Details of Guild Wars 2's Mastery System Released
Today at gamescom, ArenaNet spilled the beans about some of the details of Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns' Mastery system. This new system will "[do] away with the traditional gear and level grind of traditional progression [...] and widen the gap between new and veteran players." Instead, players will be facing challenges in order to "earn context-specific skills and abilities." This new form of progression will be tied directly to the game's story, as well as gameplay, and seeks to "[establish] exciting goals to achieve for [...] characters beyond level 80."
Several Mastery tiers will need to be uncovered in the "Heart of Maguuma Jungle," a new zone being introduced in Heart of Thorns. These tiers will give players a chance to unlock new skills as they learn more about the Exalted, Itzel, and Nuhoch, three new races of Maguuma Jungle. Several Masteries that can be trained are "gliding, mushroom jumping, and new combat techniques introduced to them by these races." These will need to be unlocked and trained in order to survive in Maguuma Jungle.
Those not yet ready to journey into Maguuma Jungle can also unlock several Masteries in Central Tyria. One such Mastery line unlocks new skills and rewards for Fractal Dungeons. Another sends players out to collect the requirements for a legendary weapon. Yet another allows players to "earn abilities that bring exciting new elements to what they experience in Central Tyria."
As ArenaNet put it, the Mastery system "requires both time and expertise." Masteries are trained by doing "normal activities" that you would expect to give XP. Once fully trained, a Mastery unlocks Mastery points that players can use to unlock that tier's abilities.
Hopefully, this can solve the issue of the gear grind and lessen the gap between newer and older players while providing older players a worthwhile experience. I am currently skeptical, worried that it won't provide enough power progression to hold players' interest, as even completely non-combat abilities like gliding and mushroom jumping supposedly fall under Masteries.
