In-game Voice Chat ?

[vito.1046]

I think that the introduction of voice chat into the game will replace the use of third-party programs than will simplify the need for PC resources

[gimo.3281]

hacks exist and by this you are potentially allowing your room to be a concert stage. (as if other ways are currently possible or what not lel)

and probably more lag on the client.

[xXMapcoXx.9614]

Yes, f discord!

[Zaklex.6308]

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:tl;dr it's a feature that players can already obtain easily from non-GW2 resources, while providing it in game would cost big and distract the company's focus from its core competency: making games.

---

~snip~

(2) ANet is not in the communication business; they are a game company. They aren't going to build their own voice system, they are going to have to contract to a third party to provide it. And it's clear that this isn't one of ANet's strengths. The forums and the TP are powered by 3rd party tools and they work, but they are super clunky.

~snip~

You're correct about the Forums, but I'm pretty sure the TP was developed in house, unless you meant purchasing Gems, which is through Digital River, but from what I remember way back at launch they talked about how they wanted it to work...and it didn't quite work out the way they wanted.

As for the OP, yes, I have a lot of the Voice Chat programs...on my other computer I don't use and I have no plans to put them on this one...anyone insists I need it, I just don't play with them as it's my personal opinion all strategies can be worked out ahead of time, but then again, I don't do Raids or PvP so it's not necessary for anything else and I wouldn't talk anyways...why talk if you have nothing useful to contribute or say.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

@"Zaklex.6308" said:You're correct about the Forums, but I'm pretty sure the TP was developed in house, unless you meant purchasing Gems, which is through Digital River, but from what I remember way back at launch they talked about how they wanted it to work...and it didn't quite work out the way they wanted.The TP uses Coherent now. At launch, it used something else. The TP & the gem shop are both "browsers" that put a front end on the data to make it look presentable. The data is "in house", the presentation is also "in house." And the software used to 'browse' is 3rd party.

The TP gets the job done. It's also clunky and ANet apparently needs more time than they have available to make changes, big or small.

Which is why I mentioned it: if that's as good as it gets for something as simple as the TP, I can only imagine that a 3rd party voice app is going to look and feel worse in game than what we already have access to, outside the game.

[killermanjaro.5670]

I don't see a need with the other chat programs out there, personally would rather see Anet spend time/resources on other things. But more so I think it would also make things worse overall, we'd inevitably see more squads of 'join voice chat or kick' which sure exist anyway (as in join discord for invite etc') , but having voice built into the game would increase that making it worse for players who don't want to have to talk/listen to others via voice chat.

[Danikat.8537]

As other people have said it's unlikely they could do it better than existing options, and it would require a lot of resources to even reach the same level of service (especially since they'd need people to moderate it), which doesn't seem worth it when the only apparent benefit is making it slightly easier for a new person to join a groups voice channel.

Also I'm another one who is concerned about being pressured to use voice chat or excluded from groups if I don't. I can both hear and speak over voice chat, but my PC is in the main room of my house and it's often noisy. I don't want to cut myself off from what's going on around me in real life by using headphones but it makes it very hard to hear what someone's saying and it means I'd be pretty unpopular if I did decide to talk because of all the background noise, and constantly interrupting myself to say "No I wasn't talking to you, it's someone in my game!"

Also sooner or later I'd have to deal with someone who is eating while they're talking, someone I couldn't mute like a squad commander. If my choice is to listen to that or leave the game mode then I'll leave. At least now I have text chat as an option, but if they can assume everyone will be on voice chat I doubt that would work.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@"Zaklex.6308" said:You're correct about the Forums, but I'm pretty sure the TP was developed in house, unless you meant purchasing Gems, which is through Digital River, but from what I remember way back at launch they talked about how they wanted it to work...and it didn't quite work out the way they wanted.The TP uses

Coherent

now. At launch, it used something else. The TP & the gem shop are both "browsers" that put a front end on the data to make it look presentable. The data is "in house", the presentation is also "in house." And the software used to 'browse' is 3rd party.

