Guild Wars 2

I understand the problem and agree with you, but it is usually a very quick thing to get a WvW daily to make up for it.

Gaile, one thing that that 83 page, 10 month old post showed us is that, if we don’t like something regarding the trait system, we are stuck with it. To say we kicked up a fuss is an understatement… and went mostly ignored or, at best, mollified via vague platitudes and nebulous promises.

Now that the expansion is on the horizon, the trait issue is being addressed because you have no choice. As it was it is either incomparable with the new system or you realize that it is going to cost you a lot of paying customers… or both.

So, despite our jumping up and down, hollering to be heard, nothing substantial has been done in 10 months. So, it will be 10 months + however long for the expansion to go live that we have waited for what is described as an improvement.

What this has taught us is simple: our opinions on the trait issue are not important and, if the next system has as many problems as this one, we are stuck with it indefinitely.

Mistakes happen. I am fine with that and would have had no problem with these issues had they been addressed in a reasonable timeframe. Other issues have been addressed promptly while this one languished in its isolated thread so I know it can be done… but it wasn’t.

While I am very pleased that the system is going to be overhauled, the track record of that 10 months of fighting causes me great concern.

You would assure us that it will not happen again, that you will be responsive to your player-base, etc., and so on. I wish I could take your (the collective you: the Anet team) words at face value.

Weindrasi.3805:

I want more scarred, old, and ugly faces ESPECIALLY for female characters. We get a few (very, very few) of those options for males, but none for females. Not everyone wants to play Barbie. A blind old crone as a necromancer, a war-scarred veteran, ect. We already have tons of “cute/pretty/sexy” options for females… and “underwear model/young man/handsome” options for males… give us real variety. Give us the ugly and the frightening.

I can’t “+” this hard enough.

I would like older faces, and not “old” being defined as 30. I am thinking more like being able to look up to about 70… and not something out of a fashion magazine. I would like hair that matches. We have the option to have grey/black, white/grey, etc., but I would like streaks of white.

I would also like to have human faces that can more easily be made to look not white. No matter what I do with the facial sliders, I look like a mixed white guy with brown skin.

I came from WoW, Lotro, and RoM, and prefer the combat here to either of the three. Most attacks in GW2 don’t require you to stand still or root you into an animation. Some notable and frustrating exceptions are in the Ranger class, which really need to be fixed.

Even with the Ranger problems, I don’t think I could go back to any of the other games I listed because I despise how so many attacks require you to stand still to cast.

So, yeah, it could be better here but, no, I don’t think its clunky. If you want to learn about clunky, go play Lotro for a bit.

DeanBB.4268:

I’ve used an n52 (google it) for years, but still find myself with sore hands. I’m going to try a PC game controller, similar to the xbox suggestion above. Like the OP, I’m also in my 50’s. I’ll let you know how it goes once I’ve had a chance to get used to it.

Please PM me? I can’t get it to send me email notifications.

If you want to get onto Blackgate for WvW, you have some work to do, as has been said before. The same would apply for all 3 Tier 1 servers (BG, TC, JQ).

If you want to get in to play on the server with a friend but don’t care about WvW, you can do that on any server in your region (NA or EU).

If you want to WvW and your friend is agreeable to a transfer, go to a lower pop server. I’ve heard that T2 and T3 are fun.

Danikat.8537:

I agree with using auto-run. I’d never really used it before because I was used to games that let you click the ground to move, but it’ really useful.

I have it bound to an extra button on my mouse so it’s easy to reach, but even on they keyboard it helps.

If you’ve got a gaming/programmable mouse it might also be possible to create a toggle for the right mouse button, which also helps a lot. I’ve got one button set up so if I push it the game acts as if I’m holding down the right mouse button until I push it again (or push the actual right button). The functionality is exactly the same, but without the sore finger.

Heh, I thought of that but the only finger I have free on my mouse is my thumb… and its busy with the 12 buttons on the side.

If you’re farming scrolls:

If you have a lvl 80 and can both handle PVE and get to Silverwastes, get into a chest farm and run the labyrinthe. That is an excellent source of orange bags.

Again, if you can handle it, go into EotM when a karma train is running… lots of champ bags. EotM is also pretty good on the xp to get skill points via leveling up.

I have autorun set on the button second to the hotkeyed right and left click (esc=left click, f1=right click, f2=interact, f3=autorun). It is on a low impact button on my mouse as well. I try to get on autorun whenever possible. I use a logictech G600 and it fits me well. I have dodge, autorun, loot, and both R and L click on my mouse and keyboard.

