Eric Osborn from Bungie answered that question in an interview a couple days ago. [quote]MMORPG: At one point in the presentation the screen changed to a third person view, albeit briefly. Is that something we can expect to see in the game more often? Can we choose to be in third-person, or is it only during the “space magic” skill uses and other cinematic parts? Eric Osborne: The majority of combat happens in first-person. Destiny is a great first-person shooter, but we are certainly taking a lot of the things that sing for us from the RPG genre, like character creation and personalization. We believe players are really going to enjoy the deep customization offered in Destiny, so we do want to provide a lot of opportunities for people to see and show off their builds. In the demo, that happened primarily when players used some of the more powerful abilities, like the Warlock’s Nova Bomb, which breaks the camera out for a dramatic third-person view. We’re also building fully third-person social spaces, like the Tower, that we haven’t dug too deeply into just yet – places for commerce and camaraderie that provide players the perfect opportunity to put on their finest armor and gear, and strut.[/quote]