The TP gets the job done. It's also clunky and ANet apparently needs more time than they have available to make changes, big or small.

Which is why I mentioned it: if that's as good as it gets for something as simple as the TP, I can only imagine that a 3rd party voice app is going to look and feel worse in game than what we already have access to, outside the game.

It used Awesomium.

[Zaklex.6308]

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@"Zaklex.6308" said:You're correct about the Forums, but I'm pretty sure the TP was developed in house, unless you meant purchasing Gems, which is through Digital River, but from what I remember way back at launch they talked about how they wanted it to work...and it didn't quite work out the way they wanted.The TP uses

Coherent

now. At launch, it used something else. The TP & the gem shop are both "browsers" that put a front end on the data to make it look presentable. The data is "in house", the presentation is also "in house." And the software used to 'browse' is 3rd party.

The TP gets the job done. It's also clunky and ANet apparently needs more time than they have available to make changes, big or small.

Which is why I mentioned it: if that's as good as it gets for something as simple as the TP, I can only imagine that a 3rd party voice app is going to look and feel worse in game than what we already have access to, outside the game.

Well, I stand corrected, they way they kept talking about it I thought it was in an in-house design...fortunately at least I agreed that it would be a waste of resources to develop an in-game chat system, considering all the external ones available.

[sorudo.9054]

i don't use voice chat period, if it was implanted i would have 12 year olds screaming at me for not giving them what they want.let me give you a small list why it's a huge waste of time:

• it add nothing to the game
• there are plenty of third-party programs for that that are tons better
• ppl will force this thus locking player away when they don't have a mic
• it means all music must be off

love to listen to music, don't love to listen to ppl whining.

[Stand The Wall.6987]

most competitive games have their own in game voice chat. its a basic thing that makes organization and cooperation much smoother and improved.

editwvw and raids use 3rd party, so this would be aimed primarily at pvp and pve open world/ dungeons/ fractals.

[Tiviana.2650]

@Agrotera.1254 said:I know of a game that does have it and it is actually quite handy. You can adjust individual players volumes and when it comes to joining a pug you are voice connected as soon as you join them. There is no asking what voip they are using, asking for password to it, nothing, just join group and you are in voice chat.

This is a thing, a lot of players avoid content like raiding pvp wvw because most of those groups ask you to get in discord. That makes many people uncomfortable esp having to download an outside program. With ingame voice they would feel more secure, also there would be less toxic behavior because its controlled by anet there would be report features built in. I have discord and others, but prefer to only use them with my guilds, in pugs in games that have it i use ingame chat, its less stressful and allows people to try content they otherwise wouldnt be invited to.

How many times have you gone into wvw, and in order to join a squad you have to get discord, same with raids. There are a lot of people that dont want a 3rd party app downloaded and running in order to play in these areas. I will say that other game started out with the same reaction to ingame voice, but it has really picked up and many people use it now to run in pug content. Imo its a friendlier option for people that dont want a program installed and running to play in a group. Options are never a bad thing.

[Tiviana.2650]

@sorudo.9054 said:i don't use voice chat period, if it was implanted i would have 12 year olds screaming at me for not giving them what they want.let me give you a small list why it's a huge waste of time:

• it add nothing to the game
• there are plenty of third-party programs for that that are tons better
• ppl will force this thus locking player away when they don't have a mic
• it means all music must be off

love to listen to music, don't love to listen to ppl whining.

This isnt true the same was said about that other games voice chat when it came into its own. Then people saw it was way more convenient, and they had more control over it, such as individual volume control, muting blocking reporting, all without having to download a 3rd party program. If you refuse to use a voice app now then nothing will change for you, but then again maybe with an ingame one more people will try out content they otherwise would not.

[Donari.5237]

Maybe I'm just biased thanks to Blizzard's failed attempt to integrate voice into WoW a very long time ago -- I think Ventrilo was the hot voice app back then, with TS just arriving and Mumble not yet in existence, let alone Discord which finally got it right and intuitive to use. It sucked. It was tinny, error-prone, lag-causing, and lacking many basic features the third parties offered. To me, it seemed pretty obvious that creating and maintaining a voice chat system is a different skill set from creating and maintaining an MMO.

