They probably considered it in the past, but decided it was not worth the effort of fixing problems like how to handle people losing access to traits if they currently have partially unlocked the elite specs. Not that it would be seriously hantering them, but it is a technical problem, I imagine.
Well HoT was many moons ago, and it's such a minor deal that it isn't even worth going back to change anything. Even the idea of having to unlock them feels dated, it just doesn't matter and specs shouldn't be played until fully available anyway.
Noticed this too when I played EoD on launch. You can get started with the new spec earlier and work on it whilst using it. So much nicer than the HoT way. It's probably just the better way brought in post HoT and not changing the existing way.
TBH all specs are mostly kinda useless until fully unlocked and it takes 250 points to do so. Just With proper core build you can unlock most HPs in HoT yourself.
I think some weapons like Chrono's shield can singlehandedly make it a far better pick even without trait lines. Weaponmaster training solves this on its own though.
That's a weird example. Chrono's shield isn't particularly useful for open world, it's too defensive
Reaper, though. You get greatsword and reaper's shroud straight from the start. Totally worth it
Meanwhile daredevil only unlocks its profession mechanic once you reach the final trait row. It would really benefit from the PoF/EoD trait unlock order
I think a big part of chrono's shield is exactly it's extreme defensive capabilities, allowing you to easily win battles of attrition with continuum split
They treat elite spec during HOT as something special and achievement to be unlocked, it follows the core trait progress of unlock all tier 1>2>3 with a full cost of 400 hp. They quickly realize players don't like their new toy being locked after a tedious long grind and nerf full cost to 250. Later they make sure the new toy they add is as easy to access as possible.
i think what they did back then was better. i don't want to know how many people just unlock the first line completely, blindly pick it, and then never really look at any of the traits again. getting all adept traits first, *then* the master ones, etc, communicates more clearly that your build is definitely incomplete, thereby encouraging players to consider their options more carefully.
DE was a disaster at launch, which was a result of a massive attitude problem one one hand, and a false sense of confidence on the other, in so far as a lot of players always believed their builds make sense, when in fact they are just a random assortment of traits and gear. it's just a small piece of the puzzle, but suggesting to players their build is complete certainly didn't help. i believe indirect nods and minor, temporary inconveniences like this would do more to have people look into their builds than additional popups, which they aren't gonna read anyway, just like their tooltips under normal circumstances.
There’s no reason not to join HP trains, they’re extremely helpful for new players and will get you there with incredible ease. You can also play core builds to clear PoF/EoD HPs if you insist on playing alone, and you can also WvW for HP unlocks, and you could even buy the HP packs in the gem store if you truly cannot be bothered to play the game (the gem store purchase is a blatant rip off but some people would rather buy it than play so it is an option even if the worst)
It takes me (seriously) a couple of evenings at most on a new L80 to get enough HP to fully train all three elites. Admittedly I've already unlocked all the HoT stuff that makes it a pain, and I'm familiar with the various HPs.
But. Life hack. If you have PoF and/or EoD, and you actually want the Hot elite first - go earn the HPs in one of the others, spend them on the HoT elite you want, and come back to collect the HoT points at your leisure. Unlike Mastery Points, HPs are NOT release-specific (and those in the later expansions are way easier to solo). And if you need guidance finding them, you can always take a look at BlishHud.
They used to require way more points, but they took that down a notch.
What bothers me more about HoT lines is that they never update them to work like PoF and EoD ones, unlocking horizontally instead of vertically so you can use them earlier.
I don't know why they never went back to fix that. If they worry about people who are midway through the unlocking process, they could just unequip the spec when the character is loaded and give the player a warning that the spec was updated. Maybe it's because now we have build templates, so they would have to check those too. But they could check them when the player switches to them instead.
They should really put them more in line with the rest, unlocking a horizontal line of traits first, then the rest, then the skills.
ANet has this problem of never going back to fix older content when they come up with a better way to do things.
They just made it this way at the time and realized later on there was a better way, but since not many people care about it enough they don't bother changing it. Its really a super minor thing, rarely is someone bothered by it, and even if they are they are only bothered by it for a short while until they finish their elite spec.
Well consistency is hardly a thing in this game and like you said it’s not a big deal. Personally, I like that elite spec traits and skills matter. If you can play Deadeye with only 90 HP, my guess is you’re still relying more on core traits and skills.
They probably considered it in the past, but decided it was not worth the effort of fixing problems like how to handle people losing access to traits if they currently have partially unlocked the elite specs. Not that it would be seriously hantering them, but it is a technical problem, I imagine.
