[Suggestion]: Ideas for improving skills & magic in GW2

[EldritchDreamerRBX.9873]

Dear Guild Wars 2 community.
To those who have played Guild Wars 1 might kind-of know where I'll be trying to go; but hear me out! Stuff might be intriguing and I'm really interested in hearing what you think!

First off, it'd be really cool to practice an additional profession in GW2 much like in GW1.
While there are less options to combine compared to GW1, it could still be made really interesting through having a unique, all-new skill-tree system.
Some ideas I had below (I'm mostly a Necro main but I'd would love to hear what you got)!

Introducing a duo-profession concept:
Necro/Ranger: 

• Ability to summon undead animalistic companions.
• Shortbow & Longbow usability with unique skills for each weapon.

Necro/Mesmer: 

• Calling upon sinister ghost-like undeath to disorient & separate groups of enemies.

Necro/Engineer:

• Corrupt & take control over certain NPC Golems.
• Create siege weaponry & turrets from dead remains. 

Also introducing a skill-fusing concept:
Just imagine the large potential of skills or abilities to fuse and what it could become! Not saying every skill should be fusible with any other, but giving one or two options would be so cool already (and could be expanded upon? Maybe?).
The menu could be a separate one from the basic, specialization & elite specialization skills in the Hero panel, further expanding the possibilities of your skill-set. You can choose whether to fuse and undo a fuse, of course, in case you regret fusing a skill.  Or, in fact, you could have a fused skill as a new skill to pick for each slot.

Fusing weapon skills:
While it would be really cool to see, they're weapon-related and not so much to a profession... if there's going to be duo-professions, it'd be tough to have both sets available. So perhaps a button to swap from one to the other weapon skills. This would mean 3 options: your main profession's weapon skills, the 2nd one and fused... so perhaps being able to select 1 of each weapon skill for each individual weapon slot could work? Either way, definitely open for discussion. 🙂

Fusing profession skills:
So I thought, perhaps it'd be cool to have it look somewhat like putting stuff in the Mystic Forge.
You grab two skills that happen to match and out of it comes newfound knowledge: a fused skill! Lore-wise, you could say that with the development of technology and 'humanity' (I know, there's more races but I couldn't come up with a group-term for them all haha) and such that people learn & adapt by observing & researching possibilities.

I'd say that fused skills shouldn't be random, however, as it'd be nice to get exactly what you're researching. Instead, perhaps some Skill Research Achievements could be an idea to fill up that gap? However, I guess it would mean at least one achievement per skill... which would be a ridiculous amount of work to make I'd presume haha. Could think of ways to reduce that amount by having it in Tiers, or perhaps a collection of skills instead? I'm not entirely sure how to tackle that alone so feel free to throw your ideas out on this too. 😄 

Anyways that's what I could come up with so far, I'm quite excited to know what you think too!
Would you like to see something like this? If yes or no, why? I'm eager to read the responses and see what awesome ideas you might have. 🙂

Thanks for the time to read through this all. 😄 
Have a wonderful day ahead!

[Dr Archadus.3196]

Space Magic on elementalist:

Dagda can do it im sure we could too :)

[Knighthonor.4061]

Elite Specs are GW2's version of dual professions 

[DeanBB.4268]

I'm on my phone. Did I miss it? What are fused skills supposed to do?

[EldritchDreamerRBX.9873]

20 minutes ago, DeanBB.4268 said:

I'm on my phone. Did I miss it? What are fused skills supposed to do?

Hii! 🙂 

Oh it's not an update haha, just a suggestion really. It'd be so coooool!
You can read through it; would love to hear any of your ideas on it! 😄 

[DeanBB.4268]

You talk about fusing skills,  but what is the end result? 

Other than more power creep and less balance?

[Omega.6801]

2 minutes ago, DeanBB.4268 said:

You talk about fusing skills,  but what is the end result? 

Other than more power creep and less balance?

It's just the "Wouldn't it be cool if"-school of suggestioneering at work. That's why it's not thought through. Dont worry.

@OP
GW1 is still live, no need to make GW2 GW1.
"It would be so cooooooooooooooooooooooool" makes for a good first, rough idea. But that's about it. A good idea has to be feasable, it has to make sense within the game and within what is reasonably possible. If your cooooooooooooooooooooooool idea needs a complete rewrite of the the game's code or core features, it's not an idea for the game, it's an idea for a different game. If your idea would cost millions and millions of dollars without the possibility of gaining anything, the idea may be cool but probably won't make it past the executives. That's the boring and sad reality of the creative process. Ideas don't live in an empty space when they meet reality. Lot's of things would be cool. And in a world where development is free and devs don't need to pay rent, we could have all those things. But that world does not exist so ideas must somehow find a way to exist in the wold that we have. Sry m8.

