Fog should be changed so it applies only partially to player models, this would greatly increase the visibility of players in the distance.

PRIORITIZE ISSUE FOR VALVE: THUMBS UP (fix), NO VOTE (not important right now), OR THUMBS DOWN (do not fix)

We all heard the great uproar about removing fog from the game, because it makes it harder to see enemies in the distance. But what about an implementation of fog that actually HELPS you spot enemies in the distance?

The solution is relatively easy and straight forward: make fog not apply/only apply partially to player models.

I made some screenshots:

First look at how the fog currently looks, this is recorded in 1920x1080cut, as well as scaled to make it bigger.

That’s pretty easy to see, but look at it full-screen (by pressing F11) in a new tab. Already a little harder. Keep that tab open.

Now if we remove the fog, like it’s popularily requested, it will look like this:

Again, view this full screen(by pressing F11) in a new tab. The model is not really easier to see, is it?

Now the interesting part begins. What if the model is rendered OVER the fog instead of under it?

This makes the model basically “pop out” of the screen, even if you were blind, you couldn’t miss it! (Okay, you could…)
Look at this in full screen. This is the most impressive view of this feature.

But you may say, now the model looks really out of place. That is a valid concern, I actually agree. But what you could do, is only render SOME of the fog over the model, not ALL:

View this in full-screen again. This is a compromise between rendering no fog at all over the model and rendering the fog fully over the model.
The model still sticks out, and is pretty easy to see, but it’s fitting and doesn’t look out of place.

I think that last picture is how HPE intended the fog to operate in the first place, the fog removes details from the background AND makes the model easier to see.

It’s even an improvement over having no fog at all.