Skimming the Depths
On 25 August 2020, coinciding with the eighth anniversary of Guild Wars 2, a notable update was introduced to the game’s Skimmer mount, granting it the capacity to travel underwater. This enhancement marked a substantial evolution in the mount’s functionality, broadening its utility across different environments and enriching player engagement through a dedicated questline and expanded mastery progression. Before this update, the Skimmer had been primarily employed for traversing water surfaces and quicksand, its design enabling smooth gliding over hazards that immobilised land-bound mounts. The introduction of underwater mobility transformed it into a versatile tool for exploration, allowing players to dive beneath aquatic landscapes with improved fluidity.
The process of acquiring this ability begins with the questline Finding Sibaha, centred on an eccentric Skimmer trainer of the same name. Residing in the Elon Riverlands, a region first introduced in the Path of Fire expansion, Sibaha tasks players with aiding her experimental research to refine the Skimmer’s capabilities. The narrative unfolds through a series of objectives, including collecting specific materials, demonstrating the mount’s existing skills, and participating in activities to emphasise the synergy between the rider and the Skimmer. These challenges blend practical tasks with light-hearted narrative elements, culminating in successfully adapting the Skimmer for underwater use.
A new tier titled Skimming the Depths was added to the Skimmer’s mastery line to integrate this feature into the game's progression system. Masteries in Guild Wars 2 function as skill trees, requiring players to earn experience points and complete in-game challenges to unlock advanced abilities. After finishing Finding Sibaha, players must invest mastery points to activate the underwater skill. Once obtained, the Skimmer’s capacity to transition seamlessly between surface gliding and submerged travel provides access to previously cumbersome or inaccessible underwater zones, altering strategies in both player-versus-environment and competitive scenarios.
The update had a measurable influence on underwater exploration and combat, aspects of the game that had historically received less attention compared to terrestrial mechanics. Players could now navigate submerged caves, locate concealed treasures, and traverse aquatic environments with a level of ease comparable to land-based movement. Additionally, the Skimmer’s enhanced functionality prompted renewed interest in older content featuring underwater segments, as the mount’s speed and agility revitalised exploration in these areas. The questline’s setting in the Elon Riverlands also encouraged revisits to the region, fostering deeper engagement with its lore and reinforcing the narrative continuity established in earlier expansions. This update underscored the game’s commitment to iterative improvement, enhancing both player experience and the cohesion of its expansive world.
