Guild Wars 2

While doing jumping puzzles for my monthly achievement I realized that the camera is simply not designed for doing these things. No matter how much you zoom out to get a better view of your surroundings and possible jumping platforms it always zooms max in if you rotate around an object that that it’s extremely irritating because it doesn’t allow a clear view and you often fall down.

All I ask is, why design such a awkward camera if it’s completely against those jumping puzzles? Is there a fix for it in horizon?

i agree with you , some of them jumps are ridiculous , i get my hair off with it sometimes and just leave them , no matter how far i am into them , but are they really worth doing just to have a little badge saying yay i did it , no by the time u have actually done them , u could have got the same karma im guessing from other ones lol

To me it’s one of those low-hanging fruit, no-brainers… that this is the reason why a first person view needs to exist, like pretty much every other mmo, whom had the option to quickly zoom in and out of.

If I had to compare it to something it’s like wearing goggles during a paint ball session in the summer. The darn things steam up on you, you are under attack and you are so impaired visually that you just start doing some random things in hope of success. It does trigger severe frustration, but you have to do what you have to do. But you’d give nearly anything to not have that temporary moment of frustration every so often.

Horrorscope.7632:

To me it’s one of those low-hanging fruit, no-brainers… that this is the reason why a first person view needs to exist, like pretty much every other mmo, whom had the option to quickly zoom in and out of.

If I had to compare it to something it’s like wearing goggles during a paint ball session in the summer. The darn things steam up on you, you are under attack and you are so impaired visually that you just start doing some random things in hope of success. It does trigger severe frustration, but you have to do what you have to do. But you’d give nearly anything to not have that temporary moment of frustration every so often.

Yeah that’s a perfect description actually – it’s nothing but frustrating in most cases.
They are not badly designed, but the worst camera i’ve seen in an mmo really makes it hard to enjoy em :/ And yeah first person view, definite must. I don’t know why is it so hard to add?

I agree, camera is horrible in GW2, and not only for jumping puzzles. Remember part of the Arah story mode on the flying ship? Yeah…

It’s not just the camera. It’s the jumping mechanic itself that is faulty. Every toon jumps the same distance, but the jumps look radically different on a charr or norn vs an asura, so it’s hard to gauge your jumping distance and height until you get used to the character’s unique jumping “form”. Then there’s the issue of the jumps themselves being somewhat finnicky, since your distance/height also depends on how much you’re depressing the “forward” key at the time of jumping. And then there’s the locations where the only way to make the jump is to stand on the one solitary pixel that allows you to reach, as any other pixel on that platform is just a pixel too short and you get to fall to your death….and so on.

Simply put, this game isn’t well-built for jumping puzzles at all. I’ve managed to complete most of the JPs in the game (so save your “maybe you just suck lawlz” posts for someone else), but it’s nothing shy of repeated trial and error in many cases. Just raw determination. I can’t tell you how many times I had to give up on a puzzle and come back later due to frustration. How many times I’ve missed a jump I clearly should have made because I didn’t pick the right pixel to stand on, even though I’m following a guide and standing right where they did. How many times other players have got in the way of my jumping, making it harder for me to complete the puzzle because between their giant Norn toons and my camera, it’s nigh impossible to see the next jump. JPs and I have a love-hate relationship: I want to love them, but they refuse to give me any love.

I know some people in this forum will defend GW2 and its JPs to the death, but seriously, the game’s just not designed for precision platforming. It’s really not. Play any highly-rated AAA game which revolves around precision platforming, and you’ll understand what I’m talking about and see the huge difference. Platforming games tend to have much tighter controls so your jumps are precise to a tee….GW2’s jumps are anything but.

As a Charr i feel your pain, I simply can’t do many of the puzzles because I can’t see where I’m going just the inside of my own skull. And as an engineer, I simply don’t have stability of any worth so there are quite a few i can’t do at all.

