Do any Xbox guilds actually use voice channels?

Lazy_Voyager

Three times in the past two weeks I've been invited by random guilds, in the most recent case by one with a fairly substantial user-base, and they were completely dead.

I mean, don't get me wrong, text chat was flying like one would expect on PC, but typing on an Xbox controller is so tedious. You're given free voice channels for use 24/7, why do no guilds make use of these? And you cannot tell me "we train newbs for trial runs" then expect me to take it seriously if you're using text chat the entire time.

rwil213

I have seen some guilds say they use discord or the band app, not 100% on name of the 2nd. Did they say if they use that instead of the in game voice?

Maybe using text until they group up to prevent others from constantly talking over each other?

Not in a guild so can't say for sure. Just trying to help. I would ask others in it how things usually go though.

Lazy_Voyager

Their MotD mentioned "Band;" I had no idea what that was. Oh well.

rwil213

I didn't either until about a week ago. Try checking their Band page and get set up there. Seen some guilds paste the link to their page. Good luck and maybe see you around if you play evenings EST.

Marginis

My guild for one has rules and everything up for it but we don't really use it. Some guilds do. A lot. Constantly. What you'll run into however on console is a lot of people going into party chats through the console service, outside the game. This would be like discord or something similar, but on PC people are used to using text chat primarily, and voice second. The keyboard helps. On console, players are used to voice chat, so many players don't even use text chat - it's kind of just the opposite of PC. The prevalence of mics and lack of people realizing that they can just plug in usb keyboards into their console emphasize this. And don't even get me started on chatpads... Now these are just generalities, but it might be why you've noticed those trends.

rwil213

I can see what you're saying. I didn't know you could plug a keyboard into the console either. Would make text chat very simple. I'm personally used to text chat myself. Was doing that for years with EQ and EQ2.

Never used a chat pad and doesn't look enjoyable to use. Controller looks to bulky and seems like it would get in the way while playing.

I have seen a few guilds talk about using party chat instead of in game. Is something funky with the in-game chat that you noticed?

Marginis

rwil213 wrote: »

I can see what you're saying. I didn't know you could plug a keyboard into the console either. Would make text chat very simple. I'm personally used to text chat myself. Was doing that for years with EQ and EQ2.

Never used a chat pad and doesn't look enjoyable to use. Controller looks to bulky and seems like it would get in the way while playing.

I have seen a few guilds talk about using party chat instead of in game. Is something funky with the in-game chat that you noticed?

Chat pads are not great or terribly comfortable, but are relatively efficient at least. Controllers themselves are wonderful, but where with a mouse you can simply let it go and move that hand onto the keyboard (where your other hand already is) and then move that one hand back, on a console you have to completely find a place to set the controller down, take both hands off, move them to a keyboard that may not be well positioned on your lap, and then move your hands completely back to your controller after typing. That is a not insignificant amount of time where you cannot move or look around, not to mention the comfort factor.

Personally I have an excellent keyboard that I use on console, and I've gotten comfortable and fast enough with it (although the speed is still better on PC, the controller is still quite nice to use, especially for combat ability rotations). The pain then is waiting for everyone else to SLOWLY type EVERY, SINGLE, LETTER out ONE by ONE. On PC I found a good number of hunt-and-peck-ers, but on console it's just about literally everybody.

As to game chat versus party chat? Party chat allows you to talk with people no matter the game they are playing, so if you have friends not playing ESO, it's your only option. It also allows a lot more control and is easier to use (muting players, accessing gamer profiles, etc.). It also has slightly better quality (at least on xbox, albeit negligibly), aside from avoiding those issues when you're kicked out of guild chat into area chat with 5 kinect users and 12 ten year olds. Game chat isn't noticeably better in any way, except in that it's more ESO focused, it's always up so people can just drop in and out, and it's more community focused rather than just on friends and friends of friends.

To be completely honest, that's kinda the thing I miss most about PC is that everyone used text chat (and maybe the fact that you can use addons on PC). On console you often enough find people without a mic or who use text chat. It's good that consoles have their own ecosystem, like what steam is trying to develop, but it does take away from the game's systems sometimes.