Is Classes Merging Will Be The New System With The New Expansion ?

[Lord Hizen.5918]

I was thinking about what new system Anet will give us for new expansion just like they did with Hot and Pof ( gliders, mounts )and only thing i have in my mind is class merges because this system is part of GW1 since u can merge 2 classes like : Ranger/Assassin main and sub classim not sure if there is other new ideas that Anet will deliver to us (^_^)share your thoughts about what might be new system for next expansion EoD

[maddoctor.2738]

You are thinking of secondary professions, that's not exactly a merge since many aspects of the character come only from the primary. It has been a very long time since someone brought that up again but I'd say it's highly unlikely, if not impossible. They can't balance the current 9 professions imagine if they had to balance 81 combinations. Madness

[coso.9173]

it would be a nice and game changing thing for GW2, which is a thing every expac needs, so I like the idea.I don't think we'll see it, but i do like it as an idea.

[The Greyhawk.9107]

As an old GW1 vet I was once heavily disappointed in the lack of dual professions in GW2, but nowadays I'm not inclined to think dual classes is at all viable with the mechanics of this game on top of the previously mentioned Balance Nightmare. The system the classes use just doesn't allow for it. We don't have the simple and separate attribute lines or the deck like skill slots with only minor restrictions. Instead we have shared attribute but separate Traits, the skill slots are subdivided into weapon skills and utility skills, and those are further subdivided. It just would get too messy to try to mix more than one class at once into that system.

[Tseison.4659]

It could be possible if they only did it where you had access to another professions utility skills only, but wouldn’t have access to their elite specs,traits, or weapon skills. And no one bother saying that would be dumb because that’s the best thing I can think of if they were going to introduce dual professions. They also wouldn’t want to have let’s say: a ranger have full access to warriors traits, weapon skills and elite specs.

So sure, I think dual professions would be cool, do I personal think it’s going to happen? Never.

And that’s okay because I can l live without the headache.

[Omega.6801]

I think elite specs are the aproach ANet takes when it comes to multiclassing/subclassing/whatever.

[Super Hayes.6890]

The special action skill allows for some "secondary class" mechanics. I was a warrior doing a dragon response mission with access to a pet on one run. They could utilize that concept in combination with elite specs to give a secondary class feel. To a large extent, you could argue that elite specs already do that. I think for an elite spec to become a true secondary profession it would have to be available to all 9 classes. While this would be sooooo much fun, balance in competitive modes would make baby Yoda cry.

[Eekasqueak.7850]

I think there's a possibility of it being a companion system where we get to level and customize an NPC ally or something.

[Sobx.1758]

I sure hope not, because I don't see that happening without base classes/specs getting nerfed to hell and back.

@lokh.2695 said:I think elite specs are the aproach ANet takes when it comes to multiclassing/subclassing/whatever.

^also this.

[Obtena.7952]

Conservation of class concept is real in this game ... multi-class is doubtful.

[battledrone.8315]

they cant even balance the classes and elites they have now, adding more is just insane.the whole system needs a revamp too, the steam crowd is gonna tare it to pieces, if they launch like this

[Cyninja.2954]

@"Eekasqueak.7850" said:I think there's a possibility of it being a companion system where we get to level and customize an NPC ally or something.

I was thinking of this as well, given how initial design decision for GW2 were with having a companion in mind (which was later scrapped as the game was developed more).

I am torn on this to be honest, on the one hand I loved the heros in GW1 (a game I mostly played solo and just on and off) and given how well "pet" systems are received in the MMORPG landscape (assumption of mine, might not be true) this could be a great way to implement hours upon hours of stuff for players to tinker with. SW:ToR for example had me loving the companion system.

At the same time I fear the consequence of such a system, unless it is pet only, as far as party setups go and player interaction. Suffice to say, as great as the GW1 hero system was, it also had its share in the games decline being the cause for more and more players being able to solo everything (counting myself here as well). In general not something healthy for a MMORPG community overall.

As to the topic at hand: while certainly interesting, I very much doubt the scope of such a system change is possible with the current resources. I'm personally hoping for a 3rd set of elite specializations (maybe being the last set we see) and some design which hints at how the game post EoD will continue.

[Dadnir.5038]

With the thematic of cantha I believe ANet will give us a spirit like thing that we will be able to send interact with objects that we can or can't reach.

