Guild Wars 2

Hi All,

This is my first post here…I think, I have played a Mesmer since release but I am a rather casual player if I do say so myself. I love my Mesmer and I know you are all very passionate about the class.

The countless posts I have seen about the uselessness of the new traits is quite staggering though, I don’t agree with most of it and would hope we could be more positive about the changes (please note: more positive and blindly optimistic are two different things and I am the former not the latter- which is why I will just touch on things that I see as a positive change to the class).

Power Block
I was excited to hear about this and saw the trait for what it was, when it came to us wrapped in a big bugged bow I was heavily disappointed, the ability to put 10 second cooldowns on skills that had never been susceptible to such a thing prior to the trait’s creation was frankly as OP as when phantasmal haste made phantasms have no cooldown between skills in beta. Now that it has been fixed, or as some would say “nerfed” has led to people stating the trait is now completely useless.

Had this trait been introduced properly without the bug I think Mesmers would have reacted differently, as it was bugged, it required very little skill to actually punish other players for using skills. Now it will properly punish another player based on the skill of the Mesmer waiting for the right time to interrupt (e.g healing skills, skills other classes have which have a small time-frame for opportunity to interrupt, Guardian’s Whirling Wrath/Binding Blade, Necro’s death shroud skills, Warrior Hambow builds- Pin Down is now far easier to interrupt with the change. etc etc). Interrupting ressing and finishing is still something you can do, its not as if it is no longer possible just as it has been since release. I feel this trait has its place and there will be more variety within lockdown builds, not every Tom kitten and Harry will play the same lockdown build, which is something i see as quite positive.

Bountiful Disillusionment
I see this skill as means to create more defensive and supportive shatter builds, I have tested this trait somewhat and found that it can be as effective as the normal shatter set up, the uptime on the boons is quite significant and it has good synergy with other traits that would normally be slightly underwhelming on their own (e.g confusing cry). Might stacking is also achievable which I felt was something regular shatter builds had a hard time doing with no investment in boon duration (this is without food buffs of course). I see this trait as a positive change by opening up more trait spreads for shatter builds.

Maim the Disillusioned
This trait. I was happy to see there is another thread were people are using this trait and having positive things to say about it. Along with the Crit Damage changes and this trait I feel condition-shatter is a much more viable playstyle and no longer overshadowed by PU condition builds. More variety yet again!
I have used this trait the most since the new traits were available and would invite anyone who likes a condition build to give it a go, you will not be disappointed, unless you prefer the passive PU playstyle…

Blind Optimism
Obviously I do see flaws in what has been introduced, and will not defend them, but for the time being why don’t we focus on the good stuff? I for one would hate for potential Mesmers to be turned away because of what they read in the forums.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, in case you didn’t:

TL;DR- Be more positive!

Its kind of hard to focus on the positive when the only thing we have to be positive about is Maim the Disillusioned.

The surprise ‘we aren’t even going to put it into the patch notes’ mantra trait swaps, actually helps my pvp build a lot but comes at the expense of a massive damage nerf in PvE just at the same time as these stupid ferocity changes.

I don’t believe that any GM shatter trait that isn’t in Dueling or Illusions can be that good because you are giving up too much to get it but I haven’t unlocked Bountiful Disillusionment so wouldn’t mind hearing more talk about it to see what people think.

Power Block probably shouldn’t work on auto atacks, weapon/attunement swaps and those kind of things but not working on Theif 2-5 is stupid. The Theif is a poorly designed troll class in the first place and needs a big overhaul in its mechanics so anything that sticks its middle finger up at those mechanics should be rewarded not nerfed.

And just like the OP the least said about the last two new GMs the better.

Also another patch and Mesmer still has poor OoC maneuverability and is nothing more then a veil/timewarp/portal bot in WvWvW.

