Oi! Thank you for stopping by.
I was playing around with camera settings when I noticed that the “Over the shoulder” option could make some nice cinematic scenes.
After playing with it all night, this is what I came up with.
Tell me what you think!
Watch in 4k 
Cinematic, but I’d rather be taken straight to character selection. Loading your character’s entire zone instead of a faction backdrop would likely also incur additional, completely unnecessary load times.
TL:DR: Looks nice but feels impractical.
Hey! I get what you mean. 
Maybe a “Skip intro” checkbox in the options could be useful for those who wanna…well…skip it.
As for the backdrop, not all the of the zone needs to be loaded, only a low res copy of a specific place.
Maybe even lower res if the background is blurred.
Thanks for the critique!
If I remember right you can’t circumvent the launcher without breaking some stuff badly but I would need to ask around to confirm. Personally I think you should talk with nirvelle about something like that…like it’s unlikely he gets the funding for something that doesn’t bring money on the table or that there are technical limitations but who knows. I for one appriciate the effort taken.^^
I really dig it. Funcom feasibility aside, I think it’s far more immersive with the off-shoulder view and if it’s possible that the game remembers and replays where your character was last. It would keep SWL feeling “fresher” for players. It’s also cleaner. You’ll need to add an “Item Store” option for completeness.
Do you do design work IRL?
I’d like changes just for sake of changes frankly speaking. Though I’m not sure I;m fond of this black menu on this video. And background can be static picture with the same effect.
I love it… But agree with Jess. The black options doesn’t look as nice
Hey Sturm!
Thank you for your comments!
Making the main menu look more “fresh” for new players was exactly what I had in mind while doing this.
IRL, I do a mix of 3D, Videos and Design.
Oi Jess!
I totally understand. The UI style can be quite a challenge as it is mostly preferences.
I personally like a minimalist style, but I agree that more work could be put into it to make it more appealing.
A static background could work, but I’m a fan of that flying eagle (or whatever bird it is)!
Thanks for the comment / critique! 
Thanks!
As I said to Jess, I agree that the menu could do with more details.
Hi Leo!
I have no doubt that doing something like this in the current game would need some hard work.
(But some people love challenges 
)
A single change like this one might not, but it may be a part of some kind of overall rework mixed with an ad campaign to bring new / old players into the game.
With that being said, feel free to tell me if there’s something I’m missing.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
This is the “rework”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Afwb6WJro4 if you’re curious, this is how the TSW character select looked.
TSW also had (skippable) videos before the login screen. Personally I prefer it when they keep it as simple as possible. Ditch the flashy intro stuff and just get me into the game. Login, character select, play. And SWL does that, with the exception of not having a checkbox to log straight into the last-played character that some games offer.