• World wide, that will be another mean to gather ressource (potentially we would have to equip gathering tools on the spirit so this would help sell TP gathering tools).
• Easy skins (from racial to outfits and maybe even haircut/makeover). Another godsend for the TP.
• You can even imagine some spirits dedicated to different things like music (more music instruments, song or even dance to sell via TP).

No actual combat value, just story, puzzle and ressource gathering value. The perfect thing to introduce in the game.

[Steve The Cynic.3217]

@maddoctor.2738 said:You are thinking of secondary professions, that's not exactly a merge since many aspects of the character come only from the primary. It has been a very long time since someone brought that up again but I'd say it's highly unlikely, if not impossible. They can't balance the current 9 professions imagine if they had to balance 81 combinations. Madness

It wouldn't be 81 combinations because presumably Warrior/Warrior (and similar for the other eight classes) wouldn't be a thing - so only 72, which is still madness(1).

But it would in fact be three or nine times that. Three if the primary can equip an elite, and nine if both can equip an elite, so triply or nonantly madness.

(1) I say that, but ArcheAge has 120 different classes. 'Course, only four are viable - one healer, two DPS and one tank - in higher-level play.

[CloserToTheStars.6029]

I started in GW1 in 2006 with the expansion of "Factions", then "Nightfall" came pretty quicklyand relatively shortly afterwards the add-on "Eye of the North".If I remember correctly, Nightfall added that certain titles (and their points) gave you advantages in certain areas.E.g. lightbringer ( https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Lightbringer )you did more damage and had damage reduction depending on your rank in the title.

As for races, or perhaps better species, you could develop special species skills, asura skills, dwarf skills,norn skills and ebon vanguard skills.

My personal favorites have always been (as shown in the pic):

• Summon Mursaat
• Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support

.

What bothers me in GW2 is that e.g. the asura skills are only available to the asura ... the human-only skills are(from my point of view) useless and the norn skills (very powerful in GW1) nobody really wants to use in GW2.

imo: The mixing of the classes was implemented in a way through the elite specialization.But I could imagine that the titles (with bonus in certain areas) and possibly also supporting summoning skills are conceivable.

[Astralporing.1957]

@"Cyninja.2954" said:I am torn on this to be honest, on the one hand I loved the heros in GW1 (a game I mostly played solo and just on and off) and given how well "pet" systems are received in the MMORPG landscape (assumption of mine, might not be true) this could be a great way to implement hours upon hours of stuff for players to tinker with. SW:ToR for example had me loving the companion system.

At the same time I fear the consequence of such a system, unless it is pet only, as far as party setups go and player interaction. Suffice to say, as great as the GW1 hero system was, it also had its share in the games decline being the cause for more and more players being able to solo everything (counting myself here as well). In general not something healthy for a MMORPG community overall.I don't think we need to worry about this. The combat system is completely different than in GW1, and i doubt Heroes would be anywhere close to being as useful as they were then. That's due to a much higher emphasis on proper skill combinations and on positioning. GW1 heroes didn't really need to bother with proper positioning because that game was a lot more static. They also couldn't really perform most of the skill combinations, and thus the builds for them were mostly limited to skills that could be used independently. They also had problems with skill prioritization.

All those things could have been worked around in GW1, by using builds that were concentrating on AI strenths, and avoided their weaknesses. I don't think that anything like that can be done in GW2 however.

There might be one or two relatively simple dps builds that woudl still work (like Soulbeast shortbow condi), but anything more complicated (or, ironically, even simpler), or support/heal builds would likely be out of question.And that's only when we consider just skill rotations on a golem. Adjusting those dynamically to the situation in actual battle, would be a really hard challenge for AI to handle - one i'm not sure is even possible to solve. Same for proper positioning.

As such, there's no point in even introducing Heroes - they would be only a pale shadow of their GW1 glory.

[RyuDragnier.9476]

I'm betting the new system will be updated underwater combat. They wouldn't add underwater capabilities to the Skimmer unless something was in the works.

[MatyrGustav.6210]

I agree that it would be difficult or near impossible to balance. What i could see happening along those lines is to at least be able use 1 weapon from another class the same way that class would use it. So if I wanted to be a Warrior and have a Fire Staff I could. Or, they can make it so we can equip one utility skill from another class.

@RyuDragnier.9476 said:I'm betting the new system will be updated underwater combat. They wouldn't add underwater capabilities to the Skimmer unless something was in the works.

I agree. I'm hoping its underwater / Ocean Masteries with boats and such. I dunno, ive always enjoyed underwater combat, but maybe we will get underwater personal vessels that have weaponry?