I have played around with every shatter trait there is, some are quite underwhelming, particularly shattered conditions in the inspiration line, though to be honest the inspiration line is no place for shatter traits anyway considering the line is largely based on phantasms and, you know, not shattering them. Maybe if shattered illusions and restorative illusions were rolled into one and we got a new trait which turns one of our shatters into a combo finisher of some sort, that would be pretty cool, not to mention supportive. Anyway, I digress.

So far I am happy with Bountiful Disillusionment and see it as a worthwhile trait, it doesn’t step on PU’s toes as it offers different boons and a different playstyle, im managing to keep near 100% uptime on retaliation with the help of confusing cry, around 12~15 stacks of might, it can easily be turned into a supportive build with signet of inspiration. I am running 0/4 II,X/6 IV,VIII,XIII/0/4 II,VIII at the minute.

It is worth noting that you get the boons and duration listed no matter how many illusions you shatter.

Why shouldn’t players be punished for mindlessly spamming ? With the excessive amount of stability, invulnerability, evades, and now this, it’s pretty much a copy of the confounding suggestions trait, you know that other interrupt trait for the same amount of points.

echo.2053:

Why shouldn’t players be punished for mindlessly spamming ? With the excessive amount of stability, invulnerability, evades, and now this, it’s pretty much a copy of the confounding suggestions trait, you know that other interrupt trait for the same amount of points.

In your opinion, are players not already punished for “mindlessly spamming” as you put it?

I don’t think Stability is much of an argument given the Mesmer’s numerous boon stripping abilities. Invulnerability and evades put a stop to every kind of damage from every kind of player, not just one playstyle a Mesmer can choose to build around.

Power Block activates on any kind of interrupt and has more of an impact on what a player will do. So no I wouldn’t say it is a copy of Confounding Suggestions, since all it does is increase daze times and has a chance of stunning the enemy, which can be broken by the player, there is nothing they can do about a longer cooldown from Power Block however.

I like how you didn’t even mention the inspiration trait lol. I’ve tried to think good thoughts about the new traits, but honestly the only good one is maim. Power block was good, when bugged, but as it is now I only see benefits for it if you interrupt the same person multiple times and not for interrupting multiple people. Also since it has almost 0 use against thieves you’re better off using CI.

I’ve said it already, but Bountiful Disillusionment is a lackluster trait. You can get more retaliation uptime using pDefender, more reliable regen from the inspiration master minor. Pretty much the only reason to use it is because it does give a decent amount of might, and pretty much our only source of fury. To which I say, there are better classes to do that so why not just give defensive boons instead? We are easily one of the best in protection/aegis uptime so using PU to boon share seems like a much better idea. Some people like to run sub – optimal builds though so I can see how BD can still appeal.

I’m not trying to be negative, I’m being realistic. I’m mostly a pvper and there is no room for impractical builds there if you want to win. So can the traits be useful? In certain situations yes. That doesn’t make them good though.

Raunchy.6891:

I like how you didn’t even mention the inspiration trait lol. I’ve tried to think good thoughts about the new traits, but honestly the only good one is maim. Power block was good, when bugged, but as it is now I only see benefits for it if you interrupt the same person multiple times and not for interrupting multiple people. Also since it has almost 0 use against thieves you’re better off using CI.

I’ve said it already, but Bountiful Disillusionment is a lackluster trait. You can get more retaliation uptime using pDefender, more reliable regen from the inspiration master minor. Pretty much the only reason to use it is because it does give a decent amount of might, and pretty much our only source of fury. To which I say, there are better classes to do that so why not just give defensive boons instead? We are easily one of the best in protection/aegis uptime so using PU to boon share seems like a much better idea. Some people like to run sub – optimal builds though so I can see how BD can still appeal.

I’m not trying to be negative, I’m being realistic. I’m mostly a pvper and there is no room for impractical builds there if you want to win. So can the traits be useful? In certain situations yes. That doesn’t make them good though.

