Guild Wars 2

I stopped playing GW2 over a year ago and reentered the game yesterday, as my kids wanted a good mmorpg we could play together and the game is currently ‘cheap’. Their first question was “how can I see the world through my character’s eyes?” and then it hit me that GW2 never had 1st person view back when I played it regularly, even though the mechanics were there.
First person view is pretty much useless in combat, but while traveling or just being social it increases immersion (compare the feeling of “being there” between Elite:Dangerous and Eve Online if you have difficulty grasping the concept) tenfold.

Did ANet’s stance change or are we still limited to 3rd person view? Is there any “hope” it might?

As you’ve said, it would be useless in combat (and you’d miss plenty of stuff behind you even out of combat), so no. Still, I think vistas let you do this quite nicely – you can see hundreds of areas of the game, perhaps not from your characters eyes, but think of it as first-person from a bird.

If your kids want a first-person MMO, I’m afraid they’ll have to wait for one to be developed with the oculus rift in mind.

It was never intended to be in this game. There are no plans to add it.

See my signature.

Basically the feature has no drawbacks but since it requires too much effort for little gain it’s not planned/being worked on.

Any other reason is probably an excuse.

Wolfheart.1938:

See my signature.

Basically the feature has no drawbacks but since it requires too much effort for little gain it’s not planned/being worked on.

Any other reason is probably an excuse.

It has quite a few drawbacks when in combat…whether that’s in PvE, WvW or PvP, that’s the primary reason it’s not in the game…regardless of what you think. That’s why it wasn’t in at release and why it won’t be added, we asked about it before release, before Beta even and that was the answer.

There was a first person mode in the beta client for EotM. It was awesome, but very buggy.

For example, if you died in first person your camera would lock in place and wouldn’t move even if somebody revived you.

Zaklex.6308:

Wolfheart.1938:

See my signature.

Basically the feature has no drawbacks but since it requires too much effort for little gain it’s not planned/being worked on.

Any other reason is probably an excuse.

It has quite a few drawbacks when in combat…whether that’s in PvE, WvW or PvP, that’s the primary reason it’s not in the game…regardless of what you think. That’s why it wasn’t in at release and why it won’t be added, we asked about it before release, before Beta even and that was the answer.

Excuse.

It’s not a drawback. You don’t use it during combat, as everyone has stated in this thread (even OP himself).

I know of a number of games that offer you POVs not meant to be used during combat (DOTA2 and Star Citizen, for example). The reason we don’t have it is because there might be technical hurdles and whatnot, and it’s not generally a high priority.

Yeah, having game features removed or left out because ANet are worried their players are idiots is becoming something of a theme. Couldn’t we at least have “allow first person zoom” as a tick box in the options menu? That way no one can accidentally turn it on and then umm… I’m not sure what exactly they’re supposed to have problems with after that, but whatever dire consequence is being envisioned.

Heck have it unlock in the NPE at a certain level, then there are no worries of players doing it at the beginning and “being overwhelmed”. You could even have a text box in the level reward saying “Not recommended for combat”.

Or, you know, just make it automatically zoom out to minimum when in combat.

I think 1st person view is silly and not needed. There are tons more things the developers should spend their time on than this.

You say it shouldn’t be used in combat so would that disable your skills or just fly out over your head when you activated a skill? Flying out would be very jarring and i can imagine the fps drop people will have when the camera flys upwards. Because how silly would it be if you hit say whirling wrath and just stayed looking forward…

takes a drink

Most of the thought-out suggestions for FPV involve it being disabled during combat. This can be done a number of ways, but the most obvious is already in the game. There’s a jumping puzzle in Iron Marches that can snap your camera in close or far. There’s a system with world bosses that allows you to zoom out farther than normal. In other words, use the system that’s already in place to dynamically change how far a player can zoom. If a player enters combat while zoomed in, the camera zooms out.

If FPV poses a problem in WvW… well just don’t have it in WvW (yet.) Don’t have it in PvP at all.

Here’s why it’s needed:

1. Screenshots – Tyria is a beautiful world, it’s a shame we have to /sleep in a corner to get a picture of it.

2. Looking up – GW2 is not one of those games that failed to detail the vertical. Ever looked up at the inner walls and towers in divinity’s reach? Ever done it with your character hidden?

3. Planning your next step in a jumping puzzle – Also opening up the ability for devs to create puzzles that may have harder to spot locations or even hidden targets to shoot

4. Looking at other players and NPCs – Without having to run behind them and swoop the camera all willy nilly

5. Looking out windows – The devs put some windows in the game that you can see through, but at the moment your character is always in the way.

6. Getting more into the world itself – If the game was all just about combat, why did they bother putting in unique pots, trinkets, desserts and other details into the world?

7. Removing an inch of sexism/racism – Because some races and genders /sleep their way out of pictures than others (Yeah I know I’m stretching it here :p)

Welllll… Actually when you look at this way. Sure, first person view isn’t needed. Just like new skills/builds, new content and new skins aren’t needed.

New skills/builds, content and skins are absolutely needed if they want to increase the longevity of the game. A FPV will not keep people coming back like new content will.

While it may have its novelty, FPV is not needed, nor should it be considered over other content or QOL issues that are in the game, some from beta.

I understand the OPs desire for FPV, but I think realistically this will probably never happen, much like mounts. There’s a thread about it every other week or so. I think it would be much more constructive to focus on things that could have a much bigger impact. Just my 2 cents to throw out there.

