Guild Wars 2

Increase the speed that the A and D keys turn the character/camera and remove the acceleration (make the A/D keys turn at full speed as soon as they’re pressed rather than getting progressively faster as they are held down).

This would be awesome..
Now if only they at a way to pan the camera up/down with the keyboard i would be a totally happy.. (one handed player)

bump

Anyone trying to do Troll’s End n Lion’s Arch with a character taller than 1.80 meters (over 6 feet for you people in weird countries that for some strange reason aren’t fully metricated yet) will see how BADLY the camera needs to be fixed.

The camera prances and jumps around while crazy, colliding with every single wall, plank, rock, stone, stalagmite and stalactite in the cave.
People with some kind of visual or auditive problems probably gets dizzy, or strokes, or pukes all over the screen just by looking at the screen while walking around in this cave.

Yes yes yes for the FOV change. I would love to play without feeling sick!

This is the more annoying one;

while you using a siege weapon, the camera angle resets if you look at map with M. So kitteh annoying

Fix the camera please!

Lack of FOV options and no zoom with with right click down are my big annoyances with the camera.

/signed.

Something needs to be tweaked re the camera.

I’ve only played Asura thus far and the camera is rapidly becoming a barrier to my enjoyment of the game and its superb area builds.

It’s difficult to put a finger on exactly what’s wrong but the character placement on the screen (for the Asura) is too high and consequently the viewing area is mostly ground. This is fine for combat in open areas but as soon as I need to be aware of anything ‘up’ (or anything ‘down’ where walls and cliffs are concerned), or combat occurs inside a building, the view becomes infuriatingly awkward if not down right obfuscating.

This is a pretty serious problem, particularly in WvWvW whereby I find myself needing to look up to target folks on the ramparts of a fortification: I need to be close enough to be within range but in doing so the camera becomes nigh on impossible to use! The situation is almost the same when trying to aim down whilst defending a fort. It’s as if the Asura have blind spots above and below them where near vertical surfaces are involved. Not good. Not good at all.

When fighting in confined spaces the camera pretty much ceases to be a useful tool and I’m instead reliant on spamming abilities and hoping I come out on top. Backing up against a wall in a corridor or one of the many tiny caves and small rooms is tantamount to having sand thrown in my eyes; can’t see a blessed thing.

The camera works fairly well in wide, open spaces but even this scenario is not without hassle: quite often the view is totally obfuscated by non-collision scenery, i.e., bushes and tree canopies.

I’m enjoying the game immensely so far but the camera is really beginning to seriously mar my GW2 experience.

Suggestions:-
- Raise the camera level for Asura.
- Fade the player’s avatar sooner and to a much higher alpha value (95%) when the camera is close.
- Fade non-collision objects when they come directly between the avatar and the camera position. (Neverwinter Nights 2, for all of its faults, worked pretty well with regard to object fade.)
- Allow a wider FoV.

Currently I’m playing this game in window mode all the time. This can’t be considered acceptable. Guild Wars 2 is the greatest game this year when you look at the content and artstyle, but the controls and camera are so unworthy of this great game.

It’s also weird why Anet haven’t even commented slightly on this major issue, are they avoiding it because it can’t be fixed or are they working hard on it?

One last thing, I know I whine and that I’m not bringing anything constructive to the table (I completely agree with OP with what has to be done) but we all heard in the interviews with Anet developers that they played the game for many years before it came out and still enjoy it, all this time in game, and NOONE noticed that the camera and controls are subpar?

Please Anet, if you can’t solve this issue, tell us! We want to know! If you’re working on it, let us know!

oppsan.9518:

One last thing, I know I whine and that I’m not bringing anything constructive to the table (I completely agree with OP with what has to be done) but we all heard in the interviews with Anet developers that they played the game for many years before it came out and still enjoy it, all this time in game, and NOONE noticed that the camera and controls are subpar?