Ci suck too jat not as bad 1 sec imm+ 1 sec chill or blind is laughable. I use BD in a boon share build run the sig that copies boons to allies with lyssa runes or might runes its fun

Yes, well, as I said, I was not trying to be blindly optimistic and stating things like “Disruptor’s Sustainment is a good trait” for example, is stupid on my part and idiotic if you were to believe it. :P

I do see validity in Bountiful Disillusionment for alternate shatter builds, not everyone likes running PU, which is yes, a very powerful trait indeed, but requires you to be in stealth to reap the rewards, there isn’t anything wrong with that it is just I see PU as a defensive boon supply with defensive boons and BD as an offensive boon supply with offensive boons. Pdefender may offer retal but doesn’t sit well in a shatter build and requires you to place points in inspiration. PU & BD are for two different playstyles in my opinion.

The traits haven’t been out long enough to state they are all sub-optimal, though we can probably rule out some of the more…uhm, interesting ones ^^;

I use BD in PvE as a replacement for CI, which never really fit into my reflect build for dungeons.

Is it nice to have a third option yes, is it really viable in any other game mode? Probably not. Without giving up a utility for the RNG/Long CD signet to share boons its still no good for party support.

It’s very hard to be optimistic when you main this class for an extended period of time tho, wishing your build idea would work but not knowing because of a trait or skill thats broken and continues to remain that way.

Finding your build that was a little OP suddenly heavily nerfed to becoming a gimmick build that no longer stands up at all. Meanwhile fixes for other builds are still “Being looked at” patch after patch after patch after patch… after patch..

hearing the dev team state that “Yes something about this feels off but we cant pin down what it is either. Let us know if you guys figure it out and we’ll look at it again in the future”

Being promised that this is only a temporary fix until the issue is solved.. and then the issue is never looked at again and the temp fix is kept for years..

Theres really only so much a person can take before they become bitter and much less complacent and hopeful that Anet actually knows what they are doing behind the curtains, and it leads to acidic attitudes towards things like these new traits. Many of which step on the toes of much more powerful traits (of which we have very few) or are completely useless to any current play style or combination of other standing traits. One or Two may even be made pointless and laughable by the very core design of Gw2 Combat itself (looking at you Inspiration and Dueling..)

Selvyn.1043:

I do see validity in Bountiful Disillusionment for alternate shatter builds, not everyone likes running PU, which is yes, a very powerful trait indeed, but requires you to be in stealth to reap the rewards, there isn’t anything wrong with that it is just I see PU as a defensive boon supply with defensive boons and BD as an offensive boon supply with offensive boons. Pdefender may offer retal but doesn’t sit well in a shatter build and requires you to place points in inspiration. PU & BD are for two different playstyles in my opinion.

Just saying, using this trait for shatter damage isn’t good, and as long as IP is a trait it never will be good. Yeah I agree, they are different playstyles, but our defensive trait is much better than this offensive one. To be honest it would have been better if they had switched the Mind Wrack and CoF boons. Then it would have actually made sense and actually be a possible trait in a good boon sharing build. Even having fury on Mind Wrack would make the trait more desirable. I’m not completely dismissing it, but as it is now there are better options for us.

@Mystogan
Sorry to say man but you’re wrong. It’s a 2 3/4 second immobilize with possibly 4 seconds of blind or 2 3/4 seconds of chill. It’s super good no matter how you look at it and people will have to blow significant cooldowns to get out of it which is always a win. Only thief and warrior with dogged march don’t have to do this, and thief doesn’t always have the option.

Okay, I can settle for “it’s not bad”, that is still more positive than “EVERYTHING IS BAD NOOOOO”.

I still see BD as a trait option for bulky shatter builds, but that’s just me, I love messing around with traits and seeing what works/doesn’t work for me. I realise everyone is different though

I could see a possible boon share/condition shatter build through 0/0/6/0/6 with both bountiful disillusionment and maim the disillusioned, although it could be awful.

I still don’t think bountiful disillusionment is worth it over other choices at chaos 6.

