fighters!
Do paint jobs and ship kits make sense when there is no 3rd person view?
- Thread starter Dimensions
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fighters!
I like how many people are wishing for a better 3rd-person vanity cam, but you can be sure that if it does come out, that same day the forums will be awash with people crying "Why is Frontier wasting development time with useless things like that instead of focusing on the core gameplay!?" 
Yes. They do.
Probably not but they are quite pretty.
![[VR] optimal_909](https://forums-cdn.zaonce.net/data/avatars/m/109/109067.jpg?1553781733){kind=avatar}
Of course, most car dealers/manufacturers give their customers a selection of basic paintjobs(colors) to start with.
And people also pay stupid amopunt of money for alloys that make the ride uncomfortable, tyres much more expensive and also easy to kerb.
There is only the crud "debug camera" which is borked to be next to useless and agonizing to operate. You need to use it on RCV or fighters to get a good angle for a descent screenshot, only to find out FDevs didn't even add the paint wear properly and you are left with a fugly looking ship with checkered paint theme instead of proper wear.
FD don't give a crap as long as they get more money.
FD don't give a crap as long as they get more money.
It's actually a very VERY good point. I've bought loads of paintjobs and ship kits now and yes, they do make for great screenshots ..
.. but, did I really buy them for that? (it would be like buying nice cloths specifically for selfies). And how many other players actually see (or notice) them? I'm forever flying in and out of Jameson Memorial, and there's always a few other players there, but they're inevitably inside the station (outfitting) or reading the mission board or somesuch. Certainly not gazing upwards in the hope of seeing my glorious ship go cruising past.
But then I think about cloths. How much time do I spend looking at my own cloths (there's certainly no 3rd person view in real life). Sure, other people see me all the time - but how may of them actually notice anything and how would I know if they did?
I think the purpose of these vanity items (like in real life) is simply to know that we're wearing them. It makes us feel good about ourselves. I'm not sure if it actually matters whether anyone is actually looking.
^^^ This.
I agree wholeheartedly. The whole point of vanity items is to be vain.
Even if I never saw the outside of my ships, simply knowing that they are painted in something close to my preferred color scheme (blue with gold highlights) makes me feel closer to the ship I'm flying.
Not to mention the fact that in VR, I can walk up to the windows of my ship, and see much more of it than I can in the Commander's seat. So there is that.
I see my paint jobs all the time, because I love taking screenshots.
Skimming the surface of a nice turquoise banded Ice Planet
Pulling away from a White Dwarf, somewhere in the bubble...
Skimming the surface of a nice turquoise banded Ice Planet
Pulling away from a White Dwarf, somewhere in the bubble...
Eh, for the price of a beer or two I'll take it for the screenshots, srv stuff, fighter stuff and occasional features on livestreams. It's not like I ever get a hangover from screenshots. My pc may disagree though with 22GB of storage being used up by Elite pics....
Absolutely nothing.
One possibility would be to switch to 3rd person view, while your ship is auto-docking, perhaps switching to a control tower view and then to a spot near the landing zone. (This should be a optional setting, as it might be jarring in VR.)
The traditional complaint about adding 3rd person (made in Mech Warrior Online a few years back too) is the risk of "wall peeking", or gaining further situational awareness then you would from 1st person mode.
Funnily enough, the main reason it was asked for in MW:OF was to see paint jobs too!
Funnily enough, the main reason it was asked for in MW:OF was to see paint jobs too!
+1. It's a very strange non-feature and something that hits them right in their own feet. They love and even promote good screenshots. They are proud of that actually. They sell the paintjobs. All of their videos are 3rd person's view.
YET
They haven't bothered to make a proper camera mode! It's insane.
Indeed, not to mention the free marketing that would come from the amazing videos people would be able to make an upload.
Na I'm 90% solo when I play.
Priorities. They've said they'd love an advanced camera but lets face it, even with the debug camera people still get fantastic screenshots. So the effort required for what is, and will always be a first person game isn't worth it at this time.
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Case in point
Quite.