I think someone in this thread used the phrase "reinventing the wheel." That really fits. ANet has just been pared down and refocused. Do they really have the work-hours to spare to design their own voice system and make sure it integrates seamlessly into the game? A game they have outright admitted is full of spaghetti code? I love Discord. I am quite happy to use Discord. I would much rather use Discord and thus be unable to chat out loud with random people I'm helping than find the game breaking every which way due to a shoehorned-in system that doesn't play nice with the rest of the code.

[ReaverKane.7598]

@Mea.5491 said:

@"Gopaka.7839" said:"Do you have TeamSpeak or Discord ? If not download it...join this server, write this link, create a name, did you get in?"

Except that's not the case anymore. I'm pretty sure 95% of the online gamers have some kind of voice chat installed already, especially the ones who wanna do organized hardcore content. Even I do, despite the fact that I find voice chat unnecessary in general. I prefer quiet and text chat.

League of legends has a voice chat, no one uses it...Warframe has a voice Chat, no one uses it...Apex Legends, voice chat, pretty much no one uses it...

The fact that Discord or other solutions are simply better can't be disputed. Which means adding a Voice chat ingame would just be a waste of resources.

[Terter.4125]

@ReaverKane.7598 said:

@Mea.5491 said:

@"Gopaka.7839" said:"Do you have TeamSpeak or Discord ? If not download it...join this server, write this link, create a name, did you get in?"

Except that's not the case anymore. I'm pretty sure 95% of the online gamers have some kind of voice chat installed already, especially the ones who wanna do organized hardcore content. Even I do, despite the fact that I find voice chat unnecessary in general. I prefer quiet and text chat.

League of legends has a voice chat, no one uses it...Warframe has a voice Chat, no one uses it...Apex Legends, voice chat, pretty much no one uses it...

The fact that Discord or other solutions are simply better can't be disputed. Which means adding a Voice chat ingame would just be a waste of resources.

Well... what about shooters like CS:GO, Fortnite, Overwatch, PUBG, Battlefield. It sounds convenient to have an in-game voice chat for fast parties in dungeons, fractals, PvP, where people just walk in ... bang bang... everything dead and they leave. This can be done more clearer if people can communicate easily for those short periods of time. You can't be serious thinking people will join a 3th party voice chat just for doing their dailies. With in-game voice chat people will be more interactive, more communicative, more understanding. I found quite a lot relationships with players in fractals just by chatting. Can't imagine what it can be if I interact with some cool guy telling jokes or just talking about their day while playing fractals.This feeling is lost by the short period of time the party is together and like I said... bang bang... and it's done, and you leave. Also there is always an option if someone doesn't act right to be kicked out of the party, there is always an option to be muted and there is always an option for the player who doesn't want to talk to talk. I cannot understand those people who say "I'm too shy to use voice-chat"... no one said you need to talk if you don't want to... all you need is to listen.

[Danikat.8537]

@Tiviana.2650 said:

@Agrotera.1254 said:I know of a game that does have it and it is actually quite handy. You can adjust individual players volumes and when it comes to joining a pug you are voice connected as soon as you join them. There is no asking what voip they are using, asking for password to it, nothing, just join group and you are in voice chat.

This is a thing, a lot of players avoid content like raiding pvp wvw because most of those groups ask you to get in discord. That makes many people uncomfortable esp having to download an outside program. With ingame voice they would feel more secure, also there would be less toxic behavior because its controlled by anet there would be report features built in. I have discord and others, but prefer to only use them with my guilds, in pugs in games that have it i use ingame chat, its less stressful and allows people to try content they otherwise wouldnt be invited to.

How many times have you gone into wvw, and in order to join a squad you have to get discord, same with raids. There are a lot of people that dont want a 3rd party app downloaded and running in order to play in these areas. I will say that other game started out with the same reaction to ingame voice, but it has really picked up and many people use it now to run in pug content. Imo its a friendlier option for people that dont want a program installed and running to play in a group. Options are never a bad thing.