[GBEW.5947]

Why would necromancer get such special treatment lol

[SuavePuppy.2809]

When it comes to Duo Professions, on one hand, I don't hate these ideas, I'm just not sure if GW2 is the game for them.

On the other hand, given how I haven't felt terribly engaged with the game systems for awhile, I wouldn't complain if they went in this direction.

I know people have also requested being able to slot in skills similar to GW1, and again, could be cool and make things at least feel fresh, but I don't know if it could actually be properly realized in this game.

But I do also think the combat mechanics are probably well fleshed out at this point and what is needed is more dynamic mechanics to overcome enemies.

[DeanBB.4268]

Well, ideas without details often end in disappointment. "It'd be cool for ele to get longbow" and Anet delivers it as a melee weapon may not be what was envisioned, just as an example. 

[EldritchDreamerRBX.9873]

11 hours ago, DeanBB.4268 said:

You talk about fusing skills,  but what is the end result? 

Other than more power creep and less balance?

Really depends on the implementation, sir. Power creep & 'less balance' I understand is a fear, but I'm decently confident ArenaNet can at least consider an idea and make it work. If not, then it is what it is. It's just a suggestion after all. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[EldritchDreamerRBX.9873]

12 hours ago, Omega.6801 said:

It's just the "Wouldn't it be cool if"-school of suggestioneering at work. That's why it's not thought through. Dont worry.

@OP
GW1 is still live, no need to make GW2 GW1.
"It would be so cooooooooooooooooooooooool" makes for a good first, rough idea. But that's about it. A good idea has to be feasable, it has to make sense within the game and within what is reasonably possible. If your cooooooooooooooooooooooool idea needs a complete rewrite of the the game's code or core features, it's not an idea for the game, it's an idea for a different game. If your idea would cost millions and millions of dollars without the possibility of gaining anything, the idea may be cool but probably won't make it past the executives. That's the boring and sad reality of the creative process. Ideas don't live in an empty space when they meet reality. Lot's of things would be cool. And in a world where development is free and devs don't need to pay rent, we could have all those things. But that world does not exist so ideas must somehow find a way to exist in the wold that we have. Sry m8.

Sir, there's a major difference between suggesting a suggestion and straight up proposing a complete concept. 
Did I state anywhere that it's definitely supposed to be exactly like this? I was just interested in seeing what others might think, but calling this idea the obvious isn't going to add much value to this.
I am fully aware of what would be at stake as I've studied Game Art; it's literally just a suggestion however, meant to spark some debate about how it could work and what could be interesting for the game. Nothing more, nothing less. It would be cool if the idea could be fleshed out and implemented.

Also, why all the doom and gloom lol. It's like you're saying no-one can dream because the world is so bitter. The world is bitter, yes, but you can sweeten it if you're using the right corner of your mind. 

Edited March 3 by EldritchDreamerRBX.9873

[EldritchDreamerRBX.9873]

11 hours ago, GBEW.5947 said:

Why would necromancer get such special treatment lol

Like I mentioned 'I'm a Necro main', aka. I know more about Necro than any other class and...

Quote

I'd would love to hear what you got!

[EldritchDreamerRBX.9873]

10 hours ago, SuavePuppy.2809 said:

When it comes to Duo Professions, on one hand, I don't hate these ideas, I'm just not sure if GW2 is the game for them.

On the other hand, given how I haven't felt terribly engaged with the game systems for awhile, I wouldn't complain if they went in this direction.

I know people have also requested being able to slot in skills similar to GW1, and again, could be cool and make things at least feel fresh, but I don't know if it could actually be properly realized in this game.

But I do also think the combat mechanics are probably well fleshed out at this point and what is needed is more dynamic mechanics to overcome enemies.

I can see your points.

First off, GW1 had it. So I'm not entirely sure why GW2 would not be the right game for it (it's a sequel after all).
I can see that it'd be a potential challenge to get right, true. But at the same time, for example, with the newest update where they introduced one new weapon set for each profession; it's really cool, but after having used the skills a few times I'll have seen it already, you know. 
By allowing more options than 1, it'd make for really intriguing, new combinations of skills. Likelihood is that, if done right, it's going to keep you more engaged in it too. And I bet there'd be some big brains out there who could come up with really interesting ways to defeat an opponent. 

