Are people actually going to use build templates?

[Danikat.8537]

I'm unlikely to use them much myself as I'm one of the people who rarely changes my builds. Although I might use it when I'm experimenting with a new build so if I don't like it I can quickly swap back to what I had, and I might save a few slight variations for things I can never remember - like which trait gives engineers a passive speed boost. It might very occasionally be helpful for me to have a copy of my main build which is identical except with that trait selected, so I can actually use it when I need it.

 

I'm also one of the people who has multiples of some professions so I can use different elite specs without swapping everything, and I'm going to be keeping those alts even after build templates are added because for me it ties into 'role playing' (even though I don't actually act out scenes in games often). My scrapper would never want to be a holomancer - it doesn't suit who she is or why she became an engineer and I don't think I could enjoy playing her as one knowing that.

 

But I have a friend who has completely different builds for each boss in a raid. Not the final boss - she has a different build for each individual fight in each raid. And for each role she's playing. Her big concern is that there will be a limit on how many templates you can save at once and she won't have space for all the builds she uses on a regular basis, let alone unusual ones or new ones she's experimenting with.

 

So while build templates may be largely irrelevant for me I'm happy we're getting them because I know for her they're the single best thing that could ever be added to this game, or any RPG she plays.

[Yahkov.8217]

I have 4 ascended sets on my elementalist. Power DPS, healer, WvW roaming setup, and a zerg setup. I am working on my second ascended set for my warrior so I can run power or condi, depending on the fight and I will also make gear for WvW. Build templates I will most definitely use.

[Zaklex.6308]

Players have been asking for it forever, so based on that I'm pretty sure that a lot of people will use it...and I'm also pretty sure you could not only save your stats and attributes in GW1 but also your armor and weapons, so that when you changed builds you could swap armor and weapons from a build template at the same time. If the GW2 build template system does the same thing then it will be usable by anyone.

[Asum.4960]

It's kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy to say people don't change builds often, so it's a waste to implement a system that makes it not completely obnoxious to change builds, so people actually do it a lot more.

(Kind of like open world having such high engagement just because it sees the most development, justifying more development which is increasing it's engagement, while other content like Fractal CM's have incredibly low engagement because it hasn't been developed for years, meaning they don't get further development, which could increase engagement)

 

I'm already using Build Templates via Arc since about 2 years, and I probably have around 3-15 builds per character, depending on how often I play them, how engaged I'am with that prof., and if they have Legendary Armor etc. on them.

 

Before using ArcDPS, I almost never swapped builds, just because it's such a hassle.

That functionality implemented natively, hopefully a tad more conveniently and by nature being more accessible to a wider population due to not requiring any downloads and such, will definitely increase the average amount of builds people have per character as well as their willingness to experiment, as they always easily can swap back etc.

 

While some people will of course stick with their one build they run around on, for me and I imagine it would have for many others, ArcDPS and it's Build templates massively opened up the game for me.

Having that as base functionality in the game is long overdue.

[vyncius.6105]

build templates are needed, i play rev, all kinds of rev, so i have atleast 8 builds that i use for content (raids, fractals, healing, condi, power, diviners, wvw, open world etc..). before i found out about arc buildtemplates, i was using like 2-3 builds at best, just because stat, rune, sigil swaping on legendaries takes too much time

[Blocki.4931]

Trait switching alone is going to be very valuable. Switching from some trolly roamer build to a small scale fighter on the fly in WvW? Crazy good.

[EmmetOtter.8542]

If you do multiple types of content you may have multiple builds

1. Raid build.

2. Open world build

3. wvw build

 

Not to mention if you're experimenting with a new build, you may have multiple very similar versions of a build as you experiment and constantly swap between them

 

Not having build templates is a huge pain in the derriere.

[Ben K.6238]

I didn't use build templates very often in GW1, and considering that I use WvW builds in PvE (even though I hardly play WvW anymore; old habits die hard) I doubt I'll use them much in GW2 either. But there are several situations in which I can see other players would find them useful, particularly the ones who play raids, fractals etc.

[aspirine.6852]

I used templates in GW1 all the time, and I see in GW2 an even better use for it than in that game. Since you are stuck with your build in GW1 once you left the towns, in GW2 you can alter your build whenever out of combat.

Even for WvW imagine when a zerger now gets ganked because he is in zerg mode, easy to change it to roamer build and make it back easier to the group.

