Guild Wars 2

Fatalyz.7168:

Maybe it’s just me, but the problem with using the existing models in the game, is because the legendary weapon itself has a “water” theme to it. Bubbles and scales around the wielder, burst of bubbles when drawn, shark animations on critical hit. How would all of this look on land? Ridiculous is my first thought, unless they just exclude that weapon from being used on land, but then that doesn’t really seem fair to the weapon.

Actually that’s pretty easy. Technically they would not be the same weapon since it would be in a different slot. So they could just change the effect based on which slot type it’s being equipped in.

Then again, considering we have a weapon that literally fires unicorns, does it really matter if it has bubbles and sharks?

IT’S A SWORD
That’s not a spear. That isn’t even a new shirt, it’s a very old design. It’s a Charr Warrior holding a sword.

It is also not a spear in the trailer. It’s a staff. Just because no other class has used a staff for melee in no way removes it’s ability to be made as a melee weapon for a new class.

It also wasn’t an intentional troll. Artists are artists, they do art.

They’re not coming. We’ve already been told, no new weapons, and water weapons aren’t being converted. No spears.

So, regardless of what anyone wants, there are two things they said they weren’t doing. They said they’re not introducing new weapons, so no one handed spears of any kind. They said they’re not swapping water weapons to land weapons, so no two handed polearms either.

I’ve already stated that I would love to have a spear for my Ranger. I even came up with a group of skills I think would work for it. Polearms, which are spears, also are among the few weapons that they could introduce without having to worry about art, since they already have all the skins for them.

But it doesn’t matter because they said they weren’t going to.

That’s a sword

Except they said specifically that they weren’t introducing it. So…

Yes, they could.

What am I talking about? One of the main problems people had with GW2 is that skills are basically static. In GW you spent most of your time acquiring skills rather than leveling. You tricked out your bar with your perfect combination of skills to play the way you wanted to play.

In GW2 you don’t have that. All the skills available to you were all the skills, period.

Specializations has the potential to change that. This is high speculation, and I don’t actually have a lot of hope that it will work out this way, BUT, here goes.

We know three things about specializations. 1) The bring a previously unavailable weapon with them. 2) They come with 6 skills (1 heal, 1 elite, and presumably 1 skill group which would mean a group of 4 thematically similar skills.) 3) They will replace a trait line with a new trait line relevant to the special.

What we don’t know, and that for the purposes of this speculation I am going to choose to say is true. 1) You lose the use of at least one weapon. 1) You lose the use of at least 4 skills. 3) You can choose which trait line to replace.

Why lose, you may ask. If the trait line is replacing another trait line you lose access to all the traits in that line. Since those traits focused primarily on at least one weapon and skill group it’s reasonable to lose those alone with the line since you can’t enhance them anymore anyway.

So now we have a situation where you have access to a special, you choose to drop a specific line to replace a skill/weapon combination for a new one. Now you have a group of specials and you can slot them into your character just like you used to slot skills from GW. You can choose which combination you want them in.

Now assume that stat position never changes, you can choose how you want to be statted by putting trait lines where they’re most effective for your particular build, rather than being forced to use certain types of weapons and skills because that’s the line that has the stat you want.

Balance be kitten ed! I’m not worried about that. This was just a concept piece I just through of while looking at other peoples speculations. Again, I don’t expect this to be how it works out, I just think it would be pretty cool.

psizone.8437:

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Well, I love druids. As long as they are very versatile and preferably are capable of shapeshifting.

I really wished my ranger was a norn and not human, but who could have ever forseen this move.
Even though Norn shapeshifting sucks kitten, it would have fitted perfectly to the druidic theme.

I will not reroll my ranger though, not with the new trait system still active anyways. So I am hoping for some nice shapeshifting elite for druids, even though I do not really expect this to happen…

They’re redoing the trait system with HoT so it might be a good plan to do it then!

They’re not redoing the trait system, they’re re-revising the way traits are acquired because the previously revised system was not implemented well.

So anyway, this is my prediction for specializations. You get 10 skills and one trait line. It will also change some functionality in the F-keys. That’s it. Shapeshifting “could” be a thing, but it’s unlikely. We get five weapon skills, which won’t be that. One heal skill which probably won’t be that. Three skills in a new skill group and a new elite which could be that but probably won’t.

