Build swapping the next big feature maybe?

Ok this is probably a crazy idea but I was just randomly thinking about Gw2 and how Build Templates are a planned feature at some point in the future and that lead to me thinking about another topic on here about what the next big feature for Gw2 will be and then this just hit me.

What if Build templates get intwined with the next expansion and what if each character instead of getting a new elite spec got access to a secondary build slot!Naturally this would mean gearing out your character with a second set of armor, weapons, trinkets and a second trait and skill setup but just thinking about the use for something like that could be pretty insane.

Being able to role swap mid battle albiet with a long cooldown or something would be some pretty insane.. likewise enemies could get more defined to counter specific roles.We've already seen enemies like Mordrmeoth immune to conditions which has left condi builds severely screwed in that last HoT mission but with a system like this that wouldn't be a problem anymore, we could have more enemies heavily resistant to condis or physical damage or even ranged damage without utterly crippling anyone, likewise you could end up with raid bosses who can also build swap mid battle which could lead to some interesting build play and strategy.Your power Reaper being able to swap mid battle to a condi Scourge!Your DPS Weaver changes mid battle to a Support Tempest!Maybe that core Longbow Ranger you feel isn't contributing much swaps mid battle into a healing Druid to save you.

I dunno, I think this could be interesting to have as a feature and likewise give a lot of people a good way to use some of that excess ascended gear they've stored away in their bank.I expect a lot of people will think this would utterly break the game though.. >.<

Either way I would like to hear others thoughts on the subject.

I assumed build templates meant we could swap elites on the fly too anyway.

Regardless, this shouldn't be tied to an expac or LW feature and it prob wont be either when it launches

Sure. In fact, why have choices in the first place? just let us equip everything at the same time! Wouldn't it be super awesome to have every skill and weapon and ability on a typewriter, with no meaningful choices or variety involved? wouldn't that be super skillful and not at all an even more random and chaotic mess?

i just hope we don't have to gather 250 of 50 different types of materials to unlock this feature...

@Teratus.2859 said:Ok this is probably a crazy idea but I was just randomly thinking about Gw2 and how Build Templates are a planned feature at some point in the future and that lead to me thinking about another topic on here about what the next big feature for Gw2 will be and then this just hit me.

What if Build templates get intwined with the next expansion and what if each character instead of getting a new elite spec got access to a secondary build slot!Naturally this would mean gearing out your character with a second set of armor, weapons, trinkets and a second trait and skill setup but just thinking about the use for something like that could be pretty insane.

Being able to role swap mid battle albiet with a long cooldown or something would be some pretty insane.. likewise enemies could get more defined to counter specific roles.We've already seen enemies like Mordrmeoth immune to conditions which has left condi builds severely screwed in that last HoT mission but with a system like this that wouldn't be a problem anymore, we could have more enemies heavily resistant to condis or physical damage or even ranged damage without utterly crippling anyone, likewise you could end up with raid bosses who can also build swap mid battle which could lead to some interesting build play and strategy.Your power Reaper being able to swap mid battle to a condi Scourge!Your DPS Weaver changes mid battle to a Support Tempest!Maybe that core Longbow Ranger you feel isn't contributing much swaps mid battle into a healing Druid to save you.

I dunno, I think this could be interesting to have as a feature and likewise give a lot of people a good way to use some of that excess ascended gear they've stored away in their bank.I expect a lot of people will think this would utterly break the game though.. >.<

Either way I would like to hear others thoughts on the subject.

This is not too dissimilar to how build templates worked in GW1.the characters could also have various weapons that could be swapped out via the F1-3 keys. Still wish this was case for all professions as it was in GW1.I don't recall if that was the case with armor as it's been a while since I got onto GW1.

I would love to have build templates for pvp only, thanks

@ShadowGryphon.6257 said:

@Teratus.2859 said:Ok this is probably a crazy idea but I was just randomly thinking about Gw2 and how Build Templates are a planned feature at some point in the future and that lead to me thinking about another topic on here about what the next big feature for Gw2 will be and then this just hit me.

What if Build templates get intwined with the next expansion and what if each character instead of getting a new elite spec got access to a secondary build slot!Naturally this would mean gearing out your character with a second set of armor, weapons, trinkets and a second trait and skill setup but just thinking about the use for something like that could be pretty insane.

