Guild Wars 2

I posted about this bug in the bug reports forum a few months ago…it got no attention and quickly got buried.

Adding my voice to the “impressed” crowd. This patch drew me back to the game after months of apathy. From the excellent event design/artwork of The Silverwastes to the many lore throwbacks to GW1 (something that the other patches were sorely lacking), everything was incredibly enjoyable. Entering Glint’s lair and hearing the Crystal Oasis remix sent shivers down my spine. I must have stood at the entrance to the instance just soaking in the view and music for ages. It was a brilliant gift to GW1 veterans. I really hope future patches continue this trend of taking advantage of all the amazing lore still left open-ended in GW1. Thank, ANet.

Canker Bush XL, I wanted to let you know that your glorious post made me end months of lurking on the forums, log in and post. Thanks, it was a highly entertaining read! Water combat can be hilarious at times; it’s a shame most people seem to hate it.

On topic: a recent wow moment for me was logging into Dry Top for the first time. The arid vistas juxtaposed with the verdant oasis, and the sandstorm mechanic, just blew me away. I’ve always been a huge fan of the world building and art direction in this game (whatever its other faults), and I was super impressed by these new maps. The Silverwastes have been just as awesome.

My Elementalist’s feet are cut off in the Equipment Panel. It’s like the camera is zoomed in onto him and his feet are off-screen.

Is this happening with anyone else?

I really have to laugh and shake my head at this change.

Let’s make a class that emphasizes self-comboing weapon skills to excel!

Let’s level gate Attunements!

What?!

Level 30 may not seem like much, but this really discourages me from ever making a new Ele again. I’m so happy I leveled my Ele with the old system. I refuse to believe that there are people out there who were so hopeless regarding Attunements.

Phoenix, hands down. Looks cool, sounds cool, and combines so much functionality in one skill.

Rocketmist.5436:

Doesn’t aura share only work with weapon abilities? I don’t see how this helps too much if you are referring to Fire’s Embrace trait.

JETWING.2759:

This was an huge buff to aurashare build. A great step to build diversity. GJ anet!
:)

This may be the new meta build.

Nope, Aura traits work with Fire’s Embrace+Signets

I’ve been playing a D/F signet condi build with some success in hot joins lately. The changes make me happy too, especially the Signet of Earth changes

I just wish they’d buffed Signet of Fire a bit more. Perhaps making the active an AoE burn…that would have been amazing. Ditto with Signet of Water.

But yeah, I’m happy. In an otherwise underwhelming update (the only other change I’m excited for is the Glyph of Storms change), this was a bright spot.

Comet is fine, at least in a PvP setting…it’s a true fire-and-forget Daze on command, and it’s nice.

Agreed with those saying we have crappy elites now.

In particular, Tornado really needs a revamp before I’ll ever consider putting it on my bar. Something like projectile reflection for its duration would be a good first step. Also, make its Stability un-rippable, or make it double/triple Toughness also. Also, I think it’d be cool if it pulled people IN instead of blowing them away; that way you wouldn’t needlessly be pushing people out of your teammates’ fields. Given the proposed changes, it is a useless skill that will, in most cases, cause more harm than good. The only thing I see it working well with is the new Lightning Rod, but it’s not good enough to take just for that reason.

Honestly, I’m really considering using racial elites now whenever I don’t need to run away quickly (in which case FGS is still viable, thankfully)….that’s how bad I think it is.

Agreed. I don’t see any justification for the 3 minute CD.

This buffs my D/F signet condi build, so I’m somewhat happy. That Signet of Fire “buff” is a joke though. A real buff would have made it an AoE burn at least.

Gylph of Storms seems borderline viable for condi builds now…will definitely check it out. IMO Gylphs could have used adiditonal CD reductions.

Elementals getting their own active skills was something I suggested a looong time ago! Glad to see it’s been implemented. Still think the CD is too high on the elemental glyphs though.

I don’t know if we really have a viable elite now :/ Tornado seems like it works well with Lightning Rod, but using it is still losing access to Attunements while posting a huge “TARGET ME!” sign on yourself. Was looking forward to it at least getting projectile reflection, but no dice. At least I can still use FGS for mobility…

Overall, I don’t see people moving away from Cantrips in serious PvP….so if their goal was to open more non-Cantrip builds, I think they’ve fallen short…

Welp, time to roll PU Mesmer and ride that train till it’s nerfed.

