Guild Wars 2

Cool. Thanks for the update. Looking forward to it.

I’m not entirely sure if this was said or not: but how will condition/boon duration fit into the new system? Profession mechanics were talked about (half added to base, half added to profession trait line), but currently boon/condition duration don’t exist on PvP amulets, so will they be included in trait lines or gear now?

Edit: Also, with profession mechanic trait-lines getting a benefit to speccing into them (attunement reduction for example), will other trait lines see similar things? Otherwise it seems like the profession trait lines will almost automatically be significantly better since they are the only ones that give additional benefit on top of the traits.

i crafted Bolt a Year ago, saying that one day i would be able to wield as an ele. Will i look like a kitten or was i right?

GammelTier.4875:

i crafted Bolt a Year ago, saying that one day i would be able to wield as an ele. Will i look like a kitten or was i right?

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/3368427308/08273ff3c0ce8ff1506c91e237c05d7f.jpeg

hey pss….hey over here….(lurking in the shadows)..yeah listen you were right to craft a bolt..that’s all for now..you don’t know me and never saw me..( disappear in the shadows)

You may want to move this thread to somewhere other than the PvP section to get a wider range of questions.

My questions (which I posted in another thread as well):

1. Will the specializations have six lines from which to choose three to activate or will their new trait line replace one of the options available to the base class (meaning they would have five to choose from just as the base class does)? If the former, will there still be incentive to play the base classes or are they intended to offer less choice than a specialized player?

2. Please give us even one example (from the druid maybe, since we know that profession is coming) of how you are changing the profession mechanic, which in the case of the ranger/druid would be pet management and interaction. This would give us an idea of how much new flavor/gameplay the specializations will have compared to the base classes.

questions:

Traitline Restricitions:

- how will you work around builds that currently spec into more than 3 traitlines?
guardian for example.

- Why are we not able anymore to use master traits in grandmaster slots and adept traits in master slots? What were the reasons for this decision?

Removal of Traitline stats:

- How will the new stats be distributed on the different amulets?

- Certain low base health classes spec into certain lines just because of the vitality, how will they get the points now, or will all the amulets provide vitality?

- Celestial builds will lose a lot of stats, including boon duration, how will you compensate them? As i see people being opposed to giving the amulet more stats.

- Have you thought about letting the players choose which stats they would like?
Similar to traiting into lines you could let players choose what stats they want in
+100 steps.

would be nice if you could answer a few (preferably all :P) of them.

looking forward to the stream

I have a question for the Q&A: The second blog post said that the Hero Points are strictly only from what is currently Skill Challenges, but what about characters leveled through WvW or Tomes of Knowledge for use in WvW? Won’t this automatically mean that players who’ve chosen to dedicate themselves to WvW cannot earn enough Hero Points to make diverse builds or experiment with builds at will?

Obviously you can tell them to go and complete the Skill Challenges, but if we are talking about even 4 alts (assuming main character has full map completion), grinding all those Skill Challenges can hardly be labeled as fun if you’d rather be out in WvW killing enemies. Couldn’t there be an alternative way to earning the Hero Points through purchasing Hero Point granting items with Badges of Honor and gold?

1. How will pvp gear be handled? Will there be more flexibility (pick 2 amulets or a return to the amulet/jewel system), or will you rely solely on hybridized amulets?

2. How will boon duration and condition duration be handled? Will these be getting there own primary stat, like ferocity was changed with crit. damage? (This would be VERY interesting imo)

My questions:

1) Currently each trait line provide a set of 2 stats ( ex water line gives vitality and healing power), a net 100 point stats for each 10 trait point spent. How will we get these stats point in the new system?

2)Will you add new gear options in pvp, other than amulet?

That’s all thx.

1st question does this mean your ama is for pvp only and there will be a pve/WvW one as well ? if no to that question can you please move the thread some where so the general community can see it. Thanks in advance.

Main question:

What was the thinking behind allowing only 3 areas to be picked from ie Strength,tactics,discipline?

Bhawb.7408:

I’m not entirely sure if this was said or not: but how will condition/boon duration fit into the new system? Profession mechanics were talked about (half added to base, half added to profession trait line), but currently boon/condition duration don’t exist on PvP amulets, so will they be included in trait lines or gear now?

