9 classes but playing each and every one of them has always been optional and a matter of preference, the specialisations are going to continue that.

Thaia.5146:

I love how people here say that everything is “optional”. Well buying the game was “optional” too… yet I am an active community member since 2007. Please stop with this “it’s optional” thing – I can see it all over the forums.

The remark “its optional” means that you dont need said option to play the game.

Now let’s look at how “optional” buying the game is for playing the game shall we?
Can you play the game without buying it? No. There you ahve it, buying the game is not optional to play the game.

Do you have to choose a certain specialization to play the game and its content? no. Thus, choosing a specialization is optional.

I think that’s the gist of it, correct me if i’m wrong, i dont really use that argument so maybe it means something else.

Thaia.5146:

So there are 2 questions now:
The first one: If the specialisation changes the core mechanics of your profession – why do I need to be level 80 to even pick a specialisation? Why do I have to “master” the ranger to become a druid if it changes the core mechanics?

simple answer is because shoving too many options early on confuses the crap out of players and they have no idea what to do with all those options, which usually backfires, horribly (see: guild wars 1 and how many people ran horrible builds and couldn’t get past content because of that). on top of that, how many people still complain that there’s nothing to do at lv80 in this game? specializations are just one more thing to do at lv80.

And the second one: IF I really need to “master” the ranger to become a druid why it sounds like I’ll loose some of this “mastery” to fill a more narrow role in the game (to “specialise”)?

because there’s a lot of common ground between the two. yes, there are things that are exclusive to ranger and things that are exclusive to druid, but there are also a ton of things that both have access to. so for example, and this is by no means verified, just trying to illustrate a point, druids could have access to “nature” type spells, while losing access to, i don’t know, trap skills. spirits, shouts, signets, survival skills would all remain usable by both the ranger and the druid. similarly, most weapons will be shared by the two, but there is likely a “ranger-only” weapon just like there is a “druid-only” weapon.

now it’s my turn to ask a question: you started this thread concerned that you didn’t want to lose what made eles so versatile in the first place. people said “you don’t have to specialize, specializations won’t be stronger, just different”, at which point you seemingly got annoyed that you couldn’t specialize fast enough… what? why the sudden change of tone?

It’s a simple out for providing dual professions. Easier to balance. It would be better to allow dual professions straight up and deal with the aches and pains of balancing and/or provide the specializations as new professions initially without a back story but one that become discovered in future releases.

Masteries will NOT only be in the new map. They’re going to be more or less like the bonuses you got in EotN in Guild Wars 1. Some may be limited to specific maps others will be usable everywhere, as per Colin’s Gamebreaker TV interview.

Also, you’ll be able to swap out the specialization just like a skill or trait any time out of combat, so it WILL give you more versatility.

Belzebu.3912:

The masteries will be only in the new maps if I read it right, or maybe some of the masteries will be restricted there, but yeah, it is still more horizontal progression.

Literally the only mastery I’ve read is supposed to be restricted to the new zone is Gliding, and that’s only because it would allow you to break the game by reaching places you were never meant to in the original zones.
Masteries as a whole are game-wide. They’ve likened them to the PvE form of the WvW abilities we have now.

Grimwolf.7163:

They’ve likened them to the PvE form of the WvW abilities we have now.

They did say that but they have also said that the WvW masteries system will get some degree of an overhaul with what they have learnt with this new incarnation of masteries in HoT.

So in other words “everything is still definitely on the table” :P They definitely seem to be implying that specializations will have a horizontal slant though and masteries will be more vertical (even though we still don’t know what combat masteries entail) as forms of progression.

you can switch specializations out of combat, so basically limiting your gameplay is not possible. what they do is they give you an additional alternative to react on special circumstances. a specialization will not be a subclass, its an addition to play your existing class.

BammBamm.6719:

you can switch specializations out of combat, so basically limiting your gameplay is not possible. what they do is they give you an additional alternative to react on special circumstances. a specialization will not be a subclass, its an addition to play your existing class.

