I know this post is a bit late, but as of June 1st’s PC Gamer livestream, it seems Arena Net (Anet) decided to radically change the trait system into something majority of players on Guild Wars 2 Guru aren’t excited about. Apparently, GW2 will be adopting a new tiered trait system for BWE#2. Let me explain the differences. Initially, you had around 70 trait points to choose from and every 10 traits, you could pick a trait. Any trait. Now, there will be an order to what traits are weak, good, and the best, forcing player to unlock all 30 points for a trait line to pick the “best” traits. Each 10 points will unlock the next 6 traits. So in essence, Anet implemented a skill tree — something they originally planned to get away from.

No one officially knows which traits will be classified as weak or strong, but many players (including myself) are worried favorite traits will be moved to the 30 point tier. Typically when something of importance is changed in a game, it polarizes opinions forcing people to either love or hate it. From my observations, people are hating it. A few people have defending the change as something to keep the game from having OP (overpowered) builds, but many think even if that were the case, this new traiting iteration will force cookie-cutter builds where only the “best” traits are used for certain builds.

Utility skills will be slightly effected as well. Instead of being able to save points for an epic utility skill you like, you must wait. The utility skills for PvE are tiered as well (into 3 tiers). Each new tier forces an addition 5 skill point cost…which is absurd. Though it doesn’t effect PvE, it’s still frustrating. Luckily there’s some good news. In regards to boon and condition durations, there WILL be timers and cross-combination combos will be easier to notice. These two changes are welcome additions (to most), but still fails to make up for Anet’s daft revision.

Do you think Anet’s gone too far? Or that this is the perfect change? What do YOU think?