Guild Wars 2

For my Reaper, I remade and redesigned Raeth to combine regal decoration with practical armor, with just a little bit of blue to go with the chill theme.

(Edited with a more clear blue that matches the sword almost exactly).

The wolf shamans have some of the best looking npc-only armor in the game, and it is an insult that the actual Norn Cultural Light armors did not include these.

Crimson Clouds.4853:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Baelfire%27s_Ember
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Forgeman%27s_Gear

By getting all CoF and SE skins unlocked, you can obtain two carrion accessories.

Which still leaves:

A utility slot amulet – the preferred slot for open world or wvw players.

Two rings.

Two accessories.

Not really an acceptable thing.

Edit, correction, those are accessories, not amulets. Which leaves all 3 amulets and 2 rings.

This has been an unfortunate oversight since the introduction of ascended gear. Though Carrion is a readily available exotic set and it has ascended weapon and armor recipes, it has no accessory version, which is an unfortunate limitation to hybrid builds.

Yes, I’m aware it’s not a dungeon meta set, but it is still a stat set that contributes to variety elsewhere, and it should be included as an option.

Zaoda.1653:

I’m hoping warriors get a staff with some aoe auto attack like guardian. Though I have a feeling it will be some main hand or off hand rubbish.

Did you just name one of the overall weakest weapons in the game – generally used only for tagging or wvw – and then call some more realistic options rubbish?

Fashion Mage.3712:

I think they shouldn’t pull a dragonhunter and instead they should make the warrior’s specialization an extension and alternative to what they are rather that something that’s completely different mechanically and thematically. So I wouldn’t go with “Sage” personally.

You do realize that all Elite specializations are an adaptation of the philosophies of other classes – spun into a way that reflects the core class.

Dragonhunter integrates Ranger principles in a way that is thematically and mechanically fitting to the Guardian.

Chronomancer does the same with the Necromancer, attaching their own spin on wells and death shroud into the Mesmer’s mechanics.

Reaper does this with Warrior themes, giving the Necromancer a relentless berserker style and Shouts.

Don’t be surprised if every other specialization is like this as well.

Pistol, Torch, Dagger, and Shortbow are the most obvious answers. Most likely offhand pistol because of the Rytlock precedent.

ELEMENTALIST

Fire Magic

Conjurer (Removed)

Fire Eater (New Adept)
Fire Fields heal you with each pulse.

Pyromancer’s Puissance (Removed, merged into Pyromancer’s Training)

Pyromancer’s Training (Merged and reworked)
No longer directly buffs damage with Fire Skills. This now Grants Might when using Fire skills. Cooldowns on Fire skills are still reduced.
While this may seem an odd change, it grants Fire Magic a greater identity, allows it to transition more effectively into an attunement swap, and buffs Condition Builds.

Noxious Fumes (Formerly Blinding Ashes)
Burning Foes applies Blind (5s) and Poison (5s). Cooldown of 3 seconds.
This should help out condition damage builds, also solidifying Condition Elementalists as particularly defensive among condition users.

Unlimited Blade Works (New Grandmaster)
Conjured weapon skills recharge faster and have unlimited charges. Conjured weapons provide greater stat bonuses.
Stat increase – 50%.
*Does not improve the cooldown of the Conjures, but rather their weapon skills.

Air Magic

Zephyr’s Speed (Removed)

Conduit (New Adept)
While attuned to air, you gain a 10% increased chance to critical hit.

Ferocious Winds (Removed)

Static Slide (New Adept)
Dodge rolling now casts Lightning Strike on all nearby foes.

Aeromancer’s Training (Reworked)
No longer grants Ferocity while attuned to Air. Instead, it grants 10% bonus damage while attuned to air.

Lightning Rod (Reworked)
Lightning Strike does 50% more damage and applies Weakness (3 seconds). Apply Lightning Strike when you disable a target (stun, knockdown, knockback, daze).
*Counts all sources of Lightning Strike – even the Sigil.

Earth Magic

Stone Flesh (Buffed)
Raised toughness bonus to 180.

Elemental Shielding (Buffed)
Now also applies Vigor for 3 seconds.

Rock Solid (Buffed)
Improved radius to 360. Improved stability from 1 stack (2 seconds) to 2 stacks (4 seconds)

Diamond Skin and Stone Heart (Merged into Stone Heart and reworked)
While above 90% health, you are immune to critical hits and conditions.

Rolling Stone (New Grandmaster)
Dodge rolls now inflict heavy damage on and knock down foes in your path.
Knockdown duration – 1 second

Water Magic

Stop, Drop, and Roll (Buffed)
Now also applies Burning and Chilled to foes at the end of your dodge roll.

Arcana

Arcane Abatement (Removed)

Final Shielding (Moved to Adept)

Arcane Bolts (New Master)
When you swap Attunements, cast Arcane Bolts, sending out five small homing projectiles at the nearest foe.
*Low damage per hit, but can critical hit.
*Benefits from Elemental Surge.

Elemental Attunement (Buffed to compete with Evasive Arcana)
Might stacks increased to 3.
Radius increased to 600.

MESMER

Dueling

Blade Training (Buffed)
Buffed Precision amount to 75. This stacks to 150 with two swords.

Deceptive Evasion (Buffed)
Also gains the benefits of the current Debilitating Dissipation

Chaos

Descent into Madness (Removed)

Chaotic Feedback (New Adept)
When you gain a boon, unleash a short condition on a nearby foe.
*Might, Fury, Retaliation – Bleeding (2s)
*Regeneration, Protection, Vigor – Vulnerability (3 seconds)
*Swiftness, Stability, Aegis – Crippled (2 seconds)
*Resistance – Poison (5 seconds)

NECROMANCER

This class certainly has some trait design flaws, so here’s my initial thoughts to help get the ball rolling.

Curses

Toxic Landing (Removed)

Corrupt Power (New Adept)
Corruptions apply an additional condition on affected foes. Corruptions recharge 20% faster.
*Blood is Power – Torment (3 stacks, 10 seconds)
*Corrosive Poison Cloud – Chilled (1 second) on each pulse.
*Corrupt Boon – Burning (5 seconds)
*Epidemic – Confusion (3 stacks, 3 seconds) to all foes it spreads conditions to.

