Guild Wars 2

Unless it’s part of those TBD traits, it would be good choice for a baseline trait.

I liked a suggestion in the mesmer forums; random super adventure box critters!

Oh My God.8423:

Well… if the devs insist on giving us that ugly new bomb graphic, we could perhaps start a new thread called “bring back the Hobosack!”… and wait for another 2 years…

C’mon people, they were actually hesitant to show it live and kept saying how it was a rough sketch, a work in progress and made fun of the onion grenades. Even the med kit which looks awesome (a wrist-mounted syringe gun, how bad-kitten is that) is not finished.

Be constructive with your feedback. We are getting what we asked, no more hobosacks, now you can brainstorm and make meaningful suggestions about what those handheld bundles can look like, and how they can synergize with end game gear.

It’s a regular kit. No cooldown, no immob, you run around with a missile launcher.

You can watch some of it in action in GW twitch page. It’s still a WIP, though, and uses the Flamethrower model.

Terrahero.9358:

i mean for god sake, engineers are still just a Power Point.

Honestly, to me, this means they are working on the class and it showed on the stream.

I was more disappointed with Necros, who didn’t get a power point, but their changes felt like number tweaks.

Urdhgag.2450:

I know there is a little chance for that – but could Arenanet explain how big of a nerf comes with the healsplosions? I mean – bomb healing is half of my build and it’s pourpose – otherwise i wouldn’t even play the kitten class and it is kind of… dissapointing to see it go. I don’t kittening want to roll zerk warrior, I want my kittening healgeneer.

I can understand that you liked that trait, but saying healgineer is dead, when we get tons of new superior healing options, to the point that we can heal on every dodge, and heal our team everytime we heal, is not true.

That been said, the devs themselves said that if the changes weaken or destroy a build, they are listening to feedback. Everything is still a work in progress and engineers doubly so, according to the dev team.

Arantheal.7396:

If we think further in that direction, it would be awesome if we could see our weapons permanently but have a wrist-attached gadget (or full glove) for all our weapon-kits.

That would require new animations for each weapon. For example, Flamethrower already uses a rifle, so the transition would be easy if you are using a rifle as your weapon. But shield and pistols need new animations, as your off-hand is occupied, while the upcoming hammer would need to somehow be used as a casting weapon that throws fireballs. And the toolkit uses a unique shield model for skill 4, which requires an empty off-hand.

That’s not very practical and it will happen again in the future if they add a new spec with a new weapon.

Not to mention that having your weapon out without being able to use it would be rather awkward looking.

What can happen, though, (at least I assume so), is make kits stow your main weapon when equipped. So, you can still see it on your back and receive the auras.

You can also watch the stream in GW’s twitch channel. It has been uploaded. Engi starts at 1:55 (hours, not minutes) iirc

It doesn’t necessarily have to synergize with the base skill, you don’t have to use the 2 skills together. Some of our other skills overlap, like Elixir S, for example, which gives you 2 different escape tools/panic buttons/stomp enablers or Elixir C that gives you 2 condi cleansers. Elixir U base skill wants you to engage in a fight, while the toolbelt skill is a purely defensive one.

The current version, which is still WIP of course, works the same as the other Toss skills. It’s a ground targeted AoE Moa transformation. It lasts around 2 seconds and has a rather short cooldown.

Cold Hearted Person.6154:

People, the thing you saw on stream or on images from stream are a WIP, they said it many times that its not the actual or finall look, it just a temp, a place holder.

So, STOP PANICKING

They even called those grenades grapes and onions themselves. They are working on the visuals.

Engineer’s style is using SCIENCE™ to copy other professions’ tricks. We cannot cast fireballs or summon meteors, but we can use a Flamethrower or a Mortar. We cannot use magic powers to heal, but we can use potions, syringes, healing mists, etc.

A daze would be visually unimpressive for an elite toolbelt skill (Mortal gets an Orbital Laser, so there’s already strong competition). Plus, Elixir X is already a transforming skill.

I would say let Mesmers keep their Moas, and give us Quaggans
It would help the enemy know they are under the shorter Engi morph instead of the much longer Mesmer one.

Jerus.4350:

Sarahfull.4930:

At first it was a shock to read my nades wont be 1500 range, although the idea that the impack aoe is gona be increased did take my notice. During my fractal runs, how I combat enemies with reflect is to aim for the ground near them and the explosion would still hurt them so it wouldnt matter. With this change, I would be able to do this with even more ease.