No confirmation on this. Wait and see.

Why would you have to spend money to keep using your account. You can keep using your account, you just wouldn’t be able to make a character of the new class, assuming you don’t have any slots left.

Crash.5362:

Dante.1763:

To the people saying no new weapons will be added, spears may be excluded, MAY, they arent new to the game, they are just previously locked to underwater only…something ive hated from the beginning as i played a paragon in GW1 and was hoping to have spears in GW2..

Yeah. I’m well aware they didnt express anything regarding if Spears could be avaiable for land usage or not, and instead, just said that no pole-arms are being included.

And yeah, as I’ve been saying, its a disappointment that a weapon that its already in the game isnt a thing for land-usage when all logic, reason and expectations point towards such.

I’m just going to put this out there. There are no spears in the game. The weapon type of spears is actually polearms. So when they said no polearms, that’s what they meant. Go check your equipped spears if you don’t believe me.

Crash.5362:

Kal Spiro.9745:

Crash.5362:

Read the entire post. This argument got replied to several times over, by several different people.

There’s A TON of things that are being added without the need or without really being something that “its missing” on the game’s mechanics or role lineup.

How about no? I’ve been reading the arguments and not a single person has made an argument for random new weapons that was anything more than, “But, I wanna.” No one has provided a reason why new material should be created instead of porting already existing material to the classes that don’t have it.

But I will ask, what exactly do you feel is being added that wasn’t missing from the games mechanics or role lineup? I’m really curious.

Increase level 80 zones is definitely needed. A third heavy armor class was missing from the lineup. A second type of PvP was absolutely needed. Guild Halls were missing and reasonable. I could maybe accept an argument against the WvW but really it was in need of more areas too. I could also see an argument for flying, but I tend to doubt all that much effort, comparatively speaking, was needed for that, so not that big a deal. Are you saying they didn’t need to expand on endgame character building? That they should not have ported already existing weapons to classes that didn’t have them? I would love to hear that argument.

Responding, now, to the rest of what you said.

When exactly did I say that they are adding ONLY unnecessary things ?
I am very hyped about a lot of the expansion, but since you people against the addition of a new weapon are claiming that the reason for that is that “They’re not needed” I decided to use example of SOME of the things they’re adding nonetheless that are not needed either.

New specs will add the same thing that a new weapon would: New skills, new builds, new possibilities. SO, by logic, it is just as “not needed” as the new weapon idea. HOWEVER STILL, we’re loving the fact they’re doing it.

New Legendaries ? The ability to speak new languages with natives ? The ability to fly when we’re falling on some specific maps ?

I’m repeating something I said over and over, and because you didnt read things that me and other people posted, you’re repeating arguments and misunderstanding. No one ever said that this expansion sucks, no one ever said that things they’re adding are pointless and no one ever said that the only reason they should add new weapons its because we want it.

lol, read dude, read!!!

And now I also will respond.

I will start by requoting and bolding the specific part of your statement I was responding to that got us this far.

There’s A TON of things that are being added without the need or without really being something that “its missing” on the game’s mechanics or role lineup.

I never said you claimed everything was unnecessary. But you obviously implied a TON (your word) of things were obviously unnecessary, and I was just trying to clarify which of the things that were introduced were unnecessary in your view, such that it would have been reasonable to introduce the actually unnecessary addition of new weapons over porting old ones.

I also love that your only apparent argument is to say that no one said something that no one claimed anyone said. I didn’t say you or anyone else said anything sucked. I’m just clarifying the arguments you’re failing to make. You don’t have good arguments and as such are flailing. If you did have good arguments you might actually be able to bring them to bare.

So now I’ll actually delve into your specifics. New specs are not the same thing as new weapons. The reason is that new specs introduce old weapons previously inaccessible to the class. As such New specs are superior to just new weapons because they include weapons AND more than weapons, going as far as traits. New weapons only introduce new weapons to a handful of classes each. That is why new weapons still are inferior and unnecessary comparatively speaking.

New Legendaries are just skins. New skins are a standard of the game and can’t be used as comparison to anything.

Being able to speak to natives is an entirely new mechanic that we really don’t know enough about to say whether it was reasonable or not.

