Guild Wars 2

Hello guys,

I wanted to show you here my detailed concept for a third soldier class – the Dragoon.
First off, I want to tell you the basics around this concept:

Weapons

(1H Main) Sword, Dagger, Lance*new*
(1H Off) Sword, Shield, Warhorn, Focus
(2H) Greatsword, Halberd*new*, Longbow
(Water) Spear, Trident

Traits

These 5 Traits should the Dragoon have

• Cavalry Battle………….. Good for +Power/ Riding Duration %
• Mount Knowledge…… Good for + Toughness/ Condition Duration %
• Devotion………………… Good for Condition Damage/ Mount Stamina %
• Sky Assaults……………. Good for Precision/ Crit Damage %
• Oaths of Sealings…….. Good for Vitality/ Healing Power

Gameplay

The Dragoon shoukld offer to the gamer two different gameplay modes
1st is “Mounted Battle Mode”

Mounts will work for the Dragoon as class specific system, just like pets work for the ranger (F1). F2 and F3 are for specific Mount Commands, like using the Mounts’s Attacks or setting it up as a defensive pet alongside you, if you just don’’t want to ride it.

2nd is “Sky Jumper Mode” in which the Dragoon will use regardless of the actual equipped weapon a Sky Jump Skill Bar of 5 different Sky Jump Skills. (F4)

Mounts
Every playable Race would have their very own individual 3 types of mounts:

Mount Mechanics

Every Mount under the Dragoon works under the same mechanics, regardless of which race you play. The key words here are Riding Duration and Mount Stamina
Mounts as gameplay feature can’t be used unendlessly, once activated.

• Riding Duration say, for how long you can ride on your Mount, until the Mounted Battle Mode ends for the player.
• Mount Stamina tells you, how many Mount Skills you can use, until the Mount needs a short break, before you can attack further. also when you sprint with the Mount to make some quick dashes with increased movement speed (Quickness Boost), then this will cost you Mount Stamina.

Sky Jump Mechanics

A Dragoon’s Sky Jump ability is key for this classes mobility. With Sky Jumps the Dragoons have an option to teleport themself at other locations and deal at their landings massive short ranged AoE-Damage. These jumps are basically static, so once jumped, you can’t change your direction anymore, unless the player has skilled the trait “Like a Leaf in the Wind”, which allows the player to use once “Double Jumps”, what will then cost the Dragoon all of his Stamina and is usable only at full Stamina and is also only usable as Grand Master Major Trait.

Here the 5 Skills under this mechanic as Examples (just examples, so don’t take it too serious, ANet will change/rename stuff anyways due to copyright stuff and so on)

Important You get only to choose out of 5 Skills, which you want to use, after using 1 jump, the Dragoon will change back to its normal skills, but each Jump has a different recharge time, so if you use the one with the shortest recharge, then you can use via F4 faster again one of the 5 Sky jumps. There would be a Trait, that will reduce Jump Recharge Times about 20%.

• Draconic Dive
  The Dragoon will create a massive flaming AoE-Shockwave at the landing, that will damage all enemies at the landing spot and sets them on fire with long duration (8s)

• Thunder Tooth
  The Dragon will come down at the landing spot as fast as a lightning with a flash of light, that will blind and immobilize enemies as also dealing AoE-Damage at the spot.
  Were enemies already suffering on blindness, then this skill will deal a high stack of vulnerability instead.

• Sky Feather Assault
  The Dragoon will deal at the landing spot AoE-Damage, but at the landing will explode hundreads of feathers at the area, making all allies in near tempory invisible and granting to them a 33% movement speed bonus for as long as the cloud of feathers is in thei air. This Skill sets up a Combo Field

• Howling of the Wind
  The Dragoon will deal AoE-Damage at the landing spot and creates around hisself a ring of little tornadoes, which will home in at the next five different nearby enemies to launch them up into the air and deals a multiple stack of bleeding to them, what will also interrupt them in their actions.

• Grave Digger
  The Dragoon will deal AoE-Damage at the landing spot as usual. Once landed, the shockwave of this attack will be so strong, that it will knock enemies back away from the Dragoon. ENemies will suffer on cripple after this attack for a long duration.

