1st or 3rd person (Navigation Guide)

[la aurora]

There are questions that get asked again and again. It was meant to be an answer in one of such topics but it turned out rather detailed, so I thought it was worth posting it as a guide instead of hiding it in one of numerious similar threads.

I haven't played ego shooters before, so for me 3rd person was more comfortable and I was going for it for many months.
My friend, on the opposite, prefered 1st person view and was using it mostly.

Time showed BOTH to be wrong. I personally had to learn navigation once again wich wasn't easy after all this time. If I had to start again, I'd learn effective navigation from the very begining. And being effective in this case means ability to switch.

Pros and Cons:

3rd person:
+ it makes you aware of surroundings, better orientation, you can see other hunters and mobs running from behind
+ it reduces lag at times
+ it can be more visually appealing as you can see you avatar's figure
+ when you aim by selecting you don't have to wonder about gun range, avatar will run automatically if needed
+ you can look at whatever and whoever you want without being noticed as your avatar stands still
- it's hard to aim mob if you don't select him (when you target is selected, you gun shoots 2 times slower than it really can, when mob is selected and you make steps back, your avatar puts the gun down which slowers shooting even more). Problem can be solved if you disselect mob after it starts running in the straight line or stops in front of you either by clicking on terrain next to mob (if Auto-disselect is On in options) or you own HealthBar if A-D is Off (you will select yourself this way)
- it makes it hard to take terrain in consideration, you may see the mob and shoot in small hill between you
- it's hard to navigate sometimes. If Aim mode isn't on, you can run in straight lines only. You can either have to point some areas on the ground to run to (wich leads to horrible effects in laggy areas) or click on sky/use autorun to move in straigth line. Sometimes it's fine but often it's not enough and you are too slow
- it limits your ability to control tools at times. You run much slower if your tool is activated (held up ready). For example in mining when you throw a bomb, your finder stays up for some amount of time and the only way to put it down is to click somewhere on terrain/sky/wall so you avatar starts to run there which can be quite annoying. Same goes for gun, fap and other tools.

1st person
+ you navigate better as all you need is Q for running (or autorun) and mouse to change directions easily, you can step back in any direction with or without Aim mode (mouse movement with A+ and mouse movement with wheel pushed for A-)
+ you see the line: Gun - Terrain - Mob, so shooting through terrain is easy to avoid
+ you don't have to select mob to aim it
+ you can shoot a bit ahead of mob when it's running, which gives better results, you aim better if mob is running chaoticaly (happenes in team hunting on when there are many hunters on radar)
+ it gives you better control over tools. One fast mouse-wheel movement puts tool down immediately wich lets you run faster
- you are less aware of surroundings, you don't see if someone is running to the mob you are aiming, you don't see if some other mob is planning to get you from behind
- it's harder to measure distance visually, you can miss interesting stuff going on somewhere behind you, you may miss fruit, dung or something else laying on the ground
- if you don't select mob, you can get distance wrong and try to shoot something out of your gun's range (can be solved by using Aim mode and clicking on mob with right mouse button - it will work as auto-Aim and your avatar will run closer if needed)
- it can make it harder to move in laggy area
- you don't see your avatar, so if you forgot to put helmet on, you'll find out only when mob hits you hard in the head or someone else tells you
- they always know when you are looking at them as your avatar turns head with every mouse action, you have to almost hit person's nose if you want to see details of his hat or something

As you see, it's not only 1st or 3rd person that matters but rather full list:
1. 1st or 3rd - default can be chosen in Options and you can always switch later either by using mouse-wheel to zoom in and out or by pressing Z to switch views fast
2. Auto-Disselect ON or OFF - this also can be set in Options. If it's on, you can easily disselect something by clicking somewhere else on the screen. If it's OFF, you can either select yourself by clicking on your HealthBar or use Disselect option (in right-click menu, action book or in action bar if you put it there). I personally have it OFF to avoid accidental disselection in 'hot' moments but ON can save you some time and effort, so up to you.
3. Aim mode ON or OFF - This can also be set in Options and later you can switch easily with SpaceBar key that can be accessed with your thumb any moment, so I personally recommend to set in ON. I've mentioned some of advantages of this mode in list above but there are cons and pros here also. With this mode being OFF you can easily move your mouse around the screen without your avatar changing direction. With it ON, you may find it hard to close loot window for example or access some option. I personally drag LootWindow behind the chat after first drop and then let loot collect there (you can still see what you get as chat area is see through). But when I hunt bigger mobs that make any loot exciting, I just switch Aim mode ON and OFF by SpaceBar to close this window. Same goes for actions like inventory, map etc. I usually use hot keys for those but if I need to do it with mouse, I switch mode.