Flight is questionable, I’ll give you that. But it is also a new mechanic that is universal to all classes. It obviously has a lot of versatility, but since we don’t have anything to reasonably compare it to it’s not a valid argument either.

Crash.5362:

1- More diversity and new weaponsa attracts new players that otherwise would be disappointed at the lack of a kind of weapon expected to be there.

Unproven, unbankable, unreasonable.

2- Opens for new builds and combos, more diversity and depth for playstyle.

This is also true of porting weapons, therefore this is not a reason to add new weapons in place of porting.

3- It was advertised before that they exist (In trailers recently) Its hard not to expect that they’ll be there when the very game advertise them.

Yeah, I know everyone was going on and on about something they thought they saw, but all I ever say was a staff being used in melee. Nowhere did they SAY with words, that they were going to introduce new weapons in this expansion, or any expansion because until now they’ve never even admitted there would ever be an expansion.

4- A lot of people were looking forward to it, it’d be new content added in a cheap way since the skins of spears are already in there, seems like a no-brainer to add them.

This one means, “But, I wanna,” which is the only real argument you have here.
So maybe now you understand why I said, there are no legitimate arguments. None of your arguments are reasonable or legitimate. You just “wanna.”

Knighthonor.4061:

Kal Spiro.9745:

Knighthonor.4061:

Valandras.2093:

silvermember.8941:

Trock Bronze.9625:

its not some random reddit post that has confirmed no spears or new weapons it was actual interviews that have said so.

It seems op already knows that. It seems more like the OP wants new weapons because new weapons types are always better, which they could be.

OP simply isn’t accepting the fact that Arenanet’s priorities are no in line with his.

I can refuse to accept the laws of gravity, doesn’t mean I’m any less bound by them.

But nobody knows how Gravity works which is why it’s still just a THEORY of gravity …..

You don’t know what theory means.

Actually I do

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/theory

Theory is an idea, of how something works.
Example is the “Moon causes the waves in the ocean”. That’s a theory not a fact.

Sorry, let me rephrase, you don’t understand what a theory is. Something can be a theory and still be a fact. You don’t understand how science works well enough to actually be in this argument.

Metatail.1306:

Kal Spiro.9745:

I can see why you can assume you have access to the new WvW map, but why would you assume you have access to the new PvP type, or Specializations, or potentially even guild halls without HoT?

If every expansion added an exclusive PvP mode it would be a huge pain to build a team. That’s just another check and it’s splitting an already (according to players) declining/low playerbase. Guild Halls sound like a core guild content especially when looking how they were handled in GW1 – new guild halls added in new campaigns but you could purchase them even without owning any addons. Can’t really tell when it comes to specializations, just an assumption as before and considering the point of this thread I do think that HoT looks like Feature Pack 3 + Living Story Season 3, something we’ve already had for free over the course of 2 years.

Oh, I can’t argue with that last point, it absolutely is. But it also defeats the point of even making it if any, let alone most, of the content is freely available to anyone who isn’t buying it. That’s not a reasonable business model.

Gardian Ninja.4306:

So in GW they gave us separate expansions with completely new land masses with new professions and a couple extra character spots. Due to the fact that we are getting a new profession there is a possibility that they will give us a new char slot for us to use the revenant. However, I am seeing this expansion just like EOTN in GW. It was simply an area expansion allowing us to go to the northern shiverpeaks and we were not given an extra slot because it wasn’t meant to be a new start, but more of a continuation.

Either way I have no problem deleting one of my current characters for this new one, but if we get a new char slot that would be awesome.

This one is primarily meant to be a continuation, sure, unless you want to play the new class, of course, then it’s a new start, which is why most games, including GW, give you an extra slot under those circumstances.

Knighthonor.4061:

Valandras.2093:

silvermember.8941:

Trock Bronze.9625:

its not some random reddit post that has confirmed no spears or new weapons it was actual interviews that have said so.

It seems op already knows that. It seems more like the OP wants new weapons because new weapons types are always better, which they could be.

OP simply isn’t accepting the fact that Arenanet’s priorities are no in line with his.

I can refuse to accept the laws of gravity, doesn’t mean I’m any less bound by them.

