Guild Wars 2

The game seems fun, but i’m 10 minutes in and i just can’t get immersed in it because of the camera angles. When fighting stuff on mmo’s i usually zoom out, but i want to explore in first person, as i do in EVERY OTHER MMO I’VE EVER PLAYED.
C’mon guys. I don’t even care about seeing my weapon or anything, i just want eye-view camera.
I want to turn off the generic music, zoom into first person and explore the world listening to the sounds and whatever, but noooo….

For somebody who values immersion, i find the lack of first person to be amongst the most important things to be missed.

When is this coming? if ever?

I’m also missing an ego perspective…
it’s not a big issue to me…but if it were implemented i’d be happy

I’m going to venture a guess that you are in the extreme minority. While I can see first person being useful for screenshots, I think it would be very difficult to maneuver and accurately jump while exploring. I don’t miss it at all.

I remember in LOTRO i used first person all the time. You controlled the direction the same way you control it in free-view, with the right mouse button. You can also move forward by holding down both mouse buttons. It’s incredibly easy to control.

More people would want to zoom out even further but ANet already said they don’t want you playing the game zoomed out so far and that’s why they limited it. As for zooming in to 1st person, beats me. I’m sure they have an excuse as to why they don’t want you to play the game like that.

I only want first person if I can pan my camera down on my female Norn and see my own cleavage.

It’s a deal breaker for me unfortunately. I don’t care about anything that’s happening in the game because im too far from it.

Amos.8760:

I’m going to venture a guess that you are in the extreme minority. While I can see first person being useful for screenshots, I think it would be very difficult to maneuver and accurately jump while exploring. I don’t miss it at all.

Funny, I’m pretty sure I’d find it far easier to navigate and accurately jump in first person.

Long before release of this game Anet said there would be no FPV

I just want 1st person view to make manual aiming easier for hitting targets that normally wouldn’t or couldn’t be hit due to range or line of sight

There is an article GuildMag here with Colin Johanson on Sept. 28 2011: http://www.guildmag.com/community-interview-with-colin-johanson

In it is posed the question: In the original Guild Wars you were able to zoom all the way till in front of your character to create a sense of a first-person camera. Will you be implementing the same system in Guild Wars 2?

His answer is: "Right now, you cannot do that. The furthest you can zoom in is right up behind your character. The reason why we’ve done that is because we want you to be able to see your character. We think that part of having this personal story and having a strong attachment to your characters, is being able to see your characters and feel a bond with them, having an attachment to them.

There are no plans currently to do a full first person camera view, that does not mean it will not happen between now and release. We are just simply not working on it at right not, and do not currently plan to do that.

We’re playing with all the camera options, we’re still trying to decide what we want to do. For example, one of the new camera features which we put in for the demo, is that all of the giant bosses you fight, the camera actually pulls back further when you’re fighting against them so you can have a better view of the battlefield when you are fighting them. That’s a development to try and respond to the request of some people to see more of what’s going on, we want to feel a better part of these giant boss fights, so that’s a new camera thing we did recently. There certainly might be more camera stuff going forward."

Take it as you will, but personally I feel that their reasoning for no first person view is a poor excuse. Of the majority of games that I have ever played, from first person shooters to action adventure to MMO’s, whether they were online or not, there was always a way to go into first person view. To NOT have that ability in GW2 is an insult to the player base and a slap in the face

I agree that’s nonsense, siliconhobbit. Thanks for posting though.
“being able to see your character” is a terrible reason. I make my character look cool for other people, if i wanted to see my character all the time, i’d put a little picture of him on my wall.
Very silly indeed.

but but but what about when I tank a boss and have my back against the wall so the group attacks the boss’s back for higher crit chance and and and all I see is splashes of colors that cause me to enter photosensitive epileptic seizure momentarily and and its great fun to enable 3D vision and but and ;P hehhehhehheh

Although for Cinematic Machinima…. 0o…. would be nice.

It may or may not be helpful for my Max Height Norn Female Thief in jumping puzzles that involve low ceilings.

First person view was eaten by the Dragons.

I wish they would reconsider implanting it, would be a lot easier to do jumping puzzles on the taller characters.