Well, you now have Mortar kit for long range as an option. Also looks like “rifle trait” will be a solid choice in the master slot, hopefully comes with extra range?

As an aside, I noticed Bombheals are gone, we have heal-splosion but that’s for blast finishers it says. I’ll miss that option if it’s gone, didn’t use it much but was a fun twist.

At the end of the engi section, they mentioned healbombs and said Healsplosion is meant to fill the gap, so maybe Bombs get blast finishers.

I’m interested to see how our Pistol #2 is affected now that Poison stacks. Same for burning and Flamethrower #4.

Jerus.4350:

Sounds fun, I might have to set up my WvW Engi again for some frontline bombs with Mortar to screw with them at long range

Hey you can shoot your allies with the Mortar to heal them!

Nirvana.8659:

Crap!!
I was late,and i’m on my phablet.
Gone on twitch gw2 channel but i can’t see any recorded/replay aviable.
Anyone can provide a link to see it?
I would like to see the engi things you are talking about.

Nades range will be diminished? Ouch…. hope i will still be able to safely bomb enemy zerg in WvW.

Would like to see the new mortar…
And if they did, would like to see the change on traits too!!
So no chance we will get a new kit considering we will have mortar as kit right?

And how is mortar weilded?
Is it like in the old load-screen where you see a big charr weilding something like a bazooka?
Or will it be on the ground lime before?

Come on, tell me it’s a kitten bazooka, i will stop play my engi, log in, equip mortar.,and just stay there watching my character without moving!!!
Guess it will remain mortar considering you are not talking about bazookas! uff…
Nah…. that subforum would collapse for the hype with a change like that.

It will be uploaded on youtube.

Grenades are reduced to 900 range, but they get an extra one as a baseline instead of requiring a trait. The new Grenadier increases the blast radius and velocity of the projectiles. Also, they don’t leave combo fields (like the Poison one did).

They are designing Mortar to be the new long range kit. It’s a regular kit (no cooldown or anything) and you can run around with it, you are not rooted.

Also, elite skills give us a toolbelt skill now for F5.

Anymras.5729:

Dinoslaw.3842:

WOOOOHOOO!!! We won the greatest war in GW2 history! Finaly we can get rid of sacks and look like true, rich engineers!

…I must have missed something, did they announce the De-Hoboing of the Sack?

Le sàck de hobbó is no mo’

Just tell me I can equip the hammer and wield the Mortar and I won’t play any other profession ever.

lakdav.3694:

nice! but what about flamethrower and EG? Do they still have the humongous bags?

No, hobosacks are gone, but all kits have handheld items now. I mentioned only the ones that didn’t have one before.

lakdav.3694:

Wait what? who? where? I need links to feast my eyes upon!

Livestream, they already went over engi. (Necro right now, Ranger and Warrior left).

Hobosacks are replaced by handheld items (syringes for Med, grenade cluster for Grenade, bomb barrel for Bomb).

Med Kit gets new 1, 2 and 3. 1 is a cone heal, 2 is an area buff (uses a pylon visual). 3 is a buffed version of old 1/2/3, unless I’m mistaken.

Mortal is now a kit you can run around with.

We get F5 toolkit slot for elites. Orbital Laser for Mortal and AoE Moa Morph for Elixir X.

Supply Crate is a turret skill now.

mrstealth.6701:

RabbitUp.8294:

That’s not the point, in this case, though. The point is that if you are completely free to choose, options like picking 2 rare dyes become available and overshadow the rest.

Ignoring price, they don’t overshadow anything. They are just colors, the rarity is just an artificial means of giving gold value to some over others.

They are all equally useful. It’s just a matter of which ones the player desires.

I meant ignore the significant price difference of the two rare dyes.

In your example, even if they are just colours with no monetary value, there’s still a reason to pick the rare dyes as those are the ones you have less of a chance of acquiring in the future. This is the reason people are paying more for them right now, combined with the actual desire for black and white dyes, which won’t change if those bundles were real.

Invictus.1503:

I’ve had a theory for a while, and this keeps it alive, that the Revenant’s elite specialization will actually take the legends (as we know them) away and allow the Revenant to pick skills from a pool of them rather than tie them to a new legend. This article even went out of its way to say “most” professions will receive 4 utilities. The word “most” implies at least one exception. That exception very well could be Revenant because they will get 10 utility skills (just a random picked number there) from which to choose.