Power block was good…

The other two are mostly useless in general. Ok distortion on kill could be made use of in certain situations, but there are better trait choices in duelling.
Inspiration trait… well there’s nothing to talk about.

So overall – one decent trait (MtD), one maybe ok trait (BI) now.

Mystogan.4157:

Raunchy.6891:

I like how you didn’t even mention the inspiration trait lol. I’ve tried to think good thoughts about the new traits, but honestly the only good one is maim. Power block was good, when bugged, but as it is now I only see benefits for it if you interrupt the same person multiple times and not for interrupting multiple people. Also since it has almost 0 use against thieves you’re better off using CI.

I’ve said it already, but Bountiful Disillusionment is a lackluster trait. You can get more retaliation uptime using pDefender, more reliable regen from the inspiration master minor. Pretty much the only reason to use it is because it does give a decent amount of might, and pretty much our only source of fury. To which I say, there are better classes to do that so why not just give defensive boons instead? We are easily one of the best in protection/aegis uptime so using PU to boon share seems like a much better idea. Some people like to run sub – optimal builds though so I can see how BD can still appeal.

I’m not trying to be negative, I’m being realistic. I’m mostly a pvper and there is no room for impractical builds there if you want to win. So can the traits be useful? In certain situations yes. That doesn’t make them good though.

Ci suck too jat not as bad 1 sec imm+ 1 sec chill or blind is laughable. I use BD in a boon share build run the sig that copies boons to allies with lyssa runes or might runes its fun

Excuse me? Ci just not as bad? CI is really is good. also where are you getting 1 sec immo, chill and blind?

StickerHappy.8052:

Excuse me? Ci just not as bad? CI is really is good. also where are you getting 1 sec immo, chill and blind?

The tool tip on the trait states 1s If I remember correctly.

I would flip the thread title on its head – contempt breeds negativity.

The new Mesmer GM traits are either mediocre (Power Block, Maim the Disillusioned) or jaw-droppingly bad (Bountiful Disillusionment, Disruptor’s Sustainment). Triumphant Distortion had potential, but what we were expressly told about it (no internal CD) turned out to be untrue, and additionally it turns out not to benefit from other distortion-related traits. Admittedly Necros and Rangers also got mostly junk, but Warriors and Thieves got some very attractive new traits.

More importantly (for me at least), there is a growing list of serious Mesmer bugs and ‘wtf is this really working as intended?’s which we were expressly told would be addressed in the feature patch. The most hotly-anticipated fixes were either not fixed correctly (such as iWarden and Portal Entre) or simply not even mentioned (such as iElasticity and Temporal Curtain). The Power Block bug, which was not particularly OP and opened up new and interesting strategies, was hotfixed almost immediately. Nothing else has been addressed, despite the fact that these are very long-standing issues.

The pattern here is that Mesmer players have repeatedly been told things which turned out to be either ambiguous or just flat out false. That’s going to breed negativity.

Selvyn.1043:

echo.2053:

Why shouldn’t players be punished for mindlessly spamming ? With the excessive amount of stability, invulnerability, evades, and now this, it’s pretty much a copy of the confounding suggestions trait, you know that other interrupt trait for the same amount of points.

In your opinion, are players not already punished for “mindlessly spamming” as you put it?

I don’t think Stability is much of an argument given the Mesmer’s numerous boon stripping abilities. Invulnerability and evades put a stop to every kind of damage from every kind of player, not just one playstyle a Mesmer can choose to build around.

Power Block activates on any kind of interrupt and has more of an impact on what a player will do. So no I wouldn’t say it is a copy of Confounding Suggestions, since all it does is increase daze times and has a chance of stunning the enemy, which can be broken by the player, there is nothing they can do about a longer cooldown from Power Block however.

What i mean by mindless is really more because of gw1 nostalgia, where skills were dependent on one another. Interrupting key skills could severely disrupt bursts. Thats not really the case here in gw2.

