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  1. #1

    Free or Locked Camera?

    So my friend was playing Riven in a game with some other friends and they were complaining how stupidly strong he is on Riven. He said "Fine, I'll play on locked camera".

    I can't play on free camera and don't really notice much difference between the two, other than being able to watch other lanes easily.

    Is locked camera inherently "worse" than free camera?

  2. #2
    Over 9000! Duilliath's Avatar
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    It is miles worse than a free camera, which is especially noticeable on Purple side.

    Locked camera enables long range ADs like Caitlyn or Varus to poke you without you even being able to see them.

    Your camera view also hinders you spotting incoming ganks. It is like playing with one hand and using the mouse to click your abilities in terms of how much it affects your game.

  3. #3
    I have tried free camera before and my big issue with it is that since I have a tendency to jerk my mouse around and most of the time that sends my camera flying all over.

  4. #4
    You can understandably be used to locked camera, but in order to improve your game-play you must get used to free camera. This isn't an opinion, its a fact. Just like the argument of hotkeys/macros VS point-n-click in World of Warcraft........hotkeys/macros will increase your game-play by a ton ONCE you get used to it. Just force yourself and you will never look back.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Duilliath View Post
    It is miles worse than a free camera, which is especially noticeable on Purple side.

    Locked camera enables long range ADs like Caitlyn or Varus to poke you without you even being able to see them.

    Your camera view also hinders you spotting incoming ganks. It is like playing with one hand and using the mouse to click your abilities in terms of how much it affects your game.
    Though that's mostly a product of the game's zoom being locked at far too up close.

    It's one of the game's biggest irritations for me. The second one would be how poor the middle-mouse drag is, where it's either off, or at FULL SPEED, which makes it a very poor way of moving the camera. It's one of the things I still miss in every top-down game that I play since Command & Conquer 3; they did the middle-mouse drag perfectly. It was such a great way of moving the camera around.

    But I'm getting off topic.
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  6. #6
    Over 9000! Duilliath's Avatar
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    It's there for a reason though, that zoom level. If you zoom out, you'd have much earlier warning of that jungler coming to gank you.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Duilliath View Post
    It's there for a reason though, that zoom level. If you zoom out, you'd have much earlier warning of that jungler coming to gank you.
    Yea, I know it's deliberate. I just wish it wasn't :P

    The ARAM mode allows zooming out further, doesn't it? That arena's level of zoom feels much more comfortable to me. I wish it were an option elsewhere.
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  8. #8
    Immortal Nikkaszal's Avatar
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    There are a ton of abilities that basically REQUIRE you to be using free camera... really long-range ults like Cait, Draven, Nocturne, TF, Ashe - ones that cover a lot of ground. Imagine you're playing Caitlyn on locked camera, and your opponent is getting away and you wanna snipe ult him for a guaranteed kill but you can't because he just ran off screen and you can't target him. Free camera = scroll up a bit and shoot him in the back of the head. Locked camera = try and explain to your team why you didn't make an easy, completely safe kill even though your ult is active.

    What about if you're laning and need to keep an eye on everything going on around you? You gonna keep the camera in the middle so you can see yourself and the minions, and maybe glimpses of your opponent as they run in and out of screen? Or are you gonna put yourself in one corner of the camera, minions in the middle, opponent in the opposite corner and see everything?
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  9. #9
    The Lightbringer Isrozzis's Avatar
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    I use a combination of the two. I always have my camera unlocked, but I like to tap/hold down spacebar to center the camera on me when I need it to be. If i'm just running back to lane I tend to check the other lanes and what not, but in lane I tend to refocus the camera on myself very often.

    It is a huge hindrance to your gameplay to always have the camera on yourself though. Your map awareness is drastically reduced and there are some skillshots and things that might be shot at you from out of screen that you could have otherwise easily avoided. Being able to quickly re position the camera onto yourself or hold it on yourself as you kite or something is good imo. It really comes down to playstyle, but as others have said you are gimping yourself if you have your camera locked.

  10. #10
    Elemental Lord Duronos's Avatar
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    I always tell my friend that if he really wants to get even better at the game that he has to play unlocked screen. I also make sure if I get someone who's brand new to the game to play to play on unlocked so they get used to it and so it doesn't give them the bad habit of playing with a locked screen.
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  11. #11
    High Overlord Voltarus's Avatar
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    I use a mix of both. Most of the time I use the free camera but sometimes I press Space to instantly get back to my champion.

  12. #12
    This is the equivalent to keyboard turning in WoW. It's best if you just suck it up and get ready for a few akward matches while you get used to freecam. Use the space bar as the others said. Release it when you need a better view and press it when you need a steady camera.

  13. #13
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    I play with free, but often lock it with space.

  14. #14
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    Obviously Locked Camera is the best, you can be extra focused on how you fight.
    Why would you ever want to look at the map anyway?
    Especially when you're a jungler, you should just farm all the time either way.

  15. #15
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    Played with a locked camera at first but after I got used to it I went back to using a free camera. Use space now and then when moving between places but never in team fights. I changed because it was near impossible to play on purple side, just couldn't see champs that were hitting me or ganks when they came it from a range.

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Cattlehunter View Post
    The second one would be how poor the middle-mouse drag is, where it's either off, or at FULL SPEED, which makes it a very poor way of moving the camera. It's one of the things I still miss in every top-down game that I play since Command & Conquer 3; they did the middle-mouse drag perfectly. It was such a great way of moving the camera around.
    Where is this option?
    Atm, I use wasd to move the camera most of the time (a bad habit I picked up because I can't use mousemove on 5760x1080 res).
    using MMB to move the camera would seem better?

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Fnx- View Post
    I play with free, but often lock it with space.


    ..........

  18. #18
    free better map awareness

  19. #19
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    Deffinitely a free camera ... you cant properly control map without it...not to mention long range spells (Lux, Draven ultimate etc..)

  20. #20
    Legendary! Firebert's Avatar
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    Play with locked, waiting for Riot to bring out a rotate map option for purple-side players. I play considerably worse on the purple side simply because the map is locked.
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