Silly question I guess, but can you not swim in this game?  I just ran into water and started taking damage.  The message was that I had entered water over my head and that I needed to get out?  So I am assuming that there is no swimming in Aion.  Is this correct?  Also, I thought it was sort of odd that I just kept running at normal speed under water.  Seemed out  of place since all the other animations seem so well done.

That is correct, no swimming. If you are in over your head keep jumping to try and avoid damage.

I was under the impression that the swimming animation was to be added with 1.5/western release.  However im not sure where i read that or if it holds any merit.

No swimming in a so called next generation MMOG is lame.

Originally posted by RedwoodSap

No swimming in a so called next generation MMOG is lame.

Firstly, I have never heard Aion being called next gen, nor would I call anything next gen until a game or games can establish themselves as next generation.

Secondly, since when has swimming so important in gaming that next generation games REQUIRE it? If anything flying is Aion's version of swimming since it acts like many swimming mechanics would, but instead of leaving it as an after-thought (because swimming has TOTALLY been an important factor in judging a MMORPG!!!1 we all know how important swimming is in WoW!!!) they actually make flying (a.k.a. swimming) meaningful.

*sigh*

again, since when has swimming been an important factor within MMORPGs yet alone games in general?

Think before you post buddy.

"Not a retired MMORPG.com mod"

Lol with posts like this I certainly hope you aren't.

Originally posted by Wingma

Originally posted by RedwoodSap

No swimming in a so called next generation MMOG is lame.

 

Firstly, I have never heard Aion being called next gen, nor would I call anything next gen until a game or games can establish themselves as next generation.

 

Secondly, since when has swimming so important in gaming that next generation games REQUIRE it? If anything flying is Aion's version of swimming since it acts like many swimming mechanics would, but instead of leaving it as an after-thought (because swimming has TOTALLY been an important factor in judging a MMORPG!!!1 we all know how important swimming is in WoW!!!) they actually make flying (a.k.a. swimming) meaningful.

 

*sigh*

again, since when has swimming been an important factor within MMORPGs yet alone games in general?

Think before you post buddy.

 

"Not a retired MMORPG.com mod"

Lol with posts like this I certainly hope you aren't.

Swimming itself may not be that important of a gameplay feature, but come on, if you are going to have water, don't you think there should be some kind of swimming animation or ability to hold your breath? Its bad for immersion and realism. Not everybody cares about that stuff, but some do.

When MMOs hang by a thread, it doesn't take much to stack up negative gaming experiences. Unless there is some inherent reason why water hurts players, it doesn't make any sense. If they made it lava or acid instead of water, then that would be fine. If the characters are made out of sugar, that would make sense. But otherwise it will stand out.

Easy, Thunder.   The OP is valid.  Sure, swimming isn't a hingepoint, but come on, it's not outta the realm of reason to think that an otherwise visually pretty game would have that little detail covered. 

When was the last time YOU were able to swim in your full body armor , backpack and carrying a weapon?

To the flaming 'tards, the OP does make a good point.  To the OP, if you notice, most deep water areas in the game are boundaries of the map.  Areas of water that you can cross are shallow enough to run through.  It might just be part of the design.

It's not a game breaker or anything, but it would be nice.

tlbabs:  When was the last time YOU sprouted wings and flew?  Shut up with the realism crap.  It's a video game.

Originally posted by tlbabs

When was the last time YOU were able to swim in your full body armor , backpack and carrying a weapon?

Well, they already completely killed the realism when they put all women in high-heels (or high-claws, lol).

Originally posted by tlbabs

When was the last time YOU were able to swim in your full body armor , backpack and carrying a weapon?

www.youtube.com/watch

Originally posted by Wingma

Secondly, since when has swimming so important in gaming that next generation games REQUIRE it? If anything flying is Aion's version of swimming since it acts like many swimming mechanics would, but instead of leaving it as an after-thought (because swimming has TOTALLY been an important factor in judging a MMORPG!!!1 we all know how important swimming is in WoW!!!) they actually make flying (a.k.a. swimming) meaningful.

again, since when has swimming been an important factor within MMORPGs yet alone games in general?

It's been important since it was introduced some 10 years ago in the industry. It's a basic movement function. It's cool to do. Swimming is fun. And the fact that it's not the most difficult thing to code shows that AION is not really as polished a product as many think, regardless of how pretty AION is or well done the GUI is.

Flying would be meaningful in AION if I could FLY over the water, unfortunately you will get "You cannot fly in this zone" and have to walk underwater and jump to avoid dying. Swimming, to me, has been an industry standard ever since I first swam in Everquest back in 2001. Flying has been an industry standard to me since Perfect World over two years ago, and in Perfect World flying *is* actually meaningful, unlike AION.

So, to answer your question, it's been important since it was first introduced. Did you see WOW come out with no swimming? No, because it was already an industry standard, just like riding/horses/mounts became an industry standard after it was introduced.