I’m interested in this as well. I have some condition builds I really like for PvE that rely on long duration conditions. If there isn’t something making up for the loss of 30% duration, then the build loses about 20% of its damage. (There are runes, and giver’s weapons, and that’s it. Giver’s weapons also make it so you can’t use an ascended weapon, but that is more an annoyance than a big deal)

<EDIT : Removed portion that I noticed was addressed elsewhere on the forums. Thanks for increasing the condition stack cap in a future update!>

AM I GETTING A NEW PET CONTROL SYSTEM!?!?!?!?!

Will the #6 through #10 utilities be renamed/altered to fit into a narrow definition of utility types? IE: What Ranger Elite will be a Trap/Shout?

Can lower tier major traits be selected in the higher tiers? For example an Adept trait in a Master slot. The screen shot looks like each tier is locked to their respective, which severely limits build flexibility. I realize fewer options means it’s easier to figure out, but build crafting is an important factor to me, and going from millions of combinations to a few thousand is a bad thing in my opinion.

I am glad to hear that stats are being stripped out, though. While they were certainly less important than trait options, their spread favored some classes over others, and would be nice to see that factor gone.

Jekkt.6045:

questions:

Traitline Restricitions:

- how will you work around builds that currently spec into more than 3 traitlines?
guardian for example.

- Why are we not able anymore to use master traits in grandmaster slots and adept traits in master slots? What were the reasons for this decision?

Removal of Traitline stats:

- How will the new stats be distributed on the different amulets?

- Certain low base health classes spec into certain lines just because of the vitality, how will they get the points now, or will all the amulets provide vitality?

- Celestial builds will lose a lot of stats, including boon duration, how will you compensate them? As i see people being opposed to giving the amulet more stats.

- Have you thought about letting the players choose which stats they would like?
Similar to traiting into lines you could let players choose what stats they want in
+100 steps.

would be nice if you could answer a few (preferably all :P) of them.

looking forward to the stream

what this guy said, also, the guy talking about having to go back and do skill challenges with alts is not going to be fun. just annoying

How exactly is weapon swapping going to work while having an elite specialization equipped?

Critical Kai.4985:

How exactly is weapon swapping going to work while having an elite specialization equipped?

No different. Druids (for example) can just use other base ranger weapons. A druid with druid equipped, however, is a druid regardless of equipped weapon.

overall, I think I like the approach:

- They get rid of traits no1 uses anyways and incorporate them into the skills they buff or other traits (like the well-example)
- You can choose more traits, which will make us see some interesting new combos: I think it still won’t just create 1 one-trick-pony build for every class, since you’re a bit more restricted in allocating trait-points than before.
- The way that traits where tied to pretty substantial amounts of stats was kinda random anyways; it worked out gerat for some classes/builds, not so great for others.

But here comes my question into play:

- How will the new stat-buff on amulets look like? will it be a buff just over all stats (like just +25 on every stat on every amu), will it just push the stats that are already on the amu (so Zerker gets more power, vita, precision and ferocity), will it do the opposite (zerker already has power etc. so give it some thoughness and healing power or whatever), or will we be able to combine more freely, with sth. like the gems we used to put in the amus a long time ago?

special request: could you guys preview a little bit of the druid? either the trait lines, or the utilities? =)

This seems like even more rampant power creep. How will you try to make the game fun for pvp players to fight against ever increasing power levels?

Rangers currently have very lackluster Grandmaster Major traits (and major traits in general) outside of the Marksmanship line in terms of DPS, Support, and Control.

Do you have a plan for addressing this compared to other professions who have multiple Grandmaster Major traits that are not only build defining but spread across multiple lines?

“Items and activities that were previously repeatable sources of skill points will now also provide that same crafting material.”

Q: What happens with Tome of Knowledge ?

• Condition and boon duration? Do they stay on trait lines or are they moving to amulets or runes?

• Many builds rely on the additional 300 vitality or 300 toughness from a trait line to survive, given their chosen amulet provides none (or little). This is needed because they have low base health or armor to start with. How will the amulet system change to compensate for no longer being able to do this? Will we finally move to an amulet/ring/earring system and see a large increase in build diversity, or do you plan to tack a little bit of vitality on to rabid amulet, toughness onto rampagers and clerics, etc.?

