Guild Wars 2

It never dawned on me before, as I mostly used mixed sets before and never had a full 6 set bonus, but it appears as though to also get that 6th set bonus while underwater, you need to maintain a 7 piece set.

Do most folks do this? Or do they just give up the bonus underwater?

For people that do, since we can no longer use Transmutation Crystals to ‘salvage’ a rune from one item into another, we are left with spending (incoming hyperbole) $1,200 on a Bernie Maddolf Upgrade Extraction Tong, or using something like a Black Lion Salvage Kit (with the 100% guarantee on getting the upgrade) to pull it out.

In the case of the latter, we would need to make sure we use an item that is salvageable, which takes out most of the breathers in the game, as those are offered by karma vendors, and we can’t salvage those.

Looking at the TP, that leaves spending 9-14g on one of the rare breathers from the Kappa Gamma Tequatl fraternity house event (which…would seem to negate the whole purpose of trying to save the rune to begin with), or buy for like 18s (or craft your own) Water Filter (which only works if you are a heavy armor wearer), and just not worry about the stats?

So my passive aggressive screed on why that all seems a bit broken and unintended aside (wasn’t really trying to hide it, I’ll own it, just the way I write :p), I’m honestly curious as to how people approach this? Do you just forgo that 6th rune underwater, or do you get the 7th? If you get the 7th, are you ever concerned about not being able to retrieve a rather expensive rune (say, a Traveller) from it in the event you find a better breather (Living World addition? New raids and dungeons? other?) somewhere down the road?

I forgo the seventh rune. As much as I enjoy being underwater in this game I don’t do enough of it to really feel the need.

Sadly there isn’t any need for people to worry about this issue just yet. Now whenever we may get a water loaded map in a content update or maybe even get to battle that dragon that is blocking Tyria off from Cantha, maybe then people will care. I daresay most people aren’t even thinking about their underwater gear and/or skills at all at this point.

Thanks folks. Guess I’m one of the few people that finds themselves traveling and/or fighting under water still. Was always one of my favorite old dailies, too.

It’ll be interesting to see how it shakes out. The 7/6 thing is kinda awkward. I think they ought to just make that a cosmetic slot and use the helmet, or just not turn off the regular helmet when you are under water.

Lot of folks do not even bother with getting the best possible aquabreather. The truth is that underwater combat (and areas in general) are lacking in quality compared to the rest of the game. When you add to it the fact that Anet seems to want to forget that part of the game even exists (see for example removing underwater from PvP completely) , getting that additional rune becomes something of very low priority.

Astralporing.1957:

Lot of folks do not even bother with getting the best possible aquabreather. The truth is that underwater combat (and areas in general) are lacking in quality compared to the rest of the game. When you add to it the fact that Anet seems to want to forget that part of the game even exists (see for example removing underwater from PvP completely) , getting that additional rune becomes something of very low priority.

Yeah, it just ended up biting me a little bit, but I’ll either live with it, or go the 7. Just something that never occurred to me before. Guess on a side note, little bit sad that they don’t like their own under water implementation. I rather enjoy it, both fighting and traveling.

Thanks for the feedback at any rate.

That’s why I just stuck Crests on my aquabreathers. Since I have several armor sets and I can’t predict which one I’ll be using at any particular time (I swap between my armor for various roles, or sometimes just because I feel like seeing a particular “look”), I just made my aquabreathers as generically useful as possible.

I pretty much ignore the number 6 bonus on superior rune sets due to aquabreathers not being salvageable and being forced to throw a rune away on that item when I replace it.

Yeah, I love underwater combat, but aquabreather functionality is horribly designed and implemented, especially with regard to the lack of availability of non-karma acquired versions since karma gear cannot be salvaged and the rune is lost upon upgrading.

Also (to me), the sixth rune bonuses are also not all that great or worth having instead of the single rune bonus from a different rune. Running 3 of two major runesets is more beneficial stat-wise than running 4 of one and 2 of another. And then running 6 different minor runes is usually better than running 2 of 3 different runes since the number two set bonus on minor runes isn’t really worth having.

Short-Short Version of below:

• Minor Runes – I use 6 individual ones and copy the helm rune onto the aquabreather.
• Major Runes – I run 3 of two different sets and copy the helm onto the aquabreather.
• Superior Runes – I run 5 of a single rune and ignore the 6th bonus. I then use a single stat boost from a single superior rune on both the helm and the aquabreather.

Longer than it needed to be version of the above summary:

Having a character focusing on power and berzerker stats:
Levels 1-38

• The 2 set bonus isn’t really worth it so I just have 6 unique minor runes that give +10 power on each one. I then put whatever rune I had on my helm onto my aquabreather as well. It being a minor rune it is pretty cheap to replace when I upgrade my aquabreather and throw out the old, unsalvageable one.

Levels 39-59

• I usually run 3 Major Mesmer runes on my boots, leggings and gloves, then 3 of another rune (usually one boosting power+precision or precision+ferocity) on the chest, shoulders and helm with a duplicate helm rune on the aquabreather again. Tossing the old aquabreather out with a major rune when I upgrade it (due to being unsalvageable) only loses a rune worth 3-5 silver so it’s not that great of a loss.

Levels 60-79

• I’ll run 5 Superior Mesmer runes on my boots to shoulders, then have a cheap +25 Power superior rune on my head armor and aquabreather. I’d rather have +25 Power than whatever the silly sixth bonus is on runesets, especially since I’ll be trashing that superior rune on the aquabreather when I hit 80 and replace it.

Level 80

• When I hit 80 I throw the Benthic Waterbreather from the TP on the character. I still run 5 superior mesmer runes on non-helm armor, and the helm and aquabreather continue to share a +25 Power superior rune.
  Figures – now that I have an aquabreather that can be salvaged for the rune were I to upgrade it, I no longer have a need to upgrade it and can use whatever rune on it I want. Oh well. :\