3 replies to this topic

[Adeptus Odren]

I have always opposed the implementation of a third-person view ("3PV") in MWO. My conviction was, however, put to a rather grave test when I purchased a copy of the old Xbox 360 game Chromehounds from a store's bargain bin earlier today. After playing it a while, it gave me some second thoughts about my opposition to 3PV in MWO AS LONG AS IT IS IMPLEMENTED IN A WAY THAT DOES NOT GIVE AN INHERENT ADVANTAGE TO THE PLAYER and DOES NOT TAKE PRECEDENCE OVER FIXING THE BUGS IN THIS GAME.

My reasons for my apparent change of heart are as follows:

1) 3PV will enable a player to actually see how pretty his mech is while walking along the map, while shooting weapons, etc. That way, there will be a greater incentive for people to actually use their precious MCs to re-skin their mech.

2) 3PV gives a greater sense of scale. You'll be able to see how small everything is compared to your Atlas and how big that AC20 at his side is when you see a tiny car at your Atlas' foot. Sure you can do this by looking at other Atlases and the Commandos beside them, but that's someone else's Atlas.

3) 3PV will help new players adapt to this game. I was able to learn Chromehound's controls in 5 minutes. We need new players and lots of them if we want to keep this game alive, period. Right now, I'm willing to sacrifice a little immersion if it means we're going to get 10,000 regular new players because of the gentler learning curve.

That's all for now. This is just an honest opinion on my part. Please try to keep any discussions civil.

[Polarice]

Its a very touchy topic so its likely to be a bit derailed i think.
Having said that, I dont want the view but im happy to keep an open mind and see how they would impliment it if they did.

[CMDR Sunset Shimmer]

Hmm.

As a long time Chromehounds player back in the heyday of the game, I can tell you right now that 3rd person is... well, pretty much cheating.

Now, Chromehounds did it well, in that you had PiP windows and all of that, And the game was insanely fun, I played for a good 3 years. However I can also tell you that I abused the HELL out of the 3rd person system to get an advantage over players [somewhat, since we all had the ability and there were no forced first person leagues or anything in CH.] And any competative team did so.

Movement was mostly done in 3rd person, with aiming done in first person if sniping or using artillery or looking for a really steady shot.

Another example of how 3rd person is something of a cheat is DayZ/ArmA II. In this game, I can utilize a thrid person camera to look around corners and see my enemies possibly before they see me. [thankfully, ArmA has a FFP mode]

Really, the problem is, there's not really a way to do it in a good way without sinking way too many resources into 3rd person that could be put to use elsewhere on the game.

[Adeptus Odren]

Jade Kitsune, on 25 November 2012 - 12:10 AM, said:

Now, Chromehounds did it well, in that you had PiP windows and all of that, And the game was insanely fun, I played for a good 3 years. However I can also tell you that I abused the HELL out of the 3rd person system to get an advantage over players [somewhat, since we all had the ability and there were no forced first person leagues or anything in CH.] And any competative team did so.

Another example of how 3rd person is something of a cheat is DayZ/ArmA II. In this game, I can utilize a thrid person camera to look around corners and see my enemies possibly before they see me. [thankfully, ArmA has a FFP mode]

Really, the problem is, there's not really a way to do it in a good way without sinking way too many resources into 3rd person that could be put to use elsewhere on the game.

I agree with all of your observations. That's why my 2 conditions for a 3PV mode was that: (1) gives no advantages; (2) does not suck resources from the all-important bug fixes.

I just wish the PiP in MWO's vision module was as good as the one in Chromehounds!