• Builds that relied on minor traits in more than 3 lines (most guardian builds for example) will be taking a large hit with this. Are there any plans to move/change any of these incredibly important minor traits, or make them baseline for the class, or are builds like this just getting screwed over?

• Does this system mean that XIII traits are no longer locked and must be purchased for obscene amounts of gold/skill points for every PvP character you make? Have you guys finally seen the light and realized that locking anything build related behind gold sinks is a bad idea?

Maybe this was explained but not super clear to me. For those of us at level 80 who may have even unlocked all the grandmaster traits that were added later, will we have access to those when this revamp goes live? I don’t really want to have to try and get traits and skills all over again(EDIT: or whatever their future incarnation will be) that I currently have access to. I get the new elite trait lines needing to be unlocked however.

Josh Davis.6015:

Keeper of Da Cookie.8714:

1st question does this mean your ama is for pvp only and there will be a pve/WvW one as well ? if no to that question can you please move the thread some where so the general community can see it. Thanks in advance.

Got pulled into a meeting before I finished duplicating the thread. There’s now a thread in general, WvW, and PvP.

Thanks for answering this..I still think you could of just had 1 thread in the hot section

Another question since reading the articals. Does this mean the holy trinity will be coming back in some shape or form ?

These changes sound great and all but there are so many builds for the Engie that I think will be left in the dust in the wake of this. Whilst that isn’t a bad thing, I am afraid that what’s left will be the popular builds because…. well…… they are popular. And I don’t like that thought.

Will the base 1000 stat change result in a higher default crit chance or will the base crit percent be adjusted to start at 1000 leaving it the crit chance at 4% by default.

I ask to figure out what the changes are net favoring, offense or defense.

My medi guardian will suffer….300 toughness and 600 vitality is a big deal to me.

Can we expect to see gems in the amulet back to allow more stat diversity that was previously achieved through traits?

Lordrosicky.5813:

This seems like even more rampant power creep. How will you try to make the game fun for pvp players to fight against ever increasing power levels?

Everyone seems so hyped for their new op builds, but I really hope the devs keep in mind how insane the power creep will be with this change. I’m hoping there is some mitigating factor they have not yet revealed.

My questions

• Instead of adding more stats to amulets in PvP, how about adding Boon and Condition Duration to amulets as a way to keep the stats lower overall?

I’m concerned that having three maxed out trait lines, in current terms, will make the “compensated” stats too pronounced in pvp. Zerker, for example, could get 800 more stats as compensation for the lost trait stats and the already nasty Thief builds become even nastier with Panic Strike, Executioner and Sleight of Hand. It would also make amulets more interesting, like 30% Condi Duration on Soldiers making it an amulet where you might want to stack Vulnerability and Cripple/Immob over time to be a bruiser.

• Everyone hates AI builds. It seems to be a cultural thing now and it’s a problem short and long term. What’s Arenanet’s plan for how to handle Spirit Weapons, Turrets, Spirits, etc. without causing a riot on the forums any time they’re viable?

One solution is just make them easy to kill, keep current functionality and make team support of the AI person more necessary for it to work, which appears to be the direction moving forward. I personally think that the summon-sacrifice-low CD concept works better for AI builds than the current system of fire and forget that we see in the above builds. While it would “copy” the way Mesmers use their AI, they could be tailored to have a class-specific feel to them. For example, a Necro specialized in Death Magic could be able to summon a Shadow Fiend and activate it, destroying it, but giving the Necro a couple of boons, or put a couple of conditions in an AoE.

• I personally don’t care about the QQ on this, but what about the builds that cherrypick minor traits, like Justice is Blind for Guardians? How much do certain majors/minors factor in to the design of the new system, if at all?

Again, I personally think that if a Guardian, or any class for that matter, wants a powerful trait, then they need to go all in and have a cost/benefit analysis to make. This is an opportunity to tell these people that there need to be more tradeoff in builds so that there aren’t obnoxious superbuilds that can do too much at once.

• Now that each class appears to be capable of being expanded indefinitely, are we going to see classes become more homogenized?

There are only so many mechanics and concepts that can be applied to a game system, so this seems like an inevitable part of the Specialization system. I personally don’t think that’s a bad thing, like how a Necromancer might be able to eventually provide a support role to a group that matches a Guardian’s effectiveness, but in a different Necro-themed way.

