Does anyone know what is stopping Anet from adding build templates or saving builds?

[Tachenon.5270]

Who knows. As I understand it, they made GW2 because they wanted to do things that couldn't be done in the original game, but It often seems to me that with GW2 we lost more than we gained.

[Klipso.8653]

If I had the ability to swap builds on a character, I wouldnt have bought extra character slots.

 

The only reason I have 2 necros and 2 guardians is because changing traits/gear is such a pain in the ass. And I got tired of keeping track of different builds. Way easier to just set up multiple characters and leave them set up for their purpose

 

So anet gains gem sales by not adding a feature.

[Feanor.2358]

> @"Ashantara.8731" said:

> > @"Feanor.2358" said:

> > Hacks, obviously.

>

> Templates don't contain code that could be abused for hacking. They are simple text files that look like this: OwYT043AZKuajoB83BZQi4jANCA

> That can't function as a hack.

 

I meant tampering with the data to gain unfair advantage, not running malicious code.

 

> @"Ashantara.8731" said:

> Also, regarding templates, I just saw that we had separate ones for skills and for equipment in GW1. I suggest ANet starts with the skill templates and later extends it, if the item part poses such an issue.

 

It doesn't. As evidenced by the existence of third-party software implementing the feature. The only reason the feature doesn't exist in the game is because the devs don't want to do it. I should note, there are most certainly various reason to do it. For instance, assume they're think of reworking the rune/sigil system (which badly needs it). They'd be reluctant to implement a feature that would need to be heavily changed once a rework takes place and postponing it for the time being. This is only a speculation, of course. But the fact remains - the feature can be done, yet they're still not doing it despite the constant nagging from players.

[Sinful.2165]

> @"Game of Bones.8975" said:

> On a player level, by NOT saving/sharing builds it forces each player to individualize their character for themselves instead of relying on what "X" professional raider says is the best way to set up YOUR character. They aren't playing my character, I am. They may have key-binding that assists them that isn't talked about,

>

> For every professional that says their build is the best way to run an elite spec there's more right around the corner saying theirs is the best.

>

> This was a "problem" in GW1, people getting kicked from PUGs for not having a certain build; "Play MY way or you can't play in our sandbox!"

 

This already happens. Everyone and their mother uses metabattle and snowcrows if they care about doing end game content at all.

 

People just want a way to quickly swap between builds they make. Not having this functionality built into the game is just a PITA for people who have multiple sets of armor and jewelry to fill various roles (WvW, fractals, raids, open world) and all the various builds that go with them.

 

It’s something that should have ideally been in the game from day 1.

[Ashantara.8731]

> @"Feanor.2358" said:

> I meant tampering with the data to gain unfair advantage, not running malicious code.

 

How can you gain an unfair advantage with a text code that merely determines which skills and traits have been selected? If it is programmed properly, you won't be able to select all traits at the same time or whatever you are insinuating.

 

> It doesn't. As evidenced by the existence of third-party software implementing the feature. The only reason the feature doesn't exist in the game is because the devs don't want to do it.

 

That's what I was thinking, which is why I don't get why some players stated they had read the devs saying it was too difficult to implement.

[Zedek.8932]

"An awful amount of work", sorry, that is not an excuse in my opinion.

They are developers, they work in front of a computer, nothing too exhausting. They act like we want them to juggle on the Mount Everest while riding a unicorn.

If it takes so much time (what might it be? A full-time employee for several weeks is not enough?) then use it. I just can't grasp that. John Carmack is a genius, if he thought that way, we would still play top-down maze games. But no, he sat there, developing a fully-textured 2.5D environment in 256 colours that runs fine on a 386.

 

To me it feels like many companies today know they are too big to fail - but this time in their favour. Nobody would quit over that, but developers and coders doing their job for such a necessity is too much to ask for. If I look over to RIOT GAMES, it's the same. A multi-billion Dollar company, and yet they are "too afraid of working" on another 5vs5 map. What is this?

 

Was arenaNet also afraid when they came up with all their ambitious stuff in 2010? No. They did it. Now it feels like some (re)tired people sitting in the offices and cough and puff at every bit of code they need to add.

 

*red face* **calms down** *huff*

 

I know what coding is. Also what spaghetti code is. Or security problems. But that always sounds like a mechanic, trained and skilled with years of experience, looking into your car's engine compartment, scratching the head and says: "_No, we can not refill the fluid of your air condition. Look at all those pipes and tubes. Nah. I can not do that_".

 

Excelsior..

[Astralporing.1957]

> @"Zedek.8932" said:

> "An awful amount of work", sorry, that is not an excuse in my opinion.

> They are developers, they work in front of a computer, nothing too exhausting. They act like we want them to juggle on the Mount Everest while riding a unicorn.

No. It's just that those devs are already doing things. Other things. Things they consider more important.

 

So, what exactly you might want them to **not** be working on, in order to do this feature? Why _this_ feature, not for one of the hundred more they have in their "to do" list?

 

They do not have an unlimited number of resources, you know.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

> @"Zedek.8932" said:

 

> that always sounds like a mechanic, trained and skilled with years of experience, looking into your car's engine compartment, scratching the head and says: "_No, we can not refill the fluid of your air condition. Look at all those pipes and tubes. Nah. I can not do that_".

The accurate metaphor is the mechanic says "you have 6 different problems, 5 cost $200 each, one costs $1000 to fix, and you only have $1000. What would you like me to work on?"