Being able to role swap mid battle albiet with a long cooldown or something would be some pretty insane.. likewise enemies could get more defined to counter specific roles.We've already seen enemies like Mordrmeoth immune to conditions which has left condi builds severely screwed in that last HoT mission but with a system like this that wouldn't be a problem anymore, we could have more enemies heavily resistant to condis or physical damage or even ranged damage without utterly crippling anyone, likewise you could end up with raid bosses who can also build swap mid battle which could lead to some interesting build play and strategy.Your power Reaper being able to swap mid battle to a condi Scourge!Your DPS Weaver changes mid battle to a Support Tempest!Maybe that core Longbow Ranger you feel isn't contributing much swaps mid battle into a healing Druid to save you.

I dunno, I think this could be interesting to have as a feature and likewise give a lot of people a good way to use some of that excess ascended gear they've stored away in their bank.I expect a lot of people will think this would utterly break the game though.. >.<

Either way I would like to hear others thoughts on the subject.

I believe it was only weapons in Gw1 that could be swapped via a key.Armour had to be manually changed I think and builds could only be swapped in towns/outposts.

What I'm thinking of for Gw2 is being able to swap your whole build in a similar way to how you swap weapons in combat but with a big cooldown (say 3-5 minutes give or take) to avoid the obvious problems that could be abused if you could swap builds every 10 seconds or so..

Granted this would have to have other limitations such as current HP not changing if your second build is tankier, if your default HP is 14K and your second build is 23K then swapping in combat at 8K hp would still mean your current hp will be 8K afterwards.LIkewise healing upto your max HP and swapping down to a lower HP build would cause the excess to drop off or something or it could be converted to a temporary barrier.

Never going to happen. Been asked for for years and it seems they just don't want to give us something that basic.

@Trise.2865 said:Sure. In fact, why have choices in the first place? just let us equip everything at the same time! Wouldn't it be super awesome to have every skill and weapon and ability on a typewriter, with no meaningful choices or variety involved? wouldn't that be super skillful and not at all an even more random and chaotic mess?

That wouldn't be anything like the same thing lol

We already know Anet wants to bring build templates to the game, it's a planned feature on their roadmap.There is basically little difference in what i'm proposing to being able to build swap to any saved build anywhere so long as your out of combat, unless the build template system ends up being a feature only usable in towns or specific locations on the map which I don't think they'll do in Gw2.

The only difference would be the convinience to swap from your first build into a backup build in combat.. you still wouldn't have the freedom to alter either build in combat, swap traits and skills etc nor would you be able to swap builds every few seconds like you can with weapons, and you certainly wouldn't be able to swap into a multitude of different builds that you have saved.. you would only be able to swap between the two builds you have currently set on the character.You also wouldn't be able to have access to all your skills, all your weapons or all your traits at any one time even with 2 builds saved, that wouldn't be possible.

You would still be using a single active build alone, you would just have the ability to change your current playstyle into another playstyle during combat.This could be balanced by adding a long cooldown to build swapping, a respectable cast time requiremnt and allowing for the swap to be interruptible and susceptible to the condition slow.

When/if Templates do make it into the game there won't be that much difference from swapping from build A to build B-C-D-E-F-G-H etc before rushing into a bounty or something than it would from being able to swap from build A to build B in combat every several minutes.There are hardly many encounters that even take more than a few minutes to kill anyway.. even raid bosses have a 10 min kill time so I don't think it would be as game breaking as some might think it is.You'll still have to fully gear your second build, you'll still have to learn to play 2 roles and you'll still have to deal with being locked into a less effective build if you make a bad swap decision.

it is not necessary.

build swap templates were and are necessary in GW1 coz the game got like zillions of skills (not to mention duplicate skills with different names) spread among professions. not to mention the numerical adjustment of the traits (i.e. Ranger - expertise, beastmastery (you get the point)) and yeah the armor too and lots of nomenclature.

while GW2, it's just alright and changing builds is about 5 minutes tops.

@zionophir.6845 said:it is not necessary.

build swap templates were and are necessary in GW1 coz the game got like zillions of skills (not to mention duplicate skills with different names) spread among professions. not to mention the numerical adjustment of the traits (i.e. Ranger - expertise, beastmastery (you get the point)) and yeah the armor too and lots of nomenclature.

while GW2, it's just alright and changing builds is about 5 minutes tops.

