Guild Wars 2

Haven’t played the game for a year or so and when I came back decided to create a new character. I’m at level 32 or so and just want to know what’s the mechanic with traits now? I got my first trait point and spent it opening my first trait but all other traits remain resolutely locked. I read somewhere that things have changed a bit since I last played but it doesn’t seem too well explained how I develop the traits of my character.

Anyone care to put the n00b out of his misery?

A trait point now is equivalent to 5 of the old system; you’ll have 14 total at level 80.

Traits themselves have to be unlocked, either by doing specific tasks/events (you can know which by hovering over the spyglass next to their name) or bought for gold and skill points if you can’t be bothered going out to do the thing.

Worth noting that you no longer have to pay to unlock tiers, this will happen on its own as you level. Retraiting is also free, and possible anytime you are not in combat.

For help on unlocking traits you can try searching the wiki for each trait to get details on the requirement and find links to where to go/what to do.

If your character existed before April, you’re in luck – you’ve skipped out on the misery of the new system.

Traits need to be unlocked twice. They need to be paid for, and then you need to put trait points into the trait line to use them.

The April patch made traits massively more expensive, and changed the levels they unlock at. Characters made before then should just have the traits unlocked automatically, ready to be used as soon as points are put into the trait line. Characters made after April need to go around doing bugged events or spending 43 gold plus a ton of skill points to get their traits. It’s massively unfair to new players, and gives veterans a real disincentive to buy new character slots, because their new characters need to go through this asinine new system.

If your characters were all made before the April patch, you can just play and traits will be usable as soon as you have the trait points. New characters will need to pay the ridiculous cost or complete bugged content to unlock them, plus assigning trait points.

As always, the wiki and especially the Discussion pages are a good place to start: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Traits

Gilosean.3805:

New characters will need to pay the ridiculous cost or complete bugged content to unlock them, plus assigning trait points.

The “bugged content” refers to unlocks for less than a hand full out of 65 unlockable traits. Most traits are perfectly fine to get, and I’m sure the devs are working on fixing the bugged events that are related to trait unlocks. In general, unlocking traits has become a part of character progression (just like gaining levels), with the added shortcut that you can buy the unlocks with gold and skill points if you don’t care to do whatever is required for the unlock.

Check the trait guide on the wiki for a list of activities required to unlock traits (there are lists available sorted by trait lines and level ranges), as well as the profession trait tables to find the complete trait list for your profession.