Thanks for your responses, everyone.

So the consensus seems to be the problem is with might stacking and not with the amulet. However, would nerfing the Ele’s inherent might stacking ability not be detrimental to non-D/D builds? Wouldn’t it be better to instead look at stuff like sigil of Battle etc? Caveat: I’m not an uber experienced PvPer, feel free to correct me.

Hello,

As a casual PvPer who’s just getting into Soloq and plays Ele, I have a question.

Currently it seems like Ele is one of the better classes in the meta, and everyone generally seems to agree it’s because of the buffed Celestial amulet and some runes (Strength/Pirate/etc.) I personally have yet to try out this ammy myself but it seems to be generally accepted as being the reason for Ele being good currently.

If Anet decides to nerf the Celestial amulet, how will the Ele fare? Will it still be in a decent spot? Or will it go back to the bottom of the pile like it had been for months prior to the previous feature pack?

Adry.7512:

u can get it lol. what u mean u cant?

PvP Masquerade Armor is not available in-game, unless you managed to unlock it in the previous PvP reward system.

MithranArkanere.8957:

I opened the door less than 1 week ago.

I had to use ctrl+right click to ensure the notes got played right away after the long, long notes.

I tried doing this just now, but the organ was not useable at all

There are upcoming balance changes for the ele? Can I get a source please? Sorry, I’ve been away from update news for a while.

StinVec.3621:

According to the wiki, it was “confirmed to have been restored to the game as of 3/24/2014.”

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Pipe_Organ#Ebonhawke_Pipe_Organ

Are you reporting that the reimplemented organ is non-functional?

I tired playing it last night.

I’m able to use it and see the keys for the notes. However, pressing a key makes that note sustain for like 4-5 seconds even though I’m not holding the key down. This makes it impossible to play any tune.

It’s been broken for what feels like 2 years almost…please fix it so we can play it and open the chest behind the door

Hello,

It seems that the 6-rune effect of Runes of the Undead (7% Toughness becomes Condition Damage) and the Earth VII Strength of Stone Trait (10% Toughness becomes Condition Damage) do not affect the bonus Toughness given by Signet of Earth, with or without Written in Stone.

Thanks!

Could we please get these in-game? I’ve been forced to use Apothecary’s since that’s the closest combination.

We can craft Settler’s (Leftpaw’s) Ascended weapons and armor but the Laurel vendor doesn’t sell any Settler’s earrings/amulets/rings. Nor do any Settler’s back items exist that I know of.

Please add this combination for trinkets! And PLEASE don’t make them only obtainable from like 500 Jeweler, please! Add the rings/earrings/amulets to the Laurel vendor like the other combinations, and let the back item be craft-able with like karka shells or passion flowers.

Thank you.

Hello,

I figured since the Queen’s Gauntlet is returning, and with it presumably the Sovereign weapon skins, could we please get the Sovereign Scepter graphical bug fixed? At the moment, when stowed, the Sovereign scepter is upside-down (with its head pointing upwards instead of downwards.) It looks very awkward:

http://i.imgur.com/5eeWWvw.jpg

Compared to a normal scepter:

http://i.imgur.com/mi1a7JP.jpg

Please and thank you!

Hello,

Since the patch, some stowed weapons have had their orientations while stowed reversed.

One example is the Sovereign Scepter. The normal orientation while stowed is the scepter head pointing downwards. Now, when the scepter is stored, the head points upwards and looks very awkward.

Picture of bug with Sovereign Scepter: http://i.imgur.com/5eeWWvw.jpg

Picture of unaffected scepter (Whisper’s Secret Scepter): http://i.imgur.com/mi1a7JP.jpg

Thank you.

Yep, I have noticed this bug too: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/bugs/Graphical-bug-stowed-scepter/first#post3928984

So very annoying!

Hello,

I’ve noticed that after the patch, my Sovereign Scepter, when stowed, is upside down (Scepter head facing towards the sky). Like this:

http://i.imgur.com/5eeWWvw.jpg

For comparison, here is my Whisper’s Secret Scepter, which is stowed correctly (Scepter head facing towards the ground):

http://i.imgur.com/mi1a7JP.jpg

I just want Impale to work with Signet of Restoration’s passive. Seriously, this bug has been present for months AND had been acknowledged by a dev, but still hasn’t been fixed.

