I noticed view distance was massively reduced in 1.12 stable. Since there were no changes on experimental I was a bit confused, but when I checked my profile (username_settings.DayZProfile) in documents I could see the default installation values have been changed to this:

viewDistance=1000;
preferredObjectViewDistance=800;

Previously the values were around 2200 and 1200 respectively iirc, and to my knowledge has run fine even on the most potato systems. So why reduce them so much? It enormously degrades the visual appearance of the game, even nearby trees and houses disappear far too early.

Is this intentional? Or maybe console values that have found their way to PC installations somehow? In any respect they should be changed back, since there is no way for users to adjust them in-game. Few players are aware of the method of editing the profile manually.

(For reference, I run my servers with server side default set to 3,500 on both, players who want can crank it up to that and it looks awesome - and even my brother's potato PC can handle it.)