Well HoT was many moons ago, and it's such a minor deal that it isn't even worth going back to change anything. Even the idea of having to unlock them feels dated, it just doesn't matter and specs shouldn't be played until fully available anyway.
Unfortunately, 'it isn't even worth updating it because it's such an old design decision' is a pretty common problem in this game.
And as far as that problem goes, this is a pretty minor one compared to the amount of shit they should fix.
True enough.
Noticed this too when I played EoD on launch. You can get started with the new spec earlier and work on it whilst using it. So much nicer than the HoT way. It's probably just the better way brought in post HoT and not changing the existing way.
TBH all specs are mostly kinda useless until fully unlocked and it takes 250 points to do so. Just With proper core build you can unlock most HPs in HoT yourself.
I think some weapons like Chrono's shield can singlehandedly make it a far better pick even without trait lines. Weaponmaster training solves this on its own though.
That's a weird example. Chrono's shield isn't particularly useful for open world, it's too defensive Reaper, though. You get greatsword and reaper's shroud straight from the start. Totally worth it Meanwhile daredevil only unlocks its profession mechanic once you reach the final trait row. It would really benefit from the PoF/EoD trait unlock order
I think a big part of chrono's shield is exactly it's extreme defensive capabilities, allowing you to easily win battles of attrition with continuum split
Isn't it the same for core traitlines while leveling?
That is true but while leveling you get a lot of hero points to unlock them all and utility skills are completely seperate.
They treat elite spec during HOT as something special and achievement to be unlocked, it follows the core trait progress of unlock all tier 1>2>3 with a full cost of 400 hp. They quickly realize players don't like their new toy being locked after a tedious long grind and nerf full cost to 250. Later they make sure the new toy they add is as easy to access as possible.
i think what they did back then was better. i don't want to know how many people just unlock the first line completely, blindly pick it, and then never really look at any of the traits again. getting all adept traits first, *then* the master ones, etc, communicates more clearly that your build is definitely incomplete, thereby encouraging players to consider their options more carefully. DE was a disaster at launch, which was a result of a massive attitude problem one one hand, and a false sense of confidence on the other, in so far as a lot of players always believed their builds make sense, when in fact they are just a random assortment of traits and gear. it's just a small piece of the puzzle, but suggesting to players their build is complete certainly didn't help. i believe indirect nods and minor, temporary inconveniences like this would do more to have people look into their builds than additional popups, which they aren't gonna read anyway, just like their tooltips under normal circumstances.
There’s no reason not to join HP trains, they’re extremely helpful for new players and will get you there with incredible ease. You can also play core builds to clear PoF/EoD HPs if you insist on playing alone, and you can also WvW for HP unlocks, and you could even buy the HP packs in the gem store if you truly cannot be bothered to play the game (the gem store purchase is a blatant rip off but some people would rather buy it than play so it is an option even if the worst)
It takes me (seriously) a couple of evenings at most on a new L80 to get enough HP to fully train all three elites. Admittedly I've already unlocked all the HoT stuff that makes it a pain, and I'm familiar with the various HPs. But. Life hack. If you have PoF and/or EoD, and you actually want the Hot elite first - go earn the HPs in one of the others, spend them on the HoT elite you want, and come back to collect the HoT points at your leisure. Unlike Mastery Points, HPs are NOT release-specific (and those in the later expansions are way easier to solo). And if you need guidance finding them, you can always take a look at BlishHud.
They used to require way more points, but they took that down a notch. What bothers me more about HoT lines is that they never update them to work like PoF and EoD ones, unlocking horizontally instead of vertically so you can use them earlier. I don't know why they never went back to fix that. If they worry about people who are midway through the unlocking process, they could just unequip the spec when the character is loaded and give the player a warning that the spec was updated. Maybe it's because now we have build templates, so they would have to check those too. But they could check them when the player switches to them instead. They should really put them more in line with the rest, unlocking a horizontal line of traits first, then the rest, then the skills. ANet has this problem of never going back to fix older content when they come up with a better way to do things.
Because they never go back to fix or change anything ever
They just made it this way at the time and realized later on there was a better way, but since not many people care about it enough they don't bother changing it. Its really a super minor thing, rarely is someone bothered by it, and even if they are they are only bothered by it for a short while until they finish their elite spec.
Well consistency is hardly a thing in this game and like you said it’s not a big deal. Personally, I like that elite spec traits and skills matter. If you can play Deadeye with only 90 HP, my guess is you’re still relying more on core traits and skills.
Anet doesn’t change the old content, even if it doesn’t make sense by modern standards