ArenaNet details underwater battles in Guild Wars 2

ArenaNet's Jonathan Sharp has posted a developer diary over on the Guild Wars 2 site, explaining how underwater battle will work in the MMO.

The cool thing about going underwater in the game, is that players will be able to swim and dive without worrying about breathing.

This will allow the player to take their time and explore as much as they wish, without having to worry about coming to the surface to get some air.

Once they dive, a breathing apparatus with automatically equip itself across the users nose and mouth.

"There’s a huge amount of underwater content in Guild Wars 2, and we want you to be able to explore it all without stressing about drowning," said Sharp. "We provide you with a default breathing apparatus, but you can find all sorts of cool gear to help keep you exploring the depths of the ocean.

"When you’re underwater, you don’t need to worry about breathing until your health goes to zero. When this happens you go into a 'drowning' state, which functions like the 'downed' state you experience when above water."

When drowning, players will have three ways to recover:

• You kill an opponent, which will cause you to rally.
• An ally can revive you, just as they can above water.
• You reach the surface of the water, where you will stop drowning and regain health. When your health bar fills all the way you’ll be revived.

Sharp goes on to explain that the transition from swimming to not-swimming is "something we’ve really focused on," as the team wants the transition to be "seamless and immersive," so it has put a lot of effort into giving the player control over swimming.

There's more to it than just what we've posted here, so you'll want to read the full thing.