Sparky Sights.9174:

First person view was eaten by the Dragons.

I wish they would reconsider implanting it, would be a lot easier to do jumping puzzles on the taller characters.

I’ve actually been shortening super tall alts because of that. Glad for makeover kits, I’ll tell you.

On Charr’s though….jumping a quadruped is proving…interesting, anyway.

Although I’d likely only use fpv once in awhile for jumping, it’d be nice to have that option.

I don’t think it will happen because of the small field of view angle in first person view.

Even with the recent FOV change, you can only get a good view of the surroundings by zooming out quite a bit.

Hopefully, someone at Anet has noticed that the next generation of video games is going towards full immersion 110% FOV in first person view and the ability to move view simply by turning your head. Instead of sliding your mouse around.

And it is not that far away, either, just a few months.
http://www.oculusvr.com/

Their reason for no FPS mode is as good as their original argument against changing the FOV. Ie, very bad and I’m scared to think of the other ideas that’d would come from the people that thinks it is a good idea.

lol those are horrible reasons offered by Arenanet.

Some people find first person view more immersive (I would argue how could it not be the most immersive?) and thus have ‘more of a bond.. more of an attachment to your character’ as a result of that immersive feeling..

simple as that

Siliconhobbit.4361:

Take it as you will, but personally I feel that their reasoning for no first person view is a poor excuse. Of the majority of games that I have ever played, from first person shooters to action adventure to MMO’s, whether they were online or not, there was always a way to go into first person view. To NOT have that ability in GW2 is an insult to the player base and a slap in the face

I tend to agree. Why make up such a lame excuse and insult people with it. Better to just make the promise of “it will be included in the game eventually” and then keep prolonging the implementation of the feature by simply referring questioners to the “eventually” comment xD

TomBombadil.5318:

I agree that’s nonsense, siliconhobbit. Thanks for posting though.
“being able to see your character” is a terrible reason. I make my character look cool for other people, if i wanted to see my character all the time, i’d put a little picture of him on my wall.
Very silly indeed.

Awesome forum name btw — LotR reference correct?

I’ll go 1 further — there is no way to show your own name / guild tag / etc… You can see everyone else’s but not your own. So their excuse of wanting you to see character is complete garbage.

The camera view in this game is horrendous, worst ever. An overhead 2d camera from a MUD is better! They also have no collision detection whatsoever, so if your back is against the wall the camera likes to do ‘odd’ things.

LemurTron.9261:

lol those are horrible reasons offered by Arenanet.

Some people find first person view more immersive (I would argue how could it not be the most immersive?) and thus have ‘more of a bond.. more of an attachment to your character’ as a result of that immersive feeling..

simple as that

Agreed, the holy grail of MMOs is full immersion.. Where you actually feel like you are in the game (ala Matrix). Everything else is a substitute for lack of available technology.

To each their own, but I always hated the “realism” of FPS and first person view games, because I would get hit and i would have to awkwardly turn to see what was hitting me. Indeed, there’s a similar problem in GW2 when fighting in very narrow tunnels, when FOV gets too close for combat to be manageable. Same with Elder Scrolls and other games. First person view makes sense on kittenpit/simulator games, but otherwise, to me it provides more of achallenging, artificial mechanism than true realism, much less immersion (I cannot get “immersed” in my character if the first person view makes the game too hard to play.) Also, I like to look at my character, and don’t make it look good so others think I am “cool”-I make her look good to fit my role-playing concept of her in my mind, and have always disliked games where I cannot see my character, and only what she “sees” through her eyes.

Even though the reason given by developers is not entirely satisfactory these are my personal experiences/opinions:

-Not being able to look at your own character sucks for me, and probably many other players

-Gameplay on GW2 without position awareness is probably even more difficult than in GW1. First person view can be a challenging way to play the game (for this particular player). Even harder to notice sudden red circles, especially in chaotic battles.

-It’s extremely annoying to rely on a cokpit mechanic in a battle-being hit by something you can’t see (and that someone can probably abuse first person view by sticking to your back while you try to turn, damaging you/frustrating you further); imagine backstab thieves abusing purely technical mechanics. Any supposed “immersion” gained from first person view will quickly be negated by possible ways to abuse the new system by other players.

