Guild Wars 2

When I bought this game I was aware that there was a problem with the low FOV but believed that this was something ArenaNet would be addressing.

The last update from the devs suggested that this would not be addressed because the problem of players suffering from ‘tunnel vision’ issues was caused by camera movement and that they were going to fix this issue instead.

Tunnel vision issues are not caused by camera movement but they are exacerbated by it. It’s a little like suggesting to people who are seasick that they shouldn’t have a large breakfast – it’s correct, but it doesn’t address the problem with the voyage.

I’ve been playing computer games since the C64 came down to £300 and I even spent some time working for Sony as a tester in the early 90’s so I’m not exactly new to this games playing thing – and I’m not an entitlement reactionary who expects games to be perfect for me, but I was surprisingly affected by Half-Life 2 before I even knew about FOV causing nausea.

GW2 does not cause anything like the effect which HL2 had on me but it has uncomfortable echoes of the same feelings. To be clear to the majority of gamers who are lucky enough not to have the problem – it is like being seasick, as if your inner-ear decides that you are spinning round and makes you feel nauseous.

It is not something you decide to feel.

It’s caused by a wierd reverse effect the brain produces – essentially when you have been poisoned your brain shuts down the periphery of your vision (don’t ask me why, it’s a long explanation) and sends messages to your stomach to throw up – to eliminate the poison. Unfortunately, the brain being a work in progress, when the reverse happens (you get limited or tunnel vision) your brain automatically sends the same signals and you feel like being sick and simultaneously get pretty disorientated.

This has nothing to do with camera movement-lag (although this will make the effect worse). Now I’m not saying that the representative from ArenaNet is not a qualified medical doctor but his remarks about nausea induced by tunnel vision are certainly not consistent with medical opinion. I would expect that any organisation with an understanding of their legal ‘duty of care’ would appreciate that they should seek specialist advice on this kind of problem, rather than making guesses as to what might work. (Apologies if you did get this information from a GP, in which case I would welcome confirmation because they should really not be in practice).

We had the same issue with some gamers suffering epileptic seizures and, after a lot of lobbying, we now see warnings on all games. This problem with low FOV is no different and it’s really not acceptable for those players lucky enough not to suffer from side-effects to be criticising those who do.

What is required is a little understanding from both the community and the developers that this is an issue for a significant number of players and it isn’t something which will be fixed until the developers get up to speed with the majority of the industry and realise that they need to address this significant portion of their stakeholders and create a product which is safe and comfortable to use for everyone.

As a final note – I don’t have a major problem with the width of view but the height of view (45 degrees or thereabouts ?) is really problematic, if this was increased to at least match the horizontal FOV then it would not only improve the appearance of the game but would also lessen the tunnel-vision effect and make a lot of disgruntled players (both sufferers and aesthetes) a lot more gruntled.

I’m not having any health issues, I just wanna see both the ground in front of me AND the sky instead of having to choose between the two.

Corian.4068:

I’m not having any health issues, I just wanna see both the ground in front of me AND the sky instead of having to choose between the two.

The FOV hasn’t been offensive to me, but I too would like to get more on the screen simply because it’s hard to enjoy the environment when you can’t really see it. I feel sometimes that when I pan upwards, it dawns on me that there’s more to see….which I wouldn’t think is what the art team was going for.

When we mean field of view, are we talking about depth of field? What is field of view exactly? Do you mean you want the camera to pan further back? I want this as well, as Guild Wars had a great view

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_of_view

Very different from Depth of Field. Field of View describes the angle of the area you can see. It is determined by the curve of the lens on a real camera, and by both the curve and positioning of your eyes for your personal field of view. You notice how in real life you can see things that are almost directly beside you? That means you have a field of view of about 180 degrees. A decent portion of that is distorted peripheral vision, but you can still see there. however when you’re in game, you can only see a 60-70 degree cone in front of the camera. That’s the field of view.

I’m tossing my hat in with the OP. The FoV can trigger extreme nausea for me, even to the ‘need to take anti-nausea meds and lay down’ point. (Here’s a RL example for you- walking between tall library bookshelves does the same thing) Especially when moving through tunnels or cozy spaces, I can get so disoriented, my play goes downhill, fast. I’ve gotten yelled at about it- why am I just standing there, target something you moron, that sort of frost bat guano.

