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Guild Wars 2 is replacing its trait unlock system
Do you like the current unlocking system for traits in Guild Wars 2? If you don't, you're in good company; very few people actually like it. The good news, at least, is that it doesn't appear that it's going to be a problem in the near future. Game director Colin Johanson spoke out recently on the game's forums stating that the pending release of Heart of Thorns gave the team more freedom for discussing future plans and core gameplay changes. With the inclusions of specializations and account-wide masteries, the existing trait system is going to be replaced by a simpler system to ensure that progress and advancement is where the development team wants it for all Guild Wars 2 characters. More updates on how the system will work are promised as the release draws closer, but if you don't like the existing system, you can at least take heart that it's going to be gone before too much longer.
A foundation for future growth: Examining LotRO's class restructuring
Let's start out with the elephant in the room: The comprehensive and radical class changes that are coming to Lord of the Rings Online with Helm's Deep have a portion of the community rattled. After all, we are protective of our characters and concerned about changes that affect them, and this looks to be a doozy. You want to hear a secret? Turbine's a little scared too. When asked if this might become LotRO's NGE -- the reviled shift in Star Wars Galaxies' gameplay structure -- the devs said it's something they've been asked a lot these days. They know that there's a part of the playerbase that's fearful, and in all honesty, the devs have had a few sleepless nights over the changes too. But past the fear is the certainty that this is the course the game needs to take right now, and that certainty grows by the day as they continue to test the changes on the beta server. The team told us as such during a class tour today, going on to show us the scope of what's going to happen. What we're looking at here is the old class trait system thrown in the trash to be replaced by specializations and trait trees, as well as the paring down of many class skills into a more manageable number. It's going to impact everyone all at once, so if this is your game of choice, you'll want to read on.
Turbine defends LotRO class changes
Arguably the biggest feature coming with next month's Helm's Deep expansion for Lord of the Rings Online isn't the new landscape, epic story, or big battle system, but the overhaul of the classes and the institution of the new trait trees. Turbine took to the pulpit today to preach about why the devs felt it was necessary to overhaul the system. There were several reasons given for the class changes. The devs felt that skills were losing potency the more they were added, there were many skills not being used, class builds were too much alike, the combat tempo needed more pep, animation times were sometimes too long, and it was just taking a lot of time for the devs to try to keep everything in balance. "These are big changes," the devs state. "They take some getting used to. We know this. We also know that for the good of the game and its longevity, we sometimes need to make big changes."
LotRO's new trait trees to 'stand out' from each other
It's safe to say that Lord of the Rings Online players have many, many questions concerning the upcoming class overhaul coming to the game with Helm's Deep. Turbine's devs took to Twitter and the forums to answer a few of these and give us a better idea what to expect when the expansion hits. Replacing the current trait system will be trait trees in much the same vein as the mounted combat trees. Players will get a point to spend every other level, although they will be able to get additional points through deeds. Early on, players will choose a specialization that will affect how points are spent, such as a Hunter's Bowmaster or Huntsman specializations, and by fully investing in a tree will a player be able to purchase a legendary skill. Players can save multiple builds; the studio is providing the first two saved build slots for free with additional ones available for purchase. So why the decision to overhaul the trait system? Turbine explains: "We wanted to design the trait trees in such a way that as soon as you leave the intro, your trait line starts to play as it was envisioned instead of later on down the road when you began to collect traits. We really wanted each trait line to sort of stand out from the rest and reduce some of the class homogenization that had slowly occurred over the years."
The Road to Mordor: Why LotRO's classes need a shakeup
In a recent post about the Riders of Rohan beta, blogger Doc Holiday wrote a criticism of LotRO's lackluster class development: "Think about it, what have our characters actually gotten since Moria? Outside of revamps (which are always needed as games age and don't really count) there's been almost no progression of our characters outside of gaining morale." For this I have two words in response: hear, hear! I've been thinking about this a lot since last week's imaginary restart scenario and even before. There's a reason that rerolling a character in Lord of the Rings Online has such appeal, even with a mountain of content behind it. It's a character that actually develops noticeably before your eyes, not slugs through content. Today I want to examine why I agree with Holiday about the stagnation of high-level classes and how the devs can shake up the status quo to make character development exciting once more.
LotRO's (re)writs of the Rune-keeper
Considering how effective the Rune-keeper class is, the developers at Turbine have made a lot of changes to its skills. This class' strength lies in damage and healing -- a nuker/healer, if you will. This fit the plans for Lord of the Rings Online quite well, but there were some things missing in the flavor of the advanced classes. As Designer Brian Aloisio explains in the November Developer Diary, "The Rune-keeper currently sits at top tier in both damage and healing output. Because of this, the goals we have set for this update did not focus on increasing or decreasing net effectiveness, but on adding variety, customization and more dynamic skill interaction to achieve these results." He adds that the changes are adding more "advanced" to the advanced class. Aloisio also confesses that the Trait Set bonuses were bugged, and instead of fixing bonuses, team has reinvented the Trait Sets. To give you an example, the Words of Grace-traited Rune-keepers were capable of healing in any instance, but they lacked non-healing options. So the advanced class' skills were extremely flat. To spice things up, heal-based RKs will now have a slightly different power rotation and have a couple of non-healing abilities, yet they are still an efficient healing class. Be sure to catch the full Developer Diary to see the specifics about your favorite advanced class changes.
Breakfast Topic: What intangible qualities do you bring to a raid?
When team Canada's Olympic roster for the men's hockey team was announced, I was extremely excited to check out who had made the cut and who didn't. For the most part, I agreed with all the choices. I'll admit a few of the selections had me wondering why. I had to ask myself why a player like Brenden Morrow (captain of the Dallas Stars) was selected over other players. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that it wasn't always about the goals or the points. There were people that brought in certain intangible qualities that just could not be measured. I started thinking about raiders and my guildies for a moment. Who was valuable and what did they contribute? Sure they didn't exactly bring dominating numbers into the game, but they were able to hold their own in a race. For example: Theorycrafter: That guy in the guild who happens to hold a degree in math or physics? Yeah, he will theorycraft the heck out of you and anyone else who asks him for advice. Not only will he tell you what gems and enchants to get, he'll even write up a multi-page theorem indicating the balance of stats required for optimum performance. Veteran raider: She's been around since Molten Core and remembers what its like to wipe for weeks and even months on end for one boss. Still believes that the new content isn't as bad as it was back then. Instills a sense of calm in the raid during the most turbulent of raid nights when things don't seem to be executing. Also happens to be your grandma who makes the world's best chocolate chip cookies. Diagnostician: This is the player who can accurately recall every wipe and the series of events that led up to it. Just give him a few seconds to double check his information on some death logs and review his videos. Yes, not only can he give you a good explanation as to why and how a wipe happened, but he has it on tape in case anyone tries to dispute it. So now allow me to ask, what intangible qualities do you bring to a raid? Are there other people in your guild that offer something unique as well?
