Guild Wars 2

Preface

I’d like to start out by saying that I’ve recently returned from a long hiatus and absolutely love the changes to camera options! One thing I’ve noticed that hasn’t changed is the way “About Face” functions with “Free Camera.” For clarity, let’s break everything down:

Clarity

There is a keybind option for “About Face.” When used, this will cause the character to flip 180 degrees and continue movement in the opposite direction.

There is a keybind option for “Free Camera.” Holding this button down will remove all correlation between the camera and character movement – - turning the camera will not turn your character, and vice-versa.

The camera options have a toggle for “Free Camera.” When active, the camera will not reset behind your character when you run, but will reset when using “About Face.”

The Issue

When playing a few characters, there are really awesome mobility skills meant to be a combat retreat of sorts (staff Mesmer, staff fire Elementalist, shortbow Ranger, and Thief “Withdraw” skill). This works great while still fighting, but not when trying to retreat. The solution people have come up with for this is a complex workaround for a dynamic that should feel more intuitive.

The Current Solution

The current work around goes something like this:

1. Set a keybind for “About face”
2. Set a keybind for “Free Camera”

1. Run in desired direction
2. Hold down the “Free Camera” keybind
3. Press the “About Face” keybind
4. Activate the mobility skill
5. Right Click to lock camera OR Release movement key
6. Release “Free Camera” keybind
7. Continue in desired movement direction.

Potential Solution

Ideally, I’d like to be able to jump in the air and manually turn the camera to cast a skill that launches me backwards. I do, however, understand that there may be balance, exploit, or engine limitations that prevent players from using abilities in the air. I’ve thought of a few different ways this could be alleviated, but ultimately found one solution to rule them all:

• Create a secondary keybind for “About Face” that doesn’t affect camera orientation, or an option for “Use Free Camera” to keep the camera free when “About Face” is used.

With either option, the process for executing the desired maneuver would be something like this:

1. Set a keybind for “About face”
2. Enable “Use Free Camera”

1. Run in desired direction
2. Right Click to lock camera
3. Press the “About Face” keybind
4. Activate the mobility skill
5. Release movement key
6. Continue in desired movement direction.

Obviously, I can’t speak for everybody, but I don’t think players that toggle “Use Free Camera” ever expect their camera to be moved unless they are directly controlling it with the mouse. Changing “Use Free Camera” to always persist could work, but I put in the previous solution to allow people the option to toggle between the two.

Why Should This Be Implemented?

On the surface, it looks like this merely moves an action from a 7 to 6 step process. I’ve come up with a list of benefits to better showcase why this would be a great thing to have:

• Changes the number of keybinds a player needs to spin around and perform an action (2 steps) to 2 keybinds instead of 3. This makes for a much more intuitive feel.
• Removes performance issues and disorientation if a person doesn’t perform the currently delicate sequence correctly. If you mess up the sequence with these changes, you will simply flip and retreat in the wrong order or run in the wrong direction.
• Gives people one less reason to use macros. Because of this one maneuver, I considered binding macros with my keyboard. I wasn’t sure if that was against the rules, so I looked into it and found that it was. Now just because it is against the rules, doesn’t mean players won’t do it. Instead of having to find and punish people doing this, why not just make it easier to perform without macros?

Finale (Finally)

Thank you to anyone that read thorugh this whole thing and Anet folks for considering these changes. Sorry that it was so long, but I wanted to make sure that my points had as much clarity as possible. I hope I did an alright job of that! :p