Exploring the Enigma of the Aquabreather Slot in Guild Wars 2

[Zlynnt.5390]

In Guild Wars 2, one question has persistently boggled my mind: why does the utterly worthless aquabreather slot continue to linger in the game? Is there more to this seemingly futile feature than meets the eye, or is it simply a ticking time bomb that could potentially cripple the game's code if tampered with? Let's delve into the perplexing enigma of the aquabreather slot's worthlessness and its potential impact on the game's integrity.

First and foremost, it's crucial to emphasize that the aquabreather has, for years, served no practical purpose whatsoever, the presence of such a redundant item is puzzling, to say the least. Despite player suggestions over the years, ArenaNet has obstinately refused to purge this digital dead weight from the game.

This brings us to a disturbing possibility: could the aquabreather slot be a trojan horse hiding within Guild Wars 2's intricate code? Is it possible that this seemingly harmless slot is, in reality, a linchpin holding the game together in some obscure, inexplicable way? One cannot help but speculate that removing such a seemingly insignificant element could lead to a catastrophic chain reaction, causing unforeseeable glitches, crashes, or even a complete collapse of the game's functionality.

Consider the "complex"(spaghetti) architecture of Guild Wars 2, a game that has evolved over the years with countless updates and additions. The aquabreather, a relic from its inception, could be entangled in the very fabric of the game's code. The thought of removing it is akin to pulling a Jenga piece from the tower and hoping the structure remains intact.

Moreover, ArenaNet's continued reluctance to address the aquabreather slot raises eyebrows. Could it be that they are well aware of the potential repercussions and are intentionally avoiding what could be a cataclysmic mistake? Or perhaps, hidden beneath the veneer of worthlessness, there is a deeper, hidden purpose for the slot that players are yet to discover... I don't think so.

In conclusion, the aquabreather slot's complete worthlessness is undebatable. However, the fear that its removal could break the game's code beyond repair is a lingering specter in the minds of the developers. Guild Wars 2, with its complex history and unhinged systems, is a game of layers, and the aquabreather slot, despite its apparent redundancy, may be a layer that is best left untouched to preserve the game's delicate balance...

[DanAlcedo.3281]

Dark mode users can't read your post. 

😐

Edit: Awesome. We can read it now. 

Edited September 28, 2023 by DanAlcedo.3281

[Danikat.8537]

46 minutes ago, DanAlcedo.3281 said:

Dark mode users can't read your post. 

😐

I'm in light mode and it's also weirdly tiny, as well as black font. For some reason copying it and picking 'post as plain text' caused it to just disappear, so I had to copy it into Word and back.
 

Quote

In Guild Wars 2, one question has persistently boggled my mind: why does the utterly worthless aquabreather slot continue to linger in the game? Is there more to this seemingly futile feature than meets the eye, or is it simply a ticking time bomb that could potentially cripple the game's code if tampered with? Let's delve into the perplexing enigma of the aquabreather slot's worthlessness and its potential impact on the game's integrity.

First and foremost, it's crucial to emphasize that the aquabreather has, for years, served no practical purpose whatsoever, the presence of such a redundant item is puzzling, to say the least. Despite player suggestions over the years, ArenaNet has obstinately refused to purge this digital dead weight from the game.

This brings us to a disturbing possibility: could the aquabreather slot be a trojan horse hiding within Guild Wars 2's intricate code? Is it possible that this seemingly harmless slot is, in reality, a linchpin holding the game together in some obscure, inexplicable way? One cannot help but speculate that removing such a seemingly insignificant element could lead to a catastrophic chain reaction, causing unforeseeable glitches, crashes, or even a complete collapse of the game's functionality.

Consider the "complex"(spaghetti) architecture of Guild Wars 2, a game that has evolved over the years with countless updates and additions. The aquabreather, a relic from its inception, could be entangled in the very fabric of the game's code. The thought of removing it is akin to pulling a Jenga piece from the tower and hoping the structure remains intact.

Moreover, ArenaNet's continued reluctance to address the aquabreather slot raises eyebrows. Could it be that they are well aware of the potential repercussions and are intentionally avoiding what could be a cataclysmic mistake? Or perhaps, hidden beneath the veneer of worthlessness, there is a deeper, hidden purpose for the slot that players are yet to discover... I don't think so.

In conclusion, the aquabreather slot's complete worthlessness is undebatable. However, the fear that its removal could break the game's code beyond repair is a lingering specter in the minds of the developers. Guild Wars 2, with its complex history and unhinged systems, is a game of layers, and the aquabreather slot, despite its apparent redundancy, may be a layer that is best left untouched to preserve the game's delicate balance...

I agree that the aquabreather is redundant, except maybe for immersion, but I doubt it's there because of some elaborate conspiracy theory where the entire game actually relies on it.

If I had to guess it's a hold-over from an incomplete system that's not worth the trouble to remove. There's a lot of unfinished systems in the base game. Some examples include:

• NPCs who reference mini games in cities that never got made (I think Keg Brawl is the only one that did get added, but that isn't accessed through Hoelbrak).
• The personality system, which was originally supposed to be much more elaborate with NPCs reacting differently from the start of the conversation based on your characters reputation.
• Apparently there are screenshots from an alpha version of the game where the Domain of Winds was going to be accessible.

I suspect Anet originally wanted aquabreathers to be actual functional items - without them you wouldn't be able to breath underwater and would eventually drown, but that required a whole load of additional dedicated programming which was never finished and eventually cut for time after the additional item slot had already been added. Maybe they intended to add the drowning system later, maybe it just wasn't worth the extra work to remove a complete item slot and the items to go into it, maybe they thought having it for immersion was important even if it's not actually required. Since then it's definitely not been worth taking the time to redesign the UI and update the item system to take something away from players, especially when some would almost certainly complain and demand compensation for the removed items.