I don’t know, technically, if it is related, but the way the camera hops around on slopes and hills does it too… One second I’m looking straight ahead, then at the ground, then at the sky. I wish it would remain fixed based on where my alt’s head is, not the relationship to the ground.

If you can get a three monitor setup, then you can have Anet sanctioned increased FoV. I would love the option to be on a equal playing field with those whom have higher incomes : /

The camera’s position is an equally important issue right now and I’d like to hear Anet’s opinion on that. Until now, they only commented on the FOV.

At the moment, the camera looks at your chest. It should look at a point above the character’s head (as is the case in other 3rd person games). That’s the reason why we can neither see what’s in front of us nor the horizon/sky (except when moving the camera awkwardly close to the ground).

http://i.imgur.com/92Gms.jpg vs. http://i.imgur.com/i7VYq.jpg

I know this is a strange question, but are all of you that get effected by this, by any chance, female?

I will throw my hat in this ring.

This game makes me sick. It’s not an all-the-time thing, but caves, jumping puzzles, and small indoor spaces (especially if I’m on my Charr or Norns) is frankly awful. And once you start feeling dizzy and sick, it doesn’t just instantly vanish when you get back out in the open.

The FOV is a definite problem. The fact the camera is in-game and clips with things is another huge issue. The camera gets “caught” on things and can jump up and down or jam itself into the character. Once that happens, it’s instant seasickness.

Did the “Kill Zhaitan” instance last night. That fight on the narrow deck between cannons with all the undead with knockback? Whose idea was THAT? I was literally heaving by the time we finished that fight, it was immensely horrible.

Please, open up the FOV, give us some slider options, and do something about the sticky camera, not just “camera smoothing.”

@ ulukaiulukai (that’s a hard name to type) – camera movement is a valid point but I only want to address the problems with ArenaNet not making reasonable adjustments for the portion of players who suffer because of their design decisions. Camera movement is an issue but it’s probably something for a seperate thread. I agree that the camera has unusual behaviour but it’s something which is far too complicated (in terms of programming) for me to have an opinion on – other than I agree that it is not pleasant.

@ Mikpet – Not a strange question at all. I’m not female (otherwise I might comment on your use of ‘effected’ instead of ‘affected’ being an awkward girl and everything) and I am not aware of any studies which suggest that tunnel-vision issues are gender-based, but I would be fascinated by any research you have which supports your view. It’s a common theme that male brains have a higher capability for spacial awareness and reasoning but it really does not seem to be supported by any hard evidence.

Just to reiterate – my concern is that ArenaNet seem to be making decisions on common problems without seeking advice on whether their adjustments are based on medical fact. Nausea induced by limited view (tunnel-vision) is not a theory and it’s something which is well-established in all sections of the population (Mikpet – that’s male and female !). It should be taken as seriously as the risk of epileptic attacks amongst gamers and isn’t something which any company should ever wish to dismiss.

This is the first game I’ve ever owned by ArenaNet and I absolutely love their ethos and how they seem to have removed most of the grindy barriers to enjoyment of an MMORPG (I was a serious LOTRO player, for my sins), I just think that it would be a shame if they fell down on this issue or failed to take it seriously.

mikpet.7458:

I know this is a strange question, but are all of you that get effected by this, by any chance, female?

I made a response saying no, and it was infracted for bumping without content. So, I’ll give you some content. This FoV issue is just ridiculous. That a company would be willing to sacrifice the health and well being of their customers to defend some nonsensical artistic vision is atrocious and speaks leagues to the developer’s arrogance with a “We know you better than you know yourself” attitude. I get it. Your artists prefer it at a narrow FoV. Some players prefer a narrow FoV. And that’s fine. No one is asking for a forced high FoV. All we want is a little bit of user choice on how the game world is viewed. That’s all. A little kittened common courtesy to people who have issues preventing them from enjoying your game. You’ve got graphics options that can let the game look or perform better. Just having a higher resolution can be a huge advantage in PvP. You’ve got control options that can let people play better. You let people rebind keys to much more accessible buttons, that’s a huge advantage.
Why, then, is an FoV option so taboo?

bwillb.2165:

I made a response saying no, and it was infracted for bumping without content. So, I’ll give you some content. This FoV issue is just ridiculous. That a company would be willing to sacrifice the health and well being of their customers to defend some nonsensical artistic vision is atrocious and speaks leagues to the developer’s arrogance with a “We know you better than you know yourself” attitude. I get it. Your artists prefer it at a narrow FoV. Some players prefer a narrow FoV. And that’s fine. No one is asking for a forced high FoV. All we want is a little bit of user choice on how the game world is viewed. That’s all. A little kittened common courtesy to people who have issues preventing them from enjoying your game. You’ve got graphics options that can let the game look or perform better. Just having a higher resolution can be a huge advantage in PvP. You’ve got control options that can let people play better. You let people rebind keys to much more accessible buttons, that’s a huge advantage.
Why, then, is an FoV option so taboo?