They were more specific about the revenant:

“Almost every elite specialization will gain access to a complete set of new skills: a single heal, four utility skills, and one elite skill. Revenants will gain a healing skill, an elite skill, and a set of utilities of the same type. ”

It seems like they get a full set of 6 skills, all with the same type, like another profession (warriors?) get a full 6-shout set.

phys.7689:

no, that is not analogous.

like really really not analogous

The analogy is fine, even if the prices screw my example up a bit.

Yours, on the other hand, was false. You keep repeating an imaginary scenario that you had 10 different things to choose from and you are now are left with 5, which is not what happened.

Hmm, you are right, I underestimated how big the price margin between the 2 dyes is (even though technically speaking, if we are doing this thought experiment, prices would be affected by these free bundles I’m offering).

That’s not the point, in this case, though. The point is that if you are completely free to choose, options like picking 2 rare dyes become available and overshadow the rest.

Tabootrinket.2631:

Since we don’t have a lot of information here, it’s just a feeling but, the specialization system doesn’t look that good to me.

Basically, it feels like they’re using the current trait system, and make them simpler and more restrictive. The screens looks like a cool way to show that you can only have 3 available traits for each trait level. Would be great if they were totally new abilities, but they awfully look a lot like what’s currently already here (based on the ele trait display). Then again, it’s just the impression I get from that little piece of information available.

But what I really hate is that apparently, weapon skills stay exactly the same. I found it odd the developpers never specifically said “brand new utility skills”, or mentionned any new or revamped, or even slightly tweaked weapon skills. They always just said, “brand new skills”. Which in this case seems to be utility and elite only (as I feared).

Now we still have the profession specific skills, but only having that changed is kind of a let-down seeing how in some professions, this skill can be quite minor if you choose certain builds.

From that news, the specialization system looks more like a build balance update than an addition to what’s already there.

So yeah I don’t have a good feeling about all of this for now, not to mention their obsession to make things simpler, which leads to more restrictive choices.

I wish I’m wrong, and I’m looking forward to more updates about the specialization system.

What do you mean by new weapon skills? They never said existing weapons would get any significant (non-numerical) changes. The expansion promised new ways to further customize your profession (elite specialization) and a trait system revamp.

Your new elite spec does give you access to a single new weapon and thus new weapon skills, along with other skills (heal, utilities, elite), and tweaks to profession mechanics.

phys.7689:

removing options does not give you more impactful options, thats the big illogical jump people keep making.

say you have 10 dates to choose from
5 of them cancel

are the 5 left somehow better than before?

You are the one making the illogical jump. What you describe is irrelevant. It would only apply if Anet announced that the only change they are making in the current system is removing traits. Nothing else, you still assign points, unlock them through the NPE system, but some traits are just removed. No compensation.

This is what you are describing. But this is not what’s happening.

What is happening is this:

I’m giving you dyes in-game. They are not account bound and you can sell them. You can choose only 2 of the following:

Rare: Abyss, Celestial
Uncommon: Summer Grass, Lilac, Sunrise Breeze
Common: Pink Ice, Sea Ice, Citrus

There are a lot of possible choices, but in reality, you will pick the 2 rare dyes and either keep them or sell and bye whichever dyes you want. Thus, you only have 1 viable choice.

Now I’m offering you these bundles, and you need to pick 1:

Abyss+Pink Ice+Citrus
Summer Grass+Lilac+Sunrise Breeze
Celestial+Sea Ice+Citrus

Now, you have more than 1 viable choice, even if the number of possible choices is greatly reduced.

Nike.2631:

CureForLiving.5360:

My opinion as well. For all the complaining about less diversity, the thing is most of that diversity of pointless non-viable builds. People really love ideas more than practicalities it seems

People who love ideas generally do the discovering for the people who assume there’s no reason to explore.

So? Diversity for no reason other than to have diversity is silly. Show me how this will practically impact players.

Show me how many meta builds were discovered launch day. Some things are obvious. Other combinations — while amazingly powerful in practice — are not…

I feel you are overestimating the impact of discovery. Yes, it can have a personal impact, and the feeling of making something work or finding a hidden synergy can be rewarding.

However, whether the dust settles in a week or a year, it’s unavoidable that most of what any system has to offer will be discovered. What matters after that is what we are left with.