I’m pretty sure you came up with that conclusion completely on your own. You shouldn’t state it as a fact.
That actually runs counter to other things they’ve said.
It’s been said outright that the specializations are their answer to the dual-classes from GW1. They simply took the same basic goal in a less open route so it would be easier to balance.

to switch it anytime out of combat is not a conclusion its a official statement in an interview.

I think it’s a great path to walk down for the future of GW2.

As it is, we have our weapon skills, class mechanics, heal, 3 utiliy, and elite. That’s it.

How do you expand from there?

Simply adding more skills just gives us more non-ideal skills to ignore.

Letting us manually tweak everything (like GW1) leads to a path of constant balance adjustments.

Specializations let ANet add skills within a limited framework. It makes balance a bit easier while giving them a broad channel for adding new class mechanics.

It may feel slim now, with only one specialization per profession, but down the road when we have 2-3 for each profession… I think it’ll feel really diverse.

BammBamm.6719:

to switch it anytime out of combat is not a conclusion its a official statement in an interview.

That’s not the part I was talking about.

Eles without conjured weapons cheapness? I’ll buy that for a dollar!

Grimwolf.7163:

BammBamm.6719:

you can switch specializations out of combat, so basically limiting your gameplay is not possible. what they do is they give you an additional alternative to react on special circumstances. a specialization will not be a subclass, its an addition to play your existing class.

I’m pretty sure you came up with that conclusion completely on your own. You shouldn’t state it as a fact.
That actually runs counter to other things they’ve said.
It’s been said outright that the specializations are their answer to the dual-classes from GW1. They simply took the same basic goal in a less open route so it would be easier to balance.

Swapping specialisations out of combat was confirmed in multiple interviews with developers since the announcement.

“Becoming a Druid won’t be a permanent decision, as players will be able to change to and from their specializations any time they are outside of combat, similar to how players can currently change skills and traits.” http://www.zam.com/story.html?story=35650&storypage=2

That’s the newest one I found but it was also stated in other news articles.

Grimwolf.7163:

Literally the only mastery I’ve read is supposed to be restricted to the new zone is Gliding, and that’s only because it would allow you to break the game by reaching places you were never meant to in the original zones.
Masteries as a whole are game-wide. They’ve likened them to the PvE form of the WvW abilities we have now.

So far we only know 2 masteries, the hand glide and the lore one, the hand glide is confirmed to be restricted and I don’t think that the new languages of the lore mastery will be spread around the globe, but I hope to be wrong

There are big concerns regarding the possible power creep if those specs are flat out better than the base classes. But if they’re not better than the meta specs, why use them at all? GW2 has too few skills and a lot of them are completely useless, so this spec idea can miss completely if it’s overshadowed by the few “OP” abilities out there.

We do not know exactly what specializations will entail yet. All we know is that they are an alternetive sub-profession you can progress through for your base profession. You can switch back to the original profession at any time (out of combat I imagine) and therefore none of your original professions capabilities are lost (as you can switch back to it). If you find the ele specialization is less versatile than the original ele then switch back to the base profession, simple.

As to the specializations being more powerful, we will not know that until we get to play them, so speculating otherwise is pointless. What I will say however, is that from what I understand of Anet’s philosophy on these things, I do not think the specializations will be more powerful than their original base professions, and if they are Anet will no doubt balance them until they are. I do not believe it is Anet’s intention to make specializations more powerful, and any evidence we find of the contrary will most likely be unintentional inbalances and fixed in a future balance patch.

psizone.8437:

Grimwolf.7163:

BammBamm.6719:

you can switch specializations out of combat, so basically limiting your gameplay is not possible. what they do is they give you an additional alternative to react on special circumstances. a specialization will not be a subclass, its an addition to play your existing class.

I’m pretty sure you came up with that conclusion completely on your own. You shouldn’t state it as a fact.
That actually runs counter to other things they’ve said.
It’s been said outright that the specializations are their answer to the dual-classes from GW1. They simply took the same basic goal in a less open route so it would be easier to balance.

Swapping specialisations out of combat was confirmed in multiple interviews with developers since the announcement.

