Guild Wars 2

I’m a new player and have decided to play a Necromancer. I’m unsure though if it matters what I invest my hero points in at the beginning (I’m level 20 and haven’t used any yet out of fear that I’ll put them in something bad). I have a few questions.

1) How limited are you on Hero Points in picking skills in the later game?
2) If I choose to pick a certain build – will I be able to switch to another later on? and how?
3) Is it worth getting the Elite skills offered by the HoT download? Is it superior to the main professions?

Thank you, I’m quite new and don’t really understand how the build system works in this game, and what I should look towards if I want to make the game more playable with others later on.

1) Not at all limited. Even if you never gather a single HP in the world, you will automatically have enough at level 80 from level-up rewards to max all your traits and skills. EXCEPT for the Elite lines, which will need 250 more points. (You must own HoT, not be F2P, for this to matter to you). Those points can be gathered one at a time in core Tyria, or you can go into the HoT maps to do HP that give you 10 at a time.

2) You will easily be able to switch. As in, any time while not in combat, open your hero panel, click on the left side of the trait line you want to swap, pick a different trait line, then click the three traits you want for your build. It takes a few seconds if you know in advance which three you want. There is no limit, you can swap all day long.

3) It’s a matter of opinion as to whether it’s worth getting the elites. Many on the forums seem to feel the elite lines give you a real advantage. I’ll tell you that I am in love with Reaper, the Necro elite, as I find it about the most fun to play of any profession. But that is subjective opinion.

Otoh you can get the elite and then never use it if you don’t want, or swap in and out of it. You “equip” it by using your bottom trait line for the elite. When new elites come out with the next expansion, you’ll have to choose which elite to equip as you can only have one at a time. I say it’s entirely worth it because it gives you options, and as you certainly won’t have your masteries maxed for a while the pursuit of the HP in the HoT maps will contribute XP to leveling masteries.

As you are just level 20, take your time, explore the world. Limited time content will scale you to 80 so you can participate. Level 80 content won’t vanish before you get to it. Spend your HP on any skill or trait that looks interesting to you, since you’ll end up with everything at 80 anyway. The elite line won’t unlock until you’ve maxed all traits and skills.

You will get more than enough hero points to unlock every single skill and trait you have, and you can switch between all the ones you have unlocked any time you’re out of combat.

It’s still a good idea to think about what you get with them first, because once the points are spent you can’t get them back so you have to wait until you get more to unlock new skills, so if you pick a skill you don’t like you might be stuck with it for a while. But it’s only a problem until you get enough skill points to unlock another one – you can’t permanently restrict yourself to certain choices or miss out on anything.

Using the hero points efficiently in the early-game takes a bit of pre-planning. There’s a bunch of resources out there that let you see the specifics of utility skills and trait lines. However, you’ll acquire all the core hero points to unlock your non-Elite utilities and trait lines as you level up. Once you hit 79, everything is unlockable except the Elite spec line*.

(*Requires Lv.80 and Heart of Thorns.)