Reaper’s Precision (Reworked)
Removed current effect. Critical hits against bleeding foes inflict Torment (1 stack, 3 seconds)

Death Magic

Armored Shroud (Buffed)
Improved to 250 Toughness

Soul Comprehension (Buffed)
You also generate 1% Life Force when struck (5 second cooldown)

Flesh of the Master (Buffed)
Also improves Minion cooldowns by 20%.

Death Nova (Buffed)
Skill is now Corrosive Poison Cloud and benefits from the new Corrupt Power trait.
Jagged Horrors buffed.

Blood Magic

This line is difficult to comment on without seeing how the upcoming Vampiric Aura effect will change it.

Transfusion (Buffed)
In addition to the heals/revives downed allies effect it will be getting, this should also benefit from the Life Siphon rework and heal you through Death Shroud.

Deathly Invigoration (Buffed)
Added effect – Life Blast and Plague Blast also provide Regeneration to you and other allies they pass through.

THIEF

With the Thief, I want to ensure the viability of their trap builds, while also buffing a few of their more lackluster traits.

Deadly Arts

Resourceful Trapper (Buffed)
Also grants 1 stack of Stability (3 seconds) while you place a Trap.
*Includes the Needle Trap set by Trapper’s Respite.

Improvisation (Reworked)
Instead of instantly recharging a random utility category, it reduces the cooldown of all currently recharging utilities by 10 seconds.
This trait has proven unreliable in the current version of the game – even choosing utility types that you don’t have equipped, so this should make it more reliable while also reducing its potential power and furthering synergy with Traps – which frankly need it.

Critical Strikes

Ricochet
Bounce always occurs.
If this is to be a Grandmaster, it doesn’t need a % chance limitation.

Shadow Arts

Last Refuge (Swapped with Shadow Protector)
Who invited this self-harming Minor trait back?

Shadow Protector (Swapped with Last Refuge)

Descent of Shadows (Reworked)
Removed falling damage effect. Also buffs the damage of Stealth Attacks by 5%.

RANGER

I’m in love with the Ranger Specializations, but they aren’t without faults. As with the Thief, I wanted to ensure the competitive viability of traps while also expanding their build variety.

Skirmishing

Trapper’s Defense (Buffed)
Added effect – When a foe triggers one of your traps, gain 1 Stack of Stability (3 seconds).

Wilderness Survival

Muddy Terrain (Removed)

Windfall (New Adept)
Movement skills now grant Swiftness (3 seconds) when they end.
*GS – Swoop
*SB – Quick Shot
*Sword – Pounce, Hornet’s Sting, Monarch’s Leap, and Serpent’s Strike

Nature Magic

Nature’s Vengeance (Buffed)
Activated skills of spirits are larger and recharge 20% faster. When spirits die, they use their activated skills and their buffs persist for 5 seconds after death. Spirit cooldowns are reduced by 20%.

Invigorating Bond (Buffed)
Pet command [F2] abilities activate 50% faster.

Beastmastery

Honed Axes (Buffed)
Now grants 150 Ferocity for each axe you wield, rather than only counting MH Axe, matching the Warrior Axe Grandmaster.

Wilting Strike (Merged into Beastly Warden)

Beastly Warden
Now also applies the weakness from Wilting Strike when pets activate their F2 skills.

Response Training (New Master)
When you dodge roll, your pet also gains Aegis and deals 10% more damage with its next attack.

ENGINEER

Due to the current lack of information on Engineer specialization changes, I’m holding back here.

Explosives

As with all falling damage traits, I would suggest the removal of Explosive Descent.

Explosive Elixirs (Replaces Explosive Descent)
Thrown Elixirs explode for heavy damage and produce combo fields.
*Elixir B – Fire Field that burns foes inside
*Elixir C – Water Field that heals allies inside
*Elixir H, Super Elixir- Light Field that damages foes inside. Super Elixir already does this, but it gains a larger radius and benefits from the initial damage effect.
*Elixir R – Smoke Field that blinds foes at a slowly pulsing rate – a weaker version of Black Powder. The blinds and potential stealth blasts or leaps help the Engineer ensure ally revivals.
*Elixir S – Shadow Field that continually stealths allies.
*Elixir U – Ice Field that chills foes.
*Elixir X – Chaos Field that considerably damages foes and inflicts random conditions.

I’m in love with the specialization rework, but I also think that a few of its traits could use work. And so… here’s my current wishlist. In every case, my suggested changes are intended to (and would) make the class stronger, though the main goal is build variety.

UNIVERSAL

All fall damage traits removed. Falling damage reduction moved to a Mastery Line (PvE) and a WvW Mastery Line (WvW). It allows incremental improvements in damage reduction, ending in a removal of self-knockdown time and a special effect when you take falling damage.

This frees up slots for more compelling choices.

WARRIOR

The Warriors traits are mostly solid, in my opinion, though it isn’t without its weak points.

Strength

Crashing Steel (Replaces Death From Above)
Reckless dodge deals damage throughout the entire dodge roll and applies a 1/4 second Daze to struck foes. The damage of this roll is also increased.
Has heavy synergy with Body Blow, Distracting Strikes, and other on-interrupt effects.

Discipline

Inspiring Battle Standard (Buffed, moved to Grandmaster)
Also improves Banner cooldowns by 20%, Banner Weapon Skill Cooldowns by 20%, and Banner Damage by 20%.
With this buffed trait, picking up Banners should get more purpose. Will it be enough? Maybe, maybe not, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Merciless Hammer (Moved to Master)
Damage increase lowered to 15% if necessary, though part of the goal here was to allow this to be used with Burst Mastery or Heightened Focus.

GUARDIAN

This section is huge, but not because of any favoritism to the Guardian. Most of these changes wouldn’t necessarily push their balance state up so much as make some of their really bad traits comparable to the rest of their traits.

