I am most pleased that Tripwire are dealing with that (for me at least) nasty aspect of the view controls.
A year or two ago I read the long original topic where Tripwire tried to justify why R.O. was locked to 75 (or whatever it is).
A monitor can at the most only simulate one of the real eye's abilities at a time out of three:
1. Peripheral vision (180 degrees FOV)
2. True scale/size (FOV depends on size of monitor and player's distance from it, usually around FOV 30-40).
3. Detail/resolution (Even if things are to scale on the monitor, the resolution is worse than the real eye and so you still see worse than you would in reality. The FOV required for this depends on monitor size, distance from it, and the resolution setting of the monitor. A healthy eye probably has a resolution about 4 times that of a modern screen so FOV ~15 for most peoples' setups).
Each is a compromise. Neither is more realistic than another. All are needed for realism and proper gameplay. The player thus needs to be able to employ the different views for what the situation requires. We need Peripheral to navigate properly, to see close threats in the corner of our eye - this for real close quarters combat (we don't need 180 FOV for navigation however, and we can adequately see and fire at enemies at close range even in wide FOV; a smaller cone with threat icons along the edges can be a reasonable setup). The true to scale FOV and detail are necessary to judge scale, distance and identify objects, terrain and threats at realistic distances - not to mention gunnery at medium and long ranges.
The issue of some having better monitors and sit closer to them than others is the same regardless of having old Red Orchestra with FOV 75 or having three varying view modes.
I my greatest wish is for a few options to customize to one's preferences in HoS. Allow people to set their FOVS to whatever they want within some reasonable range (say FOV 30 to 170). Also to toggle the way they want it to behave. For example, have an extra wide FOV that automatically employs when sprinting.
Note that we get some pretty nasty tunnel vision in real life when shouldering and aiming a rifle or SMG - the head leans to the right, turns to the right and also tilts forward. Not much in ways of vision to the sides.
Also note that the real eye has only good resolution and color perception in a small cone called the "Yellow Spot". Humans move this across things we want to see or that which draws our attention. The rest is worse and worse resolution and goes to greyscale the further away from center it gets. In this sense, tunnel vision when using more realistic views is not as bad as it seems.
The 'snapshot' issue is misguided. The weapon sights are not centered in the screen in HoS, they move around. Takes longer to aim from scratch. Also the 'must be in smallest FOV possible so I spot people before they spot me' is unwise. There is a time to look for threats and there is a time to move. Having a lower FOV does not guarantee that one will spot someone before they spot you. That has more to do with movement that attracts attention from the eye, siluetting and stuff like that. Like reality, have to choose where to direct your focus (you would not scan the sky or ground below you, would you?).
The gameplay video was interesting. Lots of cool things. The thing that mostly concerns me now is how the MG34 is weilded like it was an SMG, maybe even faster. No one could possibly run around like that with a huge machine gun. Deploying the bipod with such speeds is impossible. Takes 5-10 times longer in reality I am sure. Hopefully heavy weapons will make the user just plain slower at everything except pulling the trigger.