That’s quite the wall of text.

I don’t see how this FoV is bad in any way, there’s absolutely no way it may cause any health issues and if you don’t like it – just zoom out. That’s literally all you have to do to get a bigger field of vision.

In few other games was there an option for FoV adjustments. Most just use the default 90 degrees, just like this one. Does this mean that just about every game developer out there is arrogant and atrociously artistic?

VakarisJ.5619:

there’s absolutely no way it may cause any health issues

That’s simply not true.

Motion sickness : Smaller FOVs tend to exaggerate camera movement, whilst larger FOVs tend to minimise its effect on the image. Thus setting a wider FOV can sometimes help to reduce motion sickness during gameplay.

Source: https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Field_of_View

VakarisJ.5619:

and if you don’t like it – just zoom out. That’s literally all you have to do to get a bigger field of vision.

FOV has nothing to do with just zooming out.

VakarisJ.5619:

Most just use the default 90 degrees, just like this one.

GW2 uses about 75 with a 16:10 or 16:9 monitor. You only get a bigger FOV if you use a wider aspect ratio (as is the case with multiple monitors or in windowed mode).

That’s quite the wall of text.

Oh you haven’t begun to see a wall of text… I could give you a wall of text that makes you feel about how low FoV makes me feel

I don’t see how this FoV is bad in any way, there’s absolutely no way it may cause any health issues

So you’re calling the thousands of players who have issues with FoV-based motion sickness, nausea, or uneasiness liars. Got it.

and if you don’t like it – just zoom out. That’s literally all you have to do to get a bigger field of vision.

Zoom literally has nothing to do with FoV. When you increase FoV, the camera doesn’t move at all, it just has a wider curve to the lens.

Most just use the default 90 degrees, just like this one.

Jon Peters actually classified the default FoV as 75. It feels narrower than that to me, but we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on that one. 75. That’s about what I would expect the FoV to be on a 17 inch 4:3 monitor, but it’s what we have as the only option at 16:9 on 22+ inch monitors. it’s funny, back when 3d games were first coming out for PC, most games had a minimum of 85 degrees, a lot of games even had it over 100. And this is back when everyone was using small square monitors! The only reason the default started to get smaller is because games started to be developed for consoles first and PC second. GW2 was originally going to be a cross-platform console game.
It’s funny you think the default is at 90, because 90 is exactly where I want to set it. 90 is exactly what I use anywhere I can. 90 looks great to me. GW2’s FoV does not.

In few other games was there an option for FoV adjustments. Does this mean that just about every game developer out there is arrogant and atrociously artistic?

FoV sliders are actually getting more and more common. Because people like us mention problems to the developers, and they listen. Borderlands, for instance. It had a locked low FoV, and thousands of people pointed it out as the game’s biggest flaw. And now, in the sequel, we have an FoV slider, and it is glorious.

ulukaiulukai.2584:

VakarisJ.5619:

there’s absolutely no way it may cause any health issues

That’s simply not true.

Motion sickness : Smaller FOVs tend to exaggerate camera movement, whilst larger FOVs tend to minimise its effect on the image. Thus setting a wider FOV can sometimes help to reduce motion sickness during gameplay.

Source: https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Field_of_View

VakarisJ.5619:

and if you don’t like it – just zoom out. That’s literally all you have to do to get a bigger field of vision.

FOV has nothing to do with just zooming out.

VakarisJ.5619:

Most just use the default 90 degrees, just like this one.

GW2 uses about 75 with a 16:10 or 16:9 monitor. You only get a bigger FOV if you use a wider aspect ratio (as is the case with multiple monitors or in windowed mode).

