(Maybe these are what the key is for?)
At some point in the distant past, Blizzard introduced the "Talent System" - which was hailed as being a great idea, bringing about uniqueness and investment into a characters playstyle that was previously non-existent. They made it so you could reset them, tailor your character, and even unlock skills. Just a few short years later, every new MMO has a talent system of some sort. In Guild Wars 2, we call them 'Traits'.
Near the end of the development of GW2, just a short while before launch - it was determined that traits needed to be presented in a hierarchy system. Some traits would be limited to the last slot, 'Grandmaster', and would be the last to get, whereas the simple/not-as-powerful (read: niche) traits would be available first, at the 'Adept' level. This created not only an expectation of significant character growth, but the expectation that you would get some super-neat traited abilities when you finally hit the threshold.
Reviewing again, the post I submitted about a Thief Re-work - I would like to address ArenaNet's mentality when it comes to the trait system, and what it ultimately means for the player and their character. You are given 60 different talents to choose from, not including the 15 minor traits which are automatically chosen when you spend 'X' points into any given tree. These choices though, are sometimes more rigid than others. I would like to emphasize that the trait system in it's best form would be one that allows the player to further tweak their style of play to be more beneficial to them, but mostly for more fun and utility.
Far too many traits take the form of; "Increases damage with ____ by 5%", or "Reduces the cooldown of _____ by 20%". The former are so... frivolous, that I would never consider investing into them. The latter - are so powerfully noticeable that to NOT use them is akin to breaking your characters legs. Suuuuure, you can use that Flamethrower without Fireforged Trigger, but you're only screwing yourself. Just like that, you have what you would normally consider a 'choice' taken away from you. At this point they might as well just auto-spend that point for you.
In another light, the traits that should be propagated throughout ALL of the different professions trees resemble ones like, Hard To Catch (shadowstep away from the enemy and gain swiftness when disabled) or Burning Precision (30% chance to burn enemies on crit). I've compiled a list below, of all the different professions, and how much trait space is wasted on either the must-haves or 5% frivolous traits.
Some important notes about these numbers.
Near the end of the development of GW2, just a short while before launch - it was determined that traits needed to be presented in a hierarchy system. Some traits would be limited to the last slot, 'Grandmaster', and would be the last to get, whereas the simple/not-as-powerful (read: niche) traits would be available first, at the 'Adept' level. This created not only an expectation of significant character growth, but the expectation that you would get some super-neat traited abilities when you finally hit the threshold.
Reviewing again, the post I submitted about a Thief Re-work - I would like to address ArenaNet's mentality when it comes to the trait system, and what it ultimately means for the player and their character. You are given 60 different talents to choose from, not including the 15 minor traits which are automatically chosen when you spend 'X' points into any given tree. These choices though, are sometimes more rigid than others. I would like to emphasize that the trait system in it's best form would be one that allows the player to further tweak their style of play to be more beneficial to them, but mostly for more fun and utility.
Far too many traits take the form of; "Increases damage with ____ by 5%", or "Reduces the cooldown of _____ by 20%". The former are so... frivolous, that I would never consider investing into them. The latter - are so powerfully noticeable that to NOT use them is akin to breaking your characters legs. Suuuuure, you can use that Flamethrower without Fireforged Trigger, but you're only screwing yourself. Just like that, you have what you would normally consider a 'choice' taken away from you. At this point they might as well just auto-spend that point for you.
In another light, the traits that should be propagated throughout ALL of the different professions trees resemble ones like, Hard To Catch (shadowstep away from the enemy and gain swiftness when disabled) or Burning Precision (30% chance to burn enemies on crit). I've compiled a list below, of all the different professions, and how much trait space is wasted on either the must-haves or 5% frivolous traits.
| Must-Haves | Frivolous | |
| Elementalist | 8 | 10 |
| Warrior | 13 | 4 |
| Ranger | 8 | 2 |
| Necromancer | 11 | 1 |
| Guardian | 10 | 6 |
| Thief | 5 | 7 |
| Engineer | 10 | 6 |
| Mesmer | 13 | 1 |
Some important notes about these numbers.
- I didn't include talents which were simple like "+10% damage on _____ attacks", because they didn't seem that required, nor did they seem that frivolous.
- Some of the must-haves, especially on the Mesmer and Warrior, are like... BEHEMOTH must-haves. Where most classes with cooldown reduction traits have JUST the CD-Redux, Warrs and Mesmers have that + some super extra utility.
- Some of the traits I didn't include are ones that encourage stagnation. Warr has one that benefits him for NOT using signets, and Engineer gets one for NOT moving around.
- Some of the other frivolous traits not included were the ones I'm not sure of, like the convert 5% of ___ into 'X-trait'. They encourage synergy and require the player to put some thought into gear choice, at least.
Mesmers honestly surprised me. While I attempted to venture into playing one this weekend (failed due to non-functioning traits and improper tooltips) - they honestly did a very good job at NOT putting in bloaty-frivolous talents. Likewise with the Necromancer (though both these professions are heavy in the must-haves/cooldown redux) also had a lot of must-haves but not a lot of frivo's. I think it may have something to do with the fact that mesmer and necro were two of the higher-priority classes that were being 'fixed' just before launch.
TL;DR: Get rid of the "you have to take this to even be serious about your build" talents, and the ones that make you go "why would I waste a talent point on that?". Replace them with talents that make you go "hmm.. should I have the chance to set all the enemies on fire with my flamethrower, OR should I have the ability to set them alight from 1200 range back?". Again, less number-crunchy traits, more fun-factor/play-style enhancing traits.
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