I have never seen so much agreement on this forum :p

/signed

Thieves are kings of mobility and burst; sounds like you’d enjoy playing one. In fact, they pretty much meet your specifications to a T.

From Wiki: “Custom Arenas, also known as hot-join, use a game selection system which allows players to join a game based on map and available space.”

Emphasis mine.

They also said they’re introducing new amulets. Those will probably make up for the removal of jewels, and will open up more builds (hopefully.)

I didn’t play during the Cutthroat Politics release (much.)

But if I’d voted, I’d have voted for Evon.

Especially because we’d have gotten that Abaddon fractal

A few suggestions:

• All Conjures should be instant-cast.
• Conjure Earth Shield should be a stun breaker, when summoned, and only for the Elementalist that conjured it.
• Conjures should either have charges or a time limit, but not both (I’d prefer eliminating charges altogether and lowering their time limits so they’re not maintainable.)
• Conjures should not disappear when put down; they should remain there and only disappear when their time limits expire.
• The Conjurer trait should reduce cooldowns on Conjure weapon skills (both the Utilities themselves and their associated 5 skills.) May have to be moved to Master tier.

One change that I’m not fully convinced is a good idea, but which I’ll throw out there anyway:

• Conjures should replace their respective Attunement skills. While this effect is active, pressing the same Attunement button should return the Attunement skills. (Example: Use Conjure Earth Shield—>Earth Attunement skills replaced by Earth Shield skills—>Pressing F4 while in Earth Attunement reverses this effect.) I suppose that for any other profession, the Conjure would just work as it does now.

Signet of Restoration’s passive does not trigger when using Impale (Earth auto on dagger.)

I don’t think this problem occurs in PvE.

It’s Exotic…and it’s the only Exotic set that’s time-gated. Why? From what I can tell, only 2 classes (Eles and Guardians) can make somewhat effective use of the combination, and even for those classes it’s sub-optimal to Berserker’s in PvE and in most cases to Soldier’s in WvW. The upcoming Ferocity change isn’t going to do much to make Celestial more popular over Berserker’s either.

It’s been months since it was introduced. Why is still still time-gated?

Is it because of the potential shock to the Quartz market? Is that really that big a concern? (No sarcasm intended, legitimately wondering.)

Agreed x 100000. I’ve been wanting to run a viable Signet build since release, but it’s simply not possible because taking the traits benefiting Signets means giving up on survivability, especially condition cleanses. I particularly support moving Fire’s Embrace down to Adept, and having Soothing Disruption affect Signets too.

Maybe cross-post this to the Profession Balance forum? Might get more attention there.

The argument I’ve heard in favor of this upcoming change is that Elementalists are compensated for having only 2 sigils by having access to more skills and traits that proc on Attunement swap (Sunspot, Electric Discharge, Earthen Blast, Healing Ripple.)

I don’t think it’s a fair comparison:

1. You have to trait for effects to proc from Attunement swaps (at least 15 points.) Then, in order to proc those traits often, you’re forced to trait deep into Arcana to reduce Attunement swap cooldowns.

2. The procs from on-crit sigils hit harder than Sunspot or electric Discharge. Sure, the traits are guaranteed procs, but Sunspot, Earthen Blast and Healing Ripple are PBAoE while on-crit sigils can proc on ranged hits. Not to mention they’re buffing on-crit sigils to proc more reliably, so I think the sigils come out stronger, especially again since they don’t require traits to work.

3. Attunement swap is affected by Chill, while weapon swap (and therefore sigil procs for non-Eles) is not. So our “sigil” procs (the Attunement swap traits) can be slowed down, but not other classes’.

4. Our weapon skills on an individual basis are weaker than those of other classes, and tend to be on longer cooldowns, which balance out the fact that we have more of them at any one time.

We really need a response from the devs regarding these issues.

At the very least, Chill should not affect Elementalists so much more drastically than it does other classes.

I really hope we get a fix for Chill affecting Attunement swap. It’s a pretty scary counter if you get Chilled after switching out of Water Attunement/using your cleanses.

Nageth.5648:

Would Burning Fire over Pyro Alacrity work better in that situation? I don’t know.