[Lord of the Fire.6870]

> @"Randulf.7614" said:

> It is, if i remember rightly from a comment hey made 4 years ago, an issue surrounding the ui and how inflexible it is to change without a scary amount of work. They did at one time ask for ideas on what to include in these build templates and whether it should be solely trait and skill or includes items and social etc. It didnt lead anywhere though.

>

> Ultimately it sounded like a massive amount of work they couldnt justify at the time. PersonallyI think it is absolutely necessary, but id be surprised now if we ever see it implemented

 

Yes I know I mean they seem not to have enough man power at the moment there is a lot of stuff reported about exploits in PvP and PvE and they don't fix the stuff also some balancing problem with the meteorshower/Ele doesn't get fixed in time

_

On the UI side no you could easy put there a small drop down menu with choose slot 1 to 5 other parts of the implementation are harder also the design.

Like this example what I have as Tempest I want to use as Weaver but for Weaver I need 2 Rings and the Weapon which are different from the Tempest gear.

 

So you need a default slot which is transparent for all the other slots in the other you can drop the gear you want differently in it. Only legendary gear will become a bit of a pain because you have to save the settings of the legendary gear in those **other** slots instead of putting gear in it.( skills and traits would be saved peer slot also)

 

This is the quick and dirty variant which doesn't cover any wild combination (like combine gear out of default and 2 to built settings for 3 for something like this you would need an editor and a lot of extra work but the beauty of my solution would be getting rid off all the extra gear in your bag.

 

I also think it is necessary the numbers of ways you can use your class are exploding the 2 Eles(besides others) I have I can use them in 5 different way of possible 9 or 10 which are viable for endcontent(PvE ,WvW). So with the next expansion I would still need a new ele char slot even with the possibility to save settings up to 5 peer char.

( I sort them by power, condi, support/heal)

[Rhyse.8179]

> @"Randulf.7614" said:

> It is, if i remember rightly from a comment hey made 4 years ago, an issue surrounding the ui and how inflexible it is to change without a scary amount of work. They did at one time ask for ideas on what to include in these build templates and whether it should be solely trait and skill or includes items and social etc. It didnt lead anywhere though.

>

> Ultimately it sounded like a massive amount of work they couldnt justify at the time. PersonallyI think it is absolutely necessary, but id be surprised now if we ever see it implemented

 

It amazes how magnificently inept Anet is. They took a feature OUT of the game (gw2 uses the gw1 engine but modified; gw1 had a magnificently flexible UI) and can't be arsed to put it back in after they deliberately broke it.

[Einlanzer.1627]

Honestly, I'd be pacified if we so much as got trait memory.

[Tachenon.5270]

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > @"Zedek.8932" said:

>

> > that always sounds like a mechanic, trained and skilled with years of experience, looking into your car's engine compartment, scratching the head and says: "_No, we can not refill the fluid of your air condition. Look at all those pipes and tubes. Nah. I can not do that_".

> The accurate metaphor is the mechanic says "you have 6 different problems, 5 cost $200 each, one costs $1000 to fix, and you only have $1000. What would you like me to work on?"

 

"Your prices."

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

> @"Tachenon.5270" said:

> > @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > > @"Zedek.8932" said:

> >

> > > that always sounds like a mechanic, trained and skilled with years of experience, looking into your car's engine compartment, scratching the head and says: "_No, we can not refill the fluid of your air condition. Look at all those pipes and tubes. Nah. I can not do that_".

> > The accurate metaphor is the mechanic says "you have 6 different problems, 5 cost $200 each, one costs $1000 to fix, and you only have $1000. What would you like me to work on?"

>

> "Your prices."

 

If you want to dig deep into the metaphor, sure, you can find a way to break it. The point is: there are more things that we want from the game than any studio could ever add. Some important and good ideas will never get implemented, some will get implemented too late for some of us.

Personally, I would have prioritized build templates; I'm confused why this never made it to the top of their list(s). But let's at least acknowledge that there's a budget for new features.

[starlinvf.1358]

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

>

> Regardless, despite all this, it boggles my mind that ANet has found time to do things like bring back SAB (enjoyed intensely by a small niche of players), but hasn't managed the wherewithal to make any visible progress on templates/loadouts (something that would be used multiple times per day for a large plurality). At the very least, why can't the game simply display builds, the way that gw2skills.net does?

 

I can think of 2 off the top of my head.....

 

1. They don't have a UI guy that can work with the existing frame work

2. They don't have an Engineer who can scrap the existing system to build a new frame work

3. Or they have them, but can't justify the work required to make it happen. I'm willing to buy into this having seen a similar issue in another game in early development, and had to gut an engine's inventory system to get something that supported layered equipment- like belt slots bound to an actual belt piece, that you could loot as a whole item, and preserved its contents. We can't even uneqiup bag slots without emptying it first in this game; and thats basically what the problem was with this other game.

 

 

Consider they can't override an armor weight through the UI, because too many other things are coded to act off of it and creates a crippling dependency. Both outfits and transforms get around this by side stepping the entire armor system.... and I suspect they might even be using the channel that was created for Town Clothes to support outfits, since that has many of the same characteristics, and already existed.

[Aenaos.8160]

In reality with the way the gear and trait systems are set up we need two build save editors, one for traits and one for gear.

In most games that allow for saving builds it's set up this way.

You can save gear set ups in the character load out window and you can save skill trees and traits in the skills window.

Ideally we would get a gear save editor that would function similar to other games like WoW etc and then we would get a build save editor

for our heal skill,utilities,elite skill and traits.