In-game Area/Group Chat (Time to add?)

Eviction

My Opinion:
I think it's time to add push to talk for area/group chat on PC. I sincerely believe it takes away from the game by not having it.

Why I Think That:
1.) I have heard stories and personally played other games where push to talk really shined in meeting new people.
2.) You somewhat have to jump through hoops to actually talk to people over a mic. Ex: Either they have to send you a Discord invite or some other form of 3rd party communication server.
3.) No good in-game Roleplay for the roleplay guilds.
4.) People tend to not see the /say chat.
5.) /say takes time to type out what you have to say instead of pressing a button and talking.
6.) Xbox and PS have an in-game voice chat. (I know they have it because it would be ridiculous to type out everything)
7.) I heard a stories of people finding areas to hangout and talk to each other about the game and this sounds fun.
8.) I am sure some people don't want to download Discord or 3rd party communication software.
9.) I met a great group of people from all over the world through area chat that I've been friends with for over 2 years now on another Bethesda title.
10.) People I get to play ESO all ask me if there is an area chat. When I say no they express disappointment. (kinda the reason I decided to make this post)
11.) Other new MMO's specifically one in beta right now has area chat and from what I experienced it is calm, not toxic and very helpful.

Rules Around In-game Area Chat
1.) Push to talk should be mandatory so "hot mic" isn't a problem.
2.) There should be an easy to access a menu that shows the people that are talking with the ability to mute them in-case of mic spam.
3.) The ability to completely turn it off for the players that don't want to hear others.

My Question to You:

What is your opinion on adding area/group chat and what other rules around in-game chat should be added?

(really think about it with the rules I suggested above)

Amottica

My vote is no.

Consoles have built-in VOIP because they do not have the great options we have on PC. It is great for consoles but not needed for PC There seems to be a reason that the only PC games with VoIP I have seen in the past decade were not high-quality games. Neverwinter comes to mind.

1. PTT cannot be required as there would always be ways to work around it. Think macros. This is not consoles.
2. Even with PTT that does not stop players from PTT so you can hear them sneeze, cough, yell at their family members, and more.

The most important reason, trolls will troll like crazy. We have enough trolls in zone chat as it is, we do not need to hear their voice. This alone will drive players to turn off VoIP making such a system fairly useless.

So yes, I would have this turned off. I think there are much better tasks for Zenimax to spend resources on.

katanagirl1

As mentioned above, on console we generally detest area chat, but I think you might find group chat helpful on PC.

Of course you would be allowed to turn off area chat and leave group or guild chat on if you desired but we cannot.

I often wonder if the players are more mature on PC that those on console. Everyone talks about how high they are like it’s a thing to brag about.

phaneub17_ESO

Games that have mandatory voice chat, I mute it. I went through all of Destiny 1 on PS3 without hearing a single person.

TwiceBornStar

I understand why it may seem fun to you, but I have to vote this down as well. I mean, in most zones, there are hundreds of players online. Do you really want to hear all those people? Oh, and you assume everyone will speak English, but if I look at what my chatbox looks like on most days, I'm fairly sure I'll hear Russian all day.

I think I'll pass.

SilverBride

katanagirl1 wrote: »

I often wonder if the players are more mature on PC that those on console.

No, they aren't.

FluffWit

As a console player who seldom uses it I wouldnt want to be without it.

Yeah, you can set up a voice chat outside of the game with that guy who doesn't understand the mechanics in the dungeon and try and get them to join. But if they have to do it out of game they're gonna get nervous- they'll probably think you just want to yell at them for getting the group wiped. Me just plugging in my mic and saying "hey, his ones a bit tricky, I'll explain how it works" is less intimidating.

And pvp... I can't imagine running in pick up groups without it. When I first arrive in Cyrodiil 6 years ago- before we even had text chat on console, hearing a friendly voice say "hey FluffWit, need a group?" was... well it was just bloody nice really. I ended up joining that guys guild and over the course of the next two weeks I kept quiet and just listened- his boys taught me so much.... after two weeks they turned out to be total jerks but that's a different story for another day 🤫

Eviction

All I know is that I've spoken to a lot of people (that play Fo76) I try to recruit into ESO and the two main points that come up is that they don't like is:

1: They don't know what to do when they join the game because it's a bit overwhelming. (I see what they're talking about, but there is a 7+ years of content not much you can do with that.)