• How much has forum feedback led to the decision to centralize and condense the trait system to where it’s heading today? Have other MMOs’ systems influenced this decision?

Customization is a great concept, but when there’s too much of it, it causes an enormous amount of chaos, the players centralize that chaos themselves, and it just confuses new players. I think GW2 has been the poster-child of that kind of effect in the MMO world since its launch, and I’m curious to what made Arenanet realize that this wasn’t such a good thing.

Anything outside of these questions will be answered with the specifics of how the classes will be changed in the new system. I’m really curious about the lesser used ones and my main class Warrior, so I’m interested to see what the future holds.

I will say, I’d either rather amulets not be buffed, and just have less tanky tanks/less bursty glass (in net less extremes across the board, but this includes Cele) which I think would be good for the game, OR some sort of gem system so we can at least shift around stats some way. I can’t say I’m a fan of pushing the extreme glass and extreme wall sort of playstyle further.

ronpierce.2760:

I will say, I’d either rather amulets not be buffed, and just have less tanky tanks/less bursty glass (in net less extremes across the board, but this includes Cele) which I think would be good for the game, OR some sort of gem system so we can at least shift around stats some way. I can’t say I’m a fan of pushing the extreme glass and extreme wall sort of playstyle further.

Totally agree. The thought of Berserker amulet getting an addtional 800 stats as “compensation” is actually pretty scary, especially for new players that are going to be really annoyed if they die in 3 seconds to something they can’t read or react to, like a Thief’s or Medi Guard’s instaburst

I’m really worried about 6 6 6 builds for everyone. How do you think to balance traits to avoid putting in the game the most power creep ever?

How condi and boon duration will be handled ed with the new system?

Will the boost to base stats be equal for all classes, meaning we will have less disproportionate health pools across classes?

For the elementalist fresh air build, a lot of the benefits revolve around traits being within the trait line which provides complementary precision and ferocity. Without this, an already below optimal build won’t be used nearly as much. Do you plan on buffing the scepter in any sense to compensate for this damage loss or will you be changing amulets to add the points which were gained through taking a crit based damage trait line?

1. [PvP] Is the PvP amulet system being changed to allow more customization? Stat customization is already problematic now; without stats from trait lines to make them more well-rounded or fill in the holes, it will be even worse.
2. [PvE][WvW] Will you be addressing boon and condition duration food buffs? It looks like global boon duration and condition damage duration increases are being removed from trait lines in favor of targeted increases. Will you be doing the same to food (and similar) buffs?
3. How are “must-have” traits being addressed? It would suck to have these specializations only to be forced into one or two of the choices for “must-have” traits. For example, traits which grant vigor for multiple professions and the Fast Hands trait for warriors.
4. [Elite Specializations]If you choose an elite specialization, are you required to use the special weapon? If not, is it worthwhile to not use the specialization-specific weapon? If yes, how will weapon swapping work?
5. [PvP]Can you progress PvE/WvW specialization unlocks through PvP? ANet has promoted progressing your character by doing what you like (PvP, PvE, WvW). We don’t want to take a step back on that.
6. What are you doing to address power creep? d/d ele: now with diamond skin. ’nuff said. Will a lot of current powerful traits be seeing reductions, or is the goal to make players more powerful?
7. [Guardian] Will you be able to take the current Absolute Resolution and Indomitable Courage together? If not, then why? These two traits are key to Virtues builds and really help the guardian support allies.

With all the new options and things to do to create a build..

Saving and loading builds when out of combat?

There is no way to quickly do this with the new system.

Save and load builds like GW1.

Even assign equipment to builds you save and load.

Will this happen? That’s my question..

SAVE and LOAD builds?

These changes are “streamlining” at best, dumbing down at worst. And none of those is a compliment. Do you have anything in plan to improve spvp player’s ability to customize their characters after this major restriction in our freedom?

My question is, how long do we have to wait for these changes to come in? Because it sounds like they will be coming BEFORE the expansion not with the expansion.

I understand that such a big change can’t be rushed but it’s literally going to run every build ever created on it’s head in a way.

ronpierce.2760:

I will say, I’d either rather amulets not be buffed, and just have less tanky tanks/less bursty glass (in net less extremes across the board, but this includes Cele) which I think would be good for the game, OR some sort of gem system so we can at least shift around stats some way. I can’t say I’m a fan of pushing the extreme glass and extreme wall sort of playstyle further.

