The Reckoning of Boring Traits

As promised, I've created a list of traits that simply need to go away.  The reasons for this are one or more of the following:

• The trait doesn't contribute to gameplay
• The trait is boring and/or completely unnoticeable
• The trait takes the fun out of customizing your characters playstyle
• The trait encourages bad play (rewarding not using skills/mechanics/dodges/etc)

The link to the Google Docs spreadsheet is here.

LINK TO SPREADSHEET

Now, I'm open to input on this, but there are some traits I chose not to address in this iteration of the Reckoning.  There are traits out there that I've previously seen as "must haves" - things like the Warrior's "Forceful Greatsword" - which not only reduces the cooldown of greatsword (and spear) skills, but also grants might for each greatsword crit (or spear).  I mean, c'mon - holy shit thats a powerful talent.  You pretty much HAVE to get it if you plan on being a serious greatsword (or spear?) Warrior.  OR DO YOU?

You see, I have this idea for redoing the trait trees, which incorporates these kinds of talents for EVERY kind of weapon.  Bonus? They should be available at the Adept level.  Why?  Because you should be able to  trait into all sorts of fun goodies throughout your vast leveling experience (or not if you're just doing SPvP) - and choosing to be good with a certain weapon (or two) should not be grounds for pigeonholing you into a specific tree.  My idea looks something like this;

• Warrior:  Axe Mastery:  Axe skill cooldowns reduced by 20%.  Axes grant an extra strike of Adrenaline on critical.
• Thief:  Master Trapper:  Trap cooldowns reduced by 20%.  Allows you to lay 3 of one type of trap.
• Elementalist:  Pyromancer's Alacrity:  Fire skill cooldowns reduced by 20%.  All fire skills have a 30% chance to cause burning for 3 seconds.
• Guardian:  Zealous Blade:  Greatsword cooldowns reduced by 20%.  Greatsword attacks heal you.
• Engineer:  Short Fuse:  Bomb cooldowns reduced by 20%.  Bomb have a large explosion radius.
• Ranger:  Piercing Arrows:  Longbow/Shortbow cooldowns reduced by 20%.  Arrow attacks pierce.
• Necromancer:  Dagger Mastery:  Dagger cooldowns reduced by 20%.  All dagger attacks lifesteal 5% damage.
• Mesmer:  Phantasmal Haste:  Phantasm cooldowns reduced by 20%.  Phantasms now have Fury.

These are just examples of what I had in mind.  Some of them are not weapon-based, and would thus not be located at Adept level (such as the Mesmer, Elementalist and Thief examples).  I'm not claiming that the values I've assigned any of these traits are balanced or not either.  The point is, cooldown reduction can be seen as either a necessity, a luxury, or a supplemental.  I would prefer to think that if you get something such as cooldown reduction, it should also come with something else to further enhance the play of the character as well.

In the coming week's, I'll be doing articles tailored to individual professions, where I'll go in more detail the ideas I have for improving trait trees.  However, what I've been able to convey to you is this;

Traits are a way to further customize the play-style of our character, and compliment the ways in which we are effective in combat, have fun, and create a unique synergy with our character.  Traits that give +5% dmg for X situation, or +5% damage for just wearing a type of weapon - are not contributing to any of the above (unless you're a min-maxer who thinks the +5% dmg benefit outweighs the benefits of more utility-type traits!).  Even if you DID pick one of the +5% damage traits, you have to admit that you were NEVER happy/excited to do so.

Thank you for reading, stay tuned for more updates.
-LoreChief