Guild
Wars - The
Blank Slate
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/84772">
In the original Guild
Wars campaigns and Eye
of the North expansion,
players are essentially given a blank slate to create builds for their
characters,
provided they adhere to a few key rules:
Skills can only be from
either
your Primary or Secondary profession, in any
combination
A maximum of 1 Elite skill
can be used per build
A maximum of 3 Title Track
skills can be used per build (PvE Only)
Skills can only be swapped
out in Towns or Outposts
Of course actual build creation
is a much more complex thing, but for the most part the sky is the
limit in terms of exactly which of the hundreds of available skills
can be placed into the 8 slots at any given time. For example, here is
a Ritualist build that I use fairly often in PvE:
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/84773">
In the above example, the main
focus of the build is on primary
Ritualist skills, with 1 slot taken up by the Elite skill Signet
of
Spirits (slot 1) and 2 slots
utilizing the PvE-only Title Track skills
Vampirism
and Feel No Pain
(slots 2 and 8). The beauty of this system
is that another player might decide to create a similar build, only in
their version the PvE-only skills might be swapped out with something
from their secondary profession to make the build function altogether
differently while still having a heavy focus on spirit spamming.
While some might consider 8
slots to be fairly limiting when
compared to other titles in the genre, once you begin to factor in that
teams consist of 8 players you suddenly begin to realize just how
complex a thing selecting a team build consisting of 64 skills out of
hundreds spread across 10 different professions can be. In fact, the
relative lack of restrictions to builds in Guild
Wars is one of the
major things that have been revisited in Guild
Wars 2. According to
Lead Designer Eric Flannum:
If you use the CCG
paradigm to explain our skill system, we
went from a system with almost no deck building restrictions in Guild
Wars to one that has some necessary
and sane
deck building restrictions
in Guild Wars 2.
The new system is much friendlier to new players and
to those players who either aren't interested in the deck
building aspect (or are just not that good at it), but it still allows
advanced players to come up with literally hundreds of combinations to
trash their opponents with. One of our designers did the math and the
possible number of combinations is in the millions. This system also
allows us to more easily balance the game and maintain that
balance.
Guild
Wars 2
- The Structured Deck
Among the first details
regarding combat to be revealed for Guild
Wars 2 was an interesting
look some of the changes that have been made to the original
game's 8 slot skill bar design. The most obvious among them is of
course the addition of 2 additional skill slots, for a total of 10 in
GW2. But what are some of the other, potentially more significant
changes, and how will they ultimately effect combat and build
construction? Let's take a look at some of the main restrictions
on builds and how they'll differ somewhat from the original game.
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/84771">
In the above image, I've color
coded the 10 skill slots to
make it easier to visualize what each of them can contain. Keep in mind
that this is only an estimation of how a build might be structured
based on available information so far, as it's entirely
possible that the final layout will be very different than what I've
mocked up here.
Based on the known info so far,
builds in Guild Wars 2
will consist of
the following:
5
skills will be based on your current weapon set and profession
- Players will be
able to switch between two weapon sets at will depending on their
profession, which is represented by Slots
1-5
above (green
representing the first weapon set, and red the second set).
While it's uncertain whether
players can choose which 5 skills to use with their current weapon from
a longer list or each set of skills
will be static based on other criteria, this
is still a very unique approach when you consider that in the original
game only physical damage-dealing professions (Assassin, Warrior,
Ranger, Dervish, Paragon) have access to weapon-based skills. In fact,
that tends to be the norm for just about any fantasy-based RPG. In GW2,
even casters like the Elementalist will have access to skills based
solely on which weapon they choose to equip.
Other variables yet to be
revealed include whether or not a single type
of weapon can have multiple forms of damage. For example, can you equip
a Fiery Dragon Sword and gain access to 5 fire based sword attacks vs.
an Icy Dragon Sword which would give access to 5 cold based sword
attacks?
As you can see, what first
appears to cut available skill selection
neatly in half will still potentially offer players a fairly broad
spectrum of skills depending on weapon sets they choose to equip. This
makes weapon selection infinitely more significant than merely
providing base character stats and a damage range for auto attacks. The
other bonus here is that you can freely switch between sets during
combat, which should provide a much more fluid element to combat just
based on these first 5 slots alone.
3
Skill slots will be based on your profession and race
-
This is represented by the orange Slots
6-8 above.
Not a
whole lot has been revealed about these three slots
thus far, though I would imagine they will be heavily
geared towards things such as
your character's race. For example, it's been said
that Norn will have the
ability to transform into a bear, with their skills switching to match
their
new form. While the alteration could occur among the weapon skills, it
seems
much more likely that this group of three skills will be the ones
directly affected.
Another
interesting variable to consider is whether there
will be something similar to the PvE-only Title Track skills in
Guild
Wars. If
so, I would imagine those would be slotted here as well, though
it's entirely
possible they could fall into one of the other categories depending on
what
type of Title Track-style skills are available, if any.
1
Skill slot is reserved for an Elite skill
- This is
represented by the gold Slot 9
above.
As with the original game,
Guild
Wars 2 will have Elite
skills which are said to be much more powerful this time around.
However, a
primary difference here is that the elite slot holds a set place in
each build,
whereas in
Guild Wars
players can opt to not use an elite skill at all
if they
so choose.
It remains to be seen whether Signets of Capture will
survive the 250 year period between games, or if elite skills will be
obtained
by an altogether different system. Personally I enjoy the
exploration
aspects of having to go out and capture elites, though I certainly
wouldn't be
surprised if this system has been completely redesigned for GW2.
The last thing to note here is that available elite skills
will still be based on your character's profession. Even with
the removal of
secondary professions from the mix, I'd imagine elite skills
will still remain
the cornerstone of most builds.
1
Skill slot is reserved for a Healing skill
- This is
represented by the blue Slot 10
above. And yes, I realize that
keyboards don't have a number 10 key, but what are you gonna
do?
The addition of a dedicated healing slot is something entirely new to
the
Guild Wars
universe. Intended as a means of allowing anyone to solo
effectively, it will be interesting to see specifically what types of
skills can be slotted here. So far, it sounds as though a fairly
diverse array of skills types will fall into this category, including
more direct heals as well as group buff-type skills among others.
As with the weapon skills, the available healing slot skills will
depend on your profession. For example, a Warrior might have a skill
like Frenzy
slotted to instantly fill their adrenaline gauge, while an
Elementalist could use Aura of
Restoration which sounds as
though it
will function very similarly to the current GW skill of the same name.
Another interesting thing to consider is the impact this could
potentially have on PvP. While I'd imagine that the primary
healing class(s?) will still have the biggest available heals, it will
be incredibly useful for full teams to have at least some means of
easing the pressure that most healers face when attempting to keep them
alive in the thick of battle. Mind you, not all skills that can be
slotted here will necessarily be associated with replenishing health,
but this is still a very powerful tool to give to players either way
and something that I've been wishing MMOGs would adopt for
years.