But nobody knows how Gravity works which is why it’s still just a THEORY of gravity …..

You don’t know what theory means.

Crash.5362:

Kal Spiro.9745:

Einlanzer.1627:

lordkrall.7241:

Why would more weapons be needed? What would they add to the game that isn’t already there?

Adding stuff just for the sake of adding it is usually not such a good idea.

Uhm, what? New weapons are one of the most badly needed things in the game. They open up build options, broaden potential character concepts, and are just plain cool. Who doesn’t want new weapon options? Plus, it’s something they’ve said they intended to do.

Greataxe
Throwing Disc
Whip
Polearm/Martial Staff
Gauntlets/Claws
Tome

Just a few they could and should implement.

“Because,” or “Because they’re cool,” is not a sufficient reason to create something from nothing. There are a lot of weapons in the game. Weapons that are restricted from each of the classes. Why create whole new weapons, that also wouldn’t be universally accessible, when they can just give weapons that already exist to the classes that don’t have them.

That’s the basic thought process that ANet is using.

If you can’t justify a new weapon over an existing weapon with actual mechanics and roles missing from the lineup then there is no reason to implement it. “But I wanna,” will never be an acceptable answer.

Read the entire post. This argument got replied to several times over, by several different people.

There’s A TON of things that are being added without the need or without really being something that “its missing” on the game’s mechanics or role lineup.

How about no? I’ve been reading the arguments and not a single person has made an argument for random new weapons that was anything more than, “But, I wanna.” No one has provided a reason why new material should be created instead of porting already existing material to the classes that don’t have it.

But I will ask, what exactly do you feel is being added that wasn’t missing from the games mechanics or role lineup? I’m really curious.

Increase level 80 zones is definitely needed. A third heavy armor class was missing from the lineup. A second type of PvP was absolutely needed. Guild Halls were missing and reasonable. I could maybe accept an argument against the WvW but really it was in need of more areas too. I could also see an argument for flying, but I tend to doubt all that much effort, comparatively speaking, was needed for that, so not that big a deal. Are you saying they didn’t need to expand on endgame character building? That they should not have ported already existing weapons to classes that didn’t have them? I would love to hear that argument.

Sorry, but there are so many zones, despite my 14 or 15 characters there are still zones that only a handful of them have ever even stepped foot in. I have never had a problem providing a unique leveling experience per character. Also this game is seriously lacking in level 80 zones. Good for Maguuma if they’re all 80s. I look forward to level 80 Kryta zones, I want level 80 Centaur sacks and pouches.

Crash.5362:

Serdoc.7261:

No new weapons.
http://www.zam.com/story.html?story=35650

Yeah, I just seen it
Also it seems there’s no new content whatsoever aside from what they mentioned in the PAX, from what the article says at the beggining.
kitten ‘-’

What new content did you expect. They started the thing by saying, “Here is everything we’re going to give you.”

Einlanzer.1627:

lordkrall.7241:

Why would more weapons be needed? What would they add to the game that isn’t already there?

Adding stuff just for the sake of adding it is usually not such a good idea.

Uhm, what? New weapons are one of the most badly needed things in the game. They open up build options, broaden potential character concepts, and are just plain cool. Who doesn’t want new weapon options? Plus, it’s something they’ve said they intended to do.

Greataxe
Throwing Disc
Whip
Polearm/Martial Staff
Gauntlets/Claws
Tome

Just a few they could and should implement.

“Because,” or “Because they’re cool,” is not a sufficient reason to create something from nothing. There are a lot of weapons in the game. Weapons that are restricted from each of the classes. Why create whole new weapons, that also wouldn’t be universally accessible, when they can just give weapons that already exist to the classes that don’t have them.

That’s the basic thought process that ANet is using.

If you can’t justify a new weapon over an existing weapon with actual mechanics and roles missing from the lineup then there is no reason to implement it. “But I wanna,” will never be an acceptable answer.

I will say, I’d love spear for Ranger. A Second two handed melee weapon that might be able to compete with sword, mostly by being usable for the masses, could be pretty sweet.

Instead we’re getting staff as what appears to be yet another two handed ranged weapon, because everyone knows that the Range in Ranger means Ranged, not To Wander.

