#Blaugust Day 4 -- Paid Gear/Spec Switching in Guild Wars 2?

Guild Wars 2 allows a person to be very flexible in the way they build a character. With five specialization trees that can be built out in several ways and a set of skills that is far deeper than the five slots (or 10 if you count weapons) that you're given to shape your character, there's a lot of potential to design or tweak a number of builds.

For instance, on my necromancer, I usually run an axe/dagger/staff combo that focuses on wells, marks, and condition damage. 

But if I'm out in the world exploring, I typically like to put up a summoning build that has a full spread of minions that will gladly offtank for me as I run by, but simply switching the skills to minions from wells still means I'm not prepared on the back end with my specialization trees. 

Or, what if the group I'm in suddenly needs me to switch to a utility role where I'm cleansing, healing, fearing, and buffing?   I've got the skills, but I may be short on time to set everything up on the trees to be my best at what the group needs from me . . . and gear swapping? Well, it's just extra clicks and extra inventory space.

What if I'm hitting teq, and I can't crit on that dragon . . . at the least I'd like to switch to some gear with a bit more health . . . 

I can typically do just fine in any of these roles if I'm just chasing a zerg around in the Mists, but . . . serious 5v5 PvP? You'll want another special build so you can hold nodes.

Now keep this in mind while I switch gears to a different game . . .

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DC Universe Online also allows a person to be flexible with how they build their character.  You have three trees of skills that you swap out and weapons/movement you can invest skill points points in to really make your character shine.

For instance, on my sorcery hero, I usually run a shield/rifle DPS build that uses a pet. He's an amazing powerhouse that brings the deeps yo.

If I want to PvP, however, I'm going to need to change my gear . . . and changing my build is probably a good idea too.

And if the call goes out for a healer, I'm again going to want to change pretty much everything so I can be the best I can while still mixing it up with damage as well. 

Now, this is where DC Universe shines.  There's a really cool housing item called an Armory -- you use it to imprint your current build and assign it to a button key press for instant use anywhere in the world.

In other words, these allow a person to click one button and POOF, as long as I'm out of combat, I'm fully dressed, equipped, and set up with the powers and skills I want.  ONE BUTTON and I'm the best healer setup I have. ONE BUTTON and I'm the best DPS I can be. 

. . . and they sell this amazing magical item in the cash shop. It's genius, and would be perfect for Guild Wars 2. 

. . . even better it looks incredibly swanky in your player housing. 

What's surprising to me is that we just give this one away for free in Wizard101. Equipment Sets went into the live game back in November 2014 . . . and it's free?! ONE BUTTON and you have all your gear and the correct deck for questing in PvE. ONE BUTTON and you have all your gear and the correct deck for PvP. It's quite cool and people love it. I don't blame them. It's a must have quality of life item.

I'm sure this is in more MMOs (and especially older MMOs that grow more complex as they age). If you know of one, leave a note in the comments. Personally, I would love to see this implemented in Guild Wars 2, and it's something I'd buy a pre-paid card to invest in. (And looky here! I'm not the first to suggest this.)

Happy Dueling!

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This post is part of the Blaughust challenge -- Thanks to Belghast from Tales of the Aggronaut for hosting.