[Eloc Freidon.5692]

We are likely to get a third elite spec on all classes. After that I can see them avoiding new elite specs and maybe do universal abilities to avoid balance overload.

[Teratus.2859]

Gw2 was supposed to have a second profession system like Gw1 but Anet decided to scrap it during the development of the core game.My guess is balancing was a big reason for this.

I would love to see more elements of Gw1 in Gw2 like second professions but I highly doubt it will ever happen.

What I could see happening though is an expansions to other professions adopting dominant mechanics from other classes.For example we've seen some classes gain new skill types that originally belong to another class, like Mesmers and Engineers getting Wells through their elite specs.

What we've rarely seen though is one profession adopting a core class mechanic from another profession.Mesmers Clones.Necros Death Shroud.Elementalists Attunements.Engineers Tools.Thief's Steal.Rangers Pet.Warriors Adrenaline.Guardians Virtues.Revenant's Legends.

In fact the only real example that comes to my mind right now is Druid and how that kind of works like a Shroud in some aspects.

I could see some classes being "merged" in a sense by doing something like this.After all we've already seen some classes get significant core mechanic changes like Scourge loosing the Death Shroud entirely for the Shade mehcanics so I don't think this is something Anet would completely rule out when designing new specs.

For example:I could see a Necromancer spec that adopts a permanent Ranger like Pet mechanic that utilises Life Force to unleash more powerful abilities.Think of a Scourge but instead of 5 F-Shade skills you get a Mega Minion ally that functions a lot like a Ranger Pet with 5 F-pet skills that use up a chunk of your Life Force to use.To replace the shroud your F-1 ability becomes a no life force cost fusion skill similar to how Soulbeast's can merge with their pets.Doing this puts the Necro in a "shroud" like state where their weapon skills get replaced with 5 new skills and their utilities get locked.

The major Shroud differences will be as follows.

1. When fused with the Mega Minion, Life force no longer substitutes for your Hp bar.Instead your max health will be increased by the max health of your Mega Minion, If you have 30k and the minion has 20K you get 50K when merged.

2. When fused with the Mega Minion your health will gradually degenerate as the minion feeds off the Necromancer to sustain itself.Mechanically this is no different to how life force depletes when you are in your death shroud, only this is far more risky as noted in point 3.

3. If your health reaches 0 when fused the player will be automatically downed and the Mega Minion will be expelled in a defeated state (like a dead ranger pet)Both the Necro and the Minion will rally with X amount of Hp (depending on downed penalty) if they are revived or rallied much like how a Ranger and pet will revive together as well.

4. When un-merging with your Mega Minion both the player and the Minion get the same % of HP that is remaining from the combined total.If the player has 30k hp and the minion has 20K then when merged the player has 50K hp.If the Player un-merges from the minion at 25K health then both the player and the minion get 50% of their total HP back, 15K for the player and 10K for the minion using the example figures.This could be modified through traits to better favour the player at the expense of the minion.

That's just one idea of a Necro elite spec that adopts the Ranger's core class mechanic.

Some others i've given a quick thought over and could be some cool elite spec concepts.

Thief with a tools (Engineer Tool belt)Engineers with holograms (Mesmer Clones)Elementalist with F-5 Elemental Avatar transformations based on active element attunement (Death Shroud)Revenant with powerful burst skills based on active Legend (Warrior Adrenaline)

Those are the few i've thought about anyway.

[MatyrGustav.6210]

@Eloc Freidon.5692 said:We are likely to get a third elite spec on all classes. After that I can see them avoiding new elite specs and maybe do universal abilities to avoid balance overload.

Yes, and i also see them possibly adding new weapons for the 3 especs later on. So lets say we can unlock the Hammer for Reaper, or the Scepter for Druid etc.

[Khisanth.2948]

Elite specs already achieve similar results with less balancing headaches so why would the devs make things harder for themselves for practically no gain?

[Ashantara.8731]

@lokh.2695 said:I think elite specs are the aproach ANet takes when it comes to multiclassing/subclassing/whatever.

This. We will certainly see new e-specs for the existing professions. And if we get super lucky (which I doubt), we could even see a new profession... One can dream. ;)

[LucianDK.8615]

They did not opt for dual profs in GW2 because it was too hard to balance in GW1

[Brycar.2651]

I would not find expansion price value in mixing and matching things I already bought.