Official Feedback Thread about Build and Equipment Templates

[misterman.1530]

Can someone explain to me how Equipment Templates work with Legendary (or even Ascended) items?

 

I have a full set of Legendary Light armor. I built a couple of Equipment templates for my Necro. I then logged onto my Ele, but I can't select the Legendary Armor.

 

So, that means I have to log onto my Necro, remove the items from the equipment template, put the items into the bank, log onto my Ele, get the items from the bank, and build a template. But that means I have to destroy my Necro's equipment templates. Both of them. And rebuild them all over when I log into the Necro. Every time. Like we had to do BEFORE templates.

 

I honestly fail to see how this helps across your full list of characters. I mean, within one character, that's fine, but for more than one that can share items, I fail to see why this was developed this way.

 

I would have thought that all Legendary and Ascended items go into a general, shared inventory - one for Legendary items and one for Ascended - from which every character could draw - you can't log into two characters at once, so I fail to see the issue with that. Then another bunch of slots (under legendary) of Sigils, Runes, and Infusions that can be slotted.

 

But this current way? What's the point?

 

 

[misterman.1530]

Wow. Just checked. If you have two equipment templates, it's not enough to drag them from one template into your inventory, you have to do it from each template. Only then can the items be put into the bank. Unless there's a simpler way.

 

Yeah, I think someone asked - can we opt OUT of equipment templates altogether?

[misterman.1530]

I'm sorry, I started another thread asking for confirmation about Equipment Templates - hadn't realized there was a combined thread.

 

Yeah, equipment templates are a horrible idea unless you are using them for only 1 character. If you have Legendary or Ascended Armor and Weapons, you still have to unequip all items from every Equipment Template of one character until they appear in your inventory - but not just that, it removes all Sigils, Runes, and Infusions. Only then can you put them in your bank, then log in as another character, get the items, and finally equip them, reinstalling Sigils, Runes, and Infusions. So, if someone has maxed out their equipment templates, that's a LOT of clicks.

 

Bad design.

[Gaab.4257]

Can we just revert to the old functionality? or maybe have a game option/toggle that lets those who like it use it, and otherwise just have the previous system, with automatically stored builds per game mode?

Also after 7 pages of criticism it would be nice to hear from Anet.

[Halure.2571]

I have nothing to say about your rendition of Guild Templates other than to just beg you to **let Arc continue to update Build Templates for us** or to let us turn off your build templates on an account-wide basis. That, or make it STOP saving builds and gear changes automatically.

 

ArcDps build templates cost you ZERO time and money to maintain and it added so so so so so so so so so much to this game for hardcore players like myself. Your release is terrible and is so useless that even if you fix all the bugs everyone has been describing here, it still isn't worth using unless we want to give in to your undisguised, predatory money grab template expansions. You want us to pay money for a system that is many times WORSE than what we already had outside the game.

[Eddbopkins.2630]

A disable feature would be much appreciated. The way you implemented your build templates is in my opinion the worst way possibe. I do not want to use it Sam I am. Please put a disable feature into it. Thank you.

 

$36 to max out a single character on build and equipment templates, plus another $37 to max out an account on build storage – it’d run you $360 to max everything on an account with one of every class.

 

Never in a million years will I pay 72dollars a toon for a QOL feature. These days that the price of a full game. I swear 2019 will probably be my last year in gw2.

 

Also when loading into a PvP match I was unable to use any of ulitilies at all. It's like you never test anything. I started the match off as reaper but we had like 3 reapers so I switched to warrior. Had to load up into lion arc 1st because the toon wasn't parked in the mist. When it finally loaded up into the PvP match I was unable to use any utilities 6-0. Also I was missing an entire trait line none of the traits were selected in the specialization. So not only was I unable to use any heals stun brakes Condi clears elite skills, I was missing an entire trait line because something wasn't tested before hand. I swear anet gets worse and worse with each update. Nothing was properly tested with this template nonsense and I give the implementation and it's abilities a 0/10. Worse coding anet has ever done.

