Underwater Combat and Exploration in Guild Wars 2: Why it will ROCK

When there are large bodies of water in a game, what kind of interaction do players usually get with them? We’re used to simple interactions like swimming on the surface or fishing, but we know the world under the water is just as lively as on land, but many games never show us what beneath the surface.  Well step into the next generation of water adventures where Guild Wars 2 is making all the rights moves to bring us down into the deep with unique combat, monsters, cities and races. We’ll show you how the developers have crafted this unique underwater experience.

MECHANICS

The mechanics of underwater exploration in Guild Wars 2 is so simple you’ll wonder why developers never took the plunge. When you are on the surface of the water, you’re basically just in a swimming mode and have no skills available. It is until you decide to pan your camera down towards the depths of the water do you actually dive into water.  Once you’re underwater, it’s a whole new world.  You might be wondering how your character is breathing underwater or did the developers just ditch that reality because it is a game? Of course not, the developers have thought this through by coming up with an aqua breather, which is an equippable accessory and shows up as a mask on your character. This aqua breather allows you to be underwater as long as you like, only if you can prevent it from being knocked off (I’ll get more into that in combat).

WEAPONS

You have a secondary weapon for underwater battles. There are 3 of these weapons: spear, trident, and harpoon gun, which are equippable depending on the type of profession you play. For example, casters such as elementalists and necromancers will use a trident, which is designed with magical throwing. Ranged attack professions such as ranger, thief, and engineer will use harpoon guns, while front-line attackers like warriors and guardians use a spear. Here’s a more detailed list of what professions can use what:

COMBAT

Here is what I think the developers of Guild Wars 2 have done right for underwater combat. On land we’re used to having a ground, basically a wall on the z-plane (up and down direction),  you know the XYZ planes you learned in math? Well, for underwater environments, you now have the Z plane to worry about where monsters can attack you from under and over you. Well that doesn’t make it that much harder, but the next mechanic is the kicker.

When your health falls to zero underwater, you go into a drowning state. This is similar to the downed state on land where you are about to die but have a last effort to fight for your survival with downed abilities. Underwater, your drowning state causes your breathing accessory to be knocked off. During this time, you either have to swim to the surface for air, wait for an ally to revive you, or kill the monster. Don’t think you can get away just by running onto land, some monsters are able to morph into a land form and come after you!

SKILLS

So is there anything different with skills when under water? You bet. There are unique skills available only when in water, these are called aquatic skills. In addition, land skills may be used in water, but not all of them.  When you are underwater, the action bar of slots 6 to 10 automatically switch to aquatic skills, so don’t worry about having to reset your action bar every time. Interestingly, aquatic skills will make use of the Z-axis such as plummeting an enemy down deeper into the ocean, or blasting them to the surface. Here’s a short list of what some of the aquatic skills may do:

	Skill Name	Description	Weapon
	Air Bubble	Trap your foe in an air bubble and make them rise to surface.	Trident
	Tsunami Rush	Spin forward and attack foes along the way. Effect increases with adrenaline level.	Spear
	Feeding Frenzy	Drive piranhas into a feeding frenzy around your foe.	Harpoon Gun

ENVIRONMENT

The Guild Wars 2 developers have given the underwater world an equal amount of attention by showing us a truly creative and artistic fantasy of the deep waters. There are caves, towns, cities, NPCs, and vendors only accessible by water. Aside from different species of aquatic monsters, there are also NPC races such as the Quaggan, which you will only get to meet in their underwater city. They worship one of the old Gods of Tyria. While you may have allies, you’ll also meet hostile foes such as The Krait. They worship a dark stone called the Obelisk and do not care about the well-being of others, on land or in water, making the Quaggan terrified of the Krait.

Well, what do you guys think? There’s a lot to like about underwater combat and exploration in Guild Wars 2, especially with the amount of content being shown already. It may seem weird at first, but swimming is just as natural as walking. If you’re not convinced yet, you’ll just have to try it out yourselves when beta hits.