I can feel the disagreements with this thread already, but hear me out.
Having the ability to turn off visuals for the sake of FPS is always a good option, but it becomes a trouble in some cases. Some visuals should probably be kept on even on the most potato graphics settings to keep the game fair. Example of that could be: Character shadows, dynamic lighting, (POSSIBLY) Volumetric lighting and possibly the only truly justified visual to be forced in the game; Grass and bushes.
I’ll be giving examples here for each of the visuals i’ve mentioned above:
Character Shadows - An obvious one. I feel like character shadows should be kept on at all times, due to the disadvantages it can put people in, and due to it’s importance overall.
Dynamic Lightning - Flashlights, torches, car lights and possibly shadows cast by them.
Volumetric Lighting - Also known as “Light shafts”, used to visualize light, in a way. Instance i’ll be putting is having a flashlight shine some light around the corner of a building. You’ll be able to identify which direction the flashlight is pointed at. I said “POSSIBLY”, because it’s not yet known if nights in 4.0 are going to built upon and have flashlight play a bigger part.
Grass and Bushes - Obvious, really. Really disadvantageous if they’re enabled, takes away the sneakier part of the game. When everyone has grass disabled, it’s just a hunt for cover and, well, one of the many factors for PVP. Also makes the game prettier, though, that’s not what i’m going for.
Disabling this doesn’t really give you an advantage, so I see little reason to force any level of graphical setting for it. I’m quite okay with people wanting to disable shadows on entities if they want to.
My concerns lie with things that give you an advantage when disabled.
Currently in 3.x most of that stuff is already forced. Only both shadows and foliage can be disabled, and the forementioned one just got overhauled, making it larger and notable.
So I’m doing to stop and take a moment to clarify on my thinking here for a second.
To start, I misread OP’s reasoning behind wanting character shadows on at all times. I thought OP wanted it on because disabling it put others at a disadvantage, but their reasoning is actually that it should be enabled at all times because it adds more strategic element.
That being said, my reply to that particular idea still applies. Preferably, yes, all graphical settings should have a minimum that’s more than just “None.” However, if I was to accept that some things will likely be completely disable-able then I would prefer prioritizing things that don’t encourage presenting the game to others as ugly.
Yeah, that’s grass, and I voted for foliage being enabled (as I have on the other half-dozen or so similar posts that crop up), although you wouldn’t be able to tell that from this poll since the voters are kept anonymous.
This. Many graphical elements will either give you an advantage or disadvantage depending on whether they’re on or off. I wouldn’t want a game to encourage looking uglier than intended, so being advantageous with lower settings doesn’t make all that much sense to me.
Character shadows most definitely give your opposition the upper-hand. Whether or not people would pay attention to it is debatable, I guess, but it’s the same ideas as suggesting unique footsteps (per shoe, material, etc.) and footprints (also per whatever).
Now, OP’s post specifically says character shadows, so for people reading I’d like to make sure we’re on the same page that character shadows likely only includes players’ shadows.
What i meant by Character Shadows, is the shadow cast from ONLY the playable character’s mesh. What i also meant by specifically saying Character Shadows, is that you CAN disable shadows, like you already can in 3.0, but the Character Shadows specifically stay on, for, as you said, strategic element. Don’t know how well this would sit with the rest of the graphics, though.
But it’s still a possibility.
Shadows from players would only really help in CQB, due to how the ground the shadow is projected onto will be at a very oblique angle to the player’s eyes if the enemy was any note able distance away.
Shadows from objects does greatly help hiding in ghillies under trees, much more so than grass, and all grass really does is hurt the person trying to hide by obstructing their view.
Many graphical elements will either give you an advantage or disadvantage depending on whether they’re on or off. I wouldn’t want a game to encourage looking uglier than intended, so being advantageous with lower settings doesn’t make all that much sense to me.