Maybe I've missed it but I've not seen anyone in this topic mention not wanting to download an outside program as a reason why they avoid voice chat (and have seen 1 person mention that with Discord you don't need to download anything because there's a browser version).

I have seen people saying they don't like using voice chat and avoid groups or content which requires it, but in ways that apply across all forms of voice chat (e.g. in this thread it's people saying they don't want in-game voice chat because then it would be harder and less practical to avoid using it).

I think you're right that many people are concerned about having to download 3rd party programs; one reason I was more willing to try Discord than other voice chat options is because I could use the browser version or the app on my phone (where security issues are less of a problem for me than my PC) and only got the PC client once I'd tried it and decided it was worth it for me (and taken some time to investigate the rumours that it would steal all your data and your soul). But even for me that's a very minor issue compared to not being able to listen to voice chat a lot of the time and preferring to type rather than speak.

[ReaverKane.7598]

@"Gopaka.7839" said:

@ReaverKane.7598 said:

@Mea.5491 said:

@"Gopaka.7839" said:"Do you have TeamSpeak or Discord ? If not download it...join this server, write this link, create a name, did you get in?"

Except that's not the case anymore. I'm pretty sure 95% of the online gamers have some kind of voice chat installed already, especially the ones who wanna do organized hardcore content. Even I do, despite the fact that I find voice chat unnecessary in general. I prefer quiet and text chat.

League of legends has a voice chat, no one uses it...Warframe has a voice Chat, no one uses it...Apex Legends, voice chat, pretty much no one uses it...

The fact that Discord or other solutions are simply better can't be disputed. Which means adding a Voice chat ingame would just be a waste of resources.

Well... what about shooters like CS:GO, Fortnite, Overwatch, PUBG, Battlefield.

I haven't played most of those games, but CS:Go and Battlefield is pretty much as the others. CS:Go will usually have one guy blasting music through ingame voice chat, which is usually muted, Battlefield, the ones i've played no one really used it, at least not on the servers i've played.And most of the time if you see someone using voice in many of those games, they're console players, who are the main target group for in-game voice chat, since i'm not even sure they can sure third party VoIP apps.

It sounds convenient to have an in-game voice chat for fast parties in dungeons, fractals, PvP, where people just walk in ... bang bang... everything dead and they leave. This can be done more clearer if people can communicate easily for those short periods of time.You can join a discord server just as fast, and honestly, if you're playing with randoms, you'll not use voice chat, ever... In no games... Seriously try playing any game with voip and see how often you use voip to coordinate.You can't be serious thinking people will join a 3th party voice chat just for doing their dailies.Why would anyone need voice chat for dailies is the question? Even fractal dailies, if you're doing those, you should know what you're required to do, no comms needed.

With in-game voice chat people will be more interactive, more communicative, more understanding.Ah, you sweet summer child... Seriously, i don't know if you're being disingenuous or just that naive.

I found quite a lot relationships with players in fractals just by chatting. Can't imagine what it can be if I interact with some cool guy telling jokes or just talking about their day while playing fractals.That's the least likely scenario. The most likely scenario will be:a) Some person blasting music in the background for all to hear (aka the VoIP DJ);b) Some person raging at every single detail of what you do;c) Some kid recounting all the ways "he had sex with your mother" the previous night;d) Some person talking loudly to someone in his house;e) Some person with an annoyingly loud keyboard or mouse clicks, or worse, with 200% gain on his microphone (aka ear bleeders)

This feeling is lost by the short period of time the party is together and like I said... bang bang... and it's done, and you leave.That's what pugs are for, bang bang, and done. If you want to socialize with players, there's probably several community discords you can use, or guild discords you can join.