2: Why isn't there voice chat to talk to people.

I just think the game could use a couple of quality of life over hauls in specific Areas. Now would be the time to do this considering the dumpster fire that started burning over at Blizzard. It would be smart to make some major changes to siphon off the players Blizzard is loosing.

WaywardArgonian

Please, I don't play an MMO to be social.

seldomseenkd

I'm fine with it being implemented as long as I can opt out.

Sylvermynx

I don't want it and wouldn't ever use it. That said, if it is added, it needs to be OFF by default. And there are still a LOT more things that ZOS needs to do/spend dev time and money on than that.

Lady_Galadhiel

No thanks I am fine with writing,If I want to speak to someone it needs to be someone I know beforehand and only for ocasions where typing is disturbing the gameplay like in dungeons or trials.

Blinx

right now there's a bug on console, your automatically placed into area chat, some of the things I've heard have made me cringe, be careful what you wish for

fizl101

Blinx wrote: »

right now there's a bug on console, your automatically placed into area chat, some of the things I've heard have made me cringe, be careful what you wish for

Absolutely! Before the change in Blackwood where we end up in area chat by default I have said having a built in chat is a good idea, and that it is optional. Now however....I like to voice chat with my guild and when we are grouped up, I really don't want to listen to people I don't know winding each other up and trying to outdo each others music volumes

JKorr

Oh no. No, please.

Even in text zone, chat can be too much. Add in the people who refuse to group to use /group to do role-play, and the exhibitionists who want to erp, and all the wonderful trash-talk of any dueling less than mature individuals and it would be horrendous.

Amottica

Eviction wrote: »

All I know is that I've spoken to a lot of people (that play Fo76) I try to recruit into ESO and the two main points that come up is that they don't like is:

1: They don't know what to do when they join the game because it's a bit overwhelming. (I see what they're talking about, but there is a 7+ years of content not much you can do with that.)

2: Why isn't there voice chat to talk to people.

I just think the game could use a couple of quality of life over hauls in specific Areas. Now would be the time to do this considering the dumpster fire that started burning over at Blizzard. It would be smart to make some major changes to siphon off the players Blizzard is loosing.

Guilds are the best source for learning to play an MMORPG.

Zone chat (and VoIP) would be the worst source of information to learn to plan a game due to trolls. A new player would be getting a lot of wrong information that would likely be detrimental to their enjoyment of the game due to trolls.

Since WoW players are not used to in-game VoIP, actually used to using Discord or TS, this would have no effect on attracting those players to ESO.

It seems most of us are not interested in it. For me, I agree with those who commented on the absurd (cringe-worthy as one put it) statements that players make in chat. As I put it earlier, the trolling in zone chat is already bad enough and this would just be overrun with the same trolling.

Eviction

Sylvermynx wrote: »

I don't want it and wouldn't ever use it. That said, if it is added, it needs to be OFF by default. And there are still a LOT more things that ZOS needs to do/spend dev time and money on than that.

Sylvermynx wrote: »

I don't want it and wouldn't ever use it. That said, if it is added, it needs to be OFF by default. And there are still a LOT more things that ZOS needs to do/spend dev time and money on than that.

I strongly agree with this and I think If it is off by default it won't hurt anyone and just simply add to the game for whoever wants to turn it on.

Sylvermynx

Eviction wrote: »

Sylvermynx wrote: »

I don't want it and wouldn't ever use it. That said, if it is added, it needs to be OFF by default. And there are still a LOT more things that ZOS needs to do/spend dev time and money on than that.

I strongly agree with this and I think If it is off by default it won't hurt anyone and just simply add to the game for whoever wants to turn it on.

Yeah, well - look what happened to chat on consoles. Sometimes "logical" flies out the window....

Ken_Koerperich

Don't WISH for this...

So damn annoying logging in and the stupid thing is "AUTO" on and all you hear is some twit either talking trash to another, or some yokel blaring the most annoying music at an outlandish decibel level....

Then you have to go "TURN" it off.....