There is also a significant effort on my part to suggest changes that would actually make Condi and Hybrid Guardians a thing.

Zeal

Zealous Scepter (reworked)
Smite now becomes a Symbol that grants Might to allies with each pulse and benefits from all Symbol traits. Scepter cooldowns are reduced by 10%.
This is done to help the Scepter synergize with the line that its trait is placed in.

Wrathful Spirit (Removed, merged into Shattered Aegis)

Shattered Aegis (Merged)
Aegis that you apply grants Retaliation and deals damage when it ends.

Harsh Justice (New, Adept)
When Virtue of Justice applies Burning, it also applies Bleeding.
(Passive) – 3 seconds, 1 stack
(Active) – 5 seconds, 3 stacks
*Each pulse of Spear of Justice’s Tether constitutes the passive effect.

Radiance

Healer’s Retribution (Removed)
Guardians already excel at Retaliation. This source seems unnecessary, and it doesn’t really stack up, especially given the high cooldowns on most Guardian heals.

Radiant Retaliation (Moved to Adept and Reworked)
Removed current effects. Retaliation now buffs your Condition Damage by 150. Your attacks apply 1 stack of Bleeding (3 seconds) while under the effects of Retaliation.

Divine Justice (New Grandmaster Major)
Deal more damage with attacks that trigger Virtue of Justice
(Passive) 10% damage buff
(Active) 25% damage buff
*For the Dragonhunter, this makes the Spear of Justice itself do 25% more damage.

Honor

Last Light (New Adept, Replaces Protector’s Impact)
When a Boon expires on you, deal minor area of effect damage around you and apply Vulnerability.

Purity of Body (Removed, merged)
This trait is mostly redundant with its own Adept Minor and is all around just not great. Its only real use is with Battle Presence, and it is thus better to merge it into Battle Presence.

Elusive Power (New Grandmaster Minor)
Deal 10% more damage when your endurance is not full.
Bringing back the old Minor will help this line out.

Virtues

While this line is not bad, per se, Indomitable Courage is just flat out better than the other options.

Battle Presence (Merged)
Now also gains the bonus from Purity of Body, applied to allies.

Permeating Wrath (Reworked)
Instead of the current bonus, it makes Virtue of Justice apply a small Fire Field around its target foe.
(Passive) – 1 second
(Active) – 3 seconds
*Removes the direct Burning effect from Virtue of Justice, but preserves all trait bonuses. The Fire Fields do apply Burning.
*Spear of Justice creates Fire Fields under all foes directly struck by the Spear.
*The tether from Spear of Justice still burns foes.
The goal here is to create a powerful, unique offensive support trait to compete with the other grandmasters here. It has heavy synergy with a lot of Guardian traits, and complements all types of Guardian builds – melee and ranged, condition and direct damage. The numbers here could be difficult to tune, however. Limiting the radius and duration of said fields should make this reasonable enough.

1. Reaper – New Death Shroud and Greatsword appear to be incredibly fun to use. Best trait design out of any of the Elite specs thus far. Complements existing trait lines in exciting ways. The new armor piece isn’t much to look at, but the GS skin is quite nice.

2. Dragonhunter – Incredible trait synergy with all core specializations. Longbow looks very fun, and the new Virtues are much more exciting and active. I’m a huge fan of traps, which haven’t been very viable in this game, and I’m excited to see how these stack up to something like Guild Wars 1 traps. The new armor and weapon piece are also incredible.

3. Chronomancer – Doesn’t really have the exciting, game changing features of the other two specializations. Whereas the other two come across as “Guardian Version 2” or “Necromancer Version 2,” the Chronomancer is basically “Mesmer + 1.” Basically, it’s an upgrade rather than a change, and I find that comparatively poor design when stacked up against the fantastic Reaper and the interesting Dragon Hunter. I’m still absolutely excited to try it, especially because of its increased mobility and synergy with Shatter builds, but it comes across as more ho-hum than the other two Elite Specs. I’m also going to take the stance that it offers very mediocre skins.

Trahearne is actually not a bad character. Not introduced or built up as strongly as he should be, but his concept works very well. I did a large post on it a while back.

Now, Destiny’s Edge? All of them but Rytlock are disposable.

It isn’t redundant, because it isn’t located in the same trait line. It allows you to gain movement speed without the use of the Chronomancer line – and this will be more significant when additional elite specializations are added.

Now, if you want to look at an actual redundant trait, Purity of Body (Guardian – Honor). It’s invalidated roughly half the time by another minor trait in the same line.

Wow. How selfish.

Some of us WANT melee staff.

Scar.1793:

oh christ, I hope they will have Offhand swords, they can use axes and maces so why not swords just like the concept art? It would be weird.

That isn’t S/S in the concept art. It’s S/D. There were leaked upcoming cash shop items – a standard katana (sword) and a much shorter version of the same skin (dagger).

The thing is, for most classes, a new Mainhand or Offhand results in more builds than a new Two-handed weapon. Why? Because of getting more weaponsets.

Shield gives Mesmer two new combinations. If it had gotten a Mainhand instead, it would have gotten a whopping four new combinations.

If Warrior gets a new Off-hand, they gain three. If they get a Main-Hand, they get five!

If a Guardian gets a new MH, they gain three. If they get a new OH, they gain 2.

If a Ranger gets a new MH, it gains four. If it gets a new OH, it gains two.

If an Elementalist gets a new MH, it gets two combinations – same for if it gets a new OH.

Thieves are particularly exciting because of their dual skill mechanic. A new MH gives them two new combinations while a new OH gives them three new combinations – but each of these combinations is also worth more because of the addition of an interesting new dual skill.

The only exception really is the Engineer, which is so limited by its low base weapon pool that a new OH only accounts for one new set while a new MH only adds two.

So for every non-Engineer profession, MH/OH weapons give more mileage. Yes, they don’t have five new skills, but the potential for new builds increases more than with a two-handed weapon.