Metatail.1306:

Sooooo what you get if you buy an expansion:

• Heart of Maguuma content
• Revenant

What you get if you don’t buy an expansion:

• Everything else announced

That’s considering ANet not liking to split playerbase (PvP/WvW) and setting up core systems to expand on.

I can see why you can assume you have access to the new WvW map, but why would you assume you have access to the new PvP type, or Specializations, or potentially even guild halls without HoT?

dsslive.8473:

Kal Spiro.9745:

Iason Evan.3806:

More so when you consider that they are getting rid of the new, poorly received trait system.

Wait wait wait, where was this information. I didn’t hear anything about changing this.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Game-Updates-Traits/page/78#post4733414

So not removing traits at all, but the part where you have to jump through unreasonable hoops to unlock some of them, while others unlocked so easily you do it without even realizing it was a thing.

Iason Evan.3806:

More so when you consider that they are getting rid of the new, poorly received trait system.

Wait wait wait, where was this information. I didn’t hear anything about changing this.

embarbarada.2096:

What worries me is not the fact that we are here speculating how many maps we will get……….
It is the fact that Anet is reading this and they are not saying anything about this…………………….
Why the silence? Maybe we are right?

Wait, is this a serious complaint? Really? Why the silence? Because they have a scheduled release of information. They already told us this. They will be revealing bits and pieces over a period of time. It’s only been a week, man, calm down.

They’re going to tell us everything. We’ll definitely know a ton within a month since they’ll have a playable version at PAX East which is the first weekend in March.

Just give it a rest.

Arewn.2368:

zenleto.6179:

Staff as a melee weapon sounds silly? Is that what you meant or have I mis-read what you wrote.

You might want to look up Robin Hood v Little John while we round up some weapon nerds to explain things.

The sometimes delicate, ornate, for-use-in-magic, staves of GW2 are a little different from quarterstaves.
I can certainly see some of GW2’s staves being used to physically hit someone with, but there are plenty that look like they would break on contact. That being the case, a GW2 magic-staff as a melee does indeed sound silly.

Rytlocks weapon could have been a weird hammer, or something related to his Revenant abilities, or the art team is full of (to use a nicer word) meanies and put a spear in because their artistic vision was more important to them then the players and the integrity of the trailer.

Could you imagine someone beating on someone with Kasmeer’s staff, which is literally only held together by magic?

Terrahero.9358:

Kal Spiro.9745:

It has also been pointed out that each of the “stand alones” came with a new class.

Prophecies did not have new professions.

Guild Wars 1 had 2 character slots. All of the stand-alone campaigns (nightfalls, prophecies, factions) added 2 additional character slots. Prophecies did not add new professions, but still gave you 2 character slots.
The non-stand alone expansions did not give additional character slots.

The stand alone campaigns gave you 2 character slots because they were stand-alone, simple as that. They needed to have character slots because people could very well pick them up on their own and play them.
The direct expansion EotN did not have character slots because it was only playable if you had Guild Wars to already give you character slots.

If it was the same, then yeah. That’s what I said. I didn’t actually know cause I bought them all together with the platinum pack.

So it’s unlikely we’ll get a character slot either. Though I thought each one came with a unique class. Nightfall had assassin, and Factions had Dervish, or whatever WoodenPotatoes says Revenant is similar to.

There were only three games. Guild Wars, Nightfall and Factions. Plus EotN. Prophecies WAS Guild Wars. They’re the same thing.

-edit- Ok, I looked it up, I’m SO far off.
Factions introduced Assassin AND Ritualist, two classes with two slots. Nightfall introduced Paragon and Dervish, again two classes with two slots. Guild Wars Prophecies is the first game. Because the whole story is about the Flameseeker Prophecies.

Eye of the North, stand alone or not introduced no classes and provided no slots.

Terrahero.9358:

BerriosC.7295:

If they do what they did with expansions in the original Guild Wars, then yes, we will get bonus character slots. 1-2 to be specific. We got 2 because there were 2 new professions, so expect to get 1 new character slot at least.

It has been pointed out already that those character slots were given with the Stand-Alone’s, but not on actual expansions.

It has also been pointed out that each of the “stand alones” came with a new class.