It is interesting you bring that up. I don’t think many people notice how bad the camera is for some reason, which is the weirdest thing for me. I brought it up in a chat in GW2 yesterday, and there were several people saying that they actually have no problem with the camera, which I have no idea why. A lot of them claimed they played other MMOs, and GW1, and said the camera is no different to them in GW2.

I was actually surprised to hear this, because if anyone thinks that the camera in GW1 and GW2 are the same either has no idea what they are talking about, or truly can not see the difference at all..because they are seriously night and day when you compare the two games.

Check out this https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/suggestions/Combat-UI-improvements/first thread as well.

It is about that mod and all the combat changes.

It has everything I want.

the rebound effect almost makes me sick….you hit an angle and it bounces in and out in and out and so on and so on.

not fun either for tight corridors when fighting or trying to make a jump.

objects should go transparent that are in the way and the camera should pan out…not bounce in and out when in a tight spot.

Also a first person view would be nice

This is a very awesome thread with great ideas.

This has to be fixed!

bump

Jon Peters just posted stating that they plan to fix camera smoothing.

gene helo.1590:

They had the right camera behavior in gw 1 seen here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfRBp5LX2Ss&feature=plcp

now look at it in gw2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWnk6CEniYw&feature=plcp

I to liked the GW1 Camera Behavior, especially the first person view we were able to have. Which would be nice to have for jumping puzzles.

Qaletaqa Hania.2598:

gene helo.1590:

They had the right camera behavior in gw 1 seen here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfRBp5LX2Ss&feature=plcp

now look at it in gw2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWnk6CEniYw&feature=plcp

I to liked the GW1 Camera Behavior, especially the first person view we were able to have. Which would be nice to have for jumping puzzles.

GW2 = Taking everything done right or good about GW1 and throwing it out the window.

Yeah, we need a first person view. Tight dungeon hallways, tight jumping puzzle area make you fight the camera more than fighting the enemies or dealing with the jumping puzzle.

another reason we need 1st person camera mode is that I dont want upskirt panty shots of my female characters whilst swimming. it makes me feel icky.

I agree with everything in the OP.

Only things I would add is:
A 1st person view, mainly because of close quarter fighting. I didn’t use it often in WoW, but when I needed to it was there and made a world of difference.

Also, since an aiming reticle would be added with the camera lock feature (so that ground targeting placement would be easier to figure out for some), I would like the option to turn the reticle off as I find them more distracting than useful in non-shooter games. I’m sure I am not the only one who can figure out where I am aiming without one, I do it all the time currently with fast-cast ground spells option and consistently holding the RMB down.

Here’s another fun camera bug. Stand next to an overhang.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXGbLEUrkV4

Got my vote. Clear definition of problems and what needs to be done. +1

I wonder how far ArenaNet is in deciding the use of certain 3rd party tools, to e.g. adjust the field of view. It would be great to get clarity on this sooner rather than later. I’ve been very tempted to use the tool that’s out there, but I’ve held off for now. I honestly find it very hard to play the game at its fullest, because of the constricted FoV, and of course, the numerous camera collision problems.

Guildcast touched on GW2’s camera issues in last week’s cast – Link to Episode 42

The discussion starts at around 31:10 with Jon Peters’ post about camera smoothing. It soon starts to get interesting with broader comments like (in no particular order):

• " … their camera isn’t awesome anyway and so, like … their camera is really not awesome sometimes. When you add that with the ?? for people ?? certain mouse-looks and people who are easily ticked off by this ease-in and ease-out, it just doesn’t make for a great experience, especially in high-tension PvP type situations." ~ Elisabeth Cardy, Massively

• “You know, doing an event … a big boss like The Shatterer or something like that – there’s no point in trying to even go in melee and it’s not because you’re gonna get one-shotted – I know people have problems with that. It’s because you can’t see anything. It’s a big purple blob on your whole screen! Like, I wanna zoom out and see the monster from up above and I wanna see how cool this scene is, and see all the carnage and mayhem … and I can’t! All I see is a purple blur in my face. It just drives me nuts.” ~ Richie Procopio, Bog Otter’s Game Station

