Last week, ArenaNet, Inc. announced that advanced camera options would be coming to its massively multiplayer online (MMO) game title Guild Wars 2 on March 10th. These options include a first person view as well as sliders permitting players to adjust camera distance, offset, and field of view.

Since launch, GW2 has followed a fairly staid role playing game camera scheme that centers on the player from behind but also allows the player to rotate the camera without rotating the game character. However, GW2 lacks the ability to shift into first person mode, which makes it harder to take screenshots without the character in view and get a good look at the landscape.

The game also features an interesting style of MMO gameplay that involves platforming with jumping puzzles, poor camera controls have led to a lot of frustration by players. The addition of changes to collision sensitivity and adjustments to field of view will help relieve many of these camera frustrations and allow players to better customize their gaming experience.

ArenaNet’s announcement follows an interesting change to camera controls Blizzard Entertainment’s cultural juggernaut MMO World of Warcraft, which added selfie cameras and social media integration. Although this change will bring GW2 into line with other MMOs on the market (with first-person view) but it doesn’t add selfies or Twitter.

Advanced controls coming to GW2 on March 10th include the following.

First-person camera

Once enabled in options, first-person camera can be accessed by zooming all the way in. According to ArenaNet, there are no restrictions on first-person view and it can be used to stand in place, walk, run, jump, and even in player-vs-player modes.

The usefulness of having first-person view is almost self evident: enabling players to gauge distances and see actual line of sight as the character experiences it. Having this ability gives players access to take screenshots without their character in the view and it opens up a myriad of possibilities for experiencing the game world. It may also assist players who enjoy jumping puzzles by giving them a Mirror’s Edge view of platforming.

Field of View

Field of View or FOV is a common concern for many gamers as it sets how much of the game world is visible through the monitor. A higher FOV gives the illusion of increased peripheral vision and is very useful for players who run with multiple monitors.

ArenaNet says that an FOV slider is one of the most requested features that the developer has received about the game.

Position slider

ArenaNet is adding the advanced ability to change the position that the camera gazes at.

Horizontally this means that the player can choose to make the camera either center (as default) or become over-the-shoulder on the left or right. The shoulder camera sometimes used in RPGs to generate a sense of immersion. Vertically this adjusts how far away from the character, or how high, it can get when zooming out.

Collision sensitivity

As most gamers are aware, follow cameras in video games often “bump” or “jog” when an object gets between the camera position and the character. This causes the camera to zoom in or out suddenly even for the smallest or thinnest object. By reducing sensitivity it’ll take more or larger occluding objects to trigger this behavior.

For people who platform in jumping puzzles, this one will likely have the biggest impact. Especially within puzzles that are extremely cluttered and tend to bounce the camera around a great deal, making it very difficult to see where to jump next as a result.

Character height

Guild Wars 2 features character races of surprisingly diverse heights from the short asura—who are about 3’ tall–to the almost-giant norn—who look like they top out around 7-8’. So when ArenaNet said that the camera will now focus on the character’s head, no matter the height, it says that the experience of playing a very tall character will differ from playing a very short character.

Of course, puzzle jumpers may want to turn this off, in which case the camera will consistently switch back to focusing on the character’s feet.

Image credit: ArenaNet, Inc., Guild Wars 2, http://guildwars2.com