3rd person in Skyrim is an absolute joke.
The game, combat system included, was built with 1st person in mind. It was not meant to be played in 3rd person and that is clearly evident by how much of an afterthought 3rd person feels like.
However, I do tend to agree that hand-to-hand combat works better in a 3rd person setting (not in Skyrim, but in general). It's certainly far easier to make a competent, complex, enjoyable, combat system. Driving also tends to be better (though flying is FAR superior in 1st person).
This game, however, is a futuristic game. It isn't like the Witcher, it isn't about swords and sorcery. It isn't a game which is predominantly about hand-to-hand combat.
Not once have I come across a game where shooting has been better in a 3rd person perspective, than a 1st person one.
Even games which I play predominantly in 3rd person, VTMB being a prime example, I
always switch to 1st person for firing guns [given the choice].
Now, I can see how people might prefer the play style of a 3rd person game; I am not one of those people, but I do get it.
As for the idea of 3rd person being more immersive?
I can not even begin to comprehend how they could actually ever believe this and can only assume that they either don't know what immersive means, they have not played many 1st person games (so can't picture what games are like to play in a 1st person perspective), or they are just looking for criticisms as they wanted to play a 3rd person game (and so, stupidly, brought up immersion as an arguing point).
... or, perhaps, they spend their whole life looking at the world through a VR headset, with a drone following them around (so, to them, the idea of seeing their own back is a common occurrence)...
I
guess that is also a possibility.