 

Originally posted by tlbabs

When was the last time YOU were able to swim in your full body armor , backpack and carrying a weapon?

Yesterday...i put my sword back in its sheath, and took a swim and guess what? i didn't take dmg when i did it

haha

Originally posted by RedwoodSap

Originally posted by tlbabs

When was the last time YOU were able to swim in your full body armor , backpack and carrying a weapon?

www.youtube.com/watch

Yeah, lets see him out in the deep where the water isn't  just above his knees :P

Originally posted by tlbabs

When was the last time YOU were able to swim in your full body armor , backpack and carrying a weapon?

It's not the armor, backpack, or weapon that makes it so tough. It's all those dinosaur heads.

I still hold to the idea that if the best people can bitch about is not being able to swim in a video game that the product must be pretty decent.

I don't care about swimming, I've never had to even get to a point where I remotely thought about swimming. They are done as artificial barriers, which feels better done than just putting an invisible wall up.

And I'm sure you could make up some bullshit lore reason why they can't swim if you really wanted to. They're Daeva, not human, so chances are their body may be different. Water may not be the same on their planet as it is on earth as well, who knows. If you really want to RP it I'm sure there is some excuse. Eh if they want to add in a swimming animation its fine, I don't really care either way, but I still think it is a silly thing to complain about. If Aion was being built to be this crazy roleplaying experience where you feel like you're a part of the world I would think that, yeah, swimming might be a big deal. But in a game whos focus is endgame PvP? Who cares. Almost all of the water I've seen is off a cliff anyways to where if you got into it, and even if you could swim, you'd be stuck anyways.

Oh and not flying anywhere actually is justified through both the lore and from a gameplay standpoint. For one, we don't want people just avoiding mobs by flying above them in leveling zones. The other is that only places with aether in them give the ability for flight. Once you get to the abyss all of it is flight enabled, not to mention at higher levels between wing upgrades and flight time potions you can stay up in the air for a good amount of time.

I don't think Aion was a game made for "immersive" roleplayers that enjoying swimming with plate armour and huge weapons. Maybe try AoC? theres alot of swimming there ...hopefully it caters to your immersion appetite!

People just don't like things left out of a game, it may not be a major feature but its still limiting in its own way.

Some of you may not care, but there are those that expect more from their games, even something as simple as swimming.

There are games without jumping, and it makes the game feel like it has less freedom, its nothing game breaking but still sucks.

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Originally posted by Scalebane
People just don't like things left out of a game, it may not be a major feature but its still limiting in its own way.
Some of you may not care, but there are those that expect more from their games, even something as simple as swimming.
There are games without jumping, and it makes the game feel like it has less freedom, its nothing game breaking but still sucks.

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Jumping complaints makes sense though, as it sucks not being able to just jump over a tiny fence to get around something.

There is literally no where to go swimming in this game. There is no body of water that would require you to walk around it and that would be better to get to the other side by swimming. The only bodies of water that are noticeable are too shallow to actually swim, the rest of them are off large cliffs and totally out of the way.

Originally posted by Nadril

And I'm sure you could make up some bullshit lore reason why they can't swim if you really wanted to.

I've got one! Feathers.

I really like game where you can swim, and would like nothing more than a bunch of dungeons where the majority of deaths are caused by drowning. So from my persective, Aion is no worse when it comes to water than most MMOs where you can swim. WoW with its ridiculous lung capacities and nothing important whatsoever down there. LotRO where you can't go underwater at all and lakes or rivers are barely more than a minor hindrance. AoC where water is actually a place of safety, as though the first place you'd hide when pursued by enemies wielding ranged weapons is in a shoulder-deep creek. EQ 1+2 both have underwater dungeons but to play in them I'd have to level for dozens of hours by myself.

Given that, I actually prefer water as an obstacle such as you see in Guild Wars and RuneScape. It acts as another element cutting the landscape up into a maze, which on a good day can be about dilemmas and even traps.

The other day I played an MMO in which other players told me there are a lot of underwater areas including dungeons. Or did I dream this? What games out there feature a lot of underwater peril? My kingdom for Tomb Raider Online.

The designers use water to limit zones.. if you wanna swim go and swim in rl

Originally posted by tlbabs

When was the last time YOU were able to swim in your full body armor , backpack and carrying a weapon?

Actually, properly made plate armor weighs about 45 lbs, which is less than the weight of modern soldier's gear. A trained medieval soldier (not the fat ass in that youtube video) could run, jump into a saddle and even swim in full plate armor.

I agree with the OP, no swimming and taking damage in water is lame.

i read somewhere that the Korean version has swimming

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Originally posted by tehnoodle
i read somewhere that the Korean version has swimming

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Those crafty Koreans.

Originally posted by Nadril

 

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Originally posted by tehnoodle
i read somewhere that the Korean version has swimming

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Those crafty Koreans.

Outsmarted again huh Nadril?   ;)