Path of Exile, for example, has one of the most complex systems to date. Everyone still heavily gravitated towards certain specs after a short amount of time, and even if there’s still some room left for discovery today, builds tend to follow certain core cookie-cutter strategies.

phys.7689:

there is two facets to the current change
1) one is the elimination of options. in your example that would be deleting cards, not not allowing some people to use some cards

False. The cards are still available, what’s restricted is that you are now forced to put them in specific decks. Some cards are mutually exclusive, but you still have potential access to all.

In gw2, it means that you need to pick between 3 trait lines instead of spreading between 4+, not that a trait simply gets deleted without compensations. Those 20 less traits will either get merged with others, so you can pick the new end product, or you get that trait by default without spending points, like Necro Wells.

phys.7689:

2) the other facet is eliminating old combinations. that is some what similar, but we were far from a point where this was causing over powered builds. People claim most 4/5 traitline builds were sub optimal, so eliminating them is not going to eliminate overpowered builds, and it is infact easier to eliminate overpowered builds by changing single cards, not the basic game rules.

If that was the case, the meta wouldn’t gravitate between a half handful of builds for each profession. It’s not about the builds themselves, but also the content you use them for that unevenly promotes certain strategies. Stacking dps in a team is more effective than stacking support and cc, for example, given the current available content.

phys.7689:

last sentece is the key

“not all choices are made equally attractive”
this is what limits viability, but it is mistake to link that to your number of choices. Your number of choices has nothing to do with how many are equally attractive.

if you have 10 good options out of 20 versus 10 good options out of 40, you still have 10 good options.
the difference between 20 and 40, is that people are variable and not all people have the same goals, with more options you increase the chances people will find some options appealing.

case in point, i hate all grandmasters in the tools line, i would rather have invigorating speed. Those grandmasters may be great for some people, but i dont want em.

I will ignore the last part, because you operate under the assumption that grandmaster traits will remain equally useless as some of the current ones. We know that 20 traits per profession are getting removed. That means some are merged and the rest become part of the base skills they’re tied to.

It’s not safe to assume that the new traits will all be appealing, either, be there’s no point in discussing an imaginary system that operates under the new restrictions but uses the old traits. The old traits will be balanced around the new system, and the new system is what made elite specs possible, which will continue to increase variety in the future.[/i]

As for the rest of your post, it sounds like a pipe dream. It’s impossible to balance such a large number of builds and make them all appealing. It’s not only what the build itself does, but also what the content I’m playing wants from me. Some builds will just work better for certain content than others. It’s unavoidable.

So, your number of options does affect your number of viable options simply because, a) it’s easier to balance builds under the new system, and b)more choice leads to jack-of-all trades, master of all builds, and those overshadow the rest. People gave you specific examples above.

While you are right, we do know for a fact that Engineers will get the hammer. Whether Elementalists will get the sword or not remains to be seen.

I’m interested in seeing how sword will work for them, though. At the moment, it sounds too similar to dagger to me, but I’m eager to be proven wrong.

Nike.2631:

RabbitUp.8294:

If you only count the # of viable builds, though, then quantity can decrease that.

It’s illusion of choice vs real choice.

It hurts my soul the way people throw around the word “viable” where the term that would have meaning is “competitive”. It gets (deliberately) misused because viable is a binary term (alive/dead) used to create a false dichotomy based on a floating, arbitrary cut off when the reality is builds populate a spectrum of performance. Viable gets used in the same way as saying “every child that won’t be in the Olympics will just fall down dead at the age of 5 because they just aren’t viable.” It’s not necessary for all builds to by hyper-competitive to add value to the system as a whole. And its even more important to have some flexibility in a game that has multiple modes with very different demands.

I use viable for builds that serve a purpose, whether that’s suiting your playstyle or a certain strategy. It’s not a binary term, as you can still play the game with any choice of traits. However, playing 3/3/3/3/2 is not about being meta or not, competitive or not, it’s making a build that willing gimps yourself.

Similarly, the gear system allows you to go naked, or not wear certain pieces of armor. Does this offer choice? Is there a purpose in willingly choosing to do otherwise of bragging rights?

phys.7689:

RabbitUp.8294:

phys.7689:

Strill.2591:

Nike.2631:

We get to the total POLAR OPPOSITE of “diversity” – there are only 10 combination of 3 trait lines and everyone in a profession will be one of those 10. The. End. (the specialization with be another mix of 10 clusters of 3 lines).

Each of those lines will only 27 ways of traiting, down from 418.