I’d like to think Pyromancer’s Alacrity would be better because the Burning Fire proc isn’t under my control, plus with Alacrity I get reduced cooldowns on Phoenix (condi removal), Flamewall, Fire Shield (more burns+blinds) and Dragon Tooth.

Agreed. Here are my thoughts about this from another thread:

Glenstorm.4059:

I know this has been pointed out before, but I’d like to point it out again.

I think Elementalists are getting the short end of the stick due to the new Sigil changes, in regards to both on-kill sigils and on-swap sigils. To illustrate:

On-kill sigils:

Example A: Warrior with 2 weapon sets A and B, each set with 2 sigils. Set A has Sigil of Bloodlust and a non-on-kill sigil, Set B has two different non-on-kill sigils.

Result: This Warrior gets to build up +250 Power and still take advantage of 3 other non-on-kill sigils, 1 on set A and 2 on set B.

Example B: Elementalist with 1 weapon set A, with Sigil of Bloodlust and one other non-on-kill sigil.

Result: This Elementalist can build up +250 Power but can only take advantage of one other non-on-kill sigil.

On-swap sigils:

Example A: Warrior with 2 weapon sets A and B, with Fast Hands (15 Discipline) and 4 different on-swap sigils (sigils 1 and 2 on set A, 3 and 4 on set B.)

-0 seconds: swap to B—> 3 and 4 proc and go on 9-second CD. Weapon swap goes on 5-second CD.
-5 seconds: swap to A—> 1 and 2 proc and go on 9-second CD. Weapon swap goes on 5- second CD.
-10 seconds: swap to B—> 3 and 4 proc and go on 9-second CD. Weapon swap goes on 5-second CD.
-15 seconds: swap to A—> 1 and 2 proc and go on 9-second CD. Weapon swap goes on 5-second CD.

Works out to 2 sigil procs every 5 seconds, with the possibility of having 4 unique on-swap sigils. Requires 15 Trait points in Discipline.

Example B: Necromancer with 2 weapon sets A and B, with 4 different on-swap sigils (sigils 1 and 2 on set A, and sigils 3 and 4 on set B.) Weapon swap cooldown is 10 seconds (same for Guardians, Rangers, Mesmers, Thieves and Warriors without Fast Hands.) Initially in weapon set A.

-0 seconds: swap to B—> 3 and 4 proc and go on 9-sec CD. Weapon swap goes on 10-sec CD.
-10 seconds: swap to A—> 1 and 2 proc and go on 9-sec CD. Weapon swap goes on 10-sec CD.
-20 seconds: swap to B—> 3 and 4 proc and go on 9-sec CD. Weapon swap goes on 10-sec CD.

Works out to 2 sigil procs every 10 seconds, with the possibility of having 4 unique on-swap sigils. Requires no Trait investment.

Example C: Elementalist with 1 weapon set A, with 2 different on-swap sigils 1 and 2. 30 Arcana (swapping to another Attunement is~1 second, swapping to previous Attunement is ~9 seconds) Initially in Fire Attunement.

-0 seconds: swap to Water—> 1 and 2 proc and go on 9-second CD.
-1.5 seconds: swap to Air—> 1 and 2 still on CD, no sigil procs.
-5 seconds: swap to Earth—> 1 and 2 still on CD, no sigil procs.
-9 seconds: Fire attunement recharged, swap to Fire—> 1 and 2 proc and go on 9-second CD.

Works out to 2 sigil procs every 9 seconds, with only 2 unique on-swap sigils possible. Requires 30 Trait points in Arcana.

---

TL;DR:
-So an Elementalist can get more frequent on-swap sigil procs compared to other professions except for Fast Hands Warriors, BUT has to invest deep in Arcana AND can only have 2 unique Sigils.
-All other professions except Fast Hand Warriors get less frequent on-swap sigil procs (by only 1 second less, I might add) BUT can proc 4 unique Sigils, with zero Trait investment
-Fast Hands Warriors can get 4 unique on-swap sigil procs every 5 seconds for 15 Trait points in Discipline.
—-

The question is, is the ability to swap Attunements enough of a trade-off for losing access to a) more unique sigil procs in addition to on-kill boosts and b) more frequent sigil procs?