Alga.6498:

Duke Blackrose.4981:

Alga.6498:

Zoltreez.6435:

Mesmer Shield
Necro Greatsword
Ranger Staff
Engineer Hammer
Guardian BoW
Elementalist 1h Sword ( i think ) heard somewhere

meeflak.9714:

Guardian- Long bow (rumor has it)

Eke-main hand sword (I pray this is true)

Cool that Guardian will have longbow!
So Elementalist will have 1h sword?
And Thief will probably get Rifle then….

Mesmer- Shield
Necromancer – Greatsword
Ranger – Staff
Engineer – Hammer
Guardian – Longbow
Warrior – ???
Elementalist – Sword
Thief – Rifle?
Revenant – ???

THERE’S STILL HOPE FOR SPEAR!

No, there isn’t. No land spears this expansion, confirmed.

Revenant – Staff?

Staff for Revenant was data mined, so it is highly likely to appear on either the base profession or its specialization. My hope is to see staff in its base weapons and have its first spec use something that hasn’t been revealed or datamined. Like, GS please. My Balthazar’s GS would look so cool on a Revenant.

Alga.6498:

Zoltreez.6435:

Mesmer Shield
Necro Greatsword
Ranger Staff
Engineer Hammer
Guardian BoW
Elementalist 1h Sword ( i think ) heard somewhere

meeflak.9714:

Guardian- Long bow (rumor has it)

Eke-main hand sword (I pray this is true)

Cool that Guardian will have longbow!
So Elementalist will have 1h sword?
And Thief will probably get Rifle then….

Mesmer- Shield
Necromancer – Greatsword
Ranger – Staff
Engineer – Hammer
Guardian – Longbow
Warrior – ???
Elementalist – Sword
Thief – Rifle?
Revenant – ???

THERE’S STILL HOPE FOR SPEAR!

No, there isn’t. No land spears this expansion, confirmed.

I’m going to be pretty blunt. I think that the state of PvP – or rather the systems that it is built around – is pretty lacking. I’m not going to get into balance or metagame, but there are some basic features that are being actively opposed by the current design – and the result is pretty bad.

Lack of separate solo queues – the dead horse

Solo queues and team queues need to be separate. Period. If one solo queues, they should only ever face solo queue or duo queue opponents, with the sole exception being when they become the fifth man for a 4 man or 3 man premade. Even small competitive titles tend to build their queues around similar matchmaking, and there is zero excuse for it to not be the case here.

We need solo queue options for both ranked and unranked play. Rigged matches are not fun, nor are they conducive to building a lasting PvP scene. In fact, this is exactly the sort of thing that destroys a casual PvP scene – and it is the casual PvP scene that keeps the queues alive and provides viewership for esports.

Separate queues mean longer queue times, but that’s fine. Just give us something to do!

Why can’t we explore PvE or WvW while we queue for a match? Why do we arbitrarily have to be in the PvP lobby to queue for a match? There’s no functional purpose for this lobby at all outside of its easy access merchants and build testing. Heck, even PvP builds could easily be added to the base UI of the game – in their own tab in the PvP menu – instead of only working in the PvP lobby.

And for those so inclined, what better place for consensual duels than in the PvP lobby?

Separate modes, separate queues

The foundation of any good PvP system is the ability to play only the modes that one consents to play. Courtyard is very different from Conquest. There are people who love it and there are people who loathe it. And when Courtyard is selected, there is often immediate hostility.

And yet Courtyard is meant to be little more than a casual side venture to standard PvP. Because of that, it at least gets by as is. The problem really comes in with Stronghold – a mode that is being treated as a mainline game mode and has taken up significant development time to be its own thing and to provide a legitimate competitive alternative to Conquest for those, like me, who do not like Conquest as a game mode.

Why is a completely different game mode, which is supposed to draw its own competitive scene, being thrown into the same queue system? These modes will not match up in terms of metagame, player preferences, or tactics.

What happens if I want to queue for a match of Stronghold, something that I thoroughly enjoyed in its beta day, and instead get the misfortune of playing Skyhammer, a map I despise as being, in my opinion, even worse than the removed Raid on the Capricorn, just because one player or one premade voted for it? Well, I guess I’m just out of luck. My next 10-15 minutes are ruined. Thank you, combined queues!

And no, player preferences are not irrelevant. Over a long period of time, this leads to chronically discouraged players who may, and often will, choose to not play PvP for hours, days, or even indefinitely. This results in the very queue time damage that these ridiculous merged queues attempts to prevent.

In summary, Play-Your-Way should never be sacrificed for shorter queue times.

CureForLiving.5360:

Duke Blackrose.4981:

A dead horse that needs more beatings.

In all fairness the system is pretty bad, and the more we keep banging on about it the better the chances something might happen.

Well, I mean I did say it needs more beatings. The Engineers were finally able to beat their dead horse long enough to get those ugly backpacks removed in the upcoming Specializations update. Maybe we can make PvP queues functional again.

lordkrall.7241:

It is rather unlikely that there will be a new race.
In fact I find it rather unlikely that we will ever have a new race, since that would basically mean creating a rather large amount of new missions for the (original) Personal Story and it would also be hard for it to make sense.

Especially considering that they made a point of the Tengu hiding behind their walls.

Isolationist policies tend to end in the face of a major attack. Mark my words, the Tengu will receive their own “Pearl Harbor” in the form of a major Destroyer outbreak, and this will make them much more inclined to assist the other races.

Whether or not that results in playable Tengu is entirely dictated by whether or not Anet wants to work for it. But frankly, it would be a crime to not make this rich, long-standing race in Guild Wars lore playable.

Zietlogik.6208:

ronpierce.2760:

Zietlogik.6208:

Please….

I have no use for tomes of knowledge even right now, and they will have even less of a use post Hero Point Update.

Will there be a way to disable these as rewards? or make them so level 80 characters do not get these as rewards? or something….

I was sitting on 3 stacks of Tomes, all characters at 80, and 1 of each character. So I literally would not be able to use them post-update, hopefully this is being thought of?

Or maybe even “Trade in 80 Tomes of Knowledge for 1 Free Character Slot!”

