Guild Wars 2

I feel like this is pretty big for us, we’re very much a jack of all trades class, and we now have access to all those trades.

Being able to go from full Ranged Zerk to BM to Melee Bunker with a few out of combat clicks is amazing. I mean, gear stats aren’t changing with it but it’s still going to open up our combat options – we can counter-build for each class or situation we see. I feel like we will benefit from this new system more than most.

The only thing I’m worried about is what the actual patch notes are going to say for each class, all we’ve had are words, we need numbers to really know how big something is. We don’t know what they’re doing to existing traits or skills yet either. Be afraid.

You are so right about this, finally a little positive attitude in the forum.

Well this should be in all the way back in beta.

lol… you know when you’re watching videos and the guy is roaming while being chased but not in combat… then they maybe open their inv to eat some stuff and maybe pick a different utility or two, or swaps to a different weapon depending on the person chasing them…

I’m just envisioning entire build swaps on the run. Condi heavy guy chasing you? take 30 seconds to swap traits and gear to the anti condi build. Need to get away faster? Reconfigure traits to get cooldown reduction on weapons with leaps, or take a +25% movespeed trait. Need a ranged weapon for attacking seige? Take a few moments to swap all the traits to specialize in that weapon, then swap back after capping the tower.

Yamsandjams.3267:

…

I’m just envisioning entire build swaps on the run.

…

I’m already swapping traits and gear on the run… not sure I would take the time to swap trees on the run, though… not until they allow templates
(start with weapons and traits on bar, then gear, then traits, when some time left)
not so hard to do…

What will be wonderfull will be to be able to jump on and off the bus and always have optimal build, instead of having one or the other build, and swapping some traits to have it work for the setting…
And even more, when I have to take the lead on a whim (eg, lead crashes), I will not have to run to the trait guy to change specs (totally can’t lead with my bus build, swapping gear is not enough for that :/)

So, yeah, really happy with that change

Really really would help a bow or ranged ranger more than others just given distance.

Shoot from afar. Get out of combat quickly. Change sets. Swoop in for the kill.

I kinda cringe about it because I know people will want to change their traits to “optimize” for each fight in PvE, and for PvP/WvW I’m pretty unphased since I make my adjustments BEFORE I go into the dangerous areas because I like to not swap around very much and make my builds to be very jack of all tradesy because I have a hard time giving up things to min max lol

Well i guess this can all be resumed to one word…

Suffer?

I am not cringing with excitement for this seemingly significant change. And that is for one reason only: traits are not the determining factor for ‘trying out’ different builds or styles of play, gear is. And that remains a grind to obtain anywhere out of sPvP, where only a few types of build actually work because of the format.

What got me hooked on Guild Wars was trying out exciting new builds and ideas. In PvP, equipment was not a restriction and for PvE it was more a matter of optimization rather than the determining factor. Guild Wars 2 has changed that ideal and, in my opinion, not for the better.

tl;dr
Who cares about trait swapping ‘on-the-fly’ when Ranger traits are really all about “take Emphatic Bond and you are good.”

Bombsaway.7198:

Really really would help a bow or ranged ranger more than others just given distance.

Shoot from afar. Get out of combat quickly. Change sets. Swoop in for the kill.

Your foe is just going to end up out of combat same as you and will probably auto regen most of any damage you dealt when you come back for “the kill”.

I think people are grossly over estimating how useful this “re-trait on the fly” will be.

i think that the best part for this is that you will be able to swap between roaming and zerging builds, also i may change my build between flipping camps quick and roaming builds.

Durzlla.6295:

I kinda cringe about it because I know people will want to change their traits to “optimize” for each fight in PvE, and for PvP/WvW I’m pretty unphased since I make my adjustments BEFORE I go into the dangerous areas because I like to not swap around very much and make my builds to be very jack of all tradesy because I have a hard time giving up things to min max lol

I don’t think it will be that bad. 99% of fights are just “do damage, dodge if needed”. There are a few areas where you will want to swap, perhaps the burning oil section in TA you may want to boost your health or something.

