Here it comes! Skill, Trait and Balance changes confirmed for June 23rd

Next Tuesday!

Official, up-to-date thread listing all the skill and trait changes:  https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/game/gw2/June-23-Specialization-Changes/first

That's a huge wall of text, btw.   The first part describes some very fundamental changes to Conditions and Boons, and it's pretty math-y.   You might prefer watching the first part of the video version to help wrap your mind around it (I did!): http://www.twitch.tv/guildwars2/b/669362853

If you want to the basics of the new trait system, I recommend watching the first few minutes of this older video for an overview:  http://www.twitch.tv/guildwars2/b/653059691

Conditions Changes

I read some player analysis and I'd like to sum it up in simple terms to give you a headstart at understanding the changes before next Tuesday.

Vulnerability & Slow

• Now increases condition damage (as well as direct damage) by 1% per stack, up to 25 stacks
• The new condition Slow will be in game -- it slow skill activation by 50%.

Stacks for damaging Conditions

• Conditions that do damage will stack to 1500 now 
• Each player can put up to 25 stacks per condition on a target

Have 80 people fighting a world boss?  Still unlikely to cap condition stacks.  Bottom line: condition builds aren't gimped in large groups any more!

Condition Damage stat matters more now

In other words, your Condition Damage stat becomes a larger factor in the damage a condi skill does than before.  The exact numbers are in the first link at the top of the post, but here are the broad outlines.

• Conditions will do less damage than before if you have a low Condition Damage stat
• Conditions will do more damage than before if you have a high Condition Damage stat
• The "tipping point" (from less damage to more damage than before) is around 700 Condition Damage
• How much Condition Damage is needed to match your prior damage differs by condition type (burn, bleed, poison, etc), and your ability to stack it

Add the Vulnerability change and it's possible to do significantly more condi damage than today, especially with skills that are already easy to stack -- like Bleed.  It's probably true for all condis, but stacking will be required to get good damage.  For Burning and Poison, for example, you'll need to maintain at least 3 stacks to see more damage over today.

Boon Changes

Again, read the first link above for all the details.  Here are some highlights:

• The new Resistance boon will be in game -- it causes conditions to be temporarily ineffective.   (It doesn't clear or prevent new conditions, so as soon as Resistance drops those all kick in again.
• Vigor is nerfed!  Now increases endurance regen by 50% (down from 100%)
• Skills that convert between conditions and boons will now pick one at random, not the last applied
• Some of the details of boon|condi conversion have changed -- see linked post

Hope this helps!

~Lakshmi

Wallet Changes and Skill Point Conversion

I haven't seen official confirmation yet, but there's a rumor that the wallet and skill point > hero point changes are also coming in next Tuesday's patch.  MAKES SENSE!  We'll need those hero points to make our new builds.

We've been told about these changes in detail, in this blog:  https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/updating-your-wallet/

What do I do with the Tome and Scrolls I have stashed away?

In short, nothing.  You can wait to decide.

• Level-up books (Tome of Knowledge) will still be in your inventory/bank, and still cause you to gain one level when consumed
• XP scrolls (Writs of Experience), will still be in your inventory/bank, and still cause you to gain 1/20th of a level when consumed
• Skill point scrolls (Scrolls of Knowledge) will be converted to spirit shards and go into your wallet.  You can use them to buy stuff from the mystic forge vendor you used to purchase with skill points.

What about Hero points?  What about skills and traits I've already unlocked ?

Your character will receive hero points converted from Skill Challenges you've done, plus some based on your level.   Skill points you got from eating Scroll of Knowledge will NOT be converted to Hero points.  (BTW, I haven't heard whether we'll receive any rebate for the skill points scrolls/gold we used to unlock traits and skills under the old system.) 

You'll need to unlock skills all over again using Hero points -- on each character.  We've been told you'll have enough for a single build just by leveling.  If you swap builds a lot, you might need to gather more by doing Skill Challenges.   We also expect that some will be needed to unlock Elite Specializations -- in the future, when HoT is released.

Again, if you need an introduction to the new build system, see the third link in the OP above.