Tomes? Because you don’t need to level anymore, remove them??? Thats a really selfish suggestion. Easy fix: Make them vendor for 10 silver, so when you get them you make some return for them.

If the answer were that easy it would have been in place ages ago, its not selfish though, It is to remove them for anyone who doesn’t need them.

Maybe just make an Experience based tPvP track, or something else. But post patch, anyone with no intention of leveling a character with tomes will just be given useless items from these tracks.

At least right now you can burn them into skill points, but afterwards I’ve heard you can’t use them at all on characters who are level 80.

BTW, thanks for pointlessly moving this to the PVP forums there moderators, this isnt a purely PvP issue, it is a PvE item given in a PvP environment. :/

And what about altoholics? PvP is the best source of tomes of knowledge, and these are quite valuable for people like me. They’re one of the few reasons why I even bother with the crapfest that is our current solo queue pvp.

A dead horse that needs more beatings.

The fact of the matter is that the state of PvP is a complete joke because of this. A game that should be one of the best casual PvP games on the market has become one of the worst because of the ridiculous decision to remove separate solo queues.

Skyhammer isn’t selected much because it’s the map equivalent of Satan’s ballsack.

This is intentional, so changing it wouldn’t really be a “fix.”

Having counterplay (even simple counterplay) doesn’t make something unworkable. It makes it balanced.

That said, I actually see the Chronomancer as a potentially incredible pvp class.

Not so much for the wells. Wells might find use in Stronghold or foe forcing foes off of points, but I think that they might get shafted in favor of more traditional utility choices for the most part.

What makes the Chronomancer a powerful class is its ability to manipulate powerful cooldowns. Alacricity could be a game-changer that transforms good moves into great ones.

And Continuum Shift? Used right, it’s an incredible defense mechanism that’s essentially a free Death Shroud (if not better), on top of a cooldown reset. This could be incredibly frustrating if used properly, and I’m already picturing some sweet combos on both burst builds and torch-oriented condi builds.

Aereniel.7356:

This is where you re-introduce solo queue and everyone likes you again.

- Solo ranked queue
- Team ranked queue
- Anything goes unranked queue

Thank you.

No.

Split solo and premade queues for unranked as well. Just because it’s unranked doesn’t mean there is any excuse for ruining the experience of the teams involved with rigged matches. Unranked is a place to learn and to get away from the stress of ranked – but this doesn’t exist when one can solo queue and get (FREQUENTLY) paired against 3-5 man premades or, conversely, premake and get thrown against a team that can’t even provide you with a coordinated challenge.

What exactly would have been wrong with nerfing player attributes in the first place? It might have helped make the game a little bit more challenging.

Frightlight.3796:

I can see it now wvw guilds running off cliffs to ambush an enemy zerg using their baseline falling damage traits and killing off a chunk of players in a single jump

No one said to make the skill activations baseline – just the falling damage reduction. And even if the full effect was baseline, that wouldn’t exactly be a game breaker. Cliff ambushes are few and far between – and would be even with said mechanics. It takes considerable coordinator for an effect that is often just as easily achieved by a zerg rush or a couple arrow carts.

Frightlight.3796:

The reason why we still get a choice for these traits is the new area in hot will prob have a lot of falling just sayin

So make it baseline. There is zero reason to waste an entire trait slot for something so useless and trivial just because of verticality in a single area – which is SUPPOSED to be addressed by gliders.

Other issues

Guardian

Honor – Redundancy

Vigorous Precision and Purity of Body are both minors but, assuming the current endurance regeneration system is still used, the former renders the latter useless half the time. This can be fixed by revamping the system to allow stacking endurance regeneration buffs – or at least allow them for this trait.

Personally, I would also remove the Purity of Body trait and roll it into Battle Presence (Virtues Grandmaster). That would open up a new Minor trait for the Honor line. Hell, why not use the current one?

Radiance

Condi guardians have always been pretty bad, simply because they lack sources of condition damage. Unfortunately, this rework leaves them with one less source, as they must choose between extra burning damage and a condition damage retaliation.

Suggested rework – merge Radiant Retaliation into Kindled Zeal. Change the resulting trait to use either Power or Condition damage depending on which reaches a higher threshold. If the thresholds are done properly, this should buff both Condi and Hybrid Guardians.

Zeal

Scepters are located in a symbol-based tree, despite having no symbol – And it really should be a symbol.

Suggestion – Rework Zealous Scepter. Replace the current effect with one that turns Smite into a Symbol that grants brief pulsing Might (3-5 seconds) to allies inside.

Necromancer

Reaper’s Precision
This trait is still awful, and this sheer fact renders the Curses Master Tier a non-choice – either you buff Warhorns or you take Path of Corruption.

Suggestion – Move Terror here, as it currently is. Use the open Grandmaster tier for a new universal trait.

Warrior

Axe Mastery –
This trait is being put alongside the much better Berserker’s Power and is limiting the potential of Axe Warriors, as mentioned in another thread. Simply put, I don’t think this trait is Grandmaster-worthy (though it should perhaps get a reduction from 2 Adrenaline to 1 extra adrenaline per hit to justify a move down to Adept tier). It should be swapped with Physical Training, as in the current system. Physical Training is a powerful trait that is only going to get better with the buffs to Physical Skills, the buffs to this trait, and having Rampage as a Physical skill.

Overall

While I’ve only scratched the surface, I do think that these changes would go a long way in making a good trait rework into a great one. Simply put, some of these trait placements are just bad, and falling damage traits are completely unwelcome in both the current system and the new one. Falling damage reduction should be baseline or not present at all.

While I support Specializations as is, and am very much looking forward to these changes, I also feel like there are some clear weak spots in the trait lines, where a given tier is effectively a no-choice situation.

What is the cause?

In almost every single case, the weak trait tier is the result of a fall damage trait being located in that line. These have never been viable choices for regular gameplay, and they are dragging down the new system by wasting a valuable slot in a system that will have fewer slot choices per tier to begin with.

Of course, there are also other problems here, and these will be discussed as well, though I won’t even come close to discussing all of them.