While yes stability and evades lessens the damage for all bursts, it doesn’t have the same severe impact as it does for lockdown builds. You miss a interrupt, then your in trouble why? because the avg cooldown for mesmer interrupts is 25 secs. Take that into comparison to an untraited hammer war, who if he misses his stunlocks recharge faster on top of better survivability.

I compared PB to CS obviously not because of effects, but because of worth. Yes interrupting previously uninterruptible skills + increasing a distasteful 4 sec stun on 25 sec cooldown to bearable 10 sec on 25 sec cooldown made it worth a gm trait. Removing that first part really makes it like a master trait in gm zone.

really though the most surprising part is how a 10 sec lock on AA skills made it OP, that doesn’t strike you as there might be something really wrong with the system ?

Curunen.8729:

I could see a possible boon share/condition shatter build through 0/0/6/0/6 with both bountiful disillusionment and maim the disillusioned, although it could be awful.

s/s+staff with both sword and staff traited will do ok actually with those. you won’t be short of illusiosn to shatter with.

Curunen.8729:

The other two are mostly useless in general. Ok distortion on kill could be made use of in certain situations, but there are better trait choices in duelling.

Distortion on kill might be the new WvW zerg runner trait. What’s the ICD?

Herr der Friedhoefe.2490:

Curunen.8729:

The other two are mostly useless in general. Ok distortion on kill could be made use of in certain situations, but there are better trait choices in duelling.

Distortion on kill might be the new WvW zerg runner trait. What’s the ICD?

10s and with that ICD, it becomes quite useless even in zergs…

Ansau.7326:

Herr der Friedhoefe.2490:

Curunen.8729:

The other two are mostly useless in general. Ok distortion on kill could be made use of in certain situations, but there are better trait choices in duelling.

Distortion on kill might be the new WvW zerg runner trait. What’s the ICD?

10s and with that ICD, it becomes quite useless even in zergs…

It was supposed to be no ICD. Maybe we should add that to the known bug list.

It’ll get fixed:

1. Like Warden did.
2. Or, as soon as IE works with clones.

Herr der Friedhoefe.2490:

Ansau.7326:

Herr der Friedhoefe.2490:

Curunen.8729:

The other two are mostly useless in general. Ok distortion on kill could be made use of in certain situations, but there are better trait choices in duelling.

Distortion on kill might be the new WvW zerg runner trait. What’s the ICD?

10s and with that ICD, it becomes quite useless even in zergs…

It was supposed to be no ICD. Maybe we should add that to the known bug list.

At first, they said it wouldn’t have an ICD, but the patch notes from 15th April didn’t mentioned anything about not having an ICD, also the trait has the ICD fact in the description and even the wiki also shows it.

Hard to believe it’s just a bug…

Raunchy.6891:

Selvyn.1043:

I do see validity in Bountiful Disillusionment for alternate shatter builds, not everyone likes running PU, which is yes, a very powerful trait indeed, but requires you to be in stealth to reap the rewards, there isn’t anything wrong with that it is just I see PU as a defensive boon supply with defensive boons and BD as an offensive boon supply with offensive boons. Pdefender may offer retal but doesn’t sit well in a shatter build and requires you to place points in inspiration. PU & BD are for two different playstyles in my opinion.

Just saying, using this trait for shatter damage isn’t good, and as long as IP is a trait it never will be good. Yeah I agree, they are different playstyles, but our defensive trait is much better than this offensive one. To be honest it would have been better if they had switched the Mind Wrack and CoF boons. Then it would have actually made sense and actually be a possible trait in a good boon sharing build. Even having fury on Mind Wrack would make the trait more desirable. I’m not completely dismissing it, but as it is now there are better options for us.