[linamaria.1830]

For me 2 actions need to be done, then I will start to use the new features, even buying extras slots:

 

1. Equipment Templates: The legendary/ascended gear need to be easily swapped between characters. Right now, I don't feel like using the equipment templates at all, as the equipment storage is character based, instead of account based.

2. Build Templates: The traits need to automatically be loaded while entering into different game modes, just like it was before yesterday.

 

Those 2 changes are fundamental in my opinion.

[Jarl Grey.8135]

A build consists of (traits & skills & utilities & armor & weapons & trinkets) including runes, sigils and infusions. Please note that this is a logical AND, not OR. What you delivered is a split set of loadouts. Will you please allow Delta to continue his work on build templates as there are still no build templates in GW2? Thank you.

 

Both versions can co-exist, just be confident of what you designed. People wanting to support the game can continue to buy the advertised slots, and you keep all players ingame that have a need for more. Maybe some of those will buy some slots anyway. Believe in your playerbase, then they have faith in you.

[HnRkLnXqZ.1870]

I've read the suggestions and requests about build templates for seven years. Now that the feature is finally live, several players do no longer want it. Mostly because the feature has the usual Guildwars 2 signature, it is obviously nothing from the MMORPG-Sandbox rack. It is a customized system, adjusted to Guildwars 2.

 

The game we play is quite simple. You can create characters as you wish, you can gear them as you like and play almost every content you want. Some content requires a few preparations, like raiding or fractals. We do not have any story-lock system like that one MMORPG which was often said to be our successor. So we can create a new character and just start with the recent LS chapter. A lot of us have several characters, some of the veterans usually have even different characters with the same classes. Depending on the dedication and motivation of the player, those characters are more or less well geared. Guildwars 2 actively promotes the use of several characters.

 

In addition we have a lot of QOL (quality of life) features which offer convenience to our community. We have a very cool Wardrobe System, Novelties, Item organization via bag-types, extendable banks and bags, extendable crafting-slots, unlimited gathering tools and salvage-kits. We even have a content-guide which helps players to get around new maps. There is the golem in the Special Forces Training area to even measure DPS and test builds.

 

A lot of people use these features and are glad they exist. Of course they make our lives a lot easier. But there are obviously also people who think a little more complex. Obviously the QOL features of the game are too simple for them, too low for their needs. So we have third party programs. TACO is the #1 content-guide. GW2Efficiency is used to organize and overview the complex details of our accounts to make playing the game as efficient as possible. ArcDPS exists for optimal damage-tracking. A lot of veterans use personal guild-banks. Some people have multiple accounts or are organized in discord/TS communities, as the 5-guild restriction is way too small for them. They are maybe part of 10 or 15 guilds?

 

The community of Guildwars 2 is a big tent, to say it with Canach's words. We are a group of many different, smaller and larger groups of people who play the game and enjoy it. There is room for everyone, the casual, the veteran, the hardcore gamer and of course the newbie. Everyone can play the game as he prefers and use what ever features he is comfortable with. This is Guildwars 2, it always has been that way.

 

---

 

From my perspective, the build-templates feature is groundbreaking in many levels. It will trivialize a lot of clunky and complicated mechanisms within the community and will make character-design and build-design a lot more transparent and easier to understand. The linking-ability is mind-blowing. The separation between gear & build-templates allows almost infinite combinations and set-ups. The restrictions are within an acceptable range, small enough to still overview it and keep the relevant things in mind without playing with a giant post-it attached to the screen, telling which of that 60 builds serves which purpose.

 

In addition it solves a very old problem with gear wasting inventory space. We can address the builds to hotkeys for very quick access and also name them to keep things organized. I am surprised in a positive way about how many issues were taken care of. The system is very well written, self-explanatory and reveals its advantages straight on. It has a few weak-points, like everything that is newly launched.

