Kill Ten Rats: GW2 Interview on Energy and Skills, Pt. 2Follow

Cartwright continued that there was one other part that people don’t really see yet in the system. Traits interact with skills in a really heavy way. He then gave the example of two identically skilled sword warriors. One warrior can take a trait that makes every sword attack cause the bleeding condition, and the other warrior takes a trait that causes Savage Leap to recharge twice as fast. The first warrior becomes a super pressure character, and the second warrior becomes a highly mobile melee attacker jumping around the map. So even though the warriors still have identical skills, traits can allow them to play in a completely different way. Even after traits, there are still items, Cartwright added, so the amount of builds a skilled player can create skyrockets well beyond the baseline. Peters and Kerstein echoed that the build making ability in Guild Wars 2 can be daunting to someone really delving into the systems.