But that still leaves two choices, right?

Two choices is still poor, but this is rarely even the case where fall damage traits are located. Of the two remaining traits in these problem tiers, one of them is almost always associated with one particular weapon or utility type, automatically reducing the choice to “are you using this weapon/utility?”

What guideline am I going to be using when giving feedback?

I’m using what I would call the “Rule of Two.” If a tier doesn’t have at least two universally useful (as in not specific to one weapon or utility type), something is wrong with it.

Which tiers am I talking about?

Elementalist

Arcane – Adept – Renewing Stamina is a clear winner unless you are using Arcane skills. Problem tier created by fall damage trait.

Guardian

Honor – Adept – This is quite possibly the worst trait tier in the entirety of the new system for any profession. Your choice comes down to a falling damage trait, a mace-specific trait, and a revive trait.

Engineer

Explosives – Master – One of these is a fall trait and one of these is bomb-specific. The choice becomes a no-brainer – either you’re a bomb engi or you’re not.

Mesmer

Chaos – Adept – Once again, a fall damage trait and a utility-specific trait.

Ranger

Wilderness Survival – Adept – Competes with the Guardian for the worst trait tier in the game. You either get a fall damage trait, a weapon-specific trait, or a trait best used by condi pets.

Warrior

Strength – Adept – A fall damage trait, a physical utility trait, and a universal trait. No choice involved here.

Why were Thief and Necromancer not mentioned?

Because their falling damage traits at least have viable buffs attached to them. Thieves get an extra blinding powder and Necromancers get corruption recharge reduction.

Are these good traits? Nope. The falling damage portion would still be better replaced by a second mechanic of some sort.

I would merge Descent of Shadows into Concealed Defeat (as neither of these are particularly amazing effects), rename the new trait Descent of Shadows, and use the empty slot for another trait – preferably a second universal trait.

I would also replace the fall damage in the Necromancer trait with an additional buff to Corruptions. Personally, I’d choose an AoE boon, as Necromancers are lacking in the support category.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

/delete necro
/create engineer
/profit

I’m still holding out a small shred of hope that our specialization synergizes well with condition specs and that is why it appears condition specs are completely screwed over now. I’ll hold off on trying to design a new build until we see the specialization.

I wouldn’t count on it. GS seems like more of a power-oriented weapon. But who knows?

The goal here isn’t to complain, nor to sing the praises of the new system. It’s simply to capitalize on some of the potential of this early and come up with fun new builds.

I’ll start with one I’ve been toying around with:

Corrupted Master (Sc/D, Staff)

Death Magic

Flesh of the Master
Greater Marks (Alternate – Reaper’s Protection, particularly if Terror is taken over Parasitic Contagion) – Pretty much a throwaway tier for this build
Necromantic Corruption

Curses

Weakening Blood
Path of Corruption
Parasitic Contagion (Alternate – Terror or Lingering Curse for more damage output)

Blood Magic

Mark Of Evasion
Transfusion (Alternate – Vampiric Precision for less support and minion sustain, but slightly more damage and survivability)
Unholy Martyr

Goal
The goal of this build is simultaneous survivability and support. With the default trait choices, you will be able to support allies (minions included) with Mark of Blood, Transfusion, and Unholy Martyr. Conditions you obtained from this are then transferred to minions who transfer them to foes. It would have an excellent Regeneration uptime thanks to Blood Magic traits, and is given further sustain through Blood to Power, Vampiric, and Parasitic Contagion. Armored Shroud, Beyond the Veil, Weakening Blood, and Flesh of the Master further improve the survivability of you and your minions.

The main drawback here is lower dps than a standard condi spec, but it also deals diversified damage thanks to minions – which don’t scale on the Power of a player anyway, making them equally ideal for a condi spec.

In theory, it should be highly survivable, particularly against condition builds, which will have much of their condition output turned back on them through Necromantic Corruption – much in the same vein as a Mallyx Revenant.

Coldtart.4785:

phys.7689:

Coldtart.4785:

How did you watch as most of the currently useless traitlines got massively buffed into possible overpoweredness and conclude that build diversity has been reduced?

If your build got nerfed then your build was probably bad.

power is not build diversity. Those are two separate things.

I feel like overall many classes got buffed.

However its also true that there looks like there will very little diversity. for most of the jobs i play regularly there will be like 1 or 2 builds everyone will be using, because the other ones are mostly illogical.

power up, diversity down.

i think the mileage varies from class to class though

You just can’t get enough of being wrong, can you? To give an obvious example; right now there is exactly one correct trait point allocation for ele in pvp: 00266. If you aren’t using that you are simply using ele wrong. Under the new system it appears as though it would be reasonable to run a similar build using water and arcane but with a choice of fire, air or earth all being viable as the third spec. That’s 3 valid choices where before there was only 1.

I’d say we’re getting a lot more than that. I’m not seeing the new Arcane as being mandatory at all. And with the new Earth line looking…. actually quite viable, we could well see it as the crux of quite a few builds.

Of course, even the first Elite Specializations could allow this sytem to completely blow the current one out of the water.

Funny. The only thing I saw were mostly excellent traits that actually left me debating between choices in each major slot and between lines.

Oh, but the sky is falling. The sky is falling.

Looking at the traits on dulfy, I am wholly confident that this system is better than the previous one and the new traits that have come with it are largely better and more interesting than current ones.

That said, they still need to remove the falling damage traits (making that reduction baseline) and use these slots for more compelling choices in those Adept slots.

Yes. I’m rolling two (or more) additional Sylvari on top of my existing 4 Sylvari. They are simply the most unique, customizable race in the game. There is so much that one can do with their styles, textures, and glow effects.

It’s funny because the traits that the Meditation guard would lose here aren’t even build defining – they’re simply strong traits that were taken because they’re strong.

In exchange, the build will get four more traits (2 minor, 2 major) with great flexibility depending on their line of choice – possibly even the Elite Specialization line. The Meditation guard build will adapt. If anything, they’ll be buffed greatly by the change, and that’s discounting the very likely possibility that a couple of the meditation traits would be merged, opening up yet another trait slot for them to customize their build further.

