Guild Wars 2

Hi guys, im creating thi topc because i have some doubts, the weapon skills once we max them we wont get any more, the only we can get is the ones we use skill points, but those as far as i see we can only use 4 at a time cause we only have have 4 slots for them and in combat we cant change the skill while it is refreshing.

So my question is weill we have only those nine skill slots?

Answer is yes. We will only ever have 9 slots.

Skills one through five are weapon skills. Six is your heal. Seven through nine are skills slots skills and ten/zero is your elite skill. that’s all the skills you can use at any given time, though you can swap them out between fights.

I think we should be able to cast any skill even if the one in the slot is recharging.

That would require a re-balancing of the entire game. If you can use any skill you want that would mean you would have 4 heals, many elite skills and so on compared to just 1. The game is not balanced around that.

My theory as to how they will deal with us getting tired of using the same 5 weapon skills is by introducing new weapons with the expansions. Just my theory but it makes sense. When we go to Cantha the spear (for above water use) and scythe may return, or they may bring in different weapons altogether.

In the meantime, really get to know your weapons. Traiting them out, comboing with other players, and trying out different 2-weapon set combinations offers you some variety in what you can do with those 5 skills in the meantime.

What’s this only 9 slot business? You do realize you can swap weapons sets with a whole new range of spells? Effectively doubling your available spells….
I haven’t tested it yet but I would assume, say you are a Ranger, that you could equip say a long bow in both weapons slots so that when you switch you retain the base long bow spells but you could change the available 7-9 spells.

Remember that some classes can swap weapons in battle. This essentially gives you an additional 4 skills (plus your auto-attack). I’ve seen many people burn cooldowns on one weapon, switch weapons, and then start using those skills. Weapon swapping is on a 5 second cooldown, so you can do this quite often.

I think the system is nice, it forces you to chose an optimal skill setup from a pool of available skills. Anyone who has played EvE understands this concept when fitting a ship, there are many ways you can do so, but how you fit it determines how effective you will be in any given situation and in teams gives the opportunity to build a wide array of synergy with others.

So yes, you only get to have 9 skills, but you chose what they are out of combat and you work with what you have once combat starts. I dunno if you can but if you can run away and drop combat then you should be able to swap weapons not already on your swap bar and change out utility skills. In my opinion, this system has merit and I for one embrace it.

PS as a Ranger I always swap my shortbow an longbow repeatedly in combat. I also swap my pets.

Or for anyone that played GW1. hundreds of skills but you had to pick the few that worked together really well and use them. I always preferred it to something like WoW. A lot more build options and you really have to take the time to look at the synergy of your skills you choose rather than spamming what ever one looks cool. A lot more skill and thinking involved

Purgatory.5296:

I haven’t tested it yet but I would assume, say you are a Ranger, that you could equip say a long bow in both weapons slots so that when you switch you retain the base long bow spells but you could change the available 7-9 spells.

Wouldn’t work. switching weapons changes skills 1-5. If you have the same weapon in both, you’re effectively not using the other weapon slot at all (unless you’re doing it to use different runes)

Weapon swap/bundles say hi.
You can customize your characters effectiveness so much with traits, weapon sets, skillpoint allocations, jeweling etc.
You have far more than 9 in total, you just have to pick the ones that suit your playstyle best.

Great system, leave it as it is.

While the system limits the players it has the following advantages:
1) Less Skills to care about, you don’t have to be putting masses of skills onto your bar and remember what they all do
2) You can fully play with hotkeys(yay!) because there is only 9 skills not 32+
3) Skill matters(the right skill combination for the right moment & ofc the right use of it)
4) Weapon swap allows up to 15 different skills at a time(wizard 25) so they’re is still a ton of variety on a less big skillbar.
5) The scale suits the UI, atleast I have the feel that my whole screen isn’t filled with little skinn icons
6) In most others games with huge skill bars, only few of them are actually usefull
7) Easier to balance for the devs
Conclusion:
I think the system is perfect and should be expanded by adding more skills(which will happen for sure with an expansion or idk).

Love you Arena.net!

Hmm, an interesting question, let’s take a look.

5 skills for main attacks.
1 profession skill (at least).
5 utility skills.
5 different skills on switching weapons.
4 skills when downed, although everyone has the healing, so it’s maybe 3 ‘unique’.
5 different skills for underwater attacks.
5 more for underwater switching weapons.
3 more for underwater down state – the heal is the same as above so doesn’t count.
3 skills for using a Ballista or Arrow Cart and other seige items in WvW.
1-5 random skills for different environment items or conjured items like Flaming Greatsword.

I don’t even want to add all that.

Short version:
16+ total available skills during combat with weapon swap.
Many more available skills if you know how to switch out utilities between combat.

SuperShort:
Yes, 5 weapon skills available maximum at any single moment.

Game’s so complex it’s easy!

I’d be happy with them just letting us equip a utility skill on the Elite slot. Because a lot of elites are useless or boring or unpredictable in PvE. I’m looking at you, Elixir X and Mortar!

I think having 30 buttons to mash (like some games) while trying to keep up the near constant movement in this game would be a huge distraction. Admittedly, after coming from one of those games to here…my first reaction was "where are all my spells/strikes’?

But after playing for awhile, I’m glad they went with the model they did. It just makes for a more active style of play.

Raf