Do you prefer to play a single build, or to change builds all the time?

[Erasculio.2914]

I have read some people talking about playing a character under a single specialization, never changing from that. It kind of surprised me, but I guess it makes sense - in some ways, it's like having a single character or having multiple characters.

 

Hence my question this time - do you prefer to play a single build, or do you change builds all the time?

[Jake Orion.2049]

What? No vote option for bacon?

 

Berserker DH is my main. Once in a while I'll change a few traits depending on situation (RAIDs, Fractals, etc.) He's mostly used for PvE content though, never any PvP/WvW since he's a glass cannon. Offensive juggernaut, but even kittens could toast him.

[lLobo.7960]

Although I only play one character, I like to have different builds for different scenarios.

I have a solo open world/instances build, a open world zerg buid, a wvw roaming build, a wvw zerg build, and pvp builds for different roles.

I have legendary armor to swap between builds without loosing 3 bags for different sets.

I'd love to have my legendary weapons able to swap sigils so I can do more experiments...

[Endless Soul.5178]

Builds make my head spin, so I pretty much keep every character locked in to one specific build for them.

[Edelweiss.4261]

I currently have one level 80 character per class, but my goal is to have a character per elite spec and, eventually, I might create a character for each build. As it stands now, I will change my build within an elite spec(different traits/weapons/stats), but I won't change elite spec. I want my characters to feel like their elite spec.

[Ryrok.1302]

I love theorycrafting builds, but most are pretty bad, and the cost of armor types is prohibitive. I want to make some of the goofy gear sets work (zealot, seraph's, etc.) but generally can't with the classes I play, and they'll usually not be better than a cheap 'zerker set.

[Klowdy.3126]

One of the funniest parts of combat is changing up builds when things start to feel stale. I usually just go between a power or condi build, but sometimes I like to mess around with different kinds of hybrid/support builds, depending on what I'm doing.

[Vayne.8563]

I don't love changing builds, so I only do it when I think it's necessary. I try to generalize my build to fit specific content. That said, I have a lot of characters, so I only WvW on my WvW character. I don't have to change my build for that because that's mostly what I do with that character.

 

But if I'm in fractals, and I'm going to get knocked back by harpies, of course I'm going to take reflect skills if I have access to them. Why wouldn't you?

[Blocki.4931]

I refine (read: spice up) my builds every now and then. Sometimes change weapons or try different utilities. Mostly keeping the same playstyle though.

[Tachenon.5270]

I'd rather have lots of alts with different builds than lots of different builds (see also: gear) on one character.

[Donari.5237]

I'm between the first and the second. I almost never change a build once I'm comfortable with it, but when big things happen (like new elites) or when a friend has some solid feedback on improvements that won't kill my muscle memory, I'm willing to change. But it's not a here and there now and then thing, it's a watershed moment when things have really changed enough to warrant it.

 

Though I do have some standard utility swap outs to do, eg if a mesmer needs to jp then I equip portal rather than feedback, for example. And I'm going to put on a shortbow to try to get the Dextrous achieve on my Daredevil in the current LS.

[Blood Red Arachnid.2493]

As time has gone on, I've accrued quite a bit of ascended gear. Every toon I own has at least two full sets. Some have 3. I swap builds around quite regularly.

[Alchimist.4738]

I like to change often builds, though since I'm lazy I don't change as much as I wish, and this is why an official build template is needed, otherwise I often change skills/traits depending on the content.

[killermanjaro.5670]

I just make minor changes every now and then, if we could save builds then I'd probably change quite often / rotate weapons and builds etc, I'm just too lazy to bother swapping gear, trait lines etc manually on a frequent basis. That's why I don't really experiment with builds even though I'd like to, It's too much hassle swapping everything back to how I had it afterwards.

[Algreg.3629]

I´d adapt more often if we had a way to save builds and some kind of gear locker that would remove inventory micromanagement (something DCUO had if I remember correctly).

[GrubySzymek.1362]

I don't mind adjusting a trait or two or swapping utilities and weapons, but I'd get annoyed if I had to swap everything between every boss. It's already stupidly annoying to change builds (mostly gear) because of lack of build templates.

[Comus.7365]

i know how i like to play and try to tailor my builds to that... which is probably why i'm having a hard time with this game because you're constantly getting flak for not playing the meta. and it's not really fun to feel like a burden same as it's not fun to play something you don't really enjoy.

[Plautze.6290]

Until now, I always played zerker or assassins power builds, but I plan on trying condi scourge before it gets nerfed =)

That being said, I mostly change utilities and weapons depending on situation and rarely change traits.