@Mystogan
Sorry to say man but you’re wrong. It’s a 2 3/4 second immobilize with possibly 4 seconds of blind or 2 3/4 seconds of chill. It’s super good no matter how you look at it and people will have to blow significant cooldowns to get out of it which is always a win. Only thief and warrior with dogged march don’t have to do this, and thief doesn’t always have the option.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Chaotic_Interruption

2 sec immo 2 sec chill. whats the point of a 2 sec chill if they are immobilized the same duration. its only a 1 sec cripple AFTER the immobilize. only decent thing is the blind. oh and if you interrupt with a stun its useless. sig of dom is 3 sec stun, pistol is 2 sec stun, which is the same duration of the immobilize and same duration of the chill.

Stun + immobilize does serve the purpose of “lockdown” though. Not all skills can address both condition and stun.

The thing I am most negative about it IE not getting fixed like they said it would. It wouldn’t change much in terms of staff viability but it was a fun change I was really looking forward to.

Alex.9268:

The thing I am most negative about it IE not getting fixed like they said it would. It wouldn’t change much in terms of staff viability but it was a fun change I was really looking forward to.

This. I mean, we have Dev posts saying it’d be fixed in the feature patch (as everyone knows), and as far as I know, I haven’t seen any official ANet posts saying that they’re still working on it (someone mentioned “knowing a dev who plays mesmer”, but somehow that’s just not the same).

The biggest problem I have with ANet isn’t their failures in balance or even the bugs (although both are annoying). The game is crazy complex, and I understand that – bugs and balance problems will likely always be there. Their lack of communication is appalling, though. I guess it’s a good thing that I like GW2 more than anything else out right now – I’m still spending some cash in the gem store, but when something as fun as GW2 comes out from a developer who actually appears to care about their customer base………………….

Mystogan.4157:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Chaotic_Interruption

2 sec immo 2 sec chill. whats the point of a 2 sec chill if they are immobilized the same duration. its only a 1 sec cripple AFTER the immobilize. only decent thing is the blind. oh and if you interrupt with a stun its useless. sig of dom is 3 sec stun, pistol is 2 sec stun, which is the same duration of the immobilize and same duration of the chill.

Well I believe the 2 sec chill increases the recharge times of the skills you interrupt by 66%, as well as any other skills on CD, whilst it is on the enemy. Some classes have traits etc that can remove immobilize, such as warrior movement skills, so a cripple could ensure they don’t get far if they manage to break out of it.

As for In-Elastisity/iWardnot/iLeapnowhere, not getting fixed yet, lets try to remain positive and hope they will be fixed soon, at least the first two, I see no issue in being negative towards Anet for things like this because it is genuinely upsetting having a nice juicy bug fixing steak (or a very nice vegetable if you happen to be a veggie) dangled in-front of you and then taken away at the last possible second. All we can do is hope they will be addressed soon, even though we have been waiting a very long time for some of these fixes. Until then we can cope with IE not working on staff clones and iLeap occasionally getting us nowhere. iWardnot is an unfair one though…

Anywho, yay Mesmer positivism! …however small it seems right now, people are still playing the class and finding their way so i see that as very positive.

Stay Mesmerizing folks

This is kind of funny. I just crafted The Anomaly to fit my mesmer’s purple theme. But seeing how the iWarden bugs on me, TP’s 150g seems more tempting….thanks ANet for ruining my fashion sense!

Dhampyr.2104:

I guess it’s a good thing that I like GW2 more than anything else out right now – I’m still spending some cash in the gem store, but when something as fun as GW2 comes out from a developer who actually appears to care about their customer base………………….

Actually Anet cares very much about their customers. It’s just that all their customers live in China now.
But hey, thanks for betatesting for 2 years. Have some more transmutation charges.

Was that too negative?

My main issue is that the bugged Power Block just highlighted the fact that thieves are basically immune to an offensive mechanic that everyone else is subject to. I don’t care if they don’t have CDs normally, the interrupt CD is a separate mechanic from normal skill CDs.

calavel.6249:

Dhampyr.2104:

I guess it’s a good thing that I like GW2 more than anything else out right now – I’m still spending some cash in the gem store, but when something as fun as GW2 comes out from a developer who actually appears to care about their customer base………………….

