Guild Wars 2

It’s allready been asked but just incase.

How will WvW players earn thous new system points(Hero points)? Will they have to go do PVE or is there some sort of hope that we get them by doing stuff in WvW.

Lot of ppl me included don’t do PVE or PVP just WvW and thats what we love and we don’t want to do anything else.

By Holaadian. (if this get’s in stream don’t call me Gladys.)

Siege Masters Guide you currently buy with skill points to make superior siege, is this going to change to a difference currency to purchase such as badges or gold? or replaced with something else?

The question I have is will I still be able to pick 2 master traits instead of a grandmaster trait in the same line. I.e Indominable Courage and Absolute resolution or will the new system only allow one major trait of each tier?

Lucente.5071:

The question I have is will I still be able to pick 2 master traits instead of a grandmaster trait in the same line. I.e Indominable Courage and Absolute resolution or will the new system only allow one major trait of each tier?

According to this image no, you can’t equip 2 traits from the same “tier”

So how will racial skills be adapted to the new system?

1) Will there be WvW specific changes to Traits and Specializations?

• Will we see a kind of rework/redesign to the current WvW Traits ?
• Maybe also finally some more expansion of them for more new Character Progression that WvW is lacking off for a long time??

2) To be more concrete on 1, but asked differently, will we see with the Release of HoT a clear differentiation of Game Balancing between PvE, PvP and WvW, so that all Skills, Traits and Specializations will be differently balanced for each Game Mode???

3) Are there any plans for more Character Progression for WvW in regard of Specializations maybe via Class Specific WvW Traits to intensify and expand upon each Class’ Roles in WvW?

For Example:

Giving the Thief Class based on your chosen Elite Specialization a multitude of different WvW specific Trait Lines you can progress on via WvW Experience directly either or with WvW Rank ups as usual.

Lets say there are 4 different Elite Specializations somewhen in the future for each Class, lets call it for now Saboteur (Mace), Infiltrator (Longbow), Rogue (Crossbow) and Brawler (Quarterstaff)

Lets say I choose to make my Thief into the Elite Specialization Infiltrator, then I would receive in WvW the Ability to learn the WvW Class Specific Traits

• Infiltration Mastery (each costing 100 Ranks to max with 20 Ranks per Tier, 5 Tiers for the beginning)
• Espionage
• Shadow Control
• Quick Reflexes
• Sensoric Instincts

9*500 = 4500 Ranks until you would have maxed out all WvW Class Specific Traits for WvW We can have 10000 Ranks max, so that would be a perfect way to give the huge amount of Ranks in WvW a MEANING as also giving each class in WvW more meanign also too by strengthening their unique roles for WvW.

Progression on such a thief special WvW Trait, while playing as your Elite Specialization Infiltrator in WvW, you could work on there then for example on your “Sensoric Instincts”

Working on this Trait Line yould give your Infiltrator then these 5 Effects for example:

1) Eyes of the Mist – Your Eyes become better, making it possible for you to see stealthed enemies, if you go also into stealth
2) Sense for Danger – You can sense now Enemies in your near and see them on the Minimap. When enemies get near you from behind or the sides, you will get warned by a suble red flash effect on the screen borders to warn you, that danger comes from out of your view giving you a better chance to react ealier fitting to the situation. The flash intensifies, so more enemies approach you to signal you the intensity of the danger.
3) Height Sense – You get a better sense for heights, decreasing your Fall Damage by 25% (this accumulated to all other Fall Damage Reducement Effects like of Traits/Sigils)
4) Hunting Instinct – Your attacks deal 20% more damage against Downed Targets and those enemies which have lesser than 20% Health of their Maximum when you hit them.
5) Empathetic Senses – You feel the emotions of battlelust from your allies in your near, letting you gain the same boons in their near, when they gain boons from their own skills. Example, whenever a Guardian gets aegis automaticalyl from his Virtue, an Infiltrator with this Trait would then also always receive automatically Aegis every like 40 seconds when beign in the near of said Guardian.

Or when you stand in the near of such a Mesmer, that gets every 10 seconds a random boon, you would get also every 10 seconds a random boon in the near of such a mesmer.