I also have a touchpad (the left click is huge) so I can alternate fingers when “clicking” to buy stacks of stuff and open stacks so no 1 takes the beating.

I am also generally arthritic so, if I am having a long gaming session, make sure I get up, move around (do something physical), stretch my hands, wrists, arms, and generally take a break at least every couple of hours (unless I am dungeoning). I am 52 and have not used my joints gently over the years.

I have tried glucosomine chondroitin and this has not worked. Anti inflammatories do unfortunate things to my stomach. I have neoprene gloves with the ends of the fingers cut out so, when they are particularly achy, I can play with light heat application.

Deep vein thrombosis scares the crap out of me too.

Thank you for the suggestions!

I was almost put out of the game due to my hand arthritis and tendonitis.

What I have done is hotkeyed a right and left click on my keyboard so I minimize the right and left clicking on my mouse. Just running long distances and clicking 250 times to buy a stack were the big things that almost put me out.

My question is this: what have other people done to help with these (and other QoL) issues?

Please note that I am not posting this to complain about the issues… there are plenty of those posts, almost all I agree with. I am posting this to find ways we have found to cope with it as is.

With what’s been said above this post, I add the following: poke your nose in everywhere, go places that shouldn’t have anything in them, dive down holes, climb up as high as possible, talk to the NPCs, click on random objects (could be funny, could spawn something in your face).

Who knows. You might find something totally off the wall like a war-room of cats tucked into a hidden cranny in the middle of a jump puzzle. Or a bunch of turkeys randomly crammed in a nook in a dungeon. Or clamber your way through to a beautiful sub-world with the most amazing Charr cub.

One of the first things that won my heart about this game is a random, unnamed NPC in Div Reach who loves cats… and will talk to you at length about them. And I nearly hurt myself laughing at the NPC exchanges at the Cow Launcher.

Race is mainly about personal preference and racial traits. And, for me, being able to jump.

As far as racial/ class elites, look at the race’s and the classes’ elites (2 different things). This would give you a hint where you want to go on the race of your Ranger, or whatever class you want to play.

I find human racials to be extremely uninspiring, I love the Asuran Golem, like Sylvari racials, have not played a Charr or Norn because I am a Jump Puzzle addict (addressed here).

You only have 1 elite skill active at a time so look at the class elites and racial elites for the various races. Go onto google to see player reviews of them. For instance, on the surface, Hounds of Balthazaar (human) sound pretty awesome. In reality, not so much.

On my Ranger, its class elite “Rampage as One” never leaves my bar. Hence, other than needing smaller toons for my JP addiction, race does not matter. Same for Ele’s “Glyph of Elementals”.

Jump puzzles.

When doing JPs, cussing out the devs as you fall to your death repeatedly is an expression of deep frustration, entertainment, rage, and respecting how twisted they really are.

My first introduction to a JP was in Beta when I hopped up some stones in Metrica, through a portal… and into Goemm’s Lab. There were no guides and I flat out sucked at jumping back then. 5 hours over 2 days later, I did it. What I called the devs during this probably blistered the paint, all the while loving/hating every minute.

And an addiction was born. Oh, Goemm’s Lab also taught me that I could compose entire sentences just using the F-bomb.

When you are in the SW Labyrinthe, have lost the invisible to Insta Kill Wolf buff, you’ve run out of dodge, make a dive for a box…

… and you get nailed just before you get the box. You can feel your fingers brushing it but noooooooooo.

runeblade.7514:

Bernie.8674:

It was brilliant until they screwed it up with this alt-unfriendly trait system. I’m optimistic that it will be brilliant again.

I have many alts, I never once thought it was alt-unfriendly.

1) How many alts
2) How many were grandfathered in vs how many were new after April 15th
3) On the post April 15th alts, how many traits do you have unlocked per toon
4) On alts rolled after April 15th, how many traits did you buy vs unlock
5) Are you a player that is sitting on stacks and stacks of skill points and who is wealthy enough that 43 gold per alt is not a big deal

I am cautiously optimistic about the trait changes… very cautiously. The current iteration was supposed to be an improvement after all. While I am happy that a change will be made, I can’t just jump to happy mode on it.

The problem, however, is not in any borked change. The problem is that, if everyone hates the changes, we have proof that, most likely, we will be ignored.

The only chance we have that we will not be ignored is that everyone will be funneled through the changes. If they are as bad as the April change were, the yelling might be loud enough to make them fix it… or not.

