Any plan to reconsider the trait system ?

Selecting 3 traitlines out of 6 kills half of the build diversity ... selecting 1 trait out of 3 stomps what was left of it.The old trait system was not perfect but at least it brought more diversity. You did not need to pick two traits that are useless in your build just to pick the one that would make this build okayish.Thoughts ?

The only reason the trait system doesn't work well for build diversity atm is because anet doesn't give players compelling options. Think about the Arms traitline for Warriors. The first tier gives the option of a (in my opinion) grandmaster tier trait in the form of Signet Mastery, while the other two are trash in comparison. You don't even have to be using ANY signets in your build in order to find the signet trait VASTLY more useful than any of the others. The best way to fix this issue imo is to ditch the whole concept of Adept, Master, and Grandmaster. Make each tier give very SPECIALIZED grandmaster level options. This way there will always be a valid build and playstyle for every combination of traits. At the moment, playstyles and builds are defined by incredibly few potent traits. A good example of this is the Guardian, where Monk's Focus (meditation trait) on the Valor traitline is almost a requirement when taking that line. Likewise, Righteous Instincts (Crit bonus trait w/ retal) is a requirement when taking Radiance. The list goes on, but imagine if ALL traits were like this. Weapon sets, signets, runes, and utilities would become almost completely beholden to the trait choices a player makes. Aelska I think your nostalgia goggles might be a bit too strong with respect to the old trait system. Sure it was nice always having access to Adept tier traits, but it added too much confusion and didn't really make sense when later tiers were supposed to be stronger. The extra choices were kind of just a distraction since you would almost never be as strong as someone who chose a tier appropriate trait.

It's hard to imagine ANet switching back. The old system had mathematically more combinations of traits, but it didn't have a high fraction of useful combinations. More importantly, the new system is easier to vet and to adjust, as ANet doesn't have to spend nearly as much time comparing all the different possibilities.

@"aelska.4609" said:Selecting 3 traitlines out of 6 kills half of the build diversity ... selecting 1 trait out of 3 stomps what was left of it.The old trait system was not perfect but at least it brought more diversity. You did not need to pick two traits that are useless in your build just to pick the one that would make this build okayish.Thoughts ?New trait system is fine; the execution (which traits are where) could be better though. The old trait system only gave an illusion of diversity while being a nightmare to balance.In the old trait system, your problem of picking two lackluster traits and one powerful one (usually in a grandmaster slot) would either cause the trait line to be skipped entirely, or if the powerful trait was game-changing, then you have the same problem as today. The old system promoted taking "low hanging fruit" traits - powerful ones at adept and master levels, especially in lines with powerful minor traits. The diversity in the old system was just picking some filler traits, or a little variation in what to do with the last 2 of 14 trait selections (usually a minor + major).The new trait system, when executed well, gives choices in a trait line which have synergy and focus on improving a particular aspect of a profession. The mutual exclusion in major trait slots should make for interesting choices with relatively equal value which need thought over their trade-offs. At the same time, mutual exclusion allows for more interesting traits because a build can be limited from having a particular combination of traits - both within a trait line and by limiting the total number of lines.

I think the current system is fine in general, and while the older system of points felt and probably was more "versatile", most games have done away with it (like WoW, or LoL) due to how difficult to balance it is without making the traits bland, or somehow testing all the possible combinations (which is probably the biggest issue).

What I would like is constant revision of traitlines, example, Fire trait line for eles. Right now there isnt a single satisfying grandmaster trait on fire trait, the only one with potential, Blinding Ashes, applies 1 blind to the first target you hit with a burn, and goes on ICD, rather than having an ICD per target, or applying blind to all enemies hit with a AoE burn, which makes the trait pretty much useless cuz more often than not it will be hitting the first pet/minion/clone/phantasm it comes across, even if those are behind you and 2 units closer to you than the target you intent to blind..... all that while mesmers get a non-grandmaster trait doing the same, on every shatter, no ICD, AoE blind.....

Grandmaster traits should be build deciders, game changing, and in general many of them are, so I would rather Anet double down on it and make 1-2 of each trait line regardless of class feel impactful enough to make you go "hmmm, i could go for this one BUT this oneis so GOOD too!", rather than the "well, this one is the least sucky one, I guess I will equip it so that I dont get that bouncy annoying notification that I havent picked a trait..."

While we are at it, can ele's change their elite for another utility? Like seriously, at this point I think we need it.

Hated the old trait system, having stats linked to skills was horrible.

The only problem with the current system is that the core lines are cobbled-together messes with little synergy within them (a direct consequence of the even less organized previous system), compared to the much more tightly-designed elite spec ones.