Laksmi:  "(BTW, I haven't heard whether we'll receive any rebate for the skill points scrolls/gold we used to unlock traits and skills under the old system.)"

All I know is the rebate for the skill point scrolls we have consumed and have on our character, will be converted to the shards to use at the Forge. I have 2000 extra skill points on my guardian for example, they will be converted by their math system into so many shards apparently. I am not sure what the conversion rate is.

That's awesome Leslie.  I hope the math is one-to-one. :D

Hmm so they are converting skill points to shards on level 80 characters - but what if you haven't purchased all your skills yet for that character? Guess I'd better go through all my characters and buy whatever skills I can now.

Rylssa -- Nooooooooooo!

Unless you need the skill/trait between now and Tuesday, skill points you spend on skills/traits now are probably wasted.  Extra/unspent skill points still on your characters, it sounds like we get those converted to Spirit Shards.  Spent skill points (and gold), I don't think so.

Starting Tuesday, you'll need to buy your skils/traits ALL OVER AGAIN.   It's a total reset.  This time you'll buy them using the new Hero Points, which coming from only two sources: leveling to 80 and Skill Challenges.   Skill points you got from consuming Scrolls of Knowledge or dinging after 80 will be converted to Spirit Shards, not Hero Points.

Okay, so basically we are completely losing the ability to gain skill points from scrolls of knowledge in order to buy skills for a young character that hasn't earned them yet. My latest character is probably old enough with enough skill challenges to be able to get my build back, including ports for events, but starting a new character to lead the next round of map clears will be difficult without those scrolls I had saved up.

Yeah.   We should get a LOT of Hero Points just from leveling.  (~400 hero points by level 80)  That should be enough for a single build, even if you never do a skill challenge.  If you swap between builds, you'll need to do some skill challenges.  Later, when HoT is released, you may need more to unlock the Elite Specialization.

So, if you roll a brand new mesmer you may find that you only need to level to a certain point (with XP scrolls) to unlock Portal and whatever else you need.   I don't know what level that is yet, but maybe it's not that high.

Some of the big things that are coming with this is things you previously had to trait for that extended range of skills is going to be automatic. For instance, ground targeting is default for wells on necromancer and mesmers get an extra 300 range for all manipulations. Many traits were changed completely or had things added to them to entice players to try different builds, but with them having moved some of the extending capabilities out of traits, many people won't have to take worthless trait lines just to get the ability flexibility they want. I am very excited for these changes.

Any thoughts about the changes to Consume Conditions on the necro? The rest of the necro heals are not all that great, and i am a little worried about trading a heal for 10 stacks of vulnerability.

There's been a pretty hefty protest about the changes to Consume Conditions on the forums (although it's been drowned out by the prepurchase angst).  I'm hoping this is one of the things they tweak before/after tuesday.

BTW, this is one of the issues that's making me hold off on rolling a new necro.   Don't want to kill myself with my heal skill!  

I like Necro best, and was preparing for the expansion by collecting skill points, condition gear, and such. In the end, I think things will work out, but there always seems to be a cloud over the necro. 

Wanted to pop in and share a quote from Colin.

https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/game/gw2/Skill-points-and-Spirit-Shards/first#post5187859

"A quick update on this one -> After feedback from presenting the original hero point count – we decided getting to level 80 will give you enough hero points to unlock all the core skills and traits entirely. Doing hero challenges (aka skill challenges) will simply allow you to earn all the skills/traits earlier before level 80. With the release of HoT, there will be options to spend the excess hero points earned from doing hero challenges in the world.

There are a number of other changes on 6/23 to make the experience from 1-80 more exciting, better-paced, rewarding, and fun as well after having the time to evaluate and player feedback from the updates last year."

Thanks Dyaon!  Our 40+ skill challenge run today was a lot of fun, but not really necessary (yet).  (We easily did them all but a couple blocked by events, plus did a full map complete for Cursed Shore.)

I'll tuck away my maps, and maybe pull them out again when we get closer to knowing how many points we will need for elite specializations when HoT lands.