3rd person. 1st person just doesn't work that well for me in dungeons. Sure its immersive,but ill "save" 1st person for single player games.

first person, almost exclusively, despite the disadvantages.

first person, mostly solo, up to Craglorn Veteran 10: the TES immersion in virtual reality.
Love it

But third person is more effective,
and for Group dungeons I did want to contribute to the best of my abilities.... so with some loathing... third person onward for group events and difficult solo situations

Teargrants wrote: »

I play in 2nd person.

Me too. It's obviously the best way.

MarkoDeeJay wrote: »

I wonder how you all prefer to play TESO, if in 1st, 3rd person, or you switch both during the mission.
Explain why. This could be help me and other new players to find the better way to play The Elder Scrolls Online.

Lord_Kreegan wrote: »

It's all about situational awareness. In first person view, it sucks. In third person view, it doesn't suck quite as much.

There are times when you need first person view because of the occlusion of objects in a fight, for instance, where those objects end up between the camera and what you're fighting so you can't see what you're doing or what your opponents are doing. There are other times when it's just nice to get a close up view of the objects around you. There is some beautiful art in the game and third person view doesn't do it justice.

@MarkoDeeJay‌ , much of it depends on your background (what you're used to from previous games).

I can tell you right away, one will feel more natural to you than the other. I will recommend getting used to playing in both. I will explain why towards the end.

From an immersion standpoint, first person wins, hands down.

You are the character - that's hard to do if you're looking at the back of the character's head. It's what the standalone games used to great benefit to really put you in the world.

As @Lord_Kreegan‌ states, 3rd person is almost mandatory in some scenarios, though. Having a wider view of the world around you certainly provides more information. This is true of red areas, enemy location, effects, etc.

While not easy to switch back and forth, I do recommend using both from time to time.

3rd person is great for expanded views, for the reasons listed above. You can directly see if you're outside of danger zones. There are more visual cues this way. However, in close quarters, hallways, tunnels, cave passages, the camera can pan out to things you cannot see through, such as leaves, walls, etc.

At these times, if you switch to 1st person, you will have a clear view, just not from behind you. Also, in some cases, 1st person can actually heighten your situational awareness because you have to be more aware of your surroundings, danger areas, distnaces, and historical location of everything going on around you. It's arguably harder to play this way, and can lead to being better overall if you get good at it.

Targeting feels very different in each, so it takes getting used to. Try it in the simpler areas first, as it will throw you off, whichever you are used to now.

That being said, it's mildly biased that you're able to see behind you in 3rd person. While I understand why and the typical counter argument is that it's the reason behind the 3rd person mode and "if you don't like the 1st person limitation, then switch to 3rd."

I would propose an option to allow 180 degree frontal view for enemies, 360 degree view for AoE, etc. A sneak attack is hardly a sneak attack when you can see full circle.

Likewise, from a first person perspective, I argue there would be other senses involved as a character that effectively saves the world. These should help offset the 1st person sensory numbness that takes place.

Step in the middle of fire, even on the edge, with your eyes closed, I suspect your body will let you know something's not right and which way to move to correct it.

So, it's a catch 22. Try them both, one will stand out to you, but take some time learning to play both ways. It will pay off later.

Finally, there should be a way to sight in your character. In both modes, I find myself wanting my 'hit zone' to be in a different place than it actually is. Allowing customization of this would eliminate much of the awkwardness that results in one or both perspectives.

They've allowed some adjustment to this via 1.6, but it's still not where it needs to be.

When I first started playing the game it was always first person; just like how I played prior ESO titles. However over time (and I don't know why) I started playing third person (and still do). FYI, I've been playing steadily since Beta.

Every TES Game prior to this one is played in First Person.

This game pretty much requires a Third Person view to survive battles, so that is how I play.

Nice thing about FPV, I never had to care about what my armor looked like before.

Nestor wrote: »

Every TES Game prior to this one is played in First Person.

This game pretty much requires a Third Person view to survive battles, so that is how I play.

This, entirely.

I played all previous ES games in First person, and started out playing this one that way as well.

And then I realized that First Person is worthless in this game, because you can't see a darned thing, and so I switched to Third Person, which is how I've played ever since.

Mostly 3rd person but I occasionally go to 1st person if it makes sense to do so.

newtinmpls wrote: »

I watched a video the other day on PvP dueling and a comment was made that if you have a decent set of surround sound headphones and the ambient musing turned down, you can tell (by sound) what direction arrows are coming from.

You can, but you cannot feel when you are out of the arrow barrage...

When I play solo as long as I don't have too large of a fight going on I play 1st person for the Elder scrolls feel. Group or pvp play I'm in 3rd person zoomed all the way out to be effective.

Nestor wrote: »

Every TES Game prior to this one is played in First Person.

This game pretty much requires a Third Person view to survive battles, so that is how I play.

Nice thing about FPV, I never had to care about what my armor looked like before.

That's interesting, I played TES as a mix between 3rd and 1st person. When using the bow in TES I was in 1st person, when doing any other combat I was always in 3rd. When looting in TES I was always in 1st person.

For ESO, I tend to stay in 3rd person most of the time, and I switch to 1st person more when I wish to study something.

I need to play in 3rd person. I find 1st person to be way too claustrophobic, especially in games that only have 1st person view.