I wouldn’t suggest doing anything until after the expansion, which should pull a lot of people back in.

If it was my guild, I would not make it 100% rep because there are a lot of guilds around that specialize in specific things, e.g. Teq Terror Squad, Dry Top Master Race, etc. A lot of people, myself included, have our main guild and are also members of guilds like this that do a specific thing for a relatively short time. There are also personal guilds for extra bank room.

100% rep would wipe out people in guilds like the above despite them not taking much time.

And… what Vayne said.

If you have something to differentiate between yours and other guilds, don’t slack off on it. If, for instance, you do an organized Silverwastes Chest run, organized Dry Top, Dungeon Day, etc., at a specific time, don’t skip those runs because you don’t feel like it that day. Pug it if you don’t have enough people on at the moment, but run whatever it is. I have seen that kill guild after guild over a few games.

“Bring back holy trinity”? It was never in the game so it can’t be “brought back”.

Anet was very clear that there was going to be no holy trinity. Nobody going into this game had any reason to believe otherwise. Some of us like it this way, like me. We have one game available to us that does not have the holy trinity, and we are playing it.

Changes need to be made but introducing the holy trinity is not one of them.

Since you are so attached to it, go play a game with it.

Ran a few dungeons with Renewed Focus. It will take a bit of practice but I can see why you like it. By the end of the first dungeon I was already developing an appreciation. And, yeah, I am traited for condition clear.

I think getting pushed out of my comfort zone, forcing me to learn something better, really will help me become a better player. Oh, I really am a noob Guard… my first Guard is not an old toon.

Thanks!

Before the megaserver, I had done this even a lot. Since then it has been bugged.

Where I see it most often bug is when we are told to find two NPCs. One of them is nowhere, including not being anywhere suggested by any online source.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Gregori.5807:

We may not be on the Anet Board of Directors, however, Devs and Gaile have repeatedly come in to say how much they “value our input,” how our suggestions are so good, and to keep cranking them out.

If none of our suggestions make it into the next incarnation of the trait system, assuming that there is a next incarnation, that would show all the Dev platitudes and praise to be lies… which is what I believe.

There’s valuing our input without actually giving in to demands or using every/any suggestion which is come up with . . . just because they “value our input”.

Please tell me that’s understandable.

Considering the variety of suggestions in this thread, if there is nothing resembling what we have suggested, I will call the Dev’s posts platitudes and lies. But then, I believe that the dev postings have been to keep us quiet by putting us on a hamster wheel while uttering vague “calming” platitudes. Instead of putting us on this specific hamster wheel, they could have told us that, yes, these are good suggestions but not the way we want to head, try thinking in another direction. If they did that before making changes unrelated to anything we had said, I would not hold my current opinion.

If they make a change that has no resemblance to the suggestions here but is good, I will offer them heartfelt thanks. However, that will not change my opinion of the purpose and contents of this thread.

I also have not left the game and, in fact, have played most of today. My hatred of the trait system does not include hatred of the game or the devs, as my posts outside of this (and other trait threads) shows.

The guy I quoted had a valid point. However, there are ways to deliver one’s point. The guy chose to be a… jerk… about it. I don’t respond well to people who choose to be jerks, and it is a choice.

SpyderBite.6274:

PookieDaWombat.6209:

Now, the change could be a good one. It could be great even if they have seriously taken what we’ve said in here to heart, unfortunately their track record thus far doesn’t instill much hope in that regard.

I didn’t realize we were members of the Anet Board of Directors. If that’s the case; you’re right. All changes or lack of changes should indeed be approved by us first!

We may not be on the Anet Board of Directors, however, Devs and Gaile have repeatedly come in to say how much they “value our input,” how our suggestions are so good, and to keep cranking them out.

If none of our suggestions make it into the next incarnation of the trait system, assuming that there is a next incarnation, that would show all the Dev platitudes and praise to be lies… which is what I believe.

You obviously came in here simply to be nasty because, if you had been in this from, say, page 30, you would know this already.

Since I posted this, I’ve been running around with Renewed Focus and, yeah, its pretty awesome. Really nice in WvW (I’m not good enough to PvP so WvW is as close as I get).

I’ll give it a whirl when I do dungeons later.

Yeah, hounds of balthazar seem spectacularly “meh” after my golem.

Sooo… for general PVE, you’d suggest renewed focus? I can see that blowing your virtues, then renewed focus, would help. I had just noticed the 2s invulnerability when I looked at it… and went back to my golem.

What do you think of Tome of Courage in dungeons? That one I like and have even used on my Asura Guard.