New builds will open up, and a few months from the Heart of Thorns launch, people will wonder why they ever opposed the Specialization system so strongly.

The Elite Specialization system is fascinating

So, each “Elite Specialization” is a unique line that is equipped at the cost of one of your main lines. This was not what I had pictured when I heard about Specializations at all. We knew that we’d be losing something, but this is such a brilliantly simple and effective concept. There is a legitimate reason to stick with current trait lines, as triple-vanilla build will no doubt be a viable thing, but the decision to equip an Elite Specilization is one that simultaneously appears to be a benefit and a choice. Just, brilliant. Bravo.

The destruction of a personal fear

My own speculation had led me to believe that Specializations (now called Elite Specializations) would be biased in favor of a particular damage type or build path, simply because their new weapons or utilities encouraged this. In the worst case scenario, I feared that one of the regular trait lines would be arbitrarily lost to us, and we’d lose an entire build path on the specilization. What if, for example, the Mesmer effectively lost their ability to viably build as say, a Condition Shatterer, as a specialized character because many of their most impactful condition damage traits are located in a particular trait line.

The actual system doesn’t have that flaw by any means. The Specialization simply replaces a trait line of your choosing, not a particular one that the player may have wanted or needed for their build. If I want to take the elite specialization for its unique traits alone, I will be able to do so, building it into something highly resembling an already existing playstyle with a brand new set of tricks that suit me better.

My overall thoughts on this

While I would love to see more (VIABLE) traits per tier, the specialization system as a whole is appealing to me.

From the perspective of a regular player (one who will routinely swap their build on the same character), this system is simple, flexible, and pragmatic. It should function well and allow them to change their playstyle on demand.

As a roleplayer, I see a different potential here though. I can distinctly define each character I own. Let’s just say I have two Elementalists. I can give each one affinities that match my imagined character, and then (viably) define them from that point. Each of them then has an identity and a distinct playstyle. The inclusion of an elite specialization (and eventually multiple elite specializations) further enhances this feeling. The experience of an altoholic couldn’t get much better than this.

I understand the concerns I’ve been seeing over the specialization system, but I personally have to disagree with them. The system you’ve laid out in these blog posts is fantastic and I can’t wait to play with it.

Trait line attributes

The trait line attributes are an abomination that limits build diversity and really shafts weapons that don’t synergize well with the stats tied to the trait lines that their traits are in (caugh, Mesmer Torch and Ranger Greatsword cooldown reduction traits, caugh). The removal of stats from these lines will provide a fantastic grounds for future balance and help increase weapon variety among the professions.

Trait unlocks

The current trait unlock system is an unnecessary nuisance at best. The proposed one is much less punishing and should really help players feel a sense of progress as they level without placing an enormous burden on altoholics. As an altoholic, I thank you.

The removal of useless traits

It’s no secret that roughly half of the traits, both minor and major, range from subpar to laughably bad. Their removal won’t necessarily increase build variety, but it will streamline the system and allow for greater focus on balancing the viable traits. If this system is overly limiting, it can always be expanded slowly through new trait major trait additions.

I personally hope to see a removal of Cooldown Reduction traits as well, as these are among the most diversity-limiting traits in the game. They tend to shaft players down particular utility or weapon combinations, and the placement of these can really make or break a weapon.

All-or-nothing

The decision to equip trait lines was one that took me by surprise, but it’s one that I’m pleased with. It feels like a more logical system from a roleplaying standpoint, and it’s nice and simple to boot.

More meaningful choices

Every build in the new system is effectively a combination of 9 minor and 9 major traits. Every build is comprised of 12 significant choices (3 specializations, which dictate minors and your pool of major traits, then 9 major trait choices). That’s pretty significant, and each choice a player makes certainly looks more impactful than in the current system.

Tier-locked traits are a GOOD thing

This part of the system ensures that each major trait decision is an important one. If you don’t take this trait here, you can’t get it at all. Taking this one means you don’t get these two other possible bonuses. That can be a big decision, if they balance their traits properly, and it helps the Adept, Master, and Grandmaster trait tiers feel distinct and character-defining.

Good. Now they should do this for all of the annoying instruments, talking backpacks, and countless other obnoxious immersion breakers in the game.

In this pre-expansion period, players are anxious for content to help pass the time. I think a WvW tournament would help invigorate the WvW scene, draw in a few otherwise apathetic PvE’ers, and give everyone a small boost of AP and some of those Hero’s and Mistforged Hero’s skins to boot.

It would be a good chance to get a final rush of players into the Mist War before the current borderlands get pulled out for the new one, and it is probably one of the least-demanding forms of content that could be implemented.

So, how about it? Would anyone else like to see another WvW tourney?

As someone with alts of every class (and multiples of some), this is the only thing really keeping me away from my engineers.

It’s not really a fault of the art direction so much as the terrain. Deserts are pretty one-note, boring, and ugly. They are the wastelands of the real world.

Now, Anet’s attempt to add variety to these zones is essentially to throw ruins and forts among throughout them so that the ruined architecture can be part of the zone’s aesthetic and history. It’s a good approach, even though it could be essentially summed up as “using ugliness to add variety to ugliness.”

As with most anything, however, this is pretty subjective. Deserts and jungles don’t appear to appeal to you, but they no doubt do to someone else. Later on, they’ll expand Kryta, Ascalon, and/or the Shiverpeaks and we’ll get some areas that will appeal aesthetically to you. Or they can bring us to the Ring of Fire – and who knows what that will look like with the Guild Wars 2 engine?

JediYoda.1275:

Anet made the right call here with this and it shows they learned their leasson with all the QQ that went about the Queensdale Champ train fiasco from entitled farmers. (farm my way or else nasty qq attitude rage in map chat)

I was never an active Queensdale farmer. In fact, I HATED the champ trains for what they were – mindless, toxic, and bad for the game.

