World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, Rift, you name it.
The modern MMORPG still hasn’t nailed underwater combat.
Okay, maybe that was just me.
I had this thing about underwater themes.
Underwater combat didnt feel dramatically different from normal combat back then.
The 2D-ness helped with that fact, of course.
Without that third dimension, varied environments were vastly easier to simulate.
It felt familiarjust with floatiness and bubbles.
Fast forward to the MMORPG.
Sometimes simplicity in environment design just works.
And that brings us to where you all probably think Im headed with this.
Yep, thats rightunderwater combat in the modern 3D MMORPG.
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The classic example given is generallyWorld of Warcraft.
Blizzard dedicated an entire starting zone inWoW: Cataclysmto the wonders of underwater combat and exploration.
Except for the fact that, well, not many players thought that was too wonderful.
And why wouldnt it?
Underwater combat inWoW, and in most 3D MMORPGs, tends to be clunky to extreme levels.
Oh, look, theres a naga thing floating down from above your characters head.
You swim your character upward to wave your swords around and deliver some bloodshed.
Oh, look, your swords completely miss the naga and go sweeping through water instead.
Now the nagas inside your characters hit box and he/shes dazed and grunting like a fool.
Third-person camera angles in pure 3D environments dont mix well when it comes to combat.
You cant see exactly where an enemy is unless it falls on top of you.
Its also hard to judge distances in an underwater environment.
Gosh, that turtle looks really close to me, you think.
Let me shoot my bow.
Seven out of range errors later, you might finally be able to hit the thing.
Curse you, whatever-faction-you-didnt-happen-to-be scum.
TheGuild Wars 2development team tried to make up forWoWs underwater catastrophe and hoped players would love their version.
Better immersion doesnt lead to players forgetting that underwater combateven in a newer gameis still clunky.
you’re free to imagine how much complaining this led to.
Trion Worlds recently added a waterlogged coating toRIFTwith its next expansion entitledNightmare Tide.
A whole expansion based on watery zones.
The small underwater area doesnt see a lot of activity in the game currently.
Trion specifically added this bit of content in well ahead of the expansion to generate player feedback.
With any luck, the negative feedback theyve gathered will help their engineers make improvements.
Trion has stated that only roughly 10% of the expansions content will require swimming.
Either way, it looks as though the developers are thinking about a few different options.
That could be a good sign, but its a little early to tell at this point.
One question still begs answering: can underwater combat ever become something we dont hate in todays MMORPGs?
I think it definitely can.
MMORPG developers need to approach underwater combat differently than combat in the rest of the game.
Underwater combat that takes place on the lake/ocean bottom is one example of this method.
This would let us judge distances better and have an easier time controlling our characters while underwater.
Its a wide, wide world of possibilities out there, game creators.
Make us want to float around on pool noodles and enjoy exploring underwater content again.
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