I hold no expectations of the game by now. I will continue what I am doing: make my own fun in game and complain about traits in the forum.

Most of the angry forumites will become angrier, the white knights will defend more fiercely, predictions of the downfall of the game will flow freely. More old timers will leave, however, there will continue to be fresh blood… and the game will continue.

There will be remarkably more complaining in game but few active players will leave… and, as I said, the game will continue.

What is the best offensive PVE elite for a human guardian, other than when in a party and buffing allies? So I am asking about direct personal damage elites.

Most of my toons are Asura and I love my golem. I am not seeing that human racial are as good as Asuran, but that might just be what I am used to. The only class elites I use are the Tomes in dungeons and such.

Zoso.8279:

The same thing we do every night, Pinky – try to take over the world!

This deserves a torrent of +’s.

Nicholas S Lin.6187:

Charr should not stand like a human. They are Charr. They run their arms as well as their legs, so it make’s perfect sense that they do not stand upright. This to me is a very misinformed thread.

This is the only game I can think of where a feline race runs like a feline and stands like a feline might stand. Anet has put some thought into feline anatomy and how it might work in a situation like this. It is an absolute breath of fresh air.

Other than armour not fitting and the pawprints being backwards, I wouldn’t change charrs at all.

Ranger would be my favorite, but I like my pet classes to have the pet as the strongest member of the “two” toons. Think WoW’s Beastmaster Hunter (I used to pet tank heroics). No, I don’t want to go back. Beastmaster was the only part of the game I liked by the time I left.

So, with the pets not being very strong, me using them mainly for buffs, Ranger is not it.

So far my favorite is sitting between Guardian and Mesmer. I kind of like that two polar opposite classes are my twin favorites. I am surprised to find that I have good survivability on my Mes along with dealing solid damage.

Least favorite? Warrior. Warrior was a huge disappointment to me.

nightwulf.1986:

<snip>

I never understood the point of view that because something doesn’t turn out the way they expect, it means they weren’t heard or understood. It is not an individual idea that often shapes an outcome like the trait system changes but a myriad of them. I bet all those people asking for mounts and the holy trinity back feel like anet doesn’t listen either. Keep the perspective people.

Not the same thing.

Mounts and the holy trinity were never in the game. The devs have never said they would be added.

Traits were in the game and most people were happy with them. They were massively changed last April. A lot of people in this thread have said they like the idea of the new system, but hate the implementation, me included.

The reason so many of us think Anet doesn’t listen to us is that devs have come into this thread repeatedly to “reassure” us, saying they know there’s a problem with traits… and nothing happens. One of them flat out admitted that he didn’t bother reading the previous 40 pages (or was that the 30 page dev, I forgot), asking us to summarize and keep cranking out suggestions. Then he vanished.

Now Gaile has to come in and reassure us every now and then. I don’t envy her her job and don’t hold her in onus for it.

^^ I have tried to explain this more times than I can count and its a perfect explanation of why people need traits if they want to do dungeons.

This is a nice summary: “Your traits are as important as your gear. Would you show up to a dungeon with no gear? Don’t show up with no traits and expect that to go over will when veteran dungeon runners kick you for being slow and ineffective.”

Mark Katzbach.9084:

A have an alternative that we are considering.

A little background first. We are only looking at making this change to tidy up the front page of the forum, not hide all old posts. While the archived forums are in their own ‘Archive’ category, they still take up a significant amount of space, and we’re looking to give the front page a cleaner look.

So, let me know what you all think of this alternative plan:
Instead of making the archived subforums unavailable to read, we can ‘unpublish’ the subforums from the front page. These subforums would still be accessible (read-only) via a direct link to the page, but would not show up as links in the forum index.

That sounds much better. There’s lots of good material in there.

IndigoSundown.5419:

Wow.

“Please, please, please give us a status update, even if it’s only, “We’re still actively thinking about this issue and will give details when we can.”

Such a post is made. Reactions?.

“That’s not good enough.”

I still think the Mike O’Brien Gag Policy is a mistake. But, it’s moments like this that makes me think twice.

A few members who post in this thread ask for what you are citing.

Others do not. I, for one, have been clear for some time that definitive action is all I will believe.

Gaile Gray.6029:

I totally understand the skepticism that you’re expressing. It has been a long time. But I know and trust the team, and I’ve heard enough details of the plans to give me confidence that progress and improvements are actively being made.