Motion sickness is not a health issue. I get motion sickness while in cars and it certainly never cost me my health. If you need a remedy for it, I hear there’s medicine for it, other ways of treating it would be to have something in your mouth, like gum. If you really can’t bear it – just drop the kitten game. It’s not the end of the world if you can’t play one game, and if it’s an issue you have across multiple games – might want to find a new hobby in general.

Personally, I notice camera movement, which is by that quote the source of the supposed issue, a lot more when the FoV is bigger, then when it’s smaller.

FoV may not have anything to do with zooming out, but seeing the area around you character would certainly help.

I use a 5:4 LCD, I’ve no problems in this game any more then other games and think that the FoV here is pretty kitten good.

bwillb.2165:

Oh you haven’t begun to see a wall of text… I could give you a wall of text that makes you feel about how low FoV makes me feel

Not that I’m complaining – I did read it, didn’t I?

So you’re calling the thousands of players who have issues with FoV-based motion sickness, nausea, or uneasiness liars. Got it.

Like I said above – nausea isn’t a health issue.

Zoom literally has nothing to do with FoV. When you increase FoV, the camera doesn’t move at all, it just has a wider curve to the lens.

I still don’t see how a fish-eye view would help your nausea. That’s exactly what would give me nausea – playing alien in the newest AvP is borderline nausea.

It’s funny you think the default is at 90, because 90 is exactly where I want to set it. 90 is exactly what I use anywhere I can. 90 looks great to me. GW2’s FoV does not.

If you couldn’t tell already – I can’t tell the difference. It seems completely reasonable to me as it is now.

FoV sliders are actually getting more and more common. Because people like us mention problems to the developers, and they listen. Borderlands, for instance. It had a locked low FoV, and thousands of people pointed it out as the game’s biggest flaw. And now, in the sequel, we have an FoV slider, and it is glorious.

I’ve never played borderlands and the only game I’ve heard of recently, that gained an increased FoV was Darkness 2, from what I hear it had an extremely low FoV.
In the games that I’ve played in the past decade, I only remember an FoV slider in about 10% of them and I played a lot of games.

Here is a very informative video about FOV that ANET needs to understand.

@VakarisJ.5619 it depends how you define health issue, but nausea is not a very nice thing to experience when playing games, especially when the solution is so simple.

And there is a HUGE difference between “fisheye” and a fov of 90. Fisheye approaches a FOV of 180, but is usually a side effect of making wide angle lenses, it is the distortion that gives it the fisheye look, not just the wide field of view. Distortion doesn’t exist in computer games.

Stop defending A-net, they are completely wrong on this one, and is the reason I am not playing. It is a game made for a console at the moment, not a PC.

Can someone tell me if you will be banned for using a 3rd party plugin that allows a change in FOV. I hate not being able to play because it makes me nauseous and dizzy for the rest of the day!

You only get fish-eye at extreme levels or when improperly implemented. This screenshot has FoV increased by about 3 ticks of the camera tool, which puts it pretty close to where I want it:
http://i.imgur.com/DfAkR.jpg
No fisheye at all. Even way over at the left edge of the screen, the player (who is a bot, btw, as are almost all of the people in this image) has a properly proportioned character model.

Judges.4527:

Can someone tell me if you will be banned for using a 3rd party plugin that allows a change in FOV. I hate not being able to play because it makes me nauseous and dizzy for the rest of the day!

Nope, no one knows. Some people at arenanet say yes, some say no, and the ones that actually have authority over it refuse to answer if it is legal or not. I can tell you, however, that at present time they have no third-party-app detection system in place, they rely solely on player reports to stop illegal third party apps.

Judges.4527:

Can someone tell me if you will be banned for using a 3rd party plugin that allows a change in FOV. I hate not being able to play because it makes me nauseous and dizzy for the rest of the day!

It’s not allowed, but it’s unlikely you will get banned for it.

ref.8196:

Judges.4527:

Can someone tell me if you will be banned for using a 3rd party plugin that allows a change in FOV. I hate not being able to play because it makes me nauseous and dizzy for the rest of the day!

It’s not allowed, but it’s unlikely you will get banned for it.

It’s not even clear if its allowed or not. I’ve seen two CCs say no, one CC say yes, and Gaile says they can’t tell you one way or the other.