We get simplicity. We get hammered towards the middle in terms of performance. We do NOT get diversity.

Now if you take the current system and toss out all the useless crap, then do your calculations again, you’ll find that this change is actually improving diversity.

that is not possible, you will never get more diversity by taking out options.

Depends on what you define as diversity. If it’s # of possible build, then yes, quantity is one of the factors that directly affect it.

If you only count the # of viable builds, though, then quantity can decrease that.

no it can not, this isnt theory its math.

if the traits dont change, getting rid of bad traits does not increase the amount of viable builds.

changing the traits themselves can increase the amount of viable builds, but you can always do that, it has nothing to do with the total amounts of traits.

It’s not theory. Take Champions Online for example. There are no classes, only power trees, and you can mix and match.

Instead of making diverse builds possible, the system led to cookie cutter builds, that all used the same core of staple skills, and only left room for a handful of skills that offered some variety.

A different example, the card games Yu-Gi-Oh and Magic the Gathering. MtG seperates cards in 5 colors and indirectly forces you to limit yourself to a small number of them. YGO, on the other hand, has a ton of generic cards you can use in every deck. In practice, it only means that the best of those cards became staples and are used in pretty much every competitive deck.

So, while in the above scenarios you are still free to deviate, you are willingly gimping yourself by doing something that is not viable or less optimal.

The more free you are to min max, the more identical the builds start to look, because not all choices are made equally attractive.

phys.7689:

Strill.2591:

Nike.2631:

We get to the total POLAR OPPOSITE of “diversity” – there are only 10 combination of 3 trait lines and everyone in a profession will be one of those 10. The. End. (the specialization with be another mix of 10 clusters of 3 lines).

Each of those lines will only 27 ways of traiting, down from 418.

We get simplicity. We get hammered towards the middle in terms of performance. We do NOT get diversity.

Now if you take the current system and toss out all the useless crap, then do your calculations again, you’ll find that this change is actually improving diversity.

that is not possible, you will never get more diversity by taking out options.

Depends on what you define as diversity. If it’s # of possible build, then yes, quantity is one of the factors that directly affect it.

If you only count the # of viable builds, though, then quantity can decrease that.

It’s illusion of choice vs real choice.

VocalThought.9835:

Is it me or does it look each profession may get 5 specializations?!

Traits are called specialization, too. It’s core specialization vs elite specialization.

If you are talking about the Cantrip, Arcana, Glyph, etc lines in OP’s image, those are all current skills of that specific type grouped up together in the same tree.

Nike.2631:

Why do people keep saying that??!?

‘Unique’ is the one thing we absolutely know the changes are going to stamp out.

If you have a line, you have it at 6. No options. No variations. You have exactly 1 adept, 1 master, and 1 grand master trait. Without fail or exception. 27 choices. Ever.

There are also only 9 professions. Everyone must choose only 1 of those 9. No options. No variations. You have exactly 5 weapons skills, 1 heal, 4 utilities and 1 elite. 9 choices. Ever.

If you only enjoyed chatting with your guildmates while wielding legendary weapons, would you complain about Anet shoving any kind of game content down your throat and not giving you free precursors?

It’s your choice how you play. That been said, they already give you Hero Points for leveling up, and since skills are grouped up by Type, most builds will probably be possible without doing skill challengers, such a full-Cantrip Ele, for example.

Nike.2631:

We get to the total POLAR OPPOSITE of “diversity” – there are only 10 combination of 3 trait lines and everyone in a profession will be one of those 10. The. End. (the specialization with be another mix of 10 clusters of 3 lines).

Each of those lines will only 27 ways of traiting, down from 418.

We get simplicity. We get hammered towards the middle in terms of performance. We do NOT get diversity.

Quantity is only one component of diversity. And you choose to unnecessarily dumb the system down to make a point.

You will now get more out of your traits, some traits become base components of your skills, you get more active traits overall, and your choices affects your build in a more meaningful matter.

Saying you could choose between 18 million builds before is absolutely meaningless. The game was not released yesterday, you should know by now how well those 18 mil builds worked out.

Yes, we lose quantity, but quality has a much, much bigger impact in build diversity.

RusShiro.9241:

My bigger concern though is the skill point scrolls. I have a full stack, and over 600 unused skill points spread over 8 toons.

I’m sure the devs will give us a heads up before they make them go poof.

We get a new currency that replaces Scrolls and excess Skill Points, since Hero Points are capped.

mrstealth.6701:

RabbitUp.8294:

Why do you assume you will be forced into going glass cannon?

