Attributes
Originally Published by Spooky
If you've ever played an RPG before, then chances are, you are no stranger to the concept of character development. Through gaining experience, a character earns points that they can use to increase their base statistics, common examples being "Constitution" and "Dexterity." This growth dictates where a character's strengths and weaknesses lie, what tasks they can excel at, and what their role is. While Guild Wars does not have these statistics in a traditional sense, it does have Attribute points, which are just as vital to your character as your selection of skills are. So just what are they, how do we get them, and what do we do with them?
The easiest way to think of Attributes in Guild Wars is that they are a discipline or feature that your character excels at. An Elementalist with many Attribute points invested into their "Fire Magic" line will be adept at using skills linked to that discipline. Conversely, having little or no Attribute points in a line means that your character will be mostly ineffective when using skills of that discipline. So by investing your Attribute points into disciplines that your character can specialize in, you define the role that your character plays, and what your strengths are to play into.
Your character will automatically gain Attribute points each time they level up - until you reach the maximum available, of 200 points. Gain will be slow going at first, but as your character approaches level 20, the amount of points you gain per level will see a significant increase. So let's take a look at the Attributes menu as it appears in game, and how we can use it:
You can bring this window up using the Menu at the lower left of the interface, or by hitting the keyboard shortcut, H. Below the character information, the first thing you'll notice is the "Attribute Points: [Number]" line. This shows you how many points you have that are unspent. In this example, it is 0, because all points have been used with this character. The next line, "Attribute Refunds: [Current Number/Max Number]" is also particularly important for the growth of your character. To understand why, we need to know what Refund points are.
Basically, an Attribute Refund point allows you to 'undo' a level that you have invested in one of your character's Attribute lines. It is easier explained through an example: Let's say you've decided to start a Warrior, and you use hammers. Somewhere down the line, you've decided that you don't really enjoy hammers, you want to use an axe. In most games, you would have to delete your character, and start all over again. Not so in Guild Wars. By using Attribute Refund points, you can unlearn everything you've invested into hammers, and respec those points into axes. You can never lose Attribute points once you've gained them, so by continuing to earn Attribute Refund points (gained with each 250 experience earned) your character becomes infinitely customizable.
Below this is the window where we can actually tailor our points. On the left, listed in gold, are the disciplines that your character can invest points into. The first column on the right represents the 'level' that that discipline is at. A number listed in white is a 'natural' level for that Attribute. A number that is listed in blue is one that takes into account any bonuses (for example, a +1 to that Attribute on your headgear.) And to the right of that, is two more columns, one for decrease arrows, and increase arrows.
The decrease arrows are used to lower the level of an Attribute. Each time you click one of these down arrows, an Attribute Refund point is consumed. The number listed on the down arrow shows how many Attribute points you will free up to use elsewhere by taking the refund. It is important to note that a refund point equals one 'level' - so one Refund point could be use to lower a stat from 12 to 11 (meaning, you don't have to have 12 Refund points to lower a level 12 Attribute.)
The increase arrows are used to raise your Attribute level. Each time you click one of these up arrows, the corresponding Attribute will be raised one rank. The number listed on the arrow tells you how many free Attribute points you need to raise that discipline to the next rank. If the number is grayed out, you have insufficient free points to reach the next level.
Now that you know what Attributes are and how to use them, you can start making the most of your character. For further details on the costs of Attribute point levels and how to use them most effectively, refer to this article.
The easiest way to think of Attributes in Guild Wars is that they are a discipline or feature that your character excels at. An Elementalist with many Attribute points invested into their "Fire Magic" line will be adept at using skills linked to that discipline. Conversely, having little or no Attribute points in a line means that your character will be mostly ineffective when using skills of that discipline. So by investing your Attribute points into disciplines that your character can specialize in, you define the role that your character plays, and what your strengths are to play into.
Your character will automatically gain Attribute points each time they level up - until you reach the maximum available, of 200 points. Gain will be slow going at first, but as your character approaches level 20, the amount of points you gain per level will see a significant increase. So let's take a look at the Attributes menu as it appears in game, and how we can use it:
You can bring this window up using the Menu at the lower left of the interface, or by hitting the keyboard shortcut, H. Below the character information, the first thing you'll notice is the "Attribute Points: [Number]" line. This shows you how many points you have that are unspent. In this example, it is 0, because all points have been used with this character. The next line, "Attribute Refunds: [Current Number/Max Number]" is also particularly important for the growth of your character. To understand why, we need to know what Refund points are.
Basically, an Attribute Refund point allows you to 'undo' a level that you have invested in one of your character's Attribute lines. It is easier explained through an example: Let's say you've decided to start a Warrior, and you use hammers. Somewhere down the line, you've decided that you don't really enjoy hammers, you want to use an axe. In most games, you would have to delete your character, and start all over again. Not so in Guild Wars. By using Attribute Refund points, you can unlearn everything you've invested into hammers, and respec those points into axes. You can never lose Attribute points once you've gained them, so by continuing to earn Attribute Refund points (gained with each 250 experience earned) your character becomes infinitely customizable.
Below this is the window where we can actually tailor our points. On the left, listed in gold, are the disciplines that your character can invest points into. The first column on the right represents the 'level' that that discipline is at. A number listed in white is a 'natural' level for that Attribute. A number that is listed in blue is one that takes into account any bonuses (for example, a +1 to that Attribute on your headgear.) And to the right of that, is two more columns, one for decrease arrows, and increase arrows.
The decrease arrows are used to lower the level of an Attribute. Each time you click one of these down arrows, an Attribute Refund point is consumed. The number listed on the down arrow shows how many Attribute points you will free up to use elsewhere by taking the refund. It is important to note that a refund point equals one 'level' - so one Refund point could be use to lower a stat from 12 to 11 (meaning, you don't have to have 12 Refund points to lower a level 12 Attribute.)
The increase arrows are used to raise your Attribute level. Each time you click one of these up arrows, the corresponding Attribute will be raised one rank. The number listed on the arrow tells you how many free Attribute points you need to raise that discipline to the next rank. If the number is grayed out, you have insufficient free points to reach the next level.
Now that you know what Attributes are and how to use them, you can start making the most of your character. For further details on the costs of Attribute point levels and how to use them most effectively, refer to this article.
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