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  1. #1

    Camera Zoom Distance Limit Increase, August 4 Hotfixes

    Legion Audio Drama Part Four, Q2 2016 Earnings Call

    Camera Zoom Distance Limit Increase
    Blizzard is raising the zoom limit to halfway between what it used to be and what it is now.
    Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)
    We’ve been closely following the discussion around 7.0.3 camera changes, and especially feedback regarding specific sources of visual and physical discomfort. We recently released a client hotfix that addressed a number of mount-related camera issues, and we have another update in the works that addresses screen/FOV distortion resulting from addons that alter the viewport. Many developers on the WoW team are sensitive to various forms of motion and simulation sickness, and it’s an issue about which we care deeply. The last thing we want is for anyone who loves the game to feel unable to enjoy it due to physical discomfort.

    Obviously, the cap on CVar-controlled max zoom distance has been a major focus of both community and our own internal discussions. My original post on the matter was not as clear as it could have been regarding our motivations for the change in the first place. It placed too much emphasis on “competitive advantage” in terms of a level playing field, when the core concern I was trying to convey is that “whatever the maximum allowed, that’s what competitive players will use in order to maximize performance, even at the expense of the game’s overall look and feel.” That shouldn’t be a terribly controversial statement: When you’re trying to dodge Fel Outpouring waves on Kormrok in Hellfire Citadel, the farther out you can zoom, the sooner you can see when they’re headed your way; why wouldn’t you zoom out as far as possible? (Corollary: Around what expected zoom level do we tune the speed and lethality of the waves?)

    In the course of working on Legion, and trying to improve the overall look and feel of our combat, class abilities, and the ways in which players interact with the world, we took stock of all aspects of that experience, including the camera. World of Warcraft is an avatar-driven open-world RPG, placing the player in the shoes of a hero who adventures throughout Azeroth, yet with the previous max console zoom, that hero would commonly take up less screen real estate than characters in isometric games like Diablo or Heroes, or even many Starcraft 2 units. At that zoom level, details of your character get lost, and details in the world vanish. The game ultimately is designed to be experienced with the camera zoom range available in the default UI.

    Now, that is not to say that we don’t at times fail in creating an overall experience that is smooth and free of frustration at those zoom levels. When a tank can’t see around a boss like Archimonde to know where incoming demons are in order to corral them, that’s obviously not ideal. There is much we can do to keep WoW’s scale from spiraling out of control, as well as UI and camera improvements to the experience of fighting huge monsters, and we’ll be paying close attention to feedback along those lines as we move into Legion.

    We intended to limit the console-overridden camera zoom very early on in the Legion Beta, which would have left us with many months to iterate on gameplay and feedback that arose from the change before releasing Legion. However, due to an oversight (we capped one way of overriding it, but not another) the change did not properly go through until the very end of the development cycle. Since then, we’ve heard from many players that they’ve relied on increasing the camera zoom to counteract a number of sensitivities, ranging from motion sickness to headaches from spell effects.

    Recently, a number of players have reported some relief through using a new addon that allows them to bypass any and all limits on zoom distance. That addon takes advantage of a bug that has existed for some time but gone unnoticed (passing a negative value into a function). In an upcoming hotfix, we will be fixing that bug and thus causing that addon (and others like it) to honor the standard camera limits.

    However, in that same hotfix, we will also be raising the hard cap on camera zoom to a midway point between what was possible prior to 7.0, and what is possible through the in-game interface options. This increased cap will allow power users to once again be able to extend their camera distance via a console command, should they so desire. The choice of the new max was informed by reports from players regarding what zoom distance eased the discomfort they were experiencing. Ultimately, we would prefer to address the underlying issues rather than relying on increased zoom to mask those issues, but now that patch 7.0.3 is live and we cannot properly iterate on the sort of changes that would be required, reapplying the band-aid is preferable to leaving an open wound.

    We look forward to hearing your feedback once these changes are live. We want to continue working to improve the readability, usability, and accessibility of our game from a visual standpoint, including camera functionality, and community feedback and discussion are invaluable when dealing with such an inherently subjective area.

    Patch 7.0.3 Hotfixes - August 4
    Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
    Classes

    Hunter (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
    • Casting Disengage no longer causes your character to stop auto-attacking.

    Monk (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
    • Renewing Mist can no longer activate Uplifting Trance until Vivify is learned.
    • The cooldown for Rising Sun Kick is now halved when it is cast before using Serenity.

    Warlock (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
    • Rain of Fire will continue to deal damage if the Warlock is silenced, feared, or stunned.

    Dungeons and Raids
    • Blackrock Foundry
      • Corrected an issue that would cause Hans'gar and Franzok to reset when a player outside the encounter area was targeted by Body Slam.

    NPCs
    • Fel Rangari Anaara in Tanaan Jungle no longer casts the ability Blessing of the Fallen Kings.

