Mounts, Aquatic Combat, and the Unnamed Dragon

While GW2 is due some praise for making underwater combat that is much better than some other games, this section of the game has long been lackluster nonetheless. ANet is clearly aware of this, as they have backed away from developing new aquatic weapon skins and removed the only aquatic PvP map not long into the game's life.

There seem to be clear signs pointing to an underwater expansion that likely never started development. There is an entire 6th elder dragon that lives under the sea that we don't even know the name of. We have only seen what may be the remains of one of its minions, though an early trailer for the game showed one of those same creatures alive. There is a great deal of starting lore dealing with the displacement of the Quaggans and the Krait, but non of it has been expanded or explored. The dragon "S" has become a forgotten ghost-dragon whose influence is never seen or felt. It seems clear that what happened is that an aquatic expansion was planned, but was put on the shelf due to the poor state of underwater vs. terrestrial combat. It is apparent that in order to do such an expansion, aquatic game-play would need to be rebuilt from the ground up.

Now we have mounts. People have already put forward the idea of aquatic mounts such as dolphins or sharks. Aquatic mounts needn't be just like their terrestrial counterparts, only in water. Why rebuild underwater combat when you can use aquatic mounts to completely rework the way underwater movement and combat works? Yes, I am proposing that these be used as combat mounts with a full ability set, something likely possible but not yet seen. The same tech used for mounts could be used for small, personal vehicles as well. Imagine zipping through the deep see shooting eldritch sea beasts having mastered the "Charr Steam Nautilus" or the "Asuran Deep Sea Golem"? The place of utility abilities in this model is uncertain, but I would like to see professions retain their importance in this hypothetical scenario.

Now that we have mounts, I can at last see a future where we can return to the waters and still have fun, engaging, and innovative game-play. We could finally dive into the ocean and see what all the fuss is down there. Finally, a deep-sea-dragon expansion wouldn't be such as bad excuse to go see what is left of Cantha, now would it?

I'm pretty sure the Deep Sea Dragon will eventually appear, having somehow absorbed all of the other dragon's spheres of influence the same way Primordus and Jormag absorbed Zhaitan and Mordremoth's. Thus it'll no longer be a Deep Sea Dragon, but an ultimate Elder Dragon, which will likely just arrive and conquer some land from the continent and start terrorizing the people in it. The only question is how, as Primordus, Jormag and Kralkatorrik aren't dead yet and killing them would be baaad.

It would be a shame though, as I gotta admit I kinda like GW2's underwater combat. I do know I belong to the minority though. :(