Just a bit brainstorming hear, because would hreally love to know, what kind of stuff you thought off for WvW in regard of Specializations, when I saw, that you made for WvW an own thread about questions.
Never thought about it, that you could make for WvW any special different mechanics ect. in regarc of specialziation, but that remembered my directly on my idea about WvW specific Trait Lines and it woudl suit so perfectly in to the game in combination with Elite Specializations, that I just hard right now this light bulb moment in my head and had to write all this down here now xD

Vrava.6937:

So how will racial skills be adapted to the new system?

My guess? Core game Mastery system.

Hi Josh, thanks for putting this together. My questions:

1. How will falling damage traits be implemented in the new system? For instance, the elementalist falling damage reduction trait is in the water line currently, but in the example you gave of the new water line, that trait was absent.

2. How will weapon-specific traits be implemented in the new system? For example, will traits like Blasting Staff still exist, and if so will it exist as an automatic trait in a trait line, a trait you have to choose over other traits, or something else?

3. Will creating superior siege require the new material that is replacing skill points? And if so, how will WvW players earn that new material? And finally, will there be any changes to make the process of crafting superior siege at the mystic forge less cumbersome and time-consuming?

4. I completely agree with the design decision to no longer associate stats with trait lines. You mentioned that the class specific stats (such as ele attunement recharge) will be folded into the appropriate core specialization. How will you handle other stats, such as boon duration and condition duration, that are also not typically found on armor used in WvW? Also, by chance has there been any consideration of changing how these stats are affected by food?

Bubi.5237:

Lucente.5071:

The question I have is will I still be able to pick 2 master traits instead of a grandmaster trait in the same line. I.e Indominable Courage and Absolute resolution or will the new system only allow one major trait of each tier?

According to this image no, you can’t equip 2 traits from the same “tier”

Well kitten..

The obvious question is for those who only WvW (or PvP for that matter) how will we obtain hero points to unlock the skills and traits?

Only one Question wich has not yet been asked:

Will there be a safe/load Option for the specializations ?! I mean… come on……

currently my best engi frontline build draws from 4 trait lines: 20444 slicky/bombs. or 01661 AH/shout guardian for example. or the 64220 staff ele variant. once HoT hits, all builds will be the equivalent of 3 6s + 2 0s.

but me, as an engi… my build only just became good. prior to the stability change frontline zerg engi was total crap. now i can provide a really really useful service to my zerg — stripping stab and trapping while drawing and dropping zergling aggro en masse. but all the traits are widely dispersed, and i dont even want to take a single grandmaster (or even a master in alchemy). i can probably give up the 4 in tools (and end up 60660), but i cant imagine youll do a whole lot with moving these specific traits around in order to preserve this playstyle, because its not yet widely accepted and used and traits are generally themed to fit into each line.

so i guess my question is: how will you handle builds that dont want to fully invest in certain lines but are still currently really good? will they just evaporate? for many builds we just get to take the grandmaster in whatever 3rd line we were partially invested in, but some builds dont want or need to go all the way to achieve the desired playstyle.

might be a tough question ><

As a WvW only player I have some concerns.

From what I understand you need hero points to become more powerful in game. How will this balance in WvW. I have every character level 80 and there’s no way I’m doing map completion 8 more times just to be as strong as someone else. If someone mains PvE or has all the hero points they can get; will they be able to overpower me because I don’t?

I hope wvw mastery points will count toward the new trait system

Will there be a replacement method for making superior siege?

Xenesis.6389:

Siege Masters Guide you currently buy with skill points to make superior siege, is this going to change to a difference currency to purchase such as badges or gold? or replaced with something else?

‘watches dev suddenly realise this hadn’t even been thought of’

1 ) With the change to player/gear stat allocation, traits and skills, should we be looking forward to WvW skill / trait specific tuning and balance or is WvW going to remain under the PvE specific skill/trait balance ?

2) Under the current system, upon leveling up we gain skill points, with the change can WvW players still expect progression via leveling up ? (Hero Points etc…)

3) In the blog post a specialization was hinted at giving players defiance bars, how readily accessible is this (IE only one specialization / not an AoE, PBAoE) or can we expect this to be limited / not included in WvW ?

Hi all, this is my first post on the forums. I started playing GW2 a year ago, coming mostly from fighting games and MOBAs. Loved the combat and the possibilities the game allowed for builds and sticked with it.