And I can imagine it being usefull in other areas too.

[Odinens.5920]

I do not switch builds often, but the reason for that is because it's a pain in the ass to switch builds/gear. I'd use templates....fo sho!

[Udolpho.1209]

World: We're inventing the wheel

People: I dunno... do we really need wheels, how much will we actually use that anyway?

[Obtena.7952]

> @"Iozeph.5617" said:

> Engineer player here. Why in hell would anybody want or need a build template when for the last five years they've been aggressively doing everything to ruin the trait trees so that there's only one worthwhile trait per tier(if that)? Seriously. Builds aren't that hard to do anymore because the majority of our traits are straight rubbish. Even more so after the glorious abortion they're calling a 'balance' update.

 

I have 4 builds for Engi and I love playing them all. Balance is irrelevant to the question of having build templates or not.

[Vlad Morbius.1759]

Templates would have been useful in year 2, now this far into the game with most players having an alt of every type i don't see this as a good use of resources. It would have been very beneficial around the time of HoT but now it seems redundant, so typical Anet a few years late to the party.

[Rauderi.8706]

Even with me having a ton of alts, my main being warrior means I'm still likely to swap between core and spellbreaker depending on the content I'm doing. If I'm solo, where I expect to get hit, spellbreaker. Fractals or large groups, I'd do better to swap to something else, so I wouldn't mind having that on the fly.

Like, built into the game, not from a mod I otherwise refuse to support.

[Game of Bones.8975]

Even if I wouldn't use them all the time, they are a useful tool.

 

Builds are only part of the character; the other aspects include armor/weapon/trinket stats, knowledge of game combos, and who you are playing against.

 

Button-pushers will never be as good as experienced players no matter the equipment.

[Ototo.3214]

> @"arielwind.8921" said:

> Build template is convenient. But I honestry disagree to develop in GW2.

> It might not majority, but some people buying gem for character slot, and farming gears for alternate build. Those gem should be income for Anet and in game economy gets more active state.

 

Because it's impossible for them to charge gems for additional build template slots per character.

I very well could get additional character slots to do different builds of the same class, but I don't want to do that. I want my one ranger to be my only ranger because he's the aesthetic I like for a ranger. I don't want to make a clone of him. Build templates fix that issue. Other classes I like having different characters for the different especs, because I want a different appearance for, say, a reaper vs a scourge. But not every class.

The same sort of thing happened with shared inventory slots, many people got multiple salvage-o-matics for their characters before the shared slots. Now we have the convenience of not having to buy a ton of the same item but you can buy more shared slots that give you more uses.

[Trise.2865]

Don't care enough one way or the other. I'll look at it because it's new. If it offers something useful to me, then yes. Otherwise, it's getting ignored, like so many other features you people insist are "needed".

[Blockhead Magee.3092]

Hades YES I would use the Hades out of build templates!

[ArchonWing.9480]

Well yea, the legendary armor ui is so bad.

 

I have to select stats for each piece. Select the armor. Click the drop down dialog. Click the stat. Dismiss the window. (why can't I select it for all pieces at once? This is 24 clicks)

 

Click on runes (who mixes runes really?) 12 clicks

 

Click on infusions. Another 12 clicks.

 

48 clicks minimum. And that's if I don't screw up.

 

Oh didn't set traits yet...

 

Convenience my kitten. This isn't really better than swapping ascended except you save space.

 

> if a significant number of players just run around using basically the same build all the time, while having only gear for a single build, and see their specialization as their "real" profession, what's the point of build templates?

 

Some of us intend to be useful though. Yes plenty of players don't care about that and would rather leech and lay dead as long as they get their reward. Most content also doesn't require that level of effort anyways. But if we just focus on them, nothing really matters beyond handing out free stuff anyways.

 

You probably shouldn't design a game around the lowest common denominator. Otherwise you get, oh wait.....

[mindcircus.1506]

> @"Erasculio.2914" said:

> if a significant number of players just run around using basically the same build all the time, while having only gear for a single build, and see their specialization as their "real" profession, what's the point of build templates?

Since those players have what they need already, maybe the _significant number_ of us who enjoy running more than one build should get a little developer love as well.

What's the point of only catering to the lowest common denominator?

 

Yours is absolutely the weakest argument "against" in this thread.

[Erasculio.2914]

> @"mindcircus.1506" said:

> Since those players have what they need already, maybe the _significant number_ of us who enjoy running more than one build should get a little developer love as well.