 

---

 

Why can't we leave it like it is? There will be a lot of players who gladly accept the built-templates in Guildwars 2, who will purchase the upgrades and extend the feature to its maximum capactiy for the ultimate convenience. The gemstore is large, the build-templates are only a small part, the further unlocks are rather cheap. It will not have a huge impact on ANet's financial situation. I do not count the monetizing argument with the build-templates. There are products on the gemstore which generate a lot of money, but definitely not the templates. Like all of the convenience products, they are cheap enough. Even people who have no money to purchase gems for RL money can just farm a little gold and unlock them easily. There are plenty of guides to make gold fast and efficient, for both casuals and dedicated farmers.

 

Let us keep ArcDPS as it is. A third party program for people who like to use more features. Let the people decide on their own if they want to go with the convenience of an ingame-feature which allows a lot of advantages for players. Or if they want to go with a custom-build 3rd party program which is not so easy to set-up, may crash your client, may cause problems with updates and may contain bugs. Use on your own risk.

 

I believe the amount of players who actively use ArcDPS will decrease over time automatically. A lot of people will try to adjust their (maybe too) complicated build-organization to a more user-friendly configuration which is supported by the Guildwars 2 build templates feature. The newbies will pretty much grow up with it, and later question themselves if they really need the extended features of ArcDPS. The hardcore player-base will stick to ArcDPS of course. But those are not so many players.

 

I will definitely go with the new build-templates feature. It is a great relief and will save me a lot of time and trouble. With the changes I have just done this evening, my gameplay has already drastically improved. I'm willing to enhance the feature with an upgrade or two, as it suits perfectly to my personal needs.

[Linken.6345]

> @"Menadena.7482" said:

> > @"Linken.6345" said:

> > > @"Menadena.7482" said:

> > > Gathering tools can not go into a template?

> >

> > No they are expluded.

>

> Was any reasoning given? Say I am using one of the special S3/S4 tools that has half the charges of a normal tool. I had hoped we would be able to use this to keep a spare set handy.

 

To sell unlimited ones per character to the people who are to lazy to change them by hand.

[Falconwing.8105]

I find it unintuitive and frustrating that builds do not function as templates, but rather as loadouts. Would it be possible to update the build side of things so that we can set actual restore points for the system to load so that when we hit our hotkey it loads the saved format? Right now if I make any changes to my build it overwrites what I put in the template, but I would prefer that it not do that.

 

Additionally, I think is a mistake for character slots to offer more value than build and equipment expansions. 800 gems ($10) gets you a character, which has three build templates and two equipments templates and five bag slots built in. That undermines any desire to buy actual upgrades for my existing characters as it would be the more expensive option.

 

Overall I like the idea of the system but I do agree that it needs some more work to reach the standards GW2 has set for its other systems.

[Tails.9372]

I like the idea behind the build templates but the fact that I'm not able to link key bindings / a build to a weapon set is a huge disappointment and frankly takes away the main reason why I would care about them in the first place.

[Nero.3654]

This "taps" are minimal i want but paying for build storage is to much. Reset legendary weapons on swap is to much. We should get at least 2 taps fpr pve and 1 for wvw and pvp and can have minimum 6 for each game mode.

[Nero.3654]

And if u want more $$$ place outfits window for each gear templates....

[Blockhead Magee.3092]

It now takes more clicks to do the things I could do before (not talking about arc). Let me go back to the no template model instead of adding this complication.

[Fonzeworth.3690]

I think the previous pages have summed up the general consensus on the negatives and the minimal positives with how the system is working now that it's live. I think my personal gripe, as someone who frequently plays other MMOs, is the forceful redefinition of templates, especially for our primary gear one. It's misleading to call that a gear template when it's not static unlike the rest of the gear templates that can be unlocked.

 

Additionally, I didn't think the update would also strip away the old system when switching game modes. Even though I don't personally play WvW or PvP often, I think that the players who do are justified in their criticism since they lost a smooth transition. It feels like a lack of foresight to believe that would not disrupt player experience, especially when that's a fastpass into whoop city in PvP. Prior knowledge would have definitely helped.