Everything is looking good in HoT so far, but there’s one thing that got me concerned after the recent blog posts. It mentioned stats wouldn’t be confined to traits/specs anymore (good), but that they would end up on gear to make up for it. Thing is, I planned most of my character builds taking into account the bonuses I received from the trait lines, and mixing a lot of sets, in order to achieve very specific numbers. Since most gear in the game focuses on one main stat and two secondary ones (unlike traits), won’t I have to grind for different gear on my characters to make up for the trait points? I know this is something I should be prepared for, as it’s a whole new expansion to the game and these things happen, but it does dampen my enthusiasm to think I’d have to get new gear for most of my finished characters. Is this something I should be concerned about? And is the plan for trait stats to be on gear from now on already set in stone, or can that change?

Thanks guys for all your hard work, and for doing this AMA.

So, I think it was stated that each profession will have five Core Specializations to choose from, but then in the second post we get a very awesome looking screenshot of a new interface that lists all the reward tracks for the Ele profession. There are a lot more than five reward tracks, and the one on the screen seems to only have 3 traits able to be unlocked through that reward track. How do the Profession Reward Tracks and Specializations relate to each other?

To get access to every trait in the water magic spec, for example, do you potentially have to finish multiple Reward Tracks?

Are all of the skills/traits tied to Core Specs always available, or does not speccing into Water Magic prevent you from taking advantage of it beyond no access to the related traits, like attuning to it or using a utility skill that might be attached to it?

Josh Davis.6015:

Hi all,

Tomorrow I’ll be hosting a multi-hour AMA session with members of the design team where we’ll be focusing on deep-diving the newly announced specialization system. As part of this, we’ll also be giving you a first look at the reworks of traits, including a number of skill/mechanic changes that will be going live with this system. We have a lot of stuff to talk about. This also means we’ll be going over every single trait in their current iteration in our development environment. I’ll be pulling your questions out of Twitch chat, this forum post, and posts all over the forums and having our design team address them.

You can find more information on the specialization changes (part one) here: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/specializations-part-one-a-primer/

Tomorrow’s livestream will start at 12pm PST at http://www.twitch.tv/guildwars2

Question Links:
General specializations questions thread
PvP-focused specializations questions thread
WvW-focused specializations questions thread

What I see in the traiting system so far will destroy many people’s interest in the game at all.

Confusing? Wow, no kidding.

Easy to back out of if you make a mistake with the “wrong” traitline? Not as far as I can see.

For those who can’t possibly theorycraft the new traiting system will be a game ender.

I’m hopeful they know that they are doing.

Joey.2769:

I’m hopeful they know that they are doing.

Yep, buff everybody so we all die even more quickly. The last thing we all need.

/rolleyes.

So this whole exercise was a waste of time, with no actual AMA, good going anet.

Too late for the AMA, but perhaps a good place to ask these questions anyway:

1. Will there be any balance to the WvW abilities with the change to the core trait system or with the arrival of HoT new borderlands maps?

2. Will there be any new WvW abilities added to the list when HoT and the new borderlands maps will be released?

Reasons why I ask this and I think an answer would be appreciated by the WvW community

a) Some WvW abilities, like Burning Oil Mastery could swap some tiers around to make the siege more worth manning in battles (e.g. getting the “take less damage” slot to tier 1. The “mercenary mastery” is quite useless and should either get expanded (do more damage to centaurs, skritt, Aetherblades etc) or removed at all.
b) A long time ago Hugh said in an episode of “Ready Up” (or its precursor show) that they wanted to expand the lines to tier 10 like the Guard tracks, which has never happened or was never heard of again.
b) More defensive masteries like being better protected when defending structures, escorting caravans etc. haven been part of the WvW CDI for years now and have never really being addressed. A clear statement would at least stop us theorycrafting about possibilities that will never happen
c) The WvW abilities can’t be tailored to your current game style, because the times Anet has reset them is rather random and should not me tied to tournament seasons, but perhaps to buying a reset with badges of honor.
d) And finally: With so many changes coming to the core game, can’t we expect at least a mention of the WvW ability system as it is the closest horizontal progression system similar to the “mastery tracks” of HoT we already have in the game?

Thanks for reading and considering.