I can see that it'd be all-new, and understand that it'd be a huge risk to adjust a core feature as such. That's also why I said it shouldn't replace the skills as they are, it'd be an addition to- in  a new menu. Perhaps it could unlock after a certain level? 

Edited March 3 by EldritchDreamerRBX.9873

[EldritchDreamerRBX.9873]

4 hours ago, DeanBB.4268 said:

Well, ideas without details often end in disappointment. "It'd be cool for ele to get longbow" and Anet delivers it as a melee weapon may not be what was envisioned, just as an example. 

I get what you're saying here, but it depends.

This idea was not well-done on purpose; I wanted to know what others thought, and see what they might add to the discussion. Who knows, maybe I missed something crucial or didn't think of a really interesting idea that'd make the entire concept even better?

It'll only end up in disappointment if people instantly start hating on a suggestion, when it's meant to spark an interesting, chill debate about the idea. 
What's the harm in just having a civil, fun discussion about an idea?

[Omega.6801]

Sure...
So here's "what I've got".
Your Idea sounds like a balancing nightmare that's only cool on paper. In reality probably 10% of the fused skills would be useful the rest may be flavorful, but that only goes so far, see racial skills which are flavorfull but in the end useless therefor nobody uses them really. So why use/waste resources (time, money, data) on 90% skills no one will use, when those resources could be spent on improving an existing system, elite specs f.e. that serves a similar purpose, i.e. being GW2's version of dual classing (mechanist being "the engineer version of a ranger", specter being "the thief version of a necro" etc.).
Also, "This Idea was not well-done on purpose" sounds like a terrible premise at best and a cheap built-in excuse at worse. Why not start with a semi well-done idea? Or an idea that is kinda thought through? You'd still get feedback, it will only be worth a lot more.

[EldritchDreamerRBX.9873]

58 minutes ago, Omega.6801 said:

Sure...
So here's "what I've got".
Your Idea sounds like a balancing nightmare that's only cool on paper. In reality probably 10% of the fused skills would be useful the rest may be flavorful, but that only goes so far, see racial skills which are flavorfull but in the end useless therefor nobody uses them really. So why use/waste resources (time, money, data) on 90% skills no one will use, when those resources could be spent on improving an existing system, elite specs f.e. that serves a similar purpose, i.e. being GW2's version of dual classing (mechanist being "the engineer version of a ranger", specter being "the thief version of a necro" etc.).
Also, "This Idea was not well-done on purpose" sounds like a terrible premise at best and a cheap built-in excuse at worse. Why not start with a semi well-done idea? Or an idea that is kinda thought through? You'd still get feedback, it will only be worth a lot more.

Fair, I am not really appreciative of the way you write. But I understand the points made. 
First off, it's for sure challenging to balance out the numbers. It's a never-ending cycle, this is why there are patches serving the purpose of resolving these balance issues. I guess it's fair to say that it's likely to be a 'balancing nightmare', but if that's all then maybe it's time to say goodbye to MMOs altogether.
Anyways, jokes aside, it's cool and all to tell me why something would not work (especially using the common response of 'balancing issues')... but maybe, instead, you could help figure out a way that could make it work. It's simple: balancing is always going to be a concern. No matter what will be added to a game, if it involves dynamics between players or players VS AI, it's always going to require balancing. And in MMOs, that's like 90% of the game, in figure of speech.
And if you're so "uninterested", you could also just leave the conversation to those who do have interest.

I can understand your point on the Elite Specs. But it's fairly similar to the new weapon skills. Eventually, you'll have seen it all. And adding like 'Legendary Specs' or something could work, but it'd be a repeat of the same system. Something unique and new, to keep things fresh, might just be what an over-a-decade old (but gold) game could use. 

Finally, it seems to me that you misinterpreted the 'well-done' bit. I meant 'well-done' as in fully fleshed out. Like how they'd say the meat's well-done after roasting it. I left it open for discussion so people can join in the, again, debate and consider what they would like to see. I could come up with stuff myself, and I did. Just couldn't quite figure out every detail by myself yet, and I'm a curious mind: I love involving others in an idea that came to mind, and see what else we could come up with altogether. 

Edited March 3 by EldritchDreamerRBX.9873

[kharmin.7683]

I thought that one of the core design principles of GW2 was to not have dual professions because the devs found that to be ridiculously difficult to balance in GW1.  If so, then no I don't think that this idea is even feasible to consider.