Guild Wars 2

This post is not about certain skills being overpowered or dominating combat. This post is about the non-existence of certain utilities and elites for some classes in underwater combat.

Elites:
Warriors have 2 Elites that work underwater.
Mesmers have 2 Elites that work underwater.
Rangers have 2 Elites that work underwater.
Engineers have 2 Elites that work underwater.
Necromancers have 1 Elite that works underwater.
Guardians have 1 Elite that works underwater.
Thieves have 1 Elite that works underwater.
Elementalists 1 Elite that works underwater. (water specific?)

In sPVP this severely cripples teams and players on the Raid on the Capricorn map. In PVE this can be a major annoyance, especially for solo players attempting to get map completion. In WVW this can be a minor annoyance.

I’m just curious as to what the logic was behind the decision making here. Is it a programmatic issue with making certain elites work underwater? For instance with the Mesmer class are Moas not animated to swim? Or is it a balance issue? In the instance of Warriors are we to believe Rampage is OP underwater?

What was the design rule that ultimately lead to certain classes having an unbalanced amount of options vs other classes?

If we wanted we could count how many Utility skills have been removed from underwater combat for each class.

Utilities:
Guardian: 2 Utilities do not work in underwater combat.
Warrior: 4 Utilities do not work in underwater combat.
Mesmer: 5 Utilities do not work in underwater combat.
Engineer: 6 Utilities do not work in underwater combat.
Ranger: 6 Utilities do not work in underwater combat.
Necromancer: 7 Utilities do not work in underwater combat.
Elementalist: 8 Utilities do not work in underwater combat.
Thief: 10 Utilities do not work in underwater combat.

Going off of the numbers of abilities here;

Elementalists lose 11 total abilities underwater (3 elites & 8 utilities)
Thieves lose 12 total abilities underwater (2 elites & 10 utilities)

So what is the actual reasoning here? Is it a ground targeting issue when underwater? Then how are they making Time Warp work and why isn’t that applied to other targeted skills as well? I understand traps may cause an issue and that’s why both Rangers and Thieves lose them but it seems that theres a some inconsistencies in what is or isn’t allowed. (For instance Battering Ram works but Kick doesn’t.)

Is it an animation issue? Do the Thieves Guild not know how to swim?

Anyway, I’m not claiming to be right here, I’m just curious as to the reasoning and logic behind design choices made in underwater combat seemingly cripples certain professions more than others.