How about this question. If you didn’t have GW, and you got either of the other two, how many character slots did you get? If you only got one character slot, then the argument about the difference between stand alone and expansion is valid. If you got the normal amount, but adding either of the others expanded the number of characters by one, then it really isn’t.

There was no reason to have an extra character slot in EofN, so they didn’t provide one. There was a very pertinent reason to have one in the other two, namely a new class.

HoT will have a new class, and so their “trend” (as if one to two occurrences could be considered a trend for either argument) is to provide a character slot to play the new class.

MrTJpwnz.4710:

Shiverpeak Mountains
Tarnished Coast…

Very nice write up and informative. But, Tarnished Coast isn’t a region. Tarnished Coast is just part of the Kryta region, and may include one or two Maguuma Jungle zones.

The simple way to identify a region is during Dailies. Gathering Dailies are always attributed to a region, while Event Completion Dailies are attributed to a zone. There has never been a Tanished Coast Miner (forager, lumberjack) Daily.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

I get the feeling people are finally seeing the ‘expansion’ for what it is: a big, Living Story update you’re going to pay for.

That’s not entirely fair. I don’t think this will ultimately live up to anyone’s expectations, and if this were at least one other NCSoft company I won’t mention the entire thing would have been a free addon to the game, it is legitimately more than just a Living Story update.

JamesKBarley.6087:

I think most people thought (once again) that Anet was to copy all that we’ve already seen and experienced in other (mmo)rpgs that is : once you reach a certain level, you come to a choice of specialization of your class, with a treelike chain of skills to be added from each choice.

Pretty sure that anyone expecting that either is a straight up moron, or never actually played GW2. Expecting multiple options because the word used heavily implies options is not the same as people thinking ANet will bring in trash from other unrelated sources, just cause.

No one should have expected trees, and crap like that because that doesn’t fit into the game, at all.

I also immediately thought secondary class, and was hoping to be able to recreate my Ranger/Necro regen supreme build from GW. But that’s not actually what we’re getting either. We’re getting something entirely different, with phantom choice at an undisclosed period of time in the future.

Astralporing.1957:

Kal Spiro.9745:

Ugh, that’s not a specialization, that’s just a continuation of the class. Without at least two per class, there’s no choice and nothing “special” about it. All Rangers are Druids, woopy.

Actually, no. One of the interviews strongly suggested, that there would be reasons why someone might want to “disable” a specialization and go back to playing pure class (and that you will be able to switch in and out of specs). They also seemed to imply that, while specializations add new things on top of base class, they also take things away (as well as possibly change the whole playing style). They are not supposed to be stronger than their base classes, just different, thus presenting more options. And of course they have already said there will be more specializations in the future. Just not in HoT.

I would like to see that specific interview. I haven’t heard anything to that effect yet, and that would go a long way to alleviating mine, and presumably others frustration on this matter.

Nihilus.3015:

Olvendred.3027:

Nihilus.3015:

maddoctor.2738:

Nihilus.3015:

Letifer.4360:

We don’t know how many maps they will include in the expansion…

We already know its 1 new map

1 map… many zones

Its 1 zone

“Explore new open world jungle maps”

https://heartofthorns.guildwars2.com/en

Maps. Plural.

Yeah, they will want to make it seem like there’s more, but its 1 map as Colin has said a few times.

Quote for me where anyone specifically says one map.

It’s three maps with a lot of verticality making it potentially worth a little more.

adormtil.1605:

First of all considering that a races in this game have their own zone, city and story we are not gonna have a new race in this game. Arenanet is not Blizzard who is the only company that has the resources to add a new class and a new race and a new area for it and new skills and new stories and another area besides that in one expansion. It sucks but when you are small you do small things.

They don’t need to come up with a “whole” new story. All they need is three sub stories. Your initial racial story. Your expanded racial story. Joining a faction for your race. The main problem with a new race is how to fit in meeting Destiny’s Edge. The rest is not that big. Hell, they are probably introducing more story in Living World than they would have to for a new race.

They could have done it, and they would have come out with a lot more praise than specializations that are just class progression until some indeterminate time in the future when there are actually more than one.

For everyone hoping to drop the pet, you can dismiss that thought right now. Just watch the trailer. We see a Norn Druid, wielding staff and everything, with alpine wolf pet right there next to him.