VakarisJ.5619:

I don’t see how this FoV is bad in any way, there’s absolutely no way it may cause any health issues

Wow, thank you Doctor, I am so glad you were here to diagnose peoples’ medical conditions! What would the forum do without you? /sarcasm

Seriously, if people are saying ‘X is making me physically ill’(without being ironic or snarky), then it is making them ill. Someone who isn’t a professional coming along and saying they are wrong is pretty rude.

And yes, nausea is a health issue, as in ‘my physical well being is compromised’. It may not be a long-lasting issue requiring medical attention, but barfing is certainly not a state of normal health.

Eleri Tezhme.3048:

VakarisJ.5619:

I don’t see how this FoV is bad in any way, there’s absolutely no way it may cause any health issues

Wow, thank you Doctor, I am so glad you were here to diagnose peoples’ medical conditions! What would the forum do without you? /sarcasm

Seriously, if people are saying ‘X is making me physically ill’(without being ironic or snarky), then it is making them ill. Someone who isn’t a professional coming along and saying they are wrong is pretty rude.

And yes, nausea is a health issue, as in ‘my physical well being is compromised’. It may not be a long-lasting issue requiring medical attention, but barfing is certainly not a state of normal health.

Yeah seriously if I wanna puke all over my keyboard I’ll grab a bottle of tequila and watch Nyancat for a few hours in the lower volume seizure mode.

Zooming out in GW2 is changing the camera’s position, not its lense.

Don’t you think people zoom out all the way already? If they didn’t, they wouldn’t see anything because their character would be in the way. http://i.imgur.com/92Gms.jpg

I don’t even know what to respond if you think dizziness, fatigue, and nausea are good or acceptable.

I’m not affected by motion sickness btw., but I know that many people are and that there is no reason not to help them. You can get a better FOV with multiple monitors and you can change the FOV in probably every other “competitive” game out there (e.g., Counter-Strike, Quake, Battlefield, …). There is no reason not to include such an option in GW2.

Guys, I think we need to pay more positive attention to VakarisJ. It’s pretty apparent that his enjoyment of the game would be utterly ruined if ANet added this slider that he wouldn’t use.

He also wisely pointed out that some people a few hundred years ago apparently used to puke for fun, so anyone who is made to feel ill by the absence of this optional slider should be grateful, not angry.

Not to mention he’s helping us all understand better how zooming out relates to FoV. Imagine your problem is that you’re standing in one spot wearing blinkers on the side of your face (like horses sometimes do). To remove the blinkers, you should walk backwards while still looking in the same direction.

Some pedants may point out that this doesn’t expand the number of things you’re looking at at all, it just keeps the same things in view but further away, whereas removing the blinkers would keep everything at the same distance while adding extra peripheral vision. But you can prove anything with facts so let’s not listen to them!

(VakarisJ, no offence is intended by my sarcastic tone here – I’m just struggling to understand your motivation for opposing an optional feature that will apparently help some people. The fact that your arguments include things like ‘some people like to vomit’ and factual inaccuracies like ‘zooming out = FoV expansion’ makes me really confused as to what you’re trying to achieve. Anyway, I hope you’re having a lovely weekend, and may all your real-life fields of view always be exactly as wide as you’d like!)

ulukaiulukai.2584:

Zooming out in GW2 is changing the camera’s position, not its lense.

While zooming out does not change the lens, it changes your perspective of the screen – watch that video.

ulukaiulukai.2584:

Don’t you think people zoom out all the way already? If they didn’t, they wouldn’t see anything because their character would be in the way. http://i.imgur.com/92Gms.jpg

I play with a maximally zoomed out camera, looking at an angle from the sky. You aren’t supposed to look directly from behind your character.

ulukaiulukai.2584:

I don’t even know what to respond if you think dizziness, fatigue, and nausea are good or acceptable.

I’m not saying they’re acceptable, I’m saying that people suffering from them, while playing GW2, are a minority and should either find/use remedies on their own or stop playing, not hound Anet about something that can be fixed by sitting farther away from the screen.

ulukaiulukai.2584:

I’m not affected by motion sickness btw., but I know that many people are and that there is no reason not to help them. You can get a better FOV with multiple monitors and you can change the FOV in probably every other “competitive” game out there (e.g., Counter-Strike, Quake, Battlefield, …). There is no reason not to include such an option in GW2.

You’re listing shooters, not MMOs. They don’t give you the ability to zoom out, away from your character and the fact that they’re “competitive” is also a factor – many competitions involve lots of people in a small room, where you can’t place the monitor father back.