Lastly, NOBODY uses it outside of the trash around the main city waypoints...

Not one of my guilds use it, they all use a 3rd party program, which I can't, as I don't own a PC(typing @ work), and I don't use smart phones, I use an old flip phone....

Again, watch what you wish for, it's more hassle than it's worth...

Gadget4

After the recent console auto-join zone chat mess, I’m sick to death with hearing ...

- music
- something that’s supposed to be music
- family discussions & arguments
- squawking kids
- television programs
- “I’m stoned bruh” (increased vape to max, got a 3sec nicotine hit)
- duelling arguments, because someone shouldn’t be beaten .. ever!!
- politics
- racist, homophobic, xenophobic, bigoted, misogynistic language/arguments

You want to throw out some bad language, I couldn’t care less, people curse/swear, that’s life ... but all the other attention seeking & soul destroying garbage .. no thank you .. absolutely, 100%, unequivocally, voice chat needs to be disabled by default.

Eviction

@Gadget4
Yeah, that sounds terrible and like a flaw, it shouldn't be automatically on like that..

@Ken_Koerperich
The only way I'll support it is if:
1.) You have to turn it on.
2.) You can mute specific players in a menu.

-

This poll shows more support for it

Serenez

On PC I would not be against it, however I would prefer to OPT IN rather than OPT OUT of zone voice chat. Currently on Xbox it is automatically throwing everyone into zone voice chat whether they want to be in there or not. You have to manually leave. I think this is a bug and not as intended.

The only way that PC in game voice chat IMO would be accepted by PC players, is if it was configurable and 'optional'. Along with proper and easily accessible mute options. Also ability to squelch/mute a person. Nothing worse than having the issues listed by @Gadget4 and not have the option to silence them. People can report however some of these may be minor offences and not really subject to the 'report' and simply need a feature to silence them in that moment.

I do like the Guild chat channels and group chat, although on Xbox I found them to be unreliable compared to Xbox party chat. The issues that were occurring were instability and dropping from the group chat when changing zones, porting to a house etc. even if you were grouped and in group chat. Most often we abandoned the group chat and opted to have an Xbox Party chat instead as it was more solid and reliable. It has been a couple years since I used the 'in game group chat', so I am unsure if these issues still exist. I mainly play on PC now and occasionally on Xbox.

Danikat

Considering all the topics I've seen about area chat on consoles are about how awful it is and how annoying it is when regular bugs cause everyone to be added into it and/or unmuted by default I can't believe we're missing anything worth having there.

I suppose built-in voice chat for groups might occasionally be useful for people who find it too confusing to use something like Discord, although I assume those people would also have group chat switched off by default so you'd still have to walk them through setting it up, it would just be a slightly shorter series of instructions.

As for me, I wouldn't use it. If I'm required to be on voice chat to be in your group I'll have to leave and find another group. Partially by choice but mostly because the majority of the time I'm online I'm in a noisy room and cannot have sound turned on and wouldn't be able to hear what's being said if I did (and trying to talk would involve constantly interrupting myself to explain that I'm talking to someone on the computer and not in the room). I also really don't want to hear the inevitable murmuring instructions round mouthfuls of food and chomping said food in between because it's "just easier" to leave their mic on. Again I'd rather leave and find another groups than deal with that.

Hapexamendios

You probably don't want area chat. It's a **** show. Group chat is generally good though.

Eviction

@Danikat @Hapexamendios

I would love to see group chat for PvP and dungeons. It's sort of hellish playing battlegrounds and not being able to communicate efficiently with the your teammates.

Stopping to type in BGs is the difference between a win and lose sometimes..

Danikat

Eviction wrote: »

@Danikat @Hapexamendios

I would love to see group chat for PvP and dungeons. It's sort of hellish playing battlegrounds and not being able to communicate efficiently with the your teammates.

Stopping to type in BGs is the difference between a win and lose sometimes..

I'm not sure why you tagged me in this. All I said is that I don't want it and wouldn't use it, I even acknowledged that other people would probably find it useful if the existing options are too difficult for them.

I'm not going to change my mind (and certainly not going to change the personal circumstances which make voice chat impractical for me) because you've said that you do want it.