Guild Wars 2: Concerns over the new tier system

[Imperius]

For those of you who are interested in Guild Wars 2 but have been living under a rock for the last couple of weeks: the new beta weekend starts this Friday.
I am super excited about it (which is rare for me and mmos these days) but I can't help but noticed one thing....

Spoiler

Tiers for Skills
We?ve organized each profession?s elite and utility skills into three different tiers, or levels. When you get enough skills in one tier, you unlock the next level of skills. Why the change from the previous model, which let players choose from all the available skills at once?
?The tier system gives players both a sense of progression and accomplishment,? says Lead Designer Eric Flannum. ?It encourages them to experiment with different skills as they increase in power, and it avoids overwhelming new players with a huge list of skills to choose from.?
?Plus,? Flannum adds, ?the tier system is more scalable and expandable. We can more easily add new skills in the future with this system.?

Source: http://www.arena.net/blog/the-big-beta-weekend-preview

I can't help but be a little disappointed with this, I enjoyed the buffet style "pick any skill you want, at any time you want" sort of arrangement where I could save up points for the abilities I really wanted rather than have to have to buy some lower level stuff that I wasn't really that excited about. Sure I understand the concept behind it, but I disagree that it is the best option. I'm not any sort of genius and I had the system figured out inside ten minutes. I was overwhelmed, but in a good way. When I first saw all the options available to my Engineer I was like a kid in a candy story, drooling over that nice buff expensive looking flamethrower.

I had to save up my quid, just like any broke ass kid would have to, but by level 9 I had it and it was my baby and I LOVED IT. From there I started buying anything and everything that looked good to me and by the time I was around level 12 I had a medpack, a flamer, grenades and a turret and was just dominating everything.

Is it really a great idea to take that away? I know its not a major issue and tier systems are okay. Even though it is the MMO norm, imagine if your favourite store told you you had to buy X amount of things that you didn't really want that much in order to get the thing you crave the most.

You: "I want to buy that sick Alienware!"
Clerk: "I'm sorry sir, you haven't spent enough money with us yet to buy that...can I interest you in a Gateway instead?"
You: :-\



Don't get me wrong, I'm not ready to burn Arenanet at the stake, nor am I really complaining. I'm just a bit concerned that perhaps it wouldn't be the best idea to emulate other MMO's with the whole tier system when it comes to skills, not when the other way was working out so well.



But perhaps I'm a bit off base and too WOW-a-phobic to see how awesome this could be. Thoughts?

 

[BloatedGuppy]

But perhaps I'm a bit off base and too WOW-a-phobic to see how awesome this could be. Thoughts?

They were finding too much potential for overpowered combinations, and too much cherry picking of specific traits. They want to try and control how you access things and try to force you into some tough decisions. Additionally, this will make the game significantly easier for them to balance.

While I appreciate that ArenaNet has done much to differentiate GW2 from the "WoW model" of MMO design, the point here isn't to change stuff just to change it. You build on the foundation of what has come before, and make as many evolutionary and revolutionary steps as you can. "Balance" is not really an optional feature. While it always stings to lose some freedom of choice, it's in the best interests of the game.

Besides which, it's a fairly minor change, all things considered. A few of the most outrageous combinations will no longer be possible, especially early on. That's alright. You don't necessarily want people kitted out in every single thing that catches their fancy at level 12.