Whatever changes occur with class mechanics, it will not be to replace them with something completely different.

jheryn.8390:

Kal Spiro.9745:

jheryn.8390:

Terrahero.9358:

Not surprising at all. I’m sorry to say this, but anyone who thought there would be more than one specialization per profession was simply feeding their own hype. That disapointment you feel is your own doing. arenanet never hinted that there being more than one.

^This. All I will add to this is that since we honestly don’t know how specializations will work with each class, why start bemoaning them until you find out the details. It is like people are actively looking for something to be unhappy about. Sheesh!

Simple. I main a Ranger and being a Druid has nothing even remotely to do with my class design. So I was hoping against hope there was at least one option available to me that was not that. I couldn’t give a flying kitten about staves, or shooting roots.

It isn’t simple. No one likes to hear it, but it isn’t all about you. There are many people who are very excited about this. They can’t make everyone happy.

I main a Ranger too. Since we really have no clue as to how specializations will truly work, I’m not going to start making judgments about it now. Initially it doesn’t sound like it will fit into my play style either, but I’m not going to know that until we learn how will work.

Also, we are getting one specialization now, but Colin Johanson has said in an interview that they are setting this up for future specializations to come.

You seem to misunderstand. What is simple is how those of us who are not just me can bemoan a lack of options, especially for the one class that we were specifically given any amount of information on. It’s incredibly simple, and we know a lot. We know that you get called a Druid and gain a staff as a new weapon. We know that staff is primarily a mystic type weapon used for ranged combat, and we know that at least one of the powers connected to the staff shoots vines at the opponent. We know all of this, and I know that I’m not alone in the idea that this doesn’t fit my character in any way. So pretty much any option at all which was not this would probably have fit me, and others, better.

Also, I understand that there will be future specializations, but that almost worries me more. Primarily because ANet doesn’t have a good track record for letting us take choices back without either paying or rerolling. Of all the choices we make, the only one they’ve give us the option to freely rewrite is traits, and that has only come about recently. So every class gets one special to work with off the bat. Whether it fits your character concept or not. Later we get a new option. But we’ve made the choice because there wasn’t a choice, so now what? I don’t trust ANet to just give it to us, I trust ANet to sell it to us for gems. And that just rubs me more the wrong way.

It’s a tough one. I already have three Sylvari, three Asura, two Char, two Humans and Norn. I’m considering making a Char elementalist, so then I’d have three of them too. I could make it Human, but that’s kind of boring, or Norn which I don’t like. I really liked the idea of a Sylvari Revenant because the Sylvari Dream is very reminiscent of the mists, but also because of the growing unrest involving Sylvari in the expansion. I don’t want to do Char cause of Ritlok, and while I like Asura more than any other race I don’t feel like having another one, so I’m really stuck.

For some reason, when ANet was designing medium armor they decided that all medium armor should be long coats. There are only a handful of options that deviate from this design, and as far as I know they are all exclusively female armor, meaning that 2/5ths of the races can’t even make use of them, along with half of the remaining three.

WP unlocking is part of the XP source for leveling up. If you have one character is world completion that is a LOT of XP just down the drain for new characters.

Also, too bad.

Also, get over it, it isn’t that difficult run around the world for the first time per character. Just a couple weeks ago I ran seven or eight characters from Lion’s Arch to the stand of trees in Orr, for foxfire, cause none of them had ever been there, or had a reason to go there before. It didn’t take all that long, really.

grayskull.2367:

They can’t help themselves all they know is whining they think there entitle to what they want. I’ve got news for you all, your not entitle to kitten you get what your given. You ever buy it or you don’t simple.

be disappointed all you want changes nothing for the people with realistic expectation.

How about no?

It isn’t entitled to think that a word will actually indicate what it seems to. They could have called it anything. Paragon, Elite, Legendary, Ascended, Progression. Instead they called it Specialization which means to focus on an area of skill. All classes have multiple areas they could focus on, so it’s absolutely not unreasonable to think we would get a choice of which one.

It absolutely depends on how extensive this addition to the class is as to how much effort it would have taken to put in a second one, but it would have been nice to be a thing from the start.