For a), I really don’t think so. If that were the case, Bloodlust stacking Eles currently would be considered OP…which is certainly not the case.
For b), I don’t think so. Elementalist skills have long individual cooldowns; I’d rather have another Sigil of Air proc than wait for Magnetic Aura to come off cooldown.

What I think should happen is Elementalists only should be able to proc on-swap sigils every 5 seconds instead of every 9 seconds. This would synergize better with our Attunement swaps, and the fact that we can only have 2 sigils at once would balance it out.

I haven’t discussed Engineers since I haven’t really played one, but I’d imagine their case would be similar to the Elementalist.

And Eles should also get a unique on-kill sigil slot, only 1 per weapon set.

Does anyone think a 30/30/10/0/0 or 30/30/0/0/10 S/F build might be viable now?

Burning Precision, Pyromancer’s Alacrity and Blinding Ashes in Fire.
Bolt to the Heart, Air Training/Aeromancer’s Alacrity and Fresh Air in Air.
Stone Splinters in Earth, maybe Obsidian Focus or Earth’s Embrace for a little more survivability
OR Renewing Stamina in Arcana.
Amulet and Runes IDK yet…maybe Valkyrie with Berserker Gem and Balthazar Runes?
Utilities would be LF, Signet of Air and Cleansing Flames.

Idea would be to keep up near-perma blinds and burns while spiking with Fresh Air+Air 15. Focus is for defense obviously, but also provides more burns in Fire.

Fresh Air and Focus Earth together reduce the need for Arcana.

Utilities don’t really require CD traits if you play smart and spike your opponent down, since the blinds should hopefully keep you alive long enough to kill them. LF is for positioning or escaping if stunned. Cleansing Flames is for condis and more burn/blind. Signet of Air for mobility and more blind.

This is actually exciting. Don’t know if viable though. Thoughts?

The fix to Fiery Rush+LF is acceptable.

What worries me more is that Roy mentioned that they want to “fix” Fiery Rush against walls.

I really, really hope that doesn’t happen. At least not in PvE.

Yup, I’m excited to try me some D/F or S/F in PvP.

I know this has been pointed out before, but I’d like to point it out again.

I think Elementalists are getting the short end of the stick due to the new Sigil changes, in regards to both on-kill sigils and on-swap sigils. To illustrate:

On-kill sigils:

Example A: Warrior with 2 weapon sets A and B, each set with 2 sigils. Set A has Sigil of Bloodlust and a non-on-kill sigil, Set B has two different non-on-kill sigils.

Result: This Warrior gets to build up +250 Power and still take advantage of 3 other non-on-kill sigils, 1 on set A and 2 on set B.

Example B: Elementalist with 1 weapon set A, with Sigil of Bloodlust and one other non-on-kill sigil.

Result: This Elementalist can build up +250 Power but can only take advantage of one other non-on-kill sigil.

On-swap sigils:

Example A: Warrior with 2 weapon sets A and B, with Fast Hands (15 Discipline) and 4 different on-swap sigils (sigils 1 and 2 on set A, 3 and 4 on set B.)

-0 seconds: swap to B—> 3 and 4 proc and go on 9-second CD. Weapon swap goes on 5-second CD.
-5 seconds: swap to A—> 1 and 2 proc and go on 9-second CD. Weapon swap goes on 5- second CD.
-10 seconds: swap to B—> 3 and 4 proc and go on 9-second CD. Weapon swap goes on 5-second CD.
-15 seconds: swap to A—> 1 and 2 proc and go on 9-second CD. Weapon swap goes on 5-second CD.

Works out to 2 sigil procs every 5 seconds, with the possibility of having 4 unique on-swap sigils. Requires 15 Trait points in Discipline.

Example B: Necromancer with 2 weapon sets A and B, with 4 different on-swap sigils (sigils 1 and 2 on set A, and sigils 3 and 4 on set B.) Weapon swap cooldown is 10 seconds (same for Guardians, Rangers, Mesmers, Thieves and Warriors without Fast Hands.) Initially in weapon set A.

-0 seconds: swap to B—> 3 and 4 proc and go on 9-sec CD. Weapon swap goes on 10-sec CD.
-10 seconds: swap to A—> 1 and 2 proc and go on 9-sec CD. Weapon swap goes on 10-sec CD.
-20 seconds: swap to B—> 3 and 4 proc and go on 9-sec CD. Weapon swap goes on 10-sec CD.

