Underwater combat/missions

Underwater combat/missions

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Posted by: Tekoneiric.6817

Tekoneiric.6817

I’m curious on what people’s opinions are on water combat and how ANet could have made it more engaging years ago.

I was thinking about it the other day and I was wondering if it would have made a difference if they had graduated underwater endurance from beginner to ascended. By endurance I mean not using breather masks initially or limiting their functions and having pressure and temperature tolerance. They could have had things like diving for things like salvage, treasure, pearls and mussels; maybe even spear fishing. I wonder if this would have made underwater a more forbidden unknown and enticing place had they limited access in someway.

Underwater combat/missions

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Posted by: Fractured.3928

Fractured.3928

As a Revenant, I love being able to swap from my spear, to my other aquatic weapon, spear.

Also, only having 2 of my stances really gives me a lot of choice to delve into depths of strategy underwater gameplay.


For my Necromancer, I actually like underwater combat. Find it as a nice break. Be nice if they gave us 3 or 4 dodges though, really like us zip around. Make it more fast paced.

Underwater combat/missions

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Posted by: BunjiKugashira.9754

BunjiKugashira.9754

Well, ANet went the first step to making underwater content at least accessible years ago by drastically reducing the amount of Krait.

Personally I would’ve welcomed some kind of oxygen mechanic that has you surface every minute or so. ANet wanted the water’s surface to be “safe” and the depth to be “dangerous”. That’s part of the reason you get the “swim up” message when downed underwater. The problem: going to the surface is actually more dangerous than staying below. This design error can imo be fixed in one of two ways: 1. Make it possible to move after reaching the surface or 2. Make it impossible to move any other direction than up while downed underwater. Also maps should have an increasing mob-density the further you go down.

The most important thing to make underwater content fun is to enable the remaining skills underwater. Make an underwater version of EVERY utility, heal and elite skill. Also add synergies to underwater weapons, so every possible build has an underwater weapon that works with it. Currently underwater balancing is a mess because many players loose all synergies their build has as soon as they get their feet wet. This is not fun. This keeps players away from the water more than anything else. Revenants will agree. ;D

I’m kinda hesitant about making underwater more fast-paced. On one hand underwater feels awefully slow. On the other hand when faced with a bridge you would expect people to cross the bridge instead of swimming through the river. Making underwater more fast-paced might result in everyone ignoring the bridge because swimming is faster than running.

Shana Flamewielder
Sylvari Elementalist of [SFF]
Abaddons Maul

Underwater combat/missions

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Posted by: Thelgar.7214

Thelgar.7214

I hate aquatic mechanics that require constant surfacing and oxygen meters. The best thing Anet did was allowing people to explore underwater without that constant annoyance. If the focus had stayed on aquatic areas being an essential part of the game, it still would be. At launch, it was one of the most touted features and an area that really created a sense of wonder during exploration.

Underwater combat wasn’t annoying until the change was made shortly after release in regard to surfacing/healing because of surface-and-edge-of-water exploiting. It was, as I recall, supposed to be a short-term change and was going to be re-worked, but never was. After that, a lot of underwater things became a slog, especially at mid levels.

What would be nice is if they un-did the changes delaying underwater skill aquisition. and the level 1-15 areas which had enjoyable content that was fun to go back and play, like Lake Jetz.

I was never bothered by the need to match my underwater skills and stats perfectly with my above water stats. Part of the fun of underwater combat is that it is so different. Just having people use the same, boring, generic meta skills and builds they use normally would lessen the experience IMO. Not that I don’t try to get the best from my skills and weapons – ascended aquabreathers and ascended/legendary underwater weapons are equipped and/or swapped between all my characters. If you want to improve your underwater abilities, there is an option to with your breather stats and weapon stats/sigil choice.

Underwater combat/missions

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Posted by: oldmaster.3547

oldmaster.3547

I find the underwater combat very cool and it’s an unique feature. Anet should definitely make a better use of it.
The problem is basically most of personal story and lws does not include underwater adventures at all. In the end one goes underwater just because he/she wants to do it, not because there’s something interesting to discover.

PS: I’m not sure an oxygen mechanism would be so nice.