Edited September 26, 2023 by Danikat.8537

[Jedrik.3109]

@mods 

This man has been pushing this conspiracy of aquabreather supremacy on our community. He has been chasing me around Lion's Arch outing me for having a green aqua breather. He joins my fractal groups when it's aquatic and tell my group that we will NEVER finish due to my aqua breather. He has progressively pushed for wing 8 of Raids to be underwater. This was also the person that demanded a new pvp and wvw map with only underwater combat. This cannot continue. This man must be stopped.  His last quip was to come to my apartment pool and out me there. This kind of elitism is what has dragged gw2 down to the spot it is in.

Please consider the impact of this "player" and how it affect everyone that logs in.

[Eloc Freidon.5692]

Swimming infusions exist now. It is already too late to go back on a trash system that the economy has already invested too much into.

I wonder how many max swim infusions are there by now.

[Arianth Moonlight.6453]

infusions, ascended aquabreathers and more important, legendary runes make it impossible to remove it now. Best we can hope is yet another legendary item to craft but even then, arenenet has been incredibly lazy about it.

IMO, they should make the legendary version and give it for free just for being loyal costumers, no crafting, no grinding, just open the game and bam, "thanx for playing, here's your legendary aquabreather!

[Hesione.9412]

3 hours ago, Arianth Moonlight.6453 said:

infusions, ascended aquabreathers and more important, legendary runes make it impossible to remove it now. Best we can hope is yet another legendary item to craft but even then, arenenet has been incredibly lazy about it.

IMO, they should make the legendary version and give it for free just for being loyal costumers, no crafting, no grinding, just open the game and bam, "thanx for playing, here's your legendary aquabreather!

Don't you need three, one for each armour weight?

[Teknomancer.4895]

4 hours ago, Arianth Moonlight.6453 said:

IMO, they should make the legendary version and give it for free just for being loyal costumers, no crafting, no grinding, just open the game and bam, "thanx for playing, here's your legendary aquabreather!

Highly improbable, given that when they put out a new skin set they can't even be bothered to use the same one twice and just call one a rifle and the other a speargun.

I think most of the time they forget that underwater is a thing. 🤣

[Arianth Moonlight.6453]

58 minutes ago, Hesione.9412 said:

Don't you need three, one for each armour weight?

well, yeah, you'll get to choose one.

9 minutes ago, Teknomancer.4895 said:

I think most of the time they forget that underwater is a thing.

oh, they know, they just don't care.

[Zebulous.2934]

Considering that underwater weapons and underwater weapon skills are never updated or balanced, I assume that subaquatic combat is an abandoned feature.  Adding new aquabreathers just reminds players about these things.  From what I have read Anet doesn't like to crush hopes.   They preserve hope by saying nothing at all.  There are all sorts of ways to interpret silence. 
 "We never said that."

[VoodooChurch.6513]

Maybe they figure that since it's so insignificant, why bother?

[Dawdler.8521]

13 hours ago, DanAlcedo.3281 said:

Dark mode users can't read your post. 

😐

I saw just an empty post and thought "yeah I guess thats the answer to the topic question 🤷‍♂️"

[Danikat.8537]

I wonder how players would feel if they fixed it by making aquabreathers required: if you're underwater without one you'll gradually loose health until you either surface or die. Although for most players it will make no difference since you get one for free as a level up reward and I doubt anyone removes it after that (except swapping it out for a better one).

Maybe they could make it so higher level or tier aquabreathers let you stay underwater longer, with an ascended one required to stay underwater indefinitely like you can now.

[Zebulous.2934]

1 hour ago, Danikat.8537 said:

Maybe they could make it so higher level or tier aquabreathers let you stay underwater longer, with an ascended one required to stay underwater indefinitely like you can now.

The devs might add time limits to rebreathers, just to drive players away from water.  You know; when a dish on the menu is annoying to make so the cooks deliberately prepare it badly every time.  Eventually no one orders that dish.

[Qys.5937]

Wait... you can get legendary/ascended auqabreathers and swim infusions 🤯.

.....Runs to Wiki to look stuff up

 

Edited September 27, 2023 by Qys.5937

[Teknomancer.4895]

On 9/26/2023 at 2:34 PM, Danikat.8537 said:

Maybe they intended to add the drowning system later

They did semi-sorta add it, with Tequatl's undertow mechanic. He doesn't seem to use it as much as he used to, though. 🤷‍♂️ The bone wall almost never pops up either, his HP probably goes down too fast for them to proc as much these days.

Edited September 27, 2023 by Teknomancer.4895
minor add

[Cronospere.8143]

Why do people spend so much words on the aquabreather? I couldnt care any less about it. I think it is still green... 

[DeanBB.4268]

But... what about GW2 Expansion 6: RotA? 😉

[Dawdler.8521]

8 hours ago, DeanBB.4268 said:

But... what about GW2 Expansion 6: RotA? 😉

Rise of The Asparagus? Nah man thats a landbased story about yet another Sylvari wannabe warlord. 

[Supernova Starr.2069]

Aquabreathers are there so people never forget Aquatic Ruins might be a daily

[Beleron.9347]

For some reason, I have spent the last four years thinking that in fact you do actually drown if you venture underwater without a breather. After reading this thread, I guess I know better now.

[casualkenny.9817]

I beg to differ.

 

Teq's breather is a nice bonus 5g-ish on tp. I know people sneer at a mere 5g, but I am poor.

 

It also helps maintain your guise as a Tyrian native. Otherwise those bubbles coming from your armpits and back could out you as an alien spy