Works out to 2 sigil procs every 10 seconds, with the possibility of having 4 unique on-swap sigils. Requires no Trait investment.

Example C: Elementalist with 1 weapon set A, with 2 different on-swap sigils 1 and 2. 30 Arcana (swapping to another Attunement is~1 second, swapping to previous Attunement is ~9 seconds) Initially in Fire Attunement.

-0 seconds: swap to Water—> 1 and 2 proc and go on 9-second CD.
-1.5 seconds: swap to Air—> 1 and 2 still on CD, no sigil procs.
-5 seconds: swap to Earth—> 1 and 2 still on CD, no sigil procs.
-9 seconds: Fire attunement recharged, swap to Fire—> 1 and 2 proc and go on 9-second CD.

Works out to 2 sigil procs every 9 seconds, with only 2 unique on-swap sigils possible. Requires 30 Trait points in Arcana.

TL;DR:
-So an Elementalist can get more frequent on-swap sigil procs compared to other professions except for Fast Hands Warriors, BUT has to invest deep in Arcana AND can only have 2 unique Sigils.
-All other professions except Fast Hand Warriors get less frequent on-swap sigil procs (by only 1 second less, I might add) BUT can proc 4 unique Sigils, with zero Trait investment
-Fast Hands Warriors can get 4 unique on-swap sigil procs every 5 seconds for 15 Trait points in Discipline.
—-

The question is, is the ability to swap Attunements enough of a trade-off for losing access to a) more unique sigil procs in addition to on-kill boosts and b) more frequent sigil procs?

For a), I really don’t think so. If that were the case, Bloodlust stacking Eles currently would be considered OP…which is certainly not the case.
For b), I don’t think so. Elementalist skills have long individual cooldowns; I’d rather have another Sigil of Air proc than wait for Magnetic Aura to come off cooldown.

What I think should happen is Elementalists should receive a unique “on-kill-sigil-only” slot, and should be able to proc on-swap sigils every 5 seconds instead of every 9 seconds. This would synergize better with our Attunement swaps, and the fact that we can only have 2 sigils at once would balance it out.

I haven’t discussed Engineers since I haven’t really played one, but I’d imagine their case would be similar to the Elementalist.

I asked Roy Cronacher about early leveling concerns in the main discussion forum thread:

Roy Cronacher.1576:

Glenstorm.4059:

Roy Cronacher.1576:

Phadde.7362:

This is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! ! !
I’ve wanted something like this for a long time and now that it’s finally coming, you managed to make it This kitten Good!

Such a refreshment! There are a ton of things like these that should be looked over, and it really feels like we (literally) have to wait ~2 years to see them change.
Might actually be my favorite patch of all time!

Thank you! This is the side of ANet that should never be turned away from us!

I’m glad you are excited, and we are too. This is just the first taste of stuff coming in the build. There will be many more blogs. =)

Thanks for the updates! Really excited about these changes!

Could you please also address concerns regarding early leveling difficulties for new players (especially for classes like Ele and Mesmers) since important defensive traits are now only obtainable starting at level 30 rather than at level 15?

We have done some tuning on monster stats pre-80 to account for players having less traits, and stats from traits. We wanted to push back traits to give characters more meaningful progression up to 80 and keep things simpler for a new player to learn over time.

Sounds like they did the opposite of your suggestion, Neko (lowering monster stats rather than buffing Ele stats.) This is fine by me honestly!

Roy Cronacher.1576:

Glenstorm.4059:

Roy Cronacher.1576:

Phadde.7362:

This is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! ! !
I’ve wanted something like this for a long time and now that it’s finally coming, you managed to make it This kitten Good!

Such a refreshment! There are a ton of things like these that should be looked over, and it really feels like we (literally) have to wait ~2 years to see them change.
Might actually be my favorite patch of all time!

Thank you! This is the side of ANet that should never be turned away from us!

I’m glad you are excited, and we are too. This is just the first taste of stuff coming in the build. There will be many more blogs. =)

Thanks for the updates! Really excited about these changes!

Could you please also address concerns regarding early leveling difficulties for new players (especially for classes like Ele and Mesmers) since important defensive traits are now only obtainable starting at level 30 rather than at level 15?

