Climbing & Swimming

[Meier]

I haven't heard this mentioned since beta... wow.

There are ladders in south shroud that drive me insane I can't climb.

As for swimming, I believe they made an official statement about why they cannot implement it in the game. So no pun intended but, don't hold your breath waiting for swimming to be added.

You never know, though. They also said flying mounts would be unlikely and yeah...

Actually...on the beta forums they made a HUGE list of all the changes and things they are making. One of them was swimming. It was under the "Coming, but as for when, we dunno" section of it.

[Alukah]

Actually...on the beta forums they made a HUGE list of all the changes and things they are making. One of them was swimming. It was under the "Coming, but as for when, we dunno" section of it.

Yeah IIRC for the first expansion they had to pick between sea themed or sky themed and decided to go with sky. Underwater combat is indeed hard to implement on an already ongoing MMO, but that's what expansions are for.

[Marxam]

Climbing?.... Swimming?.... I'd say look no further than Shadow of the Colossus. Imagine if the Bismark primal fight was like fighting Phalanx (13th colossus). It doesn't even have to be anything hard or complicated in terms of mechanics. It could just be a buff/debuff where you gain access to a special skill input (similar to the ultros fight when dps goes imp and get the skill "Imp Punch") that allows you to hang on to Bismark when he does a barrel roll.

[Lithera]

Never understood the desire for climbing...all that amounts to is walking into a ladder and going up as if it were a set of stairs. That or the classic "click the ladder and autoclimb" mechanic. Swimming could be interesting but NOT for combat. BRDs certainly couldn't fight and swim...imagine treading water without the use of your arms and trying to fire arrows. Or better...imagine trying to fire arrows underwater. WARs and DRGs wouldn't be able to wield their weapons in any meaningful way though at least DRGs could still kind of be able to poke things. Nevermind that the armor would cause PLD WAR and DRG at least to sink like stones...

[Aussir]

Never understood the desire for climbing...all that amounts to is walking into a ladder and going up as if it were a set of stairs. That or the classic "click the ladder and autoclimb" mechanic. Swimming could be interesting but NOT for combat. BRDs certainly couldn't fight and swim...imagine treading water without the use of your arms and trying to fire arrows. Or better...imagine trying to fire arrows underwater. WARs and DRGs wouldn't be able to wield their weapons in any meaningful way though at least DRGs could still kind of be able to poke things. Nevermind that the armor would cause PLD WAR and DRG at least to sink like stones...

Hello... this is a fantasy game.

I've seen plenty or underwater fight going in games, just got to RIFT for example or Dungeon&Dragons Online.

If you want to go by reality, you can start getting rid of all our "armors" as half of them wouldn't stop a fly or would kill us as soon as we moved because of all the spikes that go into all kinds of wrong places when we move.

Please keep reality out of this, thank you.

[Azper]

I would LOVE to be able to go swimming. I feel like EVERY other MMORPG out there has it, but in FFXIV it is bizarrely absent. The beaches of Costa del Sol and the Mist are just taunting me with those waters.

[kyuven]

I feel like EVERY other MMORPG out there has it

While some games do something with it, I really have to point out that MMOs with swimming mechanics fall into 3 different categories:
1) It's just like fighting on the ground, except with a breath meter and 3 dimensional movement. Boring.
2) It's a completely different experience (very few MMOs do this since it requires basically building two completely different combat systems.
3) Similar to #1, but has more physics in play than just the breath meter. The most infamous example is probably the original EverQuest. While underwater, you were subject to 3D movement but with "ice" slide mechanics, so if you got hit it was an automatic interrupt.

The key thing here is the games that had it, had it since the beginning. There's a lot of work and testing that goes into to to ensure you don't have people swimming above the water. The amount of work required basically ensures that, if it's not there at launch, it'll never be there.

Climbing on the other hand is a lot easier (comparatively) to implement, but don't expect it any time soon.

[Haprimac]

The swimming wouldn't even need to be of going underwater. Just you know, being able to move past ankle/knee-deep water. :S Those invisible walls drive me nuts. And the fact that to swim, you have to sit. Like... Who sits in a swimming pool or a hot spring? Well, I guess some do, but you know what I mean...

Back in beta I was hoping that you could slip and die in Tam-Tara for moving too far, but the walls made sure you didn't have any risk. Not to mention it'd be funny on WHM to knockback mobs into the abyss.

[kyuven]

Who sits in a swimming pool or a hot spring?

The entire country of Japan, actually. Most hot springs are specifically designed to be sat in. Nekkid.
The hot springs in the game are accurate to what they're like in Japan. Which makes sense since the people who designed it probably have regularly gone to at least one.

[Haprimac]

The entire country of Japan, actually. Most hot springs are specifically designed to be sat in. Nekkid.
The hot springs in the game are accurate to what they're like in Japan. Which makes sense since the people who designed it probably have regularly gone to at least one.

True, true. I realised my mistake only awhile after writing, but was too lazy to edit. I guess I should've wrote "swimming pool or sea water" or somesuch. Like, people running about in swimming suits in Costa can only sit in the water instead swimming. ^^ Best part is that you can't go further than knee-deep (or ankle if you're a roe like me) water so the lalafell won't drown. x')