View Points were structures high enough for an observer positioned on its highest point to view surrounding terrain. They range from church towers and city mansion roof beams, to watchtowers and guard posts.
View Points could be found in all the cities Damascus, Jerusalem and Acre, and in the Kingdom, but not in Masyaf. Each city contained 10 to 12 view points located on the highest buildings, such as a cross on top of a Catholic Cathedral, the top of a lighthouse in the port-city of Acre, or a palace guard tower in the city of Damascus. View Points could be located by watching the skies for the eagles that nest there. Climbing atop one of these structures allowed Altaïr to synchronize the View Point.
View Points allowed Altaïr to observe the layout of the terrain around him and watch the movement of its people. After the first View Point in a map was "activated," it revealed the location of the remaining points and missions within a certain radius.
Some View Points had archers defending the position, or guards set around and below it. They could either fire arrows or throw rocks to prevent a climber from reaching the top. All the View Points had carts or piles of hay on the ground at the very bottom, providing perfect and spectacular locations for the performance of a Leap of Faith.
15th century
A View Point in Venice.
During the 15th century, View Points functioned much the same as in the Middle Ages and some were located on famous land marks of Italy. Ezio Auditore would not only be able to dive into carts and stacks of hay, but also into carts of flower petals, leaves and bodies of water. There were 73 View Points divided into each city.
16th century
A View Point in Rome.
View points functioned in the same way as in the 15th century and there were 24 of them scattered around Rome, half of them being Borgia towers, and some of them were located on famous monuments, such as the Colosseum and Pantheon.
Trivia
In the achievements for Assassin's Creed, the "Fearless" achievement refers to View Points as "Reach High Points". In other areas of the game they are also referred to as "Eagle Points".
In Assassin's Creed, you may activate Eagle Vision once you have Synchronized the View Point. However in Assassin's Creed II and Brotherhood, attempting to hold "Y" or triangle will simply have Ezio "Interact" with the View Point, showing the camera spin cutscene. But it is possible to move off the View Point, activate Eagle Vision, and then move back onto the beam.
In each game the highest point is either inaccessible or not a viewpoint: in Assassin's Creed it's the fortress of Masyaf, in Assassin's Creed II it's the Basilica Santa Maria del Fiore, and in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood it's the Castel Sant'Angelo.
You can be on the viewpoint the same time the eagle is, causing the eagle to "noclip" through the protagonist.
In Assassin's Creed on the Xbox 360, an achievement can be obtained by synchronizing with all View Points. This achievement is called Fearless, and is worth 25 points.
There are 73 View Points in the game (66 not including DLC's) and an achievement called "I Like the View" can be obtained by synchronizing with ten View Points.
You can also get the achievement "High Dive" where you perform a Leap of Faith on top of Giotto's Campanile in Florence.
