I’m relatively new to this game, been playing it for the last month. Really like it, and the early levels were fun because I felt like I had control over my build from the very outset (well, level 10, but you still had complete control over your character after an hour or so of play). With the new trait system, leveling just isn’t nearly as fun and enjoyable as it used to be. It used to be exciting to level up, seeing the little red dot in the corner, making your character slightly better the way YOU want to. Now this is gone for a significant portion of the game, making the only levels that matter every six levels after level 30. I felt like I was playing a game like World of Warcraft, where my character’s stats are almost entirely decided by gear and class, rather than be decided by my choices. Sure, once I reached level 30 today that changed a bit, but for a game that advertised player choice, customization, and freedom from such constraining mechanics, this change is an odd one. Sure, the builds and customization options are still there, but it takes 10-20 hours of being limited to your equipment to actually get to that. I started an engineer a couple days ago, got him to level 11, but now I have no drive to go play him again, because leveling up feels so much more meaningless at early levels. There was nothing wrong with the original system, and now one of the most enticing features of the game that encourages progression is removed for a significant, and important feature has been changed in a way that discourages new comers to continue playing. This needs to fixed, and probably soon if ArenaNet wants to attract new comers, I know I won’t be going back to my engineer any time soon with this new system.