Hyung.6140:

Guys, I think we need to pay more positive attention to VakarisJ. It’s pretty apparent that his enjoyment of the game would be utterly ruined if ANet added this slider that he wouldn’t use.

Actually, it wouldn’t make a difference to me. What would make a difference is if they’d pool resources into it, neglecting other, more serious, issues.

Hyung.6140:

Not to mention he’s helping us all understand better how zooming out relates to FoV.

Not exactly, I’m just pointing out what that “professionally made” video explains.

Hyung.6140:

Yeah, yeah, nice job. I like sarcasm, go pat yourself on the back.

While zooming out != FoV expansion, … just watch the kitten video.

If you move your mouse wheel in GW2, the camera’s position is changed. Nothing else. You can call that “zooming” if you want, but it doesn’t change the FOV. This is not “zooming out” in the sense of pressing the zoom button on your digicam.

I play with a maximally zoomed out camera, looking at an angle from the sky.

You can’t see the horizon, however, and that’s not normal for 3rd person games.

Look at this: http://i.imgur.com/i7VYq.jpg
The camera is NOT parallel to the ground. It is tilted, BUT you can see the horizon and stuff in front of you. It is also CLOSER to the character (“zoomed in”), but STILL you can see everything.

Same here: http://i.imgur.com/DlaA6.jpg
Tilted (non-parallel) camera, still able to see everything in front of you.

Now this: http://udba.org/gw2/gw061.jpg
In GW2, if the camera is NOT parallel to the ground, you CANNOT see the horizon or stuff in front of you. It is “zoomed out”, the character is small, but you don’t see stuff properly. There could be a really big castle on the other side of the river, but you would not see it.

In every GW2 screenshot, the top of the image seems to be cut off, because the (vertical and thus horizontal) FOV is so small and the camera’s pivot is odd.

http://i.imgur.com/HIbr1.jpg (ignore the text, it’s an example)

Now, if you force GW2 to adjust the vertical FOV by horizontally resizing the window, you can see stuff in front of you and the horizon as well. Except for the obvious disadvantages to force this behavior (narrow window), the view is much more natural and doesn’t feel limited/cramped/cut-off. Note that this is an extreme example to demonstrate the FOV adjustment in general.

http://udba.org/gw2/gw060.jpg

@VakarisJ.5619, it’s because I have seen nobody so far give a legitimate reason not to introduce a FoV slider. It’s a standard thing for PC games.

This guy explains it better than me http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPDq_qvsKUA&feature=player_embedded

To ulukaiulukai.2584, I don’t see what the possibility to view the sky while playing has to do with motion sickness.

To ref.8196, TotalBiscuit is as non-professional as it gets — for a decent amount of time he was just a regular gamer, making videos and uploading them to youtube to gain enough cash to survive and support his wife.
In contrast, the video given previously features some guy I don’t know, but at least he represents a design school, so it hints at a degree of education.

In his video he states, that consoles games have a smaller FoV, because you sit farther away from the screen (zoomed out, as it were) and your eyes see the whole area, allowing our focused vision to cover the main area of the screen, making us feel more natural.

He said that when you sit closer to the screen (zoomed in), your eye sees less of the same image, making you feel uncomfortable, disoriented and increasing the FoV makes the image more distant to rectify that.

ulukaiulukai.2584:

http://i.imgur.com/HIbr1.jpg (ignore the text, it’s an example)

Oh man, look at that amazing low-res dirt that you get to focus on. Good job, Arenanet. you really made the right call with forcing a low FoV so we have to see your artwork.

VakarisJ.5619:

To ulukaiulukai.2584, I don’t see what the possibility to view the sky while playing has to do with motion sickness.

It’s one of the consequences of a too narrow vertical FOV, which – given a fixed aspect ratio – is directly related to the horizontal FOV.

Or in other words: Even if you don’t suffer from motion sickness, you’d benefit from a greater FOV. You’d be able to appreciate the art. Even Orr isn’t really that dull if you don’t have to look at the ground all the time.

ulukaiulukai.2584:

VakarisJ.5619:

To ulukaiulukai.2584, I don’t see what the possibility to view the sky while playing has to do with motion sickness.

It’s one of the consequences of a too narrow vertical FOV, which – given a fixed aspect ratio – is directly related to the horizontal FOV.