“Becoming a Druid won’t be a permanent decision, as players will be able to change to and from their specializations any time they are outside of combat, similar to how players can currently change skills and traits.” http://www.zam.com/story.html?story=35650&storypage=2

That’s the newest one I found but it was also stated in other news articles.

Grimwolf.7163:

BammBamm.6719:

to switch it anytime out of combat is not a conclusion its a official statement in an interview.

That’s not the part I was talking about.

He explicitly claimed they were not meant to be a subclass to add extra customization, but rather a niche tool you swap into under specific circumstances.
Like a Thief taking Smoke Screen against a heavily ranged boss.

Grimwolf.7163:

That’s not the part I was talking about.

[/quote]

My apologies, I missed that post!

Sounds like you’re both arguing the same point then but disagreeing on the wording. He seems to have mistook subclass and an extension of the basic class as different things where in this case they are the same thing.

Specialisations being there to change certain aspects of the basic class through utility, trait and mechanic changes are in this case considered to be a subclass.

Grimwolf.7163:

He explicitly claimed they were not meant to be a subclass to add extra customization, but rather a niche tool you swap into under specific circumstances.
Like a Thief taking Smoke Screen against a heavily ranged boss.

But that is how it’s going to work, you can swap the specialisations out when you’re not in combat. Say you play a ranger, having terrible condition cleanse, if you’ve been fighting condition heavy opponents, you can leave combat and swap your specialisation to Druid which could theoretically have better condition cleanse so you can better combat that type of attack. It won’t give you extras per se, more like giving you a different way to fight.

psizone.8437:

Grimwolf.7163:

He explicitly claimed they were not meant to be a subclass to add extra customization, but rather a niche tool you swap into under specific circumstances.
Like a Thief taking Smoke Screen against a heavily ranged boss.

But that is how it’s going to work, you can swap the specialisations out when you’re not in combat. Say you play a ranger, having terrible condition cleanse, if you’ve been fighting condition heavy opponents, you can leave combat and swap your specialisation to Druid which could theoretically have better condition cleanse so you can better combat that type of attack. It won’t give you extras per se, more like giving you a different way to fight.

thx, thats exactly the point

There’s a huge difference between being capable of doing that, and that being the entire intended goal of the system.

Basically, once you unlock the Druid (or any other specialization), you will have a whole new set of skills, traits and weapon(s?) available to you. You can go full bore Druid with all new stuff or you can mix and match. You will be able to play druid but put ranger skills in util slots or vice versa; putting druid util skills on your bar while you play ranger.

This will make for a TON of new build possibilities and should shake things up quit a bit. 8 new specializations (with full sets of new skills, traits and weapons), 1 new class + it’s specialization = 10 new “classes”(considering traits and skills, that’s the best way to describe it atm). That is a ton to balance into the game and there will definitely be some skills/ traits SUPER op at the start and some really lacking. Nerf/ balances should come quit frequently at first; to try to fix the issues.

So in a way, the new specializations are not only a whole new separate thing, but can just be an extension in the sense of getting all new skills available for each class to use.

Best example: Current beast master ranger with LB/ GS (full utils lined with spirits). Once he unlocks druid, he can switch out one of his spirits for a new druid skill on his bar; or go full Druid and place a spirit util on his bar.

Grimwolf.7163:

There’s a huge difference between being capable of doing that, and that being the entire intended goal of the system.

That is the goal of the system, it’s their way of adding new, fresh ways to play the base classes. That could be adding new defences to a class that didn’t originally have them or just add a new way to fight in general. They’re swappable and won’t make the original class obsolete.

One of the most asked for changes to ranger is the addition of a permanent stow option for pets, with this system, they could completely change the ranger pet mechanic by removing the pet and adding something else and that would be a new specialisation.

An argument I keep hearing is “Oh, I don’t want to be a Druid but if I don’t change, I won’t stay competitive” that isn’t the case, the Ranger will still be competitive, working the same as it does now and the Druid will also be a competitive option, but in a slightly different niche category than the Ranger as a base.