I would like to add that the option should be there for those who like it, as I think i was there on GW1-but I do remember that personally, I hated that view and I zoomed out as far as possible to ahve a better grasp of my surroundings-it’s not fun to be hit by something you can’t see. I can see how someone can become proficient with that view with practice, but it would be bad if forced on the whole population, and the one real reason to avoid it by developers is probably to avoid any comparisons with a FPS shooter.

As fas as immersion goes, it’s just a metter of personal opinion, because I feel quite immersed in the game universe by being able to fully appreciate my character and her surroundings-kittenpit view is immersive in most kittenpit/simulation games, IMHO, not in most RPG games.

(Even first person, old-school maze/dungeon RPG games can be a challenge, but back then most of them were turn-based, which made things more manageable-REAL TIME first person RPG games are really hard to play, because the supposed “realism” added with personal view is not realistic, and only providing an artificial layer of challenge, IME.)

In short, if I was my character, I would have WAY better awareness of my surroundings than what’s offered with traditional first person view style of games-which is why I feel that outside kittenpit/radar/simulator games, they offer no immersion or realism at all; that’s why FOV is actually more “realistic” and immersive for me.

@Star Ace I agree with you especially regarding the current generation of FPS. But much of the dislike you have is based on poor FOV that almost all games have.

If say GW2 could give a 110% FOV from FPV or a short way behind, instead of having to zoom out so that you are simply controlling a little char on the screen. The experience would be much different. PvP vs PvE is also an issue. In PvP there is currently an big advantage to having a 3rd person zoomed out view. Put everyone on the same level playing field and a whole new style of gameplay will emerge. ie: PvP FPS view matches.

Alot of people fail to understand – it would be an option, as it is in every other mmo ever. You wouldn’t be forced. It’s like how they offer third person on skyrim, to satisfy the players who don’t like first. Personally, i find third person games fun, unless the entire point of the game is to be my own character. I feel as though flying behind him is immersion-breaking. When playing a game like mario or whatever, you’re effectively watching a story played out by somebody else, but with these, i want to be able to momentarily be my own character. Even if its just when wandering aimlessly.

I like to have the option of zooming way in as well as zooming way out. I get motion sickness from full first person views. When playing games such as the Ellder Scrolls, I always zoom out for combat. I only zoom into first person view when I need to manipulate items in the game that requires a lot of precision.

Options are always good

So many of the comments above seem to imply that if FPV was offered the zoom wheel would stop working or something. That FPV players would not adjust their angle to match the needs of the situation or would somehow be affecting the FPV haters ability to enjoy the game their way. What the puppy.

Being fully zoomed in to FPV is an option that is just as valid in some situations as being fully zoomed out. Why not let each player play the game the they want to and not try to dictate how others have FUN.

I am 99% of the time zoomed out and salute the recent angle change, but I miss the OPTION of FPV a LOT.

FREEDOM!

FPV, IMO, does not suit this kind of game. One needs to see further ahead to scout the area.

Either they need to add the option for a first person view, or some kind of tech that makes obstructing objects/textures to turn transparent. This is especially annoying in some jumping puzzles where you have vines and stuff hanging in your way, making you unable to see past them while your character might be standing on the other side. Walls in spvp/wvw should not have this though.

Go to PvP and fight a good thief and tell me you still want first-person

This game has way too much movement in combat for first person to work. There are even AI mobs that actively try to run to flank you let alone that whole PvP problem.

I suspect motion sickness would also be a problem in places like Orr where your toon can start getting tossed around like a rag doll by all the mobs chain pulling.

Xavori.3768:

Go to PvP and fight a good thief and tell me you still want first-person

This game has way too much movement in combat for first person to work. There are even AI mobs that actively try to run to flank you let alone that whole PvP problem.

I suspect motion sickness would also be a problem in places like Orr where your toon can start getting tossed around like a rag doll by all the mobs chain pulling.

Thats why I said level the playing field in PvP. A special FPS version where everyone has the same FOV. And this will only work if they increase FOV to as near 110% (about the same as human RL vision) Think 3 monitor Eyefinity or the upcoming Ocular Rift VR headset.

