Creating interesting builds for our characters to utilize in combat is an integral piece of the much larger puzzle of character development in MMOGs. While many titles don’t stray too far from offering players a handful of predefined paths to choose from, developers ArenaNet have aims to take the concept of builds to a whole new level in Guild Wars 2. One of the many tools in their arsenal, traits, was revealed this week and could very well be the peanut butter to your skill bar’s jelly when it comes to build creation. Ten Ton Hammer offers up some insights as to what traits are all about in our Introduction to Traits in Guild Wars 2.

So at their core, traits will indeed be a form of alternate advancement for your characters, at least in the sense that they will augment current skills or attributes. But rather than utilizing a point purchase system to obtain new traits ala the original EverQuest or the more streamlined versions found in titles such as EverQuest II or World of Warcraft, traits in Guild Wars 2 will be something that players will need to actively seek out and master during the course of gameplay.

• Continue reading An Introduction to Traits in Guild Wars 2.