I didn't see BlizzCon, nor read about it, so sorry if this is an answered question.

So how do we get points for traits? Do we get one regular skill point and one trait point every level? Or is there some other way we gain trait points?

I can double check tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure Kevin simply misspoke.

Currently you get a skill point every level, and a trait point every other level. Also if you take a gander in the "A Here Emerges" panel coverage I posted (Diablo III - A Hero Emerges http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=27387871468&sid=3000) there are some known issues with traits right now. One if which is that there are probably too many of them. But I don't think the intent is to cut them way back as they're a very cool piece of the character build 'puzzle', and having a lot of good choice there is a goal.

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Q u o t e:
What's the rationale for the "Lucky" trait? Trading a permanent buff for extra gold seems bad enough, but since you can trade that extra gold for a permanent buff it seems like there's no reason not to take it.

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It seems cool?

You could trade that extra gold for a permanent buff. Of a very specific type. Certainly nothing as diverse as a trait point would give, and even then you're still dependent on drops to create that permanent buff. Not just a little extra gold.

Not to mention that once you hit some point of critical mass you'd grab something more worthwhile. It may be that yeah, it's a great trait to take while leveling and gearing, and then almost certainly one you'd drop during the late game.

I wouldn't be personally surprised if it went away. I think I see it needing to be so devalued that it may as well not exist, but I don't think us trying things out is crazy. :)

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Q u o t e:
Drop it?
So you can respec trait points?

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We don't have any character customization you can't change. It may take you some time to do so, and potentially leveling a new character could indeed be faster (and cost effective), but given the time to amass the gold and items, you can change any of your build components. Skills, gems, runes, traits, enchants, dyes, etc.

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Q u o t e:


It doesn't even seem cool. Think this through a little; you're trading cool, awesome traits and power for gold. If you can afford to trade those cool awesome traits, then they weren't that cool awesome or powerful. And that means gold find is a no brainer, you'll always want it. However, if they make the game hard enough, you won't want the gold find b/c you need all that power just to make it through. Gold find is worthless at this point. If you balance it correctly, and gold find is a legitimate and balanced trade off between power and gold, then you have just given an incentive, a reward for making your character weaker; for making your character less awesome. Doesn't that seem pretty contradictory to the emphasis on making characters awesome?

And let's not kid ourselves; this also applies to Magic Find. It gives you an incentive to make your character less awesome (assuming it's a balanced trade off). If it's not a balanced trade off, it's a non-choice.

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I wrote a few more sentences after that first one. :)