This wouldn’t be really fair. Some classes have low hp and choose trees with vitality for that reason. The easiest way to handle the stat loss would be to allow players choose aditional stats, including boon duration, condi duration etc, which would be equal to the loss.

Only one Question:

Will there FINALLY be a save/load option for this whole stuff?!

How will this change impact Guardian’s 2.1.6.1.4 or 0.1.6.1.6 meditation builds? Currently Guardian uses besides 6 in Valor 2 key traits, 1 in Honor for Vigorous Precision and one in Radiance for Justice is Blind.

Will you merge the Vigor trait in Radiance like Mesmer has it in they’re Dueling line or in Virtues maybe?

creepmatic.9435:

How will this change impact Guardian’s 2.1.6.1.4 or 0.1.6.1.6 meditation builds? Currently Guardian uses besides 6 in Valor 2 key traits, 1 in Honor for Vigorous Precision and one in Radiance for Justice is Blind.

Will you merge the Vigor trait in Radiance like Mesmer has it in they’re Dueling line or in Virtues maybe?

I’m willing to bet anything that the entire paradigm on what makes a good Guardian build will completely change, no sense lamenting the 1pt in the 4th line when the 1pt minor that’s being closed off will simply be a drop extracted from an ocean of possibilities.

Yes, you will me limited to 3 out of 4 current traitlines, losing either Justice Is Blind or Vigorous Precision.

Heya!

With so much new stuff: traits, new weapons skills, new class etc, I think it’s fair to assume that things will be at least a bit out of balance for a while after the release of HoT.

That being said, will the players be getting more frequent balance passes after the expansion? Would you prefer to do more frequent small balance patches [let’s say once per 1-2 month(s)] or continue doing larger ones, but more sparsely (twice a year)?

Another question I’d like to ask;

You say the minor traits are “always equipped”, does that mean they are always on?Meaning you don’t have to select them to have them be active?

pathaugen.6572:

With all the new options and things to do to create a build..

Saving and loading builds when out of combat?

There is no way to quickly do this with the new system.

what is that different in the new system? you just pick 3 specs with 3 clicks and then click 3 times for each line (9x) to choose major traits, that’s all to create a build in terms of what has changed… then you just select skills and gear just like you do it now… seems almost the same to me, maybe even faster because you don’t need to click on each major trait to open the list of traits for that slot, you just pick with one click

Dirame.8521:

Another question I’d like to ask;

You say the minor traits are “always equipped”, does that mean they are always on?Meaning you don’t have to select them to have them be active?

Kinda yes.
You can curently decide how deep you want to into a trait line, example 64400 build…Now with new system you wont chose to spend points – but you will choose 3 full traitline out of 5+1 total traitlines…. btw trait line is basically renamed into specialization.

So new will be just 66600 , 60606 ,06606 builds basically….or rather 00066+6 since “elite specialization” means each class can chose a new 6th traitline, which will have all new stuff and allowing you a new weapon.

Does Anet realize that removing the trait stats, then Adding them in some flavor will create problems unless you superiorly streamline it?

Examples: Even the most brutal thief zerker build, now is sort of hold back, by the fact, the precision/ferocity traitline is capped at 300 stats each. Sure you can choose the power line, but you loose 300 points in a stat then to condition duraction, wich equal (aka balances) it out a bit. By giving profesisons now a chance to divide 1400 stats (wich is what current traits theoritically give, if we leave out duration/profession boosting ones), won’t this create superior much problems? 1400 could be about 470 power, precision, ferocity. That’s a 170 power creep on all 3 pillars that boost power damage. Some skills would easely do 1-3k more damage. Isn’t that unbalanced?

Second scenario is that you limit these options to like 700 stats dividing and see the last 700 as ‘collateral damage’ from the change. It looks good at first, but arises one problem: it will remove some stats compared to the past, wich may have been crucial to certain builds. Meditation guard comes to my mind: the Fury enables even soldier amulet builds to crit often. With the trait line that boost defensive stuff, (monk’s focus), gives toughness, BUT also gives crit damage, that was a nice combo cause the fury + crit damage combo bypass the ‘low damage, tanky nature’ of soldier amulet build. With the new update Guard would have to give up this combo somehow or get lesser tankyness. Is this a concern of Anet?