• “It seems like when I’m doing dub-v-dub, I can’t get the camera low enough and high enough. Like, I can’t see things at different angles and stuff like that. You can’t see up on walls and it’s really kinda hard to position.” ~ Gary Gannon, Gamebreaker TV

• “It’s also really not helpful for most jumping puzzles at all. Like, it does not make anything easier. So I hope that’s something that they’re looking at.” ~ Elisabeth Cardy, Massively

• “Yeah … I need, I need to zoom out more. I really need to zoom out more. It’s just … it’s very claustrophobic, especially when you’re doing the jumping puzzles. You can’t get back far enough to see where your next step is. It’s kinda frustrating.” ~ Richie Procopio, Bog Otter’s Game Station

• “The argument that was used, was that they wanted it to be a character-centric game. It’s the idea that if it’s too far back … you know … it’s still a game!. If the camera is getting in the way of you playing a game, that is in no way a positive thing.” ~ Scott Hawkes, Zam Network

I just want to add in, that unfortunately the discussion pretty much stopped when it was mentioned that perhaps ArenaNet doesn’t want so many characters rendered at once or have such a big view during sPvP. However, please remember, GW2 plus nVidia’s 3D surround/AMD Eyefinity, gives you a wider view anyway, so if you can afford it, you have it.

Also remember that the 3rd party FoV tool out there, gives you a wider FoV without much technical issues (providing your system is powerful enough to render more stuff in one instance). In terms of character renders in WvW – ArenaNet already cull’s living heck out of these situations graphically (another unfortunate issue we have no control over).

A few video examples of the camera collision issues:

Guild Wars 2 Camera Motion & First Person View

Jumping Puzzle Woes

And finally, the Guild Wars 2 sub-reddit link, discussing the 3rd party camera tool – LINK

Now that Guild Wars 2’s most celebrated champions in the media have aired their views, perhaps this will help to emphasize that these issues are in no way minor and are in need of swift attention.

Let’s remember that Guild Wars 2 have been play-tested long before the greater public got their hands on it … and even after numerous threads during the beta weekend events, (some posts going into great detail), a solution has not been forthcoming and feedback from developers have been scarce at best.

All we’re asking, is to be able to play the game comfortably, without these hindrances. I certainly wouldn’t be hammering on about this if I didn’t care. I do … and I love the game and I love the studio behind it … just please ArenaNet, solve this.

A short 30 sec example I’ve put together myself, illustrating some of the camera issues. It’s a bit tongue-in-cheek, but hopefully it gets the message across. Enjoy

Makovorn.1706:

A short 30 sec example I’ve put together myself, illustrating some of the camera issues. It’s a bit tongue-in-cheek, but hopefully it gets the message across. Enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PegX3QH-gy0

I was forced to switch the camera to “Free Mode” which gets rid of many camera glitches but you are forced to control the camera by yourself.

GOOD NEWS for multi-screen users.
Cut-scenes now display correctly on center screen and do not warp characters along all 3 screens.

I fully agree with everything the op posted. I would also like to add the possibility to switch to first person view.
I’m not sure why, but many games released the last few years have terrible camera control and/or fov. Things were way better before, during the quake-era.

I sincerely hope ANet will fix this, since it’s the no#1 issue for many of us playing the game.

It’s especially terrible in narrow passages/indoors, in dungeons in particular.

Please fix! GW1 is way better when it comes to camera/fov!

Alexander Quess.1932:

Makovorn.1706:

A short 30 sec example I’ve put together myself, illustrating some of the camera issues. It’s a bit tongue-in-cheek, but hopefully it gets the message across. Enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PegX3QH-gy0

I was forced to switch the camera to “Free Mode” which gets rid of many camera glitches but you are forced to control the camera by yourself.

GOOD NEWS for multi-screen users.
Cut-scenes now display correctly on center screen and do not warp characters along all 3 screens.