My argument here isn’t even for comparable T6 mat output. Use it as a chance to grant low players more T1 mats and make low level crafting faster and less obnoxious for players just coming in. THAT’S a new player experience.

Nike.2631:

Duke Blackrose.4981:

Nike.2631:

Sorry. I’m pretty sure they have zero interest in reigniting the Queensdale Train for 80s.

You mean the one that they literally removed from the game by turning the mobs to veterans?

That particular train won’t be coming back. Could a new train appear in any zone for any reason? Absolutely. That’s not a reason to not make game-wide decisions, however. Why? Because the fix is as simple as slapping a specific hard nerf on the abused content. Remove the event status on one of the chain events (like the Boar, for example), mess with spawn timers. It’s pretty easy, and much more sensible than “sorry, but these entire zones don’t use this reward system because reasons.”

Eh, if you can’t extrapolate to the broader case they were fighting and its impact on decisions like this, I’m not gonna draw you a map.

The broader case was addressed in that very comment. Just because “like the boar” was used as a contextual example does not change the phrasing of the paragraph as a whole to a specific one from a general. And I’ve bolded my extrapolation here to draw that map for you.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

If it’s the starter maps as they say, it’s only 5 maps and those are filled with low levels trying to kill mobs and get credit for events plus any higher level friends running around with them. The last thing low levels need is a higher levels stomping through the events and one shotting the mobs.

It’s one thing for high levels to play alongside low level friends. It’s another for high levels trying to get their rewards for things they need playing near low levels. In that case the low levels lose out (case in point, the zergs of high levels doing dailies in starter maps).

That’s a fault in the downscaling system. It isn’t working as effectively as it should. And in part, you can blame some of our lovely forum community here for complaining when a “bug” improved the downscaling system’s effects and getting said “bug” swiftly “fixed.”

Now, I also didn’t say that the low level zones should be rewarding the same materials or in the same amounts as say… the Cursed Shore. Let’s say that Cursed Shore reward procs (like events or puzzles) have a 50% chance to grant 1-3 T6 mats. That’s no doubt not the actual case, but it works for our purposes. Queensdale could vary on any and all of these. It could still give T6 mats, but it might have a lower % proc chance or only drop 1 mat. Or, it could have a 50% chance to grant 1-3 T1 mats. Or it could vary on everything, having a low proc chance on T1 mats and only give one. In every case, it’s part of the overall rewards system and is balanced for the type of content that it is – but it still exists within the reward systems of the game, and the integration of this reward system into this map could, for example, help a low level player stock up on T1 mats faster.

Nike.2631:

Sorry. I’m pretty sure they have zero interest in reigniting the Queensdale Train for 80s.

You mean the one that they literally removed from the game by turning the mobs to veterans?

That particular train won’t be coming back. Could a new train appear in any zone for any reason? Absolutely. That’s not a reason to not make game-wide decisions, however. Why? Because the fix is as simple as slapping a specific hard nerf on the abused content. Remove the event status on one of the chain events (like the Boar, for example), mess with spawn timers. It’s pretty easy, and much more sensible than “sorry, but these entire zones don’t use this reward system because reasons.”

Today’s blog was great. It was 99% fantastic.

What’s the remaining 1%, you might ask?

(Under Map Bonuses)
“Starter maps will not be included in order to preserve the new-player experience.”

So, essentially, the term “new player experience” is once again being used to (and this is NOT an insult or an accusation against the dev team) justify a bad decision (that is probably not recognized as being a bad decision).

Now, why is this a bad decision? Because it philosophically and mechanically contradicts the game’s founding principles. Guild Wars 2 was built on the philosophy of “play your way.” What does that mean? In Guild Wars 2, unlike in other MMOs, content is NOT supposed to be intentionally rendered obsolete for the illusion of progression. It means that, in Guild Wars 2, all content is (in theory) supposed to provide players with a comparable challenge and comparable rewards. ALL CONTENT is supposed to be end game content. Not a few zones. Not a few dungeons. Not most of the content. All of it.

And here we have the problem of this exclusion. It’s separating the starter zones (which I’m assuming are merely the 1-15 zones, but could be anything that they deem as low level) from the rest of the game, reducing their long term appeal.

And for what? A “new player experience?” What exactly is complex about automatically receiving periodic rewards for playing the game? And even if this was a complex factor, all this does, essentially, is delay the burden of discovery to a later point. A player will be no better equipped to magically know how map bonuses work at level 50 than at level 2. It’s still a mechanic that is brought into the game and which is a tiny, tiny part of its learning curve. And there is no reasonable logic on which this decision can be made – the only way to teach a game mechanic is to present it. The best way to integrate a new player is to let them experience the mechanics that they are supposed to be learning.

But enough on that. My point has been expressed by now. You’re a fantastic development team and I adore what you’re trying to do with this expansion, but when the occasional decision is bad (like merged mode queues for the upcoming PvP mode, for example), I have to call it out as being a bad decision for the further improvement of an already great concept in a great game.

This is content. Downscaling is meant to make it playable and rewarding. Even low level maps should work on all of the same reward systems as other content.

The funny thing about Guild Wars 2’s system is that it actually would have worked better if there had been no attributes whatsoever and all gear customization was through passives (such as runes and sigils). Especially in trait lines – tying attributes to those was a horrible mistake.

The main beef people have had with the game’s class system is that (in PvE), everything but Power, Precision and Critical Damage effectively constitutes a tertiary stat – ranging from mediocre to worthless. The result is that most of the game’s stat combos are worthless in PvE, wasting gold and limiting build customization.

Support in this game works well. Defensive mechanics work well. Damage mechanics work well.

CC mechanics work poorly, but this is entirely independent of the attribute system to begin with – and it may be, in part, fixed with the Defiance rework.

And with the over-prevalence of conditions in PvP, I can’t help but think the game would have been better off without stat-scaling conditions. Conditions worked well in Guild Wars 1 because they were dedicated to over-time pressure and they did a set amount of damage, making them easy to balance. They were still a crucial part of both PvE and PvP, and they were still valuable – they simply happened to be easy to balance because of their set damage.