Is anybody else disapointed with the skill system

[nalle]

The Secret World has adopted the old GW1 skill system. If that's something you really liked, then you should take a look at it. But it's even better, since it has 500+ skills, but no class restrictions ... and that's because there are no classes! It's pretty cool if you're into mixing/matching min/maxing a small number of skills from a huge pool of potential skills.

And 100-200 of those 500 skills will be better then the rest so 300 will rarely be used at all.

That is if they don't come up with 500 rather unique skills and manage to balance it perfectly, which I highly doubt, but I guess we'll see in the future.

[Exerionx]

Personally hated the system in GW1 and couldn't swing my head around it as a new-comer to the game, and playing WoW for oh so many years.

The new system, however, looks fluid and smooth which is something that appeals to me, personally, and looks easier to understand.

Stop living in the past, man

[DrakeWurrum]

I like this system in that weapon choice actually matters and isn't just a stat stick that you beat the opponent with.

^this

I don't get how anybody can find this system boring. Complete freedom of skill choice is what *I* find boring. A little bit of structure goes a long way to creating interesting gameplay and strategy. Pick-and-choose-what-you-want can be terribly hard to balance, and also has way less strategy involved.

[Valeron]

I'm not disappointed with the skill system. Do I prefer GW1's skill system? Yes but that's not to say GW2's system is bad. It has more depth than it first appears. I will say that I wish you were able to choose different skills with each weapon. While I like that each weapon does make a distinct play style and isn't a stat stick, as someone above said, I just wish I had a bit more customization with it.

[rhandric]

^this

I don't get how anybody can find this system boring. Complete freedom of skill choice is what *I* find boring. A little bit of structure goes a long way to creating interesting gameplay and strategy. Pick-and-choose-what-you-want can be terribly hard to balance, and also has way less strategy involved.

Pretty much this...which is ironic coming from Drake, who hates (basically) the same change to traits

[Ishu]

Guild Wars 1 also stretched out most of its skills over the course of entire campaigns, so if you didn't have that one you needed to finish your build, it felt like crap. That doesn't happen anymore.

That's what I liked the most about the skill system in GW1. That you had to go out in the world to get your skills, you don't just unlock them through the UI.

Fun before balance? Pardon? Have you ever scavenged around World of Warcraft forums people losing fun especially in PvP due to balancing issues?
Some classes were way overpowered and could conquer about anything PVE/PVP-wise while other classes were practically useless...

The only time I ever had fun in PvP during WoW was in vanilla. After they introduced arenas they just sucked out all the fun in a worthless struggle to balance the game.

[DrakeWurrum]

Pretty much this...which is ironic coming from Drake, who hates (basically) the same change to traits

No, what I hate with the traits is that it's TOO structured. The original trait system already had enough structure, imo. It's freedom had a cost. Maybe needed a little tweaking to make it work a little better - make the stat bonuses more attractive deeper in the tiers, or make the "minor" traits more attractive (maybe even change them to not be so "minor") and it would've worked just fine.

[Deleted]

No, what I hate with the traits is that it's TOO structured. The original trait system already had enough structure, imo. It's freedom had a cost. Maybe needed a little tweaking to make it work a little better - make the stat bonuses more attractive deeper in the tiers, or make the "minor" traits more attractive (maybe even change them to not be so "minor") and it would've worked just fine.

I think they've tweaked with it a bit more, are you excited to give that a look?

And I think the skill system is fine, particularly in GW1, unless you had a guide, coming as a newbie to the game was really intimidating and rather confusing, something they're probably trying to avoid on this instalment.

[DrakeWurrum]

Excited? No. But going to play with it some and see if I can tolerate it.

[Borzo]

And 100-200 of those 500 skills will be better then the rest so 300 will rarely be used at all.

That is if they don't come up with 500 rather unique skills and manage to balance it perfectly, which I highly doubt, but I guess we'll see in the future.

Well if 100 skills are better than 300 skills, they'll just buff those 300 skills. Or nerf the 100. Balancing isn't as complicated as people think it is.

[WorldofWorkcraft]

^this

I don't get how anybody can find this system boring. Complete freedom of skill choice is what *I* find boring. A little bit of structure goes a long way to creating interesting gameplay and strategy. Pick-and-choose-what-you-want can be terribly hard to balance, and also has way less strategy involved.

It can seem boring because you keep those same 5 skills on that weapon throughout the whole game. I'm good with that because of the choices of weapons and different systems therein to add change (like the Skill 1 Autoattack Hits, then Harder, than AoE's, then repeats for some classes). Some people may be like "Oh...so...greatsword...5 skills...that's all? Dumb" without realizing that the game encourages weapon swapping and choosing per situation, as well as your second set.

[deathtakes]

In guild wars one the thing I loved most about the game was how unique the skill system was.

the whole concept of creating the most effective build out of any 8 skills, but only 8 skills, you had unlocked was an awesome mind bending experience. for me it was the most defining aspect of guild wars and what separated it from other mmo's.

along with the science of optimising builds, acquiring skills in that game was an interesting adventure due to the ways you could unlock each skill. it wasn't your standard "you got skill x for hitting level y" or "pay 10g at once you hit level 6 to unlock this skill" you had multiple ways of acquiring each non-elite skill and going out and capping elites was always an adventure.

So far I am utterly unimpressed with the new skill system but nobody else seems to have mentioned it.

Am I the only one?

"the whole concept of creating the most effective build out of any 8 skills, but only 8 skills, you had unlocked was an awesome mind bending experience. for me it was the most defining aspect of guild wars and what separated it from other mmo's."

You now have 10 skills to manage, each weapon offers a different skill set and 1 handed weapons skills can be mixed. there are also 5 utility skills than you can change to your preference. All of this enables you to find an optimum build.

"...acquiring skills in that game was an interesting adventure due to the ways you could unlock each skill. it wasn't your standard "you got skill x for hitting level y" or "pay 10g at once you hit level 6 to unlock this skill" you had multiple ways of acquiring each..."

Unlocking the weapon skills may not be an adventure in of it self but you're adventuring while you do it. Learning your class and it's skills. This is a great way for them to do this IMO, especially for players new to mmos. As far as the utility skills go you need to get skill points to unlock them which requires you to find and complete skill challenges out in the environment.

I guess no one has mentioned it because as you describe it it's very similar.

[Deleted]

I prefer Guild Wars 1 in almost every way over the sequel. Pretty obvious GW2 is more of a twitch/action game than the first back when Anet first announced the change in gameplay systems.

Basically Anet made an action/twitch based MMO. Is what it is.

did you play gw1 before any expansions? did you ever win HoH? if so, what did you run? i normally won it with IWAY and blood/rainbow spike groups :>

[Snuggles Galore]

I'm a little disheartened with the lack of being able to really personalize your skills. I love using non "meta" builds. That was the fun of GW for me. Experimenting, theory crafting things out and seeing how quirky builds could work. Having the skilled locked to weapons here, feels constraining to me.