Disconnecting Primary Attributes and their "Special Power"

Hiya,

I always wondered about the way primary attributes work and specifically the special power that is linked to them.

My suggestion to make it work better is the following: Make the special power that is linked to the attribute an innate power of the profession.

What sort of special powers am I referring to then:

Warrior (Strength) - Armour Penetration on attack skills.
Monk (Divine Favour) - Extra healing when casting spells on allies.
Elementalist (Energy Storage) - Extra Energy.
Mesmer (Fast Casting) - Spells casting time reduction.
Necromancer (Soul Reaping) - Energy gain when deaths occur.
Ranger (Expertise) - Cost reduction on energy cost of many skills.
Ritualist (Spawning Power) - Stronger spirits, longer duration of weapon spells.
Assassin (Critical Strikes) - Higher chance on criticals.
Paragon (Leadership) - Energy gain from casting shouts and chants.
Dervish (Mysticism) - Health and Energy gain from ending enchantments.

There are two ways I see to go about this class power as it would be then.

One way of doing it, is actually linking it to your character level. It actually can make a lot of sense that your class power increases as you gain levels.

Secondly, one can have the effect of the special power increase with the attribute points related to the skills being used. So the mesmer spell Empathy would cast a lot faster at Domination 16 than say 12. Of course then there has to be a solution for Soul Reaping and Energy Storage who are sort of the odd ones out as they do not relate to skills in their effect.
But one can imagine energy storage being more like expertise but then relating to spells rather and Soul Reaping giving back energy when using skills within x seconds of a death occuring within a certain range (the amount of energy regained depending on the attribute behind the skill being used) or giving energy back whenever you successfully steal life with a skill for example. For the necro it may be a point even to have it restricted to necro skills, but that is a balancing issue.

In addition, you can still make good use of the primary attribute to put skills under that should really only be accessible or useful to the primary profession or even giving you skills that are related to the class special power as it would be.

All in all I do realise it may be a bit ambitious for GW1, but still it's a suggestion I wanted to make. If indeed it is too ambitious at this stage in the game, perhaps it can serve as an idea for GW2 still.

No.

They're mostly balanced as they are, discounting Spawning Power; it would be way too much work and trouble trying to create new effects and balance them all.

So you say I don't need to spend any attribute points in primairy anymore? That would give me lots of unspend attribute points to use

So.. NO

lets make primary attributes even stronger

good idea, now everyone will have space for all attributes!

Changing a game mechanic that has been around for 4 years would cause a LOT of trouble. Not only that, as noted by others, it would allow people to have high attribtues for more attributes than they currently do.

The only primary attribute that needs a fix is Spawning Power, the other ones work fine.

Well of course I realise it could be very involved to reprogram. I am not expecting anything from Anet. This is not the bug forum but the suggestion forum.
Personally I find that even though it works sort of, that the whole set up of the primary attribute could've been better and this is why.
Yes it would change a lot of things but so far the comments I see here have all been like "oh it's too much work" or "it will make it too powerful".
That it could be too much work I agree with but I think it was worth mentioning, because I am not a programmer and perhaps it would be more of an idea for GW2.

The too powerful comments are nonesense however. It's only overpowered if one class gets benefits and the other doesn't.

This all has to do with the feeling that when I play a character it doesn't feel like being a mesmer or a warrior has it's own merit. I feel sticking it all on a primary attribute which is more or less useful depending on the class was perhaps a bit too simple.

And in the end it may be of interest to Anet to see this suggestion if even a part of it is of use to them. That's often how it goes I think.

So perhaps, someone has something else to say than assuming it's too powerful or too difficult. I think with that attitude nothing ever changes, so it's always good to at least bring up an idea and see what can be made of it, if anything.

Consider how effective an Elementalist would be using no Energy Storage skills and no attribute points in Energy Storage. Sure, they would do the same damage with their spells, but they wouldn't be able to cast very long as they wouldn't have the energy to. Same for a Necro, no Soul Reaping would mean no energy coming in. Each primary attribute has benefits, but only if you put points into that attribute. Spawning Power is one that has marginal benefits, but the others are significant.

Now, if you get the benefits just by being that class, and not by putting the attributes into it, it becomes over powered. Balance is important to the game, so why would we want something over powered introduced? A Necro usually puts 8-10 attribute points into Soul Reaping, Ele 8-10, War 9-12, Ranger 8-10, Mez 8-10, Sin 8-12, Paragon 8-10, Dervish 8-10, Monk 8-10. Now, a low end 8 attribute points is a total of 37 points. To go from 10 to 12 you need another 36 points. This means you would allow someone to max one attribute to 12, run a second at 12, and still have the benefit of the primary attribute at max value (at level 20).

Sorry, but I won't say 'sure' simply because over powered is bad for the game. Might be the only response you'll get, but when it is a good response to a bad idea, take it and move on.

Fix spawning power? yes.

Mesmers with max fast casting with no attributes in fast casting? Enjoy never been able to cast anything ever again.

Two factors determine a profession:
- Primary profession.
- Armor
The 'innate powers' of that professions are in the base properties of their armor.
For example, Rangers have +30 armor vs elemental damage, all casters have +2 energy regeneration and warriors have +20 armor vs physical damage.

Why decrease the primary attribute?
Jack of all trades, master of nothing.
In GW, characters can sacrifice their specialties in order to use more attribute lines.
For example, since Divine favor is useless for all skills that target enemies and all skills of all other professions, they can renounce to it to have rank 12 in another attribute line when they go smiting with skills that only target enemies.

I see more important to change all primary attributes to have some use to all professions than making then fixed so they are always active.

No. All that needs changing is Spawning Power.

I disagree. Mysticism also desperately needs a buff (just not as much as Spawning Power). All it does is give you a little bit of health and energy when an enchantment ends on you. It doesn't actually make the Dervish any better at using his own stuff, which is why sins and warriors can use his stuff better than he can. By comparison, Critical Strikes gives you more energy and more health than mysticism while also giving a legitimate combat boost.

Still, I don't see how this suggestion is necessary. Buff the attributes that need it. No need to reinvent the wheel.