Guild Wars 2

So, someone brought up an interesting thought that I felt like it deserves its own thread: our minor traits. By now we have:
Singularity (Adept)

• Attain elemental singularity by remaining in an attunement for a period of time. Upon attaining singularity, you may overload the attunement to your vicinity.

This is our bread-‘n-butter, it unlocks overloads, shouts and warhorn for us. It’s basically saying: here are new skills for you.

Speedy Conduit (Master)

• Gain swiftness when overloading an attunement.

This one doesn’t further invest into bringing a meaningful role for tempest, and even the add it gives to overloads is minimum. It is just swiftness. It makes us move faster while overloading. Try and picture scenarios where we’ll lack swiftness and therefore this had to become baseline, filling a minor trait slot… I can’t see that.

Hardy Conduit (Grandmaster)

• Gain protection while overloading an attunement.

Same as above, except that since you become rather vulnerable channeling something, it does make a difference. I guess. But once again, it’s just a boon. It doesn’t impact that much our core mechanic.

Other elite specs, so you can compare the creativity and synergy provided for each of them (skipping adept which only unlocks things):

• Dragonhunter
  • Blocking an attack makes your next hit to burn your target for 2sec.
  • +10% damage to enemies within 600 range

• Berserker
  • First attack when entering combat generates 10 adrenaline
  • 2sec quickness when entering berserk mode (Berserk Mode has 15s cooldown)

• Herald
  • +25% endurance regen while an upkeep is active during combat
  • +15% boon duration

• Scrapper
  • Ressing allies/finishing enemies grant might x 5 (10s), and superspeed (3s); 10s cooldown
  • Incoming stun reduced/increased applied stun duration, both by 25%

• Druid
  • Healing allies heals you (no ICD)
  • Each heal you deliver increases healing by 2% (6s), for a maximum of 10 stacks (20%)

• Daredevil
  • Heals you when you evade an attack (1s cooldown)
  • Stealing from an enemy grants you a dodge (50 endurance)

• Reaper
  • Fearing enemies applies 3sec chill (no ICD)
  • Chill duration increased by 20%, chilled enemies deal 10% less damage to you

• Chronomancer
  • Shattering gives you 0.75s of Alacrity
  • 25% movement speed. Reduce duration of cripple, chill, and immobilize by 25%.

Thoughts?

What I said in the other thread on this very same topic:

“Speedy Conduits should give superspeed instead of swiftness for 4 seconds, like it was originally supposed to in the TTH.com interview that unveiled the spec.

The stack of stability on overload should be merged into hardy conduits while harmonious conduits keeps its 10% damage modifier and regains the overload cooldown function it originally had.

These changes would make overloads feel more complete in themselves, where we woulnd’t have to allocate our major trait options just to complete the mechanic"

I feel as though thats the most obvious change to improve the minor traits, but it still feels lacking even then, it just runs into the fundamental problem that we honestly need stability on a minor trait for the sake of tempest build diversity, while everything else takes a back seat that.

What if Speedy Conduits made overloads grant superspeed to allies (3 seconds) upon finishing an overload too? What if hardy conduits applied a stack of stability to allies upon completion of the overload too? However these ending ally effects would only effect the allies, not you. Then the minor traits would basically fit the theme of, “tools to help you channel the overload, finishing the overload helps allies”.

The scrapper actually have a minor adept unlike every other classes. They have the rez and stomp bot.

nearlight.3064:

What I said in the other thread on this very same topic:

“Speedy Conduits should give superspeed instead of swiftness for 4 seconds, like it was originally supposed to in the TTH.com interview that unveiled the spec.

The stack of stability on overload should be merged into hardy conduits while harmonious conduits keeps its 10% damage modifier and regains the overload cooldown function it originally had.

These changes would make overloads feel more complete in themselves, where we woulnd’t have to allocate our major trait options just to complete the mechanic"

I feel as though thats the most obvious change to improve the minor traits, but it still feels lacking even then, it just runs into the fundamental problem that we honestly need stability on a minor trait for the sake of tempest build diversity, while everything else takes a back seat that.

What if Speedy Conduits made overloads grant superspeed to allies (3 seconds) upon finishing an overload too? What if hardy conduits applied a stack of stability to allies upon completion of the overload too? However these ending ally effects would only effect the allies, not you. Then the minor traits would basically fit the theme of, “tools to help you channel the overload, finishing the overload helps allies”.

If I was to give super speed, I would give 1,5 seconds when casting the overload and another 1,5 seconds when completing it along with the swiftness. The other one could probably give the 1 stack of stability.

But the point with the non-existant minor still persists. Still, it may be an interesting design to forgo the minor traits on 1 of the elite specialization to emphasize on the new mechanic it adds when I think about it.

Well if you have any better ideas, feel free to talk about them. I agree that its a problem, but I think we’re at the point where the overloads are almost good enough that the minor traits just need to give more utility, if anything, so that they feel like actual minor traits.

nearlight.3064:

Well if you have any better ideas, feel free to talk about them. I agree that its a problem, but I think we’re at the point where the overloads are almost good enough that the minor traits just need to give more utility, if anything, so that they feel like actual minor traits.

Yeah, overloads are awesome now to a point it leaves us too small room to think about minor traits. In other specs minor traits felt like spec-defining, in ours they’re just adds.