VergilDeZaniah.3295:

People keep complaining about that -_- No one wants to be thankful to the devs for creating specializations? Of course we begin with one, but come on, you’ve spent 2 years with “simple” classes. Even if they introduce “only” 10 new skills for a complete bar, that’s more that enough to begin with, because they said there would be more. Instead of spitting on a game that’s not even released yet, just say thank you, it’s free and it won’t kill you.

Why would/should we say thank you for something we know next to nothing about? Perhaps all the skills are utter crap, it’s not like it’s beyond them to make lots of useless skills. I’m already not happy with the one “specialization” I get for my main class just for concept. I know people have wanted staff for ranger, for some reason, but I certainly don’t and no intention of using, so that’s five skills right there I have no reason to be thankful for.

You say thank you. I’ll sit here and hope the rest of it isn’t a waste of my time.

jheryn.8390:

Terrahero.9358:

Not surprising at all. I’m sorry to say this, but anyone who thought there would be more than one specialization per profession was simply feeding their own hype. That disapointment you feel is your own doing. arenanet never hinted that there being more than one.

^This. All I will add to this is that since we honestly don’t know how specializations will work with each class, why start bemoaning them until you find out the details. It is like people are actively looking for something to be unhappy about. Sheesh!

Simple. I main a Ranger and being a Druid has nothing even remotely to do with my class design. So I was hoping against hope there was at least one option available to me that was not that. I couldn’t give a flying kitten about staves, or shooting roots.

Ugh, that’s not a specialization, that’s just a continuation of the class. Without at least two per class, there’s no choice and nothing “special” about it. All Rangers are Druids, woopy.

Then they introduce a special that’s different and then what? You’ve already specialized into the only option you had at the time. Can you respect? Do you have to start all over from the beginning? Super lame.

How many specializations will there be per class? One specialization isn’t specializing, it’s just a continuation of the class. There needs to be at least two, but preferably three.

Will we get an extra character slot with the expansion?

I certainly hope it’s standard practice to give at least one slot when introducing a whole new class or race (in this case class) in a paid expansion. I know it has been in all the games I’ve played in the past. Some even just cause.

Was anyone ever actually anti-expansion? Or were they just following the status quo of ANet making it clear expansions weren’t something they were interested in?

I don’t think anyone was against the idea, as long as they do it right. Which has yet to be seen.

Meh, that’s not an expansion. In my day we had real expansions. This is just a better content release that you probably have to pay for.

Jerus.4350:

Kal Spiro.9745:

My mom is a dental hygienist.

The sound of that drill puts the fear in people more than any “fear me” warrior shout could.

Well, hygienists aren’t allowed to use the drill, just the scraper.

NPE isn’t that bad, and the level up rewards are kind of alright. The only problem with the NPE is the unreasonable requirements for some of the traits, but even that is mostly a whatever situation as eventually you will always be able to get them. It’s not like leveling is hard, nor that a lack of traits makes leveling all that much harder.

JustTrogdor.7892:

Kal Spiro.9745:

As far as I know all Gem Store items will be 75% off, so if that’s the case, and the DD goes one sale, just get it there.

Where did you get the info that all gem store items will be 75% off?

Hmm… I can’t find it, so it’s possible I misread something. I could have sworn that I saw an announcement on twitter or facebook claiming that in addition to the game being on sale gem story stuff would be on sale for the same.

Ok, first off, there are no longer transmutation stones. Transmutation doesn’t work the way it used to. You can’t just randomly transmute things with other things. Now you have to be able to equip the thing, and while equipped you can apply the appearance of any other item you have unlocked, as long as you have enough transmutation charges available.

So, if you have an ascended items you can give it the appearance of anything, it doesn’t change in any way but appearance. In the case of the Spinal Blade back item, which became available during the Siege of Lion’s Arch event, it should still count as a Spinal Blade even after that. Before stones became charges transmutation would end this property, but now it doesn’t.

Spinal Blades are “craftable” ascended back pieces. They’re crafted via the mystic forge and effectively have to be leveled up. Each time you put them through the forge they become more elaborate and higher rank. It’s up to you if you like the appearance, though. Their stats are also selectable at each stage of development.

If you weren’t around for the event, though, it will be exceptionally difficult to acquire since the current sources for blade shards are extremely limited.