ArenaNet team discusses elite skills and PvP in Guild Wars 2

This update has me sceptical. While I am liking the versatility of "traits" I am wondering if they will have as a dramatic effect as they suggest. If so that could really mix their skill system up. Likewise I am wondering how limited the skillbar will be this time around.

On the other end I am hating that "reviving other players on every character, downed states, and plenty of way to save yourself" and with healing being as stamina intesive as suggested in the previous half what kind of roles support characters like Monks will play in the greater tactical arena.

Same for Elite Skill balance. Cartwright basically admits that is elite skill recharge times don’t work in so well in many other games but then backtracks to say that he is confident that ArenaNet can handle balancing. Going knowingly into a situation you know is bad? Sounds foolhearty to me but I guess people do like their flashy skills.

With both the newly intorduced potions being "not neccisary" and the new highly touted elite skills being "fall backs" I don't know exactly where they are trying to go here.

Either way I remain cautiously sceptical.

This is sounding pretty cool. I love the ideas they're presenting for elite skills.

I am okay with elite skills being fall back in pve, because i think that powerful abilities on a long(ish) cooldown really don't add much to gameplay aside from a spike, this is why they don't work that well in other games. It seems elites are more designed for pvp, and the example sounds great.

Really interesting. Elites sound a bit like 2-hour abilities in FFXI (although XI would probably count as one of those games where it got out of hand; eventually they stopped being a trump card and started to be something fights got designed around).

I like the philosophy behind changing the way skill bars work. Like they said, you have a lot of choices as to what to put on your bar in GW1, but comparatively few actual viable options. I'll be really impressed if they've managed to make all of the weapons/playstyles available to each class worthwhile. They seem pretty confident that they have.

wonder if you will have to capture them from bosses again

Thanks Rubi for the update.

I still extremely skeptical of this skill/combat system, not because it lacks depth or anything. As far as how the skill system functions, I mostly on board, it sounds pretty cool, elites sound..... interesting, won't really comment until we see them in action.

PvP sounds pretty awesome if you add everything up so far.

But this is the part of the equation that gets me, what about AI?
Having a really deep, customizable skill system is all very well and good, but if the enemy AI is dumb as pigshit and just throw themselves at you, then what was the point? Where is the challenge in that?

So far I have yet to see any address by Arenanet on the topic of AI, as from all the videos and gameplay we have seen, AI is par for the coarse.
Thusly I have great doubts that even with this skill system, combat will be little more then 'tab, 123456' your way to victory....... over, and over, and over again.

Sure the new toys will keep you interested for awhile, but I can't help but feel that combat going to be repetitive as all hell.
(although not nearly to the extent of most MMO's)

~Yoh

I like the idea that Elites will be more noticeable and game-changing, rather than the core of a build. I also like the idea of weapons/items changing how skills behave.

However on the face of it I don't think 20 skills per profession at launch is going to be enough, even though you can only have 8 on your bar in total (including racial skills/abilities) - though I guess if each skill can be modified in dozens of different ways by both traits and weapon/item bonuses then it will be enough - have to wait and see.

I really like the potential for customisation to your playstyle though - and how different it could allow players of the same profession to be at max level (and yet still be competitive) depending on what gear, race and traits they picked to go with their profession. It is the character/playstyle customisation that has kept me interested in CoH for the past 5 years so I know that there is longevity in experimenting iteratively with different builds over time, and replay value in playing the game again as a different profession, or even the same profession, but with a totally different playstyle and customisation options.

The elite skills are ending up just like in Starcraft 2 custom maps where each side has 1 nuke per person and the first goal is to get them to use up all their nukes.
Can't figure out if this is good for GW2 or not. Probably good, but will make initial PvP encounter very awkward.