And thanks, from me to you, for not being nasty about it, or throwing a golem-sized boulder in my direction. I know that what I posted isn’t the substantive information you’d like to have. I can say that from all I hear it shouldn’t betoo long before there is some info we can share. I’m not saying “this week” but I’m definitely not pointing at Q2 2015!

Heh, the situation is irritating… not you.

So, no boulders your direction.

Gaile Gray.6029:

Hey there,

Colin Johanson and I had a chat about this thread today. He actually brought it up because he wanted to make sure that forum members know that the dev team is very aware of the concerns that our players feel about traits, and also to let you know that the devs read and refer to this subject (and particularly this thread) quite frequently. We’ve said it before, but it remains true: Your voices are being heard and your input is valued.

We wish there was more to say today, but please take heart that this subject is part of current development team discussions and we’ll let you know more as soon as we reasonably can do so.

Uh huh. I have no reason to believe the bolded part. The time for nebulous promises like these to smooth things over has long passed.

You have a bad job… I do not envy you. You are the one stuck coming into this thread to give the bad news, or no news, which is the same as bad news. I am another one who gave up hope a long time ago.

I wonder what prompted the devs to ask you to come in today. Usually its something specific like when the commander tags were fixed or the gem store was fixed. Or a big release.

It could be that there have been a number of trait threads starting outside of this one recently.

It is always something.

You might not know that, now, party owners can be vote kicked. Its still two votes to kick.

So that security is gone.

This is my current favorite: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Spirobolidae

There are many people in this fight who have made the same suggestions… and we can see how much anet has paid attention to us. Being able to trade skill points for scrolls of knowledge at a1:2 to 1:4 ratio is one I have banged on about for some time.

Oh, expect this thread to be locked or merged quickly.

Elothar.4382:

Really good comments so far.

My own experience is that I tend to struggle more on jumping puzzles with my Norn a bit more than on other races. In fairness, though, that could be simply a camera issue or even just my perception given that the Norn, at least for me, feel a little “clumsier.”

^^This.

I am a Jump Puzzle addict and JPs are one of the reasons most of my toons are Asura and none of them are Norn. Anet says that all races take up the same amount of space in game but Asuras feel more agile and it is definitely easier to see around them.

Ashen.2907:

Gregori.5807:

I can’t say I “hate” any weapon.

I can say that I don’t like weapons that produce a lot of particle effects. Particle spam is really bad in this game, making it very hard for me to see and causing lag. I really wish Anet would give us a slider or various settings for particle effect from highest to lowest.

I would probably actually hate any weapon that makes a lot of noise, however, I usually have sound off.

Yeah, hate is a strong word for this sort of thing.

Just out of curiosity , why would you hate weapons that make noise if you normally play without sound ?

I meant that, if I had to listen to them in order to play, I would hate them. I am very noise sensitive. In such a case, it would probably dip from “don’t like” to actual “hate.”

Look up the racial skills for each race and pick the one you like best. Unlike some other games, your race does not modify your class abilities. Instead, they have specific abilities that stay the same regardless of class.

Racial skills tend to be underwhelming, though. If you decide that you like a race’s racial skills but don’t like the appearance, I’d suggest going with the appearance you prefer.

Vayne.8563:

The real issue with the trait system is that people asked for horizontal progression, but when they did, I seriously doubt anyone meant taking away functionality we already had and making us obtain it more slowly.

I think that people expected new traits or skills for which there was horizontal progression.

What we got instead was the same food we’ve been eating all along, priced at a much higher price.

Most people wouldn’t mind something new and different in the supermarket that cost more. It’s a treat. It’s special.

But if you raised all the prices on every day commodities, that would kitten people off.

Bingo!

Very well said.

I can’t say I “hate” any weapon.

I can say that I don’t like weapons that produce a lot of particle effects. Particle spam is really bad in this game, making it very hard for me to see and causing lag. I really wish Anet would give us a slider or various settings for particle effect from highest to lowest.

I would probably actually hate any weapon that makes a lot of noise, however, I usually have sound off.

Togashi Jack.9531:

Anyone who doesn’t understand why Ascended Gear was a big deal wasn’t playing when Fractals was announced. The Game sold with the idea of No Gear Grind and that Best In Slot would always be best in slot. You could go on a break for months or years and your gear would be just as good, ready for you to start playing again. Then two months after the game was out they introduced statistically better gear.

This not only led to people being angry about bait and switch tactics, but rampant speculation. You need Ascended gear to deal with Agony in Fractals, maybe they’ll bring agony elsewhere? Maybe in 6 months they’ll introduce another tier on top of Ascended. People were MAD. I know people that I had been playing with since beta, who had preordered the game in April that demanded their money back(and got it). It was a giant issue that caused fundamentally damaging rifts within the community.

