Now it's the best time to get rid of Breathers (as gear)

[MithranArkanere.8957]

Breathers being a piece of gear that requires an extra rune and that replaces one's headgear has always been an annoying pet peeve to me.  They are confusing to new players, often overlooked, and a hassle when you go into underwater content like the Underwater fractal. A vestige from a time before the skin Wardrobe and Outfits.

I always wanted them converted into just skins with no associated gear that one would select like outfits. But ever since the addition of legendary runes, there is a problem: the 7th legendary rune.
If breathers as gear were replaced by breathers that exist only as skins, players who made a 7th legendary rune would need compensation for it.
But with the addition of Relics, the perfect solution arrives: converting the 7th rune into a legendary relic.

So, to me, the dream would be something like this happening when relics are released:

• Breathers would no longer be equippable gear. The skins would still exist, but they would be equipped directly as skins like outfits do.
  Maybe also move the breather slot to the outfit panel.
  There would still be some way to recover the old breathers so people can still do stuff like extracting runes, salvaging them, or selling them.
• There would be a new legendary relic that would have a similar crafting recipe as legendary runes, just replacing the Gift of Runes for a similar Gift of Relics that is just different by one material with a similar value, like Crystalline Dust instead of Ecto.
• For players who had already added a 7th legendary rune to their armory, that 7th Rune would be automatically replaced with a legendary Relic.

This way we both get rid of the hassle of having a separate piece of head armor for underwater, and a rune that is only used underwater, and on launch, everyone who had a 7ths rune won't lose anything and be able to use the system to the full extent.

Edited July 7, 2023 by MithranArkanere.8957
Mindslip

[Chichimec.9364]

Personally, I've been hoping that we would eventually get legendary breathers but except for one issue, your solution may be a better one. That one issue is the swim-speed infusions. I've equipped swim-speed +20 infusions on several alts who tend to get into underwater combat. What happens to those infusions if breathers are entirely eliminated?

[Nico.9361]

Or a perfect time to give us legendary breather!

[Ashantara.8731]

But...

• ...my 7th Legendary Rune!
• ...my many +20 swim infusions!
• ...my ascended breathers!

No way. 👿

5 minutes ago, NotTooFoolish.7412 said:

Or a perfect time to give us legendary breather!

This sounds a lot better. 😁

[MithranArkanere.8957]

3 hours ago, Chichimec.9364 said:

Personally, I've been hoping that we would eventually get legendary breathers but except for one issue, your solution may be a better one. That one issue is the swim-speed infusions. I've equipped swim-speed +20 infusions on several alts who tend to get into underwater combat. What happens to those infusions if breathers are entirely eliminated?

The solution to that is moving the Swim speed infusion slot to a different piece of gear.

If breathers stop being gear, the items should not be deleted so people can still salvage them, sell them, or extract the upgrades.

When a character is loaded, the breathers could be unequipped automatically, or you could talk to an NPC to do that for you like when they discontinued town clothes. 
Each character could also get an upgrade extractor via mail for each breather that has upgrades in it, found in equipment slots, your inventory and the bank (bank counting only once per account, of course). 

Or the extraction could happen automatically as you load a character, getting in the inventory each equipped breather and every upgrade slotted in any breather in you and the bank.

So you would load your character with the swim infusions, then put the infusion in its new place, like the boots, the helmet, or a trinket that doesn't have 2 upgrades yet, like the amulet or accessory.

2 hours ago, Ashantara.8731 said:

But...

• ...my 7th Legendary Rune!
• ...my many +20 swim infusions!
• ...my ascended breathers!

No way. 👿

This sounds a lot better. 😁

• Your 7th legendary rune would become a legendary Relic, and would cost the same. You would not lose it. Instead, you would get a legendaryt rune, and still have the full benefits of 7 leg runes by having 6 leg runes and a leg relic.
• Your swim infusions would be slotted somewhere else, and you would not lose them. They would appear in your inventory as you load each character, like when they updated infusions.
• Your ascended breathers would not disappear, they would be simply no longer equippable. They would appear in your inventory, and you would be able to sell them or salvage them. And their upgrades could be extracted automatically for free.
  Ideally, you'd also get a free ascended kit in the mail to salvage them, or even better, talk with an NPC to get the original materials back, letting you craft some other ascended gear instead.

The idea isn't taking away anything away, it's replacing hassle with QoL.

Edited June 29, 2023 by MithranArkanere.8957

[Gerplunka.3861]

Only reason I can think of them never getting rid of breathers is that there is some serious spaghetti code with it that will break the game even harder to the point of unplayability if they do lmao

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

So, if Swim Infusions slot into some other gear, we lose what was slotted there before?  For something that is only used part-time?  Or you have to swap the infusions each time before you enter water?  Must have Infinite Extraction tool? 