[Tanner Blackfeather.6509]

Utilites are switched based on circumstances, but seldom all at once.

 

If there were in-game build/trait templates (I don't need it to store/load gear, just the traits) I'd be switching around *a lot* more!

[Danikat.8537]

I very rarely change my 'main' build for a character, only when a major balance patch ruins what I'm using (like when ranger traps lost their ground targeting) or when I get bored with the skills I'm using (which, with 11 characters, doesn't happen often).

 

But I do switch easy to change things for certain situations. Most of my characters have at least 1 spare weapon set and I'll swap skills and traits to suit the situation. For example when I was doing the Ley Anomaly event I swapped a ranger spirit for the speed boost signet, because I knew we'd be moving too much for a spirit to be useful and I'd need the increased speed more.

 

Also I do have a 2nd elementalist and engineer because I wanted to use both elite specs and could not be bothered swapping everything over each time.

[TheQuickFox.3826]

I tend to try a lot, experiment a lot, theorize a lot, fail a lot. Then I select what worked out best and fits my playing style and generally stick with it.

 

I currently use this hybrid [Celestial S/D Ele Tempest](http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQJArYnMMoYgmG8NYBmCMxuBdDQHhLRLCAmbrN2mbHiB7gbYQAIUWEB-jRSNAB1oMLFlEdeCBAY/BPfQAdpEEL9Ezp+jmKFCAgAcz2MYzbmje0je0je0+uRP6Rvv9N65Nv9tPA-e "Celestial S/D Ele Tempest").

 

I keep coming back to Scepter Dagger. Main dagger lacks range. Staff recharges too slow, focus lacks raw damage, weaver is too complicated, zerker lacks survivability etc.

S/D is the nice sweet spot for me.

[Rauderi.8706]

Needs a "I would play more variable builds if we had BUILD TEMPLATES" button.

[Westenev.5289]

I don't like having to keep spare sets of armour or trinkets in the inventory if I can help it, so I try to adapt all of my builds and playstyles around Berserker/Scholar. There are exceptions, like Quickness Chrono or Healing Druid or a condi set I keep hidden away in the bank, but otherwise I try to change traits and tactics over set pieces where possible.

[StinVec.3621]

> @"Danikat.8537" said:

> I very rarely change my 'main' build for a character, only when a major balance patch ruins what I'm using (like when ranger traps lost their ground targeting) or when I get bored with the skills I'm using (which, with 11 characters, doesn't happen often).

>

> But I do switch easy to change things for certain situations. Most of my characters have at least 1 spare weapon set and I'll swap skills and traits to suit the situation. For example when I was doing the Ley Anomaly event I swapped a ranger spirit for the speed boost signet, because I knew we'd be moving too much for a spirit to be useful and I'd need the increased speed more.

>

> Also I do have a 2nd elementalist and engineer because I wanted to use both elite specs and could not be bothered swapping everything over each time.

 

Ranger traps no longer being able to be thrown is one of my 'Top 5 most disappointing changes that negatively affected my enjoyment of the game'. :\

 

(elaboration on this disappointment expressed below)

>! Considering the foundation of high mobility seems to be the most highly-praised aspect of the game's combat (instead of being locked in place while you use skills like in pretty much every other MMORPG I've played), why they have progressively begun to remove this mobility from select aspects of professions leaves me perplexed and progressively more disappointed.

>!

>! I think I had 12 or so ranger characters when the change happened and it had been my favorite profession since the game launched (despite its forced pet use). I mostly stopped enjoying ranger-play after the change as it essentially removed traps from the profession for me, which I really enjoyed using as an integral aspect of my gameplay. This pretty much left me to rely solely on weapon skills for combat while playing on them, which made combat with them very monotonous, very fast.

>!

>! I still do not understood why they feel the need to force changes to the PvE version of skills if it is being changed entirely for the sake of PvP balance. They've started to split balance changes in separate game modes more lately, but these tend to be very minor alterations to cooldowns and tweaks of percentage values that are barely noticeable. This kind of 'balance' leaves me wondering why they bother to split these extremely minor and pretty unnoticeable changes, but then go and force large, profession-altering changes like ranger traps being neutered to be game-wide - something that essentially gutted the profession of almost all its enjoyment for me. :\

 

 

Bow range being chopped in PvE due to it getting 'balanced' for the sake of PvP is also in my Top 5.

[GDchiaScrub.3241]

I don't know how this couldn't have been a yes/no/sometimes/other poll.

 

For all tense and purposes, I changed builds frequently in WvW. Pve not so much. I gave up on Spvp a while ago.

 

o.o