In suggesting a way to display Templates, I inadvertently opened a big can of worms... the template file contains a string of characters that aren't easily recognized. I assume these characters reference a combination of skills, professions and attribute points, but we're not told what stands for what.

So I need a few good code crackers to figure out this riddle; here are 19 characters.. what do they stand for?

Play around with different professions, attribute points, skill combinations.. empty your bar and put on one skill at a time.. I'm going to need the encoding for each skill, profession and attribute. Any helpful information you figure out is appreciated, and perhaps with a team effort we can decrypt the Template Code!

Color Code:

red = Primary Profession
SeaGreen = Secondary Profession
DarkOrange = Number of Attributes
Sienna = Name of Attribute (not yet identified)
#0000FF = 1st skill slot
#0022FF = 2nd skill slot
#0044FF = 3rd skill slot
#0066FF = 4th skill slot
#0088FF = 5th skill slot
#00AAFF = 6th skill slot
#00CCFF = 7th skill slot
#00EEFF = 8th skill slot
#0000AA = 1st attribute
#2200AA = 2nd attribute
#4400AA = 3rd attribute
#6600AA = 4th attribute
#8800AA = 5th attribute
#AA00AA = 6th attribute
#CC00AA = 7th attribute
#EE00AA = 8th attribute
#FF00AA = 9th attribute

Every time we identify a new section of the code I'll update the color code here

Also, whenever posting hex or bit code, use the Courier New font which keeps everything in line

I was playing with it, and no, it isn't what you think.

One skill/attribute/profession combo does not equal one code. The whole code changes as you change one piece of it. The only thing I found was all skill templates (this is a somewhat researched guess, not proven) start with "A"

Cool idea. I'll have to play around with these to see if I notice anything.

I'm going to play around with it when I get home from work.. I think we need to find what combination starts us at zero (or lower case 'a' in this situation?) then see what changes as we add skills and work from there.

Uppercase, not lowercase.

Good point .. if you found that all templates start with uppercase 'A' then that is probably the "zero" character.

I tried sending the question into Guild Wars support to see if they would tell me how to decipher the characters in the template files, but they sent me this reply:

So we wont be getting any help from ArenaNet.. it's up to us to figure it out on our own

If I crack anything, it probably will be on my Guild Wars fansite. Link is in my profile (my homepage)

now I want to buy Nightfall just to crack the template code...

Err, you don't need Nightfall to use templates.

I didn't buy Nightfall

the template thing is available to everyone, check your skills window (k)

here are a few key templates I put together:

Elementalist / Ranger; no attributes; no skills
AmAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Elementalist / Ranger; 1 point in Air Magic; no skills
AmEAGAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Elementalist / Ranger; 2 points in Air Magic; no skills
AmEAKAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Elementalist / Ranger; 3 points in Air Magic; no skills
AmEAOAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Elementalist / Ranger; no attributes; rez sig in slot #1
AmAAIAAAAAAAAAAA

Elementalist / Ranger; no attributes; rez sig in slot #2
AmAAAgAAAAAAAAAA

Elementalist / Ranger; no attributes; rez sig in slot #3
AmAAAAACAAAAAAAA

Elementalist / Ranger; no attributes; rez sig in slot #4
AmAAAAAAIAAAAAAA

Elementalist / Ranger; no attributes; rez sig in slot #5
AmAAAAAAAgAAAAAA

Elementalist / Ranger; no attributes; rez sig in slot #6
AmAAAAAAAAACAAAA

Elementalist / Ranger; no attributes; rez sig in slot #7
AmAAAAAAAAAAIAAA

Elementalist / Ranger; no attributes; rez sig in slot #8
AmAAAAAAAAAAAgAA