Guild Wars 2

How come we are able to change things like slot skills, armor and weapons but do we have to go to a skill trainer to reset traits? Could someone explain to me the design thought behind it?

I know that it might make things more complicated and slow-paced if players feel forced to change traits with every boss they engage. But hear me out for a second on the potential of having more freedom in changing trait trees:

• First of all, the current way to receive a reset in traits is either done by talking to your trainer (which means we are constraint to a certain location). Or by paying 6 gold in gems to purchase an Instant Trait Reset which only gives you 1 reset. The Instant Trait Resets is very inefficient and I’m pretty sure the majority if the players doesn’t find it worthwhile.

• Secondly, if we were allowed to make templates and save our favorite builds, it would open up a lot of diversified fights in different situations. People would spend more time on specific builds for specific dungeons instead of specific builds for maximum DPS.

I think the problem is that because technically every profession can play any role, if we were able to trait whenever we pleased it would mean that people could adapt to any situation perfectly, taking a lot of challenge out of the game.

On a more lore-focused point, a character can easily change armour / weapons or decide how to act (utilities) but might not be able to change their knowledge (traits). So it makes sense in that context.

I feel freedom to change traits whenever we please would make many aspects of the game too easy.

i would like at least a way to save builds… what i mean is.. instead of going to npc and manually doing everything.. to have presets… so you could have a WvW build a dungeon build and a standard pve build and quickly switch between them at the trainer.. id be ok with that.

even gw 1 had a similar thing so its entirely possible.

Dante.8456:

I think the problem is that because technically every profession can play any role, if we were able to trait whenever we pleased it would mean that people could adapt to any situation perfectly, taking a lot of challenge out of the game.

On a more lore-focused point, a character can easily change armour / weapons or decide how to act (utilities) but might not be able to change their knowledge (traits). So it makes sense in that context.

I feel freedom to change traits whenever we please would make many aspects of the game too easy.

I do agree with you that there’s a risk involved where people might get the feeling that they explored every corner of the game and then get bored.

But I have the feeling that the challenge you’re speaking of is already gone. The game is mostly about repeating content (not counting the living story updates). I think opening up the traits could challenge people even more to adapt their builds to the team and find better synergies. Therefore broadening the challenge by understanding trait mechanics and not only boss & skill mechanics.

Keep in mind you have to reset trait lines but you have a variety of on-the-fly changes you can make in any major trait bubble. It’s not a total lock-in.

Donari.5237:

Keep in mind you have to reset trait lines but you have a variety of on-the-fly changes you can make in any major trait bubble. It’s not a total lock-in.

You’re right that it’s not a total lock-in and I was more talking about trait points rather than trait slots. The way the Instant Trait Reset from the gemstore is designed it seems like resetting traits is something they rather not want us to do easily. But then why would they allow players to change trait slots, but not redistribute trait points?

because changing trait points changes your stats and build… changing the slots does not..

if you were a tank before changing slots wouldnt change that… youd still have the +toughness and hp ect..

if you could change trait points you could go from dps to tank and back.. right now you cant really. which is the point.

besides.. what does it matter? everybody goes 100% damage 100% of the time anyways cus efficiency.

Adrianna.3092:

if you could change trait points you could go from dps to tank and back.. right now you cant really. which is the point.

besides.. what does it matter? everybody goes 100% damage 100% of the time anyways cus efficiency.

I see your point even though you’re contradicting yourself. People won’t switch from tank to dps to tank because they want damage. But there are two situations where my suggestion would be a welcome change:

• Certain traits work better against really tough bosses. For example Subject Alpha requires a lot of dodging. It will be even more challenging and at the same time rewarding to find the perfect builds for certain bosses such as Lupicus or dungeons like Dredge fractals.
• You join a team with only warriors and after the first wipe-out you feel like a supportive trait build could be more beneficial to the team.

I do want to make clear that I want to prevent the situation where players feel they are forced into micro-management of their traits. Therefore I think having templates of your favorite trait builds could help a lot to simplify these adjustments.

It gets you to think about where you place your points.

If you focus on a specific goal for your build, then you lose the adaptability.

However, sacrificing some of that specialization you gain a bit of that adaptability back.

For example, say you’re a Warrior.

You could put 20 points in Defence instead of another trait line that would increase your damage.

You use Hammer, with the traits Cull the Weak and Merciless Hammer to bring your DPS back up a bit.

You then come to a boss that applies a lot of conditions. You can then change Cull the Weak for Dogged March, and Merciless Hammer for Cleansing Ire, as well as bringing “Shake It Off!” and Berserker Stance. That way, you have more defense against conditions.

what daibish said… it makes you think about where to put your points to allow for the most options.. you can adjust for every encounter if you set your points right.. i can do the same thing on my mesmer without changing trait points.. changing slots and weapons and utilities is enough.

This would allow people to basically survive everything D;

protovibe.8417:

This would allow people to basically survive everything D;

The game is already in a state where everyone survives every encounter. Everyone is focused on maximum damage output by using Berserker gear. I don’t see how having access to every trait would change this. Personally, I think it could create a more challenging experience where people can further adapt to specific encounters.