Part 2 in the next Post

Oaths
Oaths are a specific feature to the Dragoon.
They work like antiproportional signets on short range AoE base.
They have passive effects, that seal enemie abilities aways, which can be one time stronger, once the Dragoon activates his oath. So the passive effects are no self buffs, like signets work, instead they are short ranged AoE debuffs for in melee combat for enemies that help taking over control in battles.
Enemies can break their seals, while being in meele combat, but doign so means automatically heavy consequences to the enemy. Easier would it be to flee from Dragoon to get out of range from their sealing oaths, so that you can use again your skilsl without having to fear from getting the consequences for breaking the seal.

Symbol/Color
http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/026/e/5/Ronan_Dragon_Knight_Symbol_by_mizj.jpg

Naturally changed a bit, so that it will look more unique for GW2, but you get the style of that picture, into which direction it should look like.
Example Traits

Cavalry Battle

5 Stampede
When riding your Mount in a group of Dragoons, then then mounts will produce a stampede creating a trail of dust, in which enemies will be blinded.
10 Attendance of the Cavalry
If a Dragoon is in your near, then allies in near receive a Toughness and Vitality boost of 5% of your own Strength
15 Battle Rider
Attack Power with Lances and Halberds is increased by 5%, by 10, when riding your Mount.
20 Header
Critical Attack Damage and Chance are increased by 5%, when riding your Mount
25 Mount Jumper
The Dragoon can now also perform Jumps, while being mounted. Doing so will end the Mout Mode. The Jump performed from a Mount will deal 20% more damage to enemies with Health over 50%
30 War Mount
Your Mount becomes a battle-scarred War Mount. Projectiles will deal now 20% lesser damage to the Mount as also Dragoon and they won’t fall off their mounts anymore so easily.

Devotion

5 Mount Whisperer
The Mount reveives 5% of your Strength as additional Vitality
10 Riding Master
Increases Maximum Riding Duration by 15%
15 Caregiving
Mount Stamina is increased by 20%
20 Attentive Rider
Mounts receive 10% more Toughness and the Dragoon doesn’t fall off its mount anymore so easily
25 Healthy Sprint
If you sprint with your Mount, then the Mount heals itself for the next 5 seconds and loses cripple, chill and immobilize.
30 War Rider
All the Mount Skills activate and recharge 20% faster

Sky Assaults

5 Evasive Landing
After performing a Sky Jump the Dragoon makes automatically an evasive roll forwards to make the landing more fluid, without stamina cost.
10 Sky Fall
Reduces Fall Damage by 50% and initiates a randomous of the 5 Sky Jumps preventing that way also the knocked down animation.
15 Eagle View
Increased Precision when using Sky Jumps for 1 point per Level.
20 Strong Legs
Decreases the Recharge Time of Sky Jumps by 20%
25 Far Sight
Increases AoE-Range of the Damage and maximum Range for Jumps gets doubled from 750 too 1500
30 Like a Leaf in the Wind
Allows 1 time use of Double Jump for all your Stamina

Oaths of Sealings

5 Strong Seals
Increases the maximum range of your oaths passive effects by 20%
10 Seal Breaker
If you break up a Seal for an Enemy before it breaks the Seal itself, the Enemy loses up to 3 Conditions, but you gain 3 stacks of Might, Fury and Regeneration for 10 seconds
15 Oathed Rider
All your passive Oaths functionate also, while you are riding your Mount.
20 Pure Mind
Activated Oaths recharge 20% faster and you lose a Condition when activatig Oaths
25 Seal Punishment
Enemies which break their seals, will receive Damage now.
30 Vow of Vitality
For every Enemy (maximum 5) under seals or passive oath effects do you receive +25 vitality and 10% faster stamina recharge

place holder for Skill examples

Oath of Purgation
Passive: Enemies in your direct near get seals on summoning minions, that will slow down massively the activation of these skills.
Do enemies break their seals, their summons will have 33% lesser health and deal 33% lesser damage.
Active: Activating this Oath will create with your halberd a shockwave of light, that will banish up to 3 minions around you and sets other enemy types on fire for 3 seconds.

i like this idea gw2 need more races/classes and you seem to know what you want for this class anet should seriously consider this

Sounds like a funner class than any of the classes out currently. They all seem too plain, and boring. I like this idea, although I can tell it is greatly inspired by a certain other game :P

Can’t see much anything of this happening, but the time and effort you put in to express your idea is appreciated.

I can see a Lancer profession as a real possibility, but not quite the way you have envisioned it. I think it would work better with more emphasis on the jumping skills rather that being mounted, but the mount might make for a fun elite skill.

