Dev Blog: Changes to Traits

#270 - March 20, 2014, 1:44 p.m.

Phadde.7362:

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

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

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

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

#272 - March 20, 2014, 1:50 p.m.

perilisk.1874:

ArtemusHunter.9521:

The one thing I want to know is if the training manuals will change from allowing access to teaching a bunch of traits of that tier.

As I read it, there are no more tier-unlock manuals, those are just unlocked automatically at certain levels. The training manuals each teach a specific trait, and newly introduced traits will have more expensive manuals (just like the newer heal skills are very expensive in SP)

Edit: Or were you asking if they will still have some use if you bought one in that past? I… wouldn’t count on that. They aren’t that expensive, so I doubt they will be given any new use.

Trait tiers will now unlock based on the level of your character. Manuals will be removed from the vendors and replaced with the purchasable trait guides as an alternative to unlocking traits via specific content.

#274 - March 20, 2014, 1:52 p.m.

Fluffball.8307:

Roy Cronacher.1576:

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

Everything looks amazing, I’m super excited for all this stuff to go live.

Out of curiosity, would you like to say anything about the ranger GM trait? It seems very underwhelming, especially considering the traits it’s competing against.

Karl and I will be doing a Ready Up livestream tomorrow going over all of the new traits. =)

#283 - March 20, 2014, 2:04 p.m.

Glenstorm.4059:

Roy Cronacher.1576:

Phadde.7362:

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

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

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

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

Thanks for the updates! Really excited about these changes!

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

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

#342 - March 20, 2014, 4:13 p.m.

ipan.4356:

Unlocking traits through content is a great idea though.

I’d even remove the option to buy them from vendors.

While we think going out into the world to unlock traits is a cool reward for completing specific content, we wanted to have an alternative option in case that wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea. There are many different kinds of players. =)

#349 - March 20, 2014, 4:22 p.m.

Donari.5237:

I feel quite positive about the changes, albeit with some reservations about the delay in getting to the traits. I’m at 12 80’s now, and nearly 40 on my 3rd Mesmer, because I always want to have someone I’m leveling in order to get that feeling of progress. So far I’ve managed different weapon/trait builds for each one … anyway! Question: You didn’t say pre-existing 80’s get all traits unlocked, you said pre-existing characters. So my new Mesmer, assuming he doesn’t hit 80 by Apr 15, does he get all traits, or just some? How does this work for characters created before Apr 15 but not yet 80 as of the patch?

Any character that was created before the feature pack build will be grandfathered into the system; meaning that they will have traits 1 through 12 of each line unlocked. The new 13 traits will need to be unlocked by everyone. Any character created after the build will be required to unlock all of their traits via content or purchasing trait guides.

Everyone in PvP will have access to traits 1 through 12, even on new characters. New traits will be initially locked in PvP and require an unlock similar to when we added the new healing skills. Once a trait is unlocked it is unlocked for all game modes. Hope that clears it up a bit.