Really it’s just the utilities that change based on fights, and we all change those constantly anyway.

I cant imagine anything worse than having to specifically retrait and regear every time I see a new opponent.

Then the game really is just one giant rock-papper-scissors exercise, when noone willing to fight unless they go in with a clear build advantage.

Most of the fun of theory crafting and making your own builds to suit your needs is balancing what you need and what you can afford to drop.. planning for what you will do if you encounter certain classes or certain builds, working round your builds inherent weaknesses with good / creative play, etc. I see no fun in going “oh look an condi build, let me just go quickly reset this fight so I can equip every possible cleanse my class has”. Sure if you want to swap utilities / food on the fly go for it, nothing wrong with a bit of adjustment here and there, but to completely change builds so that every fight you are predestined to win? Meh, that doesnt sound fun, at all.

So much of this depends on how quickly you can swap out.

Let me give you an example. Suppose this just quickly changes your traits on the fly but not your gear.

1) When do you need “Soften the Fall”? Really, only when you are about to jump down and attack the enemy or flee the enemy. So now you slot it quickly when you need it only.

On the other hand, you can’t quickly move from say berserker to spirit because you have to change weapons, armor, accessories as well as traits. Not efficient IN FIGHT.

BUT. . .

What if you have gone from small skirmish fighting in wvw and now are defending a keep. You have the time to swap out equipment, but there is no trainer. Great advantage.

So generally, while skirmishing I expect some minor trait changes like you would do with utilities currently. While changing game play (keep defense to skirmishing) I do expect people to take time to redo their templates possibly.

This looks like the right balance frankly.

Honestly, I don’t see how this affects rangers. There’s 1 decent build for sPvP (Spirit Ranger), 1 decent build for PvE (Sw/W Spotter/Spirit), and arguably, no great build for WvW.

Until rangers get more viable builds, I don’t think this really matters. =P

Fluffball.8307:

Durzlla.6295:

I kinda cringe about it because I know people will want to change their traits to “optimize” for each fight in PvE, and for PvP/WvW I’m pretty unphased since I make my adjustments BEFORE I go into the dangerous areas because I like to not swap around very much and make my builds to be very jack of all tradesy because I have a hard time giving up things to min max lol

I don’t think it will be that bad. 99% of fights are just “do damage, dodge if needed”. There are a few areas where you will want to swap, perhaps the burning oil section in TA you may want to boost your health or something.

Really it’s just the utilities that change based on fights, and we all change those constantly anyway.

Meh, I hardly change my utilities unless I absolutely have to, I tend to bring a little bit of everything though so it normally works out.

God knows my groups will hate me even more now if “optimizing” before each fight becomes meta.

This can have positive and negative effects depending on the scenario, however it looks like it will be more positive than anything else. Sure you may encounter a thief that will get out of combat and try to kill you with 8 different build swaps… but aside from that it gives you more options too. Besides for us jack of all traders what’s better than knowing you can truly adapt to all situations on build/gear swap?

By the way, can someone tell me where this intel is coming from? A link would be great.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/traits-unleashed-forty-new-traits-and-more/
http://www.twitch.tv/guildwars2/

awge.3852:

This can have positive and negative effects depending on the scenario, however it looks like it will be more positive than anything else. Sure you may encounter a thief that will get out of combat and try to kill you with 8 different build swaps… but aside from that it gives you more options too. Besides for us jack of all traders what’s better than knowing you can truly adapt to all situations on build/gear swap?

By the way, can someone tell me where this intel is coming from? A link would be great.

A blogpost on the GW2 main site

Fluffball.8307:

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/traits-unleashed-forty-new-traits-and-more/
http://www.twitch.tv/guildwars2/

Thanks, I clearly didn’t read the whole thing carefully.

All we need now are some viable builds to swap between!

Sandpit.3467:

All we need now are some viable builds to swap between!

It’ll be worth it to be able to change from a zerg build to roam build on the fly since neither one is worth a kitten in the wrong setting.
Hopefully they will release some kind of template system to make it easier.