Also there is always an option if someone doesn't act right to be kicked out of the party, there is always an option to be muted and there is always an option for the player who doesn't want to talk to talk. I cannot understand those people who say "I'm too shy to use voice-chat"... no one said you need to talk if you don't want to... all you need is to listen.And you can do all that through Discord, or other apps, without Arena Net having to waste resources into developing a technology that will go thoroughly unused. If the game had a console port, i could see that as a reason to introduce that, if the game was being launched now, that might be used to create communities with the in-game chat.But, seeing as most communities will already have their own discord, and using two VoIP systems at once can become a massive earbleed, most people will just mute the game's voip.Also, there's the second part of the equation to consider... Every social system in GW2 is pretty bare bones, Guilds are incredibly lacking, LFG is very basic, squads are kinda ok, but nothing special, etc. With all those systems being that meh, i don't know if i'd want them to develop a voice chat, because odds are it would be more annoying that useful by design.

[MoriMoriMori.5349]

@Mea.5491 said:

@"Gopaka.7839" said:"Do you have TeamSpeak or Discord ? If not download it...join this server, write this link, create a name, did you get in?"

Except that's not the case anymore. I'm pretty sure 95% of the online gamers have some kind of voice chat installed already, especially the ones who wanna do organized hardcore content. Even I do, despite the fact that I find voice chat unnecessary in general. I prefer quiet and text chat.

That's not the issue, but the fact you need to alt-tab from game and/or manually join some servers. This is okay for participation in some "hardcore content", but totally not okay for everyday, casual usage. Basically, if it's not something you can engage with a few simple actions, it won't be used in such case. Most people won't be going out of their ways to change some settings in 3rd-party program to be able to talk to a group of people they met, they'll just pass by. People are lazy.

Adding a feature like that which would allow you to hear and talk to people within some small range (unless you muted global voice channel) would definitely help to develop bonds within community. Text chats are no good at all for casual on-the-go talking, they are too discruptive to the gameplay and clunky. You can't text while in combat or running around.

[Arton Leirra.9760]

Last time I played ESO - They have a similar system.. walking around and you get some 13 year old kid screaming down the microphone because his mom's not home and he doesn't have to keep the noise down or come off at 10pm.

I think everyone has some sort of external voice communication installed on their computer and it's really not an issue to join a discord server. Personally I think in game voice chat would ruin the GW2 free world roaming game-play, of course there would be an option to turn it off but I think people would leave it on because it would be easier than finding out how to turn it off.

Apologies to have a negative assumption about the majority of people who might use public game chat. It's partly down to experience in previous games and just a general lack of confidence towards humanity :grin: I do think there would be some people that used it for it's intended use. I think the majority would just use it as a trolling and spoiling quite a chilled out pleasant game.

For now I'd like to stick to discord where you know who's in the group. Build a reputation in there and be able to kick people out who don't contribute positively.

[Kylden Ar.3724]

Discord already works, and is set up for Kaineng.

[kharmin.7683]

I'd rather not see a gaming studio attempt to program voice-chat systems when they may not have the expertise in house to do it right. I'd rather the studio focus on game content.

[MoriMoriMori.5349]

@Arton Leirra.9760 said:Last time I played ESO - They have a similar system.. walking around and you get some 13 year old kid screaming down the microphone because his mom's not home and he doesn't have to keep the noise down or come off at 10pm.

It's not a problem, in general. Overwatch has such inbuilt system, and it helps a lot in bolstering teamplay and making friends ingame. Nobody forces you to use it (can be disabled in settings, or muted), and you can mute its abusers individually too. In general, though, people behave nice enough so you wouldn't want to switch it off.

I still think it would be nice addition for making community more unite, as it makes communications much easier, due to the fact it doesn't interrupt you while you're playing like text chat, so you are more inclined to talk to other people. There just needs to be some sort of configurable auto-normalization feature (algorithm which caps voice's volume at certain level, so nobody will be able to startle you by sudden scream), hearing range must be low enough (also configurable), there must be hotkey to mute it (per each channel) and ability to mute individual users) and ofc FTP users must not be allowed to talk in any global voice channels (only in party channel).

[Daishi.6027]

PvP would significantly improve if you had to actively mute your team to be oblivious to what allies are saying.

[Terter.4125]

@"Kylden Ar.3724" said:Discord already works, and is set up for Kaineng.

What do you mean by "and is set up for Kaineng" ? Just curious. :D