I’ve got my camera freed up in the options (the camera auto-snapping is horrible otherwise), but unfortunately, I doesn’t really address camera collision much. I’ve noticed that asura characters i.e. like the one I played in my video are most affected for some reason.

In terms of the multi-screen fix, I’m really happy to hear that the cut-scene issues have been addressed. GW2 had vert-minues issues right from the beginning of the BWE’s, so if this is an ArenaNet fix, well done!

Now let’s hope they ease-off a little bit with their policy concerning applications such as Widescreen Fixer or other apps that allows single-screen users to tweak their field of view … or better yet … let’s hope ArenaNet implement such a feature themselves.

If I could get double the zoom-out distance, I would be a very happy camper.

This is especially true with Norn characters. It is sometimes very difficult to get a sense of the battlefield, and very easy to get tunnel-vision.

I would give so much just to get a response on the issue. Is Anet considering it? Do they believe it’d give unfair advantages? Do they just want you to be zoomed in this much?

Official stance?

good post, camera issues are annoying and really should be focused on

Good suggestions OP, I want them implemented.

Locked Camera
In some third-person games (especially third-person shooter games), the camera is by default ‘locked’ to the mouse such that the right-mouse-button doesn’t have to be constantly held down to turn the camera (and by extension the character). This makes moving the camera seem a lot more natural, especially in a fast-paced RPGs like GW2 where movement and positioning is so important. It can also eliminate hand fatigue as well as the potential of developing carpal tunnel by not requiring the player to constantly hold the right-mouse-button at all times.
Solution:
Consider adding an option to lock the camera to the mouse. When this mode is enabled, it would also enable a secondary keybind (for example, ‘shift’ by default), when held down, this key would temporarily unlock the camera from the mouse and bring up a cursor that would allow players to still interact with the world when needed. Also, whenever a menu is open that requires the cursor (such as the Trading Post, the inventory, the loot window, dialogue/NPC interaction, etc) the mouse would automatically become temporarily unlocked and would automatically become locked again when the menu is closed.

Just look at Dungeons & Dragons Online for how to do camera lock in a third-person action MMO.

Also, I agree with everything, with FoV being the most important of the lot.

Perhaps I’m the extreme minority but I’ve had no issues with the camera. Feels fine. The only thing I don’t like is the glitchy graphics when you get near walls and tight spaces, floors disappear etc.

Mikki.5370:

Perhaps I’m the extreme minority but I’ve had no issues with the camera. Feels fine. The only thing I don’t like is the glitchy graphics when you get near walls and tight spaces, floors disappear etc.

This doesn’t bother you?

Here’s hoping something is done about this.

Thanks very much, now they removed the camera smoothing (which has been a part of Guild Wars since the release of Prophecies) which I was totally used to. Now I’m at the point of giving up playing it because the camera is absolutely terrible and there’s no option to enable the smoothing.

Please increase camera zoom out distance!!! its killing me!! literally..

When i get downed in pvp i have to be lucky as hell to pan the camera around and teleport (i mostly play thief) to some spot without clicking on anything else.. ive died so many times because of the short camera distance its frustrating!! and I play Asura. So no, it has nothing to do with the racial size. I even think racial size works against me since it zooms in even more when i get downed.

bwillb.2165:

Locked Camera
In some third-person games (especially third-person shooter games), the camera is by default ‘locked’ to the mouse such that the right-mouse-button doesn’t have to be constantly held down to turn the camera (and by extension the character). This makes moving the camera seem a lot more natural, especially in a fast-paced RPGs like GW2 where movement and positioning is so important. It can also eliminate hand fatigue as well as the potential of developing carpal tunnel by not requiring the player to constantly hold the right-mouse-button at all times.
Solution:
Consider adding an option to lock the camera to the mouse. When this mode is enabled, it would also enable a secondary keybind (for example, ‘shift’ by default), when held down, this key would temporarily unlock the camera from the mouse and bring up a cursor that would allow players to still interact with the world when needed. Also, whenever a menu is open that requires the cursor (such as the Trading Post, the inventory, the loot window, dialogue/NPC interaction, etc) the mouse would automatically become temporarily unlocked and would automatically become locked again when the menu is closed.