Yup. I was one of them.

These days I have made a degree of peace with ascended and am trying to make a similar degree of peace with the trait mangle.

I love SAB and have an unlimited coin.

I am not a happy camper about no SAB and that I spent money on what is, at this point, useless.

Please, Anet, bring it back!

This happened to me a few days ago. I was not willing to keep doing the event with the hopes that it would fail and, thus, spawn the Wizard so I bought the kitten ed thing.

Arikyali.5804:

End Game
What the newcomers know
There’s no end game. This other game has advanced mechanics that require more than stack in one spot and press a bunch of keys.

As a newcomer: there is endgame but it is different. I was a newcomer who had bad WoWburn from the nasty raiding mentality. No trinity sounded like it might be fun. I liked the thought of deepsing, self healing, and party buffing/healing all at the same time.

Traits
What the newcomers know
The new system sucks. But I’m not rich enough to buy my way out of it. It’s just more grinding.

As a newcomer: if I had seen the trait thread, I would have had to think hard about whether this would keep me from not buying the game. I am pretty sure that I would have paid the money, especially since its on sale all the time. The art alone would be worth $25 (I would have youtubed it). What I know now: I hate the trait system and I might have said eff it and run around, enjoying the art and JPs, then left. Dunno.

Skillfulness
What the newcomers know
There’s no trinity, healers aren’t important since everyone can heal. Tanks are useless since they don’t do enough damage. You’re either damage, damage, damage, or trash. Boring. And I can’t use every skill I have.

As a newcomer: again, I loved the thought of no trinity. Even before launch Anet went into some detail about how it worked. I was fine with their skill acquisition (Anet went into it) and I would have been fine with it now.

Oh, the no monthly fee was a huge selling point. Even as I came to hate whatever game I was in due to that endgame mentality, I felt pushed to play because of the subscription. Horizontal progression was another huge one (Ascended… bah!) There were other misc. goodies I knew about pre purchase like not having to fight over nodes… yet another thing I despise from other games.

TL;DR again: some newbies want what Anet is offering. Or… they just want a change and are willing to try.

TL;DR: some newbies want what Anet is offering. Or… they just want a change and are willing to try.

Here’s my answers to your points from my perspective as a guy thinking about buying it pre-launch and some commentary about post launch changes.

Bear in mind, I did a lot of reading and research before diving in and I would do it if I was new now. The information available to me pre-launch is still easily found and was a fraction of what is available now.

Arikyali.5804:

Play How You Want
_What the newcomers know_
When I get to level 80, there’s no guild raids, there’s no GvG, ascended stats gear is useless, legendary are just for show.

As a newcomer: I came to hate endgame and “have to have BIS now” mentality in other games. I had no interest in legendaries, still don’t. Ascended gear: I would have researched it and found that I can get along without it.

Guild Wars 2 is not grindy
What the newcomers know
No one wants a non 80 in a dungeon. Hearts are converted to quests. Map completion is only effective with going from point A, to point B, to point C. Personal story is just a sidequest.

As a newcomer: I looked forward to the personal story. That my choices impact my personal play was a novel idea. I also loved the idea of dynamic events. I learned that hearts were quests that didn’t need to be done linearly, or picked up, or even turned in… something I hated in other games. Dungeons addressed in later point.

Levels shouldn’t matter
What the newcomers know
No one wants me [in a dungeon].

As a newcomer: yup, for the most part. What I learned from experience: unless I run with guildies, I’m going to play hell getting a group if I am not 80, in exotics. Ascended and zerk help a lot (I rarely run full zerk and caved far enough to make Ascended weapons only because I had sooo many mats). I learned this when trying to unlock story dungeon traits at approx. lvl 60.

Copying this here before the new thread gets locked:

runeblade.7514:

It is reminiscent to the GW1’s skillbooks.

Here is how it works:

• Adept Traits- Any mob can drop it.
• Master Traits- Any Champion mob can drop it.
• Grandmaster Traits- Any Legendary boss can drop it.

If the character already unlocked a certain trait book, then that character will not get that trait book ever again.

Pro:

• More choices. Plus it’ll make loot tables more interesting.
• Any additions to the trait system can’t be bad.

Cons:

• It won’t revert to the old system.

This one is too good to lose and the author should get credit.

(Note to self: excellent feedback from new player a few posts up, don’t want to lose.)