Due to the recent update to Guild Wars 2, which has changed the trait system, I've heard lots of people asking "What's the new meta?" and "Meta hasn't been outed yet"

In this context, what does "meta" mean? I assume they are talking about specific builds, or trait and skill combinations, so why is it called 'meta'?

1

1 Answer

Meta is a term commonly used in MMO's to describe the current best builds and strategies, short for metagame.

It comes from the greek meta, which indicates an abstraction from a concept ; so this is used to designate everything related to the game, not explicitely told by the game.

There is a nice Wikpedia page about it.

And yeah, I think GW2 is the game where I have heard this word the most. When meta becomes the most important thing, that's when I usually grow tired of the game and quit.

3