Test Discussion Swimming

I don't get to swim as wolf

Trying to fighting anything that is "floating" is rather awkward. Anything that stuns an add will cause it fall to the ocean floor. Depending on where you are at, it is a long way down:


So you spend a lot of time chasing mobs around and you are stuck in combat the entire time.

I had a problem switching armories in the open world because I was transformed by the swimming.

There is a major problem with Swimming and this one central issue branches off into multiple other issues. This central issue is Swimming is treated as if we are Flying in the Air.

When you toggle off your Movement Mode you FALL down to the bottom of the OCEAN. That does not make sense conceptually. You should either Float UP, Down or stay in place and it should be pretty slow. We are NOT in the AIR. Which way you move is dependent on your bouyancy.

This expands out into Combat if you are hit or you hit a target out and it you knock it out/stun it then Swimming is canceled and they FALL sometimes out of range of combat and sometimes into other foes below. This makes fighting anything not on the Ocean Floor or a Building VERY HARD.

This then extends to Super Speed when you go from normal swimming to super speed swimming you make a 'Sonic Boom' and 'Cloud' that you make when FLYING. This does not fit swimming at all. There should instead be a burst of cavitation of bubbles into a stream behind you and sound similar to what you hear for Aquaman swimming in the DCEU.

Similarly we are able to toggle off swimming and then run along the ground as if we were on the surface. This makes no sense whatsoever. The only way you would be able to do this is if you were weighted down.

Swimming is being treated as a Transformation similar to the old Jetpack/Climbing/Super Speed items from the vault and it disables our ability to utilize our Armories.

I honestly feel that you should NOT be able to be knocked out of Swimming at all. I feel if you are Swimming and you press your toggle to exit movement it should do NOTHING. I feel if you are Swimming Super Speed and you hit the exit movement mode toggle then you should be changed to normal swimming. I feel that if you are Knocked Back/Down/Out of Movement it should not be able to do anything but knock you back, you should not fall. This would fix most issues other than the Armory issue.

But then what happens when we’re KO’d? Do we kneel on nothing? Do NPC’s lie down on nothing? (Players should be lying down too but I disgress). Maybe they could add a new KO animation where we just flop over and go limp, like in other games with swimming but I don’t see that happening. We wanted swimming and this is probably the best they can do.

Whoah seriously ? That is a major issue ! We won’t be able to use our armories in Atlantis ???

I'm sorry, Mepps, I can't remember from the livestream... are any of the raids swimming based?

If not, then the armory issue should honestly not be a huge deal, and I think you guys made the right call.

The stunning, falling thing is a big deal, though.

I like to switch armories for open world bounties, and a myriad of other reasons.

If it’s not possible to change Swimming from a “transformation” is it possible to just finally allow us to change armories while transformed ?

(Just trying to think of a solution cuz that sounds really limiting.)

The armory issue is a giant pain at the moment. Are you trying to put together a team to kill the Brine monster or do any of the other group missions? Does your team need roles? Well, you need to go back to Watchtower to switch armories.

Were you running an instance in role and you forget to switch back before being dropped back into Atlantis? Well, you'll have to go back to Watchtower.

It also has an impact in the instances. I can't even switch from my AoE armory to my single-target armory for the final room in the solo instance because of the current behavior.

It´s not possible to switch armory under water (Same for the instances!!!)

Another possible solution: Add a small Bubbled area in the open world where there is no water, allowing us to switch armories and then go back out into the world.

Can I suggest some kind of air bubble/submarine structure is put around the entrance area? We would be untransformed inside it and be able to swap armouries without leaving the zone. You’d activate a terminal that would transform you into swimming mode and plonk you outside, with another terminal outside that does the reverse. Like when you put on the suit in the Spindrift raid? I dunno how feasible that would be, it’s just an idea.


EDIT: aqua-ninjaed LOL

Hmm...that seems to be a rather nasty little issue. Is there any way that this can be addressed prior to going Live?

EDIT: My apologies as I had gone afk and came back to finalize my response. In that time frame others posted their concerns over this matter.

The entirety of the Crown of Thorns raid or at least up until the part we got stuck at due to the npc issue was swimming so that means no player can change armories for a large portion of that raid, especially in elite some of those boss fights may require a second tank or extra healer etc where the hallways and normal add clearing wouldn't so we are forced to go through with only 1 setup or warp back to the watchtower to switch classes around? Not to mention switching between armouries for aoe and single target rotations.

I should also mention if a support role dies during the fight no other player switch to cover that role they would have to kill themselves and switch armories on the rally timer further increasing the chance of a group wipe and in elite you can intentionally kill yourself like that as you lose your death counter just to change a role.

If there is any Raid that requires swimming, then this issue is much more than just a minor annoyance. It needs to be addressed before the DLC goes Live.

I am extremely grateful for swimming and the work put into it, but they need to figure out how to allow armory swaps while transformed if swimming must maintain a "transformed" status.

Ahhhhhh, that's true about the Brine Monster. I forgot about that. As for the instances, that's why I said that I think they made the right call (AKA, swimming and no armory vs. no swimming and armory) since needing to switch on the fly in a single-person instance isn't a huge game breaker, at least not for me.

Would you prefer there be no swimming anywhere except for open world? (Honest question, not trying to antagonize or provoke)

Would that negatively impact the environment inside the instances? (Do they absolutely have to be underwater caves, for example?)

The following question is more for the dev team, but I know you have a lot of experience too:

Would it be possible to establish special shielded drylander domes (similar to how Deluge had the Mera/Ocean Master dome where you picked up the quest) in strategic spots, for this specific purpose?

Example:

These domes would contain air, not water. Therefore, while inside, you would utilize normal movement, until passing into the water outside, at which point you would start swimming again. Because of this, within these domes, you would be able to change armories freely.

In instances, for example, there could be a small dome for this purpose at each spawn point, and in the open world, one near the quest hub and one near the Brine Monster.

What do you think?

P.S. - If this option is implemented, I vote for calling them "surface freak domes" and that each time you enter one, Aquaman would say, "it's surface freak-y."