Guild Wars 2

Something I think is worth noting is under water combat in GW2. Thus far, other than fighting in the Bloodtide Coast, Sparkfly Fen and Straits of Devastation, there’s never really been a huge need for people to worry about under water combat. It’s a topic that’s so infrequently discussed that even when you go to look up builds on websites, under water weapons don’t even really get acknowledged.

We all know certain skills are rendered useless under water, such as guardian tome elite skills (as one example) or Necromancer wells (as another example), so if these skills are disabled under water, shouldn’t we be able to make use of different traits when in the water to compensate for being unable to use skills we can only access above water?

At this present time, there’s no real need to do a lot of work when it comes to under water combat because there’s no reason to fight under water. There are no world bosses that spawn completely under water and fight under water for the duration of their existence, and there are only a few heart quests around the map that require players to go under water. Beyond that, most combat is done above ground and so people set their traits to deal with above ground ‘only’ scenarios.

Unless this next set of events taking place in Tyria (the living story) plans to include some under water world bosses, then there still isn’t a huge need for under water trait flips. Still, before Bubbles decides to show up, it would be nice to see some work done to make water combat a bit more separated from land combat.

IMHO, water combat should not be more separated from land combat. They need to be brought together. With this in mind, two suggestions: one little, one big.

Little:
Change the aquabreather into a costume item, not an actual item.

The aquabreather should operate exactly like the costumes do now; it puts on a visual mask when you go underwater, instead of being an actual physical item.
Why is this good? Because stats and runes. The aquabreather is a lot of busy work for not much reward. Visually, it’s cool, but practically, not so much.

Big:
Remove the distinction between aquatic and terrestrial weapons. Roll staffs and tridents together. Roll harpoon guns and rifles together.

Same thing as with the aquabreather; there’s now a lot less busy work to do when it comes to gearing your character. It also opens up a huge amount more options for weapons when you’re underwater, and classes which aren’t elementalists and engineers get landspears. LANDSPEARS

It also means we get Raid on the Capricorn back which I’m sure everyone will agree is better than Skyhammer.

Sarrs.4831:

IMHO, water combat should not be more separated from land combat. They need to be brought together.

Exactly this.
The biggest issue is how different it is, right now. And how rare. We have way too little water and fighting in it is usually too meaningless.

I’d love for sunken places in WvW zones which add meaningful power to the realm controlling it. Not like the old altar (though it was ok-ish). Rather, towers/keeps which involve large underwater segments to taking/defending them.

(edit)
I like the idea of dropping the distinction, in parts. I feel some classes should be able to use spears above water. But harpoon guns? OTOH, a bow underwater? Or a hammer? Makes very little sense. But a Scepter and a Focus, that might work.

Carighan.6758:

(edit)
I like the idea of dropping the distinction, in parts. I feel some classes should be able to use spears above water. But harpoon guns? OTOH, a bow underwater? Or a hammer? Makes very little sense. But a Scepter and a Focus, that might work.

Yeah I thought that after I posted it. Earthshaker will probably not work too well when you’re underwater. :p

Well, either unify or neatly separate. Traits synergizing with abilities not available underwater are a nuisance.
We could start by enabling everything not ruled out by profound reasons. (yeah, admitting it, i just want my Healing Turret underwater)

Plok.5873:

We could start by enabling everything not ruled out by profound reasons. (yeah, admitting it, i just want my Healing Turret underwater)

I’d support this immediately. Even if it means that AE abilities are automatically PBAE, whatever, just let me use my skills.

Carighan.6758:

I like the idea of dropping the distinction, in parts. I feel some classes should be able to use spears above water. But harpoon guns? OTOH, a bow underwater? Or a hammer? Makes very little sense. But a Scepter and a Focus, that might work.

The thoughts of which weapons that could work in the water is a pretty easy one for me (due to me being a scuba diver irl). I could picture only the following land weapons working in the water. Staff, Scepter, Focus, Dagger

I think underwater combat having unique weapons and profession mechanics is a good one, but that properly balancing it is simply going to have to wait until there’s a compelling reason to do so (e.g. completely underwater zones/maps)

I would expect a full balance pass and probably new GM traits, gear, etc. when this happens, likely as part of a LS arc dealing with bubbles. That way they can get it all in one go, working on the pvp and pve implications of the system at one time.

Anet knows that underwater combat is a mess (they pretty much removed it from PvP) but it isn’t a big enough issue right now to bother with. I wouldn’t be surprised if the next big feature pack release was all about underwater mechanics though.

Completely underwater zones would be fascinating. I loved the one in WoW, more than any other zone they did. The sheer vastness of Vashj’ir and the varied amounts of colour were amazing.