I know what you mean. I would really like to be able to look at my character whenever I wanted, maybe not in combat for me but It would seem cool. I like it though, how a lot of the supers are in 3rd person because I think we will be using those a lot! But you also get 3rd person in vehicles (and maybe in cutscenes I hope!) which is pretty cool. It would be cool if you could drive (or fly maybe) in 1st person though as well.

I think the only time we'll have a 3rd person view is when we're operating vehicles, performing special actions, customizing, or viewing cutscenes. Too bad :c

Oops, You might have double posted. http://www.bungie.net/7_Toggled-3rd-person-view-in-combat-areas/en-us/Forum/Post?id=61301230

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]