It was a convinience thing true.But build templates have been a long requested feature in Gw2 and Anet has said they do plan on bringing it to the game at some point.When/if that does happen as I said above people will likely be able to make about 10-30 different builds, save them and swap between them at any time so long as they are out of combat, unless Anet adds some really inconvinient limitations such as only being able to swap in major cities or specific locations on the map (which I highly doubt they'll do in Gw2 due to how many of the maps are designed and how many locations in the game are genuinely safe places without combat events etc) then you'll have access to all your builds at any given time except while locked in combat.

What i'm proposing is a convinient gameplay mechanic that will allow you to swap into a single backup build during combat.

Post templates, If I were running a glass canon Warrior and decided to fight a legendary bounty I could swap into a tanky build quickly pre combat with the build templates, I could then break combat and swap again to a Bannerspammer warrior and re-enter combat if I felt like it, rince and repeat with any saved build on any enemy at any time..If that becomes possible in Gw2 then Anet might as well consider something convinient like the ability to build swap in combat but only between two equipped builds.That would prevent a lot of this break combat build swapping behavior which I expect could be a thing when templates do come into the game, likewise if they did add restrictions on build templates such as needing to be in a major city or guild hall to quick swap specifically to avoid that kind of behavior, then having access 2 builds and the ability to swap between them even in combat would be a really good tradeoff imo.

@Teratus.2859 said:

@"zionophir.6845" said:it is not necessary.

build swap templates were and are necessary in GW1 coz the game got like zillions of skills (not to mention duplicate skills with different names) spread among professions. not to mention the numerical adjustment of the traits (i.e. Ranger - expertise, beastmastery (you get the point)) and yeah the armor too and lots of nomenclature.

while GW2, it's just alright and changing builds is about 5 minutes tops.

in practicality, 10-30 different builds (especially the 30 part) is kind of an overstatement.

but theoretically, yes you have a valid point coz lots of nomenclatures on gear/weapons/trinkets/runes/sigils.

but going back to first, usually the "grail builds" are just a few or not that many. what are these "grail builds"? builds with super high damage and great defense not depending on armor but weapon skills or some skills.

and usually, people want dungeons/fractals/etc to be smooth and fast.

@zionophir.6845 said:

@Teratus.2859 said:

@zionophir.6845 said:it is not necessary.

build swap templates were and are necessary in GW1 coz the game got like zillions of skills (not to mention duplicate skills with different names) spread among professions. not to mention the numerical adjustment of the traits (i.e. Ranger - expertise, beastmastery (you get the point)) and yeah the armor too and lots of nomenclature.

while GW2, it's just alright and changing builds is about 5 minutes tops.

Yeah it was a little over the top lol although still possible in theory.There's quite a bit of build diversity in Gw2, fair amount of weapon and trait combos, playstyles and a lot of different stat sets.Combine that with elite specs too and having 2 specified builds out of all the combinations isn't that much at all really.

If you really wanted to your second build could be as simple as being identical to your first build only with an entirely different stat set.Your Tanky Minion Master switching to a Glass Canon Minion Master or vice versa.Or it could be as different as your Power Reaper switching into a full Condi Scourge.Hell if you wanted to you could even stick with a single build

You and a few friends could in theory play a support role against a strong raid boss until the last 10% Hp then everyone swaps into a pure damage build to burst him down in the last 50 seconds.It could add a whole new level to combat strategy and gameplay in theory.

If build templates are coming to the game eventually then I expect we are going to see a lot of people breaking combat at times to swap builds if that ends up being possible.So whether combat build swapping becomes a thing in game or not.. there's a good chance the Template system will be used to mimic it if the possibility to do so exists.

I can only imagine how much trouble thieves could cause in WvW if they were able to do that.Ambush someone.. start to loose, Stealth! then Break combat, swap build super fast with templates then ambush the same player again with a ranged attack before their auto regen kicks in xDOne minute you're fighting a daredevil.. the next a deadeye who knows your build and playstyle lol

Build templates are coming for just 1000 gems per xtra build slot per character! This is not official but I fear I may not be far off.

Reading this thread, not many people pay attention to the website often.

We're getting builds. I hope we at least get 3 per character to start and it separates the wardrobe from the armor to tie it to the builds instead. So that it promotes transfusion sales as its money maker.