[GetFoxxed.9478]

On 6/29/2023 at 7:04 PM, Chichimec.9364 said:

Personally, I've been hoping that we would eventually get legendary breathers but except for one issue, your solution may be a better one. That one issue is the swim-speed infusions. I've equipped swim-speed +20 infusions on several alts who tend to get into underwater combat. What happens to those infusions if breathers are entirely eliminated?

Move the swim speed infusion slot to underwater weapon, problem solved.

[Obtena.7952]

Breathers won't simply be removed ... MMO players are VERY sensitive to having earned gear being removed and Anet knows that. Also, it's just unnecessary work to remove it for almost no benefit. 

Edited July 4, 2023 by Obtena.7952

[MithranArkanere.8957]

5 hours ago, GetFoxxed.9478 said:

Move the swim speed infusion slot to underwater weapon, problem solved.

That would require twice the infusions for everyone except elementalist and engineer.

But it could still be some other piece of gear. 

Helmet, amulet or boots are probably the best choices. Helmet because it's on the head, feet because it's speed-related, or amulet because it's a special kind of infusion like Enrichments, to keep them 'out of the way'.

[Rainbow Dragon.7268]

How rude i love my bubble air breather. best hat in the game. just wish i could use it on land as well lmao

[Biziut.3594]

But, but... how will we breath underwater without the breather? 😞

[The Boz.2038]

Yes.

Delete. Forget it ever existed. 

Do not care about anyone losing any money for this; some sacrifice is worth the objectively correct improvement to the game.

[Dante.1508]

I still have mostly yellow ones from Orr on my characters 🤣

[Darkvramp.5640]

On 7/3/2023 at 6:15 PM, Gerplunka.3861 said:

Only reason I can think of them never getting rid of breathers is that there is some serious spaghetti code with it that will break the game even harder to the point of unplayability if they do lmao

Spaghetti code is not an excuse for making the game a better experience. I am guessing there is a greater amount of mess and entangled code within the removal of the 6th trait on runes. So they have the capability to comb out the code, and I doubt removing the rebreather would be a much bigger task.

[Cuks.8241]

Turn breathers into helms. Could even add a second helm skin slot for underwater. This will prevent all the regular qqers to cry about "I bought 10 ascended breathers 5 year ago, I am entitle to compensation" (edit: well probably it wont prevent people from qq). 

Put swim infusion slot into headgear or wherever.

Add vendor that can exchange legendary rune for legendary relic. 

4 hours ago, Darkvramp.5640 said:

Spaghetti code is not an excuse for making the game a better experience.

Exactly. Saying spaghetti code prevents us doing something is basically saying "we are incompetent". Not that Anet says that. For some reason players repeat that sentence.

Edited July 15, 2023 by Cuks.8241

[Ashantara.8731]

4 hours ago, Darkvramp.5640 said:

Spaghetti code is not an excuse for making the game a better experience.

I don't think "Get rid of everything that requires time and resources" equals a better experience. It's just lazy and it also takes away a huge fun part of any MMO, namely striving after new/better/optimal equipment.

If anything, I would wish for ANet to reintroduce the mechanic that makes you drown if you don't have an aquabreather equipped.

[vares.8457]

8 minutes ago, Ashantara.8731 said:

If anything, I would wish for ANet to reintroduce the mechanic that makes you drown if you don't have an aquabreather equipped.

No thanks 

[Eekasqueak.7850]

Just make it so rebreathhers just always copy the stats of the helmet including runes etc

[Acheron.1580]

On 6/29/2023 at 12:43 PM, NotTooFoolish.7412 said:

Or a perfect time to give us legendary breather!

This just makes the least amount of work for devs. It honestly should have just been given at the same time as a legendary helmet was crafted for the same armor type. Maybe with the new Legendary Armors coming they could just implement that.

[Dark Red Killian.3946]

I like how it is easy for someone to say just delete it. You can just not wear one and act like it doesn’t exist, and then let the people that it matters to still continue to wear it and hold out for legendary.

[Bankrotas.8215]

On 7/14/2023 at 11:28 AM, Biziut.3594 said:

But, but... how will we breath underwater without the breather? 😞

Magic.

[Biziut.3594]

Imma Thief, not Ele with water attunment on.

3 hours ago, Bankrotas.8215 said:

Magic.

All the gold sacks I stole will make me sink faster than concrete boots. 

[Bankrotas.8215]

2 hours ago, Biziut.3594 said:

Imma Thief, not Ele with water attunment on.

All professions abuse conjuration magic, conjure air into your lungs.

[Biziut.3594]

2 hours ago, Bankrotas.8215 said:

All professions abuse conjuration magic, conjure air into your lungs.

How so? Only time my thief conjure an air is when I bash someones head with a poking stick. But it's more of a burst of air conjured from the laws physics more than a magic.