Now some examples of how I used to navigate and how I do it now.

As I mentioned already, I was playing in 3rd person view for quite long. There was a guy that was my second mentor (not official but he taught me lots of things) and he was always getting mad at me for being too slow. Like he'd ask me why I was resting my gun every time I was moving back (avatar does it automatically when target is selected) or why I was running in circles when I needed to make a simple turn (it's hard to navigate with mouse clicks when it's laggy). I also was finding it very hard to talk while running as I needed lots of mouse actions to navigate plus I didn't know that Enter key would switch chat on automatically, so I was doing it with mouse also. I sucked in team hunts as I when mob was running chaotically, the only option for me was to have it selected which meant slower shooting and lots of misses. I had maddoxIV for a while already and I was so damn proud of it's speed. When my younger brother (who was a noob at that time) told me something about gun shooting faster if target is not selected, I didn't pay much attention. But then I was up on CND hunting Cornoantarions with my friend and I was confused seeing him shooting faster than I did with laser pistol that was meant to be slower. When I shared my doubts.. well.. I was laughed at really hard. It was embarresing, so you better don't repeat this my mistake . At the same time I was always telling my friend how lame he was getting into crowd of mobs while stepping back or shooting new mob when there was one runing after him already. He just didn't see it being in 1st person view. Sometimes it was so lame that he'd start shooting someone's else mob thinking it was me shooting it (when we were doing team hunts).

I had to re-consider my way of navigation and now I change my navigation methods according on current conditions (terrain, density of mobs, type of mob's behavior, amount of lag, gun I'm using etc).

For example if terrain isn't flat, I usually aim in 1st person with Aim mode on. Same works well in team hunts when mob is running between hunters. If mob is moving (especially not in my direction) then any other option would lead no unnessesary misses.

When I run around the city and lag is bad, I use 3rd person view and Aim mode on so I can make tuns easily and at the same time it reduces lag somehow.

When I run into some building and need to make turns on my way, I use 1st person with Aim mode on or off (depends on my mood). It helps not to hit walls on the way.

When I'm standing somewhere, I use 3rd person with Aim mode OFF, so I see everything around me and can watch whoever I want without him noticing Same settings I use when running somewhere in the straight line and doing something in my Inventory on the way. Helps to see surroundings, makes me aware of danger and at the same time doesn't limit my mouse actions.

When I work as a healer, I use 3rd person with Aim mode ON. I have my target selected as sometimes it's hard to see the person and you need to run to him directly and heal fast, it lets me move around easily, changing position if needed and makng complicated turns. At the same time I see everything around and can warn the hunter or take some actions myself.

If terrain is flat and mobs are big in size (especially when lag isn't small either), I can hunt in 3rd person without Aim mode OFF. I select my target, make 1st shoot and then select myself fast so I don't shoot slower than I could.

When hunting argos in Twin I use 3rd person + Aim mode for running (I see best variants of climbing up faster, I make turns easily and see surroundings pretty well. Then when I see mob, I switch to 1st person so I can aim better. When there's a crowd of 20 argos around me, I use 3rd person with Aim mode OFF as it's quite hard to see anything through this mess. If I see some mob and I'm not sure that it's not aimed by another hunter already (if there are many green dots on radar) I usually zoom out to 3rd person fast to analyze situation and if everything is fine, I switch back to aim.

When I'm hunting big dangerious mobs that like to come too close, so you hardly see anything, that see from big distance and I know I can't handle 2-3 of them, I use 3rd person usually which is safier.

These are only few examples and of course you may find better settings for some particular situation. What I mean to say is than neither way is perfect on its own and being able to adapt is a good quality to have.

P.S. Sorry if something like this exists already. Feel free to close or remove this topic if it was posted in wrong section.

But if this guide is needed, it would be great to see others adding some tips I forgot or sharing their own experiences (like what you use in some particular situation).

[sourabh1677]

I think the first peson mode is better for playing when in towns as well as when in the wild but 3rd person mode can be used when in the wild.