I’d be happy as long as it has 2 handed pole-arms with swiping as well as stabbing animations.

bump it up

Yes, the inspiration for this class is naturally more than just obvious.
But it is a clear class niche, that isn’t filled yet by any of the already existing classes.
It would bring a whole new gameplay to GW2 and it would be a class with its mount battle mechanics (as basically temporarely ridable pets), which would be completely unique for GW2.
Thats exactly what GW2 needs – new unique classes with gameplay features, that you have seen either nowhere yet in any other MMORPG, or just only very rarely in a little similar, but often in a much different way.
Yes, Jumps are nothing new, but the mount mechanic is in that way how I concepted it as temporarely feature for the F-Buttons being part of the dragoons battle style and not being mounts for transporting or so to just move faster only…

I find it nice, that people here seem to like the idea of a 3rd soldier class swinging halberds So far .. I like it also alot, because from battle style this class would be so much different from a simple Warrior or a more defensive Guardian.
While the Warrior is more superior in DD, and the Guardian more superior in Support, the clear superior role for the Dragoon would be CONTROL.

Thats why I want it to have Sealing Skills (Oaths), which should work like antiproportional Signets, which don’t buff you and your allies, but instead debuff all your enemies in your direct near passively, or more stronger one time actively and help in stopping enemmies from doing something or preventing some incoming heavy damage by massively weakening the outcome, if the enemy does break the sealing to use Skill X, which has been sealed by your oaths.

So “Sealed” would be a new dragoon specific condition, that would be also unique to GW2.

However, now some more trait and skill examples reediting into the posts

Keeping it up

Do the so far listed up trait examples sound good, or is something there, where you would already say now, this is by far OP ??

Here a picture of a female human Dragoon in a very similar looking already existing GW2 armor (Draconic Armor)

http://24.media.tumblr.com/4b8af33b781f5c01bbec3aceed149e5d/tumblr_mf0ig5D4DE1rdy3s5o1_500.jpg

and another one, iwth different art design
http://www.creativeuncut.com/gallery-12/art/d2-dragonknight-female.jpg

How will movement work? When you’re mounted, would you be faster? How will turning around and momentum work? This might prove interesting if you could figure out these first.

Being Mounted, the Dragoon would move same as fast, like a player without mount.
But the Dragoon would have naturaly same as all other classes also have its skills/traits, which will increase the movement speed of the Mount.
Then again the Mount has as Special Ability a Sprinting Feature, with that you could temporarly strongly increase your Movement Speed.
Like for example as like an Elementalist using its Skill “Ride the Lightning”, where the Mount would make with the Dragoon on it a quick dash forwards. But this would cost the Mount its Stamina…. so dashing is in battle just maybe only an option to flee out of battle, but surely not for dashing into a battle, because then the Mount would have alot lesser Stamina for the ongoing fight to be able to use it up for its other “Mount Attacks”, that will also coost Mount Stamina and when Mount Stamina reaches 0, then you can’t use the Skills from the Mount, then you just ride and can use only your Mounted Weapon Skills from the Dragoon.

When being Mounted, the Skill Bar splits up into this:

5 Mounted Skills from the Dragon, which differentiate by your equipped Weapon, 5 Mount Skills from your Mount, which will cost Mount Stamina and can be only used, if the Mount has enough Stamina for them.
If you use the Trait for Sky Jumps beign unlocked, while being mounted, then you have also the ability to use a Sky Jump out of the 5 possible ones and doing so will end the Mounted Mode, so Sky Jumping from Mounts would be perfect finishers for when your Riding Duration is ending soon in a few seconds.

Turning with a Mount would be slower, than just being not on the Mount, they would have naturally a bigger turning circle, so that you can’t turn around with them instantly in a 180° way… Stopping with a mount works like stopping when beign not on a mount..so instantly, except if you used a sprint with your mount, then it will take a few seconds, before you come to stop. But when you sprint, and an enemy for example stands in your way, the momentum of the mount stopping, the moving force beind it, will knock enemies away, but only if you used the sprint. Enemies standing in a mounts way sprinting will stop it, but this will then naturally hurt the enemy, that was in the way
If the Dragoon has also no build up devotion with its mount, chances then in such a situation are also good, that the Dragoon will also fall off of its mount . (what will hurt then the dragoon too)

Any other questions ? ^^

PS: added above 2 pictures to give u a better impression of how good they fit already as 3rd soldier class for GW2, one showing it with halberd, the other with sword and an awesome armor/sword design. wants to have THIS sword in the game ^^

Bump it up with some little concept infos being better visually shown this time I thought about, what a Dragoon should have for personal story options, when creating a Character.
This should be the options line for a Dragoon:

1. Select Race – Asura, Human, Charr, Norn, Sylvari
2. Select Gender > Male/Female
3. Select Profession > Dragoon
4. Customize physical Appearance
5. Create Biography

• Profession specific Questions

I’m riding a _________ in the battles. It is since I am a Dragoon my most loyal companion I ever had.