It was a somewhat extreme example. A good part of the diversity we have now is from being able to partially invest into a traitline. For instance, when you want just a little more survivability in a DPS focused build.

If you can be both tanky and do damage under the current system, then you only have 1 viable build choice.

That is just outright false. That is one thing you can do, but you’re not going to excel at either as much as someone focused into just one of those. You can be full DPS, tank, support, or anywhere in between.

If you have to choose between dps or survivability/support, that’s at least 2 different builds. Of course, that’s only an example and goes into holy trinity territory, which Anet initially wanted to avoid.

We have these options now, and more. You can blend them to many different degrees. This new specialization system will limit that more, into something similar to what you describe. What we have now is much more.

It’s not just a black/white situation we have now, there is a lot of grey too. The proposed changes are more black/white than what we have now.

The problems occur when you are able to balance your dps and survivability into amounts you are satisfied with, in a way that gives you little to no reason to focus more unevenly on either stat.

Those grey areas are currently more enticing than the black and white ones, instead of all 3 being equally appealing, and you can see that being reflected in the current meta builds. And it’s not like the new system limits you to 2 incompatible DPS and support modes, like a lot of other mmos do (some even going as far as naming them that and making you flip the switch between the two). There’re still grey areas to explore. The builds that split their points into 4+ trait lines are mostly losing a couple of lower tier traits (mediguard only loses non build-defining adept minor traits, for example), while gaining grandmaster tier ones.

And there’s still the possibility some of those traits might become part of the base skills.

binidj.5734:

The thing is that to you it may seem like a buff, for me it’s game breaking … but that’s the great thing about the flexibility of the current system, we can both play the styles that we prefer. While I welcome an overhaul, I’d rather they didn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.

With the current system though, the rest are forced to waste points to do that, so it’s not just a simple option.

As for the extra click, there are 2 other options to choose from, cast on key release and instant cast on key press, both of which remove the need of clicking with your mouse. You still have to be aware of your cursor’s position, but I doubt that is so hard to get used to that you’d have to scrap your build altogether.

That been said, I do still think my suggestion about a new keybind would make things easier and not only for Necros.

mrstealth.6701:

RabbitUp.8294:

If the new system makes you lose some of that survivability for equal or more damage, it also leaves room for a support teammate that gives you some of what you lost.

Being forced into that is precisely the lack of diversity that is the issue. It’s not giving more viable options, it’s pigeon-holing you into that glass build and pigeon-holing someone else into making up for what you now lack.

We’re not forced into picking a set balance of DPS/survivability right now. It’s a choice to play what you want to, and what you feel comfortable with. I’m comfortable playing my ele quite glassy. I’m not forced into making any of the trait choices for that build. It might be a little easier if I was more tanky, and I guess that might be an “incentive” for that. But I’ve chosen to not go that route, because I don’t want to.

Why do you assume you will be forced into going glass cannon? If you can be both tanky and do damage under the current system, then you only have 1 viable build choice. If you have to choose between dps or survivability/support, that’s at least 2 different builds. Of course, that’s only an example and goes into holy trinity territory, which Anet initially wanted to avoid.

And while you can indeed choose to play an off-meta build due to personal preference, playstyle or flavour, something still possible under the new system, for the min-maxing competitive crowd, more choice doesn’t lead to more versatility, but it’s quite often the exact opposite.

sorudo.9054:

i don’t have a 100% map completion ankitten ot planning in doing it any time soon, i really don’t like dungeons but AFAIK it’s something forced.
so in short, you’re forced to do stuff you don’t like, changing the game in to labor.

If you PvP, you have and will have everything unlocked and ignore PvE content.

If you PvE, you can choose to ignore map completion, skill challenges and dungeons (not tied to the current system, btw), but you don’t get everything for free. It’s not like other games let you start with a fully-leveled, fully-geared toon, either.

Solori.6025:

Depends. If I can make a fresh air ele that has decent survivability while still doing a metric ton of damage then I will chose that build.

Exactly? If you can make said Fresh Air Ele, why would you pick a different build? You wouldn’t. The concept of tankmages is not a new thing for MMOs.

If the new system makes you lose some of that survivability for equal or more damage, it also leaves room for a support teammate that gives you some of what you lost.

Solori.6025:

If you don’t deal enough damage to kill someone o something then you’re just there to waste time.