Tron.3471:

New skills/builds, content and skins are absolutely needed if they want to increase the longevity of the game. A FPV will not keep people coming back like new content will.

While it may have its novelty, FPV is not needed, nor should it be considered over other content or QOL issues that are in the game, some from beta.

I understand the OPs desire for FPV, but I think realistically this will probably never happen, much like mounts. There’s a thread about it every other week or so. I think it would be much more constructive to focus on things that could have a much bigger impact. Just my 2 cents to throw out there.

It should be considered equally with other QoL issues.

Some players don’t like to stop and smell the roses, but others do.

The feature is small and should be easy to implement, but the impact is actually quite large. Screenshots are a form of gameplay for some people. Sometimes they do really good, others see them and become more interested in the game.

@OP : before you requesting something like first person view, are you a greatsword guardian by anychance? have you imagine using GS#2 ? well no need, just hit dodge roll in first person view

DarkWasp.7291:

Tron.3471:

New skills/builds, content and skins are absolutely needed if they want to increase the longevity of the game. A FPV will not keep people coming back like new content will.

While it may have its novelty, FPV is not needed, nor should it be considered over other content or QOL issues that are in the game, some from beta.

I understand the OPs desire for FPV, but I think realistically this will probably never happen, much like mounts. There’s a thread about it every other week or so. I think it would be much more constructive to focus on things that could have a much bigger impact. Just my 2 cents to throw out there.

It should be considered equally with other QoL issues.

Some players don’t like to stop and smell the roses, but others do.

The feature is small and should be easy to implement, but the impact is actually quite large. Screenshots are a form of gameplay for some people. Sometimes they do really good, others see them and become more interested in the game.

This feature is probably not as easy to implement as you think. What about dodge rolls, rotating abilities, camera hopping when in combat, disabling FPV in certain areas, etc. Just because its a small feature doesn’t mean its not complicated. Any time something is changed causes a ripple effect in software which could cause even more problems. There’s a multitude of things to consider with this that people are just not thinking of both from a technical perspective and an implementation perspective. It slowly adds up to being a complicated issue just to have better screenshots. IMO thats not worth it when there’s things like WvW and PvP that really need some love and are core elements of the game.

People say “oh just turn it off in combat”. What happens when you are running around and something attacks you? If its behind you and you didn’t see it and if its a champ or vet then you may go straight to death cam.

Tron.3471:

DarkWasp.7291:

Tron.3471:

New skills/builds, content and skins are absolutely needed if they want to increase the longevity of the game. A FPV will not keep people coming back like new content will.

While it may have its novelty, FPV is not needed, nor should it be considered over other content or QOL issues that are in the game, some from beta.

I understand the OPs desire for FPV, but I think realistically this will probably never happen, much like mounts. There’s a thread about it every other week or so. I think it would be much more constructive to focus on things that could have a much bigger impact. Just my 2 cents to throw out there.

It should be considered equally with other QoL issues.

Some players don’t like to stop and smell the roses, but others do.

The feature is small and should be easy to implement, but the impact is actually quite large. Screenshots are a form of gameplay for some people. Sometimes they do really good, others see them and become more interested in the game.

This feature is probably not as easy to implement as you think. What about dodge rolls, rotating abilities, camera hopping when in combat, disabling FPV in certain areas, etc. Just because its a small feature doesn’t mean its not complicated. Any time something is changed causes a ripple effect in software which could cause even more problems. There’s a multitude of things to consider with this that people are just not thinking of both from a technical perspective and an implementation perspective. It slowly adds up to being a complicated issue just to have better screenshots. IMO thats not worth it when there’s things like WvW and PvP that really need some love and are core elements of the game.

People say “oh just turn it off in combat”. What happens when you are running around and something attacks you? If its behind you and you didn’t see it and if its a champ or vet then you may go straight to death cam.

If that all becomes that much of a problem, it could turn off while moving. It could be a held-down key that doesn’t allow you to move. Again, IF that all becomes a problem.

At this point, we’ll take it any way we can get it.

And don’t worry, you aren’t going to see any of the game’s balance devs on this issue. They have different teams for different things.

Point taken, the stationary view would be cool.

Even the moving one would be.

Q:“And what if someone gets instagibbed while using it?”
A: You can make them jump to 3rd as soon as they get aggroed, or just shrug as it’s their fault.

The details of the implementation are up to the devs,and I’m sure they can manage to implement a feature that adds to the game and has no drawbacks (as shown by many other games). Again it boils down to how much effort it would take for them to add it versus the benefits for the whole playerbase or in short: priorities.

And I totally understand them saying that their priorities are others, maybe the implementation is technically difficult, or the portion of the playerbase that would use it too small. Reasonable.

I can’t however understand why people would make up excuses like “it’s against the game design principles” (that applies for other issues but definitely not here) or “stupid people would do stupid things!” in an attempt to justify the lack of a feature as something good.

Maybe they could just add the option to hide your character when zoomed in all the way?

Branden Gee.2150:

There is already a general camera improvements thread and first person has been mentioned as a desired feature already. You can find that thread here.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Suggestion-player-camera-improvements/page/3#post4493194

we’re not using a old thread, thanks though.

It’s not an old thread – it the main feedback thread for camera improvements bookmarked by the devs

Hi Brandon, I know you can’t comment on future development, but is this area something that might be revisited sometime or is it mostly just a suggestion that has to wait?