But as many have said why not just give people the OPTION of zooming in a bit more so it becomes FPS FOV.

Don’t really care either way. Sorry you can’t enjoy the game without it. Perhaps ANet will implement it in an expansion.

I just want to be able to take screenshots without Vistas and /sleep

I also want to be able to read signs or texts overall written in New Krytan so I can translate it without battling with the camera.

I was also hoping for first person view. I wanted to immerse myself into the world by seeing it through my character’s eyes. But that feature was not included….. Q_Q

I was using a lot of the first person view back in EQ days. Sincerely I was surprised to not find it in GW2, I have really no idea why it’s not there! I hope they add it soon.

Generic music? Jeremy Soule is NOT generic music

If all you want is no UI then CTRL+SHIFT+h to toggle UI on / off works.

Sorry but that’s a bull excuse to be frank. I’ll choose when I want to observe my character and feel attached to it during the story. I’ve taken literally hundreds of screenshots of the world only to have my character block a portion of it. I was thinking of making a slideshow of the world to showcase some nice scenery but with my character’s backside on each of them, ruins it.

I’m not overly concerned with seeing my character 100% of the time. Honestly…the only REAL reason I want first person view is so I can take screenshots and not have ME in the darn picture.

GW2 offers SO MANY beautiful landscapes and vistas (not the ACTUAL clickable vistas) to see. There are so many opportunities to take screenshots of the beautiful graphics that this game has to offer.

I want to be able to have screenshots of these things WITHOUT my avatar sullying the photo.

/sleep is not always an option in this regard and is a POOR substitute to achieve it.

The current 3rd person camera in GW2 has massive flaws. All along the line of “get my char out of here I cannot see what’s happening!”

See, when you only have access to 3rd person camera, when you want to look up, the camera would have to go into the ground for that to work. Or, the camera is close enough to the player that you can actually look up without having it getting stuck in the ground, and then your character takes up nearly the whole field of view. Bonus points if you play a female in skirts because it looks as if you’re trying to see her panties.

But you say, is there a need to look up in this game?

What about enjoying the nice visuals? The 3rd person camera gives me a claustrophobic view where I’m stuck looking at the ground permanently.

What about fighting the massive creatures around you? When I’m getting close to one of the dragons, I cannot aim up to see it’s head. Funnily enough, the head is also one of the parts you need to click on to target it.

What about the harpy fractal? (yeah it’s technically not the harpy fractal but once they learn that knockback move, you’ll remember it for THAT)

Give us a 1st person mode when we zoom in the camera to the max so that we can enjoy looking at the horizon line and above!

+1 very strong support. The future speaks 1st person either way.

C’mon this is just some constraints on the camera. Who cares if it’s playable or not. Also make it possible to toggle all HUD EXCEPT the chat window.

1st person view would be a nice addition to the game, it will be especially helpful when jumping around and when exploring.

But more important for me is to have max zoon out distance set the same as when fighting the Jade Maw in the Fractals, which is FAAAAAR compared to the rest of the game… Why can’t we have that max-distance everywhere else in the game?

maddoctor.2738:

1st person view would be a nice addition to the game, it will be especially helpful when jumping around and when exploring.

But more important for me is to have max zoon out distance set the same as when fighting the Jade Maw in the Fractals, which is FAAAAAR compared to the rest of the game… Why can’t we have that max-distance everywhere else in the game?

Probably the same reason why they don’t want to give us 1st person : they want you to see your character in all it’s (screen occluding) beauty at all times or nearly all.

Agreed, first person is a must.

To be honest, I am not playing the game since 2 months because of this.

I want to discover the world by the eyes of my char, and currently I can’t.

So in order to not spoil me more than I did, I stopped to play.

It’s such a classic feature for mmos, that I can’t understand why they don’t let us have it.

I think it’s very unprofessional …

Yeah I’m missing 1st person view desperately too…
I’ve been using it a lot, not only for screenshots, and standing in front of any something that doesn’t let you turn the camera so that you only see glitches or camerajumping or whatever is simply annoying. If you could use 1st person view, this wouldn’t happen anymore.