 

Is it a "significant number"?

 

You could argue that ArenaNet knows it is, but then again, ArenaNet doesn't know how many people would use a feature that doesn't exist yet. And reading the theory above - that people don't change their builds often today because there is no simple way of doing so -, it looks like using the number of people who change their builds today wouldn't really be a good indicator of how many people would use this feature in the future.

 

I think the fact ArenaNet is taking their time to implement build templates (soon to be seven years) is a sign that it wasn't exactly their main priority, and so not exactly something they believe will be used by almost everyone in the game.

 

I wonder how many people will use it. Nice to see so many posters saying it's a feature they, too, want. I just wonder if a _significant number_ of players (of which the forum community is only a small minority) share our opinion.

 

[Etria.3642]

OMG I cannot wait for build templates.

 

Ranger-Condi soulbeast, power soulbeast, wvw soulbeast, healing ranger

Engineer-wvw scrapper, raid holo(well. Maybe that one is retired)

Thief-power dd, power deadeye

Chrono-wvw chrono, raid boonshare, raid tank

Rev-wvw herald, raid condi renegade

Elly-healy tempest, power weaver(and maybe now a condi tempest?)

 

PLUS I am learning firebrand, so my dragonhunter has to share.

 

Not to mention an easy way to put in and take out agony infusions vs wvw infusions vs showoff infusions.

Plus not having to remember each choice in the specialization bit or forgetting to swap a pet or weapon or sigil or rune.

[Obtena.7952]

> @"Erasculio.2914" said:

> > @"mindcircus.1506" said:

> > Since those players have what they need already, maybe the _significant number_ of us who enjoy running more than one build should get a little developer love as well.

>

> Is it a "significant number"?

>

> You could argue that ArenaNet knows it is, but then again, ArenaNet doesn't know how many people would use a feature that doesn't exist yet. And reading the theory above - that people don't change their builds often today because there is no simple way of doing so -, it looks like using the number of people who change their builds today wouldn't really be a good indicator of how many people would use this feature in the future.

>

> I think the fact ArenaNet is taking their time to implement build templates (soon to be seven years) is a sign that it wasn't exactly their main priority, and so not exactly something they believe will be used by almost everyone in the game.

>

> I wonder how many people will use it. Nice to see so many posters saying it's a feature they, too, want. I just wonder if a _significant number_ of players (of which the forum community is only a small minority) share our opinion.

>

 

It really depends on how or if Anet monetize it. A build template system doesn't necessarily scale by number of players as it could scale by number of builds saved.

[Vayne.8563]

I tend to switch skills around now but I rarely switch traits around. That will change when build templates comes out. Yes, I'll use the hell out of it. If nothing else I'll have a one touch (hopefully) portal build on my mesmer, back into my open world combat build, for when I'm taking people around HoT for the first time which I do often. Plenty of times I'm down two skills because of portal and mimic, that I'd rather have condi removal like I often have. There are dungeon builds I'd use for specific dungeons, and I'd label them by the name of that dungeon. I'd have a reflect build set up for my guardian but I don't use that all the time. I'd have builds that focus on condi removal, or swap to builds that focus more on stability depending on the fractal I'm starting, and what the instabilities are.

 

Oh hell yeah, I'll be using it.

[LucianTheAngelic.7054]

> @"Erasculio.2914" said:

> > @"mindcircus.1506" said:

> > Since those players have what they need already, maybe the _significant number_ of us who enjoy running more than one build should get a little developer love as well.

>

> Is it a "significant number"?

>

> You could argue that ArenaNet knows it is, but then again, ArenaNet doesn't know how many people would use a feature that doesn't exist yet. And reading the theory above - that people don't change their builds often today because there is no simple way of doing so -, it looks like using the number of people who change their builds today wouldn't really be a good indicator of how many people would use this feature in the future.

>

> I think the fact ArenaNet is taking their time to implement build templates (soon to be seven years) is a sign that it wasn't exactly their main priority, and so not exactly something they believe will be used by almost everyone in the game.

>

> I wonder how many people will use it. Nice to see so many posters saying it's a feature they, too, want. I just wonder if a _significant number_ of players (of which the forum community is only a small minority) share our opinion.

>

 

What do you claim to be a significant number of players? 5%? 10%? 30%? Higher? How many people would have to use the feature for you to deem it “worthy of development time?”