Asura
1. own created Golem
2. Domesticated Raptor
3. Domesticated Skelk

Human
1. Horse
2. Gryphon
3. Grand Moa

Norn
1. Grand Kvedullf
2. War Dolyak
3. Arctodus-Simus

Charr
1. Grand Salamander Drake
2. Grand Wild Boar
3. Grand Devourer

Sylvari
1. summoned Kirin
2. summoned Treant
3. summoned Grand Thorn Wolf

That being cleared up now a bit better, I’ll remove the obsolete part of thatt in my first posting.

Hey there Orpheal, I’ve just seen your reply on Redrex’ Spiritualist thread and decided to check your ideas out. I don’t have time to comment right now, but you’ll hear from me in a day

So you take the idea of a dragoon ( which is a foot solider that specializes in dragon combat with abilities that allow him or her to leap great distances [ as per DnD ] ) and made it into a plee for mounts to be put into the game which are not needed.

I have no issues with your dragoon profession just remove the mounted BS. Mounts are not needed in the game IMO.

Kaimick.5109:

So you take the idea of a dragoon ( which is a foot solider that specializes in dragon combat with abilities that allow him or her to leap great distances [ as per DnD ] ) and made it into a plee for mounts to be put into the game which are not needed.

I have no issues with your dragoon profession just remove the mounted BS. Mounts are not needed in the game IMO.

Concur. Let the mounts thing go already.

Kaimick.5109:

So you take the idea of a dragoon ( which is a foot solider that specializes in dragon combat with abilities that allow him or her to leap great distances [ as per DnD ] ) and made it into a plee for mounts to be put into the game which are not needed.

Dragoons were mounted soldiers LONG before Masashi Miyamoto even knew what video games were.

Did I say anything about Final Fantasy? no I referenced DnD ( Dungeons and dragons ) not the real world Asian Calvary men. Again sounds like another plee to insert mounts in which we do not need.

Kaimick.5109:

Did I say anything about Final Fantasy? no I referenced DnD ( Dungeons and dragons )

That’s all well and good, but the concept of leaping Dragoons was popularized by Final Fantasy VI, not D&D.

Kaimick.5109:

…not the real world Asian Calvary men.

That’s all well and good, but the term Dragoon as it relates to mounted military soldiers is European, not Asian.

Kaimick.5109:

Again sounds like another plee to insert mounts in which we do not need.

That’s all well and good, but that’s just your opinion. And it’s one that TC apparently doesn’t share.

This is a really neat and clear concept! There seems to be a lot of fun to this class, and I really like your redesign of signets into oaths. You will get backlash from anti-mount players, but you’ve created some realistic boundaries and limits to mount use that could make this class viable in the GW2 context.
Only despairing thing I can think of is seeing zergs of dragoons in WvW. On the whole it’d be pretty awesome to watch, but it’d overshadow the other classes a bit much.

As people have perfectly figured out already, the term of “dragoon” comes originally from european riding soldiers, here is the wiki link to explain better:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragoon

So Mounts are basically a MUST to the class concepts, as they belong to them, like butter on the bread, salt in the soup… without mounts this class wouldn’t be a REAL dragoon, but instead just only a FF dragoon copy.
If GW2 should have dragoons, they need features, that make them look and work different, than how dragoons work in FF14. What doesn’t mean that both can’t share the jump ability, but our dragoon under my concept here would have with mounts as class related feature and oaths a completely different gameplay feeling and thats the important thing.