Another specialisation could give the Guardian a condition weapon and condition related traits and skills so that a proper condition Guardian could be viable, but it won’t suddenly make the standard Guardian inferior.

It’ll just add new choices, it’s going to be great if they can pull it off.

Puppet.9712:

putting druid util skills on your bar while you play ranger.

Just to clarify, you can’t use Druid skills as a Ranger. You need to be using the specialisation to slot in the skills and traits, and doing to will lock certain Ranger traits and skills.

psizone.8437:

Puppet.9712:

putting druid util skills on your bar while you play ranger.

Just to clarify, you can’t use Druid skills as a Ranger. You need to be using the specialisation to slot in the skills and traits, and doing to will lock certain Ranger traits and skills.

Wrong. He said you can put Druid skills on your bar as a ranger as long as you have the specialization unlocked.

Puppet.9712:

Wrong. He said you can put Druid skills on your bar as a ranger as long as you have the specialization unlocked.

http://www.pcgamer.com/guild-wars-2-heart-of-thorns-interview/#page-2

“And players can actually mix and match a little bit. If you are playing as a Druid you will be able to use a lot of the Ranger’s skills, and you can actually slot them in to make a lot of creative builds. But a Ranger can not use any of the stuff a Druid has unless they become a Druid.”

Sorry, I did check before I posted.

psizone.8437:

Puppet.9712:

Wrong. He said you can put Druid skills on your bar as a ranger as long as you have the specialization unlocked.

http://www.pcgamer.com/guild-wars-2-heart-of-thorns-interview/#page-2

“And players can actually mix and match a little bit. If you are playing as a Druid you will be able to use a lot of the Ranger’s skills, and you can actually slot them in to make a lot of creative builds. But a Ranger can not use any of the stuff a Druid has unless they become a Druid.”

Sorry, I did check before I posted.

But a Ranger can not use any of the stuff a Druid has unless they become a Druid."

So once druid is unlocked…the ranger can use his skills ….u must read

Puppet.9712:

Basically, once you unlock the Druid (or any other specialization), you will have a whole new set of skills, traits and weapon(s?) available to you. You can go full bore Druid with all new stuff or you can mix and match. You will be able to play druid but put ranger skills in util slots or vice versa; putting druid util skills on your bar while you play ranger.

This will make for a TON of new build possibilities and should shake things up quit a bit. 8 new specializations (with full sets of new skills, traits and weapons), 1 new class + it’s specialization = 10 new “classes”(considering traits and skills, that’s the best way to describe it atm). That is a ton to balance into the game and there will definitely be some skills/ traits SUPER op at the start and some really lacking. Nerf/ balances should come quit frequently at first; to try to fix the issues.

So in a way, the new specializations are not only a whole new separate thing, but can just be an extension in the sense of getting all new skills available for each class to use.

Best example: Current beast master ranger with LB/ GS (full utils lined with spirits). Once he unlocks druid, he can switch out one of his spirits for a new druid skill on his bar; or go full Druid and place a spirit util on his bar.

Information is still a little vague and scattered, but from what I’ve read, this seems to me how it works;
Let’s take the Ranger as our example again.
When you switch to Druid, your class mechanic (IE; Pet) is replaced. It may just use the pet in a different way, you may not have a pet at all, who knows.
It also replaces the trait line associated with the mechanic (IE; Beastmastery).
It very likely also replaces the particular skill group most associated with the mechanic and trait line (in this case, Shouts).
The new weapon added also may or may not replace an existing weapon. Since the idea is to swap stuff out rather than outright add stuff in, my bet is on it doing this.
So for example, the Staff could replace something like the longbow.

Puppet.9712:

So once druid is unlocked…the ranger can use his skills ….u must read

Again, you need to be functioning as the Druid to use the skills.

http://www.zam.com/story.html?story=35650&storypage=2

“the Ranger will not be able to use anything from the Druid unless it is functioning as a Druid.”
You misread, unlocking the specialisation does unlock the skills, but you can’t use the Druid skills unless you are functioning as a Druid in which case, you will lose certain aspects of the Ranger class.