 

Of course, I don't agree that build templates should be monetized. I understand it for equipment as it's also storage, but players have done the math already that I don't need to repeat here.

 

Overall, this makes me wonder how this update is supposed to fit in with the rest of the character framework. If we have the capability to share items between characters, and sets are shared between classes (especially for legendary gear), then limiting equipment per character when the norm has been otherwise seems a little backwards, to say the least. Players don't have a reason to invest in more template slots when it's still useful in shared spaces in the first place--I'm honestly not sure if this template system is meant to be integral like it was in GW1 or supplementary since players have adjusted to other known methods that are still more optimized than this.

 

The more I think about it, the less clear the intentions for this are with the restrictions that are in place now (aside from the easy "It's a cash grab scheme reeee!" answer). Hopefully this thread is taken seriously, but I have my doubts like others have expressed as well.

 

This feels like a 'better on paper, not so great in practice' sort of deal.

[Teminite.2458]

buying arcdps templates off of the original owner and selling access to it for 500 gems would have been better. arcdps was far superior in any way and i didnt mind the taken inventory slots.

good: fast switching, i appreciate being able to swap fast between encounters in raids.

bad:

* over priced, TRIPLE monetized, unlocks arent account bound

* unintuitive, clunky. a single template that contains all gear\trais\skills wouldve been better.

* trait storage is literally useless

* it fucks up the most dedicated part of the community, those who have 5+ builds for each character or even a single character. a new player wouldnt need this system to begin with. takes away the qol that legendary gear provides.

* my opinion the worst part is how you no longer have a default build for pvp\wvw. if i happen to play all 3 game modes im HEAVILY restricted. removing those was just a bad move

 

my suggestions: default 3 gear slots, 6 trait slots. 800 gold for +2 trait templates and +1 gear template (or split it 400 400) ACCOUNT BOUND. turn global templates into premade traits+gear to swap everything at once as well as making it able to link in chat. make it so legendary gear is actually worth getting instead of ascended.

 

massive thumbs down in my book, hands down the worst update in the last year, and we had a lot of ups and downs during this year. just let us use arcdps again.

 

[Bellatrixa.3546]

I decided to wait 24 hours before giving my feedback to give ANet a chance to acknowledge/fix any bugs with the templates and one patch in, I have to say that so far I'm incredibly disappointed.

 

I've been a massive Guild Wars fan since I picked up the first game almost 10 years ago, racked up over 12k hours across both games and honestly lost count of how much I've spent on both games, books and supported projects like the Tyrian Tarot. While I've wanted official build templates since I started GW2, I was willing to patiently wait for them to release instead of using ArcDPS. When I finally heard that they were coming, I had my misgivings due to the direction that monetisation of the game has been taking. "But hey," some guildies tried to reassure me, "maybe it won't be as bad as you think. Wait until they release pricing details." I wasn't happy with the limitation on how many build storage slots could be accessed from the get-go, but I still held onto the hope that they wouldn't be as overpriced as I thought they would be. Oh boy, should have listened to my gut instincts.

 

Given how much I've spent on the game up to this point, build templates are somewhat optional for me as I have plenty of characters to swap between, but that doesn't mean I agree with how aggressively monetised this feature is, and I can honestly say that I will not give anything further to a company who has become increasingly predatory with its practices. The cost of fully fleshing out 9 characters (one of each profession) with templates is honestly obscene and I no longer feel inclined to support a company that's going to nickel and dime their player base to such an extent over something that a) should have been in the game from the beginning and b) should have been free or at most bundled into an expansion. Oh wait, I forgot expansions seemingly aren't going to be a thing any more.

