Character Field of View: Out of Screen Nameplates
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Currently you can only see other characters and their names when they pop into your screen view, while you can hear off screen sounds like combat or rabbit walking (how can be rabbits so noisy???).
This rises a red flag to me: first of all, your character field of view is actually tied to your hardware, your monitor.
A character in a 4:3 monitor sees differently from a character in a 16:9, which is a problem, since you shouldn't tie a game mechanic (field of view) to a part of hardware (the monitor).If there is something Albion Online did really well, it was the out of screen nameplate fading, which addresses two main problems:
- It makes the character field of view circular and larger than the actual screen, so that it can match for example the hearing radius, allowing to use attributes as perception to increase or decrease this field of view.
- Gives a little anticipation about who is about to come in contact with you, allowing to chose to run away from gankers, for example, or to detect a players you're farming with when he gets a pixel out of your screen.
Why is this important?
I think issues, when found, should be addressed before they become real game breaking problems, and so far the ganking system seems unfair, since a ganker can walk around listening to someone farming (fight sounds can be heard way before characters can be seen) and can then come from north or south, giving unreasonably little time to react to the gank, since in 16:9 monitors (the majority now, I suppose) your vertical field of view is almost half compared to horizontal one.Now I know it's not something that should go over red bug fixing and stuff like that, but it's not only QoL either, this is an important piece of game mechanic, aimed at making the interaction between gankers and farmers more balanced (works the other way around too, when bounty hunters will be ganking evildoer).
To prevent some of the more obvious/toxic responses to this:
- No, I'm not ranting because I've been gaked, I'm still under new player protection, but while farming I've noticed how little warning I had when red players came into my field of view, while they were guided by the sound of fight.
- No, "git gud" is not a solution, there will always be someone better skilld or better geared, and unless you want the game to become a wild PvP experience (making new players just stay away), you'll want to address the issue.
- No, go in group is not totally a solution, for two reasons: one is because gankers can move in groups too, two because the game is said to be build around the possibility for solo players to actually play.
- No, play beastman is not a solution either, because if you reason that way you'll end up with two full PvP worlds and one full PvE one, no nice balanced world in the middle.
That said, let's discuss!
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Please no, offscreen nameplates of the enemies was the worst in albion, just no.
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@Shivashanti so you do prefer that north/south field of view is half compared to east/west one and to have no visual notice of people coming on you while you can be heard fighting more than a screen far?
Could you please motivate your answer so that I can understand if it's just a "I want to gank without the victim being able to react" or there is some reasoning behind your preference?
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Oh, you dont even know how much worse 21:9 and 32:9 have it with vertical view...
So yeah, I wouldnt be oppossed to some unified screen view that wont make me have black bars everywhere
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I'm still a fan of implementing Camera Panning, albeit later after other mechanics are ironed out, and then a fixed view and sound distance based on a character's perception score.
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@GamerSeuss camera panning could be good too, but still your vertical vision is limited, while it's supposed that your character is seing stuff equally in every direction.
So when you talk about vision and hearing distance based on character's perception you're also including off screen nameplates, right?
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@GreatValdus it's not about my ganking it's about of the constant feel of danger, it gets completly lost if you can avoid everybody because you see nameplates 3 screens ahead. I just don't like that, i need the thrill in those kind of games, and you can avoid being ganked with the right skills without nameplates aswell.
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@Shivashanti I've never talked about 3 screens away, I would be content if the vertical field of view could be equal to the horizontal one, without hardware limitations get in the way of game mechanics.
I find it silly that a character cannot in fact see stuff north and south the way it can see east and west, while the hearing is working at the same distance in every direction.
I'm all for the thrill of being hunted, but if you have two directions with half view range compared to the other two it's just not right.
It would be better at this point if they made the viewport square, with black vertical bands left and right, to simulate an equal view field in every direction, at least it would feel right.
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@GreatValdus Trouble with that, though, is that the whole block strip to make the field square is asthetically unappealing to a lot of people, a major No Go in fact reminding them of old TV limitations and getting Letterbox videos with black above and below when playing on non-widescreen monitors. Something cosmetic like that can likely drive a ton of players away, more than even realize the problem you point out. More casual players don't even think in that regard. Panning at least allows you to look around and expand North South by limiting East West.
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@GreatValdus said in Character Field of View: Out of Screen Nameplates:
@Shivashanti I've never talked about 3 screens away, I would be content if the vertical field of view could be equal to the horizontal one, without hardware limitations get in the way of game mechanics.
I find it silly that a character cannot in fact see stuff north and south the way it can see east and west, while the hearing is working at the same distance in every direction.
I'm all for the thrill of being hunted, but if you have two directions with half view range compared to the other two it's just not right.
It would be better at this point if they made the viewport square, with black vertical bands left and right, to simulate an equal view field in every direction, at least it would feel right.if you want the same vertical and horizontal view distance, just go and buy a square screen XD
Instead of fighting the system, play the system.
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@GamerSeuss yeah I agree with you, the idea of vertical bands was a demonstration by absurd, to prove that off screen nameplates are better, and combined with camera panning even better!
@Xzait not sure if they sell square screens actually, but on the same way I could buy a mega-big screen and be able to see the whole continent at once, unfair!
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@GreatValdus I wonder what will happen if i hook it up to my 8k television instead of my 4k screen... XD
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@Xzait maybe you'll see the two other worlds too...
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@GreatValdus XD that would be amazing. See all of Syndesia, as youl stand in the middle of the heartwood, and see Tartaros and Arboreus off in the distance of the void of the edge of the world.
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I actually like the idea of implementing out of screen nameplates and tie them to the perception and stealth stats.