Or in other words: Even if you don’t suffer from motion sickness, you’d benefit from a greater FOV. You’d be able to appreciate the art. Even Orr isn’t really that dull if you don’t have to look at the ground all the time.

It’s also worth noting that part of the cause of the motion sickness is that all you can focus on when running around is a patch of fast-moving dirt. You can’t easily focus on things that are moving slower closer to the horizon. This is partly due to FoV and partly due to camera positioning (NOT SMOOTHING, even though smoothing is a problem in other ways and should be optional).

VakarisJ.5619:

Like I said above – nausea isn’t a health issue.

Yes, that’s why I never studied it, it’s causes, or it’s treatments in my EMT training, and was never legally obligated to record it on my patient care records.

Imo Anet’s most peculiar argument against increased FOV is that it would make positional awareness less important.
The way i see it a larger FOV only makes it less necessary to pan the view a lot in order to obtain positional awareness. It does not make it less important.

Poor man’s solution for legal increased FOV: in GW2 graphics options select windowed mode then decrease vertical size of the window as you see fit. Vertical FOV stays the same, horizontal FOV increases.

My problem with the default FOV is that it often feels cramped, and makes it harder to maintain situational awareness.

Seems the mods are against me overhere, already got two infractions and deleted posts for discussing the issue, so — bye.

Oh and before I go, Rhyse, nausea may be caused by a variety of serious reasons — motion sickness is as benign as it gets. Not like they make boats with moving decks just because someone gets seasick… well they tried once, but they dropped the whole idea.

I’m going to post in support of the OP, and say that the FOV has caused me real vision problems. Sure it doesn’t effect everyone, but it’s definately a real thing, and for those of us that it does effect it’s devastating to our ability to keep playing.

For the past two weeks or so, I’ve had this strange blurriness in my vision in the evenings. Like I could see everything fine, but when I try to focus on something, my eyes would kind of slide off it. I thought maybe it had something to do with sitting at the computer more often since GW2 came out- it coincided perfectly with my playtime. Odd that it has never happened with any other game that I have binged on, but still, it was an idea. So I tried changing my visual settings to reduce eyestrain. I used a photographer’s calibration site to get my monitor as clear as possible; I tweaked to contrast, sharpness, color balance, the works. None of it had any effect.

Yesterday I stumbled on one of these threads about setting up a custom aspect ratio. Wow. Instantly, the vision problem is gone. I can see the game clearly, and the after effects that it caused when finished playing are gone as well. It’s like my brain was getting exhausted trying to figure out the paradoxical view field (matching up a 70 degree game to the 80 or 90 degrees that the monitor actually takes up) and just gave up on keeping things in focus after a while.

There really, really needs to be a built in solution to this so I don’t have to letterbox or distort my screen (I hate it when circles aren’t circles, etc). Saying it ruins the art or gameplay is nonsense, since not being able to see it is an even better way to ruin it. Not playing at all because it affects my ability to read afterwards doesn’t do anything for the art experience, either. No need to allow extremes either; a 60-100 degree slider would be plenty. That shouldn’t impact art or gameplay in any meaningful way.

VakarisJ.5619:

Seems the mods are against me overhere, already got two infractions and deleted posts for discussing the issue, so — bye.

Oh and before I go, Rhyse, nausea may be caused by a variety of serious reasons — motion sickness is as benign as it gets. Not like they make boats with moving decks just because someone gets seasick… well they tried once, but they dropped the whole idea.

It’s good that you’re leaving because denying widespread medical opinion with no evidence to back it up and generally acting like a jerk are poor discussion strategies and the guild wars 2 forums are better off without you.

Yes, the mods are against you, it’s not like they deleted things that were off-topic, including my reply.

We need FoV fixed already.

I honestly don’t understand all these people who don’t know what FoV is trying to weight in with their opinion.

You are not helping anyone with your ignorance.

posting just to fix the broken page. always breaks anytime it starts a new page

Well nevermind then, posting didn’t fix it this time.

I have been using a fov fix, using 90 fov but todays patch broke it, my eyes are sore again, the fov fix worked, no eye strain while using it but have eye strain before and after.
FIXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

They deleting these threads now or something?

The thread is still here, but it seems bugged.

ulukaiulukai.2584:

The thread is still here, but it seems bugged.

When I click the link, it tries to take me to page 2. When only one page exists.

The other FOV thread remains unbugged.