 

But it's not just about the money. I've sat reading the issues that players have been having (upgrades removing themselves, loss of automatic build swaps between modes, legendary gear not being integrated properly, issues with duping, autosaving of builds when tinkering with them, the list goes on) after this system has apparently been 2 years in the works. I've seen that the previous feedback about this system has been ignored. I've seen the issues raised in the WvW forum about how the mode is possibly going to turn into whoever has the most build/equip slots wins - namely because there's been no communication as to whether players are really supposed to be able to swap OOC anywhere on the borderlands after assurance in the past that this would not be the case. If it's a bug, it's a massive oversight and hasn't been addressed within 24 hours of the system going live so I am left to assume (as much as I hate to do so) that this is a feature. As it stands, being able to completely swap your build anywhere with two button presses along with utility cooldowns resetting upon build swap is beyond broken and leaves room for tremendous exploitation in WvW as people are already discussing. If those are intended features of the mode going forwards with these new templates, it's going to swiftly go down the path of literal pay to win which will drive people away from WvW more so than the lack of updates and the perpetual wait for alliances, as well as alienating newer players to both the game and the mode.

 

None of it's a good look and while I've been largely supportive of ANet's decisions in the past, this is where I draw the line. After many other disappointments with the game, this has been the thing to finally cause me to lose faith in the studio I've loved for so long because I get the distinct impression that the feedback from this thread will go where all previous feedback has gone - straight over ANet's heads and into the bin. But hey, at least I know I tried to have my say.

[Tsunami.4516]

An Afterthought: Perhaps the game content developers are not the ones who get to choose the pricing of their own content? If I am not mistaken they are a subsidiary of NCSoft, a publicly traded South Korean gaming company. Public companies are notorious for PREDATORY practices for profit. Need I say more?

 

I like to think the developers are fans and players of the game too who are even more pissed off than the community is about the price of their own content.

 

GW2 is easily one of the greatest games I have ever played thanks to the living art that it is. The people(past/present) who have played a role in game development, with certainty have poured themselves into their work, in my opinion. Just roam any map on an HD monitor with your HUD turned off and you can see for yourself. Super engaging and shifting/evolving combat systems, cooperative, casual, no gear grind, mounts, (even the broken ass pvp system is an acquired taste haha), etc, I could go on for awhile. I am a fan. All that stuff I like came from the content creators and for that I thank you. Despite any issues(including the current one) or problems or setbacks or delays, thank you for this awesome game.

[Rick.6041]

Would love to give some feedback, but the current round of crashes, don't allow me to stay on long enough to play with and figure the templates out.

[Mighty Cole.7849]

Bad Design.

 

- Equipment, Traits and Skills all need to be together as an individual build template.

- Items should **not** be removed from your inventory.

- Absurd money grab

 

Completely unsatisfied.

_Just my two cents._

[int randInt return.7810]

I'm not buying any additional slots for now.

 

I wouldn't be able to buy enough for some of my mains with legendaries anyways, and the prices are excessive.

 

 

800 gems for a whole template... (Build+gear)

I may as well wait and see if they ever go on sale for a reasonable price.

 

Evil Genie is supposed to be a forum game, not a software development methodology.

[Dante.1508]

What is the point of sharing builds if no one knows what armor and jewelry sets to use, to be honest this whole thing seems half made and hamstrung by money making scams.

 

I'm also confused we now have one less build slot, before we had pve pvp and wvw equipment builds? now we only have two?

[Mixmasta.5491]

I've had quite fun playing this game before the update and didn't really care about this build template system. I was fine with what we had, but now not having builds switch automatically between PvE/WvW/PvP anymore makes it less fun, so I figured I leave a comment to let you know since you are asking for feedback.

 

Edit: I would be fine with the system if we could at least permanently assign one template to each game mode and have the game automatically swap to it when changing game modes. At least that is the functionality we had in the past but what we got now is just a straight downgrade.

[Eloc Freidon.5692]

Equipment Templates should start at 3 and should cost no more than 200 Gems each. And that is even after they make it so that the wardrobe is saved to the slot itself.