We have done some tuning on monster stats pre-80 to account for players having less traits, and stats from traits. We wanted to push back traits to give characters more meaningful progression up to 80 and keep things simpler for a new player to learn over time.

Sounds good to me! Thanks again!

Roy Cronacher.1576:

Phadde.7362:

This is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! ! !
I’ve wanted something like this for a long time and now that it’s finally coming, you managed to make it This kitten Good!

Such a refreshment! There are a ton of things like these that should be looked over, and it really feels like we (literally) have to wait ~2 years to see them change.
Might actually be my favorite patch of all time!

Thank you! This is the side of ANet that should never be turned away from us!

I’m glad you are excited, and we are too. This is just the first taste of stuff coming in the build. There will be many more blogs. =)

Thanks for the updates! Really excited about these changes!

Could you please also address concerns regarding early leveling difficulties for new players (especially for classes like Ele and Mesmers) since important defensive traits are now only obtainable starting at level 30 rather than at level 15?

LastShot.4762:

So I was reading the new trait system, and something just struck me right away when I get to the trait point/tier section.

We now get 14 pts instead of 70, so it’s easier to redistribute points? Sure, this seems no different to a character already reach 80, but what happen to characters not yet 80?

For instance. I have no problem accepting a 34+ player in my ac run, since their stats are at the appropriate level. But after the patch, I will be really hesitate to take them over a downscale 80, since they will be far inferior than now.

Let’s say at lv36, currently you get 26pts, ignore traits selected, that is ~520(26 x10 x2) raw stat, under the new system, you get 2pts, which is only ~200(2×50×2) raw stat. No matter how I see it, it is a huge nerf for people doing content at their appropriate level.

So my question is, will anet adjust low level content accordingly, or just another “deal with it” issue?

Exactly. I’m concerned about the fact that new characters won’t get their first minor trait till level 30, and their first major trait (if they spec into the same line) till level 36…which is beyond the minimum for AC.

Imagine going into AC story as a newbie Ele, level 30, with only Arcane Fury, Flame Barrier, Stone Flesh or Soothing Mist. No Renewing Stamina, no Earth’s Embrace or Final Shielding, no significant Attunement recharge cooldown reduction from Arcana.

Not pretty.

Hi guys,

So the new trait system has been announced: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/traits-unleashed-forty-new-traits-and-more/

I love many of the changes (swap traits on the fly, horizontal progression, etc.) However, I am concerned about the consequences on early leveling.

With the new system, traits will only be available starting at level 30. Which means that new characters will receive their first Adept Minor Trait at level 30, and their first Adept Major Trait (if they choose to spec into the same line) at level 36 (if I’m understanding the article correctly.) In the current system, new characters get their first Adept Minor at level 15 and their first Adept Major (in the same line) at level 20.

Wouldn’t the new system make it hard for new Eles to level? As it is, early Ele leveling can be hard, especially since our profession mechanic is tied to a Trait line and we depend on traits for basic survival. With the new system, Stone Flesh/Renewing Stamina/Final Shielding/Cantrip Mastery/Soothing Wave, as well as the passive stat boosts from Water, Earth and especially Arcana are now farther away, forcing new Eles to rely only on equipment (which is always in flux while leveling) and their weapon and utility skills (which are on long cooldowns) to survive. Imagine fighting Risen, Dredge, or Veterans without your basic defensive traits…not pretty.

I think the bigger issues are, as always, Ele’s lack of built-in survivability and over-dependence on Arcana…but the new system is just exacerbating this situation.

Thoughts?

While I am very happy about these announced changes (especially the ability to swap traits on the fly,) I have to add my voice to the others here who are concerned about early leveling with the new system.

For example, leveling an Elementalist at times can be a torturous experience without access to traits like Renewing Stamina, Final Shielding, Cantrip Mastery or the passive toughness/vitality/Attunement recharge boosts in Earth/Water/Arcana. With the new system, traits and stat boosts will only be available starting at level 30. I can see this as being frustrating for a new Ele trying to fight Dredge, Bandits, Nightmare Court or Veterans (not to mention Risen or underwater combat) in the early areas.

I’d greatly appreciate any information about what, if anything, has been implemented to avoid this scenario.