When the only (meaningful) thing one can contribute to a fight is dps, then the game design is flawed.

Kaleban.9834:

evilunderling.9265:

This is, however, work that only has to be done once. It’s short-term stuff, not long-term.

How long has the game been out? Traits, skills, even core profession mechanics are still unbalanced, bugged or flat out broken.

If ANet can’t balance/fix the base game after two and a half years, how much confidence do you honestly have that they’ll be able to introduce a new system, revamp the old one, and fix/balance it all upon HoT release?

How are they going to balance/fix the game if you don’t want them to make changes? The old system needed more than a few number tweaks.

mrstealth.6701:

RabbitUp.8294:

mrstealth.6701:

There are some traitlines with traits I consider vital in the adept and master tiers. Traitlines that I have no use or desire to go further into. Being able to spend those points going partially into another traitline is a huge part of the flexibility we have now.

You realize this is contradictory? If you consider some traits vital, staples or whatever, they only limit build diversity, not add to it. It means you are, to a degree, forced to choose them.

The new system will force you to make more meaningful choices, instead of augmenting your strengths and covering your weaknesses in the same build. Specialization is what leads to build diversity, not cookie-cutter builds.

I don’t see that being contradictory at all. If an adept trait offers something important to the build/playstyle, being forced into also having to take master and grandmaster traits from the same line does nothing to increase diversity. It’s only preventing those points from being spent on traits that are actually desired/useful.

Having to pick and choose traits to improve your strengths and cover weaknesses is the entire point of the system. It’s what we do every time we make a build. It’s about deciding what is vital to your current chosen playstyle. That single trait is vital because of a choice to go with that build/playstyle. Not because you’re being forced to take it, as if there are no other options.

The point of the system is to specialize, not pick between of handful of minmax cookie-cutter builds.

When you can make a tanky Ele that deals sufficient damage, the incentive to go glass cannon or support is reduced. That’s why in the end, the number of viable builds are reduced.

Be patient

“If you already have Scrolls of Knowledge and a bunch of existing skill points, you will end up with a lot of crafting material that converts into a new currency that will be used in the Mystic Forge. We will be talking more about how that works and how you acquire that currency in the future.”

ReaverKane.7598:

Nowhere there does it say that the skill types will all be kept within current categories. While that’s a likely case (thus allowing for the runes to synergize), nothing says they can’t or won’t add new types (along with new runes, perhaps?).
At least not in that blog.

While true, they indirectly excluded the possibility of changing the category of skills that already have one, and currently, Eles don’t have enough typeless legacy skills to make Tempest possible.

Weyrd.2794:

Yeah, but this is an example of giving a skill without a class an existing class. It does not suggest they will be creating a new class of skill to reassign existing skills with classes to.

Yeah, that’s what I wanted to say. All existing skills will be assigned a pre-existing category.

Also, apparently, the same will apply to new elite skills (all shouts, or all traps for example: “We’ll also be reusing old types of skills like shouts and traps to create more synergy with the Rune system.”)

So, Tempest cannot be a new category and is indeed the new elite specialization.

ReaverKane.7598:

Its most likely the new Spec.
I was going to say could maybe be a new “Type” for some unclassified skills on Elementalist, but then i went and checked and only one Ele Skill has no type, and its a heal. So unless they reclass skills, its most likely the name for the Spec.

They said all current skills will be changed to belong to an existing type.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/specializations-part-one-a-primer/

All legacy skills will be assigned a category if they don’t already have one; for example, the engineer’s Mortar elite skill will become a kit.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Hopefully that clears things up for you… please change your expansion plans accordingly if you desire my money.

“Please cater to my every need whim”

You are a consumer, you are free to vote with your wallet.

Celtic Lady.3729:

Why are we assuming the Mystic Forge crafting item is NEW? Isn’t it possible that it’s an existing crafting material?

http://massivelyop.net/2015/04/23/exclusive-guild-wars-2-heart-of-thorns-interview-unwraps-specializations-and-traits/

Players no longer need to clear specific content for specific unlocks as hero points will be replacing skill points in the new profession reward tracks, and excess skill points will be converted into crafting materials. How will this affect players who have already cashed in a bundle of Scrolls of Knowledge?

If you already have Scrolls of Knowledge and a bunch of existing skill points, you will end up with a lot of crafting material that converts into a new currency that will be used in the Mystic Forge. We will be talking more about how that works and how you acquire that currency in the future.