IMHO: GW2 jumping puzzles are meant to be challenges of the mastery of the controls of the game and your character. They aren’t designed to be just jump-jump-jump-finish. Certain ones will test your skill in avoiding enemies, making difficult jumps and/or knowing when you need to use a speed boost skill to get that extra foot so you don’t fall to your death. Furthermore, as the name suggests, some of them will be flat-out puzzles on how you are supposed to complete them, and that’s all part of the fun. Personally I’ve loved every single jumping puzzle in the game save for 1; the more difficult the better in my opinion. So sure, the camera is wonky and sure some of the jumps require split-second timing, but that’s all part of the fun and challenge. To take those aspects out and to water them down to the point that anyone can complete them without falling a few times and learning something would be so bad, they might as well just remove them from the game at that point.

the camera is fine, never had an issue doing them.

I had major camera issues until I changed my mouse, turns out it is perfect now

I’ve never had any huge problems with the camera. Then again, I only play human. You must be an oversized Norn or Charr?

Even some vistas are a pain to reach. Especially on cliffs or around trees where the camera swings around and ends up inside something leaving you with no view at all until you zoom in or out to compensate. It’s more of a nuisance than anything else on ‘normal’ or small characters. I’ve never made a charr but jumping can be such a pain with a norn.

Phoenixfudge.5290:

I’ve never had any huge problems with the camera. Then again, I only play human. You must be an oversized Norn or Charr?

Not an oversized charr but a little above minium height charr. It’s still a problem for bigger races.

As I said the design of those jumping puzzles are great, but the camera bouncing in and out of objects is extremely frustrating. And not just for puzzles, try getting on any higher spot and rotate around your surroundings to view it. Unless it’s a clean area with no objects the camera will zoom in your character. That’s what’s bothering me and tons of my friends I play with. I remember exploring Black Citadel for the first time and I got to the highest point. I wanted to rotate around and see how it look but I literally couldn’t see a thing because the camera kept zooming in my Charr’s face. Vista cutscenes shouldn’t be the only way to properly view your surroundings.

irrimn.3192:

IMHO: GW2 jumping puzzles are meant to be challenges of the mastery of the controls of the game and your character. They aren’t designed to be just jump-jump-jump-finish. Certain ones will test your skill in avoiding enemies, making difficult jumps and/or knowing when you need to use a speed boost skill to get that extra foot so you don’t fall to your death. Furthermore, as the name suggests, some of them will be flat-out puzzles on how you are supposed to complete them, and that’s all part of the fun. Personally I’ve loved every single jumping puzzle in the game save for 1; the more difficult the better in my opinion. So sure, the camera is wonky and sure some of the jumps require split-second timing, but that’s all part of the fun and challenge. To take those aspects out and to water them down to the point that anyone can complete them without falling a few times and learning something would be so bad, they might as well just remove them from the game at that point.

I wasn’t even talking about the difficulty of jumping puzzles, but the kitten camera makes them 10x more difficult then it should. Certain gameplay elements should not suffer because of a poorly designed camera.

The only reason I bought the change character thingy—-I reduced my norn size to the minimum!!!! It helped a bit—but the camera still is just poorly designed for jumping puzzles.

I have to agree. Playing with a Charr can really get annoying, especially if there is a tight corner involved. The camera starts jumping all over the place,. silly.

+1 for first person view. That would certainly make things easier.

I love jumping puzzles, but absolutely dread the camera’s auto-zoom. I do not understand the purpose of the camera’s auto-zoom feature, other than annoyance.

the camera should be more flexible, allowing any kind of perspective (isometric ftw), ignore walls and any solid object if required, and have the option to stay static or follow.
As it is now, it’s just an hindrance even for the most basics situations.

The camera was updated several times, It’s better but it’s still a PAIN in some jumping puzzles, where the Camera is our biggest enemy.

I agree. It’s obvious that the camera is really inadequate for doing jumping puzzles. A fix would be much appreciated.