If anyone says here, I’m just pleaing only for mounts, has absolutely no clues and didn’t really read my concept completely, or why do you believe, that I came up with things like Mount Stamina and Riding Duration to limitate their use ???
Because I know there are many people out there, who dislike mounts, whyever, mostly only due to bad experiences being made with them in other cheap F2P games

But this concept should be a compromiss, these mounts aren’t usable for everybody, nor are they anyhow special for transportation and they are only useful in battles.
If you use them outside of battles, you can’t use them permanently, due to the riding duration, so they are just only temporary speed boosts, like like getting a speed boon for x seconds

@Faces: I’m pretty sure, that if Anet would bring Dragoons into the game, that the other classes would get some improvements to. None of the existing classes at the moment is completely using out all of their potentials they have to the fullest in my humble opinion.
They all look like, as if they are just running with an active handbrake on, not showing everything what would be possible with them, if they’s show they complete capabilities. But thats just mostly so far due to the skill/trait system that needs massively more tweaks.

A Dragoon zerg may be impressive, when they are stampeding towards you on the first look, but all you have to do is bringign them down from their mounts, or try to endure them, until their riding duration runs out and they have to fight normally for some time. Dragoons are weak against ranged attacks and AoEs, while being on their mounts. Especially ranged attacks can easily result in dragoons falling off of their mounts, if the dragoon had not enough devotion to their mount to prevent the fall off.

Any skills, that deal knock down against the mount, or launch would be also great against them to bring dragoons down from their mounts easily…

Hi Orpheal, I like your idea, I was just wondering how you would adapt this to underwater combat?

And also, battle mounted mode and sky jumper mode are a little similar to elementalist attunements, is there a way to make them less like ‘modes’?

Also, just for clarity, mount stamina and riding duration are also implemented in the thief’s initiative system isn’t it? Or a similar system which forces you to time your attacks?

And when you’re not mounted, are you automatically sky jumping?

And when you say ‘antiproportional signets’ you mean like passives that apply to enemies, right?

@ redrex

Ya, about Underwater gameplay I’ve right to come up with here. Haven’t posted this part here yet.

About Mount and Sky Jumper Mode is nothing like the Elementalist Attunements.

Eles have 4 attunements, which when they change between it changes their Weapon Skilsl and gives them Boons and with help of traits it supports or debuffs also
When you change as Dragoon to your Mount, then changees your complete Skill Bar.

You will have 5 Mount Battle Skills that come from your Weapon and 5 Mount Skills, that come from your Mount.
The Elementalist gets only 5 Weapon Skilsl related to the element, but keeps its utility and elite skill part.
The Dragoon gets also no boon effects from mounting up its mount.

Sky Jumping is even completely different. When you use a sky jump, your weapon skills temporarely change only so lon,g until you have used 1 out of 5 possible jumps.
You don’t stay in this mode unendlessly as long as you want to jump around like a crazy gummi bear^^ Just 1 Jump and then this mode is over, until the recharge timer lets you use this mode once again.

Mount Stamina works like Initiative for the Thief, thats right, but Riding Duration is just only a simple timer, that counts down the amount of time, that is left for riding your mount. Once the timer reaches 0, mounted battle mode will automatically end and the Dragoon will jump off its mount normally.

When you are not mounted, then you just fight normally with your weapon skills, utility skills and your elite, like every other class. There is so far by my concept no way to “auto sky jump”, but I made up so far only a very few trait examples.
If ANet would perfectionize my concept and fill up the gaps with more traits ect., then I believe that there could be naturally then also a trait, that gives the dragoon a chance to perform automatic sky jumps at certain chances, when not being mounted.

Example: The Dragoon has a chance of 10% to perform automatically a sky jump to a targeted enemy, if you deal a critical hit.
But something like this would be very powerful and surely would be something for the major traits under the 30 invested trait point line.

About my Oaths what I meant with the antiproportional signets is, you#ve figured out correctly.
Oaths are negative passive effects towards enemies in your near, which the Dragoon can activate once, just like a signet can be activated, for a one time stronger effect.

So i just meant, that Oaths just work completely in a similar way liek signets, but just without buffs, but instead with debuffs that have control effects, weaken enemies or prevent something maybe.
For that you have just to look at my yet single posted skill example Oath of Purgation, which should be especilly effective against Guardians, Necromancers, Elementalists and Mesmers with their summoned minions, what would be also very helpful in WvW too

Looks really good mate. I know mounts are generally a kind of faux pas in GW2, but I think that your class concept wouldn’t work without them. The mechanic makes it necessary for the Dragoon to ride something.

WHAT IF… the ‘mount’ was actually a ‘transform’? That way you don’t introduce mounts to the people who are uncomfortable with the idea but skill keep the feel of the class? Obviously the visual would still maintain the mounted look, but then you can argue against the ‘no mounts! no mounts! no mounts!’ rhetoric.

