Guild Wars 2 Features Underwater Combat, Previews and Footage

As reported by various sources who had a chance to get a new hands-on taste of the title at Arena Net’s studios, Guild Wars 2 is going to feature underwater combat and, if their descriptions are to be believed, what we’re going to get is more expansive than a simple gimmick. First, some previews about it.

PC Gamer:

But I can hear the naysayers right now. (Underwater, huh? Big whoop! MMO X, Y, and Z have done that for years,) they’re skeptically muttering to themselves. Well, Mr. and Ms. Naysayer, I dare you to name another MMO that’s built underwater gameplay as deep and custom-tailored as Guild Wars 2’²s. Let’s start off with the things missing (and we’re glad to see .m go): there is no movement penalty while swimming; there’s no breath timer limiting how long you can stay under; there’s no awkward spell mechanics.

As soon as you dive underwater, playful bubbles gobble up your character’s action bar. In it’s place rises a completely new action bar filled with underwater-only skills (based on an underwater weapon you can equip/swap on the character pane, just like your regular weapons). I was playing as an Engineer, and the only weapon available to that profession is the speargun, but that suits me just fine I can’t think of a more intimidating underwater weapon.

Jumping into the first pond I found, my original plan to hunt down every fish I saw was immediately forgotten when the first school of fish went swimming by me. Guild Wars 2’²s visuals are stunning across the board, so it should be no surprise that the underwater area are detailed and gorgeous. I just sat and watched the waterworld do it’s thing for awhile. Having access to the Z-axis is freeing, and with no movement penalty, I was happily zooming around the pond’s bottom, watching the fish swim and the kelp wave in the current.

GuildCast:

As awesome as these skills and the entire concept of having underwater skills was, I had a more pressing concern. All this time I’ve been dying to know one thing: How do you breathe?! Is it a breath-holding thing? Magic? Giant bubble around your head? Clever asura technology? As it happened, my last guess was the closest. As soon as you’re fully submerged, a small breathing apparatus appears over your character’s face and you can stay under indefinitely. That’s it. No muss, no fuss, no (find this potion, drink it, and you have ten minutes.) It’s remarkably simple and clean, and the breathing apparatus is dare I say it? Sorta cute. It might be that my human ele had the typical loveliness of a Guild Wars/Guild Wars 2 character, but I found myself charmed at the image of the top half of her little face peeking over the mask. The method of transitioning, so to speak, is interesting. When you’re on land you have your normal skills and when you are fully underwater you have your water skills, but when you’re (in-between) or swimming with your head above water, you have no skills. It’s got to be one or the other.

GameSpot touches upon the mechanic briefly:

Our demo wasn’t just dark dungeons and angry spirits. We also got our feet wet while playing with the game’s underwater mechanics. While underwater segments can be a nightmare in some games, Arena Net is committed to making these areas as painless as possible. There was no oxygen meter to fuss over, and our mobility wasn’t hampered just because we left the surface. In addition, our character gained a whole new set of skills while underwater. He could fire torpedoes as a standard attack, as well as deploy mines, timed charges, a giant net, and use a grappling hook to drag enemies closer.

G4TV summarizes what we already know about the title:

In many games, a quest NPC will stand there idly waiting for an adventurer to come along who will hear their tale of woe and go do something heroic about it. In Guild Wars 2, an NPC will not be staring into the distance from sheer boredom while their village is being sacked and set afire behind them. Players will know there is something to do not because they spoke to an NPC, but because they see the village under attack. And when they save the village, the village stays saved.

World of Warcraft recently introduced this kind of permanent environment change in the game through phasing and Guild Wars 2 is picking up the ball and running with it. SWTOR is also implementing the idea that an NPC you interact with early on will react differently to you when you meet them later depending on your actions. So while not revolutionary in its approach, GW2’s decision to include this feature shows it means to play with the big boys.

And finally GameSpot also brings us some underwater combat footage.