    Quests
    • The quest “The Lord of the Blackrock” again takes place in the expected location, and is properly marked on the World Map and minimap.
    • The Antechamber Guardian again spawns as expected when the quest “What Lies Within” is accepted.
    • The Moat Monster Feeding Kit has been repaired so that players can again complete the quest “Moat Monster!”.

    UI
    • Haste gems that were previously Multistrike gems now have new icons in order to differentiate them from other Haste gems.
    Last edited by chaud; 2016-08-05 at 02:28 AM.

  2. #2
    another case of the playerbase knows best, and we do blizzard.

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Socialhealer View Post
    another case of the playerbase knows best, and we do blizzard.
    If WoW was designed by player vote, it would have closed down years ago
    I am the one who knocks ... because I need your permission to enter.

  4. #4
    Scarab Lord Frumpy Frumpy Frak's Avatar
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    Cool, now can we get the action cam back?

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Socialhealer View Post
    another case of the playerbase knows best, and we do blizzard.
    More like Playerbase that whines the most. One of the reasons WoD had so little content is because of people whining that MoP had to much to do.

  6. #6
    "Corrected an issue that would cause Hans'gar and Franzok to reset when a player outside the encounter area was targeted by Body Slam."

    18 months later and they fixed it. :O

    In all seriousness though good news about the camera changes, still not back to what it was but i'll take it for now.

  7. #7
    So crybabies won again. I don't like this change at all since I can't stand playing with camera maxed out. Very stupid change and it's not how WoW should be played.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by atenime45 View Post
    So crybabies won again. I don't like this change at all since I can't stand playing with camera maxed out. Very stupid change and it's not how WoW should be played.
    So dont play with the camera maxed out then?

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Spryte View Post
    So dont play with the camera maxed out then?
    Yes if you play in casual guilds. But we are really forced to if we want to stay in comptitive guild without being kicked.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Count Zero View Post
    If WoW was designed by player vote, it would have closed down years ago
    right more camera distance is ruining wow, not like we've had it since the game began.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by atenime45 View Post
    Yes if you play in casual guilds. But we are really forced to if we want to stay in comptetetive guild without being kicked.
    Waaaaaaaah.



    Infracted.
    Last edited by xskarma; 2016-08-05 at 04:18 AM.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by WintersLegion View Post
    More like Playerbase that whines the most. One of the reasons WoD had so little content is because of people whining that MoP had to much to do.
    no that's dailies locking out gear, and WoD garrison being a complete failure in many ways, no content being the main one.

  13. #13
    Hey we see this addon you use that allows you to zoom out further. We dont want you being able to do that cus we want to be mean. So we are going to fix somthing that has no negative effect on gameplay just to spite you.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Friskyrum View Post
    Waaaaaaaah.
    It's same with DBM. I don't wanna use DBM either but I'm forced to because it makes raiding easier so I don't really have choice.

  15. #15
    maxcam and the discussion it reignited forced blizzard into making a lot of ppl rejoice

    thanks maxcam and Ketho.

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Socialhealer View Post
    no that's dailies locking out gear, and WoD garrison being a complete failure in many ways, no content being the main one.
    Yes and when gear isn't locked behind the dailies/factions people don't do it and complain that there is nothing to do.

  17. #17
    I thought something was different, and never went beyond the default max even before the legion changes. But something was definitely different, I couldn't quite put my fingers on it.

    I needed just a hair more distance, and I look forward to this tiny beneficial change. It's very appreciated.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by atenime45 View Post
    Yes if you play in casual guilds. But we are really forced to if we want to stay in comptitive guild without being kicked.
    Yeah...this is bullshit.

  19. #19
    Dreadlord Trollfat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Socialhealer View Post
    another case of the playerbase knows best, and we do blizzard.
    I strongly, strongly, STRONGLY disagree with this statement.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Friskyrum View Post
    Waaaaaaaah.
    Really constructive comment.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by atenime45 View Post
    It's same with DBM. I don't wanna use DBM either but I'm forced to because it makes raiding easier so I don't really have choice.
    This guy knows what's up. The further your camera is from your character, the more of a competitive advantage you have but the less you feel attached to your character. Well, at least I do. If raiders could zoom their camera ALL THE WAY OUT, they would -- Blizzard has to draw the line somewhere.
    HEROES NEVER DIE

  20. #20
    funny how raiders always brag about how they are the best but they whine the loudest when they are forced to play like the majority of the playerbase because that's exactly what happened here. the vast majority of players had never even heard of or used the command to increase camera distance beyond what the in-game slider did. when blizz removed it 'raiders" threw a hissy fit because they were forced to play with the same limits the most casual of wow players did everyday. once again it just shows if you bitch and whine enough blizz will cave in.

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