This is a class I would play to ABSOLUTE death. Fantastic!

That being said, are you married to the idea of mounts? could you adapt your idea to say, wings, and rename the profession Valkyrie or something? Then you could have Flying Stamina and Sky Jumps in synergy with each other. I know that’s a massive suggestion that changes the feel of the class, but it’s up to you.

Or perhaps… instead of mounts get Floating Magic? This would not allow you to fly high above the surface, but just a little height, so you can actually perform these jumps. Perhaps the length of an asura?

So, now I’ve some more time and I’ll use it to finish and polish up my Dragoon Concept now with the rest of the concept missing so far, so:

• Underwater Gameplay
• Skill Examples

Underwater Gameplay:
How will my Dragoon functionate in the element of water, the complete different side of heaven’s heigth – it will be depth.

Under water, the Sky Jumper-Gameplay will change into the Deep Diver-Gameplay".
Dragoons are masterous divers and can move real fast under water.
Where the Dragoon uses Sky Jumps on land to leap to their enemies, they will use underwater instead their wisdom about *rapids.
Under water a Dragoon knows best how to use rapids to move really quick under water and are able by that to deep dive very fast or into any other direction.
When using Deep Diving, just like on land with the Sky Jumper mode, the Dragoon can use 1 out of 5 different Deep Diver Skills which have a different AoE effect at the end of the ambush.

1. Whirl of Despair
The Dragoon performs a Deep Dive to a target area. Any enemies in the line of sight get weakened and become vulnerable with 4 stacks. At the end of the deep dive will perform the dragon a whirling AoE attack, that sucks in nearby enemies towars the dragoon so that they get hit multiple times.

2. Draconic Deluge
The Dragon creates around itself a massive force, that pushes massive amounts of water away from him. Enemies in your way to your target area sink down. At the target area the Dragoon creates hot rapids against enemies in this AoE field. these hot rapids create an upstream, which damages enemies multiple times and lets enemies rise up

3 Frostburn Rush
The Dragoon polarizes the temperature of the water to perform an icecold deep dive, that draws a line of ice over a distance of 1000 that can block projectiles and chills nearby enemies to that ice line. At the target area the Dragoon’s AoE turns into a ball like huge explosion, that shortlly immobilizes all enemies in that effect area and burns them for 5 seconds.

4. Rapid Chaos
The Dragoon creates a very strong rapid, that forces any enemies in line of sight to get moved to the target area of the dragoon with the dragoon at where the AoE effect will create mutiple smaller rapids that will toss around caugh in enemies like a toy between them, resulting in some small damage over tiem and an increasing confusion in regard of how many rapids move the enemy around until the effct ends.

5. Aquatic Reaper
The Dragoon will dive through the water as fast as a sonic flash.
All enemies in line of sight will start bleeding heavily. At the target area ’s AoE will the Dragoon create a reneration boon effect for him and all allies with a duration stack based on how many enemies in near are bleeding. (max 5)

Just 5 exaples, somehow like this would work the Sky Jumper Mode für underwater gameplay.
—
Mounts

Under water would have Dragoons also have their Mounts, but not the racial ones.
The Underwater Mount would be a special kind of underwater creature which would be for all races the same.
A more prehistoric ancestral creature of dolphins/malines – the Ichtyosaurus
http://s11.images.www.tvn.hu/2011/04/13/16/37/www.tvn.hu_3fde5fa3b968b94a51dd8cea11b0f2f0.jpg

These creatures hat like tripple or quadrupple the size of todays dolphins.
Looking at the games current huge sized shark enemies, there should be no problem with something as big as that, they be even still smaller than those current huge champ sharks, that are already existign in GW2.

All what GW2 needs are some fitting animations. Wie swimm in RL if we want with dolphins, its also most basically just a “swimming with them”, we don’t ride on them, they just pull us through the water, while we hold them.

But GW2 is still a fantasy game, so why not combine that imaginary concept together with feeling of riding something, just by edding some kind of “sattles”, which give the dragoon just more grip on these creature, so that it does look, as if the dragoon would be just a part of the creatures body being fixated to it by that kind of “diver sattle”.

Hope you still like it and don’t find it weird, that a Dragoon should also have under water its mount mechanic. But its a mandatory part of the whole concept and the whole class would feel like being something totally different, than how they are played on land, if they wouldn’t have also mounts for underwater gameplay too.