Field of View in Guild Wars 2

(source: click here FOV in GW2 is 75, which is the same as the default in Half Life and WoW. While I understand peopleâ€™s desires, (I play source engine and quake engine games at about 105 or 110), we are not just limiting it for technical reasons, there are also gameplay implications that we are taking into account that we believe are a core part of the game. Additionally we keep it at 75 to maintain the integrity of our art which is also important to us and many of our fans. If there was a single reason we might think about looking for a workaround, but because it relates to core issues for 3 of our major departments this is not an easy problem and will remain that way for the foreseeable future.

According to wiki:





The FOV in a video game may change dependent on the aspect ratio of the display resolution. This is determined by the image scaling method used by the video game. In computer games and modern game consoles the FOV normally increases with a wider aspect ratio of the monitor resolution. source: click here ) Field of view in video games (FOV) is the extent of the observable game world that is seen on the display at any given moment. The FOV is usually given as an angle for either horizontal or vertical FOV.The FOV in a video game may change dependent on the aspect ratio of the display resolution. This is determined by the image scaling method used by the video game. In computer games and modern game consoles the FOV normally increases with a wider aspect ratio of the monitor resolution.

A closer look:

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Understanding FOV

Horizontal is by far the more common way of it being exposed to users. An example of a game that uses this is Team Fortress 2.

Vertical is less common, and less understood. An example of a game that uses this is Battlefield 3.

90Â° horizontal FOV @ 1920 x 1080 = 59Â° vertical FOV.

90Â° horizontal FOV @ 1920 x 1200 = 65Â° vertical FOV.

Optimization

Motion sickness : Smaller FOVs tend to exaggerate camera movement, whilst larger FOVs tend to minimise its effect on the image. Thus setting a wider FOV can sometimes help to reduce motion sickness during gameplay.



Perspective distortion : Wider FOVs introduce more perspective distortion into a image, whereas small FOVs tend to flatten perspective. The distortion is caused by projecting (spherical) optical geometry onto a flat screen - that's why IMAX Dome screens are curved. Like all optical artifacts, perspective distortion is much more noticeable in still images than in the moving images of FPS gameplay. For making more cinematic screenshots, use a smaller FOV and a larger camera-object distance.

The future of FOV in GW2:



Weâ€™re in the middle of working on additional fixes for the FOV, weâ€™ll have an update on this very shortly. Weâ€™ve been doing some very promising tests internally, will role out more info soon once weâ€™re sure everything is working! Source: click here Colin Johanson wrote ...Weâ€™re in the middle of working on additional fixes for the FOV, weâ€™ll have an update on this very shortly. Weâ€™ve been doing some very promising tests internally, will role out more info soon once weâ€™re sure everything is working!

An appropriate FOV is different depending on how far the player is away from a display. Computer games should be designed with a high FOV of aroundbecause players normally sit closer to their display.Console games should be designed with a lower FOV of around 55-75 because their players usually sit further from a display; normally the distance between a couch and a TV.However, many games released on the PC (such as console ports)have the correct FOV adjustment, usually because the FOV has been kept the same as it was on the console version of the game.One difference that often causes confusion is the measurement of FOV - most titles will expose the number horizontally, some games however, measure FOV in the vertical.An intrinsic value of vertical FOV is that it does not need to change to compensate for a wider view, only the aspect ratio does. An example of this is on a 16:9 display, a vertical FOV of 70 will produce 102 horizontal whereas a 16:10 display would yield 96 horizontal. This can lead to some confusion because seeing such a low value can initially appear jarring when it is actually closely in line with other titles.To further complicate matters, some games expose the horizontal number but internally compensate for the aspect ratio. Team Fortress 2 is also an example of this -- depending on the aspect ratio, 90 FOV is likely not really 90. On the other hand, a game that does NOT compensate for aspect ratio is Quake . These behaviors are more commonly recognized as 'Hor+' and 'Vert-' respectively.When faced with a game using vertical FoV, you can use this calculator to convert from the standard horizontal FOV, into a vertical FOV. It was designed for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 , but it should work for most games using vertical FOV.Theoretically, an optically correct perspective can be obtained by matching the Camera's angle of view to the angle between the Player's eye and the edges of the image on his screen. Obviously this angle varies according to the actual size of the Player's screen and how far away from the screen he is actually sitting. Most players will be sitting close to a fairly small screen and unconsciously move their head positIf I started this article with a reply from Jon Peters I will finish with one from Colin Johanson:(which as you notice is slightly different from what Jon said 2 weeks ago)