When you want to surface (or just find "up", hold the spacebar.
If you want to practice safely, bind to one of the Taverns in The Harbor, and swim around the docks - if you drown, you'll just pop back nearby. (Or make a new (throw-away?) character (possibly on an alt server), accept the starter "Shipwreck Shore" quest, and swim in the pool that has the silver key- impossible to drown/die in that quest.
If(?) you want to do a (very!) little
Cannith Crafting, you can
easily make yourself a Ring of <Underwater Action + +# Swim boost>, a nice swap item for unlimited, drown-proof underwater swimming. This item will be handy until Level 32, and perfect for all but the hardest swims (i.e. Crucible).
This will create a
Bound to Account item, so you'll need a Shared Bank to swap it between characters - but since any Character can make a ML 1 version with zero Crafting Experience, it's easy to get something on the alt you want (and with a decent ML with just a little grinding up for a higher Crafting Level).
What you need:
- A Ring - any droploot ring will work, but you're going to "erase" the current enchantments, so the more useless the better. (There's one style w/ a large blue stone - I like that for easy visual recognition, looks like "a water ring" to me, but any will work. No real need for an augment slot, kinda wasted here.) This will require 1 Dust of Disjunction, cost ~20 plat.
- For ML Shard: 10 essences/ML (so for ML 1, 10 essences; for ML 7, 70 essences, etc.)*
- For Underwater Action Shard: 10 Cannith Essences, 15 Sweet Whitecap, 5 Small Wooden Idol
- (Optional**: for Swim Shard: 10 Cannith Essences, 15 Sweet Whitecap, 5 Small Wooden Idol (same)
(* Any character can make an ML 1 ring with ZERO Crafting Experience - right now, walk in and do it. Higher Crafting Levels will allow that Character to craft a higher ML shard. The only diff here is the Swim Bonus, which will be ML+2. So, ML 1 will be +3 Swim, ML 5 would be +7 Swim, etc . This cannot be "changed" later, you'd have to make a diff ML ring.
The first remotely "difficult" swims seem to be 3BC, which starts at Quest Level 5. Many players will not run those until Character Level 7, so an ML 7 ring could work, or maybe ML 5 for a little flexibility. The only diff is the required Crafting Level (ML x 10) and the Swim bonus (= ML+2).)
(** You don't have to add the Swim Shard now - it's only a small(?) bonus, a magic item works fine with only 1 enchantment, and UW Action will work fine without it. You can add it later at any time, but it's fixed via the ML, so it won't be "better later". And it's easy - might as well do it now?)
If you've never Crafted, go to the House Kundarak Crafting Hall (near the gate to the Marketplace)*. Then...
(* and, optionally, follow the Tutorial. just to get oriented)
- At the Item Deconstruction Crafting station, create your blank by "disjuncting" the ring (don't "dissolve" it!
)
- At the Bound Shard Crafting station, make your ML Shard (ML # of your choice), and your UW Action shard (and (optional) Swim shard)
- At the Bound Item Crafting station, add the ML to your ring, then add the other shard(s)
- Enjoy!