Just look at Dungeons & Dragons Online for how to do camera lock in a third-person action MMO.

Yeah I also played DDO and that camera option was the only reason I played the game at all.

The options in the combat action mod are what need to be put into this game.

This thread is like the big brother of the main issue that’s been bugging me since day 1.

That issue is the right mousedown target/attack that sees you shooting at anything you happen to run within range of, has you stopping in mid battle to harvest a node and you get your kitten kicked or has you lose your target completely and waste time and resources shooting at nothing.

This issue is FUNDAMENTAL to being able to play this game properly and needs attention from the devs as a priority. Give us a game where the basics actually work properly before you fine tune it and give it a fancy paint job.

Agreed. One of the worst cameras in MMOs right now. But I still love the game. Played in all 3 BWEs. And have about 750 hours logged across my 2 80’s on the live version. Since I first played BWE1 camera was always my main complaint. Please do something about it.

Allowing the camera to “tilt” upwards a bit would improve my enjoyment of the game so drastically that i do not have the words to express it. I feel that having “camera tilt” as a slider at any level would very drastically make the game far more enjoyable.

The Art team of GW2 has done such a lovely job at creating an amazing and artful game world that it’s borderline tragic that all most of us ever see is the ground.

However… seeing that much of ones character is often a huge benefit in PVP, so i understand the origional decision to make the camera point so low….. which is why i say there needs to be a Tilt Slider rather than a full-deal change.

none of the other issue do i really have any problem with. Although my girlfriend hates the camera clipping (for example during that one jump-puzzle in the Salvari starting zone that brings you to that one pain-in-the-butt other jump puzzle, sorry i dont know the names… im sure many of you do) so i can agree with allowing better clipping features. However i absolutelly agree with making the Camera Tilt option a 10000000% top priority. it is the single biggest flaw in Guild Wars 2 as far as I, and my three closest friends are concirned.

Just going to give my +1 to this.
Everything in the OP, I agree with.

I also cannot reproduce the “Camera Glitch” – where it would reset to the center of the screen – but yeah..Everything else is still true, and really takes a lot of enjoyment out of the game for me.
It’s this sort of lack of polish that GW2 launched with that really weakens the game for everybody.

Hopefully ANet can mop it up.

I agree 100% please allow us the option to remove camera acceleration and make it linear with mouse movement. Thanks.

Makovorn’s video perfectly illustrates some of the annoying problems with the game’s camera. And the POV that is so incredibly zoomed in, combined with the bouncing of the camera, is extremely nauseating and induces head aches. Yes, I literally get a head ache from this camera system. And I’m probably not alone. It hurts my eyes staring at it for too long.

I’m a big fan of ArenaNet and GW series, but unfortunately, despite my eagerness, I can not play this wonderful game that is GW2.

After less than one hour in the game I start to feel dizzy, motion sickness strikes… Then I put the game aside for a few weeks hoping for an update in the matter. =/

I suppose that not many players suffer these things, but please, tell us there are changes coming to help us.. or just say we’re out of luck and we can move on and forget about GW2. :P

Thanks!

I have to revive this thread because I want to play and enjoy GW2 but it is so hard whenever i get motion sickness from all the zoom snapping the camera does when it collides with something as small as a rock.

Any updates if the camera collision detection will be tweaked??? I haven’t played this game in 8 months, and I logged in a week ago and realized its still there….Please please ANET, fix it :[

Can I just say that whilst a number of threads on these forums come across and whiny & complaining (often about nothing major), this thread – at least in my opinion – is well put, well thought out, factually based, and has my full support.

I have played this game since release, with some minor week or so breaks along the way – and the one issue that seems to have persisted is the camera issues described in this post. In fact, as of today, this would be the one thing I would have to list as my most desired in game fix by far.

Surely, this won’t be quick or easy to solve, but it would be sincerely appreciated if some work in this regard could be undertaken!