Actually Anet cares very much about their customers. It’s just that all their customers live in China now.
But hey, thanks for betatesting for 2 years. Have some more transmutation charges.

Was that too negative?

I don’t think so. Hell, between this game and ANet’s desire to go for a Chinese release; and NCSoft (ANet’s Demon Overlord) doing similar things with their non-ANet games (Blade and Soul, anyone?), you can definitely argue that point.

Let’s be serious, here. Folk are bleeding well KITTENED OFF for good reasons:

1. Bugs/poorly designed abilities from frigging LAUNCH still in place (IE, ILeap, IMage.)
2. WORKING skills broken to near-unusability (Warden, and let’s not forget how long the Mesmer community mentioned IZerker before THAT got fixed.)
3. Strategic combat options nerfed, when ANet says that they prefer to “shave” troublesome skills. (WvW Glamourbombing, Power Block’s “issue” (which, with a slight tweak would have been ASTOUNDINGLY fun/tactical.))

The worst part isn’t even how bad Mesmers get toyed with; it’s the fact that this same wackiness happens with -oh- 6, 7 out of 8 classes in the frigging GAME. And we’re coming up on year 2. Less LS tomfoolery, more patching what needs fixed.

Dastion.3106:

My main issue is that the bugged Power Block just highlighted the fact that thieves are basically immune to an offensive mechanic that everyone else is subject to. I don’t care if they don’t have CDs normally, the interrupt CD is a separate mechanic from normal skill CDs.

In all fairness that is a flaw in the thief class/interrupt mechanic rather than in mesmers themselves.

And something I have been wondering since April 15, does a thief still use the initiative cost of a skill that gets interrupted?

Selvyn.1043:

Dastion.3106:

My main issue is that the bugged Power Block just highlighted the fact that thieves are basically immune to an offensive mechanic that everyone else is subject to. I don’t care if they don’t have CDs normally, the interrupt CD is a separate mechanic from normal skill CDs.

In all fairness that is a flaw in the thief class/interrupt mechanic rather than in mesmers themselves.

And something I have been wondering since April 15, does a thief still use the initiative cost of a skill that gets interrupted?

The thief mechanic is a problem, but the trait didn’t need to be limited by it. It worked ingame, it’s not a technical problem. It’s a problem from the design of the trait. They wanted it to not work against thieves.
And no. They don’t lose the initiative. Heh.

calavel.6249:

Dhampyr.2104:

I guess it’s a good thing that I like GW2 more than anything else out right now – I’m still spending some cash in the gem store, but when something as fun as GW2 comes out from a developer who actually appears to care about their customer base………………….

Actually Anet cares very much about their customers. It’s just that all their customers live in China now.
But hey, thanks for betatesting for 2 years. Have some more transmutation charges.

Was that too negative?

I don’t think that ANet is just focusing customers in China at the moment. Instead, I see the feature pack is a step to reconcile the differences in the code base of production system in China and the rest of the world. For some unknown reasons the traits system in China version is difference from what we have. Currently ANet need to bug fix and balance three game modes. After China launch, ANet will need to bug fix and balance three game modes in both versions of games.. Given that ANet is not a big studio, this separation in versions probably means double in their work load among their limited number of staff. Furthermore, the average income of people in China is much lower than those in EU and US, ignore us as their cash cow will be a very foolish move.

In ReadyUp EP10 Colin mentioned ANet will do ICD one at a time in the future so that they can more focus on issues and responses to the community. With current Living Story and Feature Pack launch, ANet started up too many fire all at once without enough men to put them off. In NCsoft annual sharer holders meeting they mentioned that there will be no intention of expansion for GW2. I guess the reasoning behind this decision is partially true as what drives the direction for future ICD; their manpower won’t be spread to thin to address our community feedbacks. Small delta launches of contents and features probably will be the way to go in the future.