Based on some of the race lore, I'd be alittle surprised if there wasn't some engagement. ...but would agree with @nikademis as far as my personal prefences or concerns with impact of the bodies of water. I think it would also be somewhat interesting if the presence of water affected certain abilities of classes that utilized water, nature, or fire spells as well with negative/positive environmental impacts. Not sure how that would play with player base at large though.
Travelling to underwater arenas, dungeons, or possibly cities and ruins would be interesting, but personally would prefer there to be a "bubble" or "shielded" open air area once arriving at the destination. Love pvp combat out at sea, but have yet to see that done well, and remain popular. With Pantheon's content focus, I'd honestly prefer them not to bother with it. Make the core great and improve upon it first. Don't dilute your core with peripheral content that isn't strong.
Zones with water are fine, though I'd shy away from zones of water. For example, a dungeon with some flooded tunnels, giving options for travel (swim this way in the dark, or fight through those mobs there). Combat in water zones has often been done poorly, though perhaps having a 'water relic' equipped would allow one to walk on the bottom of the water, breathe, and fight as if not in it.
What would also be interesting is small boats, on the ocean type areas, off of which one could fish, the environment could have certain areas of heavier fish or different types of fish. Making the ocean space a little more interesting for fisherpersons.
Also, don't make me swim for an hour just to get somewhere, its not fun or engaging; if I have to do it for a quest. But by all means put in interesting things that I can swim to if I choose to.
I wouldnt mind a couple underwater zones. Maybe 1 that is sort of mid level and another that is high level with an xp bonus and tough named/boss mobs who drop really nice loot. Lots of tunnels and mazes to make it really difficult yet rewarding for the amount of effort required to be successful.
Dekaden said:What I don't want to see is Little Mermaid "Under Da Sea" zones like Vashj'ir in WoW. Lots of neat concepts, but was ultimately an underwater carnival designed for 20 second attention spans; a guided tour from one cheap ride to the next. The equivelant of going to Six Flags and riding nothing but the ocean-themed tea cups over and over. After some time you finaly realize the seriousness of the situation... there are THREE ZONES JUST LIKE THIS that you need to complete. /quit
So true! I actually liked many parts of WoW up through WotLK. I had hundreds of hours into WoW, but after just a few hours in Vashj'ir I literally /q.
For the record, Kedge Keep was great. Not for the combat or movement mechanics, but for the danger and the "I shouldn't be here" feel. I was fully aware of the fact that I was a land based mammal swimming in a completely underwater keep when I was in Kedge.
Pyye said:I wanted to know what you all think? Should there be lots of under water places to explore? Lots of lakes to cross or submerge to the bottom to discover hidden places? What is some of your creative input here? Stick to the subject of water....
I remember in eq1 lake rath some one started a myth about their being a leviathan at the bottom of the lake. I would realy like to see this myth become a reallity and yes under water dungeons is a must imho..
I think the leviathan in Lake Rathetear was an extremely huge shark that had pathing issues, so the God Prexus came down and killed it in Beta. I think it would be cool to have one of our own in this game.
Lake Rathetear had an underwater area full of goblins and some goblin named Lord Gurgle or something like that.
The water part of the world should be alive with stuff.
I never cared for underwater combat myself. I do however love having it in game. That dungeon in Lake of ill Omen where you had to swim out and under the water to enter but once inside it was dry I thought was perfect usage of water. Using it for travel, such as need for boats, is cool. Easy way to populate islands to isolate housing, dungeons, or just for fishing are all great uses of water. I may be a bit crazy but I loved how EQ had a swim skill so if you got it up high enough then swimming wasn't as painful. Underwater combat...no thank you.
Almost forgot one. swimming out in the water in oasis to get that crocodile that was further out and hoping you could swim back to dry land before he ate you was kind of exciting. Always with one eye looking for that pesky Lockjaw.
edited to add additional thought.
The more I thought about this subject, I realized the only bad experience I can remember having with underwater combat was Kedge Keep. I think that was more an issue similar to